Writing to Achieve Kindergarten Day 2 Debbie Jura Nov. 5, 2009

Welcome Housekeeping Sign in Bathrooms Lunch Extras

Oral Language Revisited “All literacy learning floats on a sea of talk”…

Discussion What have you tried What worked well What questions do you have?

The first category of learning…… At first glance it may seem like a simple task to remember letters….but the essence of “A” is really a category the child needs to learn to control which includes information about how to write the letter, various forms of the letter, sounds the letter might represent, and words that begin with that letter/sound.

Programs of Action “ when a child is able to write his or her own name this illustrates one important feature of how the brain works. It seems as if the writer is acting on a set of instructions or a computer like program which can produce the same message over and over.”

The Journey “the first programs of action are learned slowly for the child is learning not only the specific program but also how to put the specific set of instructions together…..

“how to store these instructions for the future and how to access the instructions when he needs them. In other words children have to sort out what to remember and how to recall it.”

The path of the Journey Unfamiliar to familiar Slow to fast Integration (knowing how to use it in conversation, how to locate it in reading, how to produce it in writing on demand)

All Learning Progresses Through Steps From.. Unconsciously Incompetent Consciously Incompetent Unconsciously Competent Consciously Competent

Bruner’s 6 Stages of Skilled Action 1 Student attends to a few activities. 2 Student goes through a clumsy phase. 3 Success with some attempts. There may still be some false moves, repetitions, and self corrections.

4. This is a critical stage. Student experiences reinforcement or periods of success so action pattern is less variable. 5. Actions become smooth as sub routines are developed. 6. Skilled performance! Student is accurate and fluent.

Your Turn Think of something you do proficiently. Now, think about how you learned to be proficient. Break down your learning process into the 6 stages.

Letter Learning the 2 nd category of learning “The visual discrimination of each symbol, one from another, is a large learning task and the accumulation of skill is slow and gradual. Children will extend their control over letters as they read and write.”

A Note of Caution “Knowing the letter name and sound is not the difficult part of the task. It is extracting information from embedded letters while reading for meaning that is the challenge and the real goal.”

Letter learning in Complex A letter has features that distinguish it from every other letter. Letters have names Directional movements are required to make letters. Each letter has 2 forms

Letter learning continued… Some letters look different in different kinds of print. There is a limited set of letters (26, all with upper and lower case forms). The letters come in a certain order in the alphabet. (serial order) Letters are related to the sounds you hear.

Letters have features that distinguish them one from another… o,c,h,n,w,v, l, t, q,p,b,d Categories of Letters –Curves –Sticks –Tall vs short –Below the line, at the line, above the line

Letters have names… Letter name is a far more efficient body of knowledge for students to control than sounds…because sound is variable in English…. come, some, home Letter names give us a common language in referring to letters.

Serial Order There is order in letter, word, and sentence knowledge. Alphabetical order Order of letters in a word Order of letters in a sentence

Think about this… “Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

“The rset can be a total mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a slohe. Amzanig, huh?

Letters are related to sounds…. children need to learn that letters have sounds (alphabetic principle) English sound system is not 1 to 1. Sound knowledge is a large body of know learned over time. Sounds in speech overlap Sounds are best analyzed during writing.

Word Learning The 3 rd category of learning Accumulates over time Involves understanding the difference between a letter and a word (reading the spaces) helps free the child to attend to new or unusual features in text. Gives the child “anchors” so he/she can self monitor and self correct. When the child controls 40+ words he/she controls most of the letter/sound associations of the language.

“Until a child can find a word in text he/she will be a non-reader.”

What kind of word learning? 3 types of words –High frequency words –Words you can get at through sound analysis –Words you can get at through analogy

High Frequency Words Words that should be learned quick and fast. Not taught through sound analysis

Hearing and Recording Words in Speech Sound analysis using sound boxes Order of hearing –Last sound usually heard first –Accept any order –Beginning sound –Final sound –Sounds in order –Vowels are last sounds heard

Principals of How Words Work Also called making and breaking Always begins with a known word Unlimited combinations Teaches students that they can take a word they know an get at the spelling of other words.

“ The significant question at any stage of progress is not how many items (letters, sounds, words) a child knows but rather what operations can he/she initiate and carry out and what kinds of operations has he/she neglected to use. Answers to these questions should guide the teacher.”

Early Writing Strategies Teach from student names. Use names to create sentences Show students how speech can be written down. Help them to solve words in different ways. Build up a bank of known words.

Expect beginning letter, then beginning and ending letter, then other highly sounded consonants Do the hard part for them. Always keep it easy. Praise their efforts!

Dictation: What can we learn? Directionality CAP UC/LC knowledge Sound/letter HF words Letter formation (reversals)

Looking at Results and Planning Share your dictation results What do your students control? What do they need to learn? How will you teach it?

Evaluation Please fill out the as your evaluation. It has been a pleasure. Don’t forget to sigh up for any handouts you want. It has been a pleasure sharing with your today. Debbie