Creating stories through media

This past week I worked on an interesting project involving media and play. I decided to work with one of the first grade students and have him create his own movie using happy meal toys that I had brought in for him to use. This was a wonderful experience for me as a future literacy teacher because I witnessed the excitement and creativity from the student while he was practicing literacy skills.
As I gave the student a handful of toys, representing cartoon characters or movie characters, he jumped right in to planning process. While he mostly explained his big idea, I would normally have students plan their movie through writing.  What I thought would take some time to figure out was the story line of this movie, however I was pleasantly surprised at how this student knew more about these toy figures than I did. The student created names and used different voices for each toy as he created his story. While it was a simple story about four super heroes playing hide and go seek tag, there was so much richness for literacy in that. This student had created the beginning, middle, and end of a story, which told me he knew the basic structure. Not only did this student sequence his story, but he created characters and gave each toy a different personality, I was pretty impressed.

After I was done filming the raw footage on my iPad, I told the student that I was going to add sound effects, and music through my iMovie program. While this is the exciting part for most students, I soon understood why. I had a lot of fun editing and adding fun elements to enhance this students movie. I think that having students create their own iMovie is an excellent tool to use in the classroom for students to practice using literacy. Teachers can use this to teach students about different genres, and also have them practice their writing skills. Using the iMovie is a great incentive at the end of a writing process. I think that for older elementary students this could be a great individual or group project for students. I would have students work on this individually as an activity for the students who finish their work early. Instead of giving students more worksheets as a done early choice, I would have them work on their story writing. One thing to be careful with as a teacher is to monitor the quality of writing. I think it can be easy for students to rush through the writing part just to start filming and editing, however iMovie would be the reward for when the writing piece is perfect.

Visual Literacy in the Classroom (research Article)

While I am becoming familiar with technology and visual aids that teachers can use in the classroom, I am seeing how much of a useful tool it is.  In the article, Visual Literacy and the Classroom, by Erin Riesland, the idea of being literate in a technological age is introduced. As I have seen all the different iPad applications that can be used in literacy I think these activities and learning tools will be used more frequently in future classrooms, this is only the beginning.

According to Riesland, “by educating students to understand and communicate through visual modes, teachers can empower their students with necessary tools to thrive in increasingly media-varied environments”. The idea of literacy is changing in today’s world because of all the technology. While many K-2^nd graders are already technologically savvy, why not use those skills in the classroom as an engaging way of using, and learning literacy.  Not only will the use of technology help students learn creatively in literacy activities but also it will prepare students for the virtual and real world.  Integrating literacy and technology also opens the doors to teaching to a diverse group of learners as well. Using visual images and interactive media can help the students who are more hands-on learners.

I really liked the ideas in this article because not only am I learning about using literacy with media for young students but I am using it in the classroom with a first grader and the student is really enjoying it. I think using media and technology in literacy is also helpful for students because while they are learning there is also the element of play that is being incorporated  which creates that engagement. 



Source: 

Riesland, Erin. Visual Literacy and the Classroom. Johns Hopkins University School of Education.

http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/visual-literacy-and-the-classroom/

Language Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K (Research article 5)

 I remember in my field experience last semester, as I sat in the teachers lounge listening to one particular conversation regarding Pre-K grading. The first thing that came to my mind was, "what! Preschoolers receiving grades?"  As we all know the world of teaching is changing drastically and with the Common Core there is a huge emphasis on math and reading standards starting at a very young age . Starting remediation as soon as possible is key, and the publishing companies are making sure to develop the right materials for teachers to use. However the article, Language Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K, by Motoko Rich, published in the New York Times discusses the evidence that text books and worksheets may not be the answer in young children's literacy development.

According to new research by Anne Fernald, psychologist at Stanford University, a study showed that "at 18 months children from wealthier homes could identify pictures of simple words they new- dog or ball- much faster than children from low-income families".  The reason for this is because the professional parents are speaking more often to their children which means that "those children are hearing 30 million more words by age 3 than the children from low-income households". If a simple conversation among parent and child can make such an impact starting at the preschool level, this is something that I think all parents should be aware of. Since "oral language and vocabulary are so connected to reading comprehension, the most disadvantaged children face challenges once they enter school and start learning to read".  For this reason it is so important for parents and teachers to engage young children in conversations. I truly believe that learning is social and the more class discussions and conversations teachers and parents maintain with children the more beneficial it will be for their literacy skills in the future. I believe as teachers we can use this knowledge and apply this in our classrooms with read alouds. During read alouds we can stop and discuss ideas that come along or unfamiliar vocabulary for the students. I think that read alouds are a great way to have that conversation time with students especially since "literacy experts emphasize the importance of natural conversations with children". Now that I am aware of this, when I am given the opportunity to have class discussions and converse with young children I will have a new appreciation for its meaning.


Source: 

Rich, Motoko. Language-Gap Study Bolsters a push for Pre-K. The New York Times. (2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/us/language-gap-study-bolsters-a-push-for-pre-k.html

Toys and pop culture in children's literacy

It is sad to say that in K-2 classrooms these days, play is being diminished as preparation for standardized testing is overpowering play time. After listening to Play with Disney Princess dolls and Childrens Literacy, on the Voice of Literacy, Dr. Karen Wohlwend, shares some interesting findings based on her research with children's literacy. I thought an interesting point brought up in the interview was how children are bringing in toys from home to the classroom and writing about their toys and games. Now that I think back on my experiences in Kindergarten classrooms I know many schools can be strict about bringing in toys from home because of issues that have been raised in the past. Sometimes children develop conflict among their peers with sharing the toys or the toys can be distracting. However, I think that if teachers develop certain rules and expectations regarding the toys, it can be a very useful and productive tool in developing literacy with young children. These toys can help children build on that imagination for their writing or story structures. Sometimes I think that telling students to be creative is a hard thing to do for children. The beauty of having children bring in their item of interest is that it gives the children an opportunity to have a deeper meaning and push their thinking to another level. As Dr. Wohlwend states, " theres not just one way that students are learning, using these popular media items in writing workshops are dense with literacy potential". When students are able to bring in something that interests them, it provides that internal motivation for learning and creating literacy. I think that as teachers we should all rethink the true value that children's play can bring to literacy. 

Retelling maps (Research Article 4)

As I am becoming familiar with using retelling maps and coding charts while working with young readers in the classroom I found this article to be particularly relevant to my experiences. In the article What retelling can tell us about the nature of reading comprehension in school children by Stephen B. Kucer, research investigates the nature of reading comprehension through elementary school readers.
Before going into the research of the article, it does a great job explaining why educators use retelling maps. The main idea is that these maps put the reader in control and lets the reader "tap into what he or she has independently constructed from transacting with the text". It is a system of assessment and can suggest what the students are understanding from a combination of their previous knowledge and new knowledge.
In this study a group of proficient 4th grade students were assessed in reading four different books. The students read orally and then were asked to retell what they remembered. As a result, there were differences and similarities among the strongest and weakest retellings. With the stronger retelling group of students they had "longer retellings, only 17% of the retold clauses did not match those found in the text as compared to 63% for the weaker comprehenders". However interestingly, for the "stronger comprehension students one fifth of the content in their retellings did not match the content of the text". Some of the stronger retelling students actually contradicted what the text said while they were retelling. While we assume that stronger comprehension readers are retelling the story as it is, it is interesting that stronger comprehension readers can add detail different from the text. So when looking at strong and weaker comprehension readers, they are both building meaning through ideas that are not directly represented through the text. In conclusion to this research article, an important idea to walk away with is that "teachers cannot assume that the effective and efficient use various text cues- graphophonemic, syntactic, semantic- will necessarily lead to comprehension...Instructional interventions and mediations may be necessary to help readers construct ideas from the words they read". While retelling maps are helpful and useful for teachers to determine where a students reading level is at, there is more to helping students with reading comprehension. Learning a new skill and perfecting it, such as reading comprehension, can be very complex when trying to understand how the brain works in a student. Each student is different and as teachers we have to be aware of how assessments can only go so far when telling us what is going on inside a students head.



Source

Kucer, B. Stephen. What retellings can tell us about teh nature of reading comprehension in school children. Washington State Univeristy, Vancouver. Austrailian Journal of Language and Literacy , Vol.37, No.1, 2014.

Handwriting without tears (research article 3)

I found this interesting research review article that was conducted by Handwriting Without Tears, in 2013 among K-5 students and teachers. I was surprised at how much of an impact handwriting has for young children and their brain development. According to the research "handwriting is a foundational skill that can influence student's reading, writing, language use, and critical thinking". As seen from the research this skill plays an important role in literacy, brain development, and determines the success for students in other subjects.
             One topic that was brought to my attention was handwriting and technology. While society is constantly changing, technology has moved its way into classrooms with iPads and computers. I have always wondered if there would be a time when students learn to write through technology over paper and pencil. Interestingly enough, this article points out how integrating both apps on tablets and handwriting are beneficial to young students. While students are required to learn handwriting skills on paper for K-5, students who are in middle school are allowed to take notes on a computer. However "research shows that students who took notes by hand versus on a computer were shown to have better comprehension of what was being said and had more sustained attention during discussion of texts and concepts". As a student myself, I will vouch for this through personal experience. I know that when I took notes by hand instead of the computer I would retain more information.
     Another shocking fact I read from this study was how "the earlier children master handwriting in elementary school, the more likely they are to succeed in school". Not only does handwriting benefit literacy skills, but it can effect how students do in all subjects. All teachers should be aware of this fact, especially the K-2 teachers who are scaffolding young student's hand-eye coordination and motor skills for the earlier years. It is so important as teachers to constantly practice handwriting with students because, according to research "students without consistent exposure to handwriting are more likely to have problems retrieving letters from memory, spelling accurately, extracting meaning from text or lecture, and interpreting the context of word and phrases". This is why practicing and staying consistent with alphabet writing in kindergarten and continuing through first grade can be so crucial for the students learning process. These foundational skills play a larger and more complex role for students in the long run.





Resource

http://www.hwtears.com/files/HWT%20Research%20Review.pdf

Guided Reading (Research Article 2)

 

 

I was interested in reading an article this week that was related to guided reading because I recently assessed a first grader's writing sample. This assessment required a knowledge of phonics, syntax, and predicting the students spelling stage. After doing an assessment such as this I will then conduct another assessment on the child's reading level. After reading an interesting article called, Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality, By Irene Fountas, I am aware of the complexities a teacher must be aware of and implement during assessment. It is important for teachers to know what to look for and take that knowledge and apply it correctly and effectively. I am now more aware of what my role as the teacher should be when assessing a students reading or spelling stage.

 

 This article discusses the "goal of guided reading and 12 systems of strategic activities that operate simultaneously" in order to understand the process of reading. One of the 12 systems and strategies that I thought was interesting and will be applied to my future students was "using systematic assessment". This section of the article stresses the importance that "good assessment is the foundation for effective teaching". I believe this to be very true, especially after attempting to assess a first grader's writing sample for the first time. After looking at all the components of the students writing it was clear to me that if I knew exactly what to look for and how to effectively teach to the students particular strengths and weaknesses it can efficiently and effectively improve the students writing. I believe this idea is the exact same with reading, if I understand what to look for and what weaknesses to target for improvement, the student will move faster toward comprehension and fluency. Assessment is "gaining information about the learners you will teach" which is why in this article Fountas, suggests that "in a comprehensive approach to literacy education, small group teaching is needed for the careful observation and specific teaching of individuals that it allows, as well as for efficiency in teaching and the social learning that benefits each student". In order for teachers to properly assess students they need to become experts in reforming groups for guided reading.  This key concept of changing group dynamic needs to be frequent because readers are growing and changing everyday. The important job of the teacher is observing these changes and conducting ongoing assessments.

While there were many valid and interesting points the author makes in this article, I was able to relate to the importance of assessment because of my current experience with it. I believe that while it will take practice, it is important for teachers to become experts in assessment.

 

 

 

 

Source:

 

Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality. Fountas, Irene C.. Reading Teacher. 12/01/2012. Vol. 66. Issue 4.

Solving words

This week, after reading a chapter on "sounding it out"  from Catching Readers Before They Fall, I  looked back at my time spent in a kindergarten classroom last year, and realized that I was helping students  blindly during their reading time. What I thought was the incorrect way to approach reading, turned out to be a great strategy. I thought this chapter was interesting because it explained the process  that emerging readers use while figuring out a word as they are reading.

I remember last year I was listening to one of the kindergartners read out loud to me, and while the student was decoding words she would sometimes invent words or just look at the pictures and not the letters. I remember how concerned I felt after seeing this child make up words while she was reading. I just assumed she was clueless and wanted to get the reading done with so she could go and play. I was also telling her to look at the letters and not the pictures because that is how she would "solve the word".  Now I realize how she was doing exactly what she should have been doing. Just like all emerging readers, she was using other information in the book to predict, decode, and solve the word.  It is in fact a useful tool for students to look at the pictures to help them make meaning, predict, and become familiar with repeated words in the story.  I now look back at this moment in my teaching career and wish I could go back and encourage everything she was doing.

*This picture book is a great example of using the pictures to predict certian words. For example if the student cannot read the word fish or Swimming, they can predict the word by looking at the illustration.



In the future I will make sure to encourage students to use all of the information that is provided on the page, including pictures! The way teachers can help students predict words or make meaning of a sentence is by modeling the sources for them. An example the chapter points out is a very authentic and simple way to show students how to figure out a word independently. The teaching model should not be overused, however when shown to students during an appropriate time it can be effective (especially for spelling). During a shared reading or writing block the teacher should be thinking aloud to demonstrate strategies while reading or spelling words. One example that I thought was great from the chapter was in a writing lesson where the teacher accidentally writes look instead of took. This is a great teaching moment for students because the teacher can think aloud by prompting students with questions such as "does that make sense in the sentence"? Once students realize that the teacher wrote look, this can open a discussion of how the ending of look and took are the same, and it teaches students to self-monitor their own spelling and reading. I think that modeling strategies such as this, becomes a great teaching moment because it is how we get students to think, question and learn from their mistakes.

Comprehension

In “Catching Readers Before they Fall”, the text discusses a variety of components that are a part of reading comprehension. Part of this recipe for helping children make meaning of their reading, involves teaching strategies, questioning, and visualizing. In order for the student to achieve a proficient level of comprehension they have to know how and when to “self- initiate” these various components.

As teachers we do not want to talk at, or spoon-feed students in how to do things. Our goal is to guide students by modeling and gradually releasing the responsibility to the student. In order to do so, we must constantly model, demonstrate, and guide practice.  The two strategies presented in the text are called spotlighting and heavy-handed. Spotlighting, involves the teacher talking about how the strategy will help the students understand a story, which involves more modeling on how to think through something. As opposed to heavy-handed, where the teacher “treats the strategy as the end goal in and of itself, as well as having the students do the strategy rather than emphasizing meaning making of texts”.  Some students may need more modeling and guided reading than others however students will eventually reach the end goal of being independent.

            

Questioning is another part of comprehension, for example in the text it discusses asking questions before, during and after a reading. I have noticed that in the previous elementary classes I have observed in students need the modeling of where to start asking questions before it becomes natural for them as they read.  Another advantage of questioning as you read is that it can keep the reader thinking on their toes. I know that when I observe teachers asking questions as they read or after they read, a student’s thinking may change or they can make meaningful new connections.

Visualization is one component that aids this comprehension. Illustrations and imagery in text is so important for readers because it allows them to enhance their comprehension. Making the picture in your head or being able to see an illustration after reading a text can help the reader make different connections that words sometimes cannot create. That is why it is so important to teach students to visualize what they are reading and have them interpret the story in their own way.

Backwards Letters (research article 1)

One topic of concern that many parents and teachers may have with young students learning literature, is appropriately addressing if a child is dyslexic. Knowing if a child has dyslexia can be confusing for many parents and teachers most of the time. I think it is important to understand as a teacher when to detect dyslexia when working with students. After reading the article "Backwards Letters: Could it be Dyslexia?" by Julie Williams, I started to grasp a better understanding of the many myths of dyslexia.

In this article the first myth discussed is,"you'll know its dyslexia when a kid flips letters or misspells a lot". I had always heard of this statement and assumed that was true, however I began to question this myth after spending time in a kindergarten classroom last year. I noticed that most of the students in the beginning of the year flipped the letters such as "b",  "d" and "P", but after the second half of the year I noticed a huge improvement in the students writing. There were still three or four students who continued to confuse writing the letters "b"and "d" however those students would pronounce the word correctly. Even while the student would write "bog" instead of "dog", they would still pronounce it with the "d" sound. I assumed because the student was still writing the letter backwards that they were  dyslexic. However, I learned from this article that "backwards letters alone do not cause worry...In Kindergarten, dyslexic kids will have trouble in several related areas, such as not making the all-important connection between letters, sounds, and the word meaning". As a result, writing words with backwards letters is not the only issue when looking at dyslexia. There is a combination of many factors that play into it.
Another common myth discussed in this article is "You can't really diagnose dyslexia until a child is seven or eight".  According to this article, it is best to intervene as soon as possible, "early intervention is key, the longer you wait the more problems grow".  This reminded me of the reading from "catching readers before they fall" because both articles emphasize how the earlier you intervene for writing and reading, the more teachers can prevent a student from falling behind. I don't think there is a specific time frame for intervention because it should be applied the first moment a student shows signs for falling behind.


Source:
Williams, Julie. 2008. Retrieved online. http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kinder_dyslexia_warning_signs/

Learning to write

Dr. Rowe states in the "Voice of Literacy" podcast, "all kids wont walk into the literacy doors the same way...If they aren't a procedural learner then its fine, instead let them pretend their way into writing." For example if a child is playing "restaurant" and writing down an order, that is developing progress. This idea of children learning while they play is very interesting to me because children are doing it all the time. They are learning when they are not even realizing it. I believe it is so important to let young children learn through play, and for teachers to design play into their lessons. Again, as we saw in the "Donut House" article from last week, the idea of play is being integrated into children's learning and the teachers lessons.

Children are not only learning from invented play but they are also learning from invented writing. In the article, Teaching Phonemic Awareness by Rasinski and Padak, they discuss research behind invented spelling. After research conducted with a group of first graders "who were encouraged to show invented spelling were more fluent writers and better word recognizers than children who experienced a traditional spelling curriculum". While in the lower grade classrooms I think it is important to hold back from criticizing young children's spelling mistakes. Even if a child is spelling the word incorrectly at first it is still showing a great deal of learning.

After seeing the writing sample from the kindergarten student in the article Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community members about Young Children's writing, it brought me back to an experience of my own last year in a Kindergarten class. I remember while I was helping out in the beginning of the year many of the students were becoming familiar with the alphabet and learning to write all of the letters. Many times I remember telling students the "correct" way of spelling a word as they wrote in their journals, however after reading about invented spelling I look back and realize that I should have just let the students continue spelling the words how they interpreted them. Another mistake I caught myself doing was reading a students writing and asking what they meant to write. After reading the article, a great way to figure out what a kindergartner is writing, can be to ask the student to read it out-loud. I think that overall it is important to encourage students early on in their writing, even though they make mistakes.
Another important way to help students write is by educating the parents. I love the idea of sending newsletters to parents informing them about different ways to incorporate writing at home.

The Reading Process

When young children first learn to read there is that moment of magic when it just clicks. As teachers, we are responsible for helping a child reach this process. In Catching Readers Before they Fall, Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, discuss "earlier rather than later intervention". This is the idea that we are letting students fall behind in reading because we let them practice inappropriate reading behaviors.  In order for teachers to help students reach their fluency in reading, intervention must take place as soon as possible.
I think it is important that struggling readers are being taught by teachers who can realize that readers are not falling behind because they are not capable of learning, but because there is a lack of expectation. The first step towards intervention is setting a high expectation for students. Every student is capable of learning to read fluently.
Following that, it is important that teachers understand the reading process system. If the teacher is knowledgeable of when to model, prompt, and alter the level of support for the child the instruction can be a success.
One interesting idea I took from the reading, is how important read aloud and think aloud discussions are. That explicit modeling has a relationship to the ZPD (zone of proximal development) which eventually becomes part of the ZAD (zone of actual Development). When teachers are modeling how to predict, and make sense of the reading by reading fluently and showing students what they are thinking, it soon becomes natural for the student after observation and practice.
In conclusion, it is important for teachers to keep in mind that every student is capable of learning to read and it is up to us to set high expectations for our students.

Literacy Dig

After going on a "Literacy Dig" with fellow classmates to our local grocery store we discovered  different forms of literacy all around us. Starting at the entrance of the grocery store we noticed signs that directed customers to the "enter" and "exit" doors. near the entrance were newsletters, a community bulletin board, and advertisements. One observation our group made was the display of specific vocabulary words that related to the type of grocery store it was. For example, if you walked through the store you would spot words such as "eco", "organic", "local", "gluten-free", "recycled", "Vegan", "non-GMO",  "coop", etc.  We also noticed that not only do certain vocabulary words appear everywhere, but so does visual literacy. As a customer walks through sections of the grocery store such as the beverage isle, there are pictures on the drinks showing the flavor. Or, if a customer walks by the yogurt section he or she could distinguish the flavor yogurt by looking at the picture (displaying a picture of a fruit). This was an interesting observation to our group because we discussed how a young child who cannot read yet will still be able to apply his or her previous knowledge to distinguish the flavor yogurt or beverage without having to read. These visuals help young children learn vocabulary by matching the picture to the word after repeated exposure. After our trip to the community grocery store we realized how much literacy is exposed to children on a daily basis. Children are constantly learning different genres of literacy outside of school without even realizing it.  

After reading "The Donut House: Real World Literacy in an Urban Kindergarten Classroom " by Rebecca Powell and Nancy Davidson, I realized how real-world literacy can be applied to lessons in creative ways. As the article explains the difference between "schooled literacy" and "real-world literacy" it was evident to me that teachers can take any idea or business model from the real world and create engaging lessons with it. 

After spending time in a 2nd grade classroom last semester I witnessed what "schooled literacy"really was. It consisted of children talking during the lesson and squirming around on the carpet because they simply did not find the lesson interesting. While it can be challenging to think of creative lessons for students, it is easier than we think. If teachers incorporate activities, skills, and ideas that students will have to face in the real world, (for example learning what a business model looks like) it will benefit students in their future and prepare them to become successful adults. Not only do taking elements and ideas from the real world create an interesting and worthwhile lesson, but "schooled literacy" can also be incorporated. 

In conclusion, I noticed how you can use something like a community grocery store to develop creative lessons for literacy in schools. A teacher can use a model as simple as a grocery store and incorporate different genres of literacy with that. For example, students can learn how to write a grocery list, or write a dialogue that a person would typically hear in a grocery store. I believe that creative ideas such as "The Donut House" should be modeled in schools more often because while students are learning, they are also interested and excited to learn. 

First Post

I will be reading all about and observing different strategies of teaching and learning in literacy for the next couple of months. Literacy is all around us and used all around the world. Stay tuned for my future posts!