Implementing Best Practices in the Field

1
Implementing Best Practices in the Field

• The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction
• Young children need writing to help them learn
  about reading, they need reading to help them
  learn about writing and they need oral language
  to help them learn about both
• By Erin Cooley, Melissa Cohen, Nicole Day, Geoff
  Young, and Courtney Szeli

2
The Learning Domain

• Young childrens communication is a combination
  of spoken and written language.
• When adults read to children, they are taught
  that there is a correlation between text and the
  pictures. And that the text and pictures can be
  used to understand real life. (Example 103)
• Also, when adults read aloud children begin to
  visually learn the basic principles of reading,
  such as left to right and top to bottom.
  
• Early literacy begins relationships between
  reading and writing (103) which are the basis
  for understanding their real life experiences.

3
Strategies

• 1)Rich teacher talk engages children (large,
  small or one on one settings) in conversations
  which can introduce more vocabulary
• 2)Storybook reading read books aloud which suit
  their interests, and engage in dialogue and
  activities before, during and after. Repeated
  reading of favorite books builds familiarity,
  increasing the likelihood that children will
  attempt to read those books on their own. (104)
• 3)Phonological awareness activities have
  activities (games, listening, singing) which
  utilize rhyming schemes, alliteration, and sound
  matching.
• 4)Alphabet activities plan activities which
  help the children identify different letters.

4
Strategies cont.

• 5) Support for emergent reading encourage
  reading by establishing a well stocked book area
  story book reading, signs (schedules, labels,
  etc.), play related print (104).
• 6) Support for emergent writing encourage
  writing by establishing an area with different
  writing utensils and materials. Shared writing
  between teacher and child.
• 7) Shared book experience read books with large
  enough print so that they can follow your finger
  as you read and see the word at the same time.
• 8) Integrated, content focused activities
  allow children to search for their own interests.
  And based on teachers observations, they can
  choose content related materials better.

5
6 Methods for Reading Instruction in the
Elementary School

• Shared reading
• Read aloud
• Guided reading
• Readers Theatre
• Sustained silent reading
• Literature circles

6
Shared Reading

• is a time when the entire class gathers
  together to share a variety of literacy
  experience by reading and discussing a variety of
  texts.
• Children participate in reading and further their
  understanding of how print works.
• Shared reading encourages becoming more familiar
  with the readings, and as this happens, the child
  also becomes motivated to read independently and
  can enhance their vocabulary through repetition.
  
• For shared reading, books which are easy to
  memorize are more useful.
• Rhythmic, repetitive, cumulative, basic sentence
  pattern, two part, and information books.

7
Read - Aloud

• Read aloud should be fun, easy and cheap.
• Read aloud involves social relationships among
  people teachers and students, parents and
  children, and authors and readers.
• Reading aloud shows children the difference
  between words and language and that both have the
  same message.
• For effective read aloud experiences, the
  teacher should have good reading skills
  expression and intonation as well as introduces
  more vocabulary and ideas.
• Interactive read aloud allows the teacher to
  engage in a discussion with the child before,
  during and after the book to further support what
  the child has just learned through the readings.

8
Dos and Do Nots

• Dos
• Start basic and gradually work your way in to
  more complicated works. (Picture books in to
  story books)
• Familiarize yourself with the story and practice
  expressions and voice alterations for parts when
  a change of tone is necessary.
• Do nots
• Pick books that you do not like.
• Pick books which have been turned in to a movie
  and that the child has seen.
• Forget that information books are useful too.

9
Guided Reading

• Allows for teachers principles of reading and
  further support them.
• Giving feedback during guided reading helps
  encourage word recognition, true understanding of
  the text, and gives them confidence for further
  reading activities.
• Allows the teacher to observe and assess a
  childs reading strategy.
• Grouping for guided readings should vary and be
  based upon the teachers observations of each
  individual child.
• It is suggested that a child be able to read 90
  or more of the text.

10
Readers Theatre

• offers a way for readers to participate in
  repeated readings in a meaningful and purposeful
  way.
• Instead of dressing up and acting out the script
  (which is also a good method, if the proper
  materials are available) the child shares the
  story through dialogue and expression. This also
  allows the reader to develop fluency in reading
  through the multiple readings of the text,
  expressions and voice intonations.
• After reading a given selection, the reader can
  write a script which is helpful when addressing
  key elements of the story, such as
  characterization, setting, conflicts, and
  resolution.

11
Sustained Silent Reading

• A time when the teacher and children silently
  read for any given period of time.
• SSR fosters good attitudes towards reading, and
  good habits of reading to gain more knowledge and
  for pleasure. Also develops good independent
  reading skills. Ultimately, the goal is to
  gradually increase the amount of time of
  independent reading.
• The time period set aside needs to offer enough
  time and opportunities to read.

12
Factors for Success

• To maximize the benefits of SSR, there needs to
  be a large variety of ever changing materials to
  choose from and a variety in difficulty levels.
• The room environment should be physically
  comfortable and have open space for each child to
  have enough space to be alone.
• Following the activity there shouldnt be any
  follow up because this should be a time where the
  children can read at their pace, and be able to
  enjoy whatever they chose to read without having
  the pressure of being questioned for complete
  understanding of their reading.
• The teacher should set an allotment of time for
  SSR, which should also be a reasonable amount of
  time for the class as a whole.
• The teacher should also be in full support of
  this time.

13
Literature Circles

• Literature circles are a place where children can
  have peer led discussions where their ideas and
  responses to the literature being read are
  respected by all.
• 6 Key features
• Children have the choice of what they want to
  read
• Small groups are formed
• As a group, different books are read
• The group comes together at times to discuss what
  was read
• Teacher facilitates the activity
• 3 levels of evaluation teacher, group, and self
• Reading materials are chosen by the entire group.
• Has greater benefits if young children already
  have a sense of independent reading.

14
Comprehension Instruction in the Elementary School

• There is no single instructional method that can
  be sufficient for all readers therefore, as a
  teacher one must incorporate a variety of
  approaches
• Two possible approaches are the cognitive
  psychologist and the reader-response theory.
• Cognitivists believe that readers shape meaning
  by connecting new information in texts with
  background knowledge they already have.

15
Comprehension Instruction in the Elementary School

• Reader-response theory believes that thought
  takes place between the reader and the text,
  resulting in personal interpretations
• From these approaches there are several methods
  teachers can use to help young readers deepen
  their understanding of comprehension and the
  process that is involved

16
Understanding Comprehension

• Six instructional touchstones that can be used
• Repeated exposure to a variety of texts
• prepares students to handle more complex readings
  in the future
• Reader/text connections
• Personal connections made aiding in schema
  activation
• connecting the information that the reader
  already knows about a given topic with the new
  information learned
• Focused student response
• Talking, writing, drawing helps students reflect
  on what they have read and others gain insight
  into others thoughts

17
Understanding Comprehension

• Direct instruction using comprehension strategies
• Connects with prior knowledge and develops
  complex understanding of the ideas within the
  text
• Necessary to gain awareness of the comprehension
  process
• Most effective with small groups
• Visual structures
• Offer concrete, memorable representations of
  abstract thinking processes
• Helps to organize large amounts of information
• Metacognition-awareness of the process
• Having declarative knowledge, procedural
  knowledge, and conditional knowledge
• Self directed thinking

18
Comprehension Strategies

• Locating details-finding specific information
  (Semantic Web)
• Sequencing- putting events in chronological
  order (Story Circle)
• Comparing and Contrasting-explaining the
  similarities and differences between two or more
  things (Weave Chart)

19
Comprehension Strategies

• Summarizing-distinguishing between
  dramatic/important events from trivial details
  (Story Graph)
• Envisioning character change-understanding the
  change and growth in a character (Character
  Continuum)
• Drawing Conclusions-making hypotheses about ideas
  that are not completely spelled out (Conclusion
  hierarchy)

20
Comprehension Strategies

• Determining Cause and Effect-understanding how
  one thing leads to another (Episode Analysis
  Chart)
• Making Predictions-make use of clues to make
  guesses about what might happen next (Story
  Graph)

21
Comprehension Strategies

• Making Thematic Connections-connecting the texts
  message to ones own life (Life Lesson Chart)
• Taking Multiple Perspectives-considering two
  points of view in relation to how we choose to
  look at something within the world

22
Activity!!!

• Find your home group
• Read the book given to your group
• When you are done, follow the directions given
  with your book on what comprehension strategy to
  make
• If you have time, answer this question What part
  of comprehension did your group focus on?
• We will SHARE!! Please be ready!

23
What is Inferencing?

• Inferencing is the strategic process of
  generating assumptions, making predictions, and
  coming to conclusions based upon information in
  text and in illustrations.
• Inferencing is central to the overall process of
  comprehension.

24
Casual and Relational Inferences

• Casual inferences in part requires readers to
  infer the antecedent or consequences of an action
• Relational Inferences require readers to
  integrate to integrate information across
  sentences
• Readers must infer information from text and
  illustrations to fully comprehend and enjoy a
  story in nearly all good childrens literature

25
Helping Emergent Readers

• Young students often fail to integrate
  information from one segment with information in
  other parts of the story or in illustrations
• Underdeveloped reasoning abilities, lack of prior
  knowledge for story content, or overdependence on
  prior knowledge prevent students ability in
  comprehension
• Readers can improve their ability to infer
  information when teachers model how to reason,
  make assumptions, and come to conclusions

26
Helping Emergent Readers Cont.

• Think aloud questioning strategy called How Do
  You Know?
• Helps readers by making connections between given
  and implied information and examine their
  thinking and reasoning so that they can verbalize
  how they arrive at their assumptions and
  conclusions

27
Preparing and Presenting How Do You Know?

• Preview quality childrens literature to identify
  what types of inferential connections can and
  should be made
• Tell students they are going to learn new, to
  understand a story
• Explain what an inference is
• Model the strategy

28
Expanding How Do You Know?

• Teachers can have students look at a paragraph
  and ask what inferences can be made with them
• Teachers can provide opportunities for students
  to participate in multiple literacy experiences

29
Benefits and Assessments

• Helps students to make connections between given
  and implied information
• Helps students verbalize how they arrived at
  their conclusions
• Documenting shows growth in students abilities
• This strategy has found to narrow cultural and
  linguistic distance between the backgrounds of
  ethnically diverse students and the vocabulary
  and concepts presented in stories

30
Activity

• Now we are going to look at a couple of books and
  make inferences
• Too Many Tamales Doctor De Soto

31
Considerations for Successful Learning Centers

• Decisions about learning centers need to be
  grounded in the teachers knowledge about the
  children as readers, writers, and learners.
• Consider the types of activities in which
  children will be independently engaged.
• Consider state or district curricular
  expectations.
• Consider what is known about engagement in
  instructional settings.
• Two keys that motivate learning
• Perception of the possibility of success
• Perception that the outcome will be valued

32
Continued

• 5. Consider the following guidelines for
  establishing an infrastructure of instruction
  away from the teacher. This infrastructure needs
  to do the following
• Facilitate independent use by students.
• Operate with minimal transition time and
  management concerns.
• Encourage equitable use of activities among
  learners.
• Include a simple built in accountability system.
• Allow for efficient use of teacher preparation
  time.
• Build around class routines.

33
Centers That Meet Established Criteria

• 1. Listening Post
• Routine
• Listen to the story on tape and follow along.
• Listen to the story on tape and read along.
• Turn off the tape and read together.
• Turn off the tape and read with a partner.
• Turn off the tape and read on your own.
• Listen to the story on tape and read along again.
• Talk about your improvement.
• Be ready to share the story with the class.

34
Continued

• 2. Readers Theatre
• Routine
• Leader reads the story aloud.
• Everyone reads the story together.
• Partners read the story together.
• Everyone is assigned a part.
• Students practice their parts on their own.
• Students practice their parts together.
• Students share the story with the class.

35
Continued

• Reading/writing the room
• Pocket Chart
• Poems/story packs
• Big Books
• Responding through art
• Writing
• Reading

36
Example of a Student Center Card
37
Activity

• Readers Theater
• Frog in the Middle
• Scavenger Hunt
• Find words around the room

38
Showcasing a communitys history through writing
Class-authored book

• Coaltown Project
• KWL chart
• Find out what students already know about
  Coaltowns history, what they want to know, and
  what they learned
• View a film on the history
• Pre-writing activities
• describing activity
• Guide children to show their writing not just
  tell

39
Continued

• Children dictated sentences about Coaltown to
  their teacherthis became chapter one
• By writing their sentences down on the board the
  teacher could guide the students in editing their
  work
• Students illustrated their first chapter and
  entered it on the computer

40
Continued

• Older students came to the class to help students
  who were not comfortable entering text on the
  computer
• This allows for peers to help each other
• Building confidence in themselves and their
  abilities
• The book was published and presented to the
  community

41
Coaltown

• Coaltown has a high rate of illiteracy and the
  towns history was being lost as a result of this
• The book was a way to give the towns history
  back to the community while heightening the
  childrens writing skills

42
Individually authored books

• Biographies
• Photo biographies
• The cameras given to the students allowed them to
  have complete independence and creative control
• SELF EVALUATION
• the biographies are something that is very
  personal to the students
• They get to be their own critics

43
Integrating history with literacy

• By integrating history with literacy, students
  will have fun learning about their towns past
  while increasing their literary skills
• Writing about a students personal history helps
  them build personal, cultural, and social
  connections with others and with literature
• Writing the books help them expand their
  knowledge of the community and their
  understanding of the reading and writing process