Reflections of a School Psychologist

I consider this to be one of those blog posts that should begin with “Well, here goes nothing!” I spent a significant amount of time reflecting on the questions Dr. Justice posted. I found myself thinking mostly about the process of blogging rather than what I learned about literacy from the act of blogging. I am writing this reflection post from a place of honesty and with complete candor. No censoring here, as I believe that defeats the purpose of the blog.

You know, I think I will begin by writing about my evolution as a blogger. To be honest, I did not approach the “blogging” aspect of the class with much enthusiasm. Rather, I was pretty jaded about the whole thing. This comes from a place of responding to what I deem to be pointless Blackboard threads in other classes. In my past experiences, these threads really had nothing to do with the class and were not related back to class. It seemed as though the threads were part of the class because they fit the required “technology” component of the course. Needless to say, I was skeptical and cynical about this blogging thing from the start. Ok, so back to the main point. – my evolution as a blogger. The way that I evolved as a blogger was by finding my “voice” and finding a personality within my writing. I tried very hard to not use the education jargon or lingo or sound like a pedant. That would not feel real to me. Blogging should be real! So, in every blog, whether I addressed the topic of the week or not, I was real. I wrote about what I learned from my kidwatching project, insights from experience or class, and what I saw happening with my nephew. The experiences – to me, this is what blogging is all about.

It is in these experiences that I have learned the most about emergent literacy. My knowledge of literacy development, important facets of literacy, ways to assess young children’s literacy, and ways to teach literacy has expanded significantly. As I reflected on my posts I marveled at the excitement I emitted when writing about my kidwatching student. Working with her helped me connect what we discussed in class and what we read about in weekly readings to real-life practice. It was through these connections that my understanding of early literacy emerged. I was constantly able to connect what I learned in class to what I was doing at clinic at the Center for Development and Learning. Though I didn’t write about this in my blog, I think it is particularly relevant to my evolution as a learner. I work on a clinic, assessing children’s academic skills. This semester, it just so happens that I have had a number of young clients whose literacy is in the emerging stages. Nearly every week I have applied what I learn in class in clinic. I have the children complete phonemic awareness tasks with magnetic letters, I have had children do sound sorts, we do interactive read alouds, I have children retell stories to me – way to make linkages!

I write all of this to emphasize…experience, experience, experience, practical, practical, practical! I learn from this. So, when writing my blogs, I often pose questions for the teachers. I want to hear from them about early literacy. I want to know what their kids do in class, what activities they use and how they are successful. I also enjoy reading the blogs they write that focus on their actual experiences in the classroom.

So, will I use blogging in the future to enhance my learning? Can’t say that at this point I will. But, I am no longer jaded on the idea. So maybe, someday ☺

So…I know that sometimes we should be writing about the readings from class, but I honestly find it more meaningful to scribe about my experiences, connecting the theoretical to the practical. Therefore, I am writing, again, about my kidwatching project. A few weeks ago someone in class inquired about conducting a running record with students who don’t yet “read.” I was wary about trying the running record with my kidwatching student, even though she is in kindergarten. To be honest, I arbitrarily chose a book for her to use. Though I must say, it was a book with which I am very familiar. I chose to have my student read “Where’s Spot?” Now, I love the Spot series and remember reading the books myself when I was younger. I figured, the Spot books are short and simple. Plus, they have repetitive wording as well as pictures to help a young reader determine difficult words. As my student began to read, she knew no words. I had to tell her all words on the first two pages of the book. Imagine my disappointment. How in the heck was I supposed to assess her reading skills if she read no words??? But, alas, I judged too early. My little student picked up on the pattern language after the first two/three pages and was able to consistently read “Is he…” at the beginning of each page. Because of the very simplistic pictures, she was also able to easily determine the last word of each phrase. For example, she figured out, “Is he under the stairs?” based on the picture of the stairs. Never underestimate the power of the pattern and the pictures!

The humble advice I have to give you for completing running records with young children is this: 1) pick simple pattern books. You can determine if the child picks up on the pattern or not. If so, the child will begin reading the phrases because he or she knows what to expect, 2) choose books with simple pictures that aid reading. The child can easily determine words based on the pictures, like my student did with “Where’s Spot?”, and3) never underestimate the abilities of your student. Just give it a shot and see what happens!

I found the chapter on developing literacy and ELL students very interesting. I really loved the strategies the authors listed to implement in the classroom to help ELL students develop their literacy skills. What is even more interesting is that many of these strategies are also used to foster literacy skills in students with disabilities. Many of the strategies are similar. The implementation of a print-rich environment, use of graphic organizers, use of predictable texts, and posting student writing are all strategies that one could use for students with disabilities as well.

I think what I found most interesting in this chapter was the idea that the classroom should be a welcoming place for ELL students. I like the idea that their parents can provide samples of environmental print written in their native language, and they can provide pictures of the student and his or her experiences. A child who is comfortable in his or her school environment will be more apt to experience success because he is better able to learn. The provision of pictures and familiar print will enable the student to feel at ease in the classroom. We know that if students are more comfortable and less anxious, they are better able to learn. Therefore, this welcoming environment for all ELL students is important.

So, I just have to write about my kidwatching activity from last week because I am really excited about its outcome. I actually conducted an interactive read-aloud with my student, Shanaya. I followed the Temple guidelines that are posted on BB. I think is also a relevant topic since we just discussed interactive read alouds in class last week. .So anyway, I chose the book, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” because of the repeated phrases Shanaya could catch on to as well as the ability for us to easily act out the story after reading it (one of the proposed “after-reading” activities).

I gauged Shanaya’s background on hunting and had her make some early predictions. I read the book to her once, asking questions as I read. As a side note, I will have to say that the questions I planned were not necessarily the questions I asked her while reading. I find that I think on the fly quite frequently, asking questions that come to me in the moment and seem to make the most sense as I read with Shanaya. It is really hard for me to plan questions and stick to them. I come up with more meaningful questions in the moment, at least in this case I did.

Anyway, Shanaya and I read the book a second time, and she was really into the reading! She echoed the repeated refrain, line by line as I read it (”We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re going to catch a big one…”). What amazed me most was that she used the same rhythm that I did and used inflection. I was impressed and excited!

After reading, I explained to Shanaya that we would act out the story. Before we did that, we reviewed the story sequence together. Even though I wanted Shanaya to take the lead on acting, I began leading our remake of the story. I used a lot of questions and prompts to help Shanaya sequence and act out the events. About half way through our enactment, Shanaya took the lead. She really became a great actress! She narrated what we were doing, showed emotion, and took the lead. When we had finished, she asked if we could do it again!!!! I was so thrilled. So, we acted out the story again, and this time she took total control. It was such a great lesson.

Not only was I excited about Shanaya’s enthusiasm for the lesson and the story, but I was really pleased to find that this lesson enlightened me to Shanaya’s understanding of what we had read. Repeating the reading and acting out the story really allowed me to gauge Shanaya’s understanding. She demonstrated more and more comprehension with each activity we did. She showed better understanding of the story the second time we read it, then more understanding as we acted it out!

I highly recommend this book and the after-reading activity of acting out the story to others! By the way, Shanaya is in kindergarten.

I really enjoyed the tutorial on running records that was posted on LearnNC. When I taught, I sometimes used running records, but, like the author stated, I was not formally trained in how to use the information to guide instruction. I would often do a running record and would then ponder over what to do with the results. I really like the way this tutorial actually explicity explains how to view miscues and errors (i.e., as meaning, syntax, or visual errors). I like the way the author connects these errors to quick lessons for the child. Using the child’s cueing system is a great way to inform the child of the error and to show how to use the other cueing systems to check his or her errors. After reading this though, I am curious how running records are used with preschool students who may not have strong knowledge of the alphabetic principle yet. Preschool teachers, would you use this strategy at all? Would you use it to determine if your students use visual cues or meaning to try and tell a story or figure out what words say?

I love read alouds! As a middle school teacher I read aloud to my sixth grade students three times a week. This helped them hear fluent reading and enjoy a good story (Sixth Grade Secrets by Louis Sachar was my favorite). It also allowed them to hear a text being read without constant stopping in order to check comprehension, discuss vocab, make predictions, or ask questions. I know “good readers” do all of these things, but sometimes I can’t help but want to read, just to read. I hated Language Arts in school because I despised having to read in stints and analyze what we were reading. I just wanted to read the book! Stop making me pause. It chops up my flow!!!

I was also a kid, however, who did not need metacognitive strategies taught to me. I would naturally re-read when confused or use context to figure out words I didn’t know. Some kids, though, need a teacher to explicitly teach comprehension strategies and to guide their thinking about reading. A good balance between good old-fashioned read alouds and interactive read alouds is best, in my humble, non-research-based opinion.

I did enjoy the articles on interactive read-alouds. It is so fascinating to me that many of the strategies I used with middle school students I could use with preschool students as well. Who knew? It is fun to engage young children in the text and ask them questions. Teacher think-alouds and comments help the children understand the story even more. I am curious how often these interactive read alouds are done by preschool teachers in our class. How many of you do interactive read alouds, especially repeating the same story three or more times? Do you conduct these whole class or small group? I would love to know what is being done in schools now!

I enjoyed reading the article on social contracts for writing, and it actually made me think a lot about my nephew, who is 14 months old. I recently went home for a weekend and spent significant amounts of time with my nephew so the connection between what was written in this article and examples of literacy in my nephew’s life are readily available. My nephew did the characteristic try to eat board books, rip at pages, and throw books aside early on in his life. He is able to sit and listen to short stories being read, and he now actually has his favorites! He will flip through books on his own. I saw him pick up a book, it was upside down, and he turned it around! I had to babysit him one night while my sister and brother-in-law went to dinner, and he was experiencing some separation anxiety. The only thing that calmed him down was listening to the same two stories (some of his favorite board books about peek-a-boo and baby body parts) over and over again. I must have read them 10 times!

Though my nephew engages in shared reading experiences often, I have not seen him engage in any type of writing experience, even as a distal participant. I know he is young and he doesn’t talk yet, just babbles, so trying to distinguish writing from drawing would be too difficult for him. But, is it crazy that it never even crossed my mind to give him a crayon and piece of paper and see what happens?! (I mean aside from the fact that he would try to eat the crayon). It feels natural that when we are writing, we make sure that babies aren’t near the pen. We are afraid they will eat it. But, how great is it for them to watch us write. How great is it to allow them an opportunity to make a mark on a piece of paper. Next time I am with my nephew I do want to give him a fat crayon and paper and see what he will do. I will make a mark on the paper and allow him to model me. This is a great way to begin facilitating writing!

So before I read the CALP/BICS article, I must confess that I was a CALPaholic. I was not overly obsessive or dependent on a child’s CALP in determining his academic function, but I did like obtaining a CALP score. I found the information useful. I believed that if a CALP was low, a child would have difficulty functioning in school. I may have been convinced otherwise, at least when thinking about young children who are English Language Learners entering school for the first time. The more I think about it and the more I learn in class, the more I realize that a child’s conversational skills are initially what is important in the school setting. What is “academic language” to five-year-olds really? The children develop their oral language through play and talking with the teachers and other students. Teacher help this development by introducing new vocabulary to students. Students of English backgrounds as well as those from non-English speaking backgrounds bring diverse experiences to the classroom. All of these experiences can be used to develop language. I think it doesn’t matter if children have not established a CALP level. Are they expected to at such a young age, anyway? What would it really mean? I am re-thinking the importance of the BICS/CALP distinction. I may no longer be a CALPaholic after all.

So what does constitute a high quality preschool? I have this question after reflecting on our discussion of Ms. A’s classroom and after reading “N is for Nonsensical.” Initially I was shocked to read that tracing letters, drawing them in the air, cutting them out of clay, etc. I thought these were cool ways to teach kids their letters! I guess this would be more for kindergarten children than for preschool children, though. The experiential and content rich classroom, on the other hand, will help facilitate early literacy development in kids, and not just kids in low-income communities, but in all kids. This author to me, however, projected a lot of deficit thinking. I don’t see why preschool or kindergarten classrooms can’t have the content-rich curriculum as well as explicit teaching of the characteristics of literacy. Personally, I would spend more time on the content-rich literacy experiences but would infuse some characteristic teaching throughout the week.

In my mom’s preschool classes, kids develop literacy skills at their own rate. The teachers do a lot to facilitate the development of these skills, but they don’t force children to know the letter “N” by a certain point in the year. She says that even learning to write their names is quite the process for children. Parents are sometimes concerned that their children aren’t printing their names correctly by “X” point in the year. My mom will often tell them that it is ok and the children need to learn how to hold the pencil correctly before they learn to form all of the letters! I think parents are often concerned about the mechanics and characteristics of writing and reading, but preschool teachers often understand that these early skills are sometimes best developed through those experiential events.

I reflected a lot on our last class – on the readings we did, the conversations we had about the experiences of literacy vs. learning the characteristics of literacy, and on the idea of congruence between home and school. I know this is an EMERGENT literacy course, but I can’t help thinking about my middle school students as we progress through each class. So much of what is done with young children to enhance their early literacy is also done with older students. Everything continues. I can think of ways that I engaged and taught my students that are similar to the experiences of preschool students:

1. Read alouds. It is important to read aloud to young children to enhance their vocabulary and their comprehension. It is important to read to older children to enhance their fluency skills. I read aloud to my 6th grade students three days a week, and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

2. Acting out stories. When young children act out stories it demonstrates their comprehension and it allows them to use new vocabulary words. I had my middle schoolers act out parts of stories as well. Anytime they did not seem to understand a scene of a play or an event in a short story, I had them act it out. This helped them understand what was happening and made it so much more transparent.

3. Parents read with students. As a special education teacher, I often recommended that parents read with their children. The parents and the children can take turns reading paragraphs to one another and the parents can ask the students questions. This strategy works to enhance literacy skills of older students.

4. Journal. Just as young children write/draw in journals, it is important for older children to do the same. It helps them make the connection between letters and sounds and helps them enhance their overall writing skills.I had my students write in journals two days a week.

Many of the students I taught were performing below grade level in reading. They struggled significantly with reading and writing.  Many of the activities listed for preschool children are the same kinds of activities I did with my students, though they were more sophisticated. I often wonder if the children I taught had these same kinds of experiences with books and stories at a young age. If they had been participating in these great activities early on, would they still have been so far behind?