Literacy Playshop Approach

The Literacy Playshop Approach, according the Karen Wohlwend, is "based on teacher's expertise and teacher's responsive mediation: the Literacy Playshop focuses on filmmaking and transmedia." (Wolhwend, P. 6)

Literacy playshop should focus on diversity and development, which will then in turn integrates children's rich cultural "repertoires" along with technology and family literacies according to Wolhwend.

My thoughts on Literacy Playshop, is that I believe this a very interesting and cool idea for children. I feel that this makes learning fun, and allows the children to express themselves in a way they may not have had before. The idea of a child creating a story, is rich and full of possibilities. Children have such great imaginations, and will only allow the child to further develop those skills. Having the focus around children's pop culture ideologies and what they find interesting, is also something I think that can really make this experience for both the teacher and student worthwhile. Having the child's interest is the main focus, because if not, the child may not want to take part in the playshop. I am looking forward to completing my playshop in the field, and am interested to see what pop culture ideas the children are interested in and what story they will come up with.

Poem!

For this blog, we are asked to write a poem centered around the topic of having a classroom without tables and chairs! How fun!

Here is mine:

Ring around the Rosie

Children sing and dance

They play and run around

and laugh whenever they get the chance

Tables and chairs,

They make so much clutter!

A pocket full of posies

Making childrens' hearts flutter

Ashes, ashes, they all fall down!



For this poem I incorporated Ring Around the Rosie song, because I envisioned children having plenty of room to run around and play. I feel like it is important to have a room designed that allows children to have plenty of space and to feel comfortable. This poem was a free flow of my thoughts.

I would imagine that the message in a classroom without tables in chairs, would be an environment that is physically free for the children to move around and play. The children can always sit on pillows, but the emphasis in the classroom would be more centered around arts than academics. I believe a classroom like this would not have as many worksheets, but more arts, music, and approaches that allow children to move freely in the classroom.

- Katie

"What does literacy look like in my community--and why should I care?"

All around Bloomington Indiana there is an enormous amount of culture, art, festivities, and great examples of literacy. For instance, there is a great local library, the Monroe county library, that offers a huge selection of books, especially children's. This library is unique because there are even cute bear statues that are outside for children to pet! Another great example, "The Flying V'" is the metal guitar collage that is located at Garage Band. This guitar has some words all throughout the design, and would be a great activity to have a child try to find as many words as they could from the recycled street signs and license plates while at the same time viewing some pretty amazing artwork! There is also the Monroe county history museum that has a history library included! Some other examples of literacy around our community is simply taking a stroll down Kirkwood avenue. There are so many examples of literacy, from the shop signs, city street signs, and even to the fabulous up-coming events posters in front of the Buskirk-Chumley theater. While you're taking a leisurely walk down Kirkwood, stop by the B-line trail and one can see the mural that was painted by children from Guatemala and the U.S. On this mural, one can find many words throughout describing the pictures and also a nice quote that states "worlds apart, always connected."There is also the daily newspaper, the Herald Times, that let's us keep up on what's going on in the world and our community. The local university, Indiana University, of course has an unbelievable amount of literacy that includes several libraries on campus. Wonderlab is also a great place for children to explore science while also reading exhibit descriptions!
Now is the important question, why should we care? I would like to present a few quotes from the book by Robert M. Pirsig Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:


“The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” 

“Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristic of quality.”

“The more you read, the more you calm down.”

“The more you look, the more you see.” 

Reflecting on those quotes I have listed, there are several reasons why we should care about literacy. First, when we truly care about something, we are caring about the essence of something thus we are caring about having knowledge of reading and writing. Meaning is everywhere, in our entire community. People take pride in their community, that is why we have libraries, universities, art work, murals and so forth. When we are making meaning with words, we are trying to make meaning of our world. Having knowledge of these things are important.. People want to learn to read and write, so we can then take pride in our accomplishments. And because one must start with him or herself to improve the world, literacy is a start to improving the world, and we see that everyday in our community, states, country and world. It's all around us, if we just look. 

How Children Read

I currently work at two daycares, taking care of children ages one to three years old. So in the times that I am able to read to the children and observe the words and expressions the children make, I have made many connections to the readings. For instance, one of the toddlers, her name I will leave out for confidentiality purposes, in the one's room has shown great strides in her reading. She will be very interested in a particular book, and want to read that book over and over again. One day, we were reading one of her favorite books, and at the very end the word "Gone" was on the page. She said aloud the word "gone" and I said, "You know how to read!" When the lead teacher in this classroom heard me, she quickly corrected me by saying that she "knew what word to expect, and that she's not reading." She said this to me and looked at me as if what I had said was wrong, and that there was no way a child of this age could be reading.
Well, this scenario actually happened right before this weeks reading, and I would have to say I was relived and excited to know that that particular child, I will call her Kaylie, was making connections to the word and the context of the book based on our readings. Kaylie did in fact know what to expect, but she also knew how to say the word when she saw the word on the page, and knew when to say it because of what page it was on. So I would have to politely disagree with the teacher I am working with.
According to Lindorfs, we should "Celebrate the child's memorization of texts. Again when she wants to read the same book over and over (and over and over!) again, believe that she has her own real reasons, even though you and she may not be able to say what they are." (`Lindorfs, Children's Language, pg. 64)
I especially love this quote because, it is not our job as teachers, caretakers, or aids to put meaning onto what the child is trying to convey with wanting to read a particular book over and over again. It is simply that child expressing to us what she wants to hear and read, and then we need to use positive language so that when a child does make a connection, we do not "shoot them down" because it was "obviously not reading."
This same child has also pointed out to a smiling grandmother and said "happy" during reading another one of her favorite books. I truly love this moment every time we read this book together because the child is not saying "happy" because that word is mentioned in the book. She is saying it, because she knows that a smiling person usually means happy. At the end of the book, and the book is called The Napping House by Audrey Wood, the ending of the book is the grandmother outside playing with her pet dog and cat whom are all no longer napping. There is a picture of a rainbow above the house. This is always a touching moment for me, because I would like to believe Kaylie is wanting to show us happiness, and is delighted in the ending of the book. Of course, this is my interpretation and like Lindorfs wrote, Kaylie has her real reasons for why she is so entertained by this book. I am excited to see where else our reading will take us in this classroom, and excited to see what else Kaylie is trying to express to us by using what she already knows about reading.

Teaching Stratagy: Phonemic Awareness

I decided to just chat about my favorite teaching strategy, which that would be teaching of phonemic awareness through fun activities!
I believe sound is so important to children, and that through sound they are able to gather information to increase their awareness of these sounds! There are an endless amount of activities that children could do! For example, finding rhyming songs on YouTube would be one thing a teacher could do such as classic nursery rhymes or poems.

My favorite use of this strategies would be to use poems and poetry in the classroom. This could introduce them more to alliteration, rhyming, and building on their vocabulary at the same time. The children could even learn to write their own poetry as well! Then there are songs that could go along with their favorite poem, which would make the activity even more enjoyable!

One idea I had would to be for the children to all make their own alliteration poems! There could be a bag full of words for them to each pick out, and with those words, they can then learn all about that word!

For example, a child chooses the word - SWOOSH.

The child then learns, that the word sounds like what it's meaning is. Then from there, there are all kinds of stories that the child could write about, such as a basketball, a swing, the wind, or anything that comes to their mind - much like a brainstorming activity. Then, the child can choose another word for the next week, and so on.

What a great idea for students and teachers! I would love to hear what each child would come up with every week, and love to see their imagination gleaming with excitement when learning about their word for the week.

So what is #kinderchat? Read on to find out!

What is #kinderchat?

1. To facilitate discussions among Educators, Parents, Policy Makers and the Public about Best Practices in Early Childhood Education.

2. To create a collaborative space where Teachers, Administrators, Parents and Organizations can share both their knowledge and the challenges of the learning and teaching of Young Children.

3. To highlight, learn from and discuss different philosophies of teaching and learning with Young Children.

4. To promote real world and real life experiences of working daily with young children, always preserving the dignity and importance of the unique experiences of the Young Child and the critical nature of Educating within Developmentally Appropriate Practices.

5. To create a greater sense of community among those working with Young Children.

 

(From #kinderchat, the big picture)

The topic this week was - February 10, 2014 - Helping families and children in need (North America)

 

When first thinking of this topic, I wondered what kind of needs it was referring to and that this topic specifically is great because not only teachers can get involved but so can parents and families. As I continue to grow as a person and as a prospective teacher, this kind of social networking is going to be very insightful and a powerful tool to have.

 

Reading through the chat, I discovered that it could be any child with any kind of needs, and that mostly there was a great deal of discussion about support for families and having a great network of support for both the families and the teachers combined. We must first be able to understand the needs and what that means to them and how their issues are going to effect their daily lives before, we as teachers, can then be able to begin to make those small differences that can lead to a tremendous impact for the future. I always believe that if a teacher has a strong passion for what he or she does, then that passion will follow through with everything they do. Even if he or she only makes small strides in a positive direction, that will then follow through to the child and give him or her the help they truly deserve. What a great use of technology, and social networking for teachers. I can now use this resource for the future to help me with new ideas, concepts, strategies, or different opinions on topics that I may never would have thought of otherwise.

Literacy in Early Childhood Education

 

 

 

One way a child can learn is to introduce dramatic play through literacy. So many times a child will ask to be a certain character for Halloween, for example, from his or her favorite story, movie, cartoon, etc. That is the child acting out that character through dramatic play! Now imagine that in the classroom, that same child has the chance everyday to participate in dramatic play, and become whatever character he or she wishes to become! By having children participate in dramatic play, it allows them to explore an infinite amount of possibilities by having the opportunity to take on a role of a firefighter, policeman, princess, or etc. When children are engaged in dramatic play, they are exploring their world around them by trying to solve solutions for the real world. In my opinion, dramatic play needs to be part of all curriculums in early childcare centers and preschools. Without dramatic play, the child may lose out on discovering interests that he or she may not have known to have liked before.

One way to introduce dramatic play, is through literacy. Anytime a child finds a book he or she enjoys, chances are, that child is imagining the story in his or her head. A teacher can easily incorporate dramatic play in classrooms simply by allowing the children to dress up as their favorite character from a book! Even simple costume ideas work! For example, Where The Wild Things Are, is a great example! The child can become the little boy in the story, or can become the monster! So many possibilities for the children to act out and play! The children can use props, costumes, and can read along with the story as they are playing! What a great way to learn and have fun at the same time!

Thinking of Literacy in Different Ways

With technology growing and expanding ever more rapidly, children are constantly being bombarded with images, logos, adds, and the list goes on. When thinking of a consumer driven society and children, many negative thoughts or feelings may arise for the parents of these children. One positive way to look at it, is that children are always taking in their environment; what they see, watch, hear, so literacy is practically everywhere! A Google logo, for instance, is probably recognizable to almost any child of a school age year. Granted, there is not an object that goes along with the Google print, but just hearing the word- "Google" is new just to this generation alone! One example in class was a subway logo, print, and a subway napkin. To one child who is not exposed to the internet may think that Google is just a funny sounding word. To another child, the meaning is completely different. Same with the subway napkin! Environmental print awareness is important to children, and important for us as teacher's to be aware that children are observer's of their environment.

Some may question if we are losing some authenticity with the ever growing internet right at our fingertips, especially when some children would rather prefer spending time online or on a computer game then engage in a book. So, one really cool idea brought up in class today, was a take-home literacy pack! The ideas are endless for what teachers can do with this, and it also helps bridge the gap between home and school! The pack usually comes with at least one book, and whatever other materials go along with that planned activity. We learned that children, not only would be enthused about the activity, but spending time with their family doing a small activity can really help engage the learner and become more interested in reading just by spending 5 or 10 minutes with the take-home pack. Imagination can come alive, and spark a child's interest on a subject he or she may not have even been aware of before!

Story Time

Reading aloud to children is not all about knowing what animal noises goes with what animal. No, it's much more than that. Children naturally gravitate towards nice sounds, whether its an emphasis on a certain word, or speaking a word very softly or loudly. There are so many possibilities of how to convey a story to a child when doing read alouds. Not every person are going to read the same story in the same way, and that is the beauty of reading aloud to children. In every situation, there is an opportunity to captivate that child's imagination and in that moment, anything can happen. A giraffe in the book suddenly comes alive in that child's mind and all of a sudden there are so many other things a child can then add to the book. Having the children tell the story in their own way can tell the reader or teacher so much about how a child really interprets the story and what literacy means to the child. Is literacy static? No, it's an ever changing, ever evolving process, that is never dull in a child's mind. Using puppets or animal noises, like most people think, is just scratching the surface of the possibilites of how a teacher can use story time to really engage a child's imagination. It's up to the teacher to really take just a few small steps to really change that dull boring book about the zoo into a book about magical and exciting new places the child will journey too that day in read alouds.

Literacy is Social!

Who knew that there are so many modes and ways of learning through literacy! To expand, movement and sound allow children to express themselves and ideas more thoroughly than they are able to do with talking, drawing or text alone! This was a really fascinating concept to me. I pondered this for some time, and wondered why that is. It made me think of some observations I had made last semester during field experience. During music circle time, we were all singing along with a song about a caterpillar. Then, instantly one little boy lit up and darted over pointing to a picture of a caterpillar on the wall. It was such a bright observation for him to make, that he could barely speak, yet was clearly able to grasp the meaning and connection of the word caterpillar with the picture of one. According to the article, this is a process, or transmediation that the child is accomplishing. Through music, movement, sound, and noise, a child is then able to "walk around in story settings...look at objects from the vantage points of book characters." This is truly fascinating, because not only does the imagination play such a huge role in learning and literacy, but the author then goes on to explain that before writing any language, children can "express their previous knowledge, construct new knowledge, and communicate regardless of their facility with English." Thus, this is a natural process for children, and more importantly has a tremendous affect on how children develop their literacy skills.