Course Reflections

As we conclude this course on Emergent Literacy, I had the opportunity to take away a vast amount of knowledge and information about the subject due to the very nature of this course. Exposure to fellow colleagues’ internet blogs offered a wealth of rewarding, stimulating information just by reading all the unique and personal views on the subject as it pertains to the field of education. The diversified library of blogs that became my internet classroom, allowed me to obtain some great ideas and teaching techniques that I might implement in my own classroom. Acquired, useful knowledge came from reading fellow teachers’ posted personal experiences and from the vast variety of professional articles that many posted on their blog page.

In the classroom, we read articles for discussion, and were able to share information on the major areas of Emergent Literacy ranging from such topics as Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary, Word Study, Differentiation, Oral Language, and more with our rich and analytical group discussions. Since my fellow students all work in different schools, and teach different grade levels, we have had many different experiences to bring to the table and share as it relates to this major concept in literacy. Reading articles that focused on the current research and trends in emergent literacy gave me the opportunity to keep abreast on tools and techniques in teaching reading to the elementary student. Initiatives which promote Literacy are imperative to the first grade reading teacher; and the interaction within the graduate program and with the blogs of my fellow peers afforded me the awareness necessary to maintain the highest standards in teaching the young reader.

This course gave me new insights into the world of reading and solidified many of my beliefs and knowledge about teaching reading to children. It made me realize the importance of the little positive stimulants necessary to expose children to as they acquire language. Far too often we take for granted some of the simple ways in which we can allow children to explore their world and develop language. This course exposed me to innovative theorists that I had not learned much about in the past; such as Friedrich Froebel, Marie Clay, John Dewey, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Johann Pestalozzi. It was interesting to learn their philosophies and their contributions to both emergent literacy and education as a whole. As we concluded the last few classes of this program with our lesson Plan presentations, I was fortunate to obtain many new ideas and activities that I can implement in my own classroom with my students to engage them and teach them current emergent literacy concepts.

As teachers, we need to continually evolve with the recommended trends and technology to adequately teach literacy in the classroom. Our continued growth as educators depends on our own drive to keep current with research and findings on the topic. It is important that we maintain access to the many journal articles that are published daily and evaluate what seems to work best and utilize positive techniques when teaching. Success in emergent literacy is determined by the progress and development of the student. All available avenues that bring literacy success to our students are vital to the teacher. The literacy blog created through this graduate program has been a wonderful tool to share positive ideas, post research developments, listen to fellow colleagues in education, and ultimately promote literacy.

Word Study in the Classroom

After reading about word study and discussing word study in the classroom, it allowed me to reflect on my first experience using word study in a classroom setting. Two years after graduating college, I entered a school system that used Word Study as a major component to their phonics and spelling instruction. This is not something I had experienced or learned about prior to this first exposure to word study. I noticed how well the students grasped spelling patterns and became better readers because they had the opportunity to explore words. In my opinion word study is so great for students because they get to discover words in the English language as they manipulate them and compare and contrast what they are seeing and hearing in the different words. This creates a more child-centered learning environment because you are differentiating the learning for them as you use activities and word sorts that are based upon features in spelling that would be in the child's instructional level or Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). We are allowing them to seek out the answers and create an understanding of word patterns instead of simply feeding them information by giving them a list of rules to memorize.

In my experience with Word Study in the schools, we would assess our students with the Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) which determined the stages the students were at currently. They had preliterate, letter name, within word pattern, syllable juncture, and derivational constancy as the five stages. We had spelling lists to determine the child's word knowledge at each stage of development. This allowed us to determine the child's instructional needs so that we could group them based upon skill. Once or twice a week I would see each group of students for a mini-lesson or "Word Walk" to introduce the new set of words. Together we would look at sight and sound patterns, which is both spelling and phonics patterns. We would focus on the meanings of some words. Then I would begin to model the sort for the students and then they were to sort the words on their own, following the same pattern. We discussed the sort and why each group of words was alike or different. As the week progressed the students would do the sorts independently or with a partner. Independently they were given three choices. They could Sort, Alphabetize, & Write (SAW) which is where they would sort the words in the appropriate categories, alphabetize each category of words, and write the sort in their notebook. Second, they could Write & Draw which is where they must use half the words in sentences and draw pictures to represent the meanings of the remaining words in their notebook. Thirdly, they could do Rhyme Time where they could list as many words as they can in their notebook that have the same "rime" as the words being studied. If the students chose to work with a partner they had another series of activities they could complete. First they could do a Speed Sort where they work with a partner to sort words into their appropriate categories as quickly as they can. Second, they can do a Word Hunt where the two students can skim books in the classroom library to find words that fit the patterns being studied. Third, they can do a Blind Sort where they sort the words without looking at them. The partner reads the words aloud one at a time and the other student points to the category where the word fits.

These various exploratory activities that are completed with the guide of a teacher, independently, and with partners or small groups allow the students to really see and understand the spelling and sound patterns of words in our language. This type of exposure allows the students to retain the word patterns better and allows them to feel more confident in their reading and as they use these new words in their writing because they will have gained an ease with spelling these new words.

Print & Book Awareness

After discussing print and book awareness, I began thinking of the many things we do as teachers that promote both of these skills. One excellent way to help students develop print and book awareness is to use Big Books in the classroom. These books are a much larger version of the actual book and they are fabulous models for showing a classroom of students text as you do a read aloud. It allows the teacher to introduce print and book features as well as teach reading strategies or focusing on phonics skills with the entire class. This is an effective way to instruct all your students because they can all see the print with ease. These books allow you to read aloud to the students and show where the cover and the back of the book are located. Big Books allow the teacher to show the students where they can find the author and illustrator of a book. These books create an ease for the teacher in modeling the directionality of the print from left to right and top to bottom. Teachers and students can point out specific letters, capital and lowercase letters, chunks within words, punctuation at the end of sentences, and any other print features that can be taught. Teachers can use highlighter tape to focus on a particular skill or feature in the text so that the students can identify it with ease. These books are great for emergent readers because they see the visual model easily in front of them as they are learning and it gives the students the opportunity to read with you as they become aware of different words. Also students enjoy pointing out all the new things that they become aware of in print as you read to them and Big Books give them the opportunity to do this.

I enjoy the use of Big Books in my classroom because they lend themselves wonderfully to direct instruction of print and book awareness skills. I enjoy using the Big Books as a classroom center once I have read them with the class. The students can then revisit the book and reread the story individually or in pairs. My students love to use the pointers and read from the Big Books in the classroom. I often notice them mimic me and pretend to be the teacher as they are modeling the activities that I did with them. I feel that as they copy my lessons, they are retaining the skills that I taught them and enjoying themselves as they read, both of which are my goals as a teacher.