Literate Environment Analysis

1. Literate Environment Analysis Sara Kennedy Walden University

2. Getting to Know Literacy Learners (Pre-K to 3rd Grade) • To begin getting to know student’s as literacy learners, it is important to understand how they feel about reading. • Administering the ERAS: Elementary Reading Attitude Survey is a good way to begin this process. (McKenna & Kear, 1990) This survey is a short examination of how students feel about reading, both for pleasure and in school assignments. • I used the results of the ERAS to develop lesson plans based on student’s needs. The results of this survey also helped me determine which students were more motivated to read for pleasure, and which students simply read when assigned to do so in the classroom. • To help increase student’s motivation to read, I brought in books that the students would find interesting. I added new nonfiction books about sports, as well as several magazines about other high interest subjects. Almost immediately, I noticed more students choosing to go into the classroom library.

3. Selecting Texts • There are millions of choices for selecting texts within a classroom. It is important to keep in mind the academic levels and interest of the students within the classroom when selecting texts for them to read. • Texts should include much more than just traditional novels and short stories. Students should be exposed to all types of different texts including magazines, journal articles, and technology based texts. • According to Castek, Bevans-Mangelson, & Goldstone (2006), students are becoming more technically advanced at younger ages. As educators, we should allow students to use technology in literature. • In the last few weeks, I have begun to allow students to read more texts online, including using the website Tumblebooks.com. (Castek, Bevans-Mangelson, & Goldstone, 2006) Tumblebooks.com is an internet website where students are able to select a short story to hear read aloud. The actual text is highlighted along the bottom of the page, and there are moving pictures to help keep the student’s attention. My students have enjoyed using this website so much that they ask daily to log in.

4. Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective • The interactive perspective is the actual process of teaching students how to read. The interactive perspective can include teaching phonics, letter recognition, reading strategies, and various other reading skills. • Due to the fact that I teach second grade, a great deal of my day is spent with the interactive perspective. • One strategy that I use often to help teach students how to read is choral reading. (Tompkins, 2010, p. 431) Choral reading is when the teacher reads a text aloud (usually one sentence at a time), and students repeat the text aloud. Most often, I have students follow along with their finger as I read, and move their finger back to the beginning before they echo the reading. Using this strategy provides a non-threatening environment for students to both hear and see the text before being asked to read it.

5. Literacy Lesson:Critical and Response Perspectives • Thecritical and response perspectives deal with teaching students how to critically examine a text and respond to their feelings about the text. This can include generating questions about the text before, during, and after reading, finding the author’s purpose, writing a letter to a character from the text, and many other activities. • To help my students become comfortable with expressing their personal opinions about a text, I use several different strategies. One activity that I often do in my classroom is Thumbs Up Or Down. After reading a text, each student will get an opportunity to show either a thumb up or a thumb down, depending on how they feel about the text. If a student really enjoyed a text, and would enjoy reading it again (or something similar to it), they give a thumbs up. However, if a student did not enjoy reading the text, they can give a thumbs down. According to Dombro, Jablon, and Stetson, (2011), this activity helps students become aware of their own opinions, as well as begin to understand that their peers may have a different opinion.

6. Literacy Lesson:Critical and Response Perspectives • Another activity that I often use to focus on the critical and response perspectives is a RAFT project. (Tompkins, 2010) RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. During a RAFT, students are given several tiered projects and make choices as to which projects they want to complete. Allowing students to have choice in their assignments provides students with an opportunity to take ownership of their learning. • A sample RAFT project could include: • Role: • Who will you be during this project? Possible answers include a book character, a famous person, or themselves. • Audience: • Who will view this project? Possible audience members are other students, teachers, parents, and community members. • Format: • How will you complete this project? Possible projects include a poster, essay, scrapbook, computer presentation, etc. • Topic: • What is your project about? Possible answers include responding to a text, answering an essential question, etc.

7. References • Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714–728. • Dombro, A. L., Jablon, J., & Stetson, C. (2011). Powerful interactions how to connect with children to extend their learning. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). • 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, MA: Allyn & Bacon.