Personal Reading Theory Model One

Personal Reading Theory Model

Elizabeth G. Hill

EDRD 7715

Dr. Scott Ritchie

Summer 2012

 

            Joan Wink (2011) perfectly summarized one of Paulo Freire’s greatest statements by writing, “Before reading the words, kids already read the world” (p. 103).  This notion captures the underlying foundation of my personal reading theory by addressing what young students are already capable of, despite being what some would label as being illiterate.  During my background experiences and previous preparation as an early childhood educator, I have come to witness several techniques and theories of reading, yet I hesitate to definitively state a one, correct procedural manner resulting in a guaranteed outcome of student reading proficiency.

            I took my methods courses years ago, and since 2003, I have had more than seven years of teaching experience with kindergarten and second grade students.  I agree with Freire (1985) that literacy, as I have been trained to impart as a public school educator, “is reduced to the mechanical act of “depositing” words, syllables, and letters into illiterates” (p. 7, 8).  This technique was not one that I fully understood or supported, yet there were results of student progress which validated what I thought was correct.  However, the more I began to work with students who were significantly behind their peers in grade level reading, I was concerned that I lacked in real experience with laying a foundation for reading.  In these courses I was introduced to popular terms such as phonemes, phonic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, and over time I developed a better understanding of how to incorporate these ideas into functional and tangible lessons.  And, at this point in my educational career, I could probably lay out several options of effective strategies based on my experiences in public education settings.  I must admit that being in a second grade classroom setting required minimal teaching of the basics of reading, thus diminishing my recollection of those processes.  So, what I am left with is a small amount of memory and experience in really teaching students how to read.  Therefore, with what I have expressed, I believe children learn to read by communicating with others verbally and are eventually exposed to print and sound materials as their growth progresses.  Whether parents take an active role in this foundation is uncontrollable from an academic perspective, as they may receive reading exposure through home, preschool or daycare settings, and eventually in a kindergarten setting.  Their awareness of alphabet sounds and letters combined with sight word cards and small practice sentences are in my opinion, effective, yet supportive examples of teaching reading or literacy as a mechanical act.  

            Conversely, these strategies that are taught to educators and used in public schooling, along with supplementary programs for struggling students, are just a few of the plethora of literacy teaching strategies available to educators.  I am inspired by Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s (1963) concept of organic reading in which her students owned their own words and used them to create sentences and stories within the Maori culture, therefore relating any literacy instruction to what was relevant to student life.  I am captivated by Vivian Maria Vasquez’s (2008) negotiation of space within the curriculum to make room for critical literacy in which she and her students used tools in the classroom fueled by their own interests to create audit trails, pose problems, and analyze information thereby taking social action as a form of solution.  I am reminded by Lisa Delpit (2006) to appreciate the linguistic diversity brought to the classroom by students without focusing on correction or the imposition of Standard English.  These are also just a few of many practices that have been researched and implemented by educators, but they differ in their approach and meaning. 

While the question lingers of effective teaching practices, I believe the focus should always remain on what inspires and sustains student reading thereby extending that appreciation toward a lifelong love and curiosity of literacy in any context. 

References

Ashton-Warner, S. (1963). Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.

Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation. Westport: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc.

Vasquez, V. M. (2008). Negotiating critical literacies with young children. New York: Routledge.

Wink, J. (2011). Critical pedagogy: Notes from the real world. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.