This document summarizes a presentation about literacy development for emergent and beginning readers. It discusses the importance of getting to know students through assessments, selecting appropriate texts, and developing lessons. Specific assessment tools and instructional strategies are presented for emergent and beginning literacy, including using twin texts, increasing writing time, and differentiating instruction based on students' literacy levels. The document emphasizes adapting instruction to individual students and creating print-rich environments that foster literacy development.

1. LITERATE ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
PRESENTATION
By Brooke Fuller
READ-6706: Literacy
Development PreK-3
Walden University
Instructor: Dr. Linda Holcomb

2. GETTING TO KNOW
EMERGENT AND BEGINNING
LITERACY LEARNERS
“It’s not what we are teaching. It’s who we
are teaching” (Laureate Education, 2014a).

3. I. GETTING TO KNOW EMERGENT AND
BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNERSTeachers should learn and understand their students in
order to create an effective and positive literacy
environment.
By using assessment tools, teachers are able to
understand and learn their students.
To learn and understand students, teachers give a variety
of cognitive and noncognitive assessments.

4. I. GETTING TO KNOW EMERGENT AND
BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNERS
Noncognitive
Assessments
Cognitive
Assessments
• Interest Surveys
• Observations
• Interviews
• Running Records
• Developmental Reading
Assessments
• Reading Inventories
“Successful student readers are motivated, have a positive attitude,
possess a good self-concept, and are capable of making accurate
attributions for their performances.” (Afflerbach, 2012, p.173).

5. I. GETTING TO KNOW EMERGENT AND
BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNERS
 Observation
 oral reading
 Independent writing
 Documentation
 Student learning bios
 Word knowledge
assessments
 Oral reading
assessments
 Interpretation
 Functional
 Developmental
 Evaluation and Planning
 Value interpretation
 Organize lessons
 Small group
Assessment Process
(Laureate Education,
2014b)

6. I. GETTING TO KNOW EMERGENT AND
BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNERS
The research practice helped me to understand how
essential it is for teachers to get to know their students
not only personally, but academically.
I am also eager to learn about student’s literacy
biographies. This will help me as a teacher to find
interests and motivations to read.
I have also learned about different tools to help me
gather information on how to motivate students to read or
interests them.

7. SELECTING TEXTS
“Text today comes in many forms. From
printed books to digital media. All have a
place in the literacy classroom.” (Laureate
Education, 2014c).

8. II. SELECTING TEXTS
Literacy Matrix
used to analyze and select data (Laureate Education,
2014c).
Linguistic
Narrative Informational
Semiotic
Text that tells a
story but has no
pictures.
The text gives
information but only
uses words.
The text that tells a
story using pictures.
The text gives
information by
pictures.

9. II. SELECTING TEXTS
 I have learned how to appropriately select texts to
engage and meet the needs of all students.
 I understand how there are many different aspects
teachers should look at before selecting texts for their
students. These include readability, the length of the
text, the size of the text, and the text structure
(Laureate Education, Inc., 2014c).

10. EMERGENT LITERACY
LEARNER LESSON
“Most children are excited by the world
around them. They enjoy knowing specific
facts about their favorite topics” (Camp,
2000, p.407).

11. III. EMERGENT LITERACY LEARNER
LESSON
 In order to develop literacy effectively, we must:
 Read aloud in small groups
 Provide fiction and non-fiction books
 Extend children’s vocabulary
 Engage in “extended discourse” with children
 Provide a print-rich environment
(Laureate Education, 2014d)

12. III. EMERGENT LITERACY LEARNER
LESSON
 I learned the importance of choosing twin text (fiction
and non-fiction). Having both kinds of texts available
will allow students to enjoy the topic more.
 In my lesson, I saw the benefits of doing this lesson
one-on-one. I was able to engage in conversation,
meet the student’s needs, and focus on the child’s
interests.

13. BEGINNING LITERACY
LEARNER LESSON
“Today, many teachers are working harder
than ever to differentiate literacy
instruction in their classrooms” (Reutzel &
Cooter, 2016, p.46).

14. IV. BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNER
LESSON
 3 core instructional practices for writing
 Students write about a text that they have read
 Enhances comprehension
 Teach the writing process and skills to create text
 Increase the amount of time that students are given
to write
 Allows students to be more thoughtful
(National Writing Project, 2010)

15. IV. BEGINNING LITERACY LEARNER
LESSON
 The writing portion of the lesson stood out to me the
most because it was where the small group struggled
the most. Reading the 3 core instructional practices
made me think about the lesson that I taught.
 Many times I allow my students to write based on a
topic that I give, but I found that I need to work on
connecting the text with the writing. It will increase
comprehension and writing skills at the same time.

16. V. REFLECTION
 The most important concept that I learned for
instructional strategies with emergent and beginning
learners is that emergent needs more teacher
instruction and modeling whereas beginning readers
can do more tasks independently.
 However, I learned that there are a variety of ways to
differentiate using the same theme or topic. I love that
I can use the same book, but differentiate the content
that I use with the book.

17. V. REFLECTION
 In emergent literacy, students benefit from more
listening and speaking instruction. This is because
they are not reading to read and write yet. Those skills
have not been mastered.
 On the other hand, beginning readers benefit from
reading and writing instruction. These students have
the foundation of literacy skills and can take on the
task of reading and writing.

18. V. REFLECTION
 In my literacy environment, I want you to see:
 Technology being used
 Differentiation
 A belief that every child can learn
 A print-rich environment

19. V. REFLECTION
 I would like to use my digital story to tell about how
important literacy is in the classroom and in everyday
life.
 I want other educators to be aware of the different
stages in literacy and how they can effectively teach
students in literacy.
 I want to help other teachers understand literacy and
how they can make it appealing in their classroom.

20. REFERENCES
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading
assessments: K–12 (2nd
ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Camp, D. (2000). It takes two: Teaching with twin texts of fact and
fiction. Reading Teacher, 53(5), 400–408.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). Getting to know your
students [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014b). Assessing word
knowledge [Video
file]. Baltimore, MD: author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014c). Analyzing and selecting
text [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.

21. REFERENCES
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014d). Developing language and
literacy [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.
National Writing Project. (2010, April 14). New report finds that
writing can be powerful driver for improving reading skills. Retrieved
from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3126
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B. (2016). Strategies for reading
assessment and instruction: Helping every child succeed (5th
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.