Fostering Early Literacy in Classrooms and Homes

Dorothy Strickland, Rutgers University

Dorothy Strickland is the State of New Jersey Professor of Reading at Rutgers University. A former classroom teacher, reading consultant, and learning disabilities specialist, she is Past President of both the International Reading Association (IRA) and the IRA Reading Hall of Fame. She is active in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), where she has held numerous offices, and in the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She also serves on numerous state and national advisory boards. Strickland received IRA’s Outstanding Teacher Educator of Reading Award, NCTE’s Rewey Belle Inglis Award as Outstanding Woman in the Teaching of English, and the distinguished Alumnus Award from New York University. Her publications include Families: Poems Celebrating the African American Experience; The Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs; Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learn to Read and Write; Language, Literacy, and the Child: Teaching Phonics Today; and Beginning Reading and Writing.

"Children learn best in settings where teachers understand the developmental continuum of reading and writing and are skilled in a variety of strategies that help them achieve."

— Dorothy Strickland

Presentation Highlights

This presentation explores issues and challenges related to current demands for more effective early literacy instruction. It explains the research base and discusses specific strategies for curriculum instruction, assessment, and professional development.

Learning to Read and Write: Key Points from the Research

• Both the learning and teaching processes related to reading and writing are complex and multifaceted.
• Language and literacy development are interdependent and interactive.
• Children learn best when goals and expectations are developmentally appropriate.
• Children learn best when teachers understand and address their varying and unique characteristics.
• Children learn best in settings where teachers understand the developmental continuum of reading and writing and are skilled in a variety of strategies that help them achieve.
• Children learn best in settings where teachers monitor their learning in terms of challenging, but achievable goals and benchmarks.
• Children’s language and culture have a direct influence on their learning. Thus, teachers need to be knowledgeable about the children’s cultural backgrounds and the role of second language learning and dialect differences in their literacy development.

Key Findings from Brain Research

• Experience and environment have a strong influence on brain development.
• IQ is not fixed at birth.
• Some abilities are acquired more easily during certain "windows of opportunity."
• Learning is strongly influenced by emotions.

Developmentally Appropriate Strategies for Meeting Requirements of the Head Start Reauthorization (1998)

Educators and caregivers must employ strategies for developing:

• Phonemic and print awareness;
• Oral language for varied purposes;
• Complex and varied vocabulary;
• Appreciation of books; and
• English as a new language (ENL)

Educators and caregivers must also be responsible for implementing strategies for documenting and assessing students’ growing abilities to:

• Distinguish letters of the alphabet as a separate category of graphics;
• Recognize a word as a unit of print;
• Identify at least 10 letters; and
• Associate sounds with written words.

Additionally, strategies that support professional development will serve to improve programs over the short and long-term. Some of these strategies may include:

• Administrators and teachers must keep up with new developments in the field and adjust their programs accordingly.
• Time and encouragement must be provided for professional development activities.
• Professional cooperation among pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and primary grade teachers must be fostered as a critical component of program continuity.
• All of the professionals involved must work together to design and implement a long-range plan for ongoing self-assessment and change.

Goals for teachers include, but are not limited to:

• Making literacy more visible and integral to all activities throughout the day;
• Providing small group experiences in which children work together on literacy-related activities;
• Offering more opportunities for children to select from a variety of literacy-related activities;
• Providing opportunities for children to express their imagination and creativity through a variety of learning experiences; and
• Systematically observing and documenting children’s development in literacy and other areas.

Goals for administrators include, but are not limited to:

• Showing continued interest in, and support of, the early childhood program;
• Placing emphasis on the need for continuity in practices across grade levels;
• Continuing the dialogue among teachers and the administrators in formal and informal ways; and
• Helping teachers rethink the current procedures for assessing and reporting children’s literacy development.

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