Playtime as Learning Time

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    As part of my pre-service field experience, I recently got to sit in on a local kindergarten classroom.  While I was enthralled by the tiny little beings, I was shocked by their lack of time to play.  Their daily agenda was tightly scheduled around reading and math.  When I look back to my days in kindergarten, I hardly remember doing drills in math and reading.  I think the goals of that year were to learn our alphabet and numbers, learn to tie our shoes, and start to learn to read. I remember getting to play for long periods of time in my classroom.  We had a dress-up area, a play kitchen set, as well as areas to read and play games.  As a result of high stakes testing, teachers are finding less and less time to make room for play in their classrooms.  With the pressures of improving test scores, teachers are forced to use what was once playtime in order to fit in more time for drills. Lucky for children and teachers, there are people out there looking for ways to get more time for play.

 Dr. Karen Wohlwend, professor of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at Indiana University has spent much of her research devoted to finding connections between play and literacy development.  In a recent Voice of Literacy Podcast, Dr. Wohlwend describes her research.   Dr. Wohlwend conducted her research in a kindergarten classroom.  There she focused on many groups of children at play.  One group in particular focused their playtime on Disney Princesses.  The children in this group would bring their Disney Princesses dolls from home and would reenact the movies. What might look like children just playing with dolls, Dr. Wohlwend saw children developing their literacy skills.  While playing with the dolls and reenacting their stories, the children were developing deeper meanings of plot and character.  The children brought these dolls into their writing workshops as well. They would play with the dolls, reenact their stories, and in the writing workshop, the children created a storyboard for the stories they played during playtime.

     In the interview, Dr. Wohlwend discusses the need to find better arguments for the allotment of playtime in the classroom.  The argument of play helping to develop social skills and cues is not cutting it anymore. To me, Dr. Wohlwend's arugment for the need to play and the use of popular media in the classroom is one that is both moving and eye-opening. Dr. Wohlwend ends the interview with some advice for teachers. She asks teachers to allow time for play in the classroom, but also asks that teachers allow and encourage children to bring their culture and popular media into the classroom and into their literacy learning. Dr. Wohlwend states that there is not just one way to teach literacy.  Teachers need to use all of the cultural resources of their students, including popular media, to help children develop and readers and writers. 
 

Play-filled Reading

   While learning about how children learn to read and the different strategies parents and teachers can use to help move the process along, I have often thought about my own experiences of learning to read.  If you ask any adult, many will say that one day it just clicked for them, and presto they could read.  However, for people like me, people that struggled with learning to read for various reasons, those sometimes painful memories are still vividly etched in my mind.  I can recall the many times I cried because the words are the page just would not make sense.  I remember groaning as if I were in pain when my parents said it was time to read for my Sustained Silent Reading. I can remember shrinking down in my chair and hiding behind my desk and books, hoping that the teacher would not call on me for popcorn reading. But mostly, I remember hating to read. It was hard. It was boring and I hated every moment of it. 
    The strategies my teachers used to improve my reading, in my opinion, did very little help.  They only strengthened my distaste for reading. It was drill after drill.  It was repetitive.  My teachers thought they were helping, but I was only spiraling down.  Everything changed on my 8th birthday. My parents bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Each night, my father would read a chapter to two from the book.  During this read-aloud, he would turn it into a production.  He would change his voice for the different characters and would even have me read aloud parts too.  This nightly ritual of a read aloud turn the switch on for me.  After we finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I reread all on my own.  When I was done with it, my parents went out and purchased the second and third ones for me.  They were quickly devoured. 
     So what did my father do that finally let reading "click" for me?  My teachers were of course doing read-alouds in our classroom.  However, reading alone with my father was a special thing we did that was free of frustration and stress that I often felt while in the classroom.  He showed me how fun reading could be. If it was not getting too late, we would even act out scenes from the book.  I got to play with the book and reading, which I was not given time to do in the classroom. 
     In Chapter 6: Interactive Read-Aloud of Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, the authors aim to change how children experience learning to read.  Their goal is to make learning to read enjoyable and interactive.  One method to get students to engage in reading is the interactive read-aloud.  Similar to a read aloud, this strategy takes it a step further.  The authors describe this method as "purposeful, planned instruction" that "provides the teacher time to model the reading process through think-alouds and interactive discussions" to help students "engage with books in a safe, risk-free environment."  Interactive read-alouds not only model the reading process, but they demonstrate mean-making and text connections, but to the self, other texts, and to the world.  Through these read-alouds, students can practice their developing reading skills with the help of their teacher and peers.  
     

Embracing Digital Literacy

    I, like most individuals my age, love to text. I rarely talk on the phone anymore.  I love the convenience of this form of communication.  I can easily communicate with friends and family members, while doing almost anything.  That being said, I am a stickler when it comes to texting.  I have an Iphone, which provides a full keyboard and gives me the ability to quickly write in complete sentences in standard English, punctuation included.  I hate when I receive a text message that is so weighed down with abbreviations and texting phrases (textisms) that I need a text message dictionary to decode it.  One would think that it is people my age or teens or adolescents that send me text messages like this, however, it is my mother.  No one's standard English communication is safe when it comes to texting.

    In a Voice of Literacy Podcast the host, Dr. Baker, has Dr. Michelle Drouin of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne on the show.  Dr. Drouin is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology and was recently published in the Journal of Literacy Research for her research regarding the effects of new technologies on language and literacy learning.  In the podcast, Dr. Drouin discusses her findings.  She surprisingly found that people who have a high use of textisms still have a high literacy rate.  Dr. Drouin suggests a possible reason for this is that texting allows people to play with language.  People are able to move between standard English and textisms very quickly.  When reading a textism, a person has to translate it back into standard English. Dr. Drouin cautioned that a negative effect of frequently using textisms is the inability to recall standard English.  So what does this mean for teachers and parents with students that text?
    Both parents and teachers need to stress the distinction between when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate to use texting language. Textisms are an informal communication between friends.  Dr. Drouin states that they are appropriate in text messages, emails, and other social media sites among friends.  She says that textisms are not appropriate in school work or communicating with adults.  I would have to agree with Dr. Drouin.  It is hard enough translating a text from my mother, I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to try and translate a student's essay written message language.  
    In the age of digital literacy, do text messaging and textisms have a place in school? Should teachers teach this new form of communication? Now I doubt Text Messaging 101 will ever find its way into the elementary curriculum, but I think it can be integrated in some format.  As a preservice teacher, I spend two days a week at a local elementary school doing observation.  What I observe is this, children are becoming competent in advance technologies at an earlier and earlier age. Teachers can help students embrace and further understand this digital literacy by giving them outlets to use this new language.  I am not suggesting that textisms be used in essays. However, I think they would be a great way to communicate in creative writing or poetry.  Or perhaps they are a new genre of writing itself. This gives students the opportunities to play with language, which as Dr. Drouin states in her podcast increases literacy scores.   

To listen to Dr. Drouin's podcast, simple click on Voice of Literacy Podcast above!

Can you teach a kid to understand better?

    Recently for one of my graduate courses, I worked one on one with a third grade student.  I had the student read aloud to me.  After she finished the reading, I had her give a retelling of what she said.  She was to tell me about the characters, setting, and plot.  During her retelling, she missed many important aspects of the story.  I had to prompt her with questions to aid in her retelling of the plot.  She could, however, remember certain details about the setting or characters that would not have thought to include.  When she was finished with her retelling, I was knew what she needed help with, but I was unsure of what to do.  How can you teach a student to comprehend better? How can you show them what is important in the story and how to look for it? 
    In chapter eight of Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, my concern is addressed.  Chapter eight focuses on strategies to help students improve their comprehension.  The heart of the strategies lies within questions and visualizing.  Students are taught to question before they read and while they are reading.  Asking questions before they read helps the students preview the text.  They can get a sense of what the story may be about and what to look for as they read.  As they read, questions will appear as a response to what they are reading.  Asking questions while they read can help  students predict what might happen next in the story.  When students visualize, they use prior knowledge and previous experiences to create a mental picture of the story and to help them infer things about the story.  Visualizing helps students make meaning about what they are reading.
    Some students may ask questions and visualize without being prompted to.  However, some students may need instruction with these two strategies.  Johnson and Keier offer strategies to help teachers teach these strategies.  The teacher plays an important role in the teaching of these strategies.  A productive method to teach questioning and visualizing is for the teacher to demonstrate both strategies as he or she reads.  After the teacher demonstrates, the teacher and students can work together and use the strategies as they read.  After the teacher models and the shared demonstration, the students can work in small groups as guided practice in these strategies.  Once the students are comfortable using these two strategies, they can work independently.
    As I was surfing the web in search of more strategies to help improve students' understanding, I came across this image.

     This picture includes the two strategies of questioning and visualizing from Catching Readers, as well as the addition of some other helpful strategies.  The strategies are explained in kid-friendly language.  I think this would make an excellent poster to hang in a classroom for students to use as a reference.  The poster is called The Inner Conversation.  What a great way to explain to kids that these strategies are inner ways of connecting an engaging with the text.
    

The Rights of the Reader

    Any parent or teacher can go to a local or big chain bookstore, find the children's section, and find the leveled reading books. It is as simple as that.  Leveled books are everywhere and they make finding a book for your developing reader a piece of cake. The teacher provides the parent with the right level that their child is at and the parent merely has to go to the bookstore and pick some books at that level. The parent and teacher are providing the child with books at "the right level of difficulty," and the child is reading. It appears to be a win-win for all!  Unfortunately, there is no one clear way to help your child learn to read and some ideas are not so good after all.
    In their article, Let's Start Leveling about Leveling, Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford discuss the idea that "leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple." The idea behind leveled books is a noble one.  They help parents and teachers alike find books at the right level of difficulty for the student.  However, as most of us have seen or experience, sometimes bad things happen to good ideas. Leveled books are not the one way to assess a student's reading achievement.  These books leave out many factors that help to determine the student's reading level.  
    Leveled books do not focus on the skills a particular student may need to become a proficient reader.  Many children are diagnosed at being at the same level, so they are put in groups to work. However, just because the students are at the same level, does not mean that they have the same reading needs.  Although leveled books have the purpose of helping students improve their reading, they can sometimes hinder the student's progress.  If a teacher or parent is adament about a student only reading at a certain level, then that student's reading may suffer.  Often, high leveled books provide more challenge and more opportunities for the reader to develop.  If a reader is forced to stay in one level until they master it, they may become bored with reading and no longer grow as a reader. This is one thing that a teacher or parent never wants.

    Glasswell and Ford introduce the idea that readers have rights. As readers, students have the right to choose books that are stimulating and interesting. They have the right to engage in enriching activities that develop their thinking abilities.  Students have the right to choose a book from a different level if it interests them.  Parents and teachers need only offer more support to the student.  Leveled books have the ability to take away these rights from the student.  Parents and teachers need to keep these rights in mind when they are helping their students select books to read.  While, I believe these rights are all true, I found a picture that provides some additional rights that are equally as important. 

Activate Your Schema!

     When you grab a book, you grab the book with a purpose.  No one grabs a book to simply read the words written inside the pages.  If you wanted to simply read words you would grab a dictionary instead.  You grab a book because you want to absorb yourself in the story.  In order to get lost in the story, you have to have an understanding of the story and a connection to the text.  The story has to mean something to you.  Teachers cannot simply teach children to read the words.  They have to teach children how to connect with their texts.  One way to do this is to activate their schemas! 
     In Chapter 5 of Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades, Debbie Miller discusses the idea of schema.  She describes schema as "all of the stuff that's already inside your head, like places you've been, things you've done, books you've read- all the experiences you've had that make who you are and what you know and believe to be true."  Students can use their schema, or background knowledge, while they are reading to make connections with the text and search for meaning.  
    Children can use their schema to make different connections with the text. One connection is text-to-self.  Text-to-self connections are connections between the story and the child's life. As the child reads or is read to, the text reminds them of previous experiences. Another type of connection is text-to-text.  Text-to-text connections are connections between the text the child is reading or hearing and a previous text or texts that the child has read or heard. A third type of connection is text-to-world.  Text-to-world connections are connections that the child makes between the text they are reading or hearing and real-world events and issues.
     Now you might be thinking "Duh, I make these connections all of the time!"  But for a child, making connections is not always so easy.  Reading to begin with is hard work.  If you add comprehension and meaning-making to it, they have a full plate.  Using their schema to make connections is a good habit that children should work on developing in elementary school.  The teacher can model how to use their schema during read alouds by demonstrating the different ways to connect to the text.  When children make connections to the text, not only are they deepening their comprehension of the text, but they are also beginning to find the meaning of the text.  Using their schema is just another tool children can have in their reading arsenal. 
    

You Try Sounding Out "The"

    As a graduate student in elementary education, my courses often focus on teaching students how to read or working with struggling readers. Studying how children learn to read and how some students struggle with reading forces me to reflect on my own experiences with learning how to read. If you ask an adult if they remember how they learned to read or even who taught them, they often cannot recall. Many people think that one day it just clicked for them. Often that is the case for individuals who did have difficulty when it came to reading. Unfortunately this was not the case for me. As a child I had a speech impediment. If you cannot pronounce the words, you cannot read them.  Many times I would hear my parents or teachers tell me to "Sound it out," when I came across an unfamiliar word. Often this three letter phrase would leave me in tears. Why didn't someone offer some more useful advice? Why couldn't I just sound out those tricky words?
    The simple answer is that they didn't know any better. We are taught to focus on the phonics and that children need time to try these new words. Well sometimes words just cannot be sounded out. The English language is a vast and complicated language. Many words are irregular and do not follow typical phonetic patterns. How do we expect children to sound out these words if they have never had experience with them previously? 
   Now, I have some concerns about how I will be as a teacher. One new concern is how can I help struggling students improve their reading without say that horrible three word phrase, "Sound it out." In Catching Readers Before They Fall, authors Pat Johnson and Katie Keier offer a solution to sounding it out. The authors provide three new methods to help students read unfamiliar words. Instead of having students sound out the unfamiliar word, students should instead meaning, structure, and visual information to read the word. 

Meaning- knowledge that includes any background knowledge, information gained from the pictures in the text, or ideas gathered from the context of the sentence or story. Readers think about what makes sense.

Structure- knowledge that comes from being familiar with spoken language, English structure, and how it sounds. Readers choose words that sound right.

Visual-  any letter/sound correspondence knowledge a person has. Readers check to see if the word looks right.

   Students need to find a balance between these three pieces of information to determine the unfamiliar word.  For meaning, parents and teachers can help the student by providing them with a good foundation of the story plot. Students can use this information to help decide if the word makes sense with the story line. For structure, students can substitute words that follow the same English structure and have similar meanings. For visual, students can see if the word looks right by checking to see if the words share the same beginning letter and sound. 
    After reading about meaning, structure, and visual interpretation, I had the unique chance to give them a try. I had a family lunch today. My five year old nice Lillian brought along a Fly Guy book to entertain herself. I sat next to her and listened to her read. Not only did Lillian substitute words accurately to match  meaning, structure, and visual, but she went a step further. Lillian used the pictures in the book to help figure out the unknown word. When she came to the word bored, she quickly said it. I praised her for her ability to read such a difficult word. Then she told me, "I don't know that word, I just looked at the picture and thought he looks really bored." Needless to say I was impressed.
    So the lesson to learn today is to know when to use the phrase "Sound it out." Sometimes students can try and sound out the word and they should practice those phonics skills. But sounding it out is not the only way. Children can use what they have to read those difficult new words. What can parents and teachers do to help children with meaning, structure, and visual? Ask them questions! Prompt them with suggestions! Give guidance! Saying "sound it out," is a lot easier, but in the end, the child will benefit most from using meaning, structure, and visual to determine the word.