EARLY LITERACY INSTRUCTION Elfrieda H
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EARLY LITERACY INSTRUCTION Elfrieda H. Hiebert & Taffy E. Raphael Early Literacy Instruction Elfrieda H. Hiebert The University of Michigan Taffy E. Raphael Michgan State University Reading Essentials Reprint Series November 2013 TextProject, Inc. SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA textproject.org © 1998, 2013 Elfrieda H. Hiebert. Some rights reserved. Originally published in 1998 by Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Ft. Worth, TX This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. “TextProject” and the TextProject logo are trademarks of TextProject, Inc. Cover photo © istockphoto.com/monkeybusinessimages. All rights reserved. Used under license. This book is dedicated to Frieda Tows Siegfried whose courage and commitment will be remembered always. Preface One of the most challenging areas facing literacy educators today is in- troducing young children to the joys and purposes as well as the underlying skills and strategies related to literacy. In order to encourage lifelong literacy while simultaneously developing basic understandings of letters and sounds, how books work, and ways that literacy exists and can be used in everyday life is one of the more hotly debated topics in our field. Early Literacy In- struction is intended for teachers, both preservice and inservice, and teacher educators who wish to expand their knowledge about teaching young chil- dren to read and write. We have written the book so that educators with a variety of experiences-from classroom teachers to those working in re- source rooms to the family support system-can build and expand their lmowledge about early literacy instruction. The comprehensive scope of the book encompasses standards for early literacy instruction, instructional strategies, alternative assessment proce- dures, strategies for making program connections, and ways to integrate chil- dren's home literacy into the classroom. This engaging, user-friendly text makes the ideas readily accessible to those interested in helping young chil- dren learn to read. We begin each chapter with a set of vignettes, which are windows into the thinking, reading, and writing of young children before they engage the text. These vignettes provide real-world examples of children entering print worlds. The vignettes that begin each chapter have been care- fully chosen to emphasize key points in the chapter-in effect, the vignettes are the text equivalent of videotapes, brief plays, or photo albums that illus- trate the principles and key points within the chapter. Through the vignettes, the instructional ideas come alive. The vignettes instantiate the second key feature of the book-an over- arching set of principles grounded in socio-cultural theory as applied to the literacy education of young children. We detail a coherent theory about what literacy is and how children learn literacy. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of how teachers create classrooms that immerse children in theoretically-sound, meaningful literacy through events, lessons, and activities. We present a balanced perspective of early literacy instruction. We bal- ance information about theory and practice. We balance between and among vii J viii Preface the language arts, between holistic literacy activity and specific skill devel- opment, and we balance between a school-to-home and a home-to-school connection. For both beginning and experienced teachers, we provide spe- . cific ideas and tools to support their teaching. These ideas and tools include book lists, assessment tools, san1ple lesson plans, word lists relevant to dif- ferent activities, and activities for writing in library and play centers. This perspective is especially appropriate for classrooms with high con- centrations of low-income children, because of its emphasis on reasons for reading and writing as well as on the foundational skills of reading and writ- ing. From the kindergartner, who is eager to read but doesn't recognize any words, to the second grader, who is anxious to read more chapter books in third grade, literacy learning over the early childhood period covers a gamut of skills and understandings. The overviews and chapter summaries make the content of each chapter easy to identify by the reader and provide quick access to specific information included in the chapter. This book is designed for teachers, parents, and teacher educators who are looking for an engaging and accessible text that focuses on the topic of learning to read. In today's climate, a book that supports readers' theoretical understanding and provides practical knowledge can be extremely valuable. Early literacy instnwtion is one of the most fundamental goals of schooling- one that sets the stage for our students' lifelong learning and success. We hope that this volume can provide an important contribution to the search for ever-improving ways to meet the needs of our diverse, young learners. This volume would not have been possible without the help from anum- ber of people, shaping our initial conceptions of the book and supporting the development of the text. We gratefully acknowledge the children and teach- ers in the Right Start in Reading Project and the Early Literacy Project. We have learned much about learning to read and creating classrooms where children learn to read by being members of these classrooms and of these teacher communities. The content of this book also benefits immeasurably from the questions our students asked as we used this book in teacher education courses at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University. The reviewers of earlier versions of this manuscript- Sheila Cohen, SUNY Cortland; Jill Fitzgerald, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Lea McGee, Boston College; and Bill Teale, the University of Illinois at Chicago-also raised questions and proposed solutions that aided us immensely in achieving our goal of a comprehensive and accessible book for a range of educators. The patience of Karen Skalitzky, Katrina Saltonstall, and Lori Levin, who conducted endless searches for children's books and other resources, meant that our vision of a rich set of examples and resources became a reality. Without the support of Jo-Anne Weaver at Harcourt Brace, the Harcourt Brace Literacy Series and this book would not have been accomplished. We are confident that Jo-Anne did not anticipate the length of our relationship when we contacted her with the idea of the series, including this book. Tracy Preface ix Napper, our developmental editor at Harcourt Brace, has been patient and encouraging, which are dispositions that she had many occasions to abandon but, thankfully, did not. For their vision, good humor, and consistent encour- agement, we are truly grateful to Jo-Anne and Tracy. Finally, for their support in so many ways, we thank Charley Fisher and Jim Gavelek. They can now watch the summer sunsets on Beaver Island without the background of our discussions about "the books" ... at least until the next edition. EHH/TER Ann Arbor Contents Section One: A Perspective for Early Liter- acy Instruction 1 1 Beginning the Process: Understanding the Perspective 3 2 How Do Young Children Become Literate? 18 3 What Do Young Readers and Writers Learn in Becoming Literate? 33 Section T WO: Creating the Early Literacy Classroom 73 4 The 0ral Language Patterns of Early Literacy Classrooms 75 5 The Texts ofEarly Literacy Classrooms: Texts Children Read 94 6 The Texts ofEarly Literacy Classrooms: Texts Children Write 130 7 The Learning Contexts of Early Literacy Classrooms: Events, Lessons, and Activities 150 8 Assessment in Early Literacy Classrooms 173 xi :xii Contents Connecting Early Literacy Classrooms to Other Literacy Communities 213 9 Connecting Early Literacy Classrooms to Literacy Communities in and beyond the School 215 10 . Connecting to Children's Homes and Communities 235 11 Connecting to Communities ofEarly Literacy Teachers 256 Children's Books 273 References 278 Credits 292 Index 293 section One A Perspective for Early Literacy Instruction Chapter 1 Beginning the Process: Understanding the Perspective Chapter 2 How Do Young Children Become Literate? Chapter 3 What Do Young Readers and Writers Learn in Becoming Literate? 1 chapter l Beginning the Process: Understanding the Perspective Vignette 1 . 1 : On the first day of school, Christopher, a kindergartner, responded to the question of what he was going to learn in school with the comment, "To read! So that I can say the words in case my mom forgets how." (Boulder Daily Camera, August 26, 1987) Vignette 1. 2 : In sitting on a plane beside a four-year-old who was holding a copy of "Little Red Riding Hood," a literacy educator commented to the child, "Oh, I see you're reading 'Little Red Riding Hood'." ''I'm not reading it," the child stated emphatically. ''I'm just looking at the pictures. I'll learn to read when I'm in kindergarten." Later, as the educator saw the child mouthing some of the words, she commented, "I thought you couldn't read." The child replied, "I wasn't reading! I was just remembering." Still later, after observing the child's turning back a page to look more carefully at the text, the educator said, "I caught you. You were too reading." To this the child responded, "Okay! So probably I did read just that one little part!" (IIarste & Burke, 1993, pp. v-vi) The kindergartner in the first vignette expresses a wish of many young children when they enter school-to learn to read and write. Young chil- dren typically are enthralled by books and want to learn to read and write. As the actions and comments of the four-year-old in the second vignette demonstrate, many young children know a great deal about reading and writing, including the ability to read "just that one little part" of familiar books.