The Importance of Literacy
THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERACY
Every child has the fundamental
right to learn how to read and write. But are schools doing enough to help them
succeed? In the article Every child’s right: Literacy, Anne
McGill-Franzen and Richard L. Allington talk about how these students are not
getting the educational services needed to properly succeed. As teachers we
must look at the bigger picture and see how we can further help the student with
the ability they have right now, and how we can make it grow.
McGill-Franzen and Allington state
that, “Middle-class routines of reading bedtime stories to young children,
encouraging them to write stories and messages of their own, and otherwise
tutoring them in the rituals and rules of literacy do provide those children
with an estimated 2,000 hours of one-to-one instruction before first grade.”
(McGill-Franzen and Allington 1991, 87). This really shows the disparity
between middle class and lower class. This shows students who are not meeting
to the same reading levels as other students simply don’t even have the time at
home for this.
Since I was young, I’ve always
loved reading and that was always what I had excelled at in elementary school. In
elementary school we were placed in reading groups from high to low. You know
how they say that kids know if they’re placed in a group for struggling kids or
the other way around, it was like that for me. Even though I was placed in the
top group we were all self-aware of why we were placed there and why others weren’t.
As future educators we must be self-aware and try our best not to do this to kids,
so they don’t get discouraged.
The article also talked about in
New Zealand the “learning disabled” students weren’t separated from the classroom;
they’re placed in one-on-one instruction. As teachers we should take a look at
trying to make students feel like they’re not being singled out and taken out
of the group because they are not meeting standards. We should make it so they
can come to us for help and not feel left out.
Another statement that I found
interesting was, “Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund tells us
that girls who are consistently in the bottom of their class in basic skills
are much more likely to become pregnant, and if they are also poor, the likelihood
increases still further.” (McGill-Franzen and Allington 1991, 88). This is why
we must help our students and make sure they are not another dropout statistic.
We need to make sure we are doing everything possible to help that student
achieve to the best of their ability.
Here are some ways we can help
students in early literacy development:
1.
Creating a language
and literacy rich learning environment
2.
Supporting oral
language development
3.
Fostering reading
development
4.
Encouraging writing
development
Some parting questions we can ask ourselves:
- ·
What resources do you
have available for struggling readers?
- ·
Where does the school
need to improve its reading program?
- ·
How do you identify
students struggling to read?
- ·
How do you structure
your reading curriculum?
I agree when you say, "As teachers we should take a look at trying to make students feel like they’re not being singled out and taken out of the group because they are not meeting standards.", but I also understand the idea of why students are being placed in one-on-one instruction. I think that in a class of 15 students sometimes a teacher can't give a struggling student all the attention they may need because the other students may have questions or concerns. I believe that when students are having that one-on-one instruction time it's giving them that uninterrupted time of figuring out what areas need to be worked on. It's helping them becoming better in a subject, so they can go back to the group setting they were in before. I also think it goes back to when you say, "As teachers we must look at the bigger picture and see how we can further help the student with the ability they have right now, and how we can make it grow." because it's not technically them being singled out, it's a teacher taking the time to personally connect with the student and figuring out a way to help them overcome a struggle using what the student may already have/know.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you talked about that it is hard for teachers to connect with each student because, it is. I feel as teachers we should always try to give our best to give our divided attention to others but if we cant, find alternative resources for the students to use outside of class. Nowadays there is a lot of technology and other things that can help a student when they are struggling. Also we should try our best to not make the students feel too singled out. Maybe we should try putting kids together that are really good at reading and a struggling reader together so they can help each other out.
DeleteThat is a good idea. I never thought about how a strong reader could help a struggling reader. I think that will also build better relationships between the students, so whenever a struggling reader ever feels like they need the help they will know they can also turn to their peers as well as the teacher. Also, I like how you said it's a lot of technology and other things that can help students when they are struggling. I think since technology plays a big part in this generation that would be a good start with helping. I think that will also help the student become more confident because reading will be incorporated with something they are familiar with.
DeleteI never really thought about technology being a resource for struggling readers at the elementary level. We can research and find good websites that can help children and send those links out so they can practice reading at home to get better at it. That way, we won't have to face putting them into groups based on their reading levels to help the students who are struggling. (Doing that can be stressful on students.) Also the idea that strong readers can help struggling readers is a great resource as well. It is our job to use and find these resources so we can help them out.
DeleteI can totally agree with the fact of the huge disparity between the middle and low class reading routine is sorely accurate. When children aren't familiar with certain words that appear they automatically tune out or just feel like school isn't for them. I remember my days in elementary school as a third grader I had a hard time of reading out loud with my peers. Until I came across a show on non-cable television like "Between the Lions" . Shows that reached territory of reading and literacy skills. Unlike programs that dealt with teaching numbers and letters such as "Sesame Street", these two embarked on goals educating children on reading comprehension skills. There would be a main plot and segments that all focused on letter combinations and tie in with mediums of art, pop culture references and musical performances. Some low-income children may have trouble pronouncing big words, In the time of three to four weeks my reading skills had improve ten-fold. All in all with the idea of building a curriculum that incorporates resources of media outlets into language arts it would improve the gaps in developmental education. Also I believe as upcoming educators we have to recognize when dealing with reading groups that we mix low and high reading students together so they can learn from each other.
DeleteI like how you talked about how when you were in elementary school that you were placed into reading groups. I also had the same experience in elementary school, and I was always in the lower group. I understand what it feels like to be placed in these groups, and I agree with you that we should not make kids feel singled out because of their reading level. I understand the point of it, but as future educators we need to change this way and help our students with their reading levels in a different way.
Delete-Taylor Hall
DeleteI would say I agree with this topic. When you mentions "As teachers, we should take a look at trying to make students feel like they’re not being singled out and taken out of the group because they are not meeting standards." I was one of those students that had one-on-one instructions. I agree that it can help the students but it can also make them feel like they feel singled out. In my case, I rather have my one-on-one because it helps me understand the subject more instead of feeling lost in the class and sitting there without retaining the lesson. With the one-on-one instructions, it helps become better at the subject more than some of the student that didn't need the help. Later on, I didn't need the help, but I would still ask to get the help because I enjoyed getting that one-on-one attention and ask questions when I had them and get the help I needed. I also enjoyed that my teacher took her time to see that some of her students were struggling and help us all different depending on how we learn. She also connected with her students on a personal level. I believe it depends on the students if they are feeling singled out of the class.
DeleteJulissa,
DeleteI completely agree with you on this and what she had said. Growing up I had always struggled with English and writing and I knew that, because of the groups I was placed in and the books the teacher allowed me to read and what she didn't allow me to read. I believe one-on-one is better for a student or students, because some may be scared or afraid to speak out and say they need help, because they don't want their peers to say something or to make fun of them.
I want to touch base on one of the questions you had, “How do you identify students struggling to read?”, now I’m not exactly sure how to answer this question, but I feel as though this goes with your statement on not singling out students or being “taken out of a group”. I think that grouping students can carry a negative connotation, but if you look at it as maybe grouping by strengths and letting this be known to the students after you’ve gotten to know them better, it wouldn’t be so daunting for them. Maybe while in groups based on their strengths, you can do one-on-one instruction without making them feel singled out, this way you’re better able to gauge individual’s abilities and be able to help them in these one-on-ones. One of the things that stood out from the reading was when researchers Alan Gartner and Dorothy Lipsky inquired about what had happened to the students that were labeled as having a handicap (p.88) and the answer was, summed up as “these children have disappeared from public accountability.” Going back to what I was saying on figuring out a way in identifying those that might need extra help, as future educators, we shouldn’t ever have doubts whether our students are getting the literacy help they need and deserve, we should be active in finding different methods in aiding students’ literacy abilities.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your third paragraph on both sides being addressed. When I was younger, I actually struggled with reading and writing and I had to get pulled out of class to get extra help. I don't remember much about this though because I was very young but I do remember enjoying it. But then I can see the other side because, once I started getting this individual help, I was reading all the time and actually started to read above my grade level. I remember being separated from my friends who couldn't read as high as me and we were all aware of what was going on. Like I mentioned before, getting that one on one time did help me and I can only remember me enjoying that time. I think establishing that one on one time in a non embarrassing way can be a resource for struggling students.
ReplyDeleteI also think getting one on one help is great for building the student up and getting the proper help that they need. Kids are very self aware, especially when they are placed in groups that show them being good at something or not performing to their highest potential. This is why as future educators we need to bring in new resources and ideas to make sure students don't feel uncomfortable. A student feeling uncomfortable can make them want to close up and not perform at their full potential. This is why we must try our best to find resources that helps them progress instead of decline.
DeleteI think that you brought up some great ideas, and I agreed with you that teachers need to do more, while not singling out their students. When a student is singled out, I believe that puts a lot of pressure on the student to do what their classmates are doing to catch up, but they may need to learn in their own way. There should be changes in the reading programs, and I think one way to do it is giving students the access to learn in a way they feel comfortable in. I remember doing the reading groups in class, and when I was placed in a lower reading group, I felt less motivated. It felt like instead of me actually getting the help that I needed, I was becoming more and more behind. For me in classrooms, I struggle a lot when reading a book that does not interest me at all. A great way for students to want to read, is giving them the option to pick a book that does interest me.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you that students don't tend to enjoy reading or want to pick up on it because its not a topic of interest. I think a good idea would be to ask the student what they are interested in and then help them pick out a book that meets that interest or is similar. I think we can all relate to not focusing when we're reading something that is not interesting.
DeleteI totally agree that students need to pick books that they are interested in. I also believe the teachers should have many books in the classroom that relate to the students also. I think that students would be more motivated to read and want to level up if they loved the books they were reading. I also believe students do struggle more when they feel singled out because they are embarrassed.
DeleteI wanted to answer more on the question of "How to identify the students struggling to read"? In most cases low to middle class students have common struggles with some ofthe basic fundamentals of reading comprehension. In my experiences with working with students I have noticed that there are three critical needs for every student to succeed in reading and literacy skills. One of them being Word Fluency. This issue is most common in the grade levels of 1-3. The speed and accuracy of a students reading ability is crucial in expressing the tone of a story or lesson plan. It also is the outcome with another critical need of Alphabetic (which is the basic letter and sound combination to make words). Lastly the most important element is the students motivation to read. If a child doesn't relate to a general topic as the rest of their peers that child will have difficulty to see the rewards of learning. I believe as educators that it would be most beneficial to give students specific grade-level reading books and interesting topics for them to grasp and relate to their personal life.
ReplyDeleteI can remember growing up I did not like to read and my reading level was behind compared to my peers. I feel like one on one instruction can really bring out the strength of student rather then singling them out. The reason for that is because when you work one on one with a student you can really see what their interests are and find a book that stands out to them which can encourage them to pick up books more to read for fun instead of homework. I believe good resources for students that are struggling to read is a wide range of books all kinds of stories. What encouraged me to read in elementary was mystery books based on true stories always found them intriguing. To identify a student struggling reading is their flow and pronunciation of the words while reading is usually a sign that they are struggling.
ReplyDeleteSidney, I completely agree and can relate with your thoughts! When teachers place students in groups that are based on skill level it can be discouraging to the students who are a little behind to their peers. This can then lead students to discouragement and a lack of motivation. I think your idea about having one on one time with the teacher is great. For me, I never really liked or enjoyed reading until I found something that I was truly interested in, true stories and mysteries!
DeleteWhen you mentioned that students shouldn't be singled out because they can't read as well as other students, I completely agreed. In elementary school, up until middle school I saw a lot of this taking place. When I was growing up, I wasn't the best reader and my class knew that. When I was picked to read during class I would get nervous and start fidgeting my hands. I would mess up on words and my lisp would get in the way and kids would laugh. This would happen and I would get discouraged, but since I knew I was one of the few that struggled, I didn't bother trying to fix it or make it better, until I joined HOST. HOST is a program that helps students read, write, and be on the reading level that they need to be for their grade level. In high school I was privileged to be a mentor for a HOST classroom. In HOST, students get a book at their reading level, an educational game, and some kind of writing assignment. I can see where people might think that this is singling a student out, but what is different is that in HOST students are placed into a separate room with other students that need help and then they are all given and individual mentor. From mentoring with HOST students I have found that students learn completely different from one another. Some students need to fidget to be able to concentrate, some want to sit in a corner and read, and some have to tell you about their day and how they are before they can even look at a book. This shows that students do learn differently and if we don't give them the freedom to do so then they may not learn as well as they could be learning.
ReplyDeleteThat is great that you got placed in such a great program when you were younger. I feel as future teachers we should learn to advocate and speak up about certain things like this with the school. We should talk about programs that the school can do to support struggling readers and how we can help them progress. And if the school can't afford that certain assistance you can always do a fundraiser. What I'm getting at is, there is a lot of resources and things we can do to help our students, we just need to step up.
DeleteI tried commenting on my phone so let's try this again on my laptop!
ReplyDeleteI loved what you had to say in your blog post, Alina. I found myself nodding my head to everything you said. I totally remember in elementary school being placed in groups based on my level. I remember this in math and other subjects as well. And we all knew if we were in the "advanced" group or the "struggling" group. To try to help kids not feel singled out, I would create learning centers where each kid is able to try the harder material and such. It also gives me a chance to work with each group to make sure they are all excelling. Also, for reading groups, I would try to disperse all levels within each group so that way the ones who are excelling can help their peers who are struggling. I remember reading a study about kids teaching each other and not only does it help reinforce something for the child excelling but it helps the child who is struggling to understand the material as well.
I tried commenting on my phone, then again on my laptop, but looks like I was logged into a different account. Hopefully this time my name pops up!
ReplyDeleteI loved what you had to say in your blog post, Alina. I found myself nodding my head to everything you said. I totally remember in elementary school being placed in groups based on my level. I remember this in math and other subjects as well. And we all knew if we were in the "advanced" group or the "struggling" group. To try to help kids not feel singled out, I would create learning centers where each kid is able to try the harder material and such. It also gives me a chance to work with each group to make sure they are all excelling. Also, for reading groups, I would try to disperse all levels within each group so that way the ones who are excelling can help their peers who are struggling. I remember reading a study about kids teaching each other and not only does it help reinforce something for the child excelling but it helps the child who is struggling to understand the material as well.
Tricia
I found it interesting that you mentioned the reading groups in elementary school being divided by skill level. I never have been a big fan of reading, and I am a slow reader when I do read. Therefore, I was always in one of the lower groups when we were separated for our reading activities, and like you mentioned, we all knew why we were in the groups we were in. It was discouraging knowing I was in the "bad readers" groups, and I think it affected the way I feel about reading now. It is so important to make students feel included and successful in their education in order to keep them engaged and excited about learning. I also think the questions you posed are great because they are questions that I would like to know the answers to in order to make my classroom the best learning environment. As a person who has never loved reading, I know how important it is and would like to make my student's love reading.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, us as educators, we find it hard to help a child's education grow if we are only given the minimum amount of resources from the school. Sometimes we would have to spend our own money in order to help a student learn in the way they can. Which, is is very important and our job as teacher's to make sure our students grow to be and have a successful future and we will do that. Us teacher's don't get enough credit or enough pay for what we do for the future leaders in the country.
ReplyDeleteAs for the reading groups, I agree 100% because not only do the student's learn from us, they can also learn from other student's. If the successful student's are all put together and then the struggling student's are set aside, how can they learn from each other if none of them understand completely. Same with the excelled student's, they already know what they're doing but they're not learning how to improve either.
Hey Alina! I totally agree that there is a difference between parents who are actively involved in their children's education vs parents who aren't. My mom was and still is very active in I and my siblings education. Before we started school we were often taken to libraries and was read to consistently. So, when I started school I had no trouble with literacy, till this day I still enjoy reading in my personal time. The interesting thing is though I struggled with math, and what a coincidence that as a child I don't remember ever being pushed to learn it before my primary school years. I've said all of this to say that parents have a great deal to do with helping to further their child's education. This is both fortunate for kids whose parents speak English and unfortunate for kids whose parents first language isn't English.
ReplyDeleteChristian,
DeleteI wanted to touch on what you said as well- your story is incredibly similar to mine. My parents pushed reading really hard. I was never pushed to pursue mathematics, and neither were my siblings. All of my siblings struggled with math at some point or another, regardless of the fact that my mother is incredibly inclined to most science fields. I think its a definite thinking point when we consider how much a role our parents play in our early development of interests.
Paige Boatright
I can relate to your third paragraph. In my elementary school, we were also divided into reading groups based on our skill level. The more advanced readers would get stories with less pictures while those that had more trouble reading were given books with more pictures. I can see why they took this approach when reading as a class but it is also not a good idea to make them feel like they're the "bad readers". This may result in them feeling discouraged or not as smart as their peers in the advanced reading groups. As teachers, we should try and do fun activities that will help all students increase their reading levels no matter how advanced they are. All students learn differently and it's not good to compare students. I can relate your fourth paragraph to ENL students. When I was doing service learning with an ENL teacher, students would get taken out from their classrooms in order to read the same book that was being read in class and do the same comprehension worksheet. Once they were done, they would get sent back to their classrooms in which some would mention that it would feel awkward walking back in since they didn't know what their classmates had done while they were gone. I feel like another approach that can be done is have ENL students present while their classmates are reading the story and have an ENL teacher there in case they need further help. This allows them to learn and spend time with their classmates.
ReplyDeleteI find myself in agreement with most everyone else in regards to being separated out into higher and lower level groups. I was always right on the edge of being higher level. Sometimes I would get put into the higher level, and sometimes I would get put into a group right below that. I think that it was incredibly discouraging to me, but not in a way that made me want to give up. Honestly, if anything, I really feel like it made me a better reader. Since all my friends were in the higher level group, I knew that if I wanted to be with my friends I would have to work a little bit harder, and it helped me become a better reader.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found more interesting though, was the part were you quoted McGill-Franzen and Allington on reading bed time stories. It seems like such a trivial thing; when I babysit for kids, I always spend a good hour or two reading stories (before bed or otherwise), but I had never given thought to how much extra practice that adds up to over a lifetime. As I stated in class today, I was able to read before pre-K. I'm not sure how much of that reading was actually comprehensible to me at the time, but I'm sure that I was receiving more time one-on-one than a lot of other kids my age. I also think a lot about how much my siblings played into my literacy. As the second oldest of 4, I know at least on my part, I read to my younger siblings a lot. It seems like this would have some effect.
This is Paige Boatright by the way, still figuring this out.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this. There was information within this blog that I was unaware of. I didn't know that there was a rule of literacy to have 2,000 hours of reading before first grade. I read to my daughter throughout because I love reading and it was a great way to bond during feeding time. I believe that there are institutions (such as the public library) that are trying to help with this goal, especially for lower income or disadvantaged areas. But the problem still remains that if families don't have a form of transportation to get to these locations it is still ineffective. One thing that I connected with is pairing up the students. I have seen different models of reading stations or centers. My daughter is a high level reader. In one of her previous schools they separated by reading level and she always ended up by herself reading something different than her classmates which left her disconnected. Another school that she attended they read on an online program where they had similar material for the different reader levels which helped her reconnect with her classmates and feeling apart of her learning community. I saw the difference in her confidence when she was involved with her peers. I agree that finding a way to connect reading to all of the students no matter their reading level will greatly increase reading level in every student.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this. There was information within this blog that I was unaware of. I didn't know that there was a rule of literacy to have 2,000 hours of reading before first grade. I read to my daughter throughout because I love reading and it was a great way to bond during feeding time. I believe that there are institutions (such as the public library) that are trying to help with this goal, especially for lower income or disadvantaged areas. But the problem still remains that if families don't have a form of transportation to get to these locations it is still ineffective. One thing that I connected with is pairing up the students. I have seen different models of reading stations or centers. My daughter is a high level reader. In one of her previous schools they separated by reading level and she always ended up by herself reading something different than her classmates which left her disconnected. Another school that she attended they read on an online program where they had similar material for the different reader levels which helped her reconnect with her classmates and feeling apart of her learning community. I saw the difference in her confidence when she was involved with her peers. I agree that finding a way to connect reading to all of the students no matter their reading level will greatly increase reading level in every student.
ReplyDeleteIn Elementary School I also remember my teachers placing us in groups based on advancement in subject matters. Everyone knew why we were placed in each group which was a sense of pride or discouragement. I do believe it can be very beneficial for students to be places in groups with others who are on the same skill level as them so that they are not lacking behind or rushing ahead. But on the contrary, I also see how this method could be a negative for students. Students who are in the group that is not as advanced can get discouraged which can result in lack of motivation. As future educators how can we use this method without having students themselves label each group?
ReplyDeleteI want to comment on the question "How do you identify students struggling with reading?". I believe this can be done in many ways. One way to do this is by having a one- on- one reading time with all of the students in the beginning of the year. This allows for you to see what kind of books and the level of books each student is picking. This also allows for teachers to see how fluent and the vocabulary level each student is at. At a school I shadowed at, reading tests were used to track the student’s comprehension levels. After reading a book the students had to take a test and this was used to track levels. In the classroom, the teacher I shadowed allowed the students to read in three different ways. The students could either read solo, in a group of two, or follow along while listening to a cd. I found this a great way to differentiate.
ReplyDelete- Deja Shelton