Eisenhauer EDCI 310

Literacy and the Young Child

Assessment

• Evaluation takes place throughout the day, every day, and is as much a part of children's activities as instruction.

• Should be taught at the beginning of the course because good assessment will drive the curriculum, determine teaching strategies.

• "Kid-watching" (Yetta Goodman) is the constant and focused observation of children, using what you know about developmental levels and learning styles to modify and adapt your teaching to individual children' s needs.

• After considering that all of literacy is so messy, happens simultaneously - assessment tries to break it down into pieces. Examine all the elements, determine what is necessary to support learning.

• What you assess will be based on a combination of the child, the curriculum. How you assess will be determined by the level you teach, your program. i.e. preschool assessment is different from first grade assessment

• Two considerations: Record-keeping and Assessment tools. It is important to document what you see…provide the evidence.

Eisenhauer EDCI 310

Writing

Record Keeping Strategies

A way to organize children' s writings

• Dictated stories
• Sign in sheets, graphs
• Dramatic play artifacts
• Class books
• Journals
• Other?

Assessment Tools

Use to evaluate children's writings

Writing Checklist

• Interest in writing
• Grasps/manipulates writing tools
• Activities that inspire writing
• Writes name: first, last, uses initials
• Concepts of print: directionality , letter/word, sound/symbol
• Grammar: punctuation, capital letters, sentence structure
• Content

Elements: beginning, middle, end, events

Art: correlates to the writing, elaborate of detail

Cognitive expression: observation, connections, problem-solving

Spelling Development Checklist

• Beginnings: scribble writing, random letters
• Consonants: initial, final, medial
• Vowel/consonant combinations
• Words: syllables represented, correct #
• Strategies: auditory, visual, standard

Eisenhauer EDCI 310

Reading

Record Keeping Strategies

Organizing children's reading

• Individual reading folders
• Reading logs: guided and independent reading
• Library diary
• At home reading log
• Poetry and song menu: Record of the poems and songs child can read
• Audio and video tapes
• Anecdotal notes: reading behaviors, language samples, dramatic play scenarios
• Other:

Assessment Tools

Use to evaluate children's reading

• Interest in reading: preferences, attention
• Reading behaviors: book handling, using pictures to "read" a story
• Story retellings/dictations: understanding of story elements, recalls details, comprehension
• Concepts of print checklist: book concepts, directionality , reading concept, concept of word, letters/word, punctuation
• Informal reading inventory: determine child's instructional level
• Running/reading records: document use of strategies

Eisenhauer EDCI 310

Reading Records

• Developed by Marie Clay
• Use to evaluate children's use of reading strategies
• Most appropriate for child who is demonstrating later emergent reading
• Reading record, miscue analysis: complex analysis
• For classroom use, develop a streamlined process, more practical

1. Reading and record taking

• Child will read while you record reading behaviors.
• Choose a book for the child to read.

• If you want to see how well reading at current level, then choose a familiar book. If you think the child is ready to move on, choose an unfamiliar book at current level.
• Make a copy of the text to record the reading behaviors.
• Develop system for recording behaviors
• Reading behaviors to record:

1. Substitution: substituting incorrect word or phrase
2. Omission: leaving out a word, part of a word, or phrase
3. Insertion: adding a word, word part, or phrase
4. Using letter cues: trying to decode a word by sounding it out.
5. Repetition: repeating a word or phrase
6. Self-correction: going back and rereading correctly
7. Assistance: any help provided by the teacher

2. Retelling

• Ask the child to retell the story.
• Listen for comprehension, attention to detail.

3. Analyze child's reading

• Consider errors, self-corrections
• Look at the total # of errors
• Consider the strategies used
• Was any help needed from the adult?

4. Identify teaching strategies