Let's Begin Reading Right: A Developmental Approach to Emergent Literacy (4th Edition) - Softcover

Marjorie-v-fields-katherine-spangler; Katherine Spangler

9780130112910: Let's Begin Reading Right: A Developmental Approach to Emergent Literacy (4th Edition)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130112917 ISBN 13: 9780130112910

Publisher: Prentice Hall College Div, 1999

This text is written from a constructivist viewpoint, employing a balanced approach to teaching early literacy learning. The book advocates child's choice in reading materials and recommends against ability grouping. The book combines developmentally appropriate early childhood practice with the current views of emergent literacy and holistic literacy. Emphasis on teaching for diversity and inclusion, and on teaching skills in the context of reading and writing.

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About the Author:

Marjorie V. Fields is Professor Emeritus of early childhood education at the University of Alaska Southeast. She coordinated early childhood graduate teacher education programs throughout the state of Alaska for many years. A former kindergarten and first grade teacher, she has studied how children become literate for several decades. She has published several articles in professional journals and chapters in edited books on the topic of emergent literacy and wrote the book Your Child Learns to Read and Write (1998) for parents. (Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International, 1998). With kindergarten teacher Deborah Hillstead, she also wrote a how-to book on literacy in pretend play, published by Scholastic. She has been active in early-childhood professional associations at the local, state, and national levels. She is currently president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) and has served in several otherNAECTE leadership roles; she has also served on the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her proudest accomplishments relate to raising two sons: Michael and David, fine men and loving fathers. Her new focus is her grandchildren Sarah, Caroline, and Jackson who are being closely documented during their emergent literacy processes.

Lois A. Groth is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University. A former elementary teacher, she now teaches literacy courses in the elementary education and literacy programs. As the university facilitator of a Professional Development School, Lois works with student interns and clinical faculty throughout Annandale Terrace Elementary School. She has three young children, Kyle, Jennifer, and Sara, who help her practice reading and writing right.

Katherine L. (Katy) Spangler is a professor of education at the University of Alaska Southeast, where she coordinates a graduate teacher education program. She teaches courses in literacy and children's literature. Examples of her children's work appear throughout Let's Begin Reading Right. Patrick is now a college student and Mary is in high school; both have grown up to be good readers and effective writers.

In June 2002, International Reading Association President-elect Lesley Mandel Morrow convened a group of early childhood educators to discuss how the International Reading Association can have an impact on U.S. early childhood programs. "It is expected that early childhood literacy will become a key issue for IRA as the Association seeks to expand its relationships with professionals who are working with young children." The links between early childhood and literacy are strengthening and becoming public knowledge. Politics and policies have embraced early reading, thereby making it the focus of discussion at all levels—national, state, and local—and involving all parties, researchers, practitioners, and parents. Concurrently, professional organizations are becoming increasingly public in their cry for improved practices. What a thrilling time to be working in the field of early literacy!

However, we must be especially cautious, as this burgeoning interest in early literacy is not without its risks. Increased emphasis on accountability correlates with intense pressure to raise children's assessment scores. Many of these high-stakes assessments are inappropriate for young children. We fear that teachers will return to didactic instructional methods that have been discouraged for years. These methods are also inappropriate for young literacy learners.

Now more than ever, we need to remain firm in our commitment to link what we know about how children learn and our teaching practices. Since its first edition, Let's Begin Reading Right has focused on how young children construct literacy and the experiences that support its development. We recognize there are naysayers whose voices are many and whose volume is loud. This fifth edition is our response. With it, we continue to spread the word about developmentally appropriate practice.

We start by briefly describing children's learning process in general; then we give some detail on how the learning process works with oral language acquisition. We build from that to explain how youngsters come to understand and use written language. This theory base provides the foundation for all our subsequent teaching descriptions and recommendations. We include numerous examples of children's writing as evidence of children's thinking and hypotheses as they progress in their knowledge of written language. Children in preschool through the primary grades are our main focus, though we briefly address the literacy development of infants and toddlers.

This book is also designed to help the teacher of young children to understand and validate the importance of play in the child's literacy development. We describe how oral language proficiency and meaningful interaction with print are linked to play. We have made a special point of describing print-rich environments that encourage children to explore functional writing. Developmentally appropriate early childhood education practices are further encouraged through recommendations for providing a variety of experiences and oral language opportunities as part of helping children learn to read and write. Teaching examples illustrate the importance of an authentically integrated curriculum for meaningful involvement in literacy events.

In an attempt to dispel the pervasive misconception that isolated drill in skills is better than learning skills in a meaningful context, we carefully explain the development of reading and writing skills within authentic literacy events. Answers to the inevitable questions about teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling assure the fearful that children are being helped to learn phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling in the most effective ways. Discussions of reading skills emphasize the necessity of helping youngsters balance their attention to graphophonemic, semantic, and syntactic information when reading. We try to show that this balance is essential for maintaining a focus on meaning while reading. We also explain how writing skills—from learning to form letters of the alphabet to using punctuation effectively—are best learned through authentic reading and writing activities. In addition, we offer a chapter that focuses entirely on selecting instructional materials for reading and writing.

We make sure to discuss assessment procedures that are congruent with comprehensive, holistic approaches to literacy, and we give detailed examples of how effective teaching and assessment occur simultaneously. Chapter 8 explains performance-based assessment, documenting acquisition of literacy skills during children's meaningful involvement with print. The chapter also explains current assessment recommendations in terms of developmentally appropriate practice. As we try to dispel some confusion about performance-based assessment, we also outline the problems inherent in high-stakes, standardized testing. Detailed scenarios of reading and writing instructional conferences in Chapters 6 and 7 as well as Chapter 8 help in visualizing assessment as part of a child-centered approach to teaching.

As in previous editions, our recommendations for teaching literacy combine developmentally appropriate early-childhood practice with research-based views of emergent literacy and holistic literacy. In addition, we link recommendations arising from the latest research on early childhood, emergent literacy, and comprehensive literacy with constructivist learning theory. Let's Begin Reading Right continues to remind readers of how young children learn, challenging teachers to use that understanding as the bases for teaching decisions.

CHANGES IN THE FIFTH EDITION

As we worked on this revision, we were again amazed at how much classrooms had changed in the four years since we wrote the previous edition. These changes include modifications in the materials teachers use to teach, the ever increasing level of diversity in the classrooms, and the current "hot" issues. Once again, the most significant change is in the political climate, with direct impact on the classroom. There has been resurgence in the use of skills-based classroom literacy activities, especially in the area of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and spelling. We continue to outline authentic learning opportunities in all areas, showing better ways of accomplishing the goals shared by both proponents of isolated skills drill and by those who are convinced that skills are best learned in a meaningful context.

Changes to this edition specifically address phonemic awareness and vocabulary development as well as phonics and spelling. Assessment is another political hotbed. We reaffirm our position against high-stakes testing during early childhood and offer additional options for holistic assessment.

We added to the writing chapters to more fully explain shared and interactive writing. The emergent-writing chapter now mirrors the emergent-reading chapter in its outline of levels of assistance during instruction. Reading to, with, and by students complements writing to, with, and by students and vice versa. Providing the right help at the right time is emphasized for all children regardless of ability or special needs or language or diversity.

As we updated references and materials, we were reminded that technology continues to gain influence in education. We added Internet sources where appropriate and provide an outline for evaluating the utility of computer as well as traditional texts. Teachers need to know more about technology than ever before. We have enjoyed our journey of growth and change as we worked to keep this book current. We are pleased to be able to offer a new edition that reflects our process as well as our purpose, beginning reading right!

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