Step 3 provided an opportunity to consider general sources of evidence about using dialogic reading to promote language and literacy development in young children. Now you will need to think about what you learned in Step 3 in light of Tenisha’s unique situation. To help you understand the context further, listen to her perspective in Audio 6.4.
Use the information from this perspective to describe the unique contexts in which this dilemma occurs in Activity 6.9a.
Audio 6.4: Tenisha’s Perspective (pre-K teacher)
A pre-K teacher shares her perspective on incorporating dialogic reading practices into her storybook reading. (running time: 1 min. 01 sec.)
View Transcript
Tenisha:
I’ve always thought about storybook reading as an important event each day, and that belief has gotten even stronger. I realize that read alouds can take place throughout the day as a way of helping children develop language and literacy. There are certain strategies that I’ve learned…asking questions, using prompts, and relating the story to their lives… that can get them really involved in the story . Now I need to think about how to build storybook reading into every part of my curricula and then start using these strategies on a regular basis. One of my questions is how this will actually work in my classroom. How can I remember when to use the strategies? And what about the children who are struggling during reading time? My students have a range of abilities. And for three of them, English is not their home language. I know I will need help from my fellow teachers and my administrator to keep learning and improving on these strategies. This is what teaching is all about…seeing children excited about learning, and feeling like I am part of that in a big way.