Literacy Matters - Winter 2020

VOLUME 20 WINTER 2020

Matters The Journal of the Palmetto State Literacy Association

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Literacy

Matters

T he J ournal of the P almetto S tate L iteracy A ssociation

Volume 20, Winter 2020

Make It Matter Letter from the President by Vickie Brockman......................................................................................................................... VI Letter from the Editors by Lisa Aker and Koti Hubbard........................................................................................................ VI Authenticity Matters Building Motivation and Literacy Skills through Integrating Relevant Content — Area Texts by Miranda L. Sigmon.........................................................................................................................................................................7 Supporting Research-Evidenced Phonics Instruction with Authentic Children’s Literature by Elke Schneider............................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Writing Matters Bringing the World into a Literacy Focused Club: The Magical Books After-School Writing Project by Oluwaseun Oti-Aina.................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Using Writing as a Tool for Investigation and Instruction in the Elementary Science Classroom by Hayley Hoover............................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Research Matters Contributing to Literacy Through Home-School Communication by Kathy R. Fox, Marissa Hungate, & Jennifer Veltri............................................................................................................... 34 Teaching Matters Meeting the South Carolina College and Career Ready Standards with Culturally Responsive Academic Language Instruction by Lillian G. Reeves............................................................... 43 Literature Matters New Favorites! A Children’s Literature Review Column for Teachers by Dr. Jonda C. McNair, with Hannah Basha, Emily Brinson, Hannah Burris, Katie Colavecchia, Ellie Corbin, Elizabeth Craig, Betsy Davis, Emma Sue Gabriel, Grace McClain, Kendall Mercer, Caroline Mulligan, & Laura Kate Reid.......................................................................................................................................... 51 Commentary The Three Myths Surrounding Content Area Reading Instruction by Lisa Midcalf.................................................... 56

Editors Lisa D. Aker, Ph.D., Clemson University Koti L. Hubbard, Ph.D., Winthrop Universit y Editorial Review Board Susan Fernandez, Ph.D. Lander University Kathy Fox, Ph.D. University of North Carolina Wilmington Mihaela Gazioglu Clemson University Janie Riddle Goodman, Ph.D. University of South Carolina Kela Goodman, Ph.D. University of South Carolina Upstate Shawnna Helf, Ph.D. Winthrop University Emily Howell, Ph.D. Clemson University Elizabeth M. Hughes, Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University Sarah Hunt-Barron, Ph.D. University of South Carolina Upstate Jacquelynn Malloy, Ph.D.

PSLA Executive Board/Officers 2019-2020 President Susan Fernandez sfernandez@lander.edu

President-Elect Missy Lark

President-Elect Cathy Jones-Stork

Treasurer Eddie Marshall EddieMarshall@lcsd56.org

Corresponding Secretary Christine Corbett gillens@bcsdschools.net

Executive Secretary Judy Redman jredman@comporium.net

Clemson University Victoria Oglan, Ph.D. University of South Carolina

Membership Director Jean B. Brewington jbrewington@spartanburg3.org

Oluwaseun Oti-Aina Clemson University Rachel Ross, Ph.D.

University of Memphis Elke Schneider, Ph.D. Winthrop University Kelly Tracy, Ph.D. Western Carolina University Amy Vetter, Ph.D. University of North Carolina Greensboro

State Coordinator Pat Smith ptrcwsmith@aol.com

Immediate Past President Vickie Brockman brockmanv@live.com

Lindsay Yearta, Ph.D. Winthrop University

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS PSLA s Literacy Matters Classroom teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and researchers are invited to submit manuscripts to PSLA’s professional journal, Literacy Matters. Authors are requested to submit unpublished work not under consideration by any other publication. Types of Submissions: Literacy Matters welcomes practical, theoretical, and research articles, generally no more than 15 pages, related to all areas of literacy. Articles should be clearly written, purposeful, and discuss the topic in some depth where treatment of the topic is interesting, insightful, and based on the writers’ experience. Brief commentary pieces on teaching literacy are welcomed, as well as short teaching tips, teacher or student poetry, vignettes of classroom experiences, and student writing and/or artwork (with parental permission). Manuscript Form: Manuscripts should follow APA 6 style guidelines. Please be sure to include an abstract. As manuscripts are subject to blind review, content should not reveal author identities or affiliations. Full references for all citations should be Manuscripts should be typed in Microsoft Word and sent as an email attachment to ldaker@clemson.edu. When naming your file, please use simple, clear file names. Include a cover page giving the author(s)’ names, affiliation, complete mailing address, email address, and home and work telephone numbers. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed and edited for style, content, and space limitations by the editor. The Review Process: Manuscripts undergo a blind-review process, with at least two reviewers from the Editorial Review Board. Acceptance decisions are based on interest and relevance to PSLA membership, usefulness, clarity, timeliness, and cohesiveness. The overall balance of the journal’s content included, following APA guidelines. Submitting a Manuscript:

also influences editors’ selections. Manuscript Deadline: July 1, 2020

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Letter from the President South Carolina International Reading Association Becomes the Palmetto State Literacy Association

Vickie Brockman

Reading Matters Make it Matter Reading Matters Make it Matter

became Palmetto State Literacy Association in May 2019. With this change, some local councils have changed their names, and others have kept their current names. The PSLA Executive Committee believed it would be prudent also to change the name of our publications to reflect the organization's name. Reading Matters is now Literacy Matters . SCIRA Speaks is now PSLA Speaks .

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” As the South Carolina International Reading Association (SCIRA) moves forward becoming Palmetto State Literacy Association (PSLA), the Board of Directors hopes this Shakespearean quote applies to this organization. A few years ago, the International Reading Association (IRA) became the International Literacy Association (ILA). This change did not impact the work of the organization, only the way the organization does business with state associations. After two years of working through this change with the ILA, SCIRA officially

Vickie Brockman Immediate Past President

Letter from the Editors

Lisa D. Aker & Koti L. Hubbard

coach. She received her Ph.D. fromVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Lisa’s research focuses on teacher professional development, literacy coaching, early literacy intervention, and metacognition. Her research has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading in Virginia, Effective Practices in Online Teacher Preparation for Literacy Educators, and Best Practices for Literacy Leaders Key to School Improvement: 2nd Edition. Koti L. Hubbard is an early childhood education faculty member in the College of Education at Winthrop University. Prior to joining the faculty at Winthrop, Koti received her Ph.D. in Literacy, Language, and Culture from Clemson University. Koti has spent much of her career as a kindergarten teacher working in rural schools in South Carolina, which included those considered Title I. As a native of South Carolina and attendee of rural schools herself, she considers serving teachers and students in South Carolina an important endeavor. Her research primarily focuses on supporting and understanding young children’s engagement with and discussion of texts and the integration of children’s culture into classroom instruction. Koti’s recent publications include a book chapter on young children’s reading motivation and a manuscript on the use of picturebooks in social studies instruction. We are proud to serve you as the new editors. We hope that you enjoy this issue and if you have something that you would like to contribute please consider publishing your work in Literacy Matters.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to a new decade! Just as each new year brings a fresh start the SCIRA and Reading Matters are beginning a new chapter. It is with pleasure that we bring you the Winter 2020 issue of our journal under the new name Literacy Matters: The Journal of the Palmetto State Literacy Association. While we have updated our name to reflect the changes in practice and policy as well as our affiliation with the International Literacy Association we will still maintain our dedication to developing a journal for

Lisa D. Aker

educators and individuals who support literacy in South Carolina and surrounding states. Our current issue contains a variety of articles addressing current research, best practices, and teaching tips. In addition to updating our name Literacy Matters also has two new co-editors and we would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves. Lisa D. Aker is a literacy faculty member for the Clemson University College of Education. Lisa teaches face-to-face pre- service undergraduate courses in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She also teaches graduate courses in the Clemson University online Literacy M.Ed. Program. She is a former elementary classroom teacher, reading specialist, and literacy Koti L. Hubbard

We want to continue the tradition of the previous editors, Drs. Jacquelynn Malloy and Sarah Hunt-Barron, as we close our letter.

Be inspired and inspiring, Koti and Lisa

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Building Motivation and Literacy Skills through Integrating Relevant Content-Area Texts

Miranda L. Sigmon

new place and help them develop a better understanding of what makes their community/environment unique. This could be a shift in how teachers present reading activities as well so that we, as educators, present reading as a science teacher, would introduce a hands-on lab. Teachers must prepare for the text by building background knowledge, discussing vocabulary, and making predictions. As readers interact with the text, they will make observations and take notes of important ideas/events. As they finish reading, the reader must reflect on how our understanding of the concept being presented has developed or changed as a result of the ideas presented in the text. When viewing reading in this light, it requires a more active reader/learner stance Classroom examples of literacy integration. The first-grade example given by Afflerbach et al. (2013) demonstrated a teacher who consciously used positive language and focused on strengths and effort given to reading achievement to motivate a student. Questions used in reading lessons that are displayed in the article also demonstrate an approach to incorporating learning objectives within standards while also keeping students engaged in reading material with higher-level thinking. As teachers work to enhance reading skills through focusing on students’ perceptions of their readings as outlined in the article, it is clear that reading engagement and motivation will increase even if teachers’ lessons focus on skill development at the same time (Afflerbach et al., 2013). This balance between meeting standards while keeping students motivated in reading is crucial in elementary classrooms. In bringing together the ideas brought forth by Afflerbach et al. (2013) and Applegate and Applegate (2010), there is agreement that one main component in reading motivation and success is the expectation for students to engage in higher-level thinking while responding to texts. Another topic to consider in addressing state standards on historical events is the purpose of teaching such concepts and how they will be covered. Bellows and Bodle (2017) discussed the teaching of September 11th and how this historical event, along with others, should be evaluated for purposeful and meaningful learning outcomes as teachers plan. Bellows and Bodle (2017) note that ideological differences exist in materials focused on 9/11, and the historical narrative portraying this event in various children’s picture books have different purposes. Integrating literacy across all content areas is becoming an expectation. Nowell (2017) completed a qualitative study to determine teachers’ perceptions of integrating literacy and social studies teaching. In her research, the comments from various participants highlighted struggles and positive outcomes from literacy integration in the social studies

A current issue in elementary classrooms is going beyond what is required by standards to motivate students in an attempt to engage them in reading and improve literacy skills. With the annual end-of-year testing pressure placed on reading scores, much thought, professional development, and systematic instruction are geared toward increasing students’ reading test scores. During my years as an elementary teacher, I taught many literacy lessons based on standards as well as those incorporating student interests and other subject areas in hopes of engaging students and making reading fun. The use of the basal readers was expected during my literacy block; however, novel units were used sparingly and could also be utilized in subject area units. Looking back, I feel my students were much more engaged in the social studies units I planned when I incorporated adolescent chapter books to give a more personal account of a historical event. One novel unit my students enjoyed included reading Number the Stars by (Lowry, 1989) as part of our fifth grade WorldWar II study. When I used historical fiction in social studies units, students were able to get an elementary-age child’s account of daily life during WorldWar II. Incorporating historical fiction provided a more entertaining way of understanding the events in the social studies curriculum as well. On the other hand, opening the basal reader every week to read the next story listed in the curriculum-based pacing guide was not quite as exciting or anticipated by students. These experiences lead to the focus of this article, which is the importance of going beyond what is required by the standards and motivating students to engage in reading to improve literacy skills and find enjoyment in literature. One way to approach this is by integrating literacy instruction into content-area lessons. Literacy Influences in the Classroom Because both motivation and standards play essential roles within instruction, it is crucial that teachers find a balance among these classroom influences. State Standards The role of reading. Afflerbach, Cho, Kim, Crassas, and Doyle (2013) attach reading success to readers who are metacognitive, motivated, and engaged, developing epistemic beliefs, and have high self-efficacy. Students need to use higher-level thinking skills during reading activities and learn to “view reading as an opportunity to construct new knowledge” (p. 441). This complex view of reading encourages us to think of the practice of reading as an adventure allowing the reader to engage in an opportunity or experience; which they may not have participated in otherwise. For example, reading about a foreign land can teach the reader about a

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which suggests teachers incorporate complex comprehension reading activities instead of mundane reading tasks residing on the lower comprehension skills alone (Applegate & Applegate, 2010). The idea of students’motivation to read being impacted by their expected success also relates back to the previously mentioned research noting that those students who are “good” at reading are the ones who read more and read for enjoyment. Incorporating Authentic Tasks In continuing to consider ways of increasing student motivation to read, the authenticity of tasks must be considered. By using authentic tasks during literacy instruction, it is hoped that students place more value on the assignments because they will be able to see the relevance of the activity to daily life. In creating authentic tasks, teachers attempt to mirror real-life situations and provide students opportunities to apply the knowledge they are learning. Parsons andWard (2011) set up the standards for authentic tasks as those which not only are relevant to students’ lives but also work to enhance motivation and build academic vocabulary through parts of a lesson such as collaboration with other students. The idea of authentic tasks relating to students’ lives is related to the increasing value given to a specific task, which will increase a student’s motivation according to the expectancy-value theory described by Applegate and Applegate (2010) and others. Real-world Reading Materials Authentic reading materials are another necessary part of creating authentic lessons within the classroom. To help with realistic literacy encounters, teachers should utilize non-fiction along with fictional text within the classroom to teach literacy components easily implemented with the quickly increasing amount of non-fiction resources, including online literacies (Williams, 2009). Using resources such as newspapers, magazines, and web-based literacy is more real-life than using only a textbook to educate students about a concept. Higher-level reading strategies and skills were evident in the results of a study of tenth graders by Braten, Ferguson, Anmarkrud, and Stromso (2013) making it clear through a science lesson requiring students to read multiple conflicting sources about the same topic that advanced reading skills are imperative in acquiring new knowledge through text sources. In connecting this with South Carolina Social Studies Standards, students could be introduced to an almanac as they learn about farmers and their community. This could also be integrated with science lessons on plants. Another literacy integration idea could include reading or creating diagrams and instructional guides as students learn about inventors. Newspapers, magazines, digital literacies, and other real- world forms of literature should be incorporated within the classroom to teach students concepts in a more appropriate way. By increasing the number of authentic texts used in the classroom, hopefully, students’ perceived value of a lesson and skills used to be successful will increase motivation and create purposeful readers. Authentic or relevant tasks and materials are also part of culturally relevant pedagogy, which Nowell (2017) found as a topic of interest for all three teacher participants in

classroom. One teacher participant specifically noted the ability to cover content more deeply as a result of integrating instead of separately teaching language arts and social studies. This outcome again supports the ideas shared earlier from Afflerbach et al. (2013) and Applegate and Applegate (2010) about challenging our students to think critically instead of merely memorizing facts regarding historical events. Motivation Motivation related to literacy. Motivating students requires teachers to know their students on an individual level and use that personal knowledge when planning educational lessons. Increasing students’motivation to read has been the focus of many educational researchers. “Heavy reading is the best predictor of school success” (Miller, 2012, p. 89). Reading is essential in student success, including both the amount of reading and quality activities completed before, during, and after reading. The following paragraphs will give an overview of recent research relating motivation to reading success. According to Miller (2012), to develop reading proficiency, students need to read often. This is difficult for teachers because students who are “good” at reading enjoy reading and will often read and for pleasure. Students who do not like reading or feel they are “bad” at reading are reluctant to invest time in reading. This creates a problem for both students and teachers since increasing time spent reading appears to improve reading, yet those students with concerning literacy skills are generally those reluctant to read. Miller also encourages students to self-select books and read at any given opportunity. She worked to engage her students in learning through choice and dialogue, showing interest and continuing to help students progress in reading skills. Lastly, Miller states, “reviewing my district’s curriculum and state standards, I redesigned my instruction around the knowledge and skills students must learn, instead of teaching specific books” (Miller, 2012, p. 91). This shows an individualized planning approach to literacy instruction that accounts for instructional needs and students’ interests. Teachers must realize that using the same unit for years, does not mean they need to continue using that same material. An evaluation of materials should take place yearly, leading to modifications based on changing interests of incoming students along with state standards. Motivation related to students’ perception of success and value. Applegate and Applegate (2010) bring attention to the expectancy-value theory explaining that student motivation is dependent on expected success or failure related to a specific task and value placed on the task by the individual. Although studies show that motivation to read decreases with age, their study aimed to provide empirical data strengthening the relationship between motivation and complex comprehension tasks. Results of the study implied that higher-level thinking related to reading activities increased motivation in both genders; however, it did not have an effect on the decrease of motivation with age but may delay the rate of this decline. Their findings related to motivation increase were evident in their study showing increased motivation as a result of higher-level thinking,

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school was a reason to figure out what was so great about veterans and why we celebrate Veteran’s Day. I feel my students got a lot out of our small unit on Veteran’s Day, and I, along with my uncle, much enjoyed reading their hand-made cards. This approach, in my opinion, was much better than merely opening the textbook to a few assigned pages for the holiday to read and answer questions. By completing the multiple activities within this lesson, students are reading with a purpose, using comprehension skills to identify key concepts, answer questions, participate in a class discussion about a national holiday, apply knowledge learned through text in creating cards, and develop an understanding of the meaning and importance for that particular holiday. Students could also be assessed on conventions of standard English, vocabulary, and other skills incorporated in the reading comprehension questions and research project used in the lesson. Although this lesson was taught and aligned with first-grade standards, the premise of this type of lesson could be used across many grades. The lesson also meets the social studies standard for teaching the importance of national holidays. The social studies and science standards vary for each state and, therefore, may be labeled differently depending on location and curriculum. Traditions of the holiday within a given community, such as the parade mentioned earlier, would depend on the individual community. Lessons such as this would also take a lot of instructional time, which is not always available for content-area lessons. Despite limitations, teachers should make an effort to use the resources they have to incorporate authentic tasks within teaching the state standards. If literacy standards are being taught and assessed during the content- area lessons, part of the lessons may take place during the literacy block as well as the designated social studies time. It is important when integrating content to cover the standards for both content areas and not simply practice and assess literacy skills necessary for a content-area lesson without providing the direct instruction/modeling and scaffolding for students to become proficient in the literacy skill while focusing on content-area topics such as national holidays. When incorporating children’s literature into social studies lessons, it is also important to note this can be approached as a whole-class read-aloud activity in which the teacher reads a picture book or part of a chapter book aloud to the entire class to introduce a new concept or point of view without having a specified literacy standard to be taught and assessed. Children’s literature can be an asset in enhancing social studies lessons and providing multiple sources of information as well as accounts of events from different genres and perspectives. Regardless of whether teachers are systematically teaching literacy standards using the Gradual Release of Responsibilities Model (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) and being sure to model, practice, and asses both literacy skills and social studies content, the use of these texts to enrich students’ understanding of social studies content and be able to personally relate to events through reading same-age personal accounts is reason to include children’s literature in social studies lessons.

her study. She noted the teachers’ desire to seek out professional development opportunities to learn more about culturally relevant pedagogy to make curriculum decisions that were best for their students as they worked to meet the requirement of integrating literacy instruction during social studies lessons. As defined by Irvine (2010), “culturally relevant pedagogy has theoretical roots in the notion that learning is a socially mediated process and related to students’ cultural experiences” (p. 58). Irvine also stated that educators should incorporate this understanding of cultural differences as they plan instruction. One struggle with integrating children’s literature in the social studies classroom is finding materials at various reading levels to meet the needs of students. One way to address this problem is by implementing listening stations during social studies lessons or placing social studies reading material in the listening station during the literacy block. Listening stations and the complex skill of listening are addressed in Fisher and Frey’s (2019) article, which provides ideas for implementing a structured listening station in content-area lessons allowing students to listen and interpret informational recordings and complete comprehension activities to ensure active listening and understanding. Listening stations could also be an alternative for exposing students to literature in which teachers are not able to obtain class sets or literacy resources that are exemplary to the content, but not at the appropriate reading level for some or all students in the classroom. The unit overview below provides one example of a series of lessons in which student interests are considered as well as the expectation for meeting state standards. Example of an Authentic Lesson While teaching in the elementary classroom, I was expected to educate students about national holidays. As a national holiday would approach, my students and I would spend some time as a class reading about the background of that particular holiday, so students were aware of its importance. For Veteran’s Day one year, my students made cards for my uncle who served in the Vietnam War. Before writing, students had to learn about Veterans and what that term meant. Students also needed to understand the sacrifices and bravery of veterans so they could appreciate and understand why there is a national holiday to honor those men and women. Reading the few pages in our social studies book gave a brief overview but was impersonal and hard for some of my struggling readers. Knowing this would be the case, I had already planned to utilize the supplemental reading materials subscribed to by my school, along with finding things from online resource websites I had subscribed to as a teacher. With the social studies textbook, a magazine type article, a comprehension story with questions, and an online project outline with web resources prepared, my students were ready to learn about Veteran’s Day. From the start, students knew they would be out of school for Veterans’ Day, there would be a Veteran’s Day parade near the Veterans Administration hospital in town, and they were going to prepare cards for my uncle. Learning that this holiday impacted people in our community and their interest was important enough to be out of

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Children’s Books Based in South Carolina As this publication is based on South Carolina, I wanted to address some specific books that focus on historical events related to the South Carolina SCCCRS. This is a brief list of children’s books based in South Carolina. There are many children’s novels that focus on providing a personalized account of various historical events. When integrating events such as WorldWar II, I choose novels that were set in Europe to use with

my fifth-grade students. When covering social studies, topics such as community and state books taking place within the state can be helpful in providing more individualized accounts and illustrations relevant to our South Carolina students.

TABLE 1: Children’s books based in South Carolina

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TITLE

AUTHOR

PUB DATE BOOK TYPE

TOPIC

Melinda Long

2010

Picture Book General Characteristics of SC

12 Days of Christmas in South Carolina

Alan Schroeder

1995

Picture Book

WWII

Carolina Shout

Carole Boston Weatherford

2006 2005

Picture Book Picture Book

Segregation

Champions on the Bench

Kate Salley Palmer

Revolutionary War

Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox

Anne Rockwell

2013 2005 2002 2005 2004

Picture Book Picture Book

Segregation Segregation

Hey, Charleston!

Margot Theis Raven

Let Them Play

Carol Crane

Picture Book General Characteristics of SC Picture Book General Characteristics of SC

P is for Palmetto

Kate Salley Palmer

Palmetto: Symbol of Courage The Story of the H.L. Hunley and Queenie’s Coin

Fran Hawk

Picture Book

Civil War

Jacqueline Woodson

2016 1997

Novel Novel

Segregation Segregation

Brown Girl Dreaming

Joyce Hansen

I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, A Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina

Elise Weston

2009 2008 1999

Novel Novel Novel

WWII

The Coastwatcher

Walter Dean Myers

Segregation Segregation

The Glory Field

Anna Myers

The Keeping Room

Conclusion

learning goals for a given academic year; however, the individual students that comprise a classroom must guide how those standards are taught. This approach to planning lessons aims to create purposeful and engaged readers while helping students meet literacy standards. Utilizing children’s literature to address social studies content also seeks to provide students with multiple sources of information about the same topic as well as providing varying perspectives and genres about a single topic. Using multiple literature sources within the social studies classroom can allow for more in-depth analysis and understanding of content if materials and content are intentionally chosen and implemented.

As explained at the beginning of this article, motivation to read is crucial to students at the elementary level, especially since reading motivation is proven to decrease with age. By creating lessons that are relevant to students’ lives and incorporating their interests, teachers can increase motivation through the ideas outlined in the expectancy-value theory. Teachers must work to engage students by increasing motivation while also covering state standards within their curriculum. I have purposefully included examples from my teaching career, including first and fifth grade, to demonstrate the ability to utilize authentic tasks through the elementary grades. Standards create an outline of

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References

Afflerbach, P., Cho, B., Kim, J., Crassas, M., & Doyle, B. (2013). Reading: What else matters, besides strategies and skills? Reading Teacher, 66 (6), 440-448.

Miller, D. (2012). Creating a classroom where readers flourish. Reading Teacher, 66 (2), 88-92.

Applegate, A. J., & DeKonty Applegate, M. (2010). A study of thoughtful literacy and the motivation to read. Reading Teacher, 64 (4), 226-234.

Nowell, S. D. (2017).“It’s about the why”: Social studies teachers’perceptions and pedagogy of common core literacy integration. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 41 (1), 63-73.

Bellows, E., & Bodle, A. (2017). Curricular messages: How state standards and children’s books narrate 9/11. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 41 (3), 207- 216. Braten, I., Ferguson, L., Anmarkrud, O., & Stromso, H. (2013). Prediction of learning and comprehension when adolescents read multiple texts: The roles of word-level processing, strategic approach, and reading motivation. Reading and Writing , 26 (3), 321-348.

Parsons, S. A., &Ward, A. E. (2011). The case for authentic tasks in content literacy. Reading Teacher, 64 (6), 462-465.

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Pearson, P.D., & Gallagher, M.C. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8 (3), 317-344. Williams, T. (2009). A framework for nonfiction in the elementary grades. Literacy Research and Instruction , 48 (3), 247-263.  Miranda Sigmon is an assistant professor at Winthrop University. Her research interests include motivation related to literacy and connections among literacy components.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2019). Listening stations in content area learning. Reading Teacher, 72 (6), 769-776.

Irvine, J.J, (2010). Culturally relevant pedagogy. Education Digest, 75 (8), 57-61.

Lowry, L. (1989). Number the stars . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

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Supporting Research–evidenced Phonics Instruction with Authentic Children’s Literature

By Elke Schneider

Such a multisensory, carefully structured and explicit approach, also referred to as multisensory structured, metacognitive language instruction is particularly important because English, as opposed to German, Greek or Finnish, is an opaque language with multiple spelling and pronunciation variations for a given letter pattern or pronunciation (Trask, 1999). For instance, the long vowel A has up to nine different spellings as indicated in the underlined letter patterns in the sentence Vacation came on a rainy day and eight reindeer did not obey and took a break to stretch and rest their vertebrae. Also, the consonant cluster {ch} has three different pronunciations represented in the sentence “ What a cheap chemistry machine!” Over 80 years of research provides evidence for the effectiveness of multisensory structured, metacognitive language instruction of English to native speakers of English. Since the mid-1980s a consistent body of research also documents the effectiveness of multisensory structured phonics instruction to nonnative speakers of English in foreign or second language learning contexts (Kormos, 2017; Schneider & Crombie, 2003; Schneider & Evers, 2009). This is an essential fact because South Carolina is considered one of the top five states with the fastest increase of English as a second language learners and the nation’s highest increase of English language learners in public schools between 1997 and 2008 (Ruiz Soto, Hooker, & Batalova, 2015). However, in spite of such research-evidenced resources, national and South Carolina data on grade level reading performances call for a more in-depth approach to teaching the complexities of English phonics to native and non-native speakers of English so they can become self-motivated, effective readers. Nationally, 32% of 4th graders still read below grade level and South Carolina ranks 44th out of 54 in students’ grade level reading skills (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2017). Additionally, South Carolina’s recent acceptance of Multi-tiered Support Services (MTSS) for struggling learners in Act 213 (SCDE, 2019) places increased responsibilities on elementary school teachers to routinely implement more differentiated, research- evidenced, explicit, multisensory, structured literacy instruction and intervention in large or small group settings than in the past. In response to research that documents teachers’ needs for more explicit and diversified support to be able to provide effective literacy instruction beyond the use of commercial materials (Brady, 2011; Joshi et al., 2009, Lyon &Wiser, 2009) and encouraged by recent informal, personal conversations with over forty elementary school teachers in the upper region of South Carolina (personal conversations between 8/15/18-4/30/19), who expressed independently and unprompted that they would welcome assistance in how to more explicitly link commercial phonics instruction with the English language arts requirement

ABSTRACT — Currently, elementary schools in South Carolina commonly implement a variety of commercial reading and phonics programs to ensure research-evidenced, initial literacy skills acquisition. In order to provide teachers with transitory practices to reinforce phonics concepts while also directly engaging students with authentic literature different from commercially available leveled readers, this article introduces a time-effective, phonics analysis approach for authentic children’s literature that allows them to infuse authentic, age-and-reading- skill-appropriate literature into daily literacy practices directly related to identified phonics concepts that are initially covered in commercial phonics programs. Field-tested, pre-reading, during-reading and post-reading activities are presented for this purpose that are based on research-evidenced multisensory structured metacognitive language learning principles. Introduction The 2015 South Carolina College and Career Standards clearly highlight the need for explicit, phonics skills instruction in K-5 ELA standards as an essential prerequisite for students to be able to engage in reading and discussion of authentic literature sources of narrative, non-fiction and poetry nature as soon as possible (SCDE, 2015). To achieve this goal, school districts in South Carolina commonly use commercially available leveled reader programs (i.e., Fountas & Pinnell, 2015) that offer fiction and nonfiction leveled reading materials and instructional support resources to assist elementary school teachers in helping students become successful readers from the start. Significantly struggling readers often receive additional specialized support through commercially supported multisensory structured phonics programs such as Reading Recovery (Clay, 1993), the S.P.I.R.E Reading Intervention Program (Clark-Edmands, 2005), Project Read (Greene & Enfield & 2011), Lindamood-Bell (Bell, 2013), Orton-Gillingham (Gillingham & Stillman, 1968), or the Wilson Reading System and Early Intervention Program , a specific classroom focused version of the Orton- Gillingham approach (Wilson Language Training Cooperation, 2002). These programs share the philosophy that the highly complex reading and spelling challenges of English must be made explicit to learners from the start with many age-appropriate, explicit, multisensory reading and spelling strategies and learning activities that are carefully sequenced from less to more complex concepts, and that include repeated practice opportunities with increasingly challenging tasks. The programs also emphasize the fact that students are to learn and understand any existing reasons for why a certain spelling or pronunciation is used in a word so students have the metacognitive tools to effectively self-check and self- correct reading or spelling challenges (Birsh & Carraker, 2018; Bitter &White, 2011; Henry & Hook, 2006; McIntyre & Pickering, 2003).

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10-20-minute time periods are available for reading practice with authentic materials, the author suggests passages frommagazines or articles, poems, or picture books. Longer authentic sources such as magazine articles or chapters may need to be limited to a certain number of paragraphs. When teachers and grade level teams have identified which pieces of ACL they would like to use, divide up the sources for phonics component analyses (see Figure 1) and then keep all collected analyses in an electronic file accessible to all teachers at any time. First an overview of phonics concepts that can be recorded is presented next. Phonics Concepts to Identify in Authentic Literature Before introducing the analysis tool to identify 2-3 relevant phonics components in an authentic piece of children’s literature, it is important to have a basic idea for what kinds of essential concepts are needed. The following are part of the K-5 South Carolina College and Career Standards (SCDE, 2015). Phonics concepts to look for in authentic literature are 1. Single vowel concepts in words with a, e, i, o, or u in either short, long or muffled schwaed pronunciations when the vowel is in an unaccented syllable. 2. Vowel teams that consist of two or more letters and make a vowelish sound. These teams can be vowels only such as {oo} as in boot and book, or {ai} as in rain . They can also consist of vowels and consonants such as {eigh} in weight or {igh} in highlight . Most commonly they appear with {y} as in day or joy and {w} as in jaw or snowplow. 3. Consonant concepts that include single consonants with one pronunciation only such as {t} in tag, {p} in pink or with multiple pronunciations with relevant rules such as {c} with a hard pronunciation as in cap or a soft pronunciation as /s/ in city when followed by e, i, or y. 4. Consonant clusters that include blends such as {th} with a voiced pronunciation as in weather or with an unvoiced pronunciation as in thin. They also include di- or trigraphs in initial or final syllable positions such as fly or string or dust or camp. Common clusters with silent letters are also part of this group such as {kn} in knock or kneel, {wr} in wrist or wrap or {wh} as in white or which. 5. Irregular words that do not follow any reading or spelling rules of English are also referred to as ‘non-phonetic’ or ‘red’words and require specific automaticity practices for pronunciation and spelling. They can be high frequency words such build or doesn’t as or less frequent, content- specific words such as soldier or ocean. ( Birsh & Carraker, 2018). 6. Syllable types that allow learners to identify any of seven types of syllables in mono-and multi-syllable words provide the foundation for successful independent, self-reliant reading starting in kindergarten, is a South Carolina College and Career Standard (SCDE, 2015). Syllable types are: 1) single

of using authentic literature of different genres (SCDE, 2015), the author presents a strategy for teachers to quickly identify relevant phonics components in an authentic piece of children’s literature. A variety of pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities are shared to deepen students’ efferent experiences with phonics components by reading, discussing and writing about authentic literature while at the same time reinforcing phonics components explicitly that initially are addressed in commercially used programs. Such an approach is also supported by research (Brady, 2011; Cunningham, 2007; Roberts & Meiring, 2006; Spencer, Goldstein, & Kaminski, 2012). All strategies are author- tested over several decades with many award-winning books. Selecting Authentic Children’s Literature In the context of this article, authentic children’s literature (ACL) is defined as reading sources for school-aged audiences K through grade 5 that have not been explicitly composed for explicit phonics practices. They have been written in uncontrolled, original language by authors as fiction, non-fiction narrative and expository texts or poetry with topics in mind that are relevant to younger readers, expand their human experience, and foster intrinsic interest in reading for enjoyment and information (Lynch- Brown & Tomlinson, 2005). That said, readers who work with older age groups who may be at lower Kindergarten through grade 5 reading levels or who work with students at higher reading levels can implement the following shared strategies with ACL relevant to their age and reading skill groups. Infusing ACL to strengthen students’ phonics skills bears several benefits: (1) history, social studies, and science topics as well as culture-sensitive topics can be reinforced by using books, newspaper articles, or magazine passages, while also reinforcing phonics concepts; (2) classic book award winners for different genres and topics such as Caldecott Award winners for best picture books, Bachelder Award winners for literature from other countries translated into English, the Pura Belpr é Award winners for best Latino-culture based books, or Children’s Literature Legacy Award winners for American authors who have made significant contributions to children’s literature over a period of time can easily be integrated into practices that strengthen students’ phonics skills while giving students the experience of reading ‘real books’ by ‘real authors’ that use structures and vocabulary that are unique to specific genre (Serafini, 2011; Shanahan, Fisher & Frey, 2012) The selection of relevant, appropriate, culture-sensitive, authentic reading resources depends on factors such as curriculum requirements for genres and content to be read about and learned, students’ reading abilities, time available for reading practice, and the availability of reading sources in electronic or 3D formats. Since elementary school teachers usually have the benefit of teaching all content areas to their class, they know a) which concepts are currently and were recently addressed in the commercial phonics program and b) which other content area topics are relevant simultaneously. This allows them to select relevant content and literacy-related reading sources. If only

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mistake or misplace, c) dis- as in dislike or disagree, or d) re- as in reread or replace. Among common suffixes in early grade reading materials are a) -ful as in joyful or harmful, b) -ment as in employment or basement, or c) -able as in breakable or useable. Specifics of any of these basic nine areas of phonics concepts can be subject to a screening for samples in an authentic text and subsequently the focus of pre, during, and post reading practices. Next, the analysis chart and its implementation are introduced. Analysis Tool to Identify Relevant Phonics Concepts in Literature Figure 1 shows the phonics concept analysis chart designed by the author to identify 2-3 relevant phonics patterns that appear at least five times in the selected reading source to allow for repeated exposure to a phonics concept. However, the number of minimum appearance of a phonics pattern may vary depending on howmany words are in a literature source overall. Kindergarten readings or poems may be so short that only 3-5 representations of a specific phonics pattern can be found. Additionally 2-3 differently looking and sounding irregular words can be recorded and taught in the context of the authentic piece of literature. Since teachers are always under time pressure, it is advised to set a reasonable 10-15-minute time limit for such a search even if the authentic reading source contains more examples. The author completed the following example in this time frame. To demonstrate how content area topics can link with ACL, a common history and cultural topic with expressive imagery was chosen.

vowels in open syllables as in she or ta.ble , 2) single vowels in closed syllables as in shed or win.ter , 3) single vowels with silent E at the end as in came or a.lone , 4) single vowels controlled by letter R as in shirt or re.turn , 5) single vowels muffled and unidentifiable in unaccented syllables as in wood.en or a.go , 6) Vowel teams as in train or bright , and 7) Consonant-le patterns in words such as ca.ble or noo.dle . 7. Word division rules that guide learners how to divide multi- syllable words into syllables to read one at a time and then blend all together into the complete word contain six subtypes: (1) dividing syllables with even numbers of consonants (C) between vowels (V) such as (VC.CV) as in den.tist or in.vent, (2) dividing syllables with an uneven number of consonants between vowels (V.CV) as in mu.sic, la.zy or ro.ta.tion, or as (VC.V) as in bas.ket or cas.cade; (3) dividing syllables between vowels in words of Greek/Latin decent as in the.ater, or muse. um; (4) dividing compound words between its components as in house.hold or day.dream, (5) dividing syllables between prefix, root or suffix components as in in.dent.ing, and lastly dividing a word that contains a consonant-le pattern so that that part always remains undivided as in puz.zle or tem.ple. 8. Spelling Rules most relevant for elementary English Language Arts instruction are (1) the FLOSS Rule according to which only {f}, {l}, {s} and sometimes {z} are doubled after a single short vowel in words such as cliff or ex.press ; (2) the Change {y} to {i} Rule according to which a single {y} in a final syllable only remains in the base word if the suffix begins with an {i} as in fly.ing. If the

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suffix does not begin with an {i}, {y} leaves the base word and letter {i} steps in for it as in cry vs. cried; (3) the 1-2-3 Consonant Doubling Rule when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added to a one-syllable base word that carries a single short vowel as in run/runs vs . runner/ running; (4) keeping or dropping final silent E when a suffix is added as in insane. ly vs. lik(e)ing; (5) Single short vowel signals that only allow a single short vowel in front of them such as {-ck} as in stick or back.pack, {-dge} as in bridge or lodge, {-vowel + ng} as in bring.ing or lungs, and {-vowel + nk} as in think or flunk; (6) Special jobs of final silent E such as a) keeping the single vowel long as in wave, b) keeping {g} soft in stage, purge or oblige, c) keeping {c} soft in rice or peace, and d) signaling that {s) is part of the root of a word and not a plural as in nurse or please.

A. Background information: ACL reference

Theis Raven, M. (2002). Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot. A true story of the Berlin Airlift that dropped from the sky. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press.

Grades:

3-5

Reading level

Lexile: 850L; Guided Reading S; DRA: 40

Topics

European History: Berlin 1948 during Russian blockade and implementation of American Marshall Plan to drop food packages for citizens of Berlin. True event; Other themes: importance of writing, perseverance, compassion, hope, poverty, German- American cultural differences and similarities

B. Phonics content: Phonics concepts

Examples

Concept 1: Silent E- or Magic E

a-e: block.ade, came, late, made, make, planes, take i-e: in.side, nice, nine, like, life, prize, time, white, write o-e: close(d), home, hopefully, whole One syllable: and, as, at, back, hand, had, lamp, last, sad, that Multi-syllable: af.ter, be.gan, can.dy, can.not, cap ture, hap.py, land.ing, shad.ow, trans.late One syllable: cloud, house, ground, loud, out, rounds, sound Common ones: building, busy, canal, chocolate, handkerchiefs Also Tier 3 words: airlift, soldier, engine, bombs, colonel

Concept 2: Short A

Concept 3: ou (‘out’sound)

9. Inflections/Affixes: South Carolina College and Career Standards (SCDE, 2015) include the explicit instruction of common prefixes and suffixes that are also referred to as inflections. While not specified explicitly, common affixes to look for in authentic reading materials as early as first grade are prefixes such as a) un- as in unsafe or unknown, b) mis- as in

Irregular words (select 2 different looking and sounding ones) Unique feature s (i.e., homonyms, idioms, contractions, tier 2 or 3 vocabulary, proper nouns)

Tier 3 vocabulary: airlift, bomb, soldier, Foreign words: Frau, Tempelhof, Berlin Proper nouns: Russian, Raisinbombers, Gail Halvorsen, Mercedes, Simon

Figure 1 Completed Phonics Analysis Chart

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