Blog Week 1/Entries#1,2,3

Blog week 1.
Entry # 1

An interview with Karen Eggebraten


Karen is a literacy and recovery specialist and works with K through 2 grade.

According to Karen, literacy should be a large block of the day with reading and writing . It's important to know the students' level. Instruction should be based on students' needs and strengths.Students should be given opportunities to read in small groups, large independent groups, with a partner.There should also be opportunities to talk and discuss stories, build language development.

Teacher should be assessing students with running records and monitor their growth and progress.
This information should be later applied to teacher's instruction.

Writing should be of multiple types: mini-lessons, dictations, interactive writing, independent writing.Writing should be child-centered. Students should be encouraged to share their work. Karen is convinced that it is the job of a teacher to provide a framework, secure environment and encourage students to write. A good teacher will help the students to see themselves as readers and writers.



Blog Week 1
Entry # 2

I grew up in Russia, the country of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, where literature is loved and writers are respected. Thanks to Cyrill and Methody, Russian alphabet is phonetic and one can learn how to read in a week. Everybody reads; one can see people reading on a subway train, in the bus, at the bus stop.
I loved to read and Russian Language and Literature were my favorite subjects.
Looking back and reflecting on the writing instruction I see a lot of similarities. We had visual support in form of posters with spelling and punctuation rules. We had a great teacher who guided our discussions, allowed freedom of expression, and inspired independent thinking. These are the same things we are encouraging in our students.It is amazing how similar some of the teaching methods are: group work, discussion, sharing, writing a draft, editing and producing a final paper to submit to a teacher.
Resources: L.M.Marrow, Literacy Development in the Early Years

Blog Week 1
Entry # 3

Oral language and reading are intertwined. The more a child was read to at an early age, the better his oral speech is and the sooner he will be able to learn how to read. The more a person reads, the better his oral language is, the smoother his sentences are. Oral language of a well-read and a well-educated person differs greatly from the language of those who choose not to indulge in literature. Reading inspires thinking, thinking results in verbal expressions of one's thoughts and this very often leads to writing.


Resources: L.M.Morrow, Literacy Development in Early Years
                  Pualin Gibbons, Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning