Word Power

With a background and big interest in most things literature based, I thought I knew a lot about literacy. That was, until I taught emergent readers.

At the beginning of this year, I volunteered myself to take our habitat's emergent readers on. It was a challenge I really wanted, and I really needed it to prove to myself my literary abilities. It wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. I think almost everyday I initiated a conversation with our school literacy expert, gathering little tidbits of information and help where I could. 

I'm feeling a little bit more confident now, and six months later I can see the progress in the children. More important than just noticing reading levels increase, I am noticing changes in their oral language, alphabet knowledge, phonics, concepts about print (that was something I had never considered before with older students!), listening, writing, the list goes on! More than that, I had taken it for granted for so long that children would know how to spell their first and last name (let alone what their last name actually was!), and would know about concepts such as beginning/end, opposites and that things had to make sense! It really has been huge learning for me.

I have been fortunate enough to extend myself through some professional development as well:

• A Ready to Read course (provided by Otago Literacy Association)
• Observation of teachers in our other habitat
• Observation at another local school in their NE-Y1 block
• Observation of our literacy leader working with my students
• In-house Teacher Meeting looking at ELPs Dimensions of Effective Practice
• Being observed with formal written feedback

The final one was a great way to finish the term and see some affirmation. It was great to see that:

• I'm doing a great job of introducing and de-bugging the book
• This children (but I think most/all) are really keen to read
• I'm encouraging correction through use of visual and meaning clues
• I step in at the appropriate time (this particular child can get quite stressed), but not too early to encourage learned helplessness

What does this mean for me now?

I need to allow the child to read on further (than I am allowing) to see if they can correct themselves and I need to show less hinting on my face. 

With the guided reading coming along reasonably well, my focus for next term is working on shared reading.

Phonological Awareness

 

Thank you Helen for posting these questions to think about! Here's what I think!

HA: Will be interested to see how today's Phonological Awareness training sits with prior knowledge...
Did it:
- Confirm what you already knew?
- Build on some of your base understanding?
- Get you to think in a new way about language development?

Confirm what I already knew?

With a background in linguistics and a general interest in language (particularly phonology and oral language), it was great to have some self-confirmation that I was doing ok - even now that I'm working with an entirely different age level and even a stage level I have not yet experienced.

Build on understanding?

Yes, it was good to be reminded of a few things that are crucial to language development at certain stages. I had completely forgotten about syllables! They are now in my plan. It was also good to be reminded of the importance of scaffolding - no wonder the children struggled at literacy time to generate rhyming words straight off the top of their heads!

Thinking about language development?

It's probably not new thinking for me - it has concerned me for some time that an increasing number of children seem to be starting school without good oral language and phonological awareness. ECE is going to become a integral part of this language development, and it wasn't until today that I found out that most ECE teachers are not trained in phonological awareness. 

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day regarding the 'state' of children's language. As an ex-linguist my argument was that language is constantly evolving. I'm sure those who spoke Old English were just as aghast as we are about what was happening to language. I have to admit though - the 'development' (or is it regression?) does worry me - I do have that natural tendency to want to protect the perfectly good version of English we've got!

What will reading look like?

Previously I have taught Years 4-6 and this year with Year 1-4s has been quite a learning curve. I was ready for the move and have found the first few weeks insightful and I am beginning to understand now the development of the full child - mainly the social and the fundamental skills. Now it is time for us all to dive fully into the reading programme. I have taught some very low readers before and have been fortunate enough to have worked with and guided by some great RTLBs and literacy experts. My background in linguistics and affiliation with the Canterbury Literacy association has led me to put my hand up to work with the very emergent readers in our habitat. It's a challenge I'm really looking forward to.

I had heard a lot about Daily 5, but had not read the book or followed the programme. I knew a colleague had tried it before, so I asked to borrow her book. She was more than happy to oblige, however gave it to me with a warning. She said something along the lines of, "I'm sure much of it you're doing already without even noticing. This is very prescriptive - it's worth a read, but I don't think it's necessary to follow it completely." 

She was absolutely right - especially for the environment we are working in where flexibility plays a big part in our day. 

The Daily 5 principles are: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work.

How might this work for me? I envisage some stations set up each week, based on the 5 principles. Each day children have to complete at least three. They have to complete each one at least once over the week. Self-direction is key to engagement, so I believe the children should be given some choice. They could be given a sheet at the beginning of each week with the names on it. Each activity has some smiley faces beside it. Every time a child completes that activity, they colour in a smily face. As long as they are spending some time on each of the key literacy principles through quality activities, I'm a happy teacher.

Ideas for stations

Read to Self
big books
poetry
picture books
browsing box

Read to Someone
stuffed toys
buddy
iPads
poem on stage

Listen to reading
sunshine online
other online stories (two for week)
buddy
music with words

Work on Writing
letter formation hair gel bags
handwriting iPads
creating words from letters
self-planning (prior to workshop)
choice writing

Word work
sight words games
letter/sound of the week activities
word finds
spelling challenges


Will this be a reality? I will only know after spending some time with the learners.