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You Can Make A Difference

By Peter Stewart

 

 

 

The Chinese have a saying: “Every child is a piece of paper and every person leaves a mark.” If this is the case, then some of us are leaving a mural. A glorious, inspiring tapestry of hope!

On a similar note, Lynne Manfredi-Petit says, “Children are now being raised by parents and other people.” Let’s not sell ourselves short. Those other people are us!

We have the opportunity to watch children make their first steps, say their first words, and participate in their first experiences of love and caring. How can we make more of a difference? The answer lies in getting back to the basics, “The Three R’s: Role Models, Relationships, and Rituals.” Let’s take a look at each one.

Role Models
Role models are like the sun. They give us hope. When we see a role model we say, “If he or she can do that, then I can do that!” The more we act like our role models, the more we become the people we want to be. In turn, we will respect ourselves as we respect our role models.

Relationships
We all need more connection with others in our lives. Our best memories occur when we make a connection with someone. Hug to hug. Face to face. Eye to eye. Laugh to laugh. Smile to smile.

Unfortunately, there is an undercurrent of disconnection today. We spend time watching television and working at our computer when we should be laughing, talking, and sharing with each other. Here are some amazing facts:

The average North American will spend seven years of his or her life watching television.

66 percent of families spend their dinnertime watching television.

Remember, relationships with children are like water to a plant. They need to be watered often to keep growing. Let’s practice enjoying each other and build relationships among ourselves and with our children. Let’s spend more time telling jokes and stories, singing songs, and sharing the substance of our lives.

Rituals
Rituals are like the roots of our lives. They connect us to our heritage. Children love rituals. So do we. Rituals give our lives meaning and depth. Rituals in a classroom build community and a safe environment wherein children can explore. They can be songs, games, books, places, ceremonies, puppets, food, poems, or times of the day.

Enjoy sharing your heritage with the children you teach. Bring out the old quilts, stories, and other family heirlooms. Pass your heritage on so that children can pass it on to their children. There is no tomorrow...only today, for tomorrow they will be adults.

We are the elders. We are the role models. It is our duty to take the time to put children on our knee and share a moment. Make a memory.

Peter Stewart is a multi-faceted teacher, performer, author, and composer. Currently, he is the director of Sing and Learn Music, founder of of Project Pride, and leader of the Potato Chip Band. He can be reached by e-mail at PrideNow@aol.com.

 

Overview

CLASS TWO (July 7):  "Process Not Product"


Class comes together.  We discuss any business, questions about the course.
Lecture:  Reading as developmental, emergent process.    Methods, key ideas, vocabulary.
Course Reading Discussions.  Chapters One and Two (CMCM)

 

 

Lecture – Class 2 – July 7

 

Overview of today’s class:  Have a lot to cover today.  We must build the groundwork in the next few classes for the rest of the semester. 

1)  We will cover the key ideas in Chapter 1 & 2 in CMCM and

2)     Look at a few children’s books that back up the reading skills we will focus on.  You will be asked to do a brief presentation on a book of your choice and talk a bit about its qualities in terms of teaching reading. 

 

Lecture with transparencies:

 VOCABULARY FOR READING INSTRUCTION 

1.        PHONICS:

 

-         A method of teaching reading that emphasizes letter-sound relationships.  (Linking a letter or letters of the alphabet with its sound.)

-          

2.        PHONEME:

 

-         The smallest unit of speech in words.  One letter or a combination of letters represent phonemes in words.  (For example:  b in bear.   “Flake” has three phonemes:  fl / a / k )

 

3.        PHONEMIC AWARENESS:

 

-         Grasping the idea that spoken language consists of chains of distinct phonemes.

 

4.        MORPHEMES:

 

-         The smallest unit of meaning in oral or written language.  (For example, the word “bear” has one morpheme; “bears” has two – there is the animal and the “s” tells us there is more than one bear.)

 

5.        ONSETS AND RIMES:

 

-         Onsets: part of the syllable that contains any consonants before the vowel.  (“C” in cat, “b” in bat.)

-         Rimes:  a “word family” or “phonogram”.  Part of the syllable that contains the vowel and any consonants that follow the vowel.   (E.g., in “cat”  the “at” is the rime.)  Words like bat, fat, mat, sat, pat, etc. have the same rimes.

-         Therefore, words like “shtick” have one syllable, and here “sht” is the onset, and “ick” is the rime.

 

 

THE NATURE OF READING (AND WRITING)

 

n     How children FEEL about reading in general will determine their willingness to try and think about HOW to read.

 

n     Reading and writing require complex thinking skills but children must have good feelings about themselves as readers/writers and their ability to improve.   If they believe they can make good progress, they will believe in themselves as becoming successful readers and writers.

 

n     In addition to feeling good about acquiring specific skills that allow them to read better, students must be able to feel pleasure in reading for its own sake.

 

n     Effective teachers find ways to enable all students to feel excited, confident and successful about their reading attempts.

 

 

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING SKILLS USED IN READING 

1.         When students are reminded of what they already know about a subject, they will be able to cross-reference the new information.  Studies show that when people realize they are “extending their knowledge” rather than taking on a whole new subject, they are more receptive to learning new things.

 

2.        The reason for this is because it is easier to link up new information to old and organize this information into mental categories we already have.   A story about a strange new animal called a “platypus” can be grouped with what we know in the category of marsupials, Australia, beavers, ducks, rivers, etc.

 

3.        When students make connections, they find “pictures” in their mind that represent what they imagine the new topic is related to.  As they learn more, the picture becomes more defined.  Imaging also includes smell, touch, sound and taste. 

 

4.        Almost spontaneously we fill in the missing steps; we predict what will happen next.  This is especially true when a clear pattern takes shape or we have a lot of prior knowledge.  Prediction helps focus our concentration and adds to comprehension.


5.        At the same time new information is being received, there is a part of our brain reserved for verification.  We self-monitor for the truth and see if it makes sense.  When doubt pops into our heads, we break out of our concentration and start to question.

 

6.        Intuitive leaps occur when we have enough pieces of information to generalize and see the big picture.  We seem to skip a few intermediary steps and come to conclusions.

 

7.        When we can take the information, turn it around and apply it to new situations, then we can see how it works for ourselves and use it more practically.

 

8.        Lastly, when our thinking about a piece reaches a more complex level, we hold up the new information to our personal values and decide if we agree or disagree.  Can we identify with this character or this behavior or not?    By judging for ourselves, we move into an ethical or moral level of understanding.

 

 

TEACHING PHONICS IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST STAGES OF READING INSTRUCTION.

 

CONNECTING SYMBOLS TO SOUNDS PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT LANGUAGE. 

CHILDREN BECOME BETTER READERS AND WRITERS WHEN ALL THE LANGUAGE ARTS ARE DEVELOPED:  LEARNING TO SPEAK CLEARLY AND CORRECTLY, LISTENING WELL, READING TOGETHER AND INDIVIDUALLY AND MAKING ATTEMPTS AT WRITING.

 

 

 

 

DIFFERENCES IN THE CLASSROOM

-  All children enter school with different individual, cultural and language concepts. 

-  By the end of Grade 3, a child will have a vocabulary of 80,000 words (!)  

-  What vocabulary and language abilities in English children have coming into Kindergarten could vary significantly, especially if English is not spoken at home.   This will affect their understanding of letter-sound relationships and comprehension.  Moreover, if their first language does not use an alphabet system the same as English, (for example, Chinese and other Asian languages, Russian, Hebrew, etc.) there is more distance between themselves and English phonics. 

-  By teachers carefully observing their students, thinking about how to make them most comfortable in classroom routines, seeking help from parents and other experts, they will soon discover how to ease these students into a rightful sense of belonging in the classroom culture.

 

 

 

WAYS TO LEARN HOW TO READ –

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS

 

Emergent Literacy:  the period between birth and fluency with print

 

Before school:

 

Children come to school from anywhere between already reading to barely any exposure to print.

 

Most children have a sense of symbols on the page representing sounds and language.

 

They often imitate adults by doing “pretend” reading or by memorizing favorite lines from books they have heard often.  They can predict the next line.

 

Children may have heard audio recordings while looking at books.

 

Many recognize familiar logos or signs (STOP, McDonald’s, Superstore).  At first they look for colors, shapes or pictures and later see the letters.

 

Drawing pictures may include symbols.  Their first written words are usually their names.

 

Preschool provides numerable literacy experiences which benefit children in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

 

In the Primary Grades:

 

Early Kindergarten aims at recreating the “before school” experiences for those children who did not have exposure to print.  Students spend a large part of their time listening to stories, poems, nursery rhymes, tapes, songs, playing games, doing stories with puppets, drama, and so on.  Children look at books they select on their own, in a group, with a partner and talk about their reading, share their drawings and later their writing.   Students read both for pleasure and do guided reading. 

 

Some classes follow a leveled reading series and include genre literature as well as do workbooks, journal responses and may read in groups assigned according to ability.  In whole class activities, the teacher may start lessons by writing down student ideas, then ask a student to help her write, then chose students to write for her. 

 

Reading instruction is also done across the curriculum.  Much new vocabulary is found here.

 

Word walls begin with “high frequency words”, used for quick reference and as spelling prompts.  Visual aids such as webs, charts, timelines and tables can be used in all subjects.  Specific new vocabulary may appear on bulletin boards for science or social studies lessons. 

 

 

How Best to Support Emerging Readers

 

-         At a certain developmental phase, children begin to understand WHY we read and write.  They want to know what it says on the cereal box or magazine cover.  They begin to realize that reading can take them to different places and time periods.   A child can learn about the ocean floor even though she lives in the center of a continent.  Children also grasp certain ideas about print; that symbols on the page translate to language, that we read left to right and top to bottom.  Teachers need to talk about these conventions of print.

 

-         At another developmental phase, emergent readers acquire phonemic awareness, and that words are made up of sounds, syllables, and that words join to form sentences.  Teachers clap out syllables or beats in words:  din-o-saur.  Nursery rhymes, chants and Dr. Seuss books help.

 

-         Teachers work on a few concrete words, like children’s names, Mom, Dad, cat, etc.  At this stage they want to know and have accomplished the critical step of learning how to learn words.  Being able to manipulate letters like fridge magnets and using alphabet books are good aids.

 

-         When students can see how to learn to read, their even greater motivation will sustain them through the work and effort.  They will see themselves reading like “big people” can.  Teachers must encourage students with few print experiences and create an especially positive environment for them in the classroom.

-         Reading to children especially supports emerging readers.  Predictable “Big Books” build reading foundations through repeated patterns, refrains, picture prompts and rhymes which promote “pretend” reading.  Repetition of reading the same books allows them to notice different things each time; for example, letter-sound relationships, and students develop confidence in “knowing” a book.  

 

-         During the reading, the teacher might ask questions about what is happening, ask students to predict what will happen next.  After she might ask the student to evaluate the book or relate it to some personal experience.  Then she might move into a more guided approach; ask students to “echo read” parts with her, find certain letters, notice how they sound in words.  See the question marks at the ends of sentences.  The teacher may have sentence strips that she asks students to glue in order on a piece of paper.  Or maybe the class will act out a story.  Another time she may point out features of a book – what is a cover?  A title page?  The page numbers, and so on.

 

-         When students grasp that some words start with the same sound, they move from hearing the sound to distinguishing which ones on the page make the sound.  The teacher may establish example words for sounds, like house or hat to represent h sound beginnings.  Associative learning is easier, faster and longer lasting.  Students begin to feel the sounds in their mouth when they are made.  Teachers may want to put up a poster with key words associated with each letter.  Each week a few more letters appear with their representative word.

 

-         Concepts of rhyme go a long ways towards phonemic awareness.  Easy to hear, rhymes allow students to manipulate endings to make new rhyming words.  Charts that reinforce visual learning also help.

 

-         When the teacher and students write together, print conventions such as writing left to right, top to bottom, are reinforced.  When the teacher records student comments, she can also correct improper grammar or usage.   Students learn how to express ideas clearly and correctly in full sentences.  Watching the teacher write encourages them to try it themselves.


-         There is still some debate over whether children will develop “bad habits” if they are allowed to use “invented spelling”.  The research shows that students who are allowed to write without the pressure to spell correctly will actually learn how to spell sooner than those who are not.

 

-         Providing a variety of writing materials such as postcards, notepads, crayons, pastels, paint brushes etc. as well as a variety of formats, such as grocery lists, menus, recipes, newspapers and so on will encourage students to see different means and “real” purposes for writing.

 

Lastly but not exhaustively, teachers, parents, siblings, peers and others in the child’s life should be encouraged to accept the reading and writing the student does.  Attempts at reading above their level should be applauded and students should not be compared to those at different levels of literacy development.  In this way, the children who most need experience in reading and writing will not be afraid to try. 

 

 

 

Activity (1): 

- Children’s literature:  Now we will have some fun.  We will be looking at children’s books and noticing some of the ideas that we’ve been talking about.  I’ve put little sticky notes in most of them, to draw your attention to some of the main educational qualities they have in terms of teaching reading.  For example, some are good for teaching onsets or rimes, others are predictable, or they follow a clear pattern, and so on. 

I would like you to try to do two things at the same time – first look at the book as a child would.  Find your inner child (!) and notice your spontaneous reaction to the book as a whole.  What appeals to you?  What do you like about the book?  Maybe nothing strikes you, and that’s fine.  Jot down the title, author and your response.  Then go into a more critical adult stance, browse through the book again, now as a teacher.  What value might this book have in your classroom?  How could you use it for teaching a particular stage of reading?  Remember, many of these books have multiple uses, so there is no “correct” answer.  We will share our ideas later.  Please try to have a look at 10- 15 books and we will compare our notes.  Then you can tell the class your findings.