EDRD 7717 Module 3: Reading Reaction

      There were a lot of topics discussed in this weeks chapters that had to do with Emergent Literacy. Emergent Literacy is defined as "the developement of the association of print wih meaning that begins early in a child's life and continuous" (Opitz, 2011, p. 105). The term "reading readiness" used to be used to determine if a child was "ready" to start reading, but this term has been replaced by emergent literacy. While the students are in Kindergarden, teachers periodically assess students to determine whether their students are in fact emergent readers. These tests are used to predict the students' future sucess in reading, as well as pin pointing those who may be "at risk". However, the main issue people have with these tests is that they put too much emphasis on time and how quick the studentss can read. I agree with this statement, because if a child is able to comprehend the story within a comfortable amount of time then why should it matter how long it took them. Over time the child will become a faster and faster reader as they continue to read. Time assessments have always been my down fall, because I get stressed before the test even starts thinking about how much time I have per questions. When I was a young student about to take an assessment, if I could have gotten away with being "sick" every time I would because they physically made me sick to my stomach at times. However, it was not because I did not know the information, but because I psyched myself out.
      When Optiz discussed the topic of concept and concept development, it made me think of various topics I learned in my undergrad. We were taught to teach to our students' interests because then the students can take the new content and connect it to their background knowledge. When students find a way to connect or "organize" the information themselves, they are more likely to fully absorb the content because they have remembered it in a way that is familiar to them. However, there is always going to be specific content that one may think is basic that the student will have no prior knowledge on, so it is our job to give the students background on all the stories we read alound. Reading to children will greatly affecting their literacy, but there must be certain things done before, during and after in order to be effective. A few suggestions are "have the children sit comfortably", "make sure there are no distractions", "stop at key points to predict what will happen", "ask questions" and "retell the story in sequence" (Optiz, 2011, p. 121). Reading out loud to students will also help with the students "story sense", which is their ability to successfully structure a story.