A Comprehensive Literacy Program for Grades 4-8

A Comprehensive Literacy Program for Grades 4-8

1. What is Literacy?

   • A continuum of skills applied in a social context
     • The skills are:
       • Reading, Writing, speaking, Listening, Viewing, Visuallt Representing, and Critical Thinking
   • Types of Literacy
     • Academic, Disciplinary, Visual, Media, and others.

2. Constructivists Model of Learning

   • Students actively build their own understanding of literacy activities.
   • Learning is a social and psychological process that takes place through social interactions.

3. Reading

   • Turning printed symbols into sounds
   • Reconstructing an author's message and constructing one's own meaning
   • Bringing about an exchange among the reader, the text, and the purpose and context of the reading situation

4. Characteristics of the Reading Process

   • Holistic: decoding + Complehension skills
   • Constructive: engaging + predicting = constructing meaning
   • Strategic: having a purpose to read
   • Interactive: interact or negotiate meaning for true comprehension

5. The Relationship of Reading to the Other Language Arts

   • Listening: ability to understand what is said
   • Speaking: directly related to the ability to read, it requires interpretation of meaning.
   • Writing: involves encoding symbols in order to communicate ideas.
   • Viewing: interpretation and analysis of visual media.
   • Visually representing: communicating through visual images.

6. WHat is a balanced and Comprehensive Approach to Literacy in Grades 4-8?

   • Focus attention on:
     • Basic foundational skills of reading
     • Program of literacy that is balanced in instruction and comprehensive in breadth
   • Teach students how to read as well as how to read to learn
   • Reading and writing must always be about something
   • Five major affective and cognitive components of a Literacy Program
     • Engagement: process that involves a complex set of ongoing activities that occur in the classroom.
     • Transmission Model: views children as empty vessels into which knowledge is poured and Transactional Model, views children as bringing a rich prior knowledge background to literacy learning.
     • Explanations and examples: useful for fostering construction of text.
     • Application, guided practice, and personal response: provide a large block of time for application of newly acquired literacy skills, provide opportunities for students to practice literacy skills in a social setting, and ensure that students are given myriad opportunities to respond personally to text.
     • Respect for each student’s culture and background: diversity must never be tolerated but celebrated

7. A National Focus on Literacy

   • Use of research-based, scientifically proven assessments and instructional techniques
   • Many groups/voices in the discussion:
     • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD)
     • National Reading Panel (NRP)
     • Common Core State Standards

8. Characteristics of Learners in Grades 4-8

   • Curious, challenging, and highly creative
   • Boundless energy and enthusiasm
   • Pre-and early adolescence:
     • Time of major transitions
     • Physical, intellectual, and emotional/behavior changes