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.

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.

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.

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.