Beck and McKeown (2001) Article January 31, 2010

The Text Talk article by Beck and McKeown was a very interesting article to me. I will certainly be able to use Text Talk lessons in my classroom to ensure my students understanding of what I am reading to them. Here are some the key point I found to be the most interesting:

1) Teachers need to ask their students questions that require them to think about what there are hearing and not just analyze illustrations. Often times teachers ask shallow questions that don’t provoke students to really think about the words. By asking “how” and “why” questions, as suggested by the article, you can ensure that the students are comprehending the story. These bring out a deeper understanding of the text.

2) The idea presented by the article that children can be distracted by the illustrations  in a story, is one that I found interesting and agreeable. As suggested by Beck and McKeown,  children will often draw information from pictures that is not pertinent to the storyline. Then, when asked questions about what is going on in the story,  they respond with incorrect answers pulled from pictures. To avoid this problem, a teacher should read the pages and ask their questions, ensuring understanding of the story plot BEFORE showing the class the pictures.

3) Lastly, repetition of passages and words is very important. The article enforces repetition as a way of helping children grasp the vocabulary and story concepts presented in the story. Repetition is something that students of all ages can benefit from.

Steps for planning a text talk lesson:

1. Choose a book that is challenging to students in vocabulary and concepts.
2. Create questions that children will be able to answer based on the story and not just the illustrations.
3. Read the students the story and ask them the questions.
4. Show the pictures to the students.

Flannigan 2005 January 19, 2010

1. What role does fingerpointing play in developing concept of word and phonemic awareness?

The reader is learning to match the word that they are saying with the actually words on the page. They understand that each word has a sound. It also helps develop phonemic awareness and concept of word.

2. Describe the 4-stage model of early literacy.

1)      Readers use their knowledge of letter sounds to identify the first letter sound of a word.

2)      Reader can now track sentences with beginning letter and can identify ending letter sound. Thus, the reader is now aware of a “word” with a beginning and an ending sound.

3)      The reader can now focus of the “in-between” sounds of a word because they are not preoccupied with matching speech with words on page.

4)      The reader, after sounding out all letters, can now recognize words as a whole on the page.

3. Describe what this means: “It is not in the telling, but it is in the very act of reading that Jack will actually learn how to read.” p. 10

Jack will learn to read when he can see the word of the page, identify the sounds made by each letter, and correctly speak the words made when putting those individual sounds together. Telling the story is simply memorizing and repeating and there is no comprehension of words.

4. What instruction helps develop beginning readers’ awareness of words and phonemes?

Echo Reading, this allow children to see the word, hear the word, and practice the word.

Robbins and Ehri (1994) January 19, 2010

How do children increase their vocabularies?

Children increase their vocabulary in two ways: 1) Through direct and explicit reference by adults when they name or define words, and 2) Through incidental encounters with words in verbal contexts.

What evidence is there that reading aloud to children can increase their vocabularies?

Eller, Papas and Brown (1988) showed that kindergarteners’ and first graders’ vocabularies could be augmented by listening to stories. After being read a story several times, the children were asked to tell the story.

Does it matter what teachers read to students? In other words, if you are reading aloud to students in your kindergarten class, should you care about the richness in the language that a book does or does not have? What kinds of books are best to read aloud to students if we want to build their vocabularies?

Yes, it matters greatly what you are reading to your students. It is only considered learning vocabulary if the child comprehends the meaning of the word. It would make sense to read things that are not only full of new words but also has pictures or context clues that makes it easy for them to form a definition about the new words they hear.

Why do you think you should focus on emphasizing vocabulary in your lessons with students? Does this apply to read aloud activities?

Having a vocabulary leads to being a successful communicator. If a child cannot communicate, they can go no farther in their education. Vocabulary is important to all areas of life.  While I believe emphasizing vocabulary is very important, it does not half to always be the primary focus of read aloud activities.

What role will reading to students play in your teaching?

Reading aloud to my students is a wonderful way to introduce new words or concepts in an interesting way so that later I can go back and teach them in depth. Reading to my class can also help them focus on what they are hearing.