This document summarizes key aspects of creating a literate environment for early readers. It discusses that a literate environment should be safe, respectful, and encourage speaking, listening, reading, and writing. To create such an environment, teachers should get to know students, conduct cognitive and non-cognitive assessments, select appropriate texts, implement balanced literacy instruction, and foster interactive, critical, and response perspectives. The document provides examples of specific assessment tools and instructional strategies to develop these perspectives, such as using a K-W-L chart, modeling fluency, and role playing as characters. The overall goal is for students to demonstrate knowledge in these three perspectives to become well-rounded readers.

1. Literate Environment Analysis
By: Ashley Montelius
Walden University
Dr. Martha Moore
The Beginning Reader, Pre K-3 (EDUC-6706G-4)

2. A Literate Environment Is:
• A safe and respectful classroom
community where students are motivated
to learn and actively involved in reading
and writing activities (Tompkins, 2010, p.
16).
• A setting that encourages and supports
speaking, listening, reading, and writing in
a variety of different ways.

3. How do I create a literate
environment?
• Know and understand literacy learners
• Cognitive assessment
• Non-cognitive assessment
• Text selection
• Literacy instruction
• Critical perspective
• Response perspective
• Interactive perspective

4. Getting to know literacy learners
“Allindividualshavealiteracyautobiographyorexperiencewhichshapeshowtheysee
themselvesasliteratebeings”(LaureateEducation)
Non-Cognitive
Assessments
“Include readers’ motivation and
engagement, self-concepts, agency,
interests, and attitudes” (Afflerbach)
• Interest Surveys
• Interest Inventory
• Interest Games
• Reading Attitude Survey
• Motivation to Read Profile (MPR)
Cognitive Assessments
Formative: On-going assessments to
monitor student progress towards meeting a
goal.
• Developmental Reading Assessments
(DRA)
• Dibels Progress Monitoring
• Checklists
• Reading Inventory
Summative: An end-of-unit assessment to
evaluate student learning by comparing it to
benchmark standards.
• End-of-unit Tests
• Dibels Benchmark Assessment
• Skills Tests

5. Research Based Practice:
Issuing a Non-Cognitive Assessment
The first assessment I administered to the three targeted students was a Motivation to Read
Profile. I issued this assessment to better understand student motivation to read and what
engages a beginning reading student. There are two parts of a Motivation to Read Profile
(MRP): a self-report survey and an individual interview. According to Afflerbach (2012), “the
survey assess two dimensions of reading motivation – students readers’ self-concepts and how
students value reading – whereas the interview explores individual aspects of students’
motivation to read, such as their personal interests in reading” (p. 177-178). The self-report
survey included a series of ten multiple choice questions in which I read aloud the question and
the answer options.
Results of MRP:
• Reading is not a high priority
• Parents are too busy to read with their students
• Students are lacking motivation and determination
Where do we go from here:
• Figure out what these students interests include
• Encourage students to find someone to read to at home
• Allow students to check-out books of their choice to take home and read
• Find a special time to read with each of these students
• Peel back the literacy layers to each of these students to see what contributes to their motivation for
learning

6. Research Based Practice:
Implementing a Cognitive Assessment
The informal cognitive assessment I used focused on the importance of comprehension
via questioning. “When we ask questions, we are often interested in how well students
have comprehended the text” (Afflerbach, 2012, p. 63). The three beginning students I
am working with took turns reading a level 20 Henry and Mudge book. My main goal was
to check for understanding of vocabulary, the setting, characters, the conflict, and how
the conflict was resolved. While taking turns reading aloud, I asked each student a
question in the form of initiate, respond, evaluate or IRE. “This form describes classroom
practice in which teachers initiate small group talk by asking questions, students respond
to the questions, and then the teacher evaluates the response” (Afflerbach, 2012, p. 53).
I made sure that each student received one question that addressed each of the
categories listed above.
Results of the Cognitive Assessment:
• All three students struggled with vocabulary
(taking a word out of context and using it in their own sentence)
• All students were able to identify characters, setting, and conflict
According to Tompkins (2010), “there are not any grade-level standards to indicate which words
students should know or even how many words they need to learn” (p. 247).

7. Selecting Texts
Areas to consider:
• Readability
• Singletons
• Text length
• Text structure
• Size of print
“When students understand how authors organize and present
their ideas in texts, this knowledge about text factors serves as a
scaffold, making comprehension easier” (Tompkins, 2010, p.
290).

8. Selecting Texts continued
This matrix, as presented by
Dr. Hartman, allows teachers
to find the perfect balance
when selecting texts.
Educators can map out the
texts they use and ensure
variation by plotting them on
the matrix.

9. Research Based Practice:
Selecting Texts for a thematic unit
• The thematic unit of study on penguins allowed students to learn about a
penguins’ habitat, diet, mating rituals, and other interesting facts.
• The literacy matrix aided in selecting texts to promote student learning.
• I chose a balance of texts that would be enticing to students.
The Emperor’s Egg Penguin Watch Me Grow
By: Martin Jenkins By: DK Publishing
Narrative/Semiotic Text
(Fictional story that communicates learning
through the use of pictures)
Informational/Linguistic Text
(Non-fiction text which communicates
learning through the use of rich
vocabulary)

10. LiteracyInstruction:InteractivePerspective
“TheultimategoaloftheInteractivePerspectiveistoteachchildrenhowtobeliteratelearnerswho
cannavigatethetextualworldindependently”(LaureateEducation).
The “Big 5” strategies of the
Interactive Perspective
include:
1. Phonemic Awareness
2. Phonics
3. Vocabulary
4. Fluency
5. Comprehension
Tools for enhancing the
Interactive Perspective:
• K-W-L charts
• Interactive reading logs
• Word walls
• Modeling
Research Based Practice: To strengthen my group of students’ Interactive Perspective, I
used modeling to demonstrate fluency, a K-W-L chart to activate prior knowledge and
develop comprehension, and created a matching game to reinforce new vocabulary.

11. Literacy Instruction: Response and
Critical Perspective
Response Perspective
• “Allows educators to provide
literacy experiences that will
affect students on personal and
emotional levels” (Laureate
Education).
• Must have a safe environment
before students can look at
texts from this perspective.
Critical Perspective
• Evaluate a text critically
• Think deeply
• Looking at texts from:
• Multiple perspectives
• Different times
• Through the eyes of different
characters
Research Based Practice: To strengthen the Response and Critical
Perspectives of my group of students, I read a story aloud and asked the
students to pretend they are the main character. They had to think deeply
to tell me what emotions they were feeling as that character. Students also
had to express a time they felt the same emotions that the main character
was feeling. Students used comparing and contrasting skills to tell me how
they were similar to the character and how they were different.

12. In order for a student to
succeed and be a well-
rounded reader, they
must demonstrate
knowledge of the
Interactive, Critical, and
Response Perspectives.
Knowledge of all three
perspectives will ensure
student success.

13. References
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12 (2nd ed). Newark,
DE: International Reading Association.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Analyzing and selecting text [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Interactive perspective: Strategic processing. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Literacy autobiographies. [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.