The document discusses creating a literacy-rich environment for students through reading, writing, speaking, and responding to text in various ways. It emphasizes the importance of getting to know individual students, including learning their interests, motivations, and struggles. Teachers should use assessments, observations, documentation and interpretation to understand literacy learners. The document also provides strategies for selecting appropriate texts using a literacy matrix and teaching students interactive, critical, and response perspectives to develop as strategic and independent readers.

1. By Lisa VanEpps

2.  An environment that includes not only
reading, but speaking, and writing learning
for all students.
 An environment that allows students to think
critically and respond to text in a variety of
ways.
 An environment that offers text from all parts
of the literacy matrix.
 An environment that ensures all students have
an opportunity to learn.

3. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
Literacy Autobiography (Laureate
Education Inc., 2010a)
•We all have our own
•How we see ourselves as readers
•What has shaped our love or dislike for reading
•What literacy means to each individual
•How it shapes our future as a reader

4. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
As an educator this research practice emphasized the importance of
knowing our students (Laureate Education Inc. 2010b). Using the
following strategies has helped in understanding who my students
are and how I can help them add positives to their literacy
biographies.
 Learn their interest
 Find ways to connect with them as individuals
 What motivates each student
 What are their successes and struggles when it comes to reading

5. Getting to Know Literacy Learners
Assessment
 Observation – Keen eyes, sit beside student, provides time to take notes
keeps teacher quiet, how long student can sit and write
 Documentation – Students write their autobiography, word knowledge
assessments, spelling inventories
 Interpretation – functional description of students literacy, independent,
instruction or frustration level, stage of reader
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010c)

6. Selecting Text
Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education Inc., 2010d)
This matrix is a great tool
to help assure a well rounded
array of text to help students
learn in a variety of ways.
This is especially important Linguistic (word oriented)
for diverse learners. This is a
tool that I find very helpful in
selecting a large variety of
text for my students. Narrative Informational
Semiotic (communicating
message through ways
other than words, pictures,
icons

7. Selecting Text
 Readability
 Text length
 Text structure
• informational
• descriptive This tool helped me select a
• cause/effective variety of text for my lesson
• problem/solution plan on life cycles for
• compare/contrast emergent and beginning
• poetic structure readers.
 Size of print
Learning ways to select text is an important part of creating a
literate environment. The matrix lets us see the landscape of text in
a big picture. Helps us to connect learning styles and interests in
ways that will reach all readers (Laureate Education Inc., 2010d).

8. Interactive Perspective
Teaching students to be metacognitive about strategy use will help them
to be better strategic learners (Laureate Education Inc., 2010d).
Students will learn when they can use beginning and ending sounds or is
the word is too big they will understand they should use sound
chunking. Using this perspective guided me in forming a lesson plan to
help early emergent readers to recognize beginning and ending sounds.
pan
fan
hippopotamus

9. Interactive Perspective continued
Teach students to be reflective
Teach students to be self regulating
Teach students to make predictions
Teach students to be able to process text
Teach students to figure out which strategy to use
The ultimate goal for the interactive perspective is to teach children
how to be literate learners who can navigate the textual world
independently (Laureate Education Inc., 2010d). This was an important
part of the learning process for my students.

10. Critical and Response Perspectives
Reading strengthens writing & Writing strengthens reading
It is important for students to have the time to put their
thoughts on paper. Writing allows for a unique
interpretation of text.
Journaling (two types)
 response – great way to build open-ended
interpretation of text.
 character – write as if you are one of the characters.
Response journaling is the typical type of journal writing, but adding in
the character journal is a great way for students to look at the story in a
more personal way.

11. Critical Perspective
The critical perspective teaches students to look at text in more than one
way. They learn that they do not only have to look at the main
characters, but understand why the author put other characters into the
story. Students need to know that a character is always put into the story
for a reason.
Teaching students to critically look at a story and understand the authors
purpose is a large part in comprehension.
Using this strategy helped me to help my students enjoy a story for more
than just the surface, to look deeper into all elements of the story.
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010e)

12. References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008a). Literacy Autobiographies [DVD]
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_gr
oup_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flaunch
er%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1957821_1%26url%3D .
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Getting to Know Your Students.
[Video webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Retrieved
from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_t
ab_group_id=_2_1&url
=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher% 3Ftype%3DCo
urse%26id%3D_1957821_1%26url%3D3D.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010c). Assessing Word Knowledge.
[Video webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Retrieved
from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_t
ab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fla
uncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1957821_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc., (Producer). (2010). Analyzing and Selecting Texts
[DVD]. The Beginning Reader, Prek-3. Baltimore: Dr. Douglas
Hartman & Dr. Janice Almasi.

13. References continued:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010e). Critical Perspective [Videowebcast].
The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Retrieved from:
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?ta
b_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flaunc
her%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_550324_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2010d). Response Perspective [Video Webcast]. I
n The Beginning Reader Pre-K-3. Retrieved from:
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id
=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3D
Course%26id%3D_1957821_1%26url%3D.