The document discusses creating a literate environment for early literacy learners. It emphasizes the importance of getting to know students, selecting appropriate texts, and using instructional perspectives including interactive, critical and response. For each component, the author provides examples of assessments, texts, and instructional strategies to utilize. The goal is for students to become independent, strategic readers who can thoughtfully engage with a variety of texts.

1. LITERATE ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
April Barnes
EDUC 6706:The Beginning Reader

2. CREATING A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT
 1. Getting to know Literacy Learners
 2. Selecting Texts
 3. Literacy Instruction- Interactive Perspective
 4. Literacy Instruction- Critical and Response Perspective

3. 1. GETTING TO KNOW LITERACY LEARNERS, P-3
I have learned that…
 It is important to find out students’ cognitive and non-cognitive literacy
development in order for teachers to plan effectively.
 The better you know your students, the better you can connect them with text
that will impact them in profound ways (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d. a).
 Noncognitive and Cognitive assessments will help teachers understand and
appreciate the diverse growth that the students experience and the reading
challenges that students face (Afflerbach, 2012).
 People have experiences that shape how they see each other as literate
beings (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d. b).
 Teachers have to have a strong sense of self-efficacy to help students meet
todays challenging goals and purposes of literacy (Laureate Education, Inc.,
n.d. c).

4. EXAMPLES OF ASSESSMENTS FOR LITERACY
Cognitive
 Running Records
 Development Reading
Assessment (DRA)
 Observations
 Anecdotal notes
 Portfolios
Noncognitive
 Motivation to Read Profile
(MRP)
 Elementary Reading Attitude
Survey (ERA)
 Reading Self-Concept Scale
 Reading Interest Survey
 Interview the students

5. RESEARCH BASED PRACTICES THAT I USED TO ASSESS…..
 Informal conversations- allowed me to find out the
students’ interest and needs.
 Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (Mckenna & Kear, 1990)-
measures two aspects: academic reading and recreational
reading
 Observations- allowed me to observe what the students
know.
 Questionnaire for parents- helped me gain insight about the
students’ home life.
 Lesson and sound assessment

6. 2. SELECTING TEXTS
 Teachers need to choose text for
students that are challenging ,
engaging, and of interest.
 Today’s text come in a variety of
forms, from printed books to digital
media (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.
c).
 A literacy matrix is a tool that helps
teachers create a balanced
instruction, exposing students to a
wide variety of text.
 The literacy matrix is designed with
four areas: Narrative, informational,
linguistic, and semiotic.
 Factors to consider when selecting a
text: text difficulty, readability,
length, and text structure.
 Linguistic
Narrative
Semiotic
Informational

7. EXAMPLES OF TEXT FOR BEGINNING READERS: ANIMAL THEME
 Cat on mat, by Brian Wildsmith
 Giant Pandas, by Gail Gibbons
 The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
 I Think My Teacher Sleeps At School, by Leatie Weiss
 Kit In The Pit, by Turtle diary Team
(http://www.turtlediary.com/kids-stories/kit-in-the-pit.html)

8. 3. LITERACY LESSON: INTERACTION PERSPECTIVE
 The goal of this perspective is to help students learn to read
strategically and to be metacognitive about their strategy use .
 Strategic processing must be threaded through all five pillars:
Phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency,
comprehension, and sometimes writing (Laureate Education Inc.,
n.d. e).
 Students need to be reflective and self—regulating.

9. STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED IN MY LESSON FOR THE INTERACTIVE PERSPECTIVE
 Explicit Instruction
Think aloud
Interactive writing
Interactive Read- Alouds
• Authentic Application Activities
Book talks
Grand conversations
Story Boards
Story Retelling
• Learning Across the Curriculum
K-W-L chart
Word Wall
Question-answer-relationships
Reading logs

10. 4. CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVE
 The critical perspective focuses on the student’s ability to examine the
validity, believability, and purpose of the story (Laureate Education,
Inc., n.d.f)
 The critical perspective teaches students to read text from multiple
perspectives and to think analytically about a text.
 The response perspective teaches students to react and respond to a
text in a meaningful way.
 Reading is an active transaction between the reader and text . The
reader should be free to create their own meaning and personally
connect to the text.
 The response perspective involves students to respond by writing.

11. STRATEGIES I USED FOR THE CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVE
Critical perspective
 Connection stems
 Anchor chart
 Questioning
 Predicting
 Text connection
Response perspective
 Grand conversations
 Journal logs
 Think aloud
 Interactive writing

12. CHILDREN HAVE TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO BE LITERATE LEARNERS WHO CAN
NAVIGATE THE TEXTUAL WORLD INDEPENDENTLY.

13. REFERENCES
Carle, E. (1994). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. New York: Philomel.
Gibbons, G. (2004). Giant pandas. New York: Holiday House.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.a). Getting to know your students [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.b). Literacy autobiographies [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.c). Changes in literacy education [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.d). Analyzing and selecting text [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.e). Interactive perspective [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.f). Critical Perspective [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Team, T. (2005). Kit in the pit. Retrieved from Turtlediary: http://www.turtlediary.com/kids-stories/kit-in-the-
pit.html
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Wildsmith, B. (1987). Cat on the mat. New York: Oxford University.