Education Commons^™

Writing Instruction In The Middle Grades: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry Of Teacher Perceptions And Practices In South Korea And The United States, Carrie Eunyoung Hong, Geon-Ah Choi

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Despite its importance in promoting student academic achievement and career development, writing pedagogy has received little emphasis in research and professional development efforts. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher perceptions and practices of writing in the middle grades from a cross-cultural perspective. 16 middle-grade teachers from South Korea and one state within the United States were recruited for a semi-structured interview. Transcripts of the interview responses were analyzed, using a constant comparison method. The findings showed that teachers’ instructional practices in writing were contextualized with their personal and professional knowledge and experiences. Country specific patterns were found …

Developing Strategic Learners: Collaborative Reasoning With Strategy Instruction To Scaffold Debate And Support The Writing Of Arguments, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The paper explains the role of oral language and dialogic interactions in the development of individual thinking and reasoning processes. Collaborative reasoning and its contribution is explained while examples are shared to illustrate ways to scaffold students’ questioning, meaning making, and writing in the context of read alouds during genre-based writing. A process to support students’ written production that builds on dialogic applications of argumentative discourse is provided, too. Finally, the paper comments on ways that dialogic argumentation scaffolds students’ entry into debate and written argument. Cautionary notes are provided regarding instructional practice and guidelines to teachers.

The Impacts Of Self-Efficacy And Intrinsic Motivation: Mentoring Students To Be Motivated Readers, Vicki L. Luther

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Motivation is a vital element of reading success. However, motivation does not always occur organically; it often takes strategic mentoring for students to be inspired by the prospects of reading. Such mentoring can occur when students can begin to see teachers as fellow readers, and when educators can help students to develop their own, independent goals, passions, and reasons for reading. Based upon Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1997), this article focuses on what research says about the importance of reading motivation and self-efficacy. In addition, the author will give strategies to support student-and teacher-motivation.

"To Get Free": How A Black Girl’S Ways Of Being And Knowing Inform A Literacy Teacher’S Multimodal Pedagogies In An Alternative Secondary Context, Delicia Tiera Greene Ph.D.

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This qualitative inquiry examines how a White literacy teacher learns from and with a Black girl through multimodal composing in an out-of-school, alternative learning context. Data collection instruments include field observations, teacher planning sheets, teacher reflections, and researcher feedback. Multimodal Literacy Pedagogy and Black Girls’ Digital Literacies drove this study. Critical Discourse Analysis was employed to interpret the data. This inquiry accounts for the factors that reposition the role of a literacy teacher while working with a Black girl’s digital story development process. This inquiry found a literacy teacher’s multimodal pedagogies were shaped by a Black girl’s: (1) home, community, …

Book Review Of A Young Writer's World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound., Hannah D. Szatkowski

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

A Young Writer’s World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound (Giles, 2020) provides early childhood educators with the knowledge and resources in order to create an immersive learning environment conducive for developing pre-school and kindergarten’s writing development. This book review evaluates the layout and key components of the text in order to identify the potential implications it could provide within an early childhood classroom.

Process Drama, Play And Popstars: Integrating Expository Writing Rehearsal Opportunities Across The Day In A Fourth Grade Inclusive Classroom, Mary R. Coakley-Fields

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

With increased focus on informational writing and opinion writing in U.S. curriculum, Common Core State Standards, and state standardized tests, upper elementary school teachers need to teach their students to write expository paragraphs and the five-paragraph essay structure. This ethnographic study focused on how one fourth grade teacher of an inclusive classroom integrated playful talk-based activities across each day in support of her students learning to write in the expository genre. Qualitative data were collected, including field notes, interviews, and documents such as lesson plans and student writing. Classroom talk and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Findings indicate that the …

Changing Terms, Not Trends: A Critical Investigation Into Children’S & Young Adult Literature Publishing & Its Effect In Curriculum & Pedagogy, Keith Newvine, Sarah Fleming

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The central argument proposed within this article is that while recent publishing trends in children’s and adolescent literature have changed for the better (Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2019) and research about the importance of diverse reading experiences for students has become concentrated, centered, and validated (Bishop, 1990; Adichie, 2009; Tschida, Ryan, & Ticknor, 2014; Thomas, 2016; Parker, 2020: Ebarvia, German, Parker, & Torres, 2020), many schools are still struggling with (or hesitant to) changing the texts centered in classrooms with youth. Therefore, this article provides practical steps that practicing teachers can take in order to center the voices and narratives …

Think Aloud Modeling: Expert And Coping Models In Writing Instruction And Literacy Pedagogy, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the utility of think alouds in writing instruction and highlight the function of think-aloud modeling in the development of cognitive and metacognitive strategies that support learners’ independence. For these purposes, modeling with coping is also explained. Coping models, in which teachers encounter challenges and show how to resolve them using specific strategies, are more effective than expert models according to which tasks are completed at a level of mastery. The paper reviews learning theories and focuses on specific practices that can support learners’ self-regulation through the use of models that verbalize …

Review Of Intensive Reading Interventions For The Elementary Grades By Wanzek, Al Otaiba, And Mcmaster, Sarahlee R. Desir

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract

In the book Intensive Reading Interventions for the Elementary Grades, Jeanne Wanzek, Stephanie Otaiba, and Kristen McMaster (2020) provide teachers and literacy strategies intended to help students in tier three interventions, particularly students with intense reading difficulties. The authors wrote each of the eight chapters to be a resource full of research information and instructional strategies on how to help students succeed in various reading difficulty areas. The authors include multiple vignettes dealing with issues that teachers and children with reading difficulties are facing and provide additional resource materials at the end of each chapter to further assist teachers …

Review Of The Vulnerable Heart Of Literacy: Centering Trauma As Powerful Pedagogy., Zipporah Galimore

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

In The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy: Centering Trauma as Powerful Pedagogy (2019), Elizabeth Dutro provides educators with heart-felt, inquiry-based strategies for using trauma as pedagogy in literacy classrooms. This book describes how to situate both educators and children to provide testimony and be critical witnesses in an effort to allow life knowledge, empathy, and wisdom be brought to classroom learning experiences. Dutro uses classroom vignettes and student work samples to illustrate how the concept of trauma as pedagogy can be applied across genres. Experiences and examples of literacy instruction in children's work from several elementary classrooms, from second grade through …

Book Review: Thinking Tools For Young Readers And Writers, Jennifer Steil

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract:

This article offers a book review of Thinking Tools for Young Readers & Writers (2018), by Carol Booth Olson, Angie Balius, Emily McCourtney, and Mary Widtmann. The book presents the cognitive strategies tool kit, which includes strategies such as: planning, goal setting, tapping prior knowledge, asking questions, making predictions, making connections, summarizing, inferencing, forming interpretations, adopting an alignment, monitoring, and clarifying. The teachers share lessons for how they teach these strategies to students in their various grade levels. For each lesson, the authors include research, connections to Common Core State Standards, and examples of classroom lessons putting …

Review Of Pre-K Stories: Playing With Authorship And Integrating Curriculum In Early Childhood, Harmony Petty

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This book review discusses salient themes within Bentley and Souto-Manning’s (2019) Pre-K stories: Playing with authorship and integrating curriculum in early childhood. Bentley and Souto-Manning present a case study of one pre-K classroom in which a teacher-researcher endeavored to honor young children’s strengths and authentic stories as they co-constructed an emergent curriculum together. This text considers researchers and practitioners as it includes theoretical discussions in addition to teacher reflections and classroom vignettes. The first three chapters explore the researchers’ theoretical foundation of emergent curriculum and a sociocultural view of play-based authorship. The following four chapters trace the development of the …

Exploring The Discourses And Identities Of One Aspiring Literacy Specialist, Elizabeth Y. Stevens, Kathleen Hinchman

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Becoming an effective literacy specialist means developing tools to support students’ and teachers’ reading and writing aspirations. They are thought to be self critical and respectful of their students’ and colleagues' strengths, however, this is not easy. This case study examined the discourses and identities of a highly reflective white female teacher who was completing studies to become a literacy specialist. Critical discourse analysis was used as a theory and a method to examine the focal participant’s language-in-use to learn about how she made sense of her world, including her work with students and colleagues. This analysis suggested that she …

Assessment Literacy: Implications For The Literacy Professional, Bobbie Kabuto, Sinead Harmey

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This article explores how the general term of assessment literacy can be specified to the area of reading through the lens of the informal reading inventory, Qualitative Reading Inventory-5. This article will investigate the common misconceptions that teachers, who were enrolled in a graduate program to become state-certified specialized literacy professionals, had when conducting and interpreting the QRI-5. The data that will be presented is from a project that examined the theories that undergird informal reading inventories, and how teachers understood these theories. We will then include recommendations for improving assessment literacy for developing specialized literacy professionals.

The Beliefs And Practices Of Second Grade Teachers Who Implement Independent Reading And Its Effect On Students’ Reading Achievement And Reading Volume, Lauren R. Brannan, R Burke Johnson, Rebecca M. Giles, Andrea M. Kent

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The purpose of the present study was to explore the beliefs and practices of teachers who implement independent reading in their classrooms. Results showed that teachers who implemented independent reading believed in the importance of both the quantity and quality of student reading. The teachers’ practices of independent reading showed students selecting books that were “just-right” for them to read, social experiences around reading, guided practice through reading conferences with the teacher, and setting a purpose for reading through response activities. A nonexperimental comparative design was used to examine the effects of independent reading on reading volume and reading achievement. …

Developing Strategic Learners: Supporting Self-Efficacy Through Goal Setting And Reflection, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

When students face academic challenges, when they receive poor grades on a subject, and when they see unchanged performance -even though they put effort on a task- they often develop the belief that they are not capable of overcoming challenges. Continuous underperformance affects students’ self-efficacy and belief that success is an achievable goal. The purpose of this paper is to explain the process of goal setting with continuous reflection to support students’ writing growth and persistence. The paper further comments on teachers’ goal setting for instructional and professional goals in order to support their instructional delivery and their growth as …

Family Literacy Engagement: Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Home Learning Practices, Nichole L. Smith

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The researcher in this study examined parents’ perceptions of the engagement activities in their homes. Parents of elementary school students in one southeastern United States school district were asked to participate in this study. Findings related to literacy, academic, and family engagement. Parents’ preparedness to assist their children with reading and their related needs were also examined. Relationships between race and gender showed significance when considering children’s access to academic and literacy materials as well as family engagement in educational practices including literacy. Literacy program providers, including those that educate parents, may consider this information when providing literacy support to …

Supporting And Sustaining Specialized Literacy Professionals In Teacher Leadership Positions, Thea Yurkewecz

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Specialized literacy professionals (specialists/coaches/coordinators) are enacting leadership roles that influence how school communities interact and collaborate to change instructional practices. These positions involve multiple responsibilities highlighted in the standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals (International Literacy Association, 2017). This manuscript extends from the investigation of three specialized literacy professionals from one school community identified by their administrators as teacher leaders. After three years in these positions, each identify the structures, resources, and types of support that were critical to the sustainment of their leadership positions within their school district. This study informs the literacy community on the specific and …

Primary Teachers' Use Of Communicative Strategies For Linguistically Diverse Learners: A Cross-Cultural Case Study, Geraldine Mongillo, Dorothy Feola, Rochelle Goldberg Kaplan, Vered Vaknin, Randa Abbas

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of communicative strategies employed by two primary grade teachers whose students’ home language differed from the language of instruction. The communicative strategies examined included verbal, gestural, and other visual modes of interaction within classroom discourse to promote student learning. One school we studied was in Northern Israel and one was in New Jersey in the US. In Israel, the teacher taught using formal Modern Standard Arabic while the children were familiar only with Spoken Arabic. In New Jersey, the teacher taught using English while the students were largely from Spanish-speaking …

Collaborating Online: Tools For Improving Teacher Preparation In Literacy, Jennifer Van Allen, Lenora Forsythe

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Teacher preparation programs face the continual challenge to provide experiences that foster collaboration between teacher candidates and go beyond the boundaries of particular programs and classrooms. Collaborative learning structures improve learner achievement, attitudes, engagement, satisfaction, and retention rates when interactions between learners are facilitated and fostered. These structures have the potential to foster genuine collaboration in which groups create products and processes that change individuals’ understandings and actions as well as those of the collective group. In this format, learning occurs not only from the instructor but from other classmates as well. Many agencies and professional associations are calling for …

Sentence Construction: Supporting Elementary Students’ Editing Skills, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Syntactic control is a necessary skill for quality writing and a needed knowledge for all writers who communicate in a specific language system. However, syntactic control is challenging for developing writers and for second-language learners. Instructionally, usually at the editing stage, attention is given to the syntax and grammatical clarity of a paper prior to it getting published or shared. The purpose of this paper is to explain specific practices that can support sentence construction. Specifically, evidence-based practices that refer to sentence combining and sentence expansion are explained and specific examples are shared. Implications for classroom practice are further discussed.

Motion, Matter, Force, And Writing???: Creating Space For Writing In A Secondary Physics Classroom, Lubna Javeed

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This qualitative case study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate disciplinary literacy in an eleventh grade physics classroom. In response to the dearth of writing instruction in high school disciplinary classrooms, this study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate the cultivation of disciplinary writing in physics. The study focused on the perspectives of three participants during a semester of implementing writing by using sentence starters in physics. Findings showed participants were resistant to the change in curriculum and learning. Modelling effective disciplinary writing to support students may help improve attitudes and identities as writers.

Using Primary Sources In Content Areas To Increase Disciplinary Literacy Instruction, Salika A. Lawrence, Elise Langan, Julie Maurer

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This paper describes how a three-day summer workshop on using primary sources helped teachers increase the emphasis placed on disciplinary literacy when teaching social studies and history. Two specific issues in teacher education and practice are addressed. First, increasing teachers’ content knowledge of history topics can help them plan lessons that connect local and global events. Second, content area reading requires literacy practices, which are unique to disciplines. Therefore, teachers need to apply historical inquiry and disciplinary literacy methods in the curriculum.

Review Of Think Big With Think Alouds: A Three-Step Planning Process That Develops Strategic Readers, Susan J. Chambre

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

In Think Big with Think Alouds: A Three-step Planning Process That Develops Strategic Readers (2017), Molly K. Ness provides classroom teachers with a detailed three-step process for developing think aloud procedures during classroom literacy instruction. The book assists teachers in identifying stopping points in narrative and expository text. Ness also includes multiple scripted think alouds with comprehensive explanations for both narrative and expository text. Additionally, practical tips for promoting student adoption of higher order thinking skills are provided in the form of sentence starters and strategy symbols. The procedures outline in Think Big with Think Alouds will empower classroom teachers …

How Teachers Can Guide Library Book Selection To Maximize The Value Of Independent Reading Time, Sherri Weber

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This article shares a classroom application to support literacy development through a teacher-librarian guided book selection program. Twenty students participated in the program which demonstrated the importance of the relationship between the school librarian and classroom teacher. These professionals worked together to guide students to choose library books at their recreational level for independent reading time. The guidance program appeared to impact students' confidence in their reading and in their ability to choose appropriate books. Suggestions for teachers and librarians are discussed.

Transferable Digital Literacy Knowledge, Kiersten Greene

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Expectations of teachers’ digital literacy knowledge have grown dramatically in the recent past. By many measures, it is an exciting time to be teacher! It is also quite daunting, as changes in technology move more rapidly than many of us can keep up. Through the exploration of local technology integration practices, this article offers a commentary on teaching, learning, and retaining digital literacy knowledge that can be applied across digital platforms, devices, programs, and ecosystems.

Tackling Literacy: A Collaborative Approach To Developing Materials, For Assessing Science Literacy Skills In Content Classrooms Through A Stem Perspective., Cynthia M. Mcmillen, Amy Graves-Demario, Deb Kieliszek

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract: Secondary science teachers outline strategies for developing, presenting, and assessing literacy skills in the content based classroom. A content-area literacy assessment was administered to over 400 students from grades 8-12. Using the data, literacy materials were developed that supported a variety of content areas. This article outlines the two year progress of this collaborative teacher group which includes the integration of reading materials from a novel, Andy Weir’s The Martian, and development of assessment questions related to this text that fostered middle and high school students’ ability to process prose, quantitative and documentative text and develop literacy in the …

Partnering For Professional Development, Jennifer Davis-Duerr

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Literacy specialists are often overlooked when determining the professional development needs within a school, and yet they are arguably the school’s best resource to empower teachers with professional growth to meet state mandates. How can literacy specialists be supported to increase their knowledge and skills so that all educators’ and students’ needs can be met? This article explains how small-scale school-university partnerships that connect literacy specialists and literacy teacher educators are an innovative way to provide high quality professional development that empowers literacy specialists and classroom teachers.

Measuring Our Impact: What Did Our Attendees Think Of Our Conference?, Louisa Kramer-Vida, Karen Meier

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Peers evaluated conference presentations at an annual conference that is sponsored by two professional organizations of literacy educators in one geographic location in New York State. Conference sessions dealt with innovations and programs in schools that encouraged literacy learning. Comments from conference attendees indicated that the presenters seemed to be empowered by the ideas and strategies they were disseminating and the conference attendees themselves were inspired to try innovative uses of new technologies and other means of supporting language and literacy development in their own classrooms. All presentations were congruent with the then current New York State Common Core Learning …

The Use Of Responses To Reading As A Vehicle To Opinion Writing In The Primary Grades, Zoi A. Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Writing to persuade is an important writing purpose that students and learners need to develop and use both in their academic lives and in the workplace. The Common Core State Standards set specific expectations for students’ opinion writing starting from Kindergarten. This article explains the use of response to reading as a way to introduce opinion writing in the primary grades. The approach is based on strategy instruction, reading and writing connections through interactive read alouds, collaborative reasoning through oral expression, and evaluation to revise through the use of specific evaluation criteria. Resources are suggested for teachers interested in implementing …