Literate Environment

AnalysisDoris M. Cárdenas

Educ. 6706 The Beginning Reader PreK - 3

Instructor: Dr. Abigayle BartonAugust 8, 2012

Assessments provide teachers with

information needed to differentiate

instruction. There are several ways to

assess students, and in addition, assessing

students on a daily basis produces the best

information to teaching and learning.

Through both formal and informal

assessments, I was able to discover my

students interests, what things motivated

them, and what things they were struggling

with.

Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P–3

Formal assessments serve their purpose by

helping give teachers a starting point, a way to

check for progress over time, and provides

information that can be used instantaneously.

On the contrary, summative

assessments are used to measure how

students were able to reach standards or

meet curriculum goals.

Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P–3 (cont’d)

““Reading attitudes are closely related to reader motivation and reader self-concept” Afflerbach Reading attitudes are closely related to reader motivation and reader self-concept” Afflerbach (2012, p.180)(2012, p.180)

To gather information about my learners reading attitudes, I used a non-cognitive (or formal) assessment called, “Elementary Reading Attitude Survey” (McKenna & Kear, 1990, p. 630). I wanted to find out how my students felt about reading. This assessment includes faces of the comic character Garfield, and illustrates him showing different “faces” depending on how the student feels about statements made about reading. I also gave them a cognitive (or summative) test to

find out where they were developmentally across the five pillars of reading. I chose to use the Spanish version of Texas Primary Reading Inventory, or Tejas Lee. This early reading assessment includes identifying beginning and final sounds, blending and segmenting words, omitting beginning and final sounds, word recognition, spelling, fluency, and comprehension.

Selecting Texts

Selecting Texts (cont’d)

Actually, it is important what they read,

and as teachers and parents, it is

important that we provide a good

balance of literature.

Dr. Hartman, (Laureate Education,

2012a), shared the literacy matrix that

showed how to group texts by quadrants

according to their word orientation and

features:

Linguistic (text),

Semiotic (pictures, icons, etc.)

Informational

Narrative

LITERACY MATRIX

Analysis of Selecting Texts (cont’d)

After reading about the importance of text selection, I acquired some knowledge that I thought I already had. When I read the title that it would be regarding selecting texts, I thought, “I do that all the time,” but, was surprised just how much actually needs to go into selecting student texts.

Dr.’s Morrow and Neuman, (Laureate Education, 2012b), helped me understand the importance of selecting informational text in the early years.

Dr. Almasi, (Laureate Education, 2012a), helped me realize the need to take a more three dimensional approach to selecting texts to include difficulty considerations such as a texts readability, text length, text structure, and the size of print.

As a first grade teacher, it is easy for me to choose narrative stories since I spend a lot of time doing read-alouds. I will say that toward the middle of the year I start trying to provide more informational text but narratives are always easier to do. I will definitely be keeping this in mind when I select my books for next year.

Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

“When students don’t have adequate background knowledge, they’re likely to find the text very challenging, and it is unlikely they will be successful” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 259).

Everyone’s background

knowledge or “schema” is very

different. I think it is

important to activate that prior

knowledge in our students to

know how to approach every

lesson and be able to

differentiate to meet each

student’s needs.

Literacy Lesson: Analysis Interactive Perspective

Because everyone’s schema is different, as an educator it is a

vital part of my everyday teaching to model my thinking, write

down, and ask questions about any new topics we are about to

cover. It is a sort of like a map to guide us that says:

Where are we? (what do I know)

How do I get there? (what do I want to know)

Where did I end up? (what did I learn)

Teaching them how to activate their schema will help them to

better comprehend and take charge of their learning.

Literacy Lesson: Critical and Response Perspectives

Literacy Lesson: AnalysisCritical and Response Perspectives

Before reading about the literacy perspectives, I planned my

lessons thinking of just the goal or objective on the agenda.

Now that I realize what a crucial part the literacy perspectives

have on developing students abilities, I consider more the texts I choose, and the types of questions and activities I plan along with them.

It is better for students if they can understand a text from all

perspectives. They should read something and wonder why, react with emotion and intrigue, with a sense of wanting to know more.

What insights did you gain about literacy and literacy instruction from viewing this presentation? How might the information presented change your literacy practices and/or your literacy interactions with students?

In what ways can I support you in the literacy development of your students or children? How might you support me in my work with students or your children? What questions do you have?

Feedback from Colleagues and Feedback from Colleagues and Family Members of StudentsFamily Members of Students

References

Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K-12 (2nd ed.).

Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new

tool for teachers. Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639.

Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century a balanced approach. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012a). Analyzing and Selecting Texts. [Video

webcast]. In Beginning reader: Prek-3. Retrieved from

http://www.courseurl.com/

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012b). Reading Inventories. [Video webcast].

In Beginning reader: Prek-3. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com/