hsmessiah

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #7 (semester 2)

2/26/2022

Manyak, et. al. (2014), “Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction”

Big Take Away Statement: Establishing efficient, rich routines for introducing target word meanings, providing review activities that promote deep processing of word meanings, responding directly to student confusion, and fostering universal participation in and accountability for vocabulary instruction are necessary to

Nugget: "The vocabulary deficit experienced by many students is so large that it will take a multiyear approach to vocabulary instruction to substantially impact it". This quote I found and read made me feel kind of helpless, even though I know it takes a lot of time and effort to improve. Thus, I read on, feeling a little down in the dumps, and then I came to another quote. "We believe that all teachers who commit to teaching a relatively large number of target word meanings will, like the MCVIP teachers, find it necessary to develop and refine a few efficient routines for introducing these words". After I read that and the entire experiment that happened with the teachers, I didn't feel as hopeless as I did before. With hardworking teachers who truly care about their students, children can reach their full potential!

Readerly Exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I decided to take myself on a field trip on campus, specifically Murray Library (the online version :)). In the PRIMO search bar, I put in "vocabulary for children". Just to see what would come up. I scrolled down the page for a while to see what caught my eye, an an article titled "The role of teachers’ comments during book reading in children’s vocabulary growth" by Erica M. Barnes, David K. Dickinson, and Jill F. Grifenhagen. Now, I make comments all the time when I read books to my students, so naturally I wanted to know if it was beneficial especially in terms of vocabulary growth, especially since my current students are really behind their grade level. The article said that "Responsive and conceptually focused comments were significantly related to the children’s receptive vocabulary growth, and were moderated by children’s initial language ability indicating the presence of the Matthew Effect." So, the comments that I make help my student's vocabulary to grow, which was a relief to learn. Obviously, I knew that making comments couldn't hurt the students, but I didn't know how much it helped. I also didn't know what the Matthew Effect was, but I searched in the article and it said it was a theory that children with an already large vocabulary benefit more from this instruction than those with a smaller vocabulary. So, I learned not 1, but 2 new things from taking a field trip on my computer. It's a wonder what modern technology can do :). Through this readerly exploration, I further learned how teachers can help their students learn vocabulary, including the ones detailed in the article.

Above is the link to a PDF of the article I found through the library

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #6 (semester 2)

2/19/2023

Tompkins, Chapter 9, "Teaching Comprehension: Reader Factors"

Big Take Away Statement: The text factors of genres, text structures, and text features, serve as a scaffold for students, making comprehension easier.

Nugget: "Reading new books and rereading familiar books are both worthwhile activities because struggling readers need to broaden their experiential base and dig deeper into familiar books. Students focus on the plot in the first reading, but they examine text factors through repeated readings." (page 291). This quote, found on the sidebar Classroom Interventions, stood out to me because I never understood why rereading a book or text was so beneficial to students. I knew it was good because the students become familiar with the words, but I never thought about how it could help students identify text features. It makes sense though, because once you're familiar with the story, its good to go back and see what you might have missed or not caught the first time around. As a future teacher, I'll make sure to use rereading in the future.

Readerly Exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I decided to make a t-chart that lists “Struggles” I encountered when working to comprehend the assigned course reading(s), as well as the “Successes” I had comprehending the assigned course reading(s). Below is a picture of the said chart:

This exercise helped me further understand the chapter because it helped me realize what I knew really well and what I needed to refresh on to understand what the chapter was saying.

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #5 (semester 2)

2/12/2023

Tompkins, Chapter 8, “Teaching Comprehension: Reader Factors”

Big Take Away Statement:

When teachers teach comprehension, students learn to apply predicting, connecting, visualizing, monitoring, evaluating, and other comprehension strategies to help them understand complex texts. These strategies help students to engage and think about what they're reading.

Nugget:

"Struggling readers often complain that they don't understand what they're reading. Comprehension difficulties are caused by a variety of problems, but one of the most common is that students don't read strategically. They read passively, without using comprehension strategies to think about what they're reading." (page 231). This quote (found on the sidebar called Classroom Interventions) really stood out to me because it made something click in my brain. I never understood why struggling readers, well, struggle for so long and are so reluctant to read. I never connected that readers might continue to struggle because they simply don't understand what the overall text means. I guess hearing it in such simple terms really made me have a light bulb moment.

Readerly Exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I decided to connect what I learned from this chapter to a song I know. Lately, I've been into a kr&b singer called keshi. His first full album came out in 2022, named Gabriel. One of the songs on his album is called Understand, which I think fits well with the theme of comprehension.

One of the first lyrics says this:

I got you, you got me When it's us, babe, you make me feel complete You're all I need

That reminded me of what is feels like when you comprehend a text: you have a "complete" understanding of something you read-things just connect and you have an "aha" moment. In this song, keshi is singing about how when he's with his fiancee, he understands the world, much like when you use comprehension to understand a book.

This exploration helped me further understand how comprehension can feel to a student, further emphasizing how important it is for students.

Above is the song mentioned in my readerly exploration

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #4 (semester 2)

2/5/2023

Gambrell (2011), “Seven Rules Of Engagement: What's Most Important to Know About Motivation to Read"

Big Take Away Statement: Engaged readers are intrinsically motivated to read and have higher reading achievement, so promoting intrinsic motivation to read should be given a high priority in the reading curriculum

Nugget: The most interesting rule of engagement that I found of the the 7 was number 5-"students are more motivated to read when they have opportunities to socially interact with others about the text they are reading. This can include talking about books, reading together, borrowing and sharing books, talking about books with peers, and sharing writing about books. This social interacting can support motivation in many ways. It can spark a students curiosity, increase confidence by observing peers progress, and promote interest and engagement. I had no idea that interacting with others was so important when it comes to reading!

Readerly Exploration:

For this readerly exploration, I decided to get inspiration from this reading and find another text and connect the 2 in some way.

The nugget that I gathered from this article that talked about socially interacting with other students about the book they are reading. This reminded me of an article we read that Dr. Fischer authored, that was read last semester, called "Reading with a Crayon: Pre-conventional Marginalia as Reader Response in Early Childhood". I though of it because of the reader response similarities-for this article with other students, and for Fischer's article with the book. The findings of her study suggest that toddlers and preschool-aged children can understand books as distinct and pleasurable artifacts in their immediate environments, that the marks they make in their picturebooks are evidence of their reader responses, much like social conversation supports motivation!

This exploration helped me fully understand why students need to interact with books socially by drawing from Dr. Fischer's article that discussed interactions with books before schooling.

Below is the pdf of the article described above:

10.1007_s10583-016-9292-4.pdf

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #3 (semester 2)

1/28/2023

Tompkins Chapter 1:“Becoming an Effective Literacy Teacher”

Big Take Away Statement: Effective teachers are the key to ensuring that their student learn to read and write successfully through adopting a balanced approach to instruction, differentiating instruction, and linking instruction and assessment.

Nugget: "To prevent literacy problems and break the cycle of poverty in the United States, the federal government directs two early-intervention programs for economically disadvantaged students and their parents" (page 27). These two programs, which are named later, are Head Start and the Even Start Family Literacy Program. I chose this as my nugget because I didn't know there were government sponsored programs that supported literacy for young students. I hope that these programs are still sponsored by the government and continue to help impoverished students learn to read and write.

Readerly Exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I decided to skim the assigned course reading for unfamiliar terms. Then, I took the time to look up the definitions of those terms. Below is a list of terms I needed refreshing on:

Behaviorism: Focuses on the observable and measurable aspects of students' behavior. Behavior can be learned or unlearned as the result of stimulus-and-response actions.

Constructivism: A student-centered theory, students are active and engaged learners who construct their own knowledge. Learning occurs when students integrate new information with their existing knowledge.

Sociolinguistics: a theory that states language organizes thought and is a learning tool. Recommends that teachers incorporate opportunities for students to talk with classmates as part of the learning process.

Grand Conversation: Discussions about stories in which students explore the big ideas and reflect on their understanding. They are student-centered. The first part is opened ended where students talk about their reactions to the books. The second part consists of teachers doing a close reading to focus students' attention on topics they didn't talk about in the first part.

nonstandard English: Alternatives in which the phonology, syntax, and semantics differ from those of Standard English. They reflect the communities of the speakers, and the speakers communicate as effectively as those who use Standard English.

Situated Learning Theory: States that learning takes place as a function of the activity, context, and culture in which it occurs. It rejects the notion of separating learning to do something from actually doing it.

Critical Literacy: Views language as a means for social action and advocate that students become agents of social change. This theory has a political agenda, and works to resolve inequities and injustices.

Remembering and re-learning these terms furthered my understanding of this course reading because it allowed me to truly understand what the chapter was talking about when it mentioned and described how the terms can be used through teaching literacy.

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #2 (semester 2)

1/22/2023

Tompkins, Chapter 2, “Examining Students’ Literacy Development”

and

Tompkins, Chapter 10, “Scaffolding Students’ Reading Development"

Big Take Away Statements:

Chapter 2: Through teaching to promote early literacy development, students will move through the 3 developmental levels-emergent beginning, and fluent-as they become literate.

Chapter 10: Teachers use the 5 stages of the learning process, reading strategies and skills, and a combination of instructional approaches to help their students develop their comprehension of a text.

Nuggets:

Chapter 2: "Young students begin to read by recognizing logos on fast-food restaurants, department stores, grocery stores, and commonly used household items in familiar contexts" (page 56).

This quote stood out to me because it was interesting to learn what kids learn to read by, and what they do read before a formal introduction to school and books. I find it interesting that there is a correlation in reading and writing in that both start with symbols-reading with logos, and writing with pictures.

Chapter 10: "One of the best ways to nurture students' love of reading and ensure that they become lifelong readers is through literature circles-small, student-led book discussion groups that meet regularly in the classroom" (page 323).

This quote stood out to me because I had never heard of this method before reading this book, but it sounds like a really fun and enriching idea to use! I also totally relate to the author in that they worry that kids lose their love of reading as they get older, and this activity could combat that.

Readerly Exploration:

In chapter 2 of this book, in the story at the beginning, I found this quote, "Several chart racks stand nearby. One rack holds Ms. McCloskey's morning messages, a second one holds charts with poems that the students use for choral reading, and a third rack hols a pocket chart with word cards and sentence strips." (page 35)". Now, I have never heard of choral reading before, but it made me think of how singing and literacy are related. Then, I remembered the music class we had during Literacy: Climate, Curriculum, and Instruction I outside last semester with Dr. Fischer's friend who graduated from Messiah and leads a music class that Dr. Fischer and her daughter go to! I remembered the experience fondly and how we shook instruments in the grass along to a song and said all our names. I also remember getting up and dancing around in a circle. It was honestly one of the most enjoying things I have ever participated in! There was a lot of rhyme and rhythm used throughout the music session, and each word and phrase was said in a sing-song and poetic way. Therefore, I can see how it would be used to help students learn how to read, like Ms. McCloskey did for her choral reading.

This exploration furthered my understanding by reminding me of the background knowledge I had in regards to a literacy practice.

Since my readerly exploration was more of an experience (and Dr. Fischer saw me there :)) There's no pictures for this week! Enjoy the GIF reminiscing our music lesson :)

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #1 (semester 2)

1/15/2023

Brighton (2015)

-Big Take Away Statement:

Advanced readers in the Reading First curriculum were not appropriately challenged by the reading instruction and showed less growth than students who were below advanced because of strict adherence to the program and misunderstandings of the teachers.

-Nugget:

Although the chasm between advanced and average (or below-average) readers may stand out initially (Allington, 2002; Moore, 2005), when average readers develop fluent reading skills, the more advanced readers (one or more grade levels beyond expectation) are less likely to be recognized as such (Stainthorp & Hughes, 2004) and do not receive appropriate instruction. These advanced readers may lose focus, motivation, and interest in school because they do not interact with appropriate materials (Brown & Rogan, 1983) or receive appropriate challenge." (page 5). This quote stood out to me because

-Readerly Exploration:

I chose to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension, in that I learned something about the authors before I read the articles. I chose to research the first author mentioned in the article, Catherine M. Brighton. She was the corresponding author of the research article, and works at the Curry school of education through the University of Virginia in VA, USA. She is a very accomplished researcher and has published 32 articles. According to researchgate.net, her publications have been read 8,414 times and has been cited 1,068 times. Her areas of expertise include assessment, teaching and learning, teaching, curriculum development, professional development, educational evaluation, and learning. Her most recent article, published in June of 2022, was titled "Where’s the Data to Support Educators’ Data Use for Instructional Practice?". Therefore, Brighton is a very relevant and up-to-date researcher whose works should be taken seriously and given significant consideration. Do this particular readerly exploration activity gave me more confidence in the researchers who wrote this article and confidence in the findings of the article.

Above is a screenshot of part of the website where I found the information on Catherine Brighton.

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #7

11/27/2022

Rasinski (2012) and Applegate, Applegate, and Modla (2011)

-Big Take Away Statements:

Rasinski: Schools have been shying away from using fluency in reading instruction (since it is stereotyped as only read fast and orally), but it is a central element to all effective fluency curriculum

Applegate, Applegate, and Modla: Teachers need to stop judging the reading proficiency of their students only on speed, accuracy, and prosody, but also on thoughtful comprehension.

-Nuggets:

Rasinski: "That’s to be expected: Repeated practice improves the performance of the actual activity practiced. The real value of deep or repeated reading is shown when students move on to a new and not previously read passage. What students learn from the repeated reading of one passage partially transfers to the new passage."

This part stood out to me because I can proudly say that my school has been doing this! Every week, the students read the same book out loud to themselves or others, and every Friday the teacher of that classroom listens to the student read. At the start of a new week, the students get a new book. This theory makes sense, but I didn't truly understand it until I saw it in a classroom myself.

Applegate, Applegate, and Modla: "The most startling finding, however, was the fact that fully one third of our fluent and “strong” readers struggled mightily with comprehension at their current grade level. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that many of these children had been judged strong readers on the basis of their pacing, accuracy, and prosody alone."

This quote stood out to me because it, unfortunately, shows that the author's research is correct-some students who read fast are mistakenly categorized as being able to understand the text. It shows how much work we as educators have to do to make sure that the right methods are being used to show student's levels of comprehension.

-Readerly Exploration:

Since I wrote this over Thanksgiving vacation, it only seemed fitting to choose an excerpt from my assigned course readings and share it with a family member to get their insight and perspective on it. I decided to share the findings of the study done by Applegate, Applegate, and Modla with my mom. I specifically showed her the results section of the study and the various graphs throughout the study (she's an accountant, so she knows numbers well :) )

After she read the study, she expressed her surprise and disappointment that 33% of strong readers struggle with comprehension. She said that comprehending ANYTHING, including reading, is such an integral part of functioning in day to day life, especially as an adult. For example, if you go to a grocery store and can read the signs but can't understand them, then you're going to have a huge problem. She also expressed how thankful she was that me and my 2 sisters had books around us from the moment we were born, because that caused us to start reading earlier and comprehend reading better. Parent teacher conferences were never stressful or embarrassing, and she was never worried about us reading because of that.

My mom and I had never had a conversation about this kind of thing before, so it was really enlightening to get an "outsiders" perspective on something I have been surrounded with the whole semester. It brought in new ideas and perspectives to the readings that I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't talked to her. Thanks mom! :)

Just a GIF of a girl reading this week since it was just a conversation :)

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #6

-11/5/2022

-Hanford(2018) and Wills Lloyd (2021)

-Big Take Away Statements:

Hanford: Kids aren't being taught to read because of underlying attitudes and assumptions that the "whole language" approach is best, when in actuality science supports explicit phonics instruction.

Wills Lloyd: Effective reading instruction starts with the use of systematic and explicit phonics instruction, and then as kids become better at reading, the move to a whole language/balanced literacy approach becomes more beneficial.

-Nuggets:

Hanford: "The sum of the research showed that explicitly teaching children the relationship between sounds and letters improved reading achievement. The panel concluded that phonics lessons help kids become better readers."

This stood out to me because I didn't really know that research really supported explicitly teaching phonics. I thought that there was research supporting balanced literacy as well, but I didn't know that there was more support for explicit phonics instruction.

Wills Lloyd: "Of course children need phonics instruction, and in the early grades this instruction should be systematic and explicit. But phonics is not sufficient to create readers. Children need instruction in how to use features of what they are reading (e.g., context) to resolve comprehension of passages, including those sneaky few instances where they encounter homographs."

This stood out to me because it shows that even though research shows that phonics best helps student learn to read, phonics alone will not teach students. They also need a bit of the "whole language" approach too. Any reading philosophy by itself i not good enough to create readers, but a mix is needed.

-Readerly Exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I took myself on a field trip to a place on campus that connects with the big ideas of my assigned readings. Both of these articles said that explicit phonics instruction was the best to use in class, but they didn't state how to do it. Thus, I took a field trip to the library to find some resources or lesson plans that showed how to teach phonics in an early elementary classroom. While exploring, I stumbled across a word building reading kit called reading rods. It contained color-coded rods, activity card, an instruction manual and activity book, trays, and a storage tub. Looking through the kit, I realized how beneficial phonics can be to kids. While sounding out the letter, kids can create the word using blocks. In addition, the instruction books had lesson plans almost identical to the ones that we have to write. It includes a "hook", objectives, supplies you'll need, and an "assessing learning" section. This really furthered my understanding of the article because I now know what explicit phonics instruction looks like in the classroom, and why it can be so helpful to children.

Above is the reading kit I analyzed

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #5

-October 22nd, 2022

-Bissex (1985) and Manyak (2011)

-Big Take-Away Statements:

Bissex: Young writers use many context clues to create their own "spelling system" that combines speech sounds, the alphabet, and adult guidance

Manyak: Phonemic instruction involving segmenting and blending phonemes combined with a focus on the letters that represent those phonemes contributes greatly to students success in beginning reading and spelling

-Nuggets:

Bissex: "We might conclude that Scott and Kenny had learned a very different amount, especially since this is only one of six pages Kenny wrote while Scott did his sentence. Leafing through their writing folders, however, we see what different places they started from and the different paths their learning took-information that standardized tests could not give us" (page 5).

This stood out to me because I strongly agree with this statement, though I have never heard or seen it used in an argument against standardized testing, even though it is one of the stronger, if not the strongest, argument. Standardized tests only give a small glimpse of what the student is capable of, instead of looking at the big picture.

Manyak: "Typically, it takes only a few minutes to write three to five words. Yet in those few minutes the children have listened for the individual phonemes in words, reinforced their knowledge of the letters that represent those phonemes, and practiced a deliberate process for invented spelling that they can use while writing independently" (page 2).

This stood out to me because I often forget how much students learn in a short amount of time. It reminded me that every moment counts when you're teaching, and that students are learning every single moment of the day, even if you can't physically see it happening.

-My readerly exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I am documenting my initial response to what I've read and considering how the ideas you read about made you feel and what they made you think about. Right after I read the article written by Patrick C. Manyak, here's what I wrote:

Wow! This article could not have been assigned at a better time. Just last week, Professor Melinda Burchard had us watch an honors presentation of a grad student, which was about phonics!! It matched up perfectly with the article. In fact, one of the strategies mentioned in the article was one he talked about, which was the beginning-middle-end strategy. The grad student talked about using physical representations for the beginning, middle, and end sounds using small cups that had large holes hole-punched in them. Like the article said, this kind of activity is best for a whole-class activity, and with words that reinforce the letters students are studying and/or struggling with. In terms of my own experience in field, the students I'm working with are struggling with middle and ending sounds-they're very good at beginning sounds, but they get lost after the first sound they hear. These small cups will be very helpful for my literacy interventions.

The ideas I read made me feel inspired to help students who are struggling, because the article gave me real, tangible ways to help those who are behind. It made me think about how I can use tangible representatives to show Say-It-And-Move-It, Scaffolded Spelling, Word Mapping, and Word Wall Boxes.

This exercise furthered my understanding of this course reading by connecting what I have learned in my classes and the honors presentation with what I was reading.

Above is a picture of the beginning-middle-end cups. Both these are examples of end sounds, but you could also make words with beginning and middle sounds too!

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #4

-October 8th, 2022

-Fisher, et. al. (2020), Chapter 2, and Sipe (2002)

-Big Take-Away Statements:

Sipe (2002): Children's engagement with books can be expressive and performative, which can be shown with words and physical actions, thus letting them become active participants in the story.

Fisher, et. al. (2020): Whole-class reading instruction is necessary to have a balanced literacy classroom, and useful for developing skills and knowledge that every student needs, like comprehension and phonics.

-Nuggets:

Fisher, et. al. (2020): "One method for pairing manipulatives with phonemic awareness instruction is called Elkonin sound boxes. Elkonin sound boxes are represented as empty squares for each phoneme in a word...the teacher says each word slowly while students push a chip into a box for each sound they hear".

This stood out to me because I had never thought to use manipulatives for literacy-we do it for mathematics all the time, but rarely for literacy, which is not ideal, as this excerpt made me realize.

Sipe (2002): "...the children thought there was room in the stories for them—their personalities, their choices, and their capabilities. It was one way of personalizing the stories, of drawing the stories to themselves; more important, it allowed them to control and manage plots and characters. They thought of themselves as authors, with ideas as valid as those of the published author of the book they were discussing."

This stood out to me because it revealed how much children make literacy experiences, and books, a part of themselves. I knew reading books to children affected them, but I never realized how much it did until I came across this excerpt in the article.

-My readerly exploration:

For my readerly exploration, I skimmed over the article written by Sipe and looked for unfamiliar terms. I found 6 terms I either didn't know at all or was vaguely unfamiliar with. The terms and definitions are listed below:

constant comparative method: When you sort and organize excerpts of raw data into groups according to attributes, and organize those groups in a structured way to formulate a new theory

superimposed: placed or laid over something else, typically so that both things are still evident

subversive: seeking or intended to disrupt an established system or institution

colloquial: A term used in ordinary or familiar conversation, not formal

viscerally: Characterized by or proceeding from instinct or base emotions rather than intellect

rehabilitate: to return something or someone to its former condition

This exercise furthered my understanding of this course reading because it allowed me to further comprehend the main points the author was trying to make in this scholarly article.

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #3

-September 17th, 2022

-Wessel-Powell, Kargin and Wohlwend (2016), Leong & Bodrova (2018), and Scholastic (2018)

-Big Take Away Statements:

Wessel-Powell, Kargin, and Wohlwend- Multimodal storytelling acknowledges and influences the engaging and interesting ways children create meaningful stories

Leong & Bodrova- Through play, children learn many things that cannot be taught through instruction, such as delayed gratification and self-regulation

Scholastic- When teachers encourage developed, high-quality, and symbolic play, they can help children develop their language and literacy skills.

-Nuggets:

Wessel-Powell, Kargin and Wohlwend- "Student groups took up the multimodal instruction offered by teachers to various degrees, but the greatest benefit was that the most emergent writers who did not yet have print lit- eracies firmly in place could still effectively use dra- ma to act out stories." (pg. 11) This quote stood out to me because it shows that children who are not as smart in one area (writing) are still smart and should not be given up on!

Leong & Bodrova- "Teachers of entering school-agers do hope that the children who come into their classrooms can concentrate, pay attention, and be considerate of others. These areas are developed not by using flashcards or computer programs, but through interacting with peers during play." (pg. 2) This quote stood out to me because I had never thought about play that way-that it develops the things that we as educators can't really teach as well as academic subjects, but can only really teach well through play

Scholastic- "When children act out new themes, they practice new vocabulary associated with these new themes. This is very important since mastery of new words cannot be accomplished without children using these words in a meaningful context. Producing the words during play assures us that the children actually understand what the word means." (pg. 5) This quote stood out to me because this was the point in the article where it really clicked for me as to WHY play is so important to children. I have been told time and time again that it is important, but I was never really told the why until now.

-My Readerly Exploration:

For my exploration, I decided to identify a song that communicates the same or similar big ideas of the assigned reading and choose an excerpt that represents those shared ideals. As soon as I read the Scholastic article titled Building Language and Literacy Through Play, I knew right away a song that would fit perfectly. Many times in the article, imaginative play is mentioned and encouraged by the authors, and big idea of the article is that imaginative play builds a child's literacy. In fact, one quote from the article says that "Children's play is often referred to as "imagination without limits." (pg. 4) The song lyrics that fit the best with this quote, and the article, is the "stanza" mentioned below:

Come with me and you'll be In a world of pure imagination Take a look and you'll see Into your imagination We'll begin with a spin Traveling in the world of my creation What we'll see will defy explanation

This exploration furthered my knowledge by solidifying my understanding of how crucial imaginative play is to the development of children.

Above is the song that my readerly exploration is based on

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #2

-September 4th, 2022

-"Reading with a Crayon" Fischer (2017)

-Big Take-Away Statement: The marks pre-reading and writing children make in their books are dismissed because these scribbles are interpreted without taking into account the child's creative process and the broader context of the creation, but should be seen as a valid way for children to interact with a book.

-Nugget:

"To many adults, the presence of picture book scribbles is not only an imposition on their own appreciation of the text, but a delinquent devaluing of it. A question of proprietorship comes into play here. When we give a book to a child, even writing his name inside the front cover, do our words and actions thereafter remain consistent with this ceremonious transfer of ownership? Or, do we really mean that the book belongs to us, the adult gatekeepers, and we are lending it out for a time with conditions for aesthetic response unbeknownst to the child?"

This quote really stood out to me because it really challenged the way I think about how children interact with books! I find myself discouraging children from writing on books or being too rough with them. At my daycare, I was often annoyed at how torn-up the books would get in my classroom. After I would read a book for circle time, I would put it away quickly before a child grabbed it and "ruined" it. I would also scold children if I felt they were being too rough with the books. This quote made me realize that its OK for books to get a little beaten up because they are for the children, and not necessarily for me.

-My Readerly Exploration: This article fits very nicely with the course that I took my freshman year of college, called Children's Literature (EDUC 226), which happened to be taught by the author of this article :). Through this course, I learned to read widely, read deeply, and articulate my reader identity. I also wrote a paper on why literature is so important for children, called "A Teacher of Readers". I argue that through reading books, children can gain empathy, intelligence, and acquire practice at life in their society. If children are not able to interact with books the way that they know how to, they will not be able to fully learn the life lessons one gets from reading, and thus grow into their full potential.

Above is a website that I made for Children's Literature

[hsmessiah]

Readerly Exploration #1

-August 27th, 2022

-Cambourne (1995) and Britsch & Meier (1999)

Big Take-away Statements:

-Cambourne: Literacy classroom spaces need to model authentic learning conditions (thank you Dr. Fischer)

-Britsch & Meier: Literacy ownership, the inclusive process of literacy, and positive thinking techniques make for optimal literacy learning

Nuggets:

-Cambourne: It was really interesting to learn that children are more likely to engage with content when they like the teacher and don't have anxiety. It made me think about how much harder it is for children who have experienced trauma and/or have a rough home life to be able to concentrate and learn in school

-Britsch & Meier: I thought that this quote was a bit saddening: "As one of the teachers put it, "Independence is not a big deal because a lot of them have been pretty much on their own for a long time."'(pg. 2). It just shows that some of the children (in the Head Start daycare) had been abandoned, which is disheartening

My Readerly Exploration:

I chose to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension, in that I learned something about the authors before I read the articles. Mr. Cambourne started his teaching career in 1956, and went on to become a post-doctoral Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also earned numerous prestigious awards. This showed me that he is wise and knows what he's talking about, so I took what he said to be truthful and with high esteem.

In terms of Britsch & Meier, Susan J. Britsch is a professor at Purdue University, and has been published in top research journals such as Journal of Research in Science Teaching and the Early Childhood Education Journal. Daniel Meier is also a decorated professor of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University. He currently teaches in the M.A. program in Early Childhood Education, the Multiple Subject Teaching Credential Program with an Early Childhood emphasis, and the Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership. Again, these are two very dedicated professors who have done countless hours of research, and they know what they're talking about-they're professionals in the field of Early Childhood Education. Just like Cambourne, this made me respect and pay attention to the article, and the authors, even more than I already did. It really made me think about the time and effort that went into this article, and the countless hours of work that Britsch, Meier, and Cambourne put into getting their degrees and write other research articles. In conclusion, learning all this really made me think about who writes research articles and why it is important to learn from professionals in the field you are studying.

Here's a picture of the website where I found the information about Cambourne