Think Beyond Print - Article 2

In the article, Critical Lessons and Playful Literacies: Digital Media in PK – 2 Classrooms, the author Nicholas Husbye expresses the importance of children developing new literacies and the importance to include print, sound, image, and movement. This article explores different ways children can develop literacy skills in the classroom through play and using new media. Children in three different grades used play to create stories and record them in various ways. 

In the first scenario students were given manila folders with different puppets and scenery items. They students then worked in groups to create a story for their puppets and use their other items to create a set. Through this play/storytelling the students collaborate, negotiate, make meaning, and create relationships. The teachers in this scenario worried this unstructured method might be leaving out important aspects of literacy because the students were not required to write drafts or create story boards. The teachers also worried about individual accountability for the children and how it should work within this setting. Finally the teachers realized that collaboration should be valued more than individual production when looking at student’s work.

As teachers observed the students creating and recording their stories they realized how much the students were learning and growing through creating their own sets, deciding on character movements, and character dialogue. By choosing the puppets positioning they were relaying emotions and unspoken information about their stories. Teachers also realized the importance of all of the students in these groups, even the students who were out of frame. These students were making sure the overall production was matching the story they were telling. Students behind the cameras were getting the correct angles and close-ups that also helped tell the story.

When looking at this situation in a preschool classroom it looks somewhat different. Since the students were just beginning to learn to use a camera their shots were not as consistent and it was more difficult to create meaning from the camera angles and positioning. While using play and storytelling was still successful, the children had more issues working in groups at this young age. Relationships were tested in groups and power struggles occurred. However, I think it is still important to allow students this opportunity so that they can learn to successfully work in groups and negotiate items of importance. I found it noteworthy that interest in the project spiked when the students were allowed to review their work on a large screen immediately after they had recorded it. This allowed the students to fix their mistakes and be critical of the work they were creating.

Overall I think this article should inspire teachers to think beyond print when they are thinking about literacy. Although reading and writing are still important these situations show that students can learn in a way that is more enjoyable for them and possibly more productive. I think that using play and new media allows children to explore techniques other than writing such as acting, set design, and production that they might not have explored otherwise. This article shows the importance of teachers questioning what can count as literacy in the classroom and exploring those boundaries.

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.

The Importance of Assessment

Today teachers, parents, and our government often misuse assessment. Assessment should be used as a tool for teachers to guide their instruction.  Catching Readers Before They Fall suggest using a number of different methods and strategies to assess students.  Teachers must use authentic, ongoing, and informative assessments to make sure that they are able to tailor the instruction for large groups, small groups, and individuals. By doing this teachers are able to tell which students are struggling in certain areas, as well as who is ready to move on to greater challenges. By observing students you are assessing them. By observing students behaviors, struggles, and strengths while working will help teachers make sure that they are creating a proper system to keep them moving forward in their learning.

Using both informal and formal tools to assess students is very important. Informal tools include observing a student as they engage in work and taking notes during individual reading time. Formal tools include running records and benchmark assessments. Running records are described as a tool for recording and then interpreting how children work on texts. These records help teachers determine which strategies are being used as well as information about what text is appropriate for a child.

Catching Readers Before They Fall goes into great detail about documenting and organizing the information that teachers collect when assessing students. It is very important that this information be organized well so that teachers can keep track of each student and see their progress through the year, not just from one assessment to the next. This also allows teachers to easily see what each student needs to work on, but can also help the teacher plan whole-group instruction for the next week as well as small group lessons. It is important that when tracking a student’s progress the information is kept private. Teachers should not post progress publicly as it can be very damaging to a child.

Leveled Reading

I know that today it is very common for teachers to use leveled reading within their classrooms. I always thought that leveled reading made sense as long as you aren’t overly strict and limiting about what a child can read. Looking at the article, Let’s Start Leveling about Leveling, an article by Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford that dives into the realities of guided reading.

The article starts by pointing out that leveled reading is not having the success rate in the classroom that most thought it would have. It was quickly clear to me why this might be happening when the article looks at the rage of words in each level of reading.  We see that the highest leveled readers could be reading an average of 800 more words a week than the lower levels. In this example, the strongest readers get the most practice at reading words, and the gap between the high-level and the low-level can unintentionally widen.

It seems important that teachers consider other factors when making a decision about a child’s reading level, such as reader interest, vocabulary, and background knowledge. Finding a good match between a reader and text extremely important so as not to limit the child’s reading variety. When putting children in a leveled group they are put in a category that defines them when the children within the group are very different and have different instructional needs. Children need a variety of texts that can provide them a challenge and offer high-level thinking and independence.

Overall teachers must be more flexible in their approach to using leveled texts in the classroom. Giving students an option and not limiting their growth and love of reading is very important. The authors offer some good suggestions about how to use leveled reading in your classroom and overcome the obstacles it can produce:

•        Encourage students to read books that interest them and support them through shared and paired reading
•        Choose authors that write books at multiple levels so children can find accessible titles by the author
•           Meet more often with children who have greater needs
•       Establish cross-age grouping for reading

Comprehension

While reading a portion of Catching Readers Before They Fall, I was very intrigued about the chapter on comprehension. The book points out that teachers are trying to increase their student’s comprehension while reading. Thinking back to learning to read myself I can remember feeling like the focus was on how well I was reading but not how much of the text I was understanding. I am currently observing a third grade classroom and I feel that although many of the students are “reading well” that they are not reading in a way that they are actually understanding or following the story. It seems as though especially when they are asked to read out loud that they are focused on reading fast and proficiently, but it seems to me that they are only reading the words and not thinking about what they are actually reading.

This chapter discusses the idea of implicitly teaching reading process strategies to students or now. While I always considered myself a “good reader” I still think that I would have benefited from someone clearly pointing out these comprehension strategies. The book mentions an example of a student who was considered a good reader and always made good grades in elementary school but struggled when entering high school and college because she wasn’t taught to examine the text and use strategies to deepen her understanding.

I think it is important for us as teachers to make sure that students ask questions of the text and make mental pictures of what is happening. I also think it is very important for us to teach our students to summarize and point out the main ideas of a reading and participate in discussions about the reading. Overall I think we need to make sure that our students know that a proficient readers doesn’t just read well aloud but used different strategies to help themselves understand and make meaning of the text.