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REA 550: Literate Spaces
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Digital Graphic: Creating Literate Spaces
Megan Morelli
Grand Canyon University: REA 515
October 18, 2017
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Classroom Environment
Having a positive classroom environment that promotes literacy is a key component of a highly effective classroom. There are many ways teachers can create a positive environment that enhances the literacy development of their students.
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Organized Classroom Library
One way to create a positive environment that enhance literacy development is to have a well organized library in your classroom.
- One section of the class library should have books organized by level.
- This is important because it ensures that children of all levels feel comfortable reading books on their level in the classroom.
- The other section of the classroom library can be organized by interest.
- Most of these books should be on or around grade level, and be high interest books, which are often easy for all students to read.
- All book bins are labeled with graphic tags, which not only make it easier for students to find the book they’re looking for, but also makes students with different special needs feel comfortable (The Access Center, 2007).
Classroom Labels
In all classrooms, especially with younger students and new readers, it is benefital to have labels on items in the classroom. Specifically, young dual language learners benefit greatly from opportunities to use language in both the spoken and written forms. This aspect of dual language labels contributes to their understanding of the words they hear and the connections between those words and the labels found around the classroom. Providing English language learners in our classrooms with "many opportunities to encounter and explore at least two to four new words each day can enhance their oral language development and thus their early biliteracy development" (Salinas, Anderson, & Alanís, 2015)
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Supportive Literacy Material
Creating an environment that emphasizes literacy and proper manipulation of literacy materials is essential to any effective classroom. It is the job of the teacher, or literacy coach, to not only encourage our students to persevere through their reading and writing struggles, but to ensure that students of all levels feel supported enough to do so (The Access Center, 2014).
Students should feel comfortable asking for help, and also capable of figuring out the answer for themselves through the use of mindfully placed classroom materials, such as anchor charts, sentence starters, standard opperating procedures, and so on.
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Interactive Word Walls
It is somewhat second nature for teachers to create word walls as their students learn more and more vocabulary words throughout the year. However, a newer form of word wall truly embraces a literacy-rich classroom environment. Interactive word walls are "planned by teachers but constructed by students. As students create interactive word walls, the process enables them to build on prior knowledge, have multiple encounters with new academic vocabulary, and connect learning to inquiry activities and the real world" (Jackson, Wise, Zurbuchen & Gardner, 2017). This is an extremely effective way to create a positive environment that enhance literacy development, because it engages the students in the process as well as constantly reminds them of all they have learned.
Word Games!
A fun and engaging way to create a positive environment that enhance literacy development is by incorporating word games into classroom rewards. Studies have shown that "word game can help students to memorize the vocabularies easier motivate students and make them more interested in learning vocabulary" (Hidayat, 2016).
One way teachers can implement word games into their classroom routine is by making the reward for good behavior the chance to play a word game! Instead of a student earning candy or a prize, they can work towards 'game time' and will then in turn want to play, and want to learn!
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References:
References:
Jackson, J., Wise, E., Zurbuchner, K., & Gardner, N. (2017). Interactive
word walls: Visual scaffolds that transform vocabulary instruction. Science Scope, 40(9), 72-79.
Nur, H. (2016). Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement through
Word Game. JEES (Journal Of English Educators Society), Vol 1, Iss 2, Pp 95-104 (2016), (2), 95. doi:10.21070/jees.v1i2.446
Salinas-Gonzalez, I., Arreguin-Anderson, M. G., & Alanís, I. (2015).
Classroom Labels That Young Children Can Use: Enhancing Biliteracy Development in a Dual Language Classroom. Dimensions Of Early Childhood, 43(1), 25-32.
The Access Center. (2014). Literacy-rich environments. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/literacy-rich-environments