Language Development, Emergent Literacy, & Reading in

Young Children
I Already Know How to Read: A Childs View of Literacy
Prisca Martens
CHAPTER OE
COLLECT CO!!ECT
Collect
!uotation" #rom the reading$
"hat resonates for yo#$
"hat %ortions of the cha%ter do
yo# &nd interestin' and(or
i)%ortant$
Connect
%y thought" a&out the
'uotation"$
"hat is fa)iliar$
"hat is new$
"hat *#estions are raised for yo#$
"hat do yo# a'ree or disa'ree
with$
+I saw and ,elie-ed readin' to ,e
decodin' words acc#rately and
writin' to ,e for)in' letters and
s%ellin' correctly. Children co#ldnt
decode words or s%ell #ntil they
/new the letters of the al%ha,et
and their so#nds.0 1%'. 23
As Martens reali4ed5 her &rst ,elief
was innac#rate since children ha-e
to learn the al%ha,et ,efore they
can say words or for) sentences. I
*#estion how Martens enco#ntered
and reali4ed this sit#ation. "as she
in a classroo) or was this 6#st
another %art of her day$
+My ,est st#dents were the ones
who co#ld write or circle the letter
re%resentin' the ,e'innin' so#nd
of a %ict#re on a wor/sheet5 for)
letters neatly and correctly on the
lines of %a%er5 and acc#rately read
the stories...0 This was the
descri%tion of the /ids who were
considered s#ccessf#l. Then the
teacher descri,ed the /ids who
were %oor in this area. They
co#ldnt identify certain letters5
co#ldnt stay in lines and had
tro#,le so#ndin' o#t words or
letters. 1%'.73
I fo#nd it interestin' how the
teachers st#dents were so
di8erent in their readin' and
%hone)ic awareness le-els. I also
&nd it interestin' how she
identi&ed certain st#dents as
s#ccessf#l. If the +%oor0 st#dents
were at least a,le to so)ewhat
identify a letter or a word5 that is
considered s#ccess since they are
)o-in' in the ri'ht direction. 9o
altho#'h I a'ree that those
st#dents were +s#ccessf#l50 I
,elie-e all the st#dents were
)o-in' in the ri'ht direction when
it co)es to identifyin' letters.
+"hereas once I too had
dis)issed their readin' of fa)iliar
stories and %attern ,oo/s as
+)e)ori4ation0 I now saw the)
followin' the %rint5 #sin' %ict#re
c#es5 /nowin' when to t#rn the
%a'e5 self:correctin' the)sel-es if
their lan'#a'e didnt &t the
lan'#a'e of the story.0 1%'. ;3
I thin/ that this is a ,i' ste% in the
ri'ht direction for /ids when it
co)es to reco'ni4in' %ict#res and
connectin' the) with words or
-er,al c#es. "or/in' with /ids has
)ade )e reali4e that children can
tell when to <i% the %a'e ,eca#se
they reco'ni4e the so#nd of the
last word after yo# ha-e read it to
the) se-eral ti)es5 es%ecially in a
row. I wonder how the children
connect that word to <i%%in' the
%a'e. Is it ,y the tone of o#r -oice
or do they 6#st reco'ni4e the so#nd
the word or letter )a/es$
+9he forced )e to re-al#e literacy5
what it )eans to read and write5
what it )eans to ,e a reader and
a writer5 what it )eans to ,e a
literate )e),er of a literate
society.0 1%'. =3
I a'ree with Martens. Children can
really teach yo# a lot a,o#t
literat#re.The way they s%ea/5 the
way they write5 can really teach
yo# the i)%ortance of literat#re.