Literate Environment Analysis

Kaimaya Underwood

April 21, 2013

Dr. Abigayle Barton

EDUC- 6706G-4

The Beginning Reader,

PreK-3

• “According to Tompkins (2010),

literacy is the competence of a

student that acquires in both writing

and reading” p.124).

Literacy

The most important factor in creating a literate

environment is for teachers to get to know their

students in their classrooms (Laureate

Education, Inc., 2013a).

Reading assessments helps us understand the

strengths and needs of each of our students

(Afflerbach, 2012, p.4)

Assessments are the tools used in today's classrooms to

gaining literacy knowledge about each student in order

to plan effective instruction.

AnalysisGetting to Know Your

Literacy Learners

Getting to Know Your Literacy Learners (Continued)

Research

Cognitive Assessments provide teachers with the tools needed to understand student’s growth and challenges as a reader (Afflerbach, 2012).

Examples of Cognitive Assessments I used

•Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Test (DIBELS)•Reading Inventories•Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA)

Getting to Know Your Literacy Learners (Continued)Non-cognitive Assessments are designed to focus on the student’s motivation to read self-concept, attitudes about reading, and how they feel about themselves as a reader (Afflerbach, 2012).

Examples of Non-Cognitive Assessments I used

Interview with students (Me Stew) allowed me to find out the students’ interest and needs.

Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey (ERAS; McKenna & Kear, 1990).effectively measured two aspects of students’ reading, academic reading and recreational reading.

Classroom ObservationsAllows notes to be taken of students’ abilities.

Selecting Texts- AnalysisText plays an important role in the literacy development,

and it is essential to consider three important text factors: text structures, genre, and text features

(Tompkins, 2010).

Some Examples of text factorsText Size (Large versus Small)Text Length Text’s use of high frequency words

It is also paramount for an educator to choose the appropriate text for their student's abilities, needs, and

interests. I ensured that I chose texts that were both engaging and interesting for my students.

Selecting Texts- Research

According to Dr. Hartman (Laureate Education, 2013b), texts should be selected by using the Literacy Matrix. This was a key tool I used when selecting the texts for my lesson.

The Literacy Matrix is comprised of four quadrants with an x and y axis.

The y-axis consists of narrative going to informational, and the x-axis is semiotic going to linguistic.

Semiotic- pictures

Linguistic- words

Selecting Texts- Research (continued)

Examples of Texts I chose

•Narrative•Informative•Online

By balancing narrative, informational, and online text it gave the students the tools they needed to be successful in literacy in their later grade levels.

Literacy lesson: Interactive PerspectiveAnalysis

This perspective is to teach students how

to read and write “accurately, fluently, and

with comprehension of students” according

to the Framework for Literacy Instruction

(2013).

Literacy lesson: Interactive PerspectiveResearch

5 Pillars of Reading Phonics

VocabularyFluency

ComprehensionWriting

Interactive perspective allows strategic processing to be threaded through the five pillars (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013c).

Literacy lesson: Interactive PerspectiveResearch

To “show my students what good readers do and how good readers use

reading strategies” (Tompkins, 2010, p.46).

Strategies used included:

Interactive Read-Aloud

KWL Charts

Think Alouds

Shared Reading

Word Sorts

Mini Lessons  

These strategies were shown in Tompkins (2010) Compendium of Instructional

Procedures

Teachers should also arouse the students’ interest for reading by asking pre-

reading questions, and asking the students to make predictions about the

text based on the title and illustrations. It is also important to activate the

students’ background knowledge about the topic of the text in order to

monitor comprehension.

Literacy Lesson: Critical and Response Perspectives- Analysis

The Critical perspective focuses on engaging the students to think critically about the text, and reflect on the author’s purpose and intent in writing the text (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013d).

Comprehension is a key element in the critical perspective, and comprehension is a crucial element in reading because it is "process in which students engage with the text" (Tompkins, 2010, p.258).

The Response perspective focuses on eliciting an emotional and personal response to the text the students’ read (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013e).

Literacy Lesson: Critical and Response Perspectives- Research

I used the read-aloud strategy to enhance the

students’ comprehension by “engaging the

students in the reading process before, during

and after reading the text” (Tompkins, 2010,

p.439).

I focused on the author’s intent in writing the

text, and had the students to respond to the

text by making a “text-to-self” connection

(Tompkins, 2010, p.23).

ReferencesAfflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K-12 (2nd ed).Newark, DE. International Reading Association.

Framework for Literacy Instruction (2013). Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education. (Producer) (2013a) ”Getting to Know your Learners" [Video Webcast] Retrieved from:https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education. (Producer) (2013b) "Analyzing and Selecting Texts" [Video Webcast] Retrieved from:https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education. (Producer) (2013c) ”Interactive Perspective: Stategic Processing" [Video Webcast] Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education. (Producer) (2013d) ”Critical perspective" [Video Webcast] Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education. (Producer) (2013e) ”Response perspective" [Video Webcast] Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652843_1%26url%3D

McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626--639.

Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.