1. LITERATE ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

2. CREATING A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT
 Creating a literate environment means that teachers are using multiple
strategies and approaches to reach children of all stages of development.
 Today, being literate requires much more than the ability to read. The 21st
century has raised the bar, asking students to be competent in reading,
writing, and technology.
 As technology advances, so must our classrooms and our approaches to
teaching.

3. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR STUDENT- WHY?
 As teachers, it is important to understand our primary focus: to teach our
students.
 Just as we familiarize ourselves with the texts, topics, and subject areas we
teach, we must enlist that same passion when learning about our students.
References
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.a.). Getting to know your students. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu

4. HOW DO WE DO IT?
 During the first few weeks of school, we spend a great deal of time learning
about our students interests, dislikes, attitudes toward school, hobbies, and
home lives.
 We refer to this as assessing the noncognitive aspect of the classroom. This
information is not for grading purposes, but rather as a tool to guide and inform
our instruction.
 Thorough this type of assessment, I was better prepared to select text and
topics specific to each child’s interests. Providing material that is interesting to
my students, keeps them engaged and eager to learn.
Reference
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12 (2nd ed). Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.

5. HOW DO WE DO IT?
 Also during the first part of the school year, we spend time getting to know our
students academically. This information is used to determine text selection with
regard to ability and small group placement
 Known as assessing the cognitive aspects of the classroom, these components
could be used for grading, but they also inform our instruction.
 Using these types of assessments have provided me with such information as :
 Student reading levels (SRI)
 Student fluency (How fast they read and understand text)
Reference
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12 (2nd ed). Newark, DE: International
Reading Association.

6. USING THE LITERACY MATRIX- A GUIDE FOR
SELECTING DIFFERENT GENRES OF TEXT
 The Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education, n.d.b.) is a resource used to help
select and expose students to a variety of texts covering different genres and
methods of delivery: pictures versus words.
 With the help of the Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education, n.d.b.) I was able to
create a mini unit on Life Cycles using a variety of texts. The matrix guided me
in choosing a balanced selection of narrative and informational texts. This
assortment aided in creating a literate environment, as it provided six different
avenues for exploring Life Cycles.
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.b.). Analyzing and selecting text. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu

7. THE INTERACTIVE PERSPECTIVE
 The Interactive Perspective is an approach to teaching literacy that calls for
students to be strategic and metacognitive. That is, they should always think
about their thinking.
 Equally important, as Dr. Janice Almasi in the video Interactive Perspective:
Strategic Processing, is a student’s ability to self regulate. “Good readers” have
several strategies to choose from when working with text (Laureate Education,
n.d.c.).
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.c.). Interactive perspective: Strategic processing. [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://class.waldenu.edu

8. THE CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVES
 Dr. Janice Alamsi discusses the ability of a text to transform us as readers
in a video titled Response Perspective (Laureate Education, n.d.d.) She
explains that when we engage with the right text, it can have an impact such
that it has a lasting affect on our lives.
 Using information gained during the initial cognitive and noncognitive
assessments, I was able to chose text that my students could relate to.
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.d.). Response perspective. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu

9. THE CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVES
CONT…
 As a result of their interest in the texts, students were better prepared to
produce quality responses. In this specific case, students re-wrote fairy
tales from a different character’s point of view.
 Taking a Critical Perspective, students were placed in a “Hot Seat”
(Tompkins, 2010) where they acted as a character in the story and were
integrated about their actions in the story. This approach demanded that
students have a deep understanding of the characters and their actions.
Reference
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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