Walden University

1. Literate Environment Analysis
Presentation
By Diana M. Villanueva
EDUC 6706 The Beginning Reader Pre K-3
Dr. Martha Moore

2. Getting to know literacy learners
Teachers should conduct activities to get to know the students and
use this data to select appropriate text to get students interested in
reading (Laureate Education, n.d.).
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Getting to know your students. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu

3. Getting to know literacy learners
• Cognitive and non-cognitive assessments should be used to get to know
students
• I used Fountas and Pinnell (Fountas and Pinnell, 2008) as a cognitive assessment
for my students. This data helped me find my students’ Instructional Reading level.
• As a non-cognitive assessment I used Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer,
Codling & Mazzoni, 1996). This assessment allowed me to collect data on my
students’ interest.
Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (2008) Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Guide 2: A Guide to Assessment System
2. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
Gambrell, L.B., Palmer, B.M., Codling, R.M., & Mazzoni, S.A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The Reading Teacher,
49(7), 518-533. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

4. Getting to know literacy learners
These assessments helped me get to know my students at a deeper
level. It is important to know both the students’ instructional level and
what motivates them to read. Then meaningful reading instruction can
occur.

5. Selecting Texts
• It is important to diversify text for instruction.
• Students should be exposed to text along different
areas of the Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education,
n.d.).
• Not only should the text be varied between narrative
and informational, but semiotic and linguistic as
well.
• Semiotic text uses a variety of graphic features to
help convey meaning, while linguistic text is more
word oriented (Laureate Education,n.d.)
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Analyzing and Selecting Text. [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Linguistic
Narrative
Linguistic
Informational
Semiotic
Narrative
Semiotic
Narrative

6. Selecting Texts
• Lack of exposure to a variety of text, specifically expository (information) text has
led to students experiencing what is called the fourth grade slump.
• The fourth grade slump is when students’ reading abilities begin to decline
(Laureate Education, n.d.)
• In fact, research has shown most early education teachers spend a total of 3.2
minutes on expository text all year (Laureate Education, n.d.)
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Informational text in early years. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu

7. Selecting Text
• Based on the data I collected, I
learned my group if students where
interested in animals.
• I chose a variety of texts from
various quadrants on the Literacy
Matrix (Laureate Education, n.d.).
• This resulted in deep, meaningful
instruction.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Analyzing
and Selecting Text. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Texts
• Big Talkers
• Stellaluna
• The Girl Who Loved Spiders
Cannon, J., (1993). Stellaluna. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Retrieved from www.storylineonline.net
National Geographic for Kids. (2001) Big Talkers. Retrieved from
http://www.randolph.k12.nc.us/schools/franklin/Documents/Talkers.pdf
Schreck, K.H., (2011). The girl who loved spiders. Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt (Ed.) Paths to Discovery (pp. 4-11). Orlando, FL: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

8. Interactive Perspective
The Interactive Perspective of literacy is about teaching readers to be
literate learners (Laureate Education, n.d.). Students need to know
multiple reading strategies and when to use them. The strategies are
intended to help them process and comprehend text. It is up to the
students to know when, and if, they will use a strategy if something
is unclear. Children need to metacognitive and independently
process text (Laureate Education, n.d.)
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Interactive Perspective and Strategic Processing. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

9. Interactive Perspective
I used the following strategies to promote the Interactive Perspective
• Word Study
• Students used what they know about words, affixes and root words to break down a word to derive its
meaning (Laureate Education, n.d.). Once the words were studied, we read the article and students
where not hindered by a large amount of unknown words. Students were reminded of the strategy as
they came across other unknown words.
• Think- Alouds
• Think-Alouds allow a student to vocalize and write down their thoughts as they read (Tompkins, 2010).
The students used post-it notes to write down any thoughts or questions that popped into their brain
as they read. This strategy helps the student make meaningful connections to the text and helps with
comprehension.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Developmental Word Knowledge. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

10. Interactive Perspective
Strategies used (cont’d)
• Double entry journals – these journals allow students to choose interesting
pieces of text and respond in journal form what they were thinking
(Tompkins, 2010). This strategy is similar to Think-Alouds but has the
added benefit of students writing to respond to reading. The post-it notes
do not have complete sentences.
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

11. Critical and Response Perspective
• The Critical Perspective of literacy instruction closely examines and analyzes text
from multiple perspectives (Laureate Education, n.d.a.). The strategy I used to
satisfy this perspective is character response journals. Character response
journals require students to respond to pre-determined prompts taking the role of
character from the story (Laureate Education, n.d.b.).
• The students responded as Templeton from Charlotte’s Web (White, 1952). This
activity produced a large amount of meaningful talk between students. Their
responses to the prompts enabled students to see the text through an entirely
new pair of eyes. This strategy created meaningful reflection.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.a.). Critical Perspective. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.b.). Response perspective: Reading-writing connection. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
White, E.B. (1952). Charlotte’s Web. N.Y., N.Y.: Harper & Row Publishers

12. Critical and Response Perspective
• The Response Perspective allows students to respond to the text in a variety of
ways (Laureate Education, n.d.)
• The strategies we have been using throughout the lessons all have students
responding to text. The responses can be verbal, written or just thinking.
• During instruction, I gave students time to talk about the text and use the Grand
Conversation strategy (Tompkins, 2010). The conversations where meaningful
and students were comparing the text and characters to their own lives and other
texts.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Perspective on Literacy Learning. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon

13. Conclusion
• Using everything I have learned throughout the
course provided me the necessary tools to
create an effective literate environment.

14. Questions
 What impact did you gain about literacy and literacy instruction
from viewing this presentation?
 How might the information presented change your literacy practices
and/or your literacy 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?