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I appreciated the focus in the articles on teaching ELL’s this week.
Gillanders stressed teacher/child relationship in her article, which as others have mentioned in their blogs, we admirers of the Reggio model, endorse whole-heartedly. It did strike me that the example she used was a teacher who had no coursework on teaching   English Language Learners.  This teacher used her knowledge of how children learn to create her own teaching strategies.  She did a great job, despite her lack of specific instruction strategies and knowledge of how ELL’s learn best.
I agree with Gillanders that there is a need for teacher education on this issue.

Last semester, I took English Language Learners: Issues for Practitioners and felt strongly that all who are going to be in the classroom with ELL’s should take this class. At UNC, in the licensure only program, there are no classes that address this issue, especially none that teaches methods for approaching a class with children who do not speak or have limited English.
The Gersten and Geva article did give very specific information on how ELL’s develop their pre-reading skills and how that information can be used.  They also presented very specific instruction strategies for teaching English learners.
They wrote that research shows that it is possible to screen ELL’s for reading disabilities, which is good to know because it can be hard to distinguish limited English proficiency with a reading disability.  I was disappointed to read that it was ever ethically justifiable to withhold assessment and early interventions from any student.  I understand the history and the prejudice, but it still not easy to hear.

I found that both the video and chapter 3 in the Barone book had a emphasis on child friendly and supportive techniques for teachers to use in the classroom. When I think of the look on young children’s faces when they enter a new classroom and meet a new teacher and classmates for the first time, I know they need they need our warmth and support.  If they do not know our language and we cannot communicate to them in theirs, that support more essential and is harder to give.
Being a reflective teacher and really looking to know what each child knows was stressed.  Each child brings his or her own unique culture and knowledge to the classroom; literacy knowledge, cultural knowledge, etc.  It is our job as teachers to figure out what they know and incorporate that knowledge into our lesson plans.
That is where I get wonder -  how you get that knowledge.  The video and the book have wonderful suggestions about how to use knowledge about the children and their cultures and families in literacy experiences in the classroom, but just how do you find all of this out about all of your children when there are cultural and language barriers? I have never been in the situation where I have had many children who do not know the language and the culture and I have had to figure out exactly what each child brings to the classroom.  I would love to hear from those of you who have had more experience in this.
I also wondered about the use of books related to television and Disney movies and the use of television itself to enhance literacy learning.  I understand that they might be viewing these and therefore would be familiar, however, to promote this particular version of anything is questionable to me.

Impacts of television viewing on young children’s literacy development in the USA: A review of the literature
Annie M. Moses
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy  2008; 8; 67

“Television is too large a part of too many children’s lives to be left unstudied” This is the last line of the article I chose to read and that is the reason I chose it.  There have been many discussions about the effect of television on children’s behavior in my school.  I hoped that this article, as a review of the literature about this topic, with an emphasis on impact on literacy, could offer information and resources.
Although the article’s focus is literacy, a few general studies were mentioned.  The results of these all point out that the content of the shows that young children watch and the amount of time watching matters.  For example, one study found that there was a negative impact on children’s behaviors when there is violence in the shows they view.
There is little evidence that watching television leads to passivity and a sedentary lifestyle and that watching television displaces other activities such as reading. However, another study found that there is a negative effect on reading skills when TV was viewed for more than 4 hours a day.  A negative effect on reading skills was also found for time spent on entertainment programs such as cartoons, fantasy programs, situation comedies and adventure programs. Educational programs seemed to be designed for more active, participatory viewing, which was found to be beneficial to reading skills.
Most of the article concerned itself with research that focuses on how particular programs impact particular aspects of children’s literacy development.  The two shows that were studied were Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow.   Between the Lions was also mentioned.  Studies have been done that show that these programs have had a positive impact on skills including phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, concepts of print and other abilities related to emergent literacy.  There are also positive role models of people engaged in literacy activities on these shows.
Since the studies have shown that these educational programs impact young children’s literacy skills in positive ways, the author suggests that policy makers should encourage creation of programs that target the development of literacy skills.
There have also been studies on how different socioeconomic groups may be influenced by educational programming.   One study concluded that viewing these shows could actually widen the gap between certain groups of children.  Others argue that television could inhibit the growth of higher socioeconomic status children because viewing time takes time away from the supposedly more stimulating environment.
The advice given is to be selective about what children watch.  In addition, children benefit the most from co-viewing with adult caregivers.

I learned in a lecture last week that 75 – 80% of what a children learn before the age of 3 is learned visually.  Thinking about literacy learning within that context, it occurs to me that crucial concepts in  emergent literacy could be affected by a visual impairment.  Children who are visually impaired have less access to the general environment.  As a result there is less eye contact to imitate speech and reactions to events.  There is not as much information gathered from what is going on around in the environment at any given moment.  A child could miss out on knowing something as simple as the fact that there are trees in the yard unless someone tells them.

Teachers who are with children with visual impairments have to be doubly vigilent in listening and responding to the children in their care.  They have to listen to clues as to what they actuallly know and respond with the appropriate information. Important literacy skills need to taught using language.  Imagine the concentration it requires of a child to learn what a letter and a word are.  And then to learn tactilly the corresponding symbols and corresponding sounds are.  For a seeing person and a visual learner, it requires a shift in thinking.

As a preschool teacher I have never done running records in my class.  Over the years, I have had several children who were reading at a proficient enough level to perhaps consider the possiblility. But my question is why in preschool?  I feel like we need to protect our preschools from the academic pushdown.  Our focus needs to be on creating environments and experiences where children can play, explore and learn. It’s how children learn and perceive in the early years that is setting the stage for the academics in elementary grades.

However, now that I have said that, I will say that as someone who teaches in a constructivist way, I really like knowing learning continuums, so I can scaffold the next step.  Could running records be useful in preschool?  I have only consulted with a kindergarten teacher a few times, it seems a misuse of resources to train preschool teachers how to do RRs.

And what about the training? I’m thinking of teaching kindergarten next year and i got a little nervous as I read the website.   I am sure it gets easier as you practice, but their examples were really fast.  The information that was there was useful as a quick overview.  There seemed to be missing details, for example, how to incorporate the results into teaching.  It also seemed that the recording styles for the runnning record and miscue analysis could be interchangeable. The prospect of typing the story for a assessment seems time consuming.

There were many useful techniques in the readings this week.  Interactive and dialogic reading is the way to capture the interest of my class this year!  They love to talk about what they think is going to happen, what has happened and how it relates to their lives.  Rereading the same books over and over is a pleasure with these children.  I have been reading some books with some meaty social emotional content, for example, William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.     I can see how reading fosters growth in both emergent literacy and social-emotional skills.  Each time we read this book, I introduce more words and the children’s comprehension of the sophisticated text in the book.  The story is so compelling (Sylvester finds a magic pebble and accidentally turns himself into a rock.)  to 4 and 5 year olds; one of their fears is to be separated from their parents.   The discussions have become more animated each time we read it and more language from the book itself and from our discussions is being used.  One of the first words introduced was pebble and now pebbles are being collected on the playground.
We use informational texts a lot in my class.  When we are engaged in a project, the children do “research” and share what they have learned with their friends.  It sounds sophisticated because we are used to hearing about this kind of schoolwork applied to older grades, but it is entirely appropriate for preschoolers.  As they become excited about a topic, for example the birds that visit our feeder, they want to know more.  We supply them with bird identification books and they are hooked.   The books we have are written for children and have the picture of the bird, nest, eggs, food and other information.   Our “experts” are excited to tell their friends what they have learned.
I was reminded while reading these articles to be more intentional about choosing the books I read.   My class this year is needing extra reinforcement on the tenets of friendship; sharing, using kind words, asking before grabbing……  I am going to use books more intentionally in this effort.   Also, I had been shying away from Reader’s Theater type activities because of management issues in the classroom.  However, my thinking has been turned around after reading the readers theater article.  I am going to try introducing props to retell a story.  They need more practice working together, not less.

Call it social contracts, parent involvement,  reflective teaching, reggio approach…….
It’s what teachers do.  They interact with their children. Then, they look at what the children do, what they know and what context they are approaching an experience.  Then they talk to the children about what they are doing and scaffold knowledge for them.
This research was incredible.  Bravo for looking so carefully at what toddlers are learning in terms of literacy.   I kept thinking as I was reading this that however glad I was for the data and the research, this is something I know about children.
As a mother, I knew that my child was learning all the time.  I was not in education when she was young, I was in the arts.  Yet I knew instinctively that she was absorbing the world.  I knew I was teaching her about books, biology, math and living in the world with other people every time we interacted.  That is our job as the adults in the world.
As a teacher, I see how children construct their knowledge and with my knowledge about how they learn, I help them learn and grow.
The more we know about how children learn about literacy, the more skills we as teachers will have to help them grow and learn.

This is a very timely topic for me.  My preschool has been experimenting with computers for the children in the classroom and is going to add a Technology strand to our preschool benchmarks.   I have opinions on computers in the classroom, but the issue at hand is not just computers, but technology, which is a broader topic.
As a parent of a 22 year old, I valued her time growing up enjoying pretend play, hanging around outside doing nothing or lots of things.  When she needed to use any form of technology for school, my husband and I were there to support her with ample time and instruction to complete assignments.  However, when we went to science or other curriculum nights at her schools, we could see differences in the work we saw displayed.   Middle class parents were there discussing how they did the project as families.  The children who had no computers at home had a different level of work.  It was clear that these children needed to have technology accessible to them and taught to them in school.
As a preschool teacher, I have used the computer in various ways with the children, for example when we were doing a project on birds, we used several sites to do research. I have also sent emails to family or experts” in project work with the children dictating the message.  Children often will dictate a story about a picture, block structure or project exploration while I type the words in a word document. We have also used a program that is mind numbing and sedating to the children and
We take lots of pictures every day to document the children’s work.  They now ask to have a picture taken of their work. They will then ask if the picture can be printed and put into their file so they can show their parents or if it can be put in the  block book for all to see.
After reading the chapter in Barone and Mallette, I am broadening my perspective on techmology.  It can be considered as one of languages that children use to express themselves.  And as part of a language, the parameters and rules need to be explored.  The computer can be seen as a tool to achieve a goal, and within that context, skills can be explored.  Concept of print is different for books, Kindle and for word documents. (and iPhones)
This chapter has shown me different ways to view the computer and other technologies in the preschool classroom.  I am yet convinced that it need play a big part, but the fundamentals can be introduced in an authentic way.

I was also in the class last semester in which CALP was discussed.  I am guilty of not thinking very critically about CALP then, when it was presented with the context of second language learners and bilingual classrooms. In that context, it made sense to me.
Aukerman’s perspective frames CALP as deficit thinking, looking at children in terms of what they lack, not what they know.   The article stresses how important it is to respect the varied experiences and unique contexts each child brings to the class. If a teacher really knows the children in her class, she will be able to plan instruction using that knowledge. Language “must be understood in context, if it is to be understandable at all.”  Of course!  Within this different context, I agree it is deficit thinking.
As a teacher of young children, I work hard every day to understand what context my children are bringing to any experience.  In order to scaffold for them, to help them move to the next level of understanding,  I need to know what they know and where they need to go next.  Children learn best when they are in a supportive environment with adults that respect them. We all know this and this is why we value the different cultures, experiences and abilities our children bring into the classroom.   We try our hardest anyway, despite the lack of time, supportive administration etc.

Sometimes, I believe in the Curriculum Goddess who guides me to something relevant and meaningful to the children in my care. It’s a long story about how this was decided, but my class is going to focus next on themselves and their friends.   We will draw others and ourselves in the classroom and represent each other in various ways yet to be determined.  The focus will be on kindness and acceptance, something this class is struggling with.   I have thought of several books we could use and perhaps make our own similar to.  Wendy Ewald’s, The Best Part of Me (thanks Julie), Eric Carle’s, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Jean Marzollo’s, Ten Cats with Ten Hats are on the list of possibilities.   We hadn’t started yet; the idea was germinating in my brain when I went to the bookshelf to select some new books for the class. I grabbed several from a section called Me and Myself.   One of the books was Some Things are Scary by Florence Parry Heide and Jules Feiffer.  I love Jules Feiffer, based mostly on how big the children’s reception was to George Barks.   I read it and knew that it was going to be the provocation for our new project/focus.
Each page of this book is about something that is scary to a preschooler, such as climbing a tree and not being able to get down. There is one sentence and each sentence ends with the two words “is scary.”  We read it several times and the children were wildly enthusiastic.  They couldn’t wait to share their own scary experiences.  One said,” Let’s write a book!”  Could I ask for more?
So many things about this book that were in the readings this week: children take responsibility for their own ideas, they need to see their own lives reflected in the books they read, they learn best within a meaningful context.  There is repetition of the same phrase on every page that is predictable and that the children can “read along” with.
The advice given in the Rog article on how to select a book is to choose a book with a theme the children can relate to.  My children REALLY related to things that are scary. There is plenty of interaction with the text as we read it.  Children reflect what it must feel like for the person in the book and relate it to their own lives.  There is a great deal of discussion during and after the book is read.  In fact, now that we have read it at least 5 or 6 times, just bringing the book out generates a lively discussion.

Question for all of you:  Where do you generally discover new books?