This presentation analyzed the presenter's use of various literacy teaching strategies in her classroom. It discussed how creating individual student portfolios helped her get to know students' interests and abilities. It also described how selecting texts at different levels that interested students promoted engagement. The presentation explained that teaching critical thinking skills helped students analyze texts more deeply. Overall, it demonstrated how the presenter developed a literate environment catering to individual students.

1. Literate Environment Analysis Presentation Mary Kathryn Barrett

2. Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P – 3 Application 2 Analysis: This practice enabled me to create a literate environment that was comfortable and welcoming to my students because they knew that their interests and abilities were being taken into account on an indivicual basis, rather than as a whole group with no diversity.

3. Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P – 3 Research: The portfolio allowed me to assess each students interests regarding text, and to keep data such as individual student work and benchmark test results. Students were able to see their own progress, strengths, and weaknesses, which in turn motivated them to reach their goals in our reading class. “Portfolios are systematic and meaningful collections of artifacts documenting students’ literacy development over a period of time” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 91). Tompkins describes that “portfolios help students, teacher, and parents see patterns of growth from one literacy milestone to another in ways that are not possible with other types of assessment” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 91). Students read aloud a self-created assessment that was modeled after Afflerbach’s suggestions in Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K-12 (Afflerbach, 2007).

4. Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P – 3 Afflerbach, P. (2007). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

5. Selecting Texts Application 3 Analysis: The practice of selecting texts that are appropriate to my students interests, abilities, and that were appropriate to teach the content helped me to create a literate environment that could be effectively used in a cross-curricular manner in which my students were engaged throughout the lesson. They were able to read a variety of texts (narrative, informational, etc.) and learn to compare and contrast the information in each to understand a concept. This practice gave my students a lot of valuable technological experience with reading and finding texts via the internet.

6. Selecting Texts Resources Literacy Matrix (Lacureate Education, 2009a) Casteket al give several statistics about the very high percentage of students in this generation in the US that “use the Internet regularly to gather information, exchange ideas, and share opinions” (Casteket al, 2006). Neuman states that being able to read and comprehend informational texts is an essential part of real-world survival, and it is our responsibility as teachers to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills they need to read informational texts efficiently (Laureate Education, 2009b).

7. Selecting Texts Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714–728. Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a) Analyzing and selecting text. [Motion Picture]. The beginning reader PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author. Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Informational text in the early years. [Motion Picture]. The beginning reader PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

8. Interactive Perspective Application 5 Analysis: I was able to learn several strategies for promoting students’ strategic processing and metacognition. I also learned how to ensure that students are reading for a purpose, which keeps them more fully engaged in the lesson.

9. Interactive Perspective Tompkins stresses the fact that students will perform better in reading if they have a purpose to do so (Tompkins, 2010). When students are able to choose texts that interest them, it has a direct impact on their literacy development success (Laureate Education, 2008).

10. Interactive Perspective Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Engaging texts [DVD]. Foundations of reading and literacy. Baltimore, MD:Author. Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

11. Critical and Response Perspectives Application 6 Analysis: Teaching students to use critical and response perspectives enabled my students to get a much deeper understanding than they would have otherwise. Students were very excited and motivated during the lesson because they were on a mission to prove the credibility of different texts and to compare and contrast different texts that discussed the same type of information from a specific content area. They were able to write critically as well, which helped them understand character development and the decisions narrative authors make to include certain characters and plot events into a story.

12. Critical and Response Perspectives All students need space and opportunity to respond personally to a text, and be willing to share their ideas and emotions about a text (Laureate Education, 2009c).

13. Critical and Response Perspectives Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009c). Response Perspective [Motion Picture]. The beginning reader PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

14. Feedback from Colleagues and Family Members of Students 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?