Entry #11 The Final Post

    I thought I knew quite a bit about literacy prior to taking LTED601. This class has enlightened me to the fact that I did not know everything about literacy, and I am still working towards gaining a deeper understanding of the topic. On the first night of class I wrote, “Literacy consists of being able to read and write. Literacy assumes the individual has some understanding of their reading and writing as well.” It seems as though I was trying to define literacy in terms of fluency and comprehension. While these are two important aspects of literacy, I have learned throughout this semester that literacy goes beyond this definition. 

    Tomkins describes literacy as “a process that begins in infancy and continues into adulthood, if not throughout life” (Tompkins, 2017, p. 110). I like this definition because it allows individuals to have an understanding of literacy as something more than kindergarteners learning how to read and write. Literacy does encompass young children learning how to read and write, but that is not the end of literacy development. In fact, that is only the beginning. Literacy is a skill that is developed and perfected throughout one’s entire life. 

    The deeper dive discussion that I led myself helped me build knowledge on a topic that I thought I was already an expert in. I thought I was an expert about the youngest readers and writers because I had experience teaching pre-kindergartners in a classroom setting. As I prepared to lead the discussion by reading Building Preschool Children's Language and Literacy One Storybook at a Time, I quickly realized that there was a lot of information on the topic that was new to me (Beauchat et al.). I learned that experiencing a shared storybook reading is the most valuable activity for early readers and writers. Shared storybook reading is achieved when teachers allow children to notice and make comments about a text that is being read aloud to the whole class. Shared storybook reading allows children to build new vocabulary, sentence structures, and more. I know that shared storybook reading is something that I will do in my future classroom as I am now aware of its many benefits on building children’s literacy skills.

    I find it interesting and helpful that each week of this class built off of information from the previous week. For example, shared storybook reading facilitates children’s vocabulary development. As we learned from reading Tompkins chapter 7: Expanding Academic Vocabulary, building vocabulary is connected with students having increased reading comprehension. This chapter was extremely helpful in highlighting strategies for teachers to use with their students that develop vocabulary. I know that I will create a word wall in my classroom to create word familiarity for my students and embrace their love of riddles and word games.

    Keeping a blog this semester allowed me to track my progress in understanding literacy as the semester went on. I enjoy reading my previous entries as they are evidence of my growth. I feel happy that I was able to articulate my ideas each week and that I have created a resource for myself (and others) that I will continue to reference throughout my graduate studies and my career as a teacher! I want to thank Dr. Jones, my classmates, Kucer, Tompkins, and Muhammad for influencing my literacy learning journey for the better. I will be an educator who seeks to be a meaning maker, plan DEI lessons, and understand the inner-workings of my students when teaching. 

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. 

Kucer, S.B. (2015).  Literacy:  Varied, dynamic and multidimensional.  Journal of Family 

     Strengths, 15(2), 1-35.

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th ed.). Boston, MA: 

     Pearson

Entry #10: Bless + Press Kaya Lani

    Reading through my peers’ blog posts has once again added great value to my understanding of Tompkins chapter 7: Expanding Academic Vocabulary along with the article, Teaching Metalinguistic Awareness and Reading Comprehension With Riddles. I was thoroughly impressed as I read through Kaya Lani’s blog post #9 because she used the readings to build off of her own experiences of developing vocabulary in elementary school. I want to bless Kaya Lani for her amazing blog post!

    Kaya Lani produced some important and essential questions at the end of her first paragraph. It was great to see that she was able to answer them by the end of her reading and writing process. I would press Kaya Lani even further to share some specific examples of how she would effectively teach the inner complexities of the English language, multiple meanings to a word, and vocabulary to students in her certification area. Do these things happen all at once or individually? It seems that this is a question that both myself and Kaya Lani still have after reading. Perhaps this week’s deeper dive discussion leaders could help clarify this for us.  One way that I might teach a lesson on homonyms to a class of first graders would be by creating an interactive smart board activity with two columns of pictures that correspond to a different item with the same name (homonyms). I am excited to hear some lesson ideas that Kaya Lani has in mind for teaching these topics. 

    When Kaya Lani referenced Tompkins’ idea that, "The goal is for students to become more aware of words, manipulate them playfully, and appreciate their power" (Tompkins, pg. 223), it reminded me of Gholdy Muhammad’s HRL framework from her book, Cultivating Genius. Muhammad talks about bringing students joy into learning and literacy. While talking about lessons learned from black literacy societies from the 19th century, Muhammad says, “Through their reading and writing, they still practiced joy and cultivated love” (Muhammad, 2020, p. 33). Muhammad is speaking about the need for teachers to support students in growing a love of literature and learning much like their ancestors had. Members of black literacy societies in the 19th century used literacy as a form of social justice. Muhammad urges educators to teach through a social justice lens in the classroom today. Tompkins’ idea of having students engage with words playfully and appreciatively is a way to have students find joy in their learning. Thanks to Kaya Lani’s thinking, I was able to make deeper connections to other texts as well. 

    Kaya Lani was clearly able to show some vulnerability as she wrote journal entry #9. She shared experiences of her own vocabulary development when she was a young student which enabled her to acquire a better understanding of the way that she personally formed her vocabulary knowledge. I felt heartbroken when I read that Kaya Lani had experiences throughout school where her teachers did not believe that she was capable of excellence. Sadly, I had experiences similar to Kaya Lani when I was in school. It feels empowering to know that despite what people may think or say about us, we have proven them wrong and demonstrate excellence every day! I know from reading Kaya Lani’s Blog that she will be an amazing educator who believes in her students ability to demonstrate brilliance and cultivates joy- I plan to do the same for my students as well!

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

     historically responsive literacy.  New York, NY:  Scholastic. 

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th ed.). Boston, MA: 

     Pearson

Zipke, M. (2008). Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with 

     riddles. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 128–137. https://doi.org/

Entry #9: Riddles are Fun!

    The children that I nanny are in first and third grade and are obsessed with riddles. I have never thought about the implications that riddles have on education as whole and vocabulary development more specifically. I simply thought the kids were being silly! Little did I know that they are actually developing their language skills while they interact with riddles. I had never thought about this through an educational lens. Honestly, before completing this weeks readings along with the reading guide, I was skeptical of riddles being more than just fun games. I can now see clearly that they are playing with words to gain a deeper understanding of word consciousness as Tompkins states in chapter 7, whether they know it or not (or whether I know it or not!).

    When I was completing the wonderful deeper dive reading guide prepared by Ilish and Sarah for this weeks readings, I recruited the two children that I nanny to help me prepare some riddles for the last question. Immediately, I was met with children who were jumping up and down screaming different riddles over one another. I was shocked (but delighted) to see riddles in action with the kids! They know many riddles off the top of their head that they had heard from school, friends, and books. I heard them say "let's go upstairs to get the book of riddles." I know from reading Teaching Metalinguistic Awareness and Reading Comprehension With Riddles by Zipke that it is actually beneficial for the development of metalinguistic awareness for children to own and read riddle books. Clearly, I am able to see the benefit of riddles in the children that I nanny.

    Zipke says, "to evaluate and regulate comprehension of text, it is necessary to know that the words in a text can add up to more than one possible meaning and that context and alternative explanations need to be considered" (Zipke, 2008, p. 129). Children may not automatically think in a way that allows them to be aware of the different meanings that one word may have alone and in a sentence. However, it is clear that riddles allow them to view words in this way while having fun. Children want to understand the riddles because they are engaging and funny at times. Zipke says, "Humor enhances the learning environment, gives children an incentive to read, and promotes critical thinking skills as well as vocabulary and language development" (Zipke, 2008, p. 131). This shows me how important that the way in which students are learning content and curriculum becomes. It seems that children have intrinsic motivation to learn when it is something that they are genuinely interested in. 

    Learning about metalinguistic awareness has allowed me to think deeper about my understanding of phonemic awareness as well. Phonology is something that I am still learning about as a teacher. I am now able to further categorize phonemic awareness as a type of metalinguistic awareness. I am now seeing how vocabulary and phonology are interconnected. I am reminded that vocabulary, semantics, phonics, syntax, and more are all related. 

    Reading Zipke, Tompkins, and Muhammad this week has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of vocabulary development in children. I am reminded of the significance of these readings as I see them in effect in the children I nanny! I will surely be stocking the shelves of my classroom with books about riddles because this was a really fun reading to complete!

Muhammad, G. (2020).  Cultivating genius:  An equity framework for culturally and 
     historically responsive literacy.  New York, NY:  Scholastic. 
Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th ed.). Boston, 

     MA: Pearson
Zipke, M. (2008). Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with 
     riddles. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 128–137. https://doi.org/