Literacy is a big and broad topic for any one to wrap their head around, especially considering how fundamental it is to all that we do. Over the next few weeks and months, I will take my blog through a journey of literacy to show that literature and reading is about more than just books and words on a page - it is an exciting adventure that engages students, no matter their age, ability or skill, in higher levels of thinking. Literacy is not about progressing up a ladder of levels, but instead is a focus on understanding how reading is thinking.
For more on literacy in general and links to how literacy standards and skills are organized, please check out my webpage at Aspen's website.
I did get to see a great literacy lesson today in second grade. Mrs. Abney was teaching her reading friends about the importance of words and pictures. This is a skill commonly called 'visualization' and its why we love the book and hate its movie. Every good reader, from small to big, makes pictures in their mind of what is happening in a story. We pick out words and phrases to connect with ideas in our mind that paint fabulous pictures.
You can see Mrs. Abney reading and the students hanging on every word in the picture below. She's created a demonstration of what to do on the SmartBoard and hidden any pictures from the book, especially the cover, from the students so that they make their own pictures.
Here two students discuss the words that made pictures for them. They wrote down the important words that were so exciting in their minds and then added pictures to show what they saw in their mind's eye.
While these skills may help advance students up the 'levels' of reading, most importantly they are skills that will make them life-long readers and learners with a love of literacy.
Tonight, take a moment to read with your son or daughter and ask them about the pictures they make in their head.
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