weebly€¦ · web viewshe began drawing a cactus and told a story about a time she had seen the...

Benchmark Assignment


Julie Pierce

University of Arizona

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Section A: General Summary and Description

A language rich environment is essential to a child developing a strong

understanding of how language and literacy are used in the world they live in. My case

study child has developed a strong sense of how to use language and literacy in her

everyday life because of her involvement in language rich environments.

My case study child is a five-year-old girl who was born in Tucson, Arizona. She is

the youngest member of a six-person family. She currently lives with her mother, father,

two older brothers and older sister. Her native language is English and this is also the

language used in the classroom. She hears Spanish in the home and the classroom, however

she does not speak Spanish at all.

I have been able to observe my case study child in the classroom and in her home

through multiple home engagements. This has allowed me to see my case study child use

her language and literacy in two very different environments. “Even without considering

social-cultural differences between distinct groups, home and school environments still

vary in the ways communication occurs in those settings” (Otto, 2014, 52). I was initially

unsure of how different environments affected language but it became evident as I

reflected on the social aspect of the environments. Language and literacy in the home felt

more natural; the focus was on the child and conversations flowed naturally. In the school

settings conversations had to reach fifteen children at once so they were focused on a

broader audience, which forced my case study child to interact in new ways. I feel as

though my case study child understands how to use language and literacy in her everyday

life. She is capable of expressing her thoughts and ideas verbally. She understands other

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people’s comments and can connect to them with her verbal responses. I see this in her

everyday conversations with her peers, teachers, and family members.

In the classroom, I see my case study child engage with language and literacy

frequently. As a whole group, we sing ABC songs and practice letter sounds. My case study

child participates and can quickly identify letters and sounds. Individually, my case study

child is able to write all letters of the alphabet. My case study child also spends time telling

stories (fiction and non-fiction) to others in the classroom. This shows that she makes the

connections between words and actions and is able to recall memories that allow her to tell

stories. The classroom provides endless interactions for my case study child to interact

with language and literacy each day.

I have seen an immense amount of growth in my case study child’s literacy practices

in the classroom. Each day, children draw in their journals and dictate what the story of the

drawing is to an adult. Her dictations show her knowledge of symbolism because she

relates the stories to the pictures she draws. She also includes many details in her stories

that allow the audience to understand the picture fully. In the classroom, we have been

encouraging students to attempt to write the words on their own in their journal. On this

particular day, my case study child was telling me stories about her picture as she was

drawing it. I asked what the names on the characters in her drawing were and she told me.

I then asked if she wanted to write their names in her journal. I used a technique that

helped illustrate to my case study child that “letter patterns systematically relate to sound

patterns” (Owocki, 2002, 84). I helped her sound out the names and we worked together to

identify which letters she needed to write. (See Photo 1) She was very proud of her ability

to produce the words that corresponded to the picture for this daily journal.

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Another way that I have observed my case study child’s use of literacy in the

classroom is through book handling. Recently, I was sitting with my case study child and

had a pile of books on the table. I asked her to pick a book for us to read. She picked a book

and turned it to the cover page of the book. We discussed who the author and illustrator

were and the roles they played in creating the book. As we read the book, I asked her to

point to different parts of the illustration as I read about them. We had small discussions

about the plot and characters of the book. After we finished the book, we talked about what

we liked and disliked about the book. This was a very natural activity to do with my case

study child because we spend time reading books together often. Unfortunately, I forgot to

document this activity with my case study child. However, I did find a photo that shows my

case study child using her book handling knowledge in the classroom with another child.

(See Photo 2) “The most important discovery that young children make about books is that

they serve meaningful functions” (Owocki, 2002, 38) I was able to observe my case study

child’s knowledge about how to handle books and come to the conclusion that she

understands the functions of books.

In addition to these classroom experiences, I have been able to observe my case

study child interact with language and literacy in her home. This has been eye opening

because of how different language and literacy is used in two different settings. I learned so

much about her development through observing her language and literacy practices

Within the home, my case study child is able to interact with a variety of traditional

and non-traditional forms of literacy. Her home has five other people living in it with her;

this allows me to believe that she is constantly hearing language. This helps her understand

how grammar works and expands her own vocabulary. Hearing language helps her

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understand how to use language. I believe that the reason my case study child has such

highly developed language and literacy understanding is because she spends so much time

in social situations where she hears language from many people. Another form of literacy

that is present in her household is stories. There is a large collection of books that my case

study child has access to in her home. Additionally she spends time telling stories to

members of her family throughout the day. Other less traditional forms of literacy that are

present in the home stem from the family funds of knowledge. These funds of knowledge

include: music, art, and cultural beliefs. Each of these areas provides my case study child

with different experiences that allow her to expand her knowledge through language and

literacy. I know that my case study child attends many community events throughout the

year. These events are generally focused on the three funds of knowledge that I listed

previously. These events allow her to hear new languages and interact with new

vocabulary. The experiences are what I would call language-rich experiences. These are not

experiences that every child is fortunate enough to have, however, they are experiences

that allow my case study child to thrive. She hears more language and therefore comes to

understand language on a deeper level. Community events are something that my case

study child will hopefully continue to engage with throughout the rest of her adolescent

years.

Understanding how children develop their language and literacy practices is an

essential part of being an educator. These experiences in the classroom and the home have

been beneficial in my work with my case study child.

Young children are eager to learn about the world around them and one of the best

ways for them to do that is through literature. Children are constantly looking through

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books and stories so it is important to think about what messages are being sent in these

texts. Children deserve to see actual representations of the world in the literature that they

use in the classroom and in the home. I believe that books should represent a wide variety

of cultures and diverse characters. Every single child should be able to easily find a

character in a book that they can identify with. As a teacher, it is important to stay away

from books that portray negative stereotypes. It is necessary to make sure all children are

represented and feel proud of the representations of themselves in books. This will help

children feel excited about literature and ultimately allow them to expand their language

and literacy practices.

This course has taught me so much about the importance of seeking out language

and literacy forms in the world and using them to develop knowledge for young child. I

have learned that language and literacy do not always occur in the traditional forms that I

am familiar with. There are so many opportunities for children to engage with language

and literacy and it is my job to seek out these opportunities. I now know that implementing

my student’s funds of knowledge into the classroom is a beneficial to the children

succeeding. I have been able to get to know the family as a whole much better than any

other families of students in my classroom thanks to the family engagements I conducted.

These family engagements also helped me develop a closer relationship to my case study

child and understand how she learned in and out of the classroom. I was able to adjust

lessons to ensure they were interesting for her and that she would learn from them. I could

see this type of relationship changing the entire community of a classroom, if it was

implemented with all students in the classroom. Overall, I feel as though I have come to

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understand the overall importance of language and literacy development with young

children.

Section B: Using Data to Inform Instruction

Thinking about my case study child and the connections that occur between home

and school, I created a lesson that focuses on book making.

My rationale for this activity is that my case study child enjoys reading in the

classroom and in the home. She also spends much of her free time drawing pictures and

telling stories to her peers. I felt that putting these ideas all together would allow for a

lesson that my case study child truly enjoyed.

The goals from this lesson would be to help children understand the different parts

of a book. The idea of book making also helps demonstrate that children understand what

goes into a book and can create connections over multiple pieces of work. Children would

have to recall parts of stories that they have heard in the past and apply them to their own

book. Children would also be encouraged to be creative throughout the process. Overall,

this lesson would expand their language and literacy knowledge in multiple areas. They

would be exploring the different parts of a book: the title, the author, the illustrator, the

beginning, the middle, and the end. Children would have to think critically in order to tell a

story that connects form start to finish. Additionally, children would be drawing and

writing in their books, which encourages the idea of understanding the symbolism of

words. Overall, this lesson would provide children with many learning possibilities.

For this lesson I would need paper that is folded and cut to make a small book. I

would also need to make sure I remembered the steps that go into creating the small books.

I would need a variety of writing and drawing tools for the children to use to write and

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illustrate their books. I would plan on having a couple examples set out so children could

take a look at what their finished product may look like.

In order to carry out this lesson, I would introduce it to the class in a whole group

setting. I would lead a discussion about what goes into making a book and how each of the

children were going to become authors and illustrators! I would show children some of the

example books and make sure every child understood the lesson. I would one-by-one send

children to a table by asking them to tell me what their book was going to be about. This

makes sure that children have an idea of their own before they start creating their book. I

would help the children fold and cut the paper to form the small books. Then, I would

encourage all children to be creative and make a book! I would be a support system for the

children as they worked through the lesson. As children finished making their books I

would ask them to read it to me and then encourage them to share their book with their

family.

This lesson would be successful in the classroom because there is no right or wrong

way for a child to do it. All books would be something that the author was proud of. Each

child would demonstrate their language and literacy knowledge’s through the works that

they produced. As a teacher in the future, this is a lesson that I hope to implement into my

classroom.

Section C: Family and Community Literacy Event

Cohort 9 created a community literacy event for the PACE class at Ochoa

Community Magnet School. The children were invited to come into our classroom and

interact with a variety of planned invitations. The invitations were centered on

encouraging literacy and the community of the children. My case study child was able to

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attend this community literacy event because she is enrolled in the PACE classroom at

Ochoa Community Magnet School.

The cohort split into four groups and each planned an invitation for the children to

interact with. My group decided to have the children create a community mural. We

showed children pictures of the murals that are painted around the school and had

discussions about the murals. We then asked children to create a mural of their own on

butcher paper laid out on the floor.

Children were eager to add to the community mural and started drawing pictures

right away. (See Photo 3) We tried to remind children that the community mural should be

a representation of things that are important to the child and their home life. As children

drew more pictures we encouraged them to share the stories that went with those

drawings. Some children made pictures that made them happy, reminded them of their

favorite characters from books, or were things they had seen in their homes and natural

environments. All children were respectful of others space on the mural and were proud to

share the pieces they added. It was a beautiful representation of the community of this

PACE classroom. (See Photo 4)

Throughout this event I paid special attention to my case study child as she

interacted with this experience because I wanted to observe how she used language and

literacy in the community event. I was pleased with how quickly she connected the idea of

murals representing things that are important to the artist. She began drawing a cactus and

told a story about a time she had seen the cactus. We had a small discussion about the

places that she could find the cactus and she mentioned that she thinks the cactus is

beautiful. She then started to draw mountains and talked about how she sees them outside

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and when she is in the car with her mom. Throughout these conversations, I heard stories

that reflected upon my case study child’s home experiences. As we talked more about the

things she sees when she is out with her family she remembered a special plate that is in

her house. A member of my group asked her to draw a picture of that plate on the

community mural and she did. (See Photo 5) As my case study child was finishing up her

drawing, I asked her to write her name near her drawings to show that they were

representations of the community she brings into the classroom. (See Photo 6) As I reflect

on how language and literacy plays into this I think about storytelling, pragmatic

knowledge, and representation through symbolism. My case study child had to use an

extensive vocabulary, explain the setting and characters, keep her audience engaged, and

ultimately tell a story that is understood by the listener as she explained what her drawings

were and why she added them to the community mural. It shows that she understands how

to use language to communicate with others and that she understands literacy in the form

of stories. Additionally, she was willing to take ownership of her art and was proud to do

so. She understood that writing her name next to her drawings was a symbol of these

pieces of art being important and representing her. My case study child showed how

developed her language and literacy practices were throughout this community literacy

event.

Overall, I feel as though the community event was a great learning experience. It

allowed me to see many children interact with language and literacy through an event that

was tied to the arts. I would hope to incorporate exciting literacy events, similar to this one,

into my future classroom as a teacher.

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Documentation

Photo 1: Case Study Child writing sample from daily journal

Photo 2: Case Study Child handling book with a friend

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Photo 3: Ochoa PACE students begin creating Community Mural

Photo 4: Community Mural created by Ochoa PACE students

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Photo 5: Case Study Child's drawing of cactus, mountains, and plate

Photo 6: Case Study Child writes her name next to her Community Mural drawings

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References

Otto, B. (2014). Language development in early childhood (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Owocki, G., & Goodman, Y. M. (2002). Kidwatching: Documenting children's

literacy development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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