1. Literate
Environment
Analysis
Doris M. Cárdenas
Educ. 6706
The Beginning Reader PreK - 3
Instructor: Dr. Abigayle Barton
August 8, 2012
2. Assessments provide teachers with
information needed to differentiate
instruction. There are several ways to
assess students, and in addition, assessing
students on a daily basis produces the best
information to teaching and learning.
Through both formal and informal
assessments, I was able to discover my
students interests, what things motivated
them, and what things they were struggling
with.
3. Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P–3
Formal assessments serve their purpose by
helping give teachers a starting point, a way to
check for progress over time, and provides
information that can be used instantaneously.
On the contrary, summative
assessments are used to measure how
students were able to reach standards or
meet curriculum goals.
4. Getting to Know Literacy Learners, P–3 (cont’d)
“Reading attitudes are closely related to reader motivation and reader self-concept” Afflerbach
(2012, p.180)
To gather information about my learners reading
attitudes, I used a non-cognitive (or formal)
assessment called, “Elementary Reading Attitude
Survey” (McKenna & Kear, 1990, p. 630). I wanted to
find out how my students felt about reading. This
assessment includes faces of the comic character
Garfield, and illustrates him showing different “faces”
depending on how the student feels about statements
made about reading.
I also gave them a cognitive (or summative) test to
find out where they were developmentally across
the five pillars of reading. I chose to use the
Spanish version of Texas Primary Reading
Inventory, or Tejas Lee. This early reading
assessment includes identifying beginning and final
sounds, blending and segmenting words, omitting
beginning and final sounds, word recognition,
spelling, fluency, and comprehension.
6. Selecting Texts (cont’d)
LITERACY
MATRIX
Actually, it is important what they read,
and as teachers and parents, it is
important that we provide a good
balance of literature.
Dr. Hartman, (Laureate Education,
2012a), shared the literacy matrix that
showed how to group texts by quadrants
according to their word orientation and
features:
Linguistic (text),
Semiotic (pictures, icons, etc.)
Informational
Narrative
7. Analysis of Selecting Texts (cont’d)
Education, 2012b),Neuman,me understand
Dr.’s Morrow and (Laureate
helped
importance of text selection, I
After reading about the the importance of selecting informational
text in the early years.
acquired some knowledge
that I thought I already had.
When I read the title that it Dr. Almasi, (Laureate Education, 2012a),
helped me realize the need to take a more
would be regarding selecting
three dimensional approach to selecting
texts, I thought, “I do that all
texts to include difficulty considerations
the time,” but, was surprised
such as a texts readability, text length,
just how much actually needs
text structure, and the size of print.
to go into selecting student
texts.
to choosegrade teacher, it is easyI for me a
As a first
narrative stories since spend
lot of time doing read-alouds. I will say
that toward the middle of the year I start
trying to provide more informational text
but narratives are always easier to do. I
will definitely be keeping this in mind
when I select my books for next year.
8. Literacy Lesson:
Interactive Perspective
“When students don’t have adequate background knowledge, they’re
likely to find the text very challenging, and it is unlikely they will be
successful” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 259).
Everyone’s background
knowledge or “schema” is very
different. I think it is
important to activate that prior
knowledge in our students to
know how to approach every
lesson and be able to
differentiate to meet each
student’s needs.
9. Literacy Lesson:
Analysis Interactive Perspective
Because everyone’s schema is different, as an educator it is a
vital part of my everyday teaching to model my thinking, write
down, and ask questions about any new topics we are about to
cover. It is a sort of like a map to guide us that says:
Where are we? (what do I know)
How do I get there? (what do I want to know)
Where did I end up? (what did I learn)
Teaching them how to activate their schema will help them to
better comprehend and take charge of their learning.
11. Literacy Lesson: Analysis
Critical and Response Perspectives
Before reading about the literacy perspectives, I planned my
Now that I realize what a crucial part the literacy perspectives
It is better for students if they can understand a text from all
12. 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?
13. References
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K-12 (2nd ed.).
Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012a). Analyzing and Selecting Texts. [Video
webcast]. In Beginning reader: Prek-3. Retrieved from
http://www.courseurl.com/
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012b). Reading Inventories. [Video webcast].
In Beginning reader: Prek-3. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com/
McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new
tool for teachers. Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639.
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century a balanced approach. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon
