Reading Matters Winter 2019

students delivered short oratorical speeches that they had written with their teachers’ help, and students used the author’s chair format to read stories they had written (DeFauw, 2016). The primary-aged students role-played a story as it was being narrated, recited poems they had practiced, and read short stories they had collectively written (Poling & Hupp, 2009). The focus of these events was often on students’ use of literacy because the administrators and teachers wanted to emphasize to parents that with lots of practice, students could become proficient readers, writers, and speakers. At the end of each event, the principal or a designee would stress to parents how practicing reading and writing at home could reinforce what students had learned at school. Idea #2: Teach parents about literacy strategies Home literacy is another important component in working with students living in rural poverty. The home environment affects a child’s language development and his emergent literacy knowledge (Goswami, Neuman, & Dickinson, 2001). Because of the necessity of parental involvement in student reading success, studies emerged that give instruction as to what strategies produce the most effective results. Tichnor-Wagner, Garwood, Bratsch-Hines, and Vernon-Feagans (2015) include the literacy activities of shared book reading, supporting the child’s reading, helping with homework, accessing literacy materials, and visiting the library as essential activities for literacy development. Roberts, Jurgens, and Burchinal (2005) consider shared book reading, maternal book reading, sensitivity and responsiveness as essential to literacy development. Teachers can teach parents about the effectiveness of these strategies through means such as one-on-one conferences, in-home visits, phone calls home, and written communication. Shared book reading is an activity that has received much attention in home literacy studies. During this interaction, parents talk about the pictures and engage their children in the conversation, read the words aloud and encourage their children to join in the reading of the words they know. A relationship exists between shared book reading interactions and children’s later language and literacy skills. Preschool children from low- income families experience fewer instances of parent-child book reading (Roberts, Jurgens, & Burchinal, 2005). Parents reading to their children is important in fostering an interest in reading and developing a love of learning. In addition, Tichnor-Wagner’s et al., (2015) study found that reading to the child promoted skills of letter identification, decoding, and comprehension. Another home literacy activity closely related to shared book reading is supporting the child in learning to read. This often becomes an extension of oral reading as the child gains more knowledge regarding sounds and develops phonemic awareness. This activity can take on many forms and includes:

3. Noting rhyming words

4. Saying and blending sounds together to read new words

5. Removing letters in words and saying the new word with the missing sound

Reading Matters Place Matters

6. Substituting one letter for another and reading newly created words where letters have been changed. (Roberts, Jurgens, & Burchinal, 2005). Combining these strategies leads to predicted word reading and early literacy skills in kindergarten and first grade (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2015). A less direct way for parents in rural poverty to help their child with reading is to assist in their child’s homework (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2015). Simply checking whether the homework is completed is not enough and becoming “over- involved” by giving the child answers or completing the assignments is detrimental. A combination of engaging in the homework structure, organizing the work environment, and helping to develop strategies and study skills will facilitate a productive environment (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2015). The teacher can develop a detailed study guide with explicit instructions on what is to be completed. This action helps the parent understand good study habits and procedures (Reglin, 2002). In their research, Tichnor-Wagner et al., (2015) found homework help to be the literary activity most often completed. However, their studies did not show any significant differences with reading achievement and homework help. Reglin (2002) argues that to increase parent involvement, teachers must send written information home about homework assignments and tests. This information needs to be specific and detailed so the parent is confident in what needs to be accomplished. Thus, effective homework guidance provided by teachers is necessary to aid parents as they support their children which indirectly lead to academic achievement. Providing children with an opportunity to access literacy materials is a necessary focus. Access can mean the teacher sending books home. Students take the “book bag” home and share the books through oral reading or individual use. The use of school books becomes important to lower socio-economic students who often have very few books available in their home. Access may also imply making library trips. These trips are especially problematic as rural families may live many miles from a library. Because the number of books in a home has been correlated with literacy development in young children, all means of acquiring books to read remain critical in achieving productive home literacy habits (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2015).

Idea #3: Go to parents’ homes to help them experience literacy

1. Identifying letters

In conjunction with home literacy strategies, the idea of teachers making rural home visits has become an essential component to best teaching practices. Overall the research

2. Practicing the sounds that each letter makes

Reading Matters | Volume 19 Winter 2019 | scira.org | 21

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