Print Awareness

     Awareness of print can be apparent in children as young as two. They can voice their understanding that print has meaning in their guesses about what it says. In the article by Gretchen Owocki and Yetta Goodman, an example is cited in which a child of 30 months points to her written name on her lunchbox and guesses that it says "My Lunchbox." (2002, p. 27). They recognize print and symbols from their home environment like food labels, places such as where their parents work, or toys. Their personal experiences and background influence their knowledge of environmental print. The video below demonstrates how one individual's home environment influenced her awareness of print. Children observe the prevalence of print in society and cultivate hypotheses in order to decode its meaning and purpose.
  
     Before realizing that letters make individual sounds or phonemes, some children create hypotheses based on the visual aspects of the word. They may hypothesize that long words represent big things while short words are indicative of small things (Owocki & Goodman, 2002, p. 28). Their hypotheses have yet to become alphabetic in which they learn that letter patterns relates to sounds. Other children use a syllabic hypothesis in which they infer that "that a spoken syllable corresponds with each written symbol" (Owocki & Goodman, 2002, p.30).
     When evaluating print awareness in children, teachers look at knowledge of print in local environment, hypotheses that have been formed, understanding about the uses of written language, and views of self as a literate individual. They may do a formal evaluation or use observations made during the daily routine.


Sources:
Owocki, G & Goodman, Y. (2002). Kidwatching: Documenting children's literacy development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Reading Aloud

     On a field trip to the Monroe County Public Library, we watched a video of their storytelling program called Tuesday Tales. The teacher's ability to read aloud stories in an engaging and entertaining way impressed me. He demonstrated all of the strategies Mem Fox discussed on the article on her website. He was very expressive in his voice and face. He changed his voice by being "loud and soft; fast and slow; and high and low" (Fox, A read-aloud). He went beyond merely changing his pitch and came up with different voices for characters. Story telling with emotion and expression benefits the children. They will become more interested and appreciative of stories and will also try to mimic the teacher's expression in their dramatic play.
     The article, ""Why do you like this page so much?" Exploring the Potential of Talk during Preschool Reading Activities" by Tolentino discusses the roles children took when socializing. In one scenario, Arthur took on the role of teacher and "read" a story to his friends. While reading, he "demonstrated literate behaviors: turning the page from right to left, pointing to pictures and words, and reading with expression" (Tolentino, 2007, p. 522). Fox also noted in her read- aloud lesson that when teachers read expressively in the same way each time for a particular book, children more easily recall the story. When Arthur engaged in social play with his classmates, he read with expression because he was copying what he saw his teacher do when she read the book. I hope to practice my reading aloud strategies, so I can be a better teacher.

 

Sources:
Fox, M. A read-aloud lesson. Retrieved from: http://memfox.com/for-anyone-interested/for-anyone-interested-a-read-aloud-lesson/

Tolentino, E.P. (2007). "Why do you like this page so much?" Exploring the Potential of Talk during Preschool Reading Activities. Language Arts, 84 (6), 519-528

Development of Early Literacy and Critical Lessons

     Literacy development begins as early as a child's first exposure to reading and writing such as being "read to for the first time" (Whitmore, Martens, Goodman, & Owocki 39). This happens prior to formal instruction. The path to literacy is unique for every child and involves social and cultural influence, hypothesis testing, idiosyncratic development, and the simultaneous development of concepts.  
     Social and cultural aspects influence literacy development. It is important for teachers to recognize that students come from a variety of families and cultures. All families are literate and they use varied symbol systems that "may not fit mainstream expectations in school, but achieve functionality and intellectual purpose in families' daily lives" (Whitmore, et al. 303). Teachers must help the students transition from their familiar household literacy into the academic literacy environment.
     Children utilize hypothesis testing as a strategy for understanding the complexities of language. As they learn more concepts, their hypotheses are altered to fit newly gathered knowledge (Owocki 8). Their hypotheses are similar to rules they follow in reading and writing; as they discover exceptions to the rule, they modify the idea. By conducting observations and finding patterns in their work, teachers can discover what hypotheses the child is using to guide his thinking. Children may not vocalize their ideas as hypothesis testing can be an internal process, but teachers can make inferences.
     Development of literacy is idiosyncratic meaning that "children's progress is unique" (Owocki 8) and pertains to the individual.Students who are part of the same classroom are bound to learn differently and demonstrate concepts differently.  Literacy is influenced by a variety of factors and in addition to being a social and cultural practice, it is also individual.

Sources:
Owocki, G. (2001). Make way for literacy: Teaching the way young children learn. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.