Creating a Literate Environment

“…emphasizes the importance of speaking,

reading, and writing in the learning of all students”

(The Access Center, 2012, p. 3).

Literacy Learners

According to Janice Almasi

“we teach students, not texts” (Laureate

Education Inc, 2010)

“Students use cognitive and metacognitive

strategies for thinking” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 12)

“Highly motivated readers are self-determining and

generate their own reading opportunities” (Gambrell,

Palmer, Codling, and Mazzoni, 1996, para 2).

Non-Cognitive Assessments measure a students

motivation

Examples Include

Parent/Teacher Survey

Informal Interview

Elementary Attitude Survey

Cognitive Assessment Helps measure a

students success academically

Examples Include

Running Records

Spelling Inventory

Word Recognition List

Reading Inventory

My Assessment

Student 1:

I chose a running records assessment. I wanted to hear how the student’s oral

reading skills were, along with his ability for word identification and reading

fluency.

Student 2:

The activity I chose was a reading comprehension activity where I had the student

re-tell what had occurred in the book she was currently reading.

Student 3:

The activity I chose for the student was the running records assessment. I chose a

chapter book because it correlated more with the level of reading she should be at.

By choosing this book I could test her reading fluency, word identification, her

ability to use context clues, and her re-telling ability.

Analyzing and Selecting Texts

Linguistic

Narrative Informational

Semiotic

LITERACY MATRIX

Difficulity ConsiderationsReadability

Sentence lengthNumber of syllables

Concept density

Text StructureInformationalDescriptive

Cause/EffectProblem/SolutionCompare/Contrast

Poetic

Text Length

Size of print

Visual Support

According to Janice Almasi

(Laureate Education Inc, 2010), several

steps need to be

implemented when selecting texts such as:

My Analysis

For each student I chose texts that were appropriate for their age and grade. I focused on texts that would help me

determine whether or not findings were accurate.

Student 1: is in the first grade and is a beginning reader. He is “aware of the alphabetic principle” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 119). He is developing “phonic skills, recognizing high-frequency words, applies reading strategies, can write sentences, spells phonetically, identifies punctuation and uses capital letters to begin sentences” (p. 119). Other books that would aid with this students beginning reading level are the Basal books. The books contain “authentic literature selections that celebrate diverse cultures, and they emphasize an organized presentation of strategies and skills” (p. 325).

Student 2: is a sixth grade fluent reading student. Through the assessment Motivation to Read Profile by Gambrell, Palmer, Codling and Mazzoni (1996), we learned that reading is “kind of easy” for her; she is an “ok reader”; but when reading by herself she is able to understand “almost everything I read” (p. 521). The genre I chose for her is Science Fiction. She is interested in topics such as ghosts, and she likes the books by R.L. Stine.

Student 3: is a ninth grade student that falls into beginning/emergent/fluent reading category. She struggles with punctuation recognition when reading. She can recall events if prompted, but cannot seem to remember a significant amount of detail. The unit I chose is poetry, and the theme would be adolescents.

Interactive Perspective

5 Pillars for Success!

According to Janice Almasi (Laureate Education Inc., 2010), there are five pillars that overlap in order for strategic processing to be implemented:

Phonemic Awareness

Fluency

PhonicsComprehension

Vocabulary

My plan Each of the three students I have been working with has strengths

and weaknesses. Individual lesson plan formats have been designed with a targeted theme, and strategy.

struggles with reading comprehension

strategies

does not like to read out loud

Sight word identification

Critical and

Response Perspective

Louise RosenblattCritical Response Theory

Linguistic or Semiotic

Evaluate, Judge, Critically think

when choosing texts from multiple perspectives

– During an efferent stance the reader may “be stimulated to remember a related personal experience”.

–Whereas during an aesthetic stance a reader may briefly focus on analyzing the techniques interacting in a text” (Gladdys, 1997, p. 2).

– She notes that readers switch back and forth between the two stances while reading. Probst (1987), further explains the efferent and aesthetic stances in the article Transaction Theory in the Teaching of Literature.

Rosenblatt speaks of the efferent and aesthetic “stance” of reading.

“Reading from a critical stance requires the

reader to analyze and evaluate books,

meaningfully questioning the origin and purpose” (Molden,

2007, p.52). The aesthetic stance “is where the reader comes to the text in a less directive frame of

mind, seeking not particular information or the

accomplishment of an assigned task, but rather the full emotional, aesthetic, and

intellectual experience offered by the text”(Probst, 1987,

para 9).

“Critical literacy focuses on issues of power and

promotes reflection, transformation, and

action” (Molden, 2007, para 1).

Rosenblatt states that the

“transactional theory which

proposes that the meaning of a text

derives from a transaction

between the text and reader within

a specific context”

(Glaydds, 1997, p. 3).

References• The Access Center. (2012). The purpose of literacy rich environments. Improving outcomes for all students K-8.

American Institute for Research: Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/literacy-richenvironments.asp

• Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The

Reading Teacher, 49(7), 518–533.

• Laureate Education Inc., (2010). Analyzing and selecting texts. Dr. Douglas K. Hartman

[Webcast]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

• Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Critical perspective. [DVD]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3.

Baltimore, MD: Author

• Laureate Education Inc., (2010). Assessing Work Knowledge. Dr. Donald Bear [Webcast]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

• Laureate Education Inc., (2010). Virtual Field Experiencs. Leigh Ann Hildreth

[Webcast]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

• Glaydds, W. C. (1997). The Significance of Louise Rosenblatt on the Field of Teaching

Literature: efferent and aesthetic stance during reading. Abstract retrieved from Inquiry,

Volume 1, Number 1: Virginia Community College System.

• Molden, K. (2007). Critical literacy, the right answer for the reading classroom: Strategies to

move beyond comprehension for reading improvement. Reading Improvement, 44(1),

50–56.• Probst, R. E. (1987). Transactional theory in the teaching of literature. Resources in Education,

22(12).• Tompkins, G. E., (2010). Literacy for the 21st century. New York: Macmillan.