Always On

Baron, N. S. (2008). Always on: Language in an online and mobile world [Kindle DX Reader version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com

"In Always On, Naomi S. Baron reveals that online and mobile technologies--including instant messaging, cell phones, multitasking, Facebook, blogs, and wikis--are profoundly influencing how we read and write, speak and listen, but not in the ways we might suppose. Baron draws on a decade of research to provide an eye-opening look at language in an online and mobile world. She reveals for instance that email, IM, and text messaging have had surprisingly little impact on student writing. Electronic media has magnified the laid-back "whatever" attitude toward formal writing that young people everywhere have embraced, but it is not a cause of it. A more troubling trend, according to Baron, is the myriad ways in which we block incoming IMs, camouflage ourselves on Facebook, and use ring tones or caller ID to screen incoming calls on our mobile phones. Our ability to decide who to talk to, she argues, is likely to be among the most lasting influences that information technology has upon the ways we communicate with one another. Moreover, as more and more people are "always on" one technology or another--whether communicating, working, or just surfing the web or playing games--we have to ask what kind of people we are becoming, as individuals and as family members or friends, if the relationships we form must increasingly compete for our attention with digital media." --from Amazon.com

Reading this text did bring a sense of awareness to the way I interact and the way my students interact with people (or even choose not to interact with people) using technology. It often isn't enough to be engaged in one activity. With the proliferation of mobile technology, it is increasingly more "necessary" to be engaged in more than one activity at a time. But what does this multitasking to do to the quality of the activity we are engaged in, whether it be writing a paper or talking with a friend or parent on the phone?

Retrospective miscue analysis with proficient adult ESL readers

Wurr, A., Theurer, J. L., & Kim, K. (2008, December). Retrospective miscue analysis with proficient adult ESL readers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (52)4, pp. 324-333. doi:10.1598/JAAL.52.4.5

​In this case study, three non-native English speakers are taken through the process of retrospective miscue analysis. These readers are proficient readers of English. The purpose of the article is to show the benefits of retrospective miscue analysis—of why understanding one’s miscues is important. Retrospective miscue analysis changed the self-perceptions of all of the readers involved in the study. They all left the study more confident in their reading in English than they were when they went into the study.


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Dialogic narratives of literacy,teaching and schooling

Rogers, T., Marshall, E. & Tyson, C. A. (2006, April/May/June). Dialogic narratives of literacy,teaching and schooling: Preparing literacy teachers for diverse settings. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(2), pp. 202-224.

​The purpose of this article is to examine how dialogue plays a role in pre-service teacher’s development. The study takes place within a Master of Education program and looks at 10 students who participated in a program designed around literacy instruction and preparing educators for teaching literacy in a variety of contexts. Of the ten participants, the researchers chose to focus on two participants whose stories are told throughout the study. In looking at two students, the researchers were able to look at how pre-service teachers construct their identities as teachers and how they position themselves with the educational system.


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Exploring the connections between biliteracy and bilingualism

Reyes, I. (2006). Exploring the connections between biliteracy and bilingualism. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 6(3), pp. 267-292. doi:10.1177/1468798406069801

Through three case studies of four-year-old children of Mexican descent, the author explores emergent biliteracy and bilingualism in southern Arizona. Using observations of both home and classroom notes the children’s use of language and the factors that contributed to that language usage. The author references code-switching as a process used frequently by emergent bilingual and biliterate children. She also suggests that teachers use kid watching for lessons that connect to children’s’ development of literacy and biliteracy.


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Viewing eye movements

Paulson, E. J. (2005, July/August/September). Viewing eye movements during reading through the lens of chaos theory: How reading is like the weather. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(3), pp. 338-358. doi:10.1598/RRQ.40.3.3

​In this article, Paulson examines the reading process using an analogy of the chaos theory to explain what is difficult to explain within a theory that is systematic and linear. He describes the nature of eye movements while reading, suggesting that data collected about eye movements is the reading side of the analogy. By analyzing where a reader pauses during reading, researchers learn about the processes of comprehension. And by combining eye movement data with miscue analysis, the data about reading is validated. He also suggests that reading is a nonlinear process. Within this article as well are references to other authors write about schema theory and the importance of a reader’s prior knowledge.


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Engaging student researchers and teacher researchers in the process of data analysis

Merritt, S. P. (2004, May). Engaging student researchers and teacher researchers in the process of data analysis. Language Arts, (81)5, pp. 406-416.

Merritt says the hardest, most daunting part of research is the data analysis. It is important for novice researchers to examine what it is they bring with them to the study. She suggests that researchers reflect on their study, writing about the assumptions they have, which aids in recognizing bias. She also suggests that researchers keep a journal and confer with other researchers as a method of uncovering their biases and adding to the validity of the study they’re conducting. Novice researchers must understand their theoretical framework as a way to see the research and the reason for the research questions asked in their studies.

This article connects directly to what I’ve learned in EDUC 576 about qualitative research but is discussed in a manner that is very readable for a teacher-researcher. The author does not directly discuss aspects like positionality or validity, but the methods she has her students use to examine their assumptions and biases lend themselves to guiding students to understand their position in relationship to the research and participants, as well as ensuring that their analysis is valid.


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R5:The sustained silent reading makeover that transformed readers

Kelley, M. & Clausen-Grace, N. (2006, October). R5:The sustained silent reading makeover that transformed readers. The Reading Teacher, (60)2, pp. 148-156. doi:10.1598/RT.60.2.5

​This article was written in response to disengaged readers during Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). Initially the teacher was concerned because research shows that there is a connection between time spent reading and reading achievement, so disengaged learners aren’t building fluency. They cite Nancy Atwell as a major player in their creation of the R5 strategy for SSR. R5 builds in a social aspect to SSR, and requires students to fill out a log sheet detailing the reading strategies they’re self-monitoring during their reading.

​I like that the social aspect is built into SSR, however I have concerns about the idea of the reading log. Because the researchers designed the log in such a way that readers are almost forced into becoming metacognative, I wonder how much readers pay attention to the reading strategies they’re using when they’re not in that particular class or once they have moved up a grade level.


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Revisiting cognitive strategy instruction in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms

Handsfield, L. J., & Jimenez, R. T. (2008, July). Revisiting cognitive strategy instruction in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms: Cautions and possibilities. Language Arts, 85(6), pp. 450-458.

Handsfield discusses the use of cognitive strategies (see also: Strategies that Work, [Harvey & Goudivis, 2007] for information on cognitive strategies) with students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. She cautions against focusing solely on these strategies, citing observations from a classroom that uses primarily cognitive strategy instruction with culturally and linguistically diverse third graders.
Handsfield’s criticism of cognitive strategy instruction seems to be focused primarily on the implementation and the pedagogy of the classroom teacher. For example, one caution involves literacy as a solitary activity existing mostly in the mind. However, other research suggests that literacy development is a social process, and I believe that is what Handsfield is trying to caution users of cognitive strategies against.


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Secondary-level literacy coaching

Gross, P. (2010). Not another trend: Secondary-level literacy coaching. The Clearing House, 83, pp. 133-137. doi:10.1080/00098651003774844

​In this article Gross examines the attitudes of content-area teachers over the period of two years. These teachers are engaging in a voluntary literacy program designed to better their instruction through literacy strategies. She used one-on-one semi-structured interviews to ascertain the interests, backgrounds, teaching philosophy and reason for joining the initiative. Participants in the initiative found the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from different places and the learning of strategies beneficial, even though some ad never seen them before.

​This article is beneficial in situating me as literacy coach of in-service teachers. While it doesn’t currently relate to my research, it does relate to the climate in my school district surrounding literacy instruction in the content areas. This article can be useful in a literature review in a study on secondary content area teachers and their resistance/acceptance of compulsory literacy strategy instruction.

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Miscue analysis for classroom teachers

Goodman, Y. (1995, November). Miscue analysis for classroom teachers: Some history and some procedures. Primary Voices K-6, 3(4), pp. 2-9.

Miscue analysis for classroom teachers provides an overview of the miscue analysis process—both methods and rationale. The article also provides simple examples of miscues and explains the different cuing systems readers use when they read. The examples are explicated to give the reader, a teacher unfamiliar with miscue analysis, a foundation for further reading and practicing miscue analysis.


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Kid watching

Goodman, Y. (1978, June). Kid watching. National Elementary Principal, 57(4), pp. 41-55.

Goodman asserts that children learn language through their natural environment, thus testing that language development is inappropriate. Language learning is like testing a hypothesis: a language learner makes hypotheses about language and adjusts responses based on the responses they receive in their environment. Standardized testing does nothing to aid in language development. If anything, it stifles a child’s development. Goodman stresses that watching kids is the best way to assess their development and that observing mistakes in language usage over time can show how a child is developing. Additionally, kid watchers must take dialect and culture into account when taking assessments.

When I approached this article, I thought the information would be out of date. Instead, it holds consistent with other texts and research on miscue analysis and kid watching both by Goodman and by other authors.


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Connecting students to culturally relevant texts

Freeman, Y. (2004, April/May). Connecting students to culturally relevant texts. Talking Points, 15(2), pp. 7-11.

By allowing readers the opportunity to connect to o their own prior knowledge, readers become more confident, read more, and thus gain proficiency. The author also suggests that using culturally relevant texts helps readers learn about who they are—confirming and rejecting identities. It is important to make the distinction between multi-cultural and culturally relevant. A text that is culturally relevant connects to the life of the reader, not necessarily to the reader’s race/ethnicity.

As a beginning literacy coach, and professional development presenter on the topics of content are literacy, this article is especially relevant when advising teachers and other educators about making recommendations about texts to entice or motivate those students who dislike reading or specific subject matter because they feel they can’t relate.


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Literacy coaching and reading achievement

Ellish-Piper, L. & L’Allier, S. K. (2010). Exploring the relationship between literacy coaching and student reading achievement in grades K-1. Literacy Research and Instruction, 49, pp. 162-174. doi:10.1080/19388070902913289

​Ellish-Piper & L’Allier studied three groups of reading coaches from schools who had received the Reading First grant. They examined the roles of the literacy coaches within the context of their school, the aspects of literacy they typically focus on, and the relationship between literacy coaching and reading achievement in grades K-1. Their findings about how literacy coaching effected reading achievement were inconclusive because of other mitigating factors.
​
This article was helpful in pointing me to other literature about the roles of literacy coaches and the different levels of literacy coaching that exist. The article also suggests that ongoing professional development in terms of literacy instruction is warranted for, at least, this school district. The researchers suggest that the literacy coaches should spend more time working directly with teachers, rather than doing paperwork or inputting data. They should also schedule plenty of time to observe teachers.


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Studying Writing

Dyson, A. H. (2008, March). The pine cone wars: Studying writing in a community of children. Language Arts (85)4, pp. 305-315.

​This article discusses how children navigate written literacy practices within a time where approaches to instruction are becoming focused on a specific type of evaluation. The approach observed is how children have a sense of play when writing, transferring the idea of a playground game into their written worlds. Through the study, the author follows three children to gain access to the children’s world in the classroom. She theorizes that the play of children informs the curriculum. The textual representations, both in written text and in pictures, display their understandings of and connections to both the world outside them and print conventions not explicitly taught. Children are agents—they act using their own interpretations of the world and what can happen in it.


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Literacy coaching

Cassidy, J., Garrett, S. D., Maxfield, P., & Patchett, C. (2009). Literacy coaching: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. CEDER Yearbook, pp. 15-27.

Cassidy, Garrett, Maxfield and Pratchett outline the history of the literacy coach, from the 1930s to the present. Literacy coaches have been called myriad names throughout history. In the 1980s, Joyce and Showers pioneered peer coaching strategies designed to aid teachers in the implementation of new strategies. However few teachers actually implemented the strategies taught in workshops. The goal of peer coaching was to eliminate the hierarchal ideas behind the idea of “coach,” instead creating an equality between participants. The authors also discuss the IRA’s four roles of literacy coaches and how school districts tend to restrict those roles significantly.

This article is important as I try to define myself and role as a literacy coach as well as I try to find the theoretical lens through which I will operate.


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Theory of literacy of learning

Cambourne, B. (1995, November). Toward an educationally relevant theory of literacy learning: Twenty years of inquiry. The Reading Teacher, 49(3), pp. 182-190.

​Cambourne discusses theorizing literacy learning. He finds difficulty in calling children deficient because of the negative stigma attached, especially since it is not relevant in most area of the child’s life. Forming habits, guided by the teacher, is an important part of the learning process. These habits must be broken down into smaller parts and presented gradually.

Camborne also discusses conditions of learning and the ability to apply these conditions to literacy teaching. The main finding of the researchers is that engagement with language is the most important factor of literacy learning. Additionally learners need to engage in reflection to make their understanding of literacy and language explicit.

​The goal of this source is to provide guidance about literacy theory to readers. The author, at the time of publication, was a practicing teacher. This information demonstrates his reflexivity in practice. He not only is reflective, himself, but puts value and emphasis in moving literacy learners to become reflective about their literacy learning process as well.


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