Literacy Class

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> This course taught me immense amounts about emergent literacy. It also facilitated the relationships I had with the child care teachers in my family’s center. I was also able to help the teachers and inform their work as much as they have informed mine. I also learned that my experiences in research could facilitate discussion, but I had to speak up more. This class format was certainly different than the others I have had here at UNC. This was an interesting experience that forced me to push my boundaries with my classmates and form educational bonds with them. For an introvert like me, this was extremely difficult but very rewarding.

I had never had any experience with academic articles addressing read alouds in the classroom. I knew that the more you read to kids, the better the literacy skills they could potentially achieve. I asked some preschool teachers about how often they read the same books to their class, and how they children acted about the same books. One teacher told me that she is highly child directed when it comes to reading a book repeatedly. She stated that for two weeks once she read the same book every day to a group of children. She said by the end of the first week, the children were reading the book to her. By the end of the second week, the children had made up their own version of the book and were acting it out for her.

I applied her comments to what this article has told us about literacy and children’s book read alouds. The processes she told me that happened in her classroom closely paralleled what the article describes as effective literacy practices. I actually had the opportunity to watch her kids retell the story in their own words. Their play was based off of the book “The dot”. My favorite part was when the children showed off all of their own artwork and described how the little girl in the book did the same. I was amazing to see the connections to literacy these children were building and having fun doing it.

In the Rowe article, I learned about shared cultural contexts and social contracts. I was really excited about this article at first, because it would address the needs of diversity within the classroom and how teachers build on the strengths of the culturally diverse children. I was a little disappointed when the study sample was revealed to be only white middle class children and teachers. I have no bias against the norm, but it kindof dampened my enthusiasm about the knowledge about culturally sensitive literacy in this article.

The ideas of social contracts are an interesting one to me. The child is learning the conventions of book reading and norms through the conveyance of rules set forth by the teacher or parent. I had never though of these conventions as contracts. By thinking of them as such, then it becomes easier to generalize to other cultures with other contracts. By understanding the contracts parents and teachers of other cultures convey to their children, a better understanding can be reached. When understanding about norms is reached, then a true bridge or learning can be built.

This paper was very good at breaking down the social contracts and abilities of children so that it was easy to understand where the children were, and what was expected of them. I used this breakdown in the classroom with one of my teachers, and by getting her to write down her expectations she found that she was able to communicate better with her students. The children better understood what was expected of them. She is now using a sort of social contract system in her classroom, and not just with literacy activities, but with rules and other learning environments.

In the article, N is for nonsensical, I became increasingly frustrated and irritated at the value judgments that the author was making about a classroom and generalizing it too all “low income” child care classrooms around the country. I loved how she went into a low income child care environment to “observe”. She went in to judge, and subsequently belittle and shame the classroom and teachers.

My favorite sentence was “economically disadvantaged children do not do well in our society”. Oh really? Should we give up? Should we lock away all “disadvantaged” children early since they will not do well? What do you mean by “do well”? This author is clearly coming from a mainstream point of view that is ignoring the richness of diversity and experiences of those who are apart or “othered”.

I understand that the author did conduct research on library use and literacy skills by economic advantage and disadvantage. However, I think that there are a multitude of conflicting factors that do directly influence economic advantage, library use, and literacy skills. I am aware that she is speaking about how children learn, instead of what. She is forgetting, though, that some sections of society value compliance and only speaking and asking questions when prompted. Not all children are encouraged by their culture and families to be inquisitive and appear middle class.

Phonemic awareness is one of the most integral lessons we can teach our young children. This provides the children building blocks from which they can scaffold and better understand more complex literacy lessons and interactions. However, whose responsibility is it to ensure that the children are learning and acquiring the skills that are imperative to their later learning? In the opening portion of this literacy paper, the IRA made clear that they felt like the teachers were the ones falling behind on their responsibilities for teaching young children these skills.

One portion of this statement paper I would like to applaud is how the writers underscore the fact that children learn at different rates and have different learning styles. The writers understand that although literacy is important, it is also important to understand what they child knows and what the child can learn.

I asked our teachers in the More at Four classroom what they though phonemic awareness was and how they implemented it in their classroom. The teachers did not understand the term of “phonemic” or “phonemes” but could explain how they used literacy in the classroom. This made me wonder about how the terms and lessons taught in different classrooms can be conveyed the same, but look and sound totally different. The teachers did not know what phonemes were, but did understand the fundamental building blocks of words. I wonder what this means for the classroom, resources I can provide to the teachers, and lessons the teachers can learn themselves.

Literacy is a social process. That statement is something I agree with totally. Although some forms of literacy can be purely personal in nature, most manifestations of literacy are social in nature. I loved how Rowe addressed a specific population of children that is typically left out of research on literacy due to their age. We have discussed in class how pre-literacy develops and comes to fruition in children.

I am concerned about special populations and how they are effected by the differential ways they are exposed to print and literacy in their lives. For example, parents of children who do not read the newspaper or print often may have a different set of skills they bring with them to kindergarten. Their “contracts of literacy” may be written in different languages, with different literacy norms, or with different literacy rules and values.

One interesting thing I found is the description of the “rules” that are between parent and child. Rules that include pictures as merely pictures, and as a book as a reading implement and not a toy. In my job, I watch parents reading to their children through a picture book task. Many of the parents I see also subconsciously transmit these rules to their children. For instance, if the child wants to chew on or throw the book, the parent will stop this behavior and model the desired behaviors. Even working with the special population that I have, it seems that some “rules” about literacy and book reading are universal.

Recontextualizing is one of the best ideas I have read about when addressing the specific needs of ELL learners in the classroom. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory also speaks to the concepts addressed in this paper. Children learn best when they can make connections between what they know at the microsystemic level, and relate to other, more distal levels. This also plays into the notions of scaffolding. Teachers provide a basic common ground that acknowledges where the child is beginning to learn. From there, the child can be taught to read by bridging what is known with novel concepts.

I was offended as a teacher when the author wrote “Rather than students like Joaquín being written off as stupid,”. I think some children fall between the cracks, and yes some are written off. However, ELL’s are not automatically deemed stupid because of their learning differences. Some teachers may not understand their special needs, but I do believe that most teachers understand and are willing to work with a child with a different set of skills. Stupid should not be in any teacher’s vocabulary.

This class has been very interesting to me. I am not a teacher in a classroom, but rather a researcher who is assessing what is written about what is happening in classrooms. It intrigues me that my classmates have such varied experiences, but face many of the same frustrations and hardships together.

The case studies have by far been my favorite part of this course. Not only are we applying what we “know” to real world situations, but we all have a chance to directly effect what is happening in the classroom environment. My group did not come up with a solution for our case, but we did offer some new suggestions for the teacher to try. I will be interested to see if the suggestions work.

I have also really enjoyed learning about the stages of literacy and pre-literacy. I learned a lot from the IRA’s Position Statement on Literacy Development in the Preschool Years:

“This position statement separated these characteristics: oral language development, phonological / phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, print knowledge, spelling; from these experiences: storybook reading, discussion about books, listening comprehension, writing.”

I had never thought about the differences between the two experiences. I thought both just naturally intertwined within the classroom. Now I understand that literacy development facilitation is more than just reading to a child and exposing him/her to print.

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