Updates Galore! New pages, assessment advice and teaching strategies at The Literacy Bug

Wow! It has been far too long since the last update to The Literacy Bug's Journal. I dare not ask when the last update was. Despite the long silence - or perhaps to explain it - we have some significant updates to share with you. 

Firstly, a new section has been added to the site, and it is called Developing. In this section, you will find advice on how to help students grow in the various skills that underpin literacy development, such as oral language, phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension and more. At the moment, there is only one page in the new section, and it is called Developing Constrained Skills, which are things like print awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding and spelling. Follow this link to find out more ... 

There is also a new page in the Planning section: Using Quality Assessment Practices. Effective instruction is creative, challenging and targeted. This is why strong assessment practices before, during and at the end of teaching cycles are key to informed educational practices. We believe the new page is an essential addition to the site, and it complements the Balancing Instruction and Stages of Development pages very well. Check it out!

Regular visitors will notice that a couple pages from the Essays section have made their way into the Planning folder. They are An Initial Framework for Literacy Instruction and Literacy Development Requires Steady Guidance. Explore these old favourites when you have a chance. An old blog entry has also made its way into the folder: Key Questions to Guide Instruction. Last but not least, two related pages have been updated and we are very happy with the results: Establishing (Literacy) Practices and Why Do We Do What We Do?. 

All in all, there is much to explore at The Literacy Bug (and I haven't even mentioned updates to the Recommended Readings and the Recommended Links pages). We hope you enjoy all the new stuff. Please explore! 

Perennial Themes Can Be Found in the Books for the Youngest of Readers

There is the old phrase, “everything I needed to know I learnt in kindergarten.” I think this also applies to the themes that weave amongst the earliest books encountered at a young age. Aren’t the vivid animal stories captured in engaging picture books the mere precursors to the worlds of Kipling which could be the precursor to Thoreau’s Walden, which might inspire one to leap into the polemics of Michael Pollan and beyond? Might the story of friendship in Mac The Apple pave the way for The Bridge to Terabithia and Harry Potter and - the more complicated - Great Gatsby? 

We run the risk of treating themes and topic areas as secondary in the earliest encounters with story. This would be a mistake.

A new section has been added to The Literacy Bug ... Recommended Links

We've added a page of links that we recommend. We have only included links that provide authoritative, reliable, useful, creative and/or engaging resources and perspectives on language, literacy and learning. Some are hosted by reputable literacy organisations, such as the International Literacy Association, the National Center for Family Literacy and the Primary English Teachers Association of Australia. Please explore widely and enjoy! We hope this list will grow over time, so visit regularly and follow the site's journal where we will announce updates. 

If you have any suggested links that we should consider adding to the site, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The following are a few examples:

Click here for the full list.

CTELL'S 12 Principles of Effective Literacy Instruction

I thought I would share  CTELL'S 12 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE LITERACY INSTRUCTION. My eyes scanned over them recently, and it reminded me of their use. (The list can also be found at the Literacy Glossary)

CTELL (Case Technologies to Enhance Literacy Learning) [2004] provides a list of the twelve principles of effective literacy learning that complement those included in the essential pillars for literacy development. CTELL's list  include the following:

1. Connecting literacy instruction with the linguistic, cultural, home backgrounds of the learner:
2. Developing emergent literacy skills, behaviours and attitudes;
3. Phonemic awareness instruction;
4. Decoding instruction;
5. Comprehension instruction;
6. Independent reading;
7. Fluency instruction;
8. Integrating reading and writing activities to enhance the learning of both;
9. Encouraging enthusiasm for reading and writing;
10. Using technology wisely with early literacy development;
11. Assessing early and providing appropriate instructional intervention; and
12. Developing teachers’ knowledge, analytical skills and abilities to orchestrate the many facets of language, literacy and learning.

• Henry, L. A., Castek, J., Roberts, L., Coiro, J., & Leu, D. J. (2004). Case technologies to enhance literacy learning: A new model for early literacy teacher preparation. Knowledge Quest, 33(2), 26-29.

Ensuring Equity in Opportunity to Learn

The following are elements that contribute to equality in the opportunity to learn. In an equitable system, all students would have access to:

• Engaged time;
• Quality teaching, resources and environments;
• Safe environments which students are free from harm and discrimination and that their basic needs are met;
• The material, cultural and economic means to achieve;
• Opportunities to practice and to extend practices;
• High expectations that are shared between the school and the home contexts;
• Suitable collaboration between the home and school contexts as well as with the broader community context;
• Schools and communities which are sensitive to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the student population, particularly when a minority of learners come to classrooms with a home language that is not used as the language of instruction;
• Instruction which is suitable to the learners’ stages of development, and learners have been given strategic skills that help them engage in the current and subsequent stages of learning;
• Learning environment which facilitate high challenge/high support instruction so that diverse students can make suitable and competitive progress;
• Special accommodations that have been made to meet the specific learning needs of all students;
• Content which is engaging, relevant, purposeful and that will build on prior knowledge and that will be consistent with current ways of knowing and be applicable to everyday problem-solving.
• An education that responds to individual affinities/talents so learners are able to capitalise on these interests and learning trajectories;
• Effective support in managing transitions between schooling/learning contexts;.
• Every opportunity to achieve, so that children's resilience is being developed and their motivation is fostered;
• Institutions and society that seek to minimise and mitigate the impacts of social and economic disadvantage; and
• People and institutions who keep “a finger on the pulse” of all students at all times. Progress is monitored, opportunities are made available, and extra support is facilitated, where required.

A Mantra For All (Literacy) Teachers

"[Engaged reading] is a merger of motivation and thoughtfulness. Engaged readers seek to understand … [They] are mastery oriented and teachers create contexts for engagement when they provide prominent knowledge goals; real-world connections to reading; and meaningful choices about what, when and how to read.” (Guthrie, 2001)

As literacy teachers, we know that literacy development requires the strengthening of word recognition skills, building of vocabulary; guided reading; guided writing; the shaping of discourse (or oral language); the development of knowledge; the establishment of practices and the fostering of literate identities. This occurs in multiple contexts with others for various purposes across time through coherent and developmental instruction, passionate and visionary teachers, quality materials and resources, and a deep respect for the learners’ cultures, contexts and experiences. We want students to learn, be and become through teaching that is developmentally sensitive, culturally appropriate and aspirational in environments which are safe, secure and free from discrimination and inequity.

We must ensure that there is quality instruction at all levels using quality resources in quality environments through quality relationships with quality opportunities that are carried out in a supportive form of life in that complex stream of living.

In relation to the practicalities of language and literacy development, we encourage instructors, tutors and parents to use simple language to describe best practice. In the end, the best teacher should:

1. talk regularly with learners about things for both their oral language development and their knowledge development; 
2. read to learners, read with learners, and help learners read on their own;
3. write for learners (shared & interactive writing), write with learners (joint construction), and help learners write on their own; 
4. help learners understand phonics, letters, words, and grammar;
5. help them learn about the world and about themselves; and
6. help learners be active in ways that the use language and literacy as tools for understanding, expression and action (Pinnell & Fountas, 1997).

REFRENCES

• Guthrie, J. T. (2001). Contexts for Engagement and Motivation in Reading. Reading Online, 4(8). Retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/guthrie/
• Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (1997). Help America Read: A Handbook for Volunteers. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Welcome to The LITERACY BUG!!

The time has come! We enthusiastically welcome you to something we have been anticipating for some time … the launch for The Literacy Bug. So … please … say “HELLO” to Ludwig, a little bug who always has his head in a book. 

Even though this launch comes with a fair amount of celebration, I must admit that it also comes with a teeny, tiny bit of sadness … not much … just a small morsel of it. I am compelled to remind myself that “we are NOT saying goodbye to Wittgenstein on Literacy or Wittgenstein on Learning.” The core spirit of the old name(s) will remain. It is not possible to severe the site’s deep ties to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. After all, Wittgenstein was deeply fascinated by the diverse ways that language and literacy are used between people in the general course of living, imagining, conceptualising, doing, knowing, speculating, calculating, relating, etc. Perhaps the change of name is just a clever ploy and the discussion will go on as usual. To a certain extent, I think it will.

Nevertheless, exciting possibilities lay ahead. I look forward to expanding the literacy resources available on the site: links to fantastic online resource, lesson plans and ideas, great books for all ages and interests, and tips and tricks to help readers and writers as well as teachers and students. While I will miss having a little corner of the Internet carved out explicitly for the discussion of a certain application of Wittgenstein’s manner of approaching language, I couldn't honestly continue to act under the title Wittgenstein on Literacy/Learning when the conversation was moving more and more into a direct and contemporary discussion of literacy learning and instruction. So I must let the original (2007) premise of website evolve into what we have now and will have in the future.

The truth of the matter is this ... I may - in fact - be allowed to be more Wittgensteinian (without feeling the need to explicitly link observations to Wittgenstein). I may be freed to discuss a range of literature (children’s, young adult and more) with a keen eye on how readers and authors co-construct meaning based on certain shared assumptions. I may be better positioned to marvel at the developmental leaps that learners make as they grow through the various stages of literacy learning. I may be better able to provoke visitors to reconsider how our environments, practices, relationships and politics influence the potential for learners to catch the literacy bug and - thereby -  take charge of their intellectual journey.

In the end, literacy is wide ranging phenomenon. What it means to a two year old and a four year old is different to what it means for a ten year old, a sixteen year old, a twenty year old, a thirty-five year old, a fifty year old and more. What it means now is different than what it meant thirty years ago and what it will mean in forty years time. The shape of literacy practice in urban Chicago is different to the role it plays in remote Australia which is different to the texts, contexts and traditions encountered by present-day youth in Cairo. That said, there is the old saying ... the more thing change, the more they remain the same.

Nevertheless, I am getting well ahead of myself. Welcome to The Literacy Bug … a little creature with the capacity to fly, burrow, nest, transform, whiz about and inspire. Please visit the new home page for a fresh discussion of the road ahead and subscribe to receive regular updates. And whilst you are here, stop by the site’s many familiar places: the themed notes, the key essays, the teaching principles, the reading lists and the glossaries. Welcome! Explore and enjoy!

Some Rough Notes on Certain Elements Contributing to Literacy Learning

 

The following are types of focal learning areas:

1. Word study (including early language and beginning vocabulary development)
2. Vocabulary development
3. Early composition (creating sentences, usually based on some stimulus)
4. Reading practice (for fluency with some comprehension)
5. Reading practice to deploy strategies
6. Close comprehensive reading (and responding)
7. Reading to respond (focus on text type)
8. Writing workshops (with portfolio development and mini-lessons)
9. Writing for a purpose (to real audiences)
10. Facilitating oral language
11. Emphasising oral language in learning
12. Developing skills in specific spoken discourses, genres, contexts and/or registers
13. Academic/disciplinary literacies
14. Anchored learning (instruction)
15. Functional literacy

There following skills areas are developed within and across the above sequences:

• language skills;
• literacy skills;
• knowledge development;
• learning skills (how do I learn? how/why do I remember something? how do I defer gratification?, how do I maintain focus?);
• social and emotional qualities (including trust, confidence and self-concept);
• schemas, routines, habits and practices;
• independence and resilience;
• interests, identities, expertise and careers;
• acumen and awareness of talents/specialisation
• deliberation, familiarity and situated cognition (how to attack and solve problems in context? how do I deploy this strategy in context? and to what effect?);
• critical thinking; and
• cultural and political awareness

We must be mindful of:

• time allocated to learning;
• the richness of the learning spaces/resources;
• the organisation of learning; 
• the appropriateness and challenging nature of the content;
• the available of material conditions and opportunities to practice; and
• issue affecting trust, power and access.

What Have I Been Reading Lately?

Once again, for those who may be curious about the things I have been reading as of late, the following is a list of articles and books that I have scoured in the past few weeks. Regular visitors might notice that there has been a significant focus on all-things-literacy-related, which is another indication of the impending launch of The Literacy Bug website.

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• Allington, R. L. (2002). What I’ve Learned about Effective Reading Instruction from a Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom Teachers. The Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 740–747. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20440246
• Allington, R. L. (2006). Fluency: Still waiting after all these years. What research has to say about fluency instruction, 94-105.
• Bear, S., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2014). Words their way: word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction (5th edition). Essex: Pearson.
• Blackwell-Bullock, R., Invernizzi, M., Drake, E. A., & Howell, J. L. (2009). Concept of Word in text: an integral literacy skill. Reading In Virginia, 31, 30–35.
• Brandone, A. C., Salkind, S. J., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2006). Language development. In G. G. Bear & K. M. Minke (Eds.), Children’s needs III: development, prevention, and intervention. (pp. 499–514). Washington D.C.: National Association of School Psychologists. Retrieved from http://udel.edu/~roberta/pdfs/Bear chaptBrandone.pdf
• Christ, T., Wang, X. C., & Chiu, M. M. (2011). Using story dictation to support young children’s vocabulary development: Outcomes and process. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(1), 30–41.
• Coyne, M. D., Capozzoli-Oldham, A. & Simmons, D. C. (2012). Vocabulary instruction for young children at risk of reading difficulties: teaching word meanings during shared storybook readings. In E. J. Kame’enui & J. F. Baumann, Vocabulary instruction: research to practice (2nd edition). New York: Guilford Press.
• Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Lapp, N. (2011). What the research says about intentional instruction. In S. J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds), What research has to say about reading instruction(4th edition). (pp. 359 - 378). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
• Flanigan, K. (2007). A concept of word in text: A pivotal event in early reading acquisition. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(1), 37–70. doi:10.1080/10862960709336757
• Flanigan, K., Hayes, L., Templeton, S., Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2011). Words their way with struggling readers: word study for reading, vocabulary, and spelling instruction, grades 4 - 12. Boston: Pearsons.
• Goldman, S. R., & Lee, C. D. (2014). Text complexity: state of the art and the conundrums it raises. The Elementary School Journal, 115(2), 290–300. doi:10.1163/_afco_asc_2291
• Hawkins, M. R. (2004). Researching English Language and Literacy Development in Schools. Educational Researcher, 33(3), 14–25. doi:10.3102/0013189X033003014
• Hiebert, E. H., & Pearson, D. P. (2014). Understanding text complexity: introduction to the special issue. The Elementary School Journal, 115(2), 153–160. doi:10.1163/_afco_asc_2291
• Hoffman, J., Sailors, M., Duffy, G., & Beretvas, S. N. (2004). The effective elementary classroom literacy environment: examining the validity of the TEX-IN3 observation system. Journal of Literacy Research, 36(3), 303–334. doi:10.1207/s15548430jlr3603_3
• Hsueh-chao, M. H., & Nation, P. (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 13(1), 403–430.
• Justice, L. M. (2006). Evidence-based practice, response to intervention, and the prevention of reading difficulties. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37(4), 284–297. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2006/033)
• Justice, L. M., Mashburn, A., Hamre, B., & Pianta, R. (2008). Quality of Language and Literacy Instruction in Preschool Classrooms Serving At-Risk Pupils. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23(1), 51–68. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.09.004
• Kame’enui, E. J. & Baumann, J. F. (2012). Vocabulary instruction: research to practice (2nd edition). New York: Guilford Press.
• Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2007). Breaking down words to build meaning: morphology, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in the urban classroom. The Reading Teacher, 61(2), 134–144. doi:10.1598/RT.61.2.3
• Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2011). Morphing into adolescents: active word learning for English-Language Learners and their classmates in middle school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(1), 47–56. doi:10.1598/JA
• Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 5(11), 831–43. doi:10.1038/nrn1533
• Kuhn, M. R., & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Fluency: A review of developmental and remedial practices. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1), 3–21. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.95.1.3
• Leslie, L. & Caldwell, J. S. (2010). Qualitative Reading Inventory (5th edition). Boston: Pearson.
• Martin, M., Fergus, E., & Noguera, P. (2010). Responding to the needs of the whole child: a case study of a high-performing elementary school for immigrant children. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 26(3), 195–222. doi:10.1080/10573561003769582
• McGee, L. M, & Dail, A. R. (2010). Phonemic awareness instruction in preschool: research implications and lessons learned from Early Reading First. In M.C. McKenna, S. Walpole, & K. Conradi (Eds) Promoting early reading: research, resources and best practices. New York: Guilford Press.
• McGinty, A. S. & Justice, L. M. (2010). Language facilitation in the preschool classroom: rationale, goals and strategies. In M.C. McKenna, S. Walpole, & K. Conradi (Eds) Promoting early reading: research, resources and best practices. New York: Guilford Press.
• McIntyre, E., & Hulan, N. (2013). Research-Based, Culturally Responsive Reading Practice in Elementary Classrooms: A Yearlong Study. Literacy Research and Instruction, 52(1), 28–51. doi:10.1080/19388071.2012.737409
• McIntyre, E., Hulan, N., & Layne, V. (2011). Reading Instruction for Diverse Classrooms: Research-Based, Culturally Responsive Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
• McKenna, M. C. & Stahl, K. A (2009). Assessment for reading instruction (2nd edition). New York: Guilford Press.
• McKenna, M. C., Walpole, S., & Conradi, K. (2010). Promoting early reading: research, resources and best practices. New York: Guilford Press.
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (2014). Speech and Language Developmental Milestones [NIDCD Health Information]. Bethesda, MD. Retrieved from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/pages/speechandlanguage.aspx
• National Reading Panel (NRP). (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence- based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
• Olson, C. B. (2010). The Reading/Writing Connection: strategies for teaching and learning in the secondary classroom (3rd Edition). Boston: Pearson.
• RAND Reading Study Group (2002). Reading for understanding: toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Reading Education.
• Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 95(1), 26–43. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01146.x
• Stahl, K. A. D., & Bravo, M. A. (2010). Contemporary classroom vocabulary assessment for content areas. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 566–578. doi:10.1598/RT.63.7.4
• Stahl, K. A & McKenna, M. C. (2013). Reading assessment in an RTI framework. New York: Guilford Press.
• Taylor, T. J. (2013). Calibrating the child for language: Meredith Williams on a Wittgensteinian approach to language socialization. Language Sciences, 40, 308-320.
• Tyner, B. B. (2009). Small-group reading instruction: a differentiated teaching model for beginning and struggling readers (2nd edition). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
• Tyner, B. B. & Green, S. E. (2012). Small-group reading instruction: differentiated teaching models for intermediate readers, grades 3-8 (2nd edition). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
• Vaughn, M., & Parsons, S. A. (2013). Adaptive Teachers as Innovators: Instructional Adaptions Opening Spaces for Enhanced Literacy Learning. Language Arts, 91(2), 82–93.
• Walpole, S., Justice, L. M., & Invernizzi, M. a. (2004). Closing the Gap Between Research and Practice: Case Study of School-Wide Literacy Reform. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 20(3), 261–283. doi:10.1080/10573560490429078
• Walpole, S. & McKenna, M. C. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: strategies for the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press.
• Wolfersberger, M., Reutzel, D. R., Sudweeks, R., & Fawson, P. (2004). Developing and validating the Classroom Literacy Environmental Profile (CLEP): a tool for examining the “print richness” of early childhood and elementary classrooms. Journal of Literacy Research, 36(2), 211–272. doi:10.1207/s15548430jlr3602_4
• Zucker, T. A. & Landry, S. H. (2010). Improving the quality of preschool read-alouds: professional development and coaching that targets book-reading practices. In M.C. McKenna, S. Walpole, & K. Conradi (Eds) Promoting early reading: research, resources and best practices. New York: Guilford Press.