Emergent literacy and the idea that students come to kindergarten with at least some understanding of reading is important for educators to understand because we can base our differentiation in this idea. Some students come to kindergarten able to read far beyond kindergarten level while other students come with very little understanding of knowledge of literacy. Those students still have some understanding or knowledge of literacy because words are everywhere and children are naturally curious about the world around them. Even if a student cannot recognize any words they have still seen words on television, posters, at the grocery store and any other number of places the student has been. It is necessary to work with these students to help them grasp the concept that what they are seeing means something beyond its appearance.
The book also presents the story of Goldilocks with all of the pictures beside the sentences. This idea helps students bridge the gap between what they know and the words on the page. This is such a simple idea but it is a powerful tool in teaching early literacy. Students are able to connect the pictures of things they are familiar with to new either an individual word or the concept that the words actually represent different things the student already is knowledgeable about.
Ultimately, it is very important for teachers to meet students where they are and take time to advance each student’s knowledge of literacy. Literacy is important to learn in the early stages of a student’s education so that the student will be successful in school and in life.
I agree with you. The problem with illiteracy is often multigenerational and I believe that it is important as future educators that we find different ways to teach reading instruction that will accommodate and benefit every student so that they can be successful in school and in life. However, literacy learning begins in infancy and I feel it is important that families provide a literacy-rich environment that literacy experiences at home to help children acquire skills. It is important that families are constantly involved in their children's literacy learning. If the child is receiving literacy experiences at home and at school the child is able to develop reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing in coordination with content-are subjects. Literacy development focuses on both learning and teaching. As future educators it is important that we find different ways to teach the children in our classroom that will help them be successful. We must encourage out students to be actively involved and allow them to collaborate with one another. By doing this, students will be able to help each other in different ways which will motivate and engage the individuals learning.
ReplyDeleteStandardized testing is always a heated topic. But I ask the same questions. Why are we so obsessed? If students were failing or falling behind was there something else that could have been done? Are there other alternatives? These are great questions. Personally I am not a good test taker and always feel overwhelmed and anxious when I have to take a test. The book says that standardized testing indicates whether a child had reached maturity to be ready to learn or read. Is this fair? I feel that there are other ways to see if a child has matured and is ready to learn or read. Standardized testing does not wait for a child's maturation to unfold but instead expects educators to focus on nurturing that maturation through instruction in skills that prerequisites for reading. How is this fair if students learn at different rates? What if the child fails or fall behind? What action is taken then? There are advantages and disadvantages of standardized testing and both have avid points.
ReplyDeleteIlliteracy is such a sad topic to deal with. I didn't realize it, but I do take being able to read for granted. I think to ensure that our students aren't illiterate we need to create a love of reading. This can be done by giving students choice. When they are learning to read, we need to let them choose books to look at the pictures and "storytell" from. When they're actually reading and putting the words together, we can give them suggestions from a specific leveled bin of books, but we should never assign reading to students. I went through this as a child. I loved reading in elementary school and even in middle school. I had the choice to read what I wanted. Once I was in high school and had teachers telling me what to read, my passion for reading went away. I know this is emergent literacy so we are dealing with students who are just starting to learn how to read. If we want them to like it, we need to encourage them to choose books that they want to read. Students will be willing to read more often if they have choice. By reading more often, we can hopefully start to end the illiterate issue in America.
ReplyDeleteliteracy is something that can have such a big impact on the rest of your education. I was also very surprised that in the first chapter of the textbook they would point out such a flash, but then it makes me think if this is something that is addressed from the start then this must be a big issue that needs to be resolved soon. I also feel that learning to read is something that many people take for granted. When it comes to helping the students grasp the meaning of its words and teaching them that they are there for more that just its appearance I couldn't agree more. When i was growing up I always had a book shelf in my room full of books I could choose from at any point. Although, when I was young it was mostly just story telling from the pictures, like in the Goldilocks example. I think that giving children choice in quality literature is extremely important in raising a life long learner. Literacy starts at such a young age, it is important for the child to enjoy reading!
ReplyDeleteHaley, your post reminded me of something I did as a child when I was a kindergarten student. Although I have forgotten all of these occurrences since they were from forever ago, my mom told me that I always was trying to guess the words on signs and buildings and make connections between them. Like you pointed out in your post, this is the young child being curious and trying to understand his or her world without knowing any formal words. My mom did an outstanding job fostering this curiosity and was always quizzing me to compare what I saw to other materials that had letters on them. We as teachers have the ability to foster this curiosity with all of our students. Challenge them to find ten “C’s” when they go home or have them identify the letters on the road signs they pass. Having them not only recognize how words can be in books, but in fact how letters and words are relevant and are all around us in the “real world” allows for the literary learning process to occur throughout the day. This strategy in particular would help students in Kindergarten through second grade who are having trouble identifying letters, letter patterns, and words.
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