1. Literate Environment Analysis
Amber Donnelly
Walden University
Dr. Bernice Gregory
EDUC 6706: The Beginning Reader, PreK-3

2. Defining a Literate Environment
• “The literacy rich environment emphasizes the
importance of speaking, reading, and writing in the
learning of all students” (The Access Center, n.d.)
• Involves:
 Getting to know your students
 Selecting materials that will facilitate language and
literacy development
 Taking on multiple perspectives when reading  helps
us become well-rounded readers
 Reflection
 Giving students multiple opportunities to experiment
with reading and writing
 Peer interaction
 Repeated practice
 Feedback and nurturing by teacher

3. Getting to Know Your Learners
Non-Cognitive Assessments:
Provides teachers with information about student motivation,
self-concept, interests, attitudes, and attributions
• Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna& Kear, 1990)
 Determines attitude towards recreational & academic
reading
• Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996)
 Assess reading motivation by evaluating students' self-
concept as readers and the value they place on reading
• Literacy Autobiography
 Have students write about past experiences that have
shaped their lives as literacy learners
 “Getting into the minds of others” (d)
• “Me-Stew” Activity
 Have students bring items from home that they feel describe
them (c)

4. Getting to Know Your Learners
continued
Cognitive Assessments:
Can be formative (ongoing and informal) or
summative (used at end of instruction to determine
whether or not objectives were met)
• Reading Inventories- help determine reading behaviors and
achievement
 Teachers analyze reading, encourage retelling, check
fluency, ask comprehension questions, etc.
• Running Records/Benchmark Assessments
 Students read aloud leveled books while teachers
assess oral skills, look for miscues and patterns, check
for fluency and comprehension
• Teacher-Made Assessments
• Observations

5. Getting to Know Your Learners
continued
Students come from various backgrounds with diverse
experiences; therefore, in order to provide our students
with the best education possible, it is crucial that we make
ourselves aware of, and understand our students’ abilities,
interests, and learning styles so we can better plan for
instruction. Since literacy is the foundation for learning, it is
important that we become familiar with students’ literacy
development and experiences early on so we can nurture
and engage students as soon as possible.
I hope to motivate and engage my students by reading
books that are of interest to them, and by using fun
activities for the students to interact with the text. It is
important to create a positive, supportive literate
environment, to meet students where they are in terms of
reading and writing instead of where we want them to
be, and to capitalize on interests to help students reach
their highest potential.

6. Selecting Text
Literacy Matrix
Linguistic
Narrative Informational
Semiotic
By locating books on a continuum, we are better able to
map out books according to text type
• Narrative (tells a story) Informational (gives information)
• Linguistic (word-oriented) Semiotic (less words, more pics)
• Easy Hard (depends on length of
sentences, print size, readability)

7. Selecting Text continued
• Importance of Informational Text
 “The rich get richer & the poor get poorer” due to the
lack of background and content knowledge
 Students need to be exposed to informative texts early
on; can predict 11th grade achievement based on
language development in 1st grade
 Teachers should inform students that these books are
meant to be read selectively and to obtain
information we want/need to know; for more
compelling purposes- beyond answering questions

8. Selecting Text continued
In order to meet the needs of all learners, it is
imperative that classroom libraries consist of a wide
range of texts from linguistic to semiotic, narrative to
informational, and from easy to hard. By having
such a variety, teachers are able to provide students
with learning experiences that better suit their needs
and interests.
By selecting the appropriate texts for our students we
are more likely to increase their motivation and
engagement with literacy learning. When students
are exposed to books of their interest and at their
level, they are able to expand their knowledge and
strengthen their literacy skills.

9. Literacy Instruction:
Interactive Perspective
We need to teach students to
become strategic thinkers
(The Big 5)
Phonics • Basically teaching students how to
read
• Build on what students already know
Phonemic
Vocabulary
• Environmental print must be functional
Awareness
• Engage in extended discourse before,
“The Big 5” during, and after reading
 The more engaged students are, the
more they understand
• Use direct instruction when
appropriate
Comprehension Fluency
• Scaffold- teach what a strategy is,
show how to use it, then give students
time to use the strategy on their own
after gradual release of responsibility

10. Literacy Instruction:
Interactive Perspective continued
Almost any reading strategy can be made
interactive by making predictions, discussing
connections, drawing pictures, taking notes,
asking questions, repeating lines, etc. (Tompkins, 2010)
A goal of literacy instruction is to have students process text
on their own and to take risks, and I feel that I was able
to guide my students in the right direction for them to
become literate learners. Throughout my interactive
lesson, I modeled multiple strategies in terms of
decoding words and allowed time for students to use
these strategies on their own which lead to them doing
it independently.

11. Literacy Instruction:
Critical Perspective
• Evaluating text for
credibility
• Judging validity
• Think about the author
and why text was written,
who is included/excluded
• Rate characters on
importance
When incorporating this perspective into my lessons, I am
giving my students opportunities to think deeply about a
text in attempts to discover the author’s intentions. The
critical perspective allows students to think outside the
box, build on prior knowledge, develop an opinion on the
topic, and analyze the reasoning and motivation of the
author.

12. Literacy Instruction:
Response Perspective
• Focus on idea that words
can be powerful
• Allow students to bring
their own meaning to the
text
• Occurs when a text
makes the reader a
different person
The critical and response perspectives pretty much go
hand in hand. When thinking deeply about a text and
the intentions of the author, students are more apt to
be transformed by the text. Additionally, when
students are drawn to a text due to lived experiences,
they are more apt to make connections to larger
ideas.

13. References
Afflerbach, P. (2007). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12. Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.
Duke, N. (2004). The case for informational text. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 40–44.
Durand, C., Howell, R., Schumacher, L. A., & Sutton, J. (2008). Using interactive read-alouds
and reader response to shape students’ concept of care. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 36(1), 22–
29.
Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to
read. The Reading Teacher, 49(7), 518–533.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Analyzing and Selecting Text [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3. Retrieved from
http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6071944&Survey=1&47=9034158&Cli
entNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Critical Perspective [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010c). Developing Language and Literacy [Video
webcast]. In The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010d). Literacy Autobiographies [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010e). Getting to Know Your Students [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010f). Informational Text in the Early Years [Video
webcast]. In The beginning reader, preK-3.

14. References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010g). Perspectives on Literacy Learning [Video
webcast]. In The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010h). Reading Inventories [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010i). Response Perspective [Video webcast]. In The
beginning reader, preK-3.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010j). Strategic Processing [Video webcast]. In
The beginning reader, preK-3.
McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for
teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626–639.
Molden, K. (2007). Critical literacy, the right answer for the reading classroom: Strategies to move
beyond comprehension for reading improvement. Reading Improvement, 44(1), 50–56.
Reading Rockets. (2011). Classroom strategies: Question the author. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/question_the_author/
Stahl, K. A. D. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the
primary grades. Reading Teacher, 57(7), 598–608.
The Access Center. (n.d.) Literacy-rich environments. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from
http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/literacy-richenvironments.asp
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.