Literacy Journal Response

Brown (Electronic reserve): This article examines the role of text in literacy instruction. Consider the optimal learning model (Routman) as you read about Barbara and Linda's efforts to teach students Travis, Shamika, and Patrick. What connections can you make between these teachers? instruction (and use of texts) and Routman's model? What connections can you make between these teacher/student experiences and observations or interactions in your field placement?

When reading Kathleen Brown’s article of “What kind of text – for whom and when?: Textual scaffolding for beginning readers,” I was pleasantly surprised to read about D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read). At my elementary school in the midwest, I remember our daily D.E.A.R. times which were S.S.R. (Silent Sustained Reading) times at my school in the west coast.

As Linda and Barbara described their efforts to teach students Travis, Shamika, and Patrick, I observed similarities in Routman’s model with these reading teachers’ experiences. Routman’s model of optimal learning begins with demonstration by the teacher, to shared demonstration of the student, to guided practice, and independent practice. This model can be seen through what Brown describes “the use of text as scaffolding” (Brown, p. 293). Textual scaffolding begins with simple and predictable texts for helping children develop print awareness. This can be the first step in Routman’s model, where the teacher demonstrates her/his own awareness of print by a read aloud demonstration. The second step and third step in Routman’s model can be seen by combining both skill and confidence to produce shared demonstration and guided practice. For example, transitional and decodable text becomes more appropriate once the reader gains more skills in letter recognition and the alphabet. In addition, the student also becomes more confident in their reading competency and has an emerging independence, thereby the teacher is able to reduce textual scaffolding. This would then lead to the last transition in Routman’s model of independent practice, at which point, the student would be reading “Easy Readers” or “Just Right Books” to support their reading comprehension, fluency, and independence.

In the article, the students, Travis, Shamika, and Patrick are all at different reading development levels. However, what I found to be quite interesting was that both Linda and Barbara “read authentic literature or non-fiction aloud everyday (to the students)” (Brown, p. 304). I have seen this choice in reading materials demonstrated in my school also. I find that the elementary students do appreciate learning from these materials, because they can relate to the themes and characters in the book. After read alouds, these books have generated many discussions about the how, what, and why that children love to question. However, what I have learned thus far is that good reading development requires appropriate books and a purposeful teaching model for students to be successful.