Pop culture media and toys as a form of literacy learning

This week I found out I will be completing my student teaching in a kindergarten classroom! Since beginning my teacher education program I have worked in a fourth and fifth multigrade classroom and I'm currently in a third grade classroom. I am excited to explore the world of kindergarten and early childhood education next fall. This week as I read further into Karen Wohlwend's book, Playing Their Way into Literacies, the text took on new meaning as I will soon find myself working in an early childhood classroom.

In her book Wohlwend, one issue the author focuses on is allowing young children to play with toys and media with pop culture influences.  The author states, "When children play with popular media in early childhood classrooms gender discourses collide and converge with discourses of capitalism, schooling, and media. A discourse includes widely circulated scripts that, along with social practices and values, constitute the identity kits necessary for belonging to a global social network, in this case, Disney Princess fandom." When teachers allow children to bring pop culture into the classroom, the teacher is allowing him or herself more opportunities to engage with students on topics of interest.

As I read about allowing pop culture influenced toys and media into the classroom, I was initially surprised at the authors positive response. Pop culture is not always highly regarded in society and for this reason not often used as an educational resource.  But, once I rethought the authors stance I was not surprised at the conclusion of using pop culture influenced toys and media in the classroom.

As pre-service teachers we are consistently taught to help our students build personal and real-world connections between literacy. If a form of pop culture, such as a Disney Princess, is used as a literacy tool in the classroom, the student would be using personal or real world connections to make the literacy experience more meaningful.

Play as a literacy tool

Play can be a way to strengthen and teach literacy in the early childhood classroom. Though play is often seen as a way for children to burn off energy or take a break during the school day, play is a valuable way for young students to explore and build upon literacy skills in a real-world environment.

 When children are offered the opportunity to play within the early childhood classroom, often they will chose to re-enact scenes they see at home or at school. These "play scenes" offer the students ample chances to work together using different literacy skills. In the book, Playing Their Way into Literacies by Karen E. Wohlwend, the author writes, "In the malleable world of pretend play, children learn to work together to make, negotiate, and sustain shared meanings-interpretations of events or texts that are discussed and collaboratively accepted-as they talk and enact scenes."

Earlier in the semester, I participated in a literacy dig with three other students from my early childhood literacy class. The blog post can be viewed here.  During the dig, we explored all the ways in which literacy is used at a retail store. Today, as I was thinking about play as a strategy to develop literacy and reading Playing Their Way into Literacies I kept thinking back to the dig.

My group and I discovered throughout the dig, just how prevalent literacy is in a store and in how many ways literacy can be found, preformed, and viewed. Using play as a form of literacy development allows children to practice literacy skills in ways to prepare them for real life situations, such as visiting a store.

In todays world, many students are taught using cookie cutter literacy models that don't allow the students to add purpose and meaning to the skills they are developing. When students use play they are given time to build connections to their lives and add meaning to a wide variety of literacy practices.

Making inferences as a reader

In the book Catching Readers Before They Fall by Johnson and Keier, the authors' highlight the importance of teaching young readers to infer while reading. Luckily, many children begin school already knowing how to make inferences in everyday life, such as inferring that it is cold out so they will need to wear a coat. As teachers it is our job to transfer the skill of making an inference into reading. 

I believe the below graphic, borrowed from Johnson and Keier, is an excellent visual of what a reader does in order to make inferences.  As a person reads, he or she combines the text from the author with his or her own thoughts. The ending point or conclusion that the person arrives at, is an inference drawn from the story.

Catching Readers Before They Fall. Johnson and Kleier.

As a future teacher, I think of two issues that will be very important in the implementation of inferring in the classroom, 1) practice of inferring on a regular basis, and 2)  using different types of information to make inferences. 

The first thing, practicing inferring, is a huge thing in a classroom. Inferring is not a topic that can be introduced in one day and gone the next. In order for students to become better readers through making inferences, inferring will have to be practiced routinely. 

The second issue is using a variety of texts and information sources to practice making inferences with children. Though one of the primary goals of making inferences, especially in the case demonstrated by Johnson and Kleier, is to increase reading comprehension, I believe making inferences through other mediums can be a great way to help practice making personal meaning of text, art, or other 'stuff'.

 

For example, a couple of weeks ago I used a a visual thinking strategy with a third grade class, using the image pictured below. With simple questions, such as, "what do you see?", each child was able to make meaning of the picture and create his or her own story of what was taking place in the image. I believe this was a simple and captivating way to practice inferring with students. Though no text was involved, the students were able to see how much more meaningful the picture became once they applied their own thoughts and feelings to the image. 

Through practice and through the use of a variety of texts and mediums, students will learn how to create rich inferences that can help them become better readers!

Assessment: Connecting the Parent, Teacher, and Student

As a pre-service teacher my experience with on-going assessment in the classroom has been limited. Aside from formative questioning during a lesson or paper grading for a host teacher; I've never had to keep a formal document for on-going assessment. This week we talked about the importance of finding a best-fit assessment tool that works for the teacher in two of my classes.

In Catching Reader's Before They Fall, Johnson and Keier write, "Formative, on-going assessments-by teachers and students based on daily work- need to be mainstay." Though many schools focus on standardized tests, keeping a daily record of student progress, particularly for young readers, can help the teacher understand if the student is constructing a reading system that works for him or her.

In order for on-going assessment to be successful between the student and teacher, the teacher must determine a system that fits into the daily structure of the classroom. During reading workshop, a teacher should be able to meet with students through individual student conferences or student observation to complete assessment on a daily basis.

Once documentation has been taken over a period of time, it is important to analyze the information that has been collected and determine what goals need to be set for the student. If the child has been assessed by more than one teacher, it is helpful to have a conference with all teachers. Johnson and Keier write,"Together teachers can notice patterns in a child's strategy use and behavior. By examining running records over time, teachers can be monitoring changes in how the reader works on the text, what the reader is noticing, what is easy, what is confusing, and what needs the teacher's attention."

Though many on-going assessments in the classroom will be used solely for academic use, consistent and on-going assessment in the classroom can lead to better communication with parents. As parents seek reassurance about their young children a teacher can refer to reading assessment tools for specific examples to help guide conversation with parents. Having examples of student work to refer to can help the teacher provide advice on how the parent can better help the child at home or how the parent's can provide encouragement. As parent's approach the teacher with other questions, an assessment document can help the teacher recall goals and the goal timeline for the student.

Through the use of an on-going assessment tool in the classroom, teachers are able to assess students in an authentic environment to ensure the students are creating a reading process that works for them. The recording of on-going assessments by teachers helps ease communication between the teacher and parent to ensure parents are receiving current information regarding student progress and goals.

Reading to Understand

In 4th grade I was assigned to read the The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in my group reading circle. The majority of the reading within the group was done on an independent basis during class time while some reading was done at home. On the day we were to discuss the book with the teacher I vividly remember being called on to answer a question and having no idea what the answer was, despite having read all the assigned text. I remember being confused, but most of all embarrassed in front of all my peers. What had I done wrong? Had I not completed the assignment just as they had?

In the book Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, the authors write, "The meaning of any text does not exist in the black marks on paper but is created by combining the words on the page with the thoughts of the reader." As a fourth grade student I wasn't working to make meaning of the text on each page of The Hobbit. Teachers can begin working with young readers to begin building reading comprehension systems that will grow with the students.

When teaching children how to develop a reading system it is important to remember that the system must be initiated by the child and not one comprehension strategy is one-size-fits-all. Effective strategies are integrated together and taught together so children can see how combining strategies will help them make the most meaning from text.

In the previous blog post A Solution to Sound it Out I wrote about world-solving strategies for early readers, as advised by Johnson and Keier. The same writers also recommend Meaning, Visual, and Structure strategies also be applied as comprehension strategies for young readers.

When teaching comprehension one of the most important things to keep in mind is the final goal:  helping the student achieve full independence in reading! Through a recipe of modeling, shared demonstrations, and guided practice lessons students can rise to reading independence. When determining the perfect recipe for success in terms of how many lessons are needed at each stage, it is important to take into account that no two students are the same. Reflection and observation of student work can gage how well the student is doing with each lesson.

Each student must learn to create meaning of text. Through the use of integrated strategies, teachers can guide students to reading independence!

Deepening Content in Leveled Reading

Each minute within the school day is precious. Not only are teachers under pressure to meet a required number of standards each year but they are also under pressure to achieve specific test scores in many places. As a graduate student studying elementary education, I am well aware of these pressures I will soon face as a teacher. 

I have had the opportunity to read with students in the classroom,  but I don't often read with students from leveled books. One time in particular I was reading with a student, and noticed the majority of the books in the student's book box were at a much lower grade level than the actual grade the student was in.  Because the books were at a lower grade level, the content was much too easy for the student to comprehend. The student was simply having a difficult time with actually reading the text. 

In the article, Let's Start Leveling about Leveling, by Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford, the authors state,"teachers need to demonstrate dual commitments by ensuring students' access to both age-appropriate material that challenges their thinking and texts that match their independent reading level." With not a moment to spare in the school day, we must think about the books we are providing to our young readers, especially struggling readers. When a struggling reader is provided with a leveled book with content that he or she may not be able to engage with, the reader will quickly lose interest in that text. 

By deepening the way we think about the content we present in our leveled reading, we can take advantage of every moment in the school day, not lose precious time because the reading level and grade level don't match up. 

Developing schema in young readers

This week the assignment in my social studies class was to develop a book discussion around a book selected off of the National Council of Social Studies Notable Trade Books for Young People list. I absolutely love social studies, so I would enjoy reading every book off of this incredible list, but for the sake of the assignment (and time!) I selected just one book. Each book on the list was listed with a small summary and I was able to make my selection by creating a connection through the brief summary. In Reading with Meaning by Miller, the author writes, "When you use your schema, it helps you use what you know to better understand and interact with the text." The book I eventually selected for my assignment was Life of Rice by Richard Sobol. Through my prior background knowledge or schema of Thailand, family connections, and travel, I felt a draw and immediate connection to the book because it is about the culture of rice in Thailand.

As a future teacher, helping children develop the ability to think and read at the same time is crucial so they can create connections to text and better understand what they are reading. Creating connections to text can be done in many ways. In the instance of the book I selected for my social studies assignment, I made a text-to-self connection when I initially read the summary of the Life of Rice.  By relating the text to a meaningful event in my life I was able to make a text-to-self connection. 

text-to-self connection

Developing several types of schema can help students deepen their understanding of literature. A teacher can help students build text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections, and text-to-world connections through various strategies. First, it is important for the students to realize the need to create connections to the story. Once the children understand that they can use what they already know during the story to interact and understand the text they can begin using their own schema in a multiple ways.

As a teacher, modeling different types of connections with text is a very important learning tool for students. In Reading with Meaning, the author states, "No matter how perfect someone else may tell you a book is, or how great a lesson they taught using it, it won't be perfect for you unless you can connect with it and put your personal stamp on it in some way." As a future teacher the books that I choose to model to my students must be meaningful to me and have true connections so that I am able to demonstrate real and authentic strategies.

As I reflect on the reading choices I have made in my past, I am overwhelmed by the amount of connections I see! So many of the reading choices I have made, if not all, are connected to my own background knowledge or schema. If I didn't use my schema when making literature choices, I would surely be dis-intersted in reading at this point in my life. As a future teacher, I hope I am able to instill the importance of connections and schema in my students through the use of literature that is authentic to me so the students may see how connections have truly enriched my reading experience throughout my life.