Literacy is everywhere in my classroom. My teacher does not have a specific “literacy time” because she believes in integrating subjects. She thinks that her kindergarteners learn better from integrated subjects rather than specific time focusing on each individual subject. My teacher loves books and she reads a lot of them daily. She has them predict what the book is about, what the characters are like and what will happen next throughout the book. One thing I think she could also focus on, is talking about the pictures. She has all sorts of books with different modes in the classroom and has talked about what it means by the text colors, when the font gets bigger, etc., but hardly ever talks about the pictures and the meaning behind some of them. Based on the reading by Hassett and Curwood, this is important to have the students recognize and so when they are reading on their own it will help them understand the story better. She also uses a lot of the different strategies talked about in Langer’s reading about being out and stepping into the text and relating to them and the other strategies the author talked about in that article.
Her literature she does incorporate into the literacy portions of class are of all different types of modes talked about in the reading by Hassett and Curwood. She has all different types of books too. One thing I think she could expand in her collection, is more difficult topic books, like talked about in the Leland article. Some examples could be divorce, homelessness and other tough and awkward topics that most teachers want to avoid. I think she may not have these in her classroom currently because she does have young children and it is a catholic school. When we talked before about books, she said she had to be careful of the book selection because it is a catholic school. She does include literature in all subjects and the kindergarteners seem to learn really well through this way of teaching.
My classroom uses literacy in many different ways as well. Most of my fourth graders are reading multiple books at once, as the whole class is currently working on “Shiloh” and each child has a book they get to choose for free reading time. My teacher also uses the “Reading Street” textbook and the fourth graders read several short stories from them a week. In addition to this, once a week the students read short informational texts incorporating their vocabulary words for the week in separate reading groups. My teacher is adamant about reading practice and gaining information through text. She believes that the more her students read and are exposed to new vocabulary and information, the better they will become at reading and writing. It sounds like both of our classroom teachers incorporate literacy into the classroom throughout the day and believe it is important for their students.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that you mentioned about your teacher is how you wished she would talk more about the pictures in the book. I agree that this is an extremely important element to the text. My teacher does a great job of making her students aware of these pictures and their captions and their importance to the understanding of the literature. Just today, I was leading a lit circle and one of the comprehension questions was about pictures and their captions and what they tell the reader. My whole group was able to tell me that they are used to help give us more information about what we are learning. Even in text that is not informational, such as “Paul Bunyan,” my teacher made a point to talk about the illustrations and start a conversation with the students about what they noticed from the pictures. I agree with you and the Hassett article that these components of literacy are an important part of reading.
I think it’s interesting that your teacher has incorporated books into the classroom that have varying text sizes and shapes and that she makes a point to talk about them. I have not seen these types of books in my classroom but I think it would be very useful. I like the way the Hasett reading showed the links between the books being read and the creative new text and illustrations that the students were doing. The idea of using literacy to foster new creativity within students is such a great idea. I am not at a Catholic school like you are so my teacher probably has more freedom with the types of book topics she can read. During social studies last semester she read several picture books about interesting historical topics that the children could use to relate to on different levels. She read a story about the Holocaust, the Underground Railroad, and the Orphan Train. Using picture books to tell these stories seemed to make it more meaningful for the students and allowed them to make personal connections that they may not have made if they read it from a history book. Hopefully you have an opportunity to use these books in your placement next year!