Entry #6

    After reading Building Preschool Children’s Language and Literacy One Storybook at a Time by Beauchat et al. and Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius, I am intrigued about developing lessons that follow both approaches to teaching literacy. Additionally, Tompkins chapter on The Youngest Readers and Writers aligns closely with these texts as well. Constructing social justice literacy lesson plans is something that I am extremely interested in developing as I advance through my education as I know that this well benefit my students. 

    Initially, I read about the Innovation Configuration (IC) and loved the practicality that it offered to teachers. The IC acknowledges that teachers will carry out shared storybook reading on a scale from least effective to most effective. The IC is quite comprehensive, and it is never expected that a teacher targets all parts of the IC in one lesson. Beauchat et al. says, “it provides a powerful context for a teacher to engage in reflective practice; this is an essential component of teacher change” (Beauchat et al, 2009, p.38). The IC prompts teachers to think about the best practices to engage children in storybook reading while also allowing teachers to self-monitor their own progress in the classroom. It seems that Beauchat et al. and Tompkins have come to a consensus that Shared storybook reading is one of the most beneficial practices that early childhood teachers can do for their students. However, I noticed that the IC does not have space to integrate culturally relevant teaching practices. I know that there is a lot for students to gain from culturally relevant and historically responsive lessons. For this reason, I know that when I use this tool in my future classroom, I will pair it alongside Gholdy Muhammad’s Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) framework. When these two tools are used in conjunction, the possibilities of learning are improved. 

    I have begun thinking about literacy lessons that I could use in my future classroom by using the Innovation Configuration and the Historically Responsive Literacy framework together. For example, when reading a children’s book aloud to a class of third graders about skin color, students will be encouraged to interact with the text during the read aloud. They will be introduced to new vocabulary words. Immediately after the read aloud, Students are given mirrors and are prompted to look within and observe themselves by looking closely at their features such as the texture and color of their skin. They can discuss and write different words that describe their skin color. For example, I might use the words porcelain, linen, and spotted to describe my skin. This lesson would force students to develop their speaking and writing skills, as well as develop their identity and sense of self. It would be a great start to a unit plan that goes more in depth about identity, intellect, and criticality. 

    I look forward to learning about other approaches to developing literacy in young minds as the semester progresses. For now, I will use what I know from Beauchat et al., Muhammad, and Tompkins. 

Beauchat, K. A., Blamey, K. L., & Walpole, S. (2009). Building preschool children's language and 

     literacy one storybook at a time. The Reading Teacher.

Muhammad, G. (2020).  Cultivating genius:  An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy.  

     New York, NY:  Scholastic.