Building Early Learners' Literacy Behaviours
Literacy is a term infused with multimodal meanings, and it is embedded within larger narratives about accessibility, performativity, analytic comprehensibility, and participatory forms of engagement within a democratic society (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2011). Having literacy means being able to contribute ideas, deconstruct existing power structures, and advance forms of life that address new and evolving problems in everyday experience, so those who do not possess such literacy are positioned to experience what it is like to feel left out or without the autonomous (independent) means to accomplish a particular task, address a challenge, or resolve a situation.
In other words, being literate is a privilege and being illiterate encompasses an impoverished state of life. No one is omni-literate, nor is anybody completely illiterate, but we all live along a spectrum in between. Some are multilingual in languages (i.e., polyglots), computer coding, and musical compositions, while others are multilingual in decoding naval flags, athletic referee signals, and the symptomology of human behaviour. As educators, students in the Early Years may come from a home whose household features rich language usage in a variety of forms, types, and practices, while in others a household that is less familiar. These variances and degrees of literacy bring with it challenges for educators to face when planning for a literacy-rich environment at school.
Allen Luke offers a perspective on the concept of critical literacy (e.g., a Freirean disposition of "reading the world" through an embodiment of a curious and sceptical mind) and thereby provokes Kindergarten educators to consider how they might address this conversation in their own program.
How can we as educators prepare themselves for building Early Learners' literacy behaviours?
Several sources recommend some straightforward but rewarding choices to make in setting up an effective literacy environment for students. These choices can originate prior to the commencement of the school year, and work in conjunction with those that take place during it. While the Ministry of Education has provided some insight on what to do at the beginning and during the school year (Parr, 2013), very little is provided on the power and potential inherent in being prepared from day one - that is, how to set yourself up by working backwards and considering the time available before the school year. Some things to consider include:
Examine personal assumptions about literacy: It is good practice to review and reflect upon personal strengths in literacy as a means to figure out next steps to take. What am I good at? Which forms of literacy do I enjoy doing? What fears, prejudices, or biases do I possess that can be overcome? How might I build further literacy in this or that area? Make a checklist and review the inventory as a way to build personal goals to accomplish. Celebrating personal strengths goes a long way to building resiliency as a teacher and showcasing mental health and wellbeing among your students.
Check out courses, workshops, conferences, and symposia: A look into available professional learning on literacy in the Early Years can be a great reward for building up personal confidence and professional pedagogy. Sources like Ontario Teachers Federation, ETFO, the American Educational Research Association, Public Libraries, as well as social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can provide relevant and current ideas on literacy and its programming in the Early Years. If you up for a challenge, present your experience at a conference, workshop, or seminar, or publish some works in a journal, magazine, or book. Not only does this add your to experience, insight, and provoke conversations with peers, but it helps to grow your career and consider furture opportunties.
Scan the school and classroom environment: take a walkaround the classroom and document what or which storage containers, wall cabinets, and tools will be located for the upcoming year. This may involve conversations with custodial staff, school administration, and colleagues.
Examine student Ontario Student Records (OSRs): begin the process of developing classroom and individual student learning profiles (see Learning for All, 2013) through a close reading of documentation that the school has compiled from Kindergarten registration, communication, and other sources.
Collaborate professionally with the Kindergarten team: Invite your Early Childhood Educator (ECE) colleague as well as other school Kindergarten educators to a coffee, tea, or snack and deliberate about each other's goals and visions for the school year. How might we share or plan for a particular event in the school year that furthers the school or district's literacy program?
Online sources and print-based resources: How to envision explicit instructional time may involve investigating which textual and online sources are needed to build a file, a program, or a application. Am I to build a Smartboard presentation for our carpet phonics program? Which books might I use to share during read-alouds? For the classroom library? Where am I to store these items?
Make a list of inventory available for the school year: Go over your existing items and consider which would be worthwhile using again. Do you need more containers for loose parts? Have you a fair balance between found, acquired, and repurposed loose parts? What are some resources, tools, or play items the school has that are available to be borrowed or shared? What sort of budget do you have or need for the upcoming school year?