Sunday, September 9, 2012

Week 3 (Young Children & Emergent Literacy)

Defty, Jeff. Creative Fingerplays and Action Rhymes. Chapter 1.
  • "The term 'attentionspan' must always be qualified for what?"
Ghoting, Saroj Nadkarni and Pamela Martin-Diaz. Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library. Chapter 1.
  • "Repetition is not just something they want; it is something they need in order to learn."
  • "Research has shown that mothers from lower income groups engage in less shared picture book reading and produce fewer teaching behaviors during that time than mothers from middle-class groups."
            In addition to other assigned reading for the week, the above excerpts had me reflecting a lot on my time spent as an AmeriCorps volunteer. [Beware, as I talk about this experience quite often.] I became enamored with a first grader named Megan. She could not sit still in class for more than 45 seconds and it was obvious that school was difficult for her. This is why the first quote, taken from Defty, jumped out at me. While practicing penmanship or reviewing phonemic awareness, Megan was like a jumping bean. She frequently looked around the room, chatted with other students, or stared at the tip of her pencil as though it were magical. However, if I was able to read a book about Disney princesses with her one-on-one, she (generally) maintained laser-sharp focus. I think as adults we must occasionally step back and ask ourselves why children are not focusing on a task at hand. Would we want to sit for 30 minutes straight listening to someone criticize our every movement? 
            The reading from Ghoting also relates directly to my experience with Megan. I found an Easy Reader story called What is a Princess? and we read the story together ad nauseam during our tutoring sessions at the library. I'm fairly certain that Megan memorized the entire story within a short amount of time. However, Ghoting's point that repetition has a purpose, makes me feel validated that I allowed Megan to read the same story time and again. It may not have taught her new words, but it engaged her in a subject matter she identified with and boosted her self-confidence, which was more beneficial. 
             The last quote from Ghoting is a hard truth of reality. I didn't get the impression that Megan's mother (or family) read to her often and it showed. I think Megan craved individual attention and (I hope) she experienced firsthand an adult who truly enjoys reading. It's clear that emergent literacy can be part of an incredibly positive or incredibly negative cycle. My goal was to bring Megan into the positive cycle, as best I could.

1 comment:

  1. It is sad that so many kids are not read to, or with, at home. Hooray to you for making a difference! It is crucial that parents become informed of the importance of early literacy. For some parents it might not make a difference, but other parents are just unaware. They just don't understand what a difference a little reading and attention can make. Talk, read, write, play, sing. Every parent should make this their mantra.

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