This document summarizes the key components of creating an effective literate environment: 1) Getting to know learners cognitively through reading assessments and non-cognitively through attitude surveys; 2) Selecting appropriate texts that engage students at their level through a variety of genres; 3) Engaging students interactively through strategies like read alouds, guided reading, and interactive activities; 4) Incorporating critical and response perspectives where students analyze texts and connect on a personal level. The presentation emphasizes understanding individual students, exposing them to diverse texts, and involving them through strategic, metacognitive, critical and response-based instruction.

1. A Literate Environment
Analysis
By Claudine Fuentes
EDUC 6706 Beginning Reader PreK-3
Walden University
June 22, 2014

2. • Getting to know your learners
• Selecting appropriate texts
• Engaging students in an interactive, critical, and responsive
classroom
This presentation gives you an overview of these components that
makes and creates an effective literate environment
Literate Environment Analysis
What makes an effective literate
environment?

3. GETTING TO KNOW LEARNERS

4. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
One of the essential components of an effective classroom is
getting to know your students cognitively and non-
cognitively. The students in our classroom possess a wide
range of abilities and skills.
In understanding students cognitively, reading inventories is
a necessary tool to successfully achieve this goal. Reading
inventories provide information of the five target areas,
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension (Afflerbach, 2012).
To get to know my students cognitively, I used Fountas and
Pinnell Reading Running Record system to identify students’
reading level and essential information relating to the five
target areas in order to provide each student with an
individualized education.

5. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
Along with the cognitive aspect is the non-cognitive
aspect. Improvements in students’ reading skills are driven
by motivation, self-concepts, interest, and attitudes
(Afflerbach, 2012).
Four different instruments can be used: Elementary
Reading Attitude Survey, Motivation to Read Profile,
Reading Self-Concept Scale, and a reading interest survey
(Afflerbach, 2012).
I used the Motivation to Read Profile and the Reading
Self-Concept Scale. These two instruments gave valuable
information into how students feel about reading and their
experiences with reading. I found that when students are
comfortable and feel safe, the conversational piece in the
reading profile is more authentic and honest.

6. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
Research
“People will attempt to attain goals they value and
perceive as achievable” (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling,
Mazzoni, 1996, p.519).
According to Dr. Almasi, if we have student interest at
heart, we must get to know our students as human beings,
their background knowledge, culture, and their identity as
readers and writers (Laureate Education, 2010a).

7. SELECTING TEXT

8. Selecting texts
Another component in creating a literate classroom is the texts
that are chosen for instruction. In selecting texts, students need
a wide variety to become a well round reader. Texts should not
only be limited to books but also information provided on the
World Wide Web. The reading surveys and inventory helped to
select texts based on students’ interest and reading levels.
Dr. Hartman’s explained how text can
be analyzed using a literacy matrix.
Books are placed in quadrants
depending on whether they are
informational, narrative, linguistic
driven (word oriented), or semiotic
(communicated through pictures than
words) (Laureate Education, Inc.,
2010b)

9. Selecting texts
I developed a reading unit on the topic of sea life for
emergent, beginning, and developing readers. The texts
that I chose were a mixture of informational and fiction.
Based on the information I learned from Dr. Douglas
Hartman (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b), I was keenly
aware of the books and sites that students would be
engaged. I made sure that they were accessible to students’
cognitive and non-cognitive levels which include
readability, length, size, and structure of text.

10. LITERACY LESSON: INTERACTIVE
PERSPECTIVE

11. Interactive Perspective
A third component of an effective literate environment is
using the interactive perspective in our lessons.
The goal of the interactive perspective, according to Dr.
Almasi, is for students to become strategic processor in all
five pillars (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010c). In addition,
teachers need to teach students to be metacognitive and
know when reading or writing does not make sense, then
choose an appropriate strategy to rectify the situation
(Laureate Education, Inc., 2010c).

12. Interactive Perspective
Engaging students in the interactive perspective can be done
through read aloud, shared reading, and guided reading.
During my reading lessons, students are making predictions,
answering QAR prompts, and end creating products. One of the
engaging activities for the emergent readers was making words
using magnetic letters. Students were involved in a more
meaningful learning.

13. LITERACY LESSON:
CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVE

14. Critical and Response perspective
The fourth component is the critical and response
perspective. The critical perspective can be viewed as a
transaction between the reader and the text (Laureate
Education, Inc., 2010d). The critical perspective compels
students to think about their own schema and background
and how the text impacts their own perspective.
The critical perspective teaches students how to examine a
text critically, think critically, and make judgments
(Laureate Education, Inc., 2010d). When students are
involved in the critical perspective, they are required to
think about who wrote the text and reasoning behind the
text.

15. Critical and Response Perspective
Not only is reading a transaction but readers should also be
transformed by the text they read. To be transformed is to have the text
impact the students in a life changing way (Laureate Education, Inc.,
2010d).
Incorporation of the response perspective into our literacy lessons is
imperative. It gives students the opportunity to connect to the text(s)
they read (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010e).
Some activities that I incorporated and plan on incorporating into my
lessons are:
-journaling
-K-W-L
-Word walls
-Grand conversations

16. Feedback
• What insights 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?

17. References
• Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K-12
(2nd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
• 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., (Executive Producer). (2010a). Getting to know
your students. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore:
Author
• Laureate Education, Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010b). Analyzing and
selecting text. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore:
Author
• Laureate Education, Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010c). Interactive
Perspective. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore:
Author
• Laureate Education, Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010d). Critical
Perspective. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore:
Author
• Laureate Education, Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010e). Response
Perspective. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore:
Author