Nell Duke A Notable Literacy Educator

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Nell DukeA Notable Literacy Educator
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Nell Duke

• Duke Is a contemporary literacy educator. Her
  seminal study 3.6 Minutes per Day The Scarcity
  of Informational Texts in First Grade was
  published in 2000.
• She is currently an associate professor of
  education at Michigan State University
• Her educational background is in education and
  linguistics
• Her seminal study on the lack of informational
  text in 1st grade classrooms has influenced
  literacy instruction today.

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• The field of literacy education now recognizes
  that there is a scarcity of expository texts in
  the primary grades and that this must be changed
  in order to address students needs.
• Educational publishers such as Houghton Mifflin
  have begun including more expository texts within
  their elementary reading programs due in part to
  Nell Dukes research findings and the
  implications thereof.

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Seminal Study

• In her study 3.6 Minutes per Day The Scarcity of
  Informational Texts in First Grade Duke analyzed
  20 first-grade classrooms. Ten of the classes
  were in very low socioeconomic areas and the
  other 10 were in very wealthy areas.What she
  found was that in those 20 classrooms, teachers
  spent an average of 3.6 minutes in the entire
  school day with informational texts.

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The importance of informational texts in primary
grades

• Teaching a variety of genres, and explicitly
  instructing and making available informational
  text may help avoid the fourth grade slump that
  is often found within socio-economically
  disadvantaged classrooms.
• A recent study cites that 96 percent of the text
  on the Internet is expository.
• "So we have a pretty good sense why this is
  important," she says. "You've got to be able to
  read informational texts to be able to function
  on the Web and lots of other technological
  environments."
• Some students prefer expository text. Giving
  these students access to this type of reading
  material may improve their desire to read.

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• Young children can be successful
  with
• informational texts and texts
  other than
• the traditional narrative.-
  Nell Duke

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Nell Duke is a contemporary literacy scholar
specializing in analyzing literacy instruction
and development in socio-economically
disadvantaged areas.

• Advice for new teachers working in low
  socioeconomic areas in a few words As much as
  possible, surround yourself literally and
  virtually (that is, by reading research on them,
  watching videotapes, and the like) with
  outstanding teachers of low-SES students. Look at
  what those teachers do and what their students
  accomplish and expect that much from yourself
  and your students.

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• Stuff you might read I've co-written two
  articles and co-written a book that are aimed at
  graduate students so you might want to check
  those out -- Duke and Beck, 1999 Duke and
  Mallette, 2001, Duke and Mallette, 2003 (you'll
  see these on my vita, which is on my website,
  though that vita is due for an update!). Recent
  short pieces like that in American Educator
  summarizes a lot of work by me and others.
  Article by Pressley, me, and others in Harvard Ed
  Review is somewhat provocative and might get some
  discussion going. A new book -- Literacy and the
  Youngest Learner Best Practices for Early
  Childhood Educators -- is intended for educators
  0 - 5 and might be interesting to you if you have
  a special interest in that age range.
• 
  Nell Duke

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• Books by Nell Duke

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• That's a hard one in that I decided I
  wanted to be a teacher when I was 5 years old and
  never strayed from that. I had decided on a
  doctorate in educational psychology with an
  emphasis on reading by fifth grade! Yes, I was
  (and am?) a nerd!!!  Reading has always been my
  great love so I think the focus on that was a
  natural for me. In terms of a focus on low-income
  students, my elementary school had a very large
  population of low-income students and depending
  on how you define it, I was low-income myself, so
  it probably started there. But then as I became
  older this focus was reinforced by a concern with
  issues of social justice.
• Nell Duke

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-Nell Duke is an Associate Professor at Michigan
State University-She has been named NCTE
Promising Researcher-She volunteered for over
three years within primary grade classrooms where
she taught literacy-She was Primary Grades
Literacy Specialist (part-time), Neighborhood
House Charter School, Dorchester (Boston),
Massachusetts, for two years-She is an active
member in a number of literacy organizations
including the IRA

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Websites

• Nell Dukes own website http//www.msu.edu/nkduke
  /
• http//ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/NewEd/Fall99/profile2.
  htm
• http//www.ciera.org/news/archives/2000/20000305ne
  llduke.html
• http//www.msularc.org/nkduke.htm