Look, Talk, Play- Article 1

In the article, Looking, Thinking, Talking, Reading, Writing, Playing…Images the author Nancy Roser explores the idea of what a new literacy means and how a new literacy will not be the same for every student. For example children who use the Internet at school might not be experiencing a literacy that is totally new to them, but if a student is asked to uncover clues and meaning from a picture book, that form of literacy may be new.

Roser starts by going into detail about the importance of not only looking at images with students but also making sure that students are looking at the text and image and how they work together to create meaning. It is important that teachers help students recognize the images and use the images to collect evidence and make predictions. It is also important to go over the books design with children. Exploring what the colors, lines, shapes, and style mean about the story and how they convey certain information.

The next section of this article focuses on the importance of talk among children. Author Aidan Chambers suggests that children talk about three things:

1.     Talk about what children notice or appreciate

2.     Talk about what causes them puzzlement or concern

3.     Talk about the patterns they see and the connections they construct

This talk time is very important in the classroom because it allows students to work through their ideas and hear the ideas of other classmates. The teacher can what connections the students are making can also use the information collected as a tool. Teachers must support children as they talk about text and encourage them to look outside the story and look at all of the other aspects of the book to make meaning.

Lastly the article discusses the idea of creating representations of meaning through play. The idea is that children play out the ideas or story of something they have read in the classroom. Children are able to experience the story from the inside by creating dialogue for the characters, themes, and feelings. By experiencing the story through play they are experiencing it first hand and it can help children layer new meanings from the story and different interpretations and depictions of characters. I personally believe that this is one of the best, but most overlooked way to help children create meaning and understand the text they are reading. It allows them to think about the story in a new way that other exercises do not allow.