Free Phonics Stuff (Phree Fonics Stuph?)

A mother is doing her marketing with her 5-year-old in tow. She stops by the magazine rack and sees some children's workbooks aimed at teaching phonics. She pages through one of them and drops it into the grocery cart.

This kind of scene plays out daily across America. Mothers want their kids to do well in school, and in grade 1 being able to read is "doing well." (It is no accident that so many grocery stores, drug stores, etc. sell such workbooks.)

Such materials help kids to see the match between letters and sounds and a lot of kids like "playing school." I'd be hard pressed to say that those workbooks teach reading, but they do help give kids some purchase on letters and sounds.

And then there are ABC refrigerator magnets, letter blocks, posters, Sesame Street, and these days, various electronic games and activities -- the best equipped preschoolers wouldn't be caught dead without their PDA, Blackberry, or I-Phone these days.

Some of my colleagues discourage parents from buying such materials. I don't. Kids often find them to be kind of fun, and I don't think they do any harm. In fact, I think they help kids to learn some things that need to learn if they are going to be readers and the more opportunities kids get to learn these things the better.

Which brings me to some new digital materials that parents can use in helping their children to learn to decode--that is to sound out words. The site is called Reading Bear and it is free to anyone who wants to use it.

It has some pretty good features. Probably the best is that it sounds words out for the children, showing them graphically how the sounds match the letters (try to do that with a workbook). There are lots of electronic flashcards, activities, and quizzes, and the particular exercises change items a lot which can help keep kids interested.

While I don't think this program will teach your child to read, I think it could help.

Cyndie Shanahan on Disciplinary Literacy

Cyndie and I published an article about disciplinary literacy in December: Analysis of Expert Readers in Three Disciplines: History, Mathematics, and Chemistry. This is the study in which we had historians, mathematicians, and chemists doing think alouds while they read, and from this we were able to compare how these experts from different disciplines read.

Upon the publication of the study, Cyndie was interviewed about this work and that interview is available to you through the Voice of Literacy, a site I have lauded before in this space. I thought she did great and that you might find this information to be useful. Here is the link. Enjoy.

http://voiceofliteracy.missouri.edu/view.php?id=552&type=summary&title=Cynthia+Shanahan+Interview&cast_date=November+7%2C+2011&pageBefore=archive

Disciplinary Literacy is NOT the New Name for Content Area Reading

Recently, Cyndie and I published a study on disciplinary literacy in the Journal of Literacy Research (Shanahan, C. Shanahan, T., & Misichia, 2011). In the study we report on our efforts to identify the special nature of literacy in three disciplines. We looked specifically at history, science (chemistry), and mathematics.

The study was based on the theory that it would be useful to account for such information when teaching students to read. The idea is that if students were taught to read history in a way that corresponds to how historians read they'd be better equipped to handle such materials. Obviously the first step in that journey is to identify those disciplinary differences, and our work was in that vein.

Which raises an important point: Disciplinary literacy is distinct from "content area" reading. Disciplinary literacy is more aimed at what we teach (which would include how to read and use information like a scientist), than how we teach (such as how can students read the history book well enough to pass the test). The idea of disciplinary literacy is that students not only have to learn the essential content of a field, but how reading and writing are used in that field. On the other hand, content area reading focuses on imparting reading and study skills that may help students to better understand and remember whatever they read.

Accordingly, a disciplinary literacy teacher may try to get students to engage in author-centered readings or sourcing (in which students try to identify an author's argument, perspective, evidence)--since that is what historians do when they read; while a content area literacy teacher would push for students to use Cornell notes or KWL, since such techniques can help readers to remember more information from a history text. Disciplinary literacy strives to get students to participate--albeit at a low level--in the reading and discourse of a particular discipline, while content area literacy strives to get students to read and study like good students.

I know some reading experts who think disciplinary literacy is nuts. Their argument is that kids are not scientists, mathematicians, or historians; they are students. Thus, the agenda of content area reading (to teach students explicitly how to study and learn information well) is an appropriate one and that teachers and students should focus on content area reading.

Our counter argument is that the development of general reading skills is not an good goal for content area classes at a high school, and that not many teachers are willing to aim for such goals and procedures given that these do not come from their discipline. Identity is very important to human beings. A teacher striving to be a math teacher is dedicated to math goals and is interested in hanging with math teachers. Using instructional methods that bind them closely to the math community (as opposed to the reading community) would be attractive.

We also recognize that content area reading instruction tends to help the bottom kids only. We think this discourages teachers from adopting content area reading. We suspect that reading procedures more in line with the mores of a discipline may be helpful to even better students.

I think the argument between those who are proponents of disciplinary literacy and content literacy are valuable. But the confusion between the two concepts is unfortunate (too many educators think that disciplinary literacy is just a new name for content area reading) It can prevent teachers from understanding what the choices really are.

Parent Involvement

A friend of mine, Alfred Tatum, and some of our graduate students at the University of Illinois at Chicago developed a guide to encourage parent involvement in their children's learning (supported by Tavis Smiley). They gave me permission to post a copy of it for your use on my blog. One of the best parts of this guide is that it supports parent involvement not just in the early grades, but through high school. That is absolutely correct! Parents can play a specific and direct role in their children's learning. I hope you find it useful.

https://sites.google.com/site/shanahanstuff/parent-information

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (Please)

Last year at this time, I published an entry encouraging charitable donations to organizations that give books to children. It seemed to have been a popular blog and so I'm republishing the list of organizations that do that. This information was drawn from Charity Navigator and I limited the list to organizations that support literacy, particularly for poor children. The organizations that I selected all spend more than 80% of their funding on their programming, and provide books or services on more than a local basis (there are many terrific local organizations, too). Any organization on this list would be thrilled to have your help. This year saw big cuts in federal support for these kinds of efforts, so this is a particularly needy time in the book providing world.

Disclosure: I am on the board of directors of Reach Out and Read, and I regularly support them through my own charitable giving. Of course, I think they are the best choice (wink, wink). Honestly, each of these programs takes a somewhat different approach to how they get books into kids hands, and they all could use your help. Please be generous.

Reach Out and Read
http://www.reachoutandread.org
Founded in 1989, Reach Out and Read prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read's evidence-based model into regular pediatric checkups, by advising parents about the importance of reading aloud and giving developmentally-appropriate books to children. The program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Families served by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills, better prepared to achieve their potential. Currently, more than 27,000 doctors and nurse practitioners at 4,600 hospitals, health centers, and clinics participate in Reach Out and Read, serving nearly 4 million children and families nationwide.

Reading is Fundamental
http://www.rif.org
Founded in 1966, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. RIF's highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age eight. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year. All RIF programs combine three essential elements to foster children's literacy: reading motivation, family and community involvement, and the excitement of choosing free books to keep.

Books for Africa
http://www.booksforafrica.org
Founded in 1988, Books for Africa (BFA) collects, sorts, ships, and distributes books to children in Africa. Our goal is to end the book famine in Africa. Books donated by publishers, schools, libraries, individuals, and organizations are sorted and packed by volunteers who carefully choose books that are age and subject appropriate. We send good books, enough books for a whole class to use. Since 1988, Books For Africa has shipped more than 20 million books to 45 African countries. They are on once-empty library shelves, in classrooms in rural schools, and in the hands of children who have never before held a book. Each book will be read over and over again. When the books arrive, they go to those who need them most: children who are hungry to read, hungry to learn, hungry to explore the world in ways that only books make possible.

Jumpstart
http://www.jstart.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WhoWeAre_Home
Jumpstart is a national early education organization that works toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Through extraordinary attention in yearlong one-to-one relationships, Jumpstart inspires children to learn, adults to teach, families to get involved, and communities to progress together. Headquartered in Boston, Jumpstart pairs 4,000 trained adults one-to-one with preschool children in need of assistance. During the 2008-2009 program year, Jumpstart is serving 15,000 children across 20 states and the District of Columbia in partnership with more than 300 early learning centers and 74 universities and colleges throughout the country.

First Book
http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CCA8/First_Book_Homepage.htm
Founded in 1992, First Book provides new books to children in need addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy - access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 65 million free and low cost books to disadvantaged children and the programs that serve them through an extensive volunteer network of Advisory Boards, First Book National Book Bank large-scale book distributions, and the First Book Marketplace offering high-quality titles at reduced cost. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada.

Reading Excellence and Discovery Foundation
http://http://www.readalliance.org/
Reading Excellence and Discovery Foundation (DBA Read Alliance) serves at-risk kindergarten and first graders by recruiting and training teens to provide structured one-to-one tutoring in reading. Read Alliance focuses on students in the early grades to prevent reading difficulties before they become barriers to future success. Our students average a full grade level improvement in reading while their teen tutors develop college, career and life skills. We have served more than 15,000 children and teens since our founding in 2000!

Room to Read
http://www.roomtoread.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with Educated Children. We envision a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world. Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

United Through Reading
http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/
The mission of United Through Reading is to unite families facing physical separation by facilitating the bonding experience of reading aloud together. Our vision is that all children will feel the security of caring family relationships and develop a love of reading through the read-aloud experience. Founded in 1989 as Family Literacy Foundation, we provide programs that encourage parents and other community members to read aloud with young children (ages 0-5) for the educational and emotional benefits to all involved.

November Trip to Dublin

I had a great time working with my friends in the Ballymun neighborhood of old Dublin last week. For those who have requested copies of the powerpoints of my presentations, the link below should be helpful.

https://sites.google.com/site/shanahanstuff/home/ireland-visit