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.