Literate environment analysis

Literate EnvironmentLiterate Environment
AnalysisAnalysis
Kristin MyersKristin Myers
Walden University

Creating a Literate
Environment
The foundation of a student’s education begins before they
enter their first classroom. It is a teacher’s responsibility to
continue this education in a positive and safe environment.
Creating the most effective classroom environment to promote
literacy and student achievement is vital. However as new
teaching strategies arise and advanced resources become
available teachers must continue to incorporate these changes
into their planning. The challenge is to not be fearful of
change but be willing to adapt (Laureate Education Inc.,
2010a). The Framework for Literacy Instruction (n.d.) is a tool
that can help teachers evaluate current procedures and make
positive changes.

Where to begin to create
a literate environment
Providing routines and predictable activities is a good
foundation to build literacy around (Tompkins, 2010). Children
look for patterns to help them derive meaning from surroundings
and make connections to prior knowledge (National Association
for the Education of Young Children, 1998). It is important to
surround students with words, provide access to quality texts at
each student’s level, and talk about books (Laureate Education
Inc., 2010c). To accomplish these items successfully a better
understanding of each student is necessary.

Getting to Know Literacy
Learners
For students to become engaged in their own learning, they
must feel like they have input into and are a part of the
learning process. Making students feel important lets them
know that they matter (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b).
Motivation can come from many different angles but
encouraging and creating self-motivation in a student is the
greatest task a teacher can achieve. Motivated readers
create their own literacy opportunities (Gambrell, Palmer,
Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996).
The first step to increasing literacy levels
and creating self-motivated learners is
determining the current literacy level of each
student. This includes both cognitive and
noncognitive assessments to find students’
interest levels and academic levels.

Learners (Process)
Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, et al.)
The first part of this non-cognitive assessment allows
students to express their individual preferences about text
materials, learning styles, and interests. The survey was
created to allow students to express interests in a safe and
simple way without the pressure of reading questions or
writing answers.
The results from these surveys gave the teacher a starting
point to begin step two, individual interviews. The individual
interviews gave the opportunity to uncover more strengths or
fears that might help interest the student or help to
understand the student more clearly.

Learners (Process - continued)
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
(Good & Kaminski, 1988)
This cognitive assessment includes a set of procedures and
measures for evaluating the acquisition of early literacy skills in
short intervals on a regular basis. Each section of this
assessment provides different insights into a students’
development. The sections include:
» First Sound Fluency (FSF)
» Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
» Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
» Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)

Learners (Process – continued)
Writing Assessment
Cognitive and non-cognitive assessments are common place for a
new school year. There is another aspect of literacy that is often
overlooked; writing. Each student was given a picture and tasked to
write a minimum of one sentence about the picture. To interest
students, the topic of the picture given can be a result of
information gained during the interview with the teacher. These
writing samples demonstrated students writing abilities while
highlighted confidence levels and literacy levels. They provided
another aspect that was yet uncovered in previous interviews,
surveys, or assessments. Writing is a developmental process that
should be observed and assessed regularly
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010d).

Learners (Analysis)
The combination of these assessments provided valuable insight
into the abilities and interests of the students. These assessments
lead to overall shared reading lessons for the group that enhanced
struggling readers interests. These assessments also lead to the
creation of small groups based on academic, writing, or interest
levels. Quality assessments can drive quality planning and quality
education for students. These assessments must focus on both
the process of learning and the final products (Afflebach). With a
clear picture of each student in the classroom, detailed lesson
plans to use students’ strengths to plan instruction in students’
weak areas were simplified. It is vital to view each learner as a
unique individual with different strengths, weaknesses,
and interests (Framework for Literacy Instruction,
n.d.).

Selecting Texts
Reading programs and literacy is the main focus of most
educators, administrators, and school support systems in the
educational world today. Literacy is one connecting factor
between all content areas and subject matter. Educators focus
intently on teaching students to read the words on the page and
to derive meaning from those words, yet these educators often
do not spend enough time choosing the text placed in front of
those students. All teachers want students to learn to read so
that they can eventually read to learn (National Association for
the Education of Young Children, 1998). Reading to learn means
that students can take all literary forms and decipher meaning,
construct ideas, and analyze the text. This makes the selection
of texts presented to the students vitally important at all ages
and developmental levels.

Selecting Texts (Process)
The Literacy Matrix is an important tool to consider when
selecting text for a student or group of students. Teachers need to
include books from all ranges of the matrix. Semiotic texts are
stories that are told with little word use and more pictorial
representation. Linguistic texts focus on word use over illustrations
to convey meaning. Informational texts present factual information
while narrative texts rely on
fictitious events or characters.
Another aspect for choosing
text materials not addressed
by the matrix is including a
mixture of print and electronic
Materials.

Selecting Texts (Analysis)
A review of the current literature items utilized at
Wonderland Charter School highlighted a lack of variation
amongst the Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education Inc., 2010f).
With a focus on Direct Instruction, stories and passages are
found within a given textbook. It becomes more important then
to select a variety of texts to incorporate into other content
areas or shared reading lessons. The repetition and structure of
each book is easily transferred to writing as well. Studying the
specific text features presented in literature allows for related
mini-lessons (Tompkins, 2010). Developing writers need these
mini-lessons to help them get started in exploring the process of
writing (National Council of Teachers of English, 2009).
Through the utilization of varied texts and teaching methods,
instruction can be enhanced for all levels of learners with a
variety of interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
This increases the likeliness of achieving academic
success for all students in the classroom.

Selecting Texts
(Examples)
At the Farm (Lakin, 1990) is a
narrative, semiotic text that blends
emergent sight words with upper
emergent sight words to create a
more challenging text. This book also
pairs each farm animal with the name
of its offspring.
Busy Barnyard (Schnindel, 2006) is an
informational, semiotic text that
uses real photography for
illustrations which draw students’
attention and increases interest
levels.
Sneaky Sheep (Samuel, 2007) is a
narrative story that is linguistic but
does have colorful pictures.
Buzz the Bee (Lewison, 1992) is a
narrative, semiotic text that includes
rhyming words and identifies the
sounds various animals make
Farm Animals (Leanring A-Z, n.d.) is found on an online
source for literacy materials, http://www.readinga-
z.com/book.php?id=175. This text is an informational,
semiotic text that also has worksheets and lessons to
accompany it.

Literary Lesson:
Interactive Perspective
Research outlines three perspectives that are necessary to
develop literary learners (Framework for Literacy Instruction,
n.d.). The interactive perspective focuses on learning and
developing reading strategies and becoming metacognitive
readers and writers (Laureate Education Inc., 2010e). It
builds on phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and
comprehension to enhance literacy (Tompkins, 2010).

Literary Lesson:
Interactive Perspective
(Analysis)
Within this instruction, I learned the value of being
adaptable. When the lesson was not working for one student, I
easily adapted with little interruption to the child. This allows
the student to remain successful and avoid frustration. Being
a metacognitive learner is not easy for many students. In
teaching it is easy to focus on the present lesson but if
metacognition is not an active part of the lesson there are
many students who will not develop that skill. Students enjoy
this type of learning when there thoughts and opinions are
valued by an adult.

Literary Lesson: Critical
and Response Perspective
Fluency and comprehension strategies are often the focus
of reading lessons but it is important to allow students to
examine stories and connect to what they are reading. The
critical perspective focuses on the student’s ability to examine
the validity, believability, and purpose of a story (Laureate
Education Inc., 2010g). Examining, evaluating, and judging
aspects of stories requires higher order thinking skills which
can be applied at all ability levels. The response perspective is
often the most undervalued teaching viewpoint. This
perspective requires students to connect to the words on a
page and give them meaning by making personal connections to
a character, theme, or struggle. Teachers need to slow down
and allow time for this process to occur
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010h).

Literary Lesson: Critical
and Response Perspective
(Analysis)
The goal of this lesson was to help students think critically
about texts and make connections to the text. The students
did accomplish this goal. However, the best outcome of this
lesson was the information about each student’s fear and how
that fear can help me plan more appropriate lessons. Being
aware of these fears and working closely with these students,
allowed me to see their strengths and weaknesses more
clearly. Working with young learners who have not
experienced many school opportunities is challenging. Modeling
thinking strategies and sharing stories with the students is a
great way to enhance literacy and promote
metacognitive learning. Allowing students to
connect to a story allows them to share a piece
of themselves.

Literary Perspectives
Being a metacognitive learner is not something that just
happens. Students needs to see it done and need to
experience it themselves. Using different perspectives to
evaluate text and learning is a great way to engage students in
their own learning. Critically analyzing texts is a great way to
be a detective and engage their learning. After analyzing
texts the final step is to make those important connections to
the words on the page. When students connect to what they
are reading, view stories from more than one perspective, and
have the necessary reading strategies to be successful then
those students can become literate lifelong learners.

“Literacy is a process that begins in
infancy and continues into adulthood,
if not throughout life (Tompkins,
2010, p. 111).
A child does not have to walk through school
alone. A good teacher has the ability to use their
knowledge gained from experience, research, and
hard work to impact a child’s life in a positive
manner while only knowing that child for a short
period of time.

Presentation Feedback
• What insights did you gain about literacy instruction from
viewing this presentation?
• How might the information presented change your literacy
practices and/or you literary interactions with students?
• In what ways can I support you in the literacy development
of your students or children? How might you support me in
my work with students or your children?
• What questions do you have?

References
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12 (2nd ed). Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.
Framework for Literacy Instruction. (n.d.) [Course handout]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/
webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard
%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398890_1%26url%3D
Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The
Reading Teacher, 49(7), 518--533.
Good, R., & Kaminski, R. (1988). Dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills. Retrieved from
http://dibels.org/dibels.html
Lakin, P. (1990). At the farm. Miami, FL: Walt Disney Company.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Changes in literacy education. Retrieved from https://class.
waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2F
blackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398890_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Perspectives on early literacy. Retrieved from ttps://class.
waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fbl
ackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398890_1%26url%3D

References (continued)
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010c). Getting to know your students. Retrieved from ttps://class.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010d). Reading Inventories. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.
edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard
%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398890_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010e). Interactive Perspective: Strategic Processing. Retrieved
from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=
%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_33988
90_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010f). Analyzing and selecting texts. Retrieved from ttps://class.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010g). Critical perspective. Retrieved from ttps://class.

References (continued)
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010h). Response perspective: Reading-writing connection.
Retrieved from ttps://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_
2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3
D_3398890_1%26url%3D
Learning A-Z. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=175
Lewison, W. (2002). Buzz said the bee. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1998). Learning to read and write:
Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Washington, DC: Author.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2009). NCTE beliefs about the teaching of writing. Retrieved
from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/writingbeliefs
Samuel, J. (2007). One sneaky sheep. China: Piggy Toes Press.
Schindel, J. (2006). Busy barnyard. New York, NY: Random House Childrens Books.
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.

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