Addressing the Gap

     As teachers, one of the most prevalent themes weaving its way through our lesson planning and execution has to be the background knowledge of our students.  We have to gain an understanding of what our children already know in order to either provide experiences and pre teaching opportunities for students to build upon their background knowledge to promote understanding or push further beyond the text or curriculum in order to promote a deeper level of comprehension and development.  The background knowledge of our students can greatly change our lessons year-to-year or even day-to-day and one of the most difficult aspects to address is the fact that, quite obviously, most of the students have had completely different experiences and thus their background knowledge differs greatly.  Scaffolding each student’s learning with this in mind can become quite a daunting task.  Just like much of Montgomery County, I find my classes in Bethesda to be particularly interesting yet challenging as each year I have students who are themselves or have families from all over the country and even the world with typically 6-10 ESOL students usually each with different language backgrounds.  While the general makeup of the student body remains fairly consistent, the specific makeup of each class can differ greatly.

            The Hart and Risley article on the language gap present in different socioeconomic populations is relevant not only when considering our student’s background knowledge but also how our students learn and how they develop language.  Students from different backgrounds are not only exposed to different amounts of vocabulary but also very different types including experiences with encouragements and discouragements. It is worrisome not only to read the staggering data related to language experiences but also that the authors showed early intervention programs to have little effect on the long term language development of children.  It seems that change must come from the parents who are with and talking to the children day in and out.  As the article discussed the strong tendency for children to speak and act very much like their parents, how then can the cycle be broken?  Are there any truly effective programs or schools available to minimize the language gap?

Hart, B. & Risley, T.R.  (2003).  The early catastrophe.  American Educator, 27(1), 110-118.                                                                      Retrieved from http://cte.jhu.edu/ELC3/Uploads/Attachments/early_catastrophe.pdf

The Big Five, Cinco, Cinq, Go, ...

First of all, sorry for the lateness in this post.  I have been having internet problems at home but thankfully there is always Starbucks to save the day!

I have been in a number of classes that discuss the Big 5 of Reading Instruction and all of the intricacies that are involved in each.  As a kindergarten teacher I find myself constantly addressing all 5 to different degrees.  We spend a lot of time on phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary and try to build fluency without losing comprehension.  When a struggling reader emerges, or even if someone just seems to get stuck in an area, I look further into strategies for working with those issues.

One area I have become more interested in is the effects of first languages or "mother tongues" on reading development.  I often find that my ESOL students have a more difficult time and show slower progress in reading development.  I know that by 3rd grade they tend to catch up or even out with their peers, but it makes me question what aspects exactly are holding them back.  Their English skills are newer and less familiar, their language background knowledge varies greatly, and their vocabulary differs in many ways all playing a major role in developing literacy.  I know that developing phonics can be difficult as they may be unfamiliar with some of the sounds or uses of sounds in English.  In kindergarten we often work with rhyming words to develop word patterns but I understand that many languages do not use rhyme as English does.  I have read a study that found that children learn vocabulary following the same steps regardless of the language they are learning it in, but I wonder if children in other countries follow the same steps in learning to read or becoming "literate."  I would assume they do, but if not, how should that be effecting how we teach ESOL students to read?

NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development Of The National Institutes Of Health (2004, September 15). Children Follow Same Steps To Learn Vocabulary, Regardless Of Language Spoken. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 19, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040915113243.htm

Is learning to surf teaching us to drown in information?

While reading chapter 1 of Literacy for the 21st Century I became interested in the information provided concerning "new literacies."  The use of technology in reading instruction is a wonderful resource for students and teachers as the number of resources seems to exponentially grow.  Technological games, learning devices, and the internet (among other resources) not only provide countless tools to reach the varied learning styles of children, but also tend to highly motivate students to participate.  The emergence of such technologies has created totally new ways of reading and comprehending information and it is interesting to consider the positive effects, but also the possible consequences, of such new literacies.

The author, Gail Tompkins, discusses new strategies for reading that are nearly entirely related to internet communication and information sharing.  Students are learning how to access information instantaneously as well as having access to instant communication around the world.  I see the many benefits of technology in my classroom everyday, but I also wonder about possible side effects of such instruction.  We already know that the attention span of kids is getting smaller and smaller as they are constantly in need of stimulation.  How is this dependency on technology and stimulation affecting a child's ability to read and comprehend, as well as his ability to think critically?  I notice the effects on myself all the time and I grew up without most of the benefits of learning through technology.  I am just as guilty as the kids and I will admit that while writing this post I have 3 other browser windows open and my focus is most certainly split.  If I open an article without pictures or video or links, I tend to skim it quickly taking in little of what is really being presented.  And anytime a question comes up in general conversation I tend to pull out my phone and search away for the answer.

I tried to search around for information or studies on the possible side effects of technology on children's ability to focus, take in information, think critically, and make cognitive connections.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of what I found merely hailed the benefits of technology on children.  Is it really all positive or is it something we tend to overlook and not think about?