Cultivating Learners Through Literacy

An inspirational Quote...

COMPETENCIES FOR A DIGITAL AGE

“What is clear is that education – deeper, broader and more universal – has a significant part to play in enabling humanity to succeed in the next half century. We need to ensure that students everywhere leave school ready to continue to learn and adapt, ready to take responsibility for their own future learning and careers, ready to innovate with and for others .... We need perhaps the first truly global generation; a generation of individuals rooted in their own cultures but open to
the world and confident of their ability to shape it.”

Paying Attention to K-12 Literacy (http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesLIT/PayingAttentiontoLiteracy.pdf)

Literacy involves the capacity to:

• access, manage, create and evaluate information
• think imaginatively and analytically
• communicate thoughts and ideas effectively
• apply metacognitive knowledge and skills
• develop a sense of self-efficacy and an interest in life-long learning

It is interesting to think about how us as Kindergarten teachers, we are setting the foundational learning for our 21st century students that will go along with them into their post-secondary education and careers, and their adulthood. Sometimes thinking about that makes me refocus and treat the learning happening by looking at the whole-child..

Am I taking into account their interests..

Am I considering their background and cultural perspectives..

Would the parents be collaborators with my program..

Will my teaching be an significance in this students' learning because of where he/she comes from, how much literacy has been exposed to him/her already...

Our last Parent Engagement made me think of how it is very important to have the parent always involved in their child's learning journey especially in our community, and to also have choice in what they are learning about..

Evidence From Research...

Research Monograph #4 Supporting Families as Collaborators in Children’s Literacy Development

by Dr. Michelann Parr Nipissing University

(http://thelearningexchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/WW_Familes_Literacy_AODA.pdf)

"Many families are unaware of the valuable role they play in apprenticing their children into literacy. When asked what they do to support their children’s literacy development, they often think in terms of school-based tasks, rather than the things they do each day: singing a lullaby, playing card games, talking at the dinner table or checking email. Because there is no evident academic or school connection, families undervalue what they do that fosters literacy. It is essential, then, that educators help parents understand the important role they play in their children’s education. As the Ministry of Education points out, “When parents are engaged and involved, everyone – students, parents, and families, teachers, schools, and communities – benefits, and our schools become increasingly rich and positive places to teach, learn and grow.”

Supporting families as collaborators in children’s literacy development requires:

• helping parents and caregivers recognize the many ways literacy is fostered on a day-by-day basis at home
• working collaboratively with families– talking with them, not at or over them –and building on their strengths
• engaging in ongoing dialogue that respects cultural, linguistic and familial identities
• planning family literacy activities that are fun, meaningful and engaging

Into Our Classroom...

We like to think about ourselves as co-creators of a responsive literacy learning environment in the classroom and the school, like in the hallways. Together we engage in inquiry, reflection, dialogue and the sharing of ideas in all the frames across the day. Our classroom has an effective literacy learning environment which is responsive to learners’ interests, preferences and strengths and provides opportunities for learners to express their thinking in many different ways.

Tips...

Tips to Support Students’ Vocabulary Development

• Teachers can support vocabulary develop-ment by participating in children’s play using new vocabulary appropriate to the play context.
• During play, teachers can make connections to children’s prior knowledge and add content to children’s play scenarios in ways that expand children’s understandings.
• As teachers observe, listen, and respond to what children are doing and saying, they extend and build on children’s language and learning.

(http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/ww_vocabulary.pdf)