Scaffolding Reading and Writing in Early Literacy Classrooms

1. Scaffolding Reading and Writing in Early Literacy Classrooms Priscilla L. Griffith, Ph.D. Professor, University of Oklahoma (USA) Director of the Oklahoma Writing Project Oklahoma Writing Project Teacher Consultant Immediate Past President of the Oklahoma Reading Association The University of Oklahoma 820 Van Vleet Oval, ECH 114 Norman, OL 73019 405-325-1508 pgriffith@ou.edu

2. A Quick Write • What is your first remembered experience about reading or writing? • Share your writing with the person next to you. • Who would like to read what you wrote?

3. Definitions • Early Literacy Classrooms – classrooms at Grades Pre-K through 1 • Scaffolding - systematic support in the classroom that allows young children to move towards independence in literacy.

4. Beliefs about Early Literacy Learning • Reading and writing co-exist in their development along a continuum from emergent to conventional behaviors. • “Almost every child learns to read print and write print at the same time (Clay, 2001 p. 91).”

5. Children use drawing to help them organize ideas and to construct meaning from and make sense out of experiences (Baghban, 2007, p. 21).

7. As children are sorting out the differences between drawing and writing as separate forms of expression, they make attempts at writing that looks like the writing they see in their environment.

10. Reading and writing are primarily social activities. They involve interaction with adults and peers in an environment designed to promote reading and writing experiences in meaningful contexts. This point is at the heart of organizing both the environment and the instruction in a classroom. • Every aspect of the classroom environment should support opportunities for children to engage in literacy activities.

13. Our Favorite Animals My name My favorite animal Kathi elephant

14. A quick write – How do you think reading and writing are related? • Share your writing with the person next to you. • Who would like to read what you wrote?

15. Preparing to Read Identify title, author and illustrator Activate prior knowledge through strategies such as picture walk Make predictions  Constructing Meaning While Reading Confirm and predict Make inferences Interpret and evaluate Integrate ideas into a coherent representation of the text Monitor understanding Reviewing and Reflecting on Reading Discuss what happened Discuss favorite parts Relate to other characters and stories Preparing to Write Prewriting Constructing Meaning While Writing Drafting Revising Reviewing and Reflecting on Writing Revising Editing Publishing Reading and Writing Processes to Scaffold in Early Literacy Classrooms Adapted from Griffith and Ruan, 2005

16. Why integration? Both reading and writing • involve language and thought. • involve written language. • are interactive. Each informs the other. • are the active construction of meaning.

17. This presentation will focus on two major aspects of scaffolding reading and writing in early literacy classrooms: • Organizing the Environment • Organizing Instruction

18. Organizing the Environment Every classroom should have a class library a writing center literacy tools in every center Organizing Instruction Reading and writing experiences in meaningful contexts

19. Classroom model for supporting writing and reading

20. Teacher Modeling During Writing • Think-aloud • Use the vocabulary of instruction Emphasize initial sounds • Rubber-band words • Emphasize onsets and rimes • Do not overusing any strategy

25. Teacher Modeling During Reading Teacher Behaviors: • Clarify information • Demonstrate strategies of a reader: predicting and confirming • Develop story structure • Draw attention to illustrations • Extend vocabulary • Inform • Metanarrate (text and/or pictures) • Point out text features Adapted from Klesius & Griffith, 1996

29. Simple story map to use with younger readers and writers.

31. Text Innovation • Revisions of original literature • Purposeful changes • Benefits • Expand vocabulary • Study literary techniques • Learn the function of words in sentences • Develop awareness of story structure • Enhance fluency

32. It involves a tight interface between word knowledge and oral reading fluency, and it allows readers at all levels to feel successful.

33. Story innovation for You Can’t See Me

34. Procedures • Identify how the story can be changed. • Familiarize students with the sentence and episode patterns within the story to be innovated.

35. Simple story map for You Can’t See Me.

36. Procedures • Identify how the story can be changed. • Familiarize students with the sentence and episode patterns within the story to be innovated. • Develop background knowledge and oral language around a topic that interests the students and that can be used for a successful innovation.

38. Procedures • Identify how the story can be changed. • Familiarize students with the sentence and episode patterns within the story to be innovated. • Develop background knowledge and oral language around a topic that interests the students and that can be used for a successful innovation. • Guide the children through the innovation.

40. Procedures • Identify how the story can be changed. • Familiarize students with the sentence and episode patterns within the story to be innovated. • Develop background knowledge and oral language around a topic that interests the students and that can be used for a successful innovation. • Guide the children through the innovation. • Reread and revise the innovation. • Publish the innovation as a big book or make a copy for each child.

41. It involves a tight interface between word knowledge and oral reading fluency, and it allows readers at all levels to feel successful. • Children have to completely understand the context in which particular words are used and make wording changes that allow the new text to still be meaningful and enjoyable • To read fluently, students need to achieve high accuracy, adequate speed, and appropriate prosody. Familiar text structure and language patterns in the innovated text provide necessary scaffold for the practice of fluency. • The innovated story matches the students’ reading level, a critical consideration when selecting texts for fluency instruction • Innovated text is comprehensible input and provides opportunities for repeated practice of reading the text, both of which are critical factors that can help ESL learners become successful readers. Griffith & Ruan, in press