Design and Appraise a Literacy-enriched Environment for Learning - Report Example

Topic: Literacy-Enriched Environment Student’s name Course name 13th July 2011 A literacy-Rich environment An inviting and exciting literacy-rich environment functions as a great encouragement to the students. It makes students active during learning sessions and drives them to take an active part in the classroom (Wagaman, 2011). It is easy to single out the most important part of literacy-environment the teacher works on and sets for his/her students when one steps into the classroom. In this regard, a literacy-rich environment is characterised by numerous displays in terms of wall prints, a library in the classroom, chairs and tables to promote conversations between students in the classroom, labelled shelves where students use the resources in the classroom independently and an adequate space where students can work in groups or independently (Wagaman, 2011) In this regard, a teacher must ensure that his/her class promotes literacy-learning to foster the understanding of the children regarding their environment and the surrounding issues around them. Teachers need to remain creative and design literacy-rich environments particularly the use of libraries in the classroom and the use of prints as displays in the classroom walls. The focus of this paper is to design a literacy-rich environment for learning by making choices about spaces, materials and experiences to mention a few. Space A quiet space is one of the most important places that must be designed to foster learning. It is one part of a literacy-rich environment because it helps the children to read and meditate on what they read. The most preferable place to set up a quiet place for learning in the classroom setting is at the quiet corner of the library in the classroom (Wagaman, 2011). The library should be well organized with adequate space for children to sit and even lie down when reading. The space should also be open, comfortable for use by the children. In this regard, the floor of the library should be covered with local mats where children can comfortably rest when reading quietly. The use of shelves to make a library creates a sense of a separate room within the classroom where children can carry out their studies and learning. Quiet space in the classroom library Class Room Shelves containing different learning materials Quiet study space The shelves separate the quiet space from the rest of the classroom promoting a conducive environment for children to read materials in the classroom library independently. Materials Materials for literacy learning range from the actual books included in the curriculum, the story books meant for children aged 3-5 years and other print materials that may foster learning in children. Such print materials may be hanged on the walls of the classroom. Having such print materials in the classroom encourages the students to follow the teacher’s teachings as well as integrate the print material in their daily lives (Wagaman, 2011). By referring on the charts during the classroom lessons the children learn different concepts representing different thing such as the number of the days in a week, different types of animals, different road signs, different colours and their names to mention a few. Hence, materials are an important source of literacy learning when hanged on classroom walls for the children to refer to the materials whenever the teacher is around or when the teacher is not present. Class wall days of the week Alphabet Domestic Animals where print Monday… A B C D E F G Donkey materials are Tuesday… H I J K L M…. Dog hanged Cow (Karen, 2011) New words enrich the child’s list of words in his memory and it also enhances the child’s reading pace. Systematically displaying supportive print materials such as letters of the alphabet enhances the child’s writing and reading skills. Letters of the alphabet arranged in a row provides I also accompanied by a word list. The word list contains common words used by the children on a daily basis such as come, go, walk, eat, run….. The children are able to single out the letters of the alphabet used to form such words from the in-print material hanged on class room walls (Karen, 2011). In so doing, the children with the help of the teacher continuously add new words into the list of the word list in the classroom. Students get encouraged to write, read and copy the words particularly during dictation sessions. Such words hanged on the classroom walls are also an important ingredient in enhancing the children’s understanding of the patterns formed in spelling. For example, the teacher can add letter “s” in the word “and” to arrive at the word “sand”. Such types of roots enable the children or students to move from known to unknown words. The in-print materials on the classroom walls can also be used to strengthen the children’s ability to single out or identify rhyming words, sight words and words found in the recently read story in class (Karen, 2011). The stop sign can be hanged both in classroom walls and also at the door of the classroom where children stop and wait for their teacher to user them in. This is important because children aged 3-5 years learn through observation and the stop sign at the door is a good element in enhancing the observing skills in children. A real picture of a classroom arrangement with different materials hanged on the walls (Dorrel, 2003) The choice of materials should be related to the concepts the teacher anticipates to teach his/her students. For example, when learning about domestic animals the teacher can refer to the charts on the classroom wall enable the children to understand the name of the domestic animals children interact with on a daily basis in their home setting. The use of local materials such as newspapers is important sources of literacy learning (Morrow, 1990). The use of local materials ensures that the teacher does not incur costs purchasing new materials for children reading. Classroom libraries can also be designed and created using local materials such as milk crates, shoe boxes, cardboard boxes and baskets. The use of local materials to make a literary environment enables the children and the teacher to define their learning spaces by integrating the specific diversity and cultural contexts. A B C D E F G H I J K L M A print-material on top of the students table is also one of the most important elements of a literacy-rich environment. This is because young children aged 3-5 years are in the initial stages of oral language and literacy development. They require an environment that reinforces instruction directly and continually (Morrow, 1990). An environment rich in in-print materials offers a favourable environment through which children can continually and directly acquire phonological awareness. Having an in-print material on the students table as shown above ensures that children between 3-5 years are exposed to a continuous learning environment. Hence, teachers should strive to make available materials for reading in whichever part of the classroom where space is available for keeping or hanging such materials (Morrow, 1990). Additionally, play is also another important element of a literacy-rich environment. A good classroom backyard can be designed to support different plays in children such as running, kicking and throwing balls to each other. It is imperative to note that play is a context for learning because it allows children to express their uniqueness and personality. It also enhances different dispositions in children such as creativity and curiosity. Furthermore, play also creates the ability in children to make connections between new learning and prior experiences. Play is also an important part of literacy-rich environment because it helps the children to develop concepts and relationships with the teacher and other students. It stimulates the sense of wellbeing of the child amongst the group he/she plays with which increases the interaction level of the child in classroom. (Wagaman, 2011) Setting curriculum in the early childhood learning means integrating different factors such as experiences, interactions, routines, events, activities, planned or unplanned that occur in the learning environment. Taking into consideration the issue of diversity is another important element that must be incorporated in a literacy-rich environment. This is because children are born and brought up in different cultural backgrounds that influence their values and beliefs as well as practices. In this regard, respecting diversity is a great requirement amongst the early childhood teachers and it means respecting the values and beliefs as well as practices of children they teach. More importantly, respecting diversity means valuing the different abilities and capacities demonstrated by the children in the classroom (Morrow, 1990). A literacy-rich environment should support diversity in children particularly in terms of the children’s abilities and capacities. For example, having different reading materials ranging from newspapers, religious and cultural literature is one way of respective diversity as one element of a literacy-rich environment. Different reading materials placed in the classroom library enhance the child’s connection with the outside world. (Wagaman, 2011). In addition, placing the letters of the alphabet in the classroom walls also addresses issues of diversity because children can learn the letters and different words at their own pace by exploring the letters at their own given time. This is because children have different learning paces and the teacher should ensure that those that learn at a slower pace have more materials they can refer to in the classroom even in the absence of the teacher (Morrow, 1990). To further enhance language and multiliteracy experience the teacher need to integrate various aspects across curriculum experience. These aspects include valuing the ways children comprehend and know different issues in their life, experiences arising from storytelling, partnering with the families and sharing communication or spoken language with the children. Other ways of integrating language and multiliteracy experiences in the curriculum include honouring and respecting diversity as well as enhancing listening and observing skills in children. The above literacy-rich environment provides a setting for provocations. For example, the in-print materials containing the alphabets and the word list is a good start point from where children learn to form different words (Rogoff, 2003). Hence, such materials would enhance children’s enquiry because children would be eager to form new words from the list of alphabet letters. Children are also eager to learn the days of the week which means that the materials containing days of the week would provoke enquiry since children would always want to know the day that follows today. The space in the classroom library is also an important area for extension of knowledge. This is particularly true when children are equipped with extra materials for reading other than books. By relaxing and comfortably reading issues beyond their classroom setting, extension of knowledge amongst the children is enhanced. For example, reading religious materials, newspapers, traffic signs, television posters to mention a few extends children’s knowledge beyond their classroom setting (Morrow, 1990). Planned experiences such as visiting animal zoo or visiting a forest environment to study different bird species also provokes enquiry amongst the children as well as providing opportunities for knowledge extension. The above literacy-rich environment also provides opportunities for connection between the literacy practices for home and early childhood practices in a number of ways. First, the quiet space in the classroom library connects with the study room and library at home. Hence, the child is able to relate his experience in the classroom library with his experience in the home library such as arranging and organizing the materials in the library and reading quietly at home (Rogoff, 2003). The in-print materials hanged in the classroom walls containing the names and pictures of the domestic animals provide an opportunity for the child to practically relate the names and the pictures to the animals found in their compound at home. This enhances the understanding of the child towards animals found at home and those found outside their home environment such as a lion. In conclusion, the above design is an effective element of a literacy-rich environment because it takes into consideration the fact that all children experience learning that is engaging and that which builds success in life. The design takes into consideration the diversity of children in learning as well as enabling the children to develop their indepdence in learning practices. For example, when children are left to select reading materials and read them quietly in the space set aside in the classroom library the teacher enables the children to develop learning independence. The design above is special in that it relates to the holistic development of the child from the classroom setting to the outside environment where children are able to play and relate with each other. References Karen, H. (2011). How to create a learning and literacy environments for young children. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_6299318_create-literacy-environment-young-children.html Morrow, L. (1990). Preparing the classroom environment to promote literacy during play. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 537-540. Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press Wagaman, J. (2011). Literacy rich environment tips for new teachers. 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