Loving Literacy

When looking back over all of my blog entries, I noticed there was a recurring theme of me not having exposure to certain concepts and situations involving literacy. I seemed to preface a lot of things with, “I’m not a teacher but…”, and would reiterate the fact that I am a school psychologist. As a school psychologist, we have a different perspective on things and students. Recently,  for example, I did an evaluation of a student who was reported by his teachers to have some behavior issues. During testing, he was great and was off the charts with his IQ and achievement. When I observed him, he was quiet as a mouse and did everything he was told to do. After that, I of course was like, “Why in the world am I evaluating him, he’s a great student!” That was because I only got a snapshot of what he’s like and he wasn’t misbehaving when I observed him. I know I need to be more careful of that and really do a better job of taking on the perspective of a teacher, instead of my own biased view.

Blogging for me has been a great way of putting my thoughts out there and getting feedback from other educators. Here I go with the “I’m not a teacher” thing again, but I was not familiar with a lot of the early literacy concepts and assessments. I liked reading teacher blogs where they gave real-life examples of how they did things in their classrooms. I enjoyed getting advice and thoughts from people who have been there and done that. I was often inspired by the blogs and comforted by the fact that there are some really great, committed teachers out there! It’s nice to be in a community of educators where we all are in it for the best interest of the student.

Overall, I think I have learned a great deal about emergent literacy concepts. I feel more comfortable applying those concepts to real students and helping them. One of the biggest things I think I have learned from reading classmates’ blogs and this class in general, is not to go into a situation with preconceived notions about students. What really emphasized that point to me was my kidwatching project. As I said in class, I honestly didn’t think he would be able to do the running record, but he sure surprised the heck out of me with his 76% accuracy rate! I know in the future not to ever underestimate what kids can do. They can always do something. As we learn in class, it’s important not to have that deficit thinking. If you think they can’t do anything, then you’ll have lower expectations of them and they may not reach their full potential.

I learned that you can use the simplest situations and turn them into an opportunity to enhance a child’s literacy skills. Lastly, I learned that your classmates/colleagues can often be some of your greatest resources/teachers, and to take every opportunity to learn from them. This class has been a great way for me to learn about literacy and I know I will take what I learned and use it as a school psychologist.

Chapter 8, “Engaging Families”, in the Barone, Mallette, & Xu book first of all reminded me of the cross-cultural counseling class the school psyc students had last semester. It highly emphasized the significance of learning about the cultures of the students and families with which you work, and not assuming anything about anyone.

I liked reading the chapter’s suggestions for learning about the student’s home literacy experiences, and was reminded of a home visit that I did earlier in the school year at my practicum site, with the social worker. The neighborhood was a government housing project. We went in the morning, as the social worker said that was the best time to go, since not everyone is awake yet. The social worker needed to talk to the mom of a student who had been absent multiple times. The mom was pregnant with her fifth child, on welfare, etc.  They just had their electricity turned back on that day. I will spare you all the other details about the situation, but, as you can imagine, it was less than an ideal setting for any child to be raised. I thought, “no wonder the child has been absent so many times”.  The same could be said if it was a child from a similar situation, that had poorly developed literacy skills. These families may not have access to books and resources that will encourage their children’s literacy skills to grow. They also may not have the knowledge or the time to spend to support literacy development. This is extremely important to keep in mind as educators.  Although there isn’t anything we can really do about the environment from which they come, like Chapter 8 reiterates, it must be considered. If you know that your student comes from a home similar to the one I talked about, then you will (hopefully) be more understanding of the literacy skills the student has, and be able to create strategies specifically for them and their situation. I think teachers, and/or school psychologists, could use this as a teaching opportunity for not only the students, but for the families as well. Perhaps if they are taught how they can be supportive of the student’s literacy development, then they will be more likely to do so. Depending on the number of students the teacher has, however, it may be difficult for them to visit each individual family. It is definitely worth a shot though. I know from my experience with the home visit that it gives you a new perspective on the student and their particular situation, so I hope to be able to make more home visits in the future.

I enjoyed the article by Cristina Gillanders about the teacher-child relationship on English language learning. She did a thorough job with her research-visiting the classroom 51 times! It sounds like the teacher she observed, Sarah, used great strategies in establishing an atmosphere in which her students felt comfortable and accepted.  I thought the concept of the “double bind”, in which ELLs must learn English to be socially accepted, but to be socially accepted they must speak English, was an interesting concept. I’d never thought of it that way before. Most of the time, I think of ELLs in terms of their academics, not thinking of the social impact it may have on them. It made me start to think that school psychologists could help ELLs in this capacity, at least until teacher education programs start to incorporate more traning on working with kids from diverse backgrounds. School psychologists could lead social skills groups with a mixture of ELLs and native English speakers, attempting to integrate them and realize that they have more in common than they might think. We could also hold in-services with teachers, in which we give them tips on managing a classroom with ELLs. I know I, myself, need to learn more about working with ELL students. Like the article says, a teacher can make a crucial difference in the success and adjustment of ELL students, and create that nurturing, positive environment, even if they do not speak Spanish (or other languages) fluently.

I found the video about supporting English language learners, as well as the book chapter about it, to be both informative and helpful. In the book, it was interesting to learn about the three dimensions of language proficiency that Cummins (2003) established. These dimensions are conversational fluency, discrete language skills, and academic language.  It was also helpful to get strategies for increasing the comprehension skills of ELLs, such as books on tape. I have not yet had the opportunity to work with ELLs, but I know I will eventually, so the knowledge in this chapter will help me figure out the best approach to assessment.

In the video, a good point was made about not assuming students come in with certain background knowledge, and the importance of finding out what they do know. It’s crucial to use this as a starting point so you can figure out where to go from there in terms of instruction. I like how the video talks about the importance of continuing to incorporate the student’s native language in to their English language learning. It makes sense to do this, not only because it’s part of their culture, but because it is hard to go from speaking all Spanish to being expected to speak in their native langage. I like the idea of slowly transitioning them from one to the other, while still keeping their native language. Finally, I enjoyed the videos in the classrooms and was happy to see successful ELL programs.

Like April Wa. said in regard to repeated readings, the fact that children with visual impairments are at risk of experiencing delays in the development of language and literacy=duh! Was this a surprise to anyone else? Maybe I shouldn’t assume it is a well known fact, but it seems like it is pretty much a given that children who have a visual impairment will experience delays. They are experiencing the world in a totally different way from most people. They don’t have the benefit of visually matching things they see with words they say. I think this study, however, is very helpful. I like how they emphasize using very descriptive, oral language. For example, when the teacher described the Japanese fans and the plastic spider. I definitely agree that helps compensate for not being able to see the objects.  I also like that they recommended specific strategies at the end to promote the three components of emergent literacy. It is a good resource for anyone that may come into contact with children with visual impairments.

I was excited when I saw that this week’s reading is about Running Records, because it is something with which I have prior experience and that I actually know something about! We school psychologists learned about them as a Curriculum Based Assessment. I have only done a couple but definitely plan to get more experience with them and use them as a practicing school psychologist. I think Running Records are great if they are used appropriately and can give helpful information regarding fluency, comprehension, etc. I would like recommendations (if anyone has any), however, on how it could be used with a 4-year-old, if at all. My child for my kidwatching project just turned 4 in February. He can recognize and write SOME letters on his own. He recognizes his name, as well as Mickey Mouse, since that is one of his favorite things. So, I’m thinking that doing a Running Record with him will be a near impossibility. Any suggestions?? Thanks

The article, “Nurturing Emergent Readers Through Readers Theater”, by Kelli Jo Kerry Moran, was pretty intriguing to me. I think it sounds like a great idea in which to get children of all ages involved. I think it would be a little more difficult, however, with younger children, esp. if they can’t read. Obviously, you would have to modify some of the lines or just have them say a couple of things that are easy to remember. I wonder if any of the teachers in the class have done this before and how did it go?  Readers Theater sounds like something to not only help students develop their literacy skills, but also get them more comfortable with speaking in front of others. Though some kids are more shy than others, I would think for the most part that most kids would jump at the chance to do something like this. I know I would have loved it as a kid! Like it says in the article, children want to perform well in front of others so they will be more motivated to practice their performance.  It would take a lot of patient on the part of the teacher and the students, but like it says, it is important to be persistent. Overall, it sounds like a great way to help literacy skills evolve, and I would love to see it in action one day!

When I first read in Chapter 5 about the internet and computers helping children with their beginning literacy skills, I was not so crazy about the idea, and I’m still not completely sold on it. I think it depends on how it is used. If it is in fact, merely used to supplement other instruction, and it still engages the children, then I definitely think it could be useful. I could see it becoming a problem, however, if it is the only thing used to teach literacy skills. I know that is not the capacity in which they were talking about it, but it’s important to be aware of that fine line. I feel there are many benefits to classroom and one-on-one skill instruction when it comes to literacy. It is also important for children to communicate with each other and explore things, instead of staring at a computer screen.  So, overall, I think it can be used, as long as it is how they describe, a support.

“But it is up to teachers to recognize that children’s existing frames of reference are the primary raw material for new learning, rather than some static predetermined academic language”

The above quote, taken directly from “A culpable CALP: Rethinking the conversational/academic language proficiency distinction in early literacy instruction” by Maren Aukerman, is one that I absolutely agree with. While I was reading this article, I kept thinking to myself how arbitrary the CALP seems. I know it is useful in some respects, as we need some way to determine the language level of english language learners, but it also seems too restrictive. Language is such a broad concept that it is really hard to base someone’s knowledge off of how their language was at one certain point and time. Like the quote says, it is important to look at the child, their experiences, and from where they are coming, and base their language learning off of that, instead of solely on a score. I think it is still important to consider their CALP, just don’t neglect other factors that influence their language learning.

On Tuesday, I had my very first session with the child I’m using for my Kidwatching project. He is three, and will be four on Feb. 14th! I did the assessment of name writing activity and was very impressed that he was able to represent all the letters in his name except for the “e”. He was very close though! I will talk about this more with my group tomorrow, but I what I found interesting is that he was very adamant about not drawing a picture of himself. Obviously, I wasn’t going to push the issue as I wanted him to cooperate with me! Instead of drawing himself, he said he wanted to draw something “yummy and delicious”. He proceeded to draw a circle with a green crayon, that he said was a cantelop. He then told me to color it in. Cantelope is one of his favorite things to eat but I was just curious as to why he didn’t want to draw himself? Don’t most kids want to draw pictures of themselves? I could be completely overanalyzing this, as he may have just not been in the mood for it. Any insight?