Module 2

Educ. 20 – Building and

Enhancing Literacy
Across the Curriculum

Compiled by:

Mrs. Jennie T. Zaragosa

Instructor

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 1

 Unit 2 Teaching Strategies for the Development of Literacy

Skills and Teaching Resources

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the unit, the students must be able to:

demonstrate teaching strategies that promote literacy;

show skills in the selection, development, and use of age- appropriate instructional
resources that will develop literacy, and higher -order and creative thinking skills;
device activities appropriate for the development of literacy skills.

READ

Learning to read and write is fundamental to children’s success in school and

to their optimal life trajectory, regardless of their background, socio-economic status
or opportunities.

Over the last several years, the global education discourse has shifted its
emphasis from improving educational access to a stronger focus on improving
learning outcomes. Unfortunately, many current reading initiatives focus exclusively
on supporting reading skills in the early primary grades, without acknowledging the
importance of foundational emergent literacy skills children develop in the early
years that set them on a positive reading trajectory in school.

Emergent literacy encompasses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that a

child develops in relation to reading and writing throughout the early childhood
period, starting at birth and before the onset of conventional reading and writing
instruction (usually at school entry).

Emergent literacy includes such aspects as oral language (both speaking

and listening), understanding that print can carry meaning, as well as basic alphabet
knowledge, and early phonological awareness.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 2

 A. Strategies for the Development of Emergent Literacy Skills
and Teaching Resources
At Home

Four key strategies for supporting emergent literacy in the home

environment include:

1. STRENGTHEN parents' practices around supporting language and literacy

And
development of their children. Encourage parents to talk with their young
children ( for instance, while doing daily chores or routine activities) and to
n
develop shared story telling and book reading habits. Support parents to
expose children to various forms of prints, and to play language games and
sing songs.

2. CREATE access to books and reading opportunities for families in low

income settings through mobile libraries, book banks and through teaching
communities how to make or write their own books. Make sure that books are
developmentally appropriate and supportive of emergent literacy skills.

3. ENGAGE in family or community-based literacy models proven to have long

lasting effects on intergenerational literacy outcomes.

4. INVEST in maternal literacy programs and girls education and integrate

maternal literacy classes into other kinds of programs and initiatives to ensure
children have maximum possible benefit from their first caregiver in support of
language and reading skills.

Initiatives to support parents to help develop children’s language and early

literacy can begin as early as a birth, or even in the pre-natal period.

In School

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 3

 1. STRENGTHEN early childhood practitioners’ knowledge and practices
necessary for supporting early literacy and language skills in classrooms and
provide simple classroom resources (in the form of games, books, songs and
others) to help foster language skills in meaningful and enjoyable ways.

2. CREATE access to developmentally appropriate books and make these

available to young learners in preschools and early learning programs. Work
with early childhood practitioners to promote interactive book reading and
story telling on the daily basis.

3. INCREASE exposure to various kinds of print in early learning programs.

4. WORK with early childhood practitioners to develop and use simple

assessments of early literacy and language skills with young learners and to
help them improve overtime.

5. LINK preschool programming with what happens in homes through parent

education initiatives, book exchange/lending activities and /or maternal literacy
classes.

6. IMPROVE transitions between preschools and early primary school

classrooms by setting up systems to aid enrollment and progression. Bridge
activities started in early childhood programs into the early grades of the
formal school classroom. A focus on foundation literacy skills and better
access to books and reading materials is often needed in Grades 1 and 2
classrooms given the majority of children's lack of exposure to print and
books prior to school entry.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 4

 B. Beginning Reading Skills and Teaching Resources

There are five components of reading instruction. These are:

 Phonological Awareness – This refers to manipulating and identifying parts

of spoken language ( words, syllables, onsets, rimes and phonemes).
To enhance its effectiveness:
1. Focus first on auditory features of words.
2. Move from explicit, natural segments of language to the more implicit and
complex
3. Use of phonological properties and dimensions of words to enhance
performance.
4. Scaffold, blending and segmenting through explicit modeling.
5. Integrate letter-sound correspondence once learners are proficient with
auditory task.
 Phonemic Awareness - Conscious awareness that spoken language is
made up of individual sounds (phonemes).
Phonemic Awareness Activity:
Phonics
1. Introduce print (letters and words) paired with corresponding
sounds.
2. Teaches students the alphabetic principles.
Alphabetic Principle
1. Letter-Sound Correspondence: Teacher points to letter /m/ on
board. "The sound of this letter is /mmm/. Tell me the sound of
this letter." –Use consistent and brief wording
2. Sounding Out Words: Teacher points to the word /mop/ on the board,
touches under each sound as the students sound it out, and slashes finger
under the word as students say it fast.
3. "Sound it out." (/mmm o p/) "Say it fast." (mop) –start by having students
sound letters/words out in their heads, then as a class produce the word
orally.
4. Once students have mastered CVC (mom) and VC (at) words, short
controlled sentences ( mom is at home) should be introduced.
5. Prompts and procedures should be used for this, as it is sometimes
difficult for students to move quickly from lists of words to passages.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 5

  Fluency – This refers to the ability to read quickly and accurately.
It is covered in phonemic awareness, letter naming, sound-letter
associations, sight words, and oral reading of connected text. Fluency in letter
recognition, letter sound, word recognition, improved recognition.
Letter-Sound Fluency: Given a set of letters, the student can produce the
associated sound within one second. Target goal = 50 letter sounds per minute
by mid first grade.
Irregular Word Fluency: Given a set of irregular words in a set or in a
passage, can identify words in 1 second or less.
Oral Reading Fluency: By the end of grade 2, students should read 90-100
words per minute fluently. It mirrors spoken language fluency
It promotes memory and applications (generalization).
Fluency in reading text is highly correlated to reading comprehension.
There are six stages of fluency and reading development. These are:
1. pre-reading;
2. decoding;
3. confirmation and fluency;
4. reading to learn;
5. reading for multiple viewpoints; and
6. reading to
construct new knowledge.
 Vocabulary - Words a person has learned and uses to communicate
effectively. It is divided into oral and reading. Most words are learned
indirectly, but some need to be taught directly (i.e. difficult words that
represent complex concepts). Students typically add 3,000 new words yearly
after 3rd grade.
Vocabulary Activity
Comprehension - Ability to understand what is being read and reason for
reading. It requires purposeful and thoughtful interaction with text.

Seven Instructional Strategies for Comprehension

1. Comprehension monitoring
• 2. Cooperative learning
3. Use of graphic and semantic organizers
4. Question answering
• 5. Generating questions

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 6

 6. Recognizing story starters
7. Summarizing

Six Core Developmental Reading Approaches

 Basal/ Basic Reading – It is commonly used as a core for teachers.
It begins with pre-primary readers and goes to eighth grade readers.
Examples in a series (workbooks, flash cards, skill packets, wall charts,
related activities, placement and achievement tests, and computer software).
Directed Reading Activity Procedure
1. Motivate the student to learn the material
2. Prepare the student by presenting to concepts and vocab
3. Guide the student in reading the story with asking questions that have a
purpose or a goal.
4. Develop or strengthen skills relating to the material through drills or
activities.
5. Assign work to apply the skills acquired during the lesson.
6. Evaluate the effectiveness of the lesson.

 Literature-Based Reading
 Teacher reading aloud to children
 Oral reading variation
 Shared reading
 Sustained silent reading
 Word recognition strategies
 Comprehension strategies

 Whole Language
 Uses students languages and Experiences
 Makes meaning out of what you read and express
Students are taught to read for meaning not to break the code in reading.
 Curriculum is organized around themes and units to increase language and
reading skills.
 All language arts are related and should not be taught as if they were
separate.
 Not the best approach for those with learning problems but there are ways to
adapt the approach.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 7

  Language Experience Phonics

 Integrates development of reading skills with, listening, speaking, and writing

skills.
 Based on students oral and written expression
 Similar to whole language: both emphasize the importance of literature, treat
reading as a personal act, and advocate many books written by young
children about their own lives.
 Different from whole language: Language experience says written language is
secondary system taken from oral language and whole language sees them
separately related.
 Phonics Approach

 Teaches word recognition through learning the relation to the letters

(graphemes), to the sounds (phonemes) they represent to teach reading.
 Most languages have consistent phoneme to grapheme correlation.
 Once a learner has learned the relationships of letters to sounds, they can

pronounce printed words by blending the sounds together .

 Linguistic: Word Families & Onset-Rime
 Designed for students not succeeding with the basal approach.
 Words are taught in word families, around rimes & onsets
Ex: Kindergarten rimes involving /a/ and onsets /c/,/b/,/h/ are added gradually
to create a word family cat, bat, & hat word families grow as readers make
progress.
 Alternative for young children struggling with phoneme-level segmentation
and blending.

C. Developing Functional Literacy

What is Functional Literacy?

It is the ability to manage daily living and employment tasks that require a
reading skills beyond a basic level.
There are activities that practice real world skills. The ideal method is the
Participatory Approach as defined by Peyton and Crandall (1995) and Huerta –
Martia (1993).

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 8

 The Participatory Approach

The main goal of this approach is to have EVERY student, as well as

the teacher actively participating in the activities.

This approach changes the role of the teacher, instead of us giving

instructions and then stepping back to allow students to work, the
teacher works together with the students.

Teachers here need to use realistic materials, because they are

training students for realistic situations.

For large classes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to give each student individual

attention. So students are asked here to work in pairs or small groups
and give attention to the group as a whole.

The activities must include extra- textual components such as

pictures, logos, or objects, to reflect the realistic nature of the
activities.

How this approach does help students?

 Because 100 % participation is the goal, this means that every student gets
an opportunity to practice literary skills.
 Students feel more supported, as they are getting time to talk to the teacher
directly in a more private way.
 Students must practice communicating their problems, as well as
communicating possible solutions to problems, which is priceless "real-life
skill".
 Students develop the tools to help themselves, which is a huge step towards
functional literacy.
 Students practice understanding the connections between text and things and
images. This is important because almost EVERY type of realistic text is
accompanied by an image ( poster or newspaper) or by a thing (e.g. product
packaging).

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 9

  Finally students practice understanding things as a whole instead of focusing
on the meanings of the individual words or images.
 In real life they will encounter words or symbols they do not understand, but
the ability to understand the whole message is what is really important.

D. 21st Century Literacy Skills and Teaching Resources

Student-Led Learning ( Cooperative Learning)

The following are the examples of student -led learning:
 Teaching Large Groups (Lectures)
 Small Group Teaching.
 Demonstrating in practical classes.
 Flipped classroom.
 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
 Active learning.
 Problem based learning.
 Work based learning.

What the students do in this type of learning?

 Self-selects to teach others during student-led instruction.
 Explains solutions in their own way, possibly benefiting students who didn’t
understand the teacher’s explanation.
 Is a positive group member, encouraging others and disagreeing (when
applicable) in a respectful manner.

What the teacher does in this type of learning?

 Selects students to lead groups who may have a way of problem-solving that
benefits other students.
 Provides student-led lesson prompts with easy to follow instructions and
challenging questions.
 Occasionally checks in with the group to make sure they are on-task.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 10

 Inquiry-Based Classroom Environment
The inquiry-based learning approach to teaching creates an integrated
students-led learning journey. Instead of presenting information to students, the
teacher allows students to explore materials on their own. The students learn by
doing; curiosity and exploration often lead to better comprehension and
understanding of materials.
Inquiry-based learning approach, enhances students:
 Critical thinking skills
 Makes learning more interesting.
 Encourages curiosity.
 Empowers students
 Enhances comprehension
Collaborative Activities
Collaborative learning is the educational approach of using groups to
enhance learning through working together. Groups of two or more learners work
together to solve problems, complete tasks, or learn new concepts.

This approach actively engages learners to process and synthesize information

and concepts, rather than using rote memorization of facts and figures. Learners
work with each other on projects, where they must collaborate as a group to

understand the concepts being presented to them .

Collaborative activities are any activities where learners are working co-
operatively in pairs or groups.

For example:

 Pair or group discussions

 Completing shared tasks in a pair or group, e.g. matching, sorting,
ranking
 Activities or games with a competitive element, e.g. bingo
 Drama and role play
 Information exchange activities, including barrier games and jigsaw
activities

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 11

 HOTS Activities

Ten Teaching Strategies to Enhance Higher Order Thinking Skills in Your

Student
 Help determine what higher order thinking is.
Help students understand what higher-order thinking is. Explain to
them what it is and why they need it. Help them understand their own
strengths and challenges
 Connect Concepts
Lead students through the process of how to connect one concept to
another. By doing this you are teaching them to connect what they already
know with what they are learning.
 Teach students to infer.
Teach students to make inferences by giving them “real-world” examples.
 Encourage questioning.
A classroom where students feel free to ask questions without any
negative reactions from their peers or their teachers is a classroom where
students feel free to be creative.
 Use graphic organizers.
Graphic organizers provide students with a nice way to frame their
thoughts in an organized manner. By drawing diagrams or mind maps,
students are able to better connect concepts and see their relationships. This
will help students develop a habit of connecting concepts.

 Teach problem- solving strategies

Teach students to use a step-by-step method for solving problems.
This way of higher-order thinking will help them solve problems faster and
more easily. Encourage students to use alternative methods to solve
problems as well as offer them different problem-solving methods.

 Encourage creative thinking.

Creative thinking is when students invent, imagine, and design what
they are thinking. Using creative senses helps students process and
understand information better.
 Use mind movies.
When concepts that are being learned are difficult, encourage
students to create a movie in their mind. Teach them to close their eyes and

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 12

 picture it like a movie playing. This way of higher-order thinking will truly help
them understand in a powerful, unique way.

 Teach students to elaborate their answers.

Higher-order thinking requires students to really understand a
concept, not repeat it or memorize it. Encourage students to elaborate their
answers by asking the right questions that make students explain their
thoughts in more detail.

 Teach QARs
Question-Answer-Relationships, or QARs, teach students to label the
type of question that is being asked and then use that information to help them
formulate an answer.

Creative Learning
It is the process of acquiring knowledge and abilities using creative
process. In other words, creating theories, tests, stories, solutions, analysis,
and designs as opposed to simply trying to memorize information.

Educ. 20 - Building and Enhancing Literacy Across Curriculum 13