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Good FIRST Teaching FOR ALL Students!
 What
is Literacy?
Literacy used to mean knowing how to read, but the
term is broadening to encompass both reading and
writing. Now literacy means the competence "to
carry out complex tasks using reading and writing
related to the world of and to life outside the school"
(Cases in Literacy, 1989, p.36). Educators are
identifying other literacies that they believe will be
needed in the 21st century. Our reliance on radio
and television for conveying ideas has awakened us
to the importance of "oracy," the ability to express and understand spoken language. Visual literacy which
conveys the ability to create meaning from illustrations,
is also receiving a great deal of attention.
The term "literacy" is being used in other ways as well.
Teachers are introducing even very young children to
computers and developing their "computer literacy."
Similarly, math and science educators speak of
mathematical and scientific literacies. Hirsch (1987)
called for another type of literacy, "cultural literacy," as
a way to introduce children "to the major ideas and
ideals from past cultures that have defined and
shaped today's society. (p 10). Literacy however, is not
a prescription of certain books to read or concepts to
define but rather, according to Rafferty (1999), it is a
tool, a way to learn about the world and a means to
participate more fully in the technological society of
the 21st century.
The Early Literacy Initiative is a proposed district
intervention for Edmonton Catholic Schools that is
organized to achieve the Superintendent's Directive in
Teaching and Learning, "through the implementation of
a strong focus in division one language
literacy that
would challenge our district to ensure to do its utmost
to see that every child, leaving division one, would be
reading and writing at his or her potential." The
discussion and thinking which has lead to this
proposal has its roots in the work begun in Balanced
Literacy and Reading Recovery which is based on
current research in effective literacy instruction.
"With the development of community interest there
has been a proliferation of naïve ideas about what is
reading and what reading difficulties are. Incorrect
and misleading ideas are often found in the media.
The following are two examples.
- Critics of schools sometimes imply that people have
different levels of intelligence but that all people can
reach a similar level in reading achievement. These
two expectations are contradictory.
- Completely erroneous statements are made about
words 'seen in reverse' or 'the brain scrambling the
signals going to the eyes' or 'squares that look like
triangles'. There is no evidence to support such
descriptions of how our brains work during reading.
These errors of understanding arise from adults who
make superficial or poor observations of their own
skills or who disseminate misguided interpretations of
new concepts, which are only partly understood.
Fortunately, this does not have to be the case any
longer. Over the past two decades, with new
understandings and new practices we have seen
development of more effective solutions in the area
of early interventions and have reached a point where
it is possible to hypothesize that all but a very small
number of children can learn to read and write and
schools are able to implement interventions which
can bring this about." (pg. 23, An Observation Survey,
2nd Edition).
Current and long-term research demonstrates and
clarifies the problems and difficulties in determining
potential in young children through standardized data.
The major areas of consideration for concerns are as
follows:
- There are bigger degrees of error with standardized
tests with younger children. The brain research is
demonstrating that IQ is not static and there can be
many factors of influence that have an effect on IQ.
- There is not enough reliable research that supports
the early identification of Learning Disabilities in
young children.
- Labelling the child too early sets a context for that
child in which s/he may perform to the label/level and
self-concept is affected.
- Auditory processing skills in some children are not
fully developed until 7.5 - 8 years of age.
Therefore the Early Literacy Initiative is organized
around preventative measures, such as effective
classroom teaching based on accurate, robust ongoing
classroom assessment. Prevention is more
effective than remediation. The call is for
developmentally appropriate assessment, ".
throughout these critical years, accurate assessment
of children's knowledge, skills and dispositions in
reading and writing will help teachers better match
instruction with how and what children are learning.
However, early reading and writing cannot be simply
measured as a set of narrowly defined skills on
standardized tests. These measures often unreliable
or not valid indicators of what children can do in
typical practice, nor are they sensitive to language
variation, culture, or experiences of young children.
(International Reading Association and National
Association for the Education of Young Children,
1998)."
If we truly believe that every child can be inspired to
read and write given time and support:
- Schools need to have a school wide plan and
literacy needs to be a priority.
- All staff members must see literacy as a priority; we
are all teachers of all children.
- Understanding of sound assessment practices that
include benchmarks, standards and systematic
observation practices that inform instruction.
- Children need opportunities to read large quantities
of books.
- Classrooms and schools need to be structured,
methodical, collaborative and reflective.
- Schools and teachers need to be flexible.
- We need to support children who are at risk as soon
as possible.
- We need strong programs in our schools and a
safety net for children who need one on one
intervention.
- Some children will need long-term support - special
education.
- Our job is to teach all children and we do this by
working together, groups don't learn - individuals learn;
therefore we must provide diversity in programming.
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