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Amanda Williams
November 25, 2007
Aims and Objectives: This week I wanted to complete the bulk of my assignments over the weekend before Thanksgiving break so that I could focus on developing my movie over break. I wanted to take some pictures for my project, and begin working on putting it all together. I also wanted to try to find some suitable music for my project, and look up information about the program Audacity, to use to merge audio files for it. I feel like I have accomplished my goals and I am excited to finish up my project and see the final result!
Declarative Knowledge: I learned that finding suitable music for my movie may be more difficult than I first thought, and putting it all together is going to take some serious time. I learned about the photo sharing application PicasaWeb, and about using my digital camera to upload photos to the program.
Procedural Knowledge: To upload photos onto the Picasa Web application, you must have a google account and pictures on your computer.
1. Sign into your google account, and go to the photos section.
2. It will prompt you to download the application.
3. After it is finished downloading, open the program and click on “upload photos.”
4. Follow the instructions to select the file name and then click upload.
5. After the pictures are uploaded you can edit them using the photo editor and choose whether or not you would like to make them public or not. Then, photos you make public are available on your Picasa Web website. Mine is http://picasaweb.google.com/starra04
Conditional Knowledge:I will be able to use everything I learned this week to complete my project for CD 315. I will also be able to use my digital camera and photo uploading skills in the future for fun or to complete another multimedia presentation. I feel like I have learned to complete some valuable tasks, and every minute I spend on this movie is adding to my skills as a digitally literate American student.
I took some pictures of my little brothers to possibly use in my movie…
Achievement (2007). Retrieved November 16, 2007, from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/achievementByrnes, J., & Miller, D. (2007, October). The relative importance of predictors of math and science achievement: An opportunity–propensity analysis. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(4), 599-629. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Denton, Kristen & West,Gerry.(2002) Children’s reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first Grade.U.S. Department of Education, NCES, Washington, DC, 2002 Ortiz, R. (2000). The many faces of learning to read: The role of fathers in helping their children to develop early literacy skills. Multicultural Perspectives, 2(2), 10-17. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M. (2005). The role of home literacy practices in preschool children’s language and emergent literacy skills. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 48(2), 345-359. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Roth, Froma P. & Paul, Diane R. (2006).National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved October 31, 2007, from http://www.ncld.org/content/view/999/527
Webster, Bruce H., Jr. & Bishaw, A. (2007).U.S. census bureau, american community survey reports,ACS-08,income, earnings, and poverty data from the 2006 american community survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
The author, Amanda Williams is a student at Marshall University, in the Communication Disorders department. She is from Putnam County,WV where she lives with her husband, Lemmy, two ferrets, a turtle and dog. Needless to say, she is an animal lover. Amanda plans to attend Marshall University Graduate College and obtain her M.S. in Communication Disorders and become a speech-language pathologist. Amanda’s professional goals include: working with clients of all ages, doing research and eventually opening her own business. In spare time, Amanda enjoys reading, cooking, walking, scuba diving and playing with her pets.
Amanda Williams
November 16, 2007
I would like to think my mother, she is my role model and a huge inspiration in my life. It was her that encouraged my emergent literacy skills and encouraged me to choose this topic because of its importance to her. I would not be who I am today without her words of wisdom and guidance throughout my life. I would also like to think Mrs. McComas, Katie H. and Marissa S. for their support throughout the drafting of my project.
Amanda Williams
November 16, 2007
I chose this topic because it interested me so much and I had so many questions about it. I am a child of educators, from a family of educators and I feel like that background has also inspired me in making this topic decision. My mother is a reading specialist, and works at a local elementary school. In her daily work she assists students in reading and math, focusing on basic skills like the individual sounds different letters make, and how to read a title page. These skills are ones that should be learned prior to learning to read, usually in kindergarten or even preschool.
Amanda Williams
November 11, 2007
Introducing/Questioning
The point I intend to make is that the more literate someone is, the more likely they are to achieve due to those literacy skills. I feel like children who were read to and those that developed other early literacy skills are more literate and therefore achieve more than those who were not read to and did not successfully develop early literacy skills. For this reason, I think it is necessary to answer my question: Do adults who developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers achieve more in adulthood? If my question yields the answer I expect, content standard objectives, laws, and the overall curriculum of early childhood education could all be affected. The foundation questions I am asking to lead to my essential question are: What are emergent literacy skills? How are emergent literacy skills encouraged and developed? What constitutes achievement in adults? How many adults developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers and are considered to be at a high level of achievement?
Searching
Emergent literacy skills are those skills that a child needs to be successful in reading and writing. “Considerable research has shown children’s emergent literacy skills- the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are necessary for the development of reading and writing…are important for later reading success” (Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M.,p.345,2005).Emergent literacy skills are those skills that children develop before learning to read and are also referred to as early literacy skills, early reading skills and emergent reading skills.
There are hundreds of ways that parents, educators and caregivers can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills, and children develop emergent literacy skills in a variety of ways, as well. Some ways of encouraging emergent literacy skills are: reading to the child, naming objects in the presence of the child, repeating things the child says, encouraging the child to tell stories and basically interacting with the child(Roth, 2006). Emergent literacy skills are developed through the use of early literacy activities, reading experiences, and the modeling of literacy skills by both caretakers and educators (Ortiz, 2000). Often times the encouragement and development of such skills is incidental and occurs naturally in healthy home environments.
In 2006, approximately 13% of Americans were found to be living in poverty (Webster,2007). Poverty does not constitute achievement in adults, so I will assume that the other 87% of Americans are successful, or at high levels of achievement. Achievement is difficult to define universally because of its complex nature; however, I chose to define achievement based on the distal factor, Socio-economic status (SES).Achievement is defined as “a result gained by effort [and] the quality and quantity of…work” (Achievement, 2007). There are many different methods of measuring achievement; consequently, choosing one method to determine a factor so complex it is not feasible. “High achievement is a function of three categories of factors: (a) opportunity factors (e.g., coursework), (b) propensity factors (e.g., prerequisite skills, motivation), and (c) distal factors (e.g., SES)” (Byrnes, J., & Miller, D.,p.1,2007). For the purposes of my research I decided to use the poverty guidelines provided by the U.S. Census Bureau to measure achievement. I understand that using only one factor of hundreds is not the most accurate representation; however, due to limited time and the nature of this project I have chosen to do so. The U.S. Census Bureau uses family income and measure of need to determine poverty thresholds and in 2006 approximately 13% of Americans were determined to be living in poverty.
Only 20% of Americans who developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers are not considered to be at a high level of achievement. Denton (2002) found that 67% of students in the first half of their kindergarten year had letter recognition skills. Letter recognition is only one small component of emergent literacy skills, but I feel like most children who are considered to have developed emergent literacy skills most likely have letter recognition abilities. So, if 67% of children developed early literacy skills and 87% of Americans are considered to be at high levels of achievement, then only 20% of Americans developed early literacy skills and yet are not considered to be at high levels of achievement (Denton, 2002).
Concluding/Answering
Emergent literacy skills are those skills that are necessary for successful reading and writing, like knowing the sound for each orthographic letter. These skills are encouraged and developed through reading experiences and the modeling of literacy activities by everyone in the child’s life. For the purposes of this research I used poverty guidelines provided by the U.S. census and data collected from a survey conducted by the National Institute for Literacy to define achievement. I found that approximately 13% of Americans live in poverty, so I determined that the other 87% of Americans are not within poverty guidelines and therefore are considered to be at high levels of achievement (Webster, 2007). Based on information collected by the National Institute for literacy approximately 67% of students entering kindergarten had letter recognition skills (Denton, 2002).I am considering letter recognition skills as concrete evidence of emergent literacy skills. Since 87% of Americans are considered to be at a high level of achievement, and 67% of children had emergent literacy skills when entering kindergarten it is fair to say that only 20% of Americans who developed emergent literacy skills are not considered to be at high levels of achievement(Denton, 2002). With that said, I feel like there is a strong positive correlation between emergent literacy skills and high achievement. My hypothesis proved true; children who developed emergent literacy skills are more literate and therefore achieve more than those who did not develop emergent literacy skills.
References
Achievement (2007). Retrieved November 16, 2007, from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/achievementByrnes, J., & Miller, D. (2007, October). The relative importance of predictors of math and science achievement: An opportunity–propensity analysis. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(4), 599-629. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Denton, Kristen & West,Gerry.(2002) Children’s reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first Grade.U.S. Department of Education, NCES, Washington, DC, 2002 Ortiz, R. (2000). The many faces of learning to read: The role of fathers in helping their children to develop early literacy skills. Multicultural Perspectives, 2(2), 10-17. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M. (2005). The role of home literacy practices in preschool children’s language and emergent literacy skills. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 48(2), 345-359. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Roth, Froma P. & Paul, Diane R. (2006).National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved October 31, 2007, from http://www.ncld.org/content/view/999/527
Webster, Bruce H., Jr. & Bishaw, A. (2007).U.S. census bureau, american community survey reports,ACS-08,income, earnings, and poverty data from the 2006 american community survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Amanda Williams
November 9, 2007
I am reviewing the I-search paper of a peer; it can be accessed here:
http://courtneyrnelsen.wordpress.com/category/i-search-paper/
Voice: This is written in first person, by Courtney a student researcher.
Audience: This piece is written for parents and others who are interested in the effects of television on children’s reading skills and literacy in general.
Say Back: I think you are saying that there isn’t one answer to your question, and that research shows a variety of different information. You did point out that it is true that television affects emergent literacy in preschoolers.
Bless: I really like how you bolded the main point in your searching section, it made it very clear and easy to read.
Address:
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The first sentence you need to fix where it says “As a future speech-language pathologists”
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I think your concluding section could be a little stronger, like summing up your main points.
I was really overwhelmed at the beginning of the semester when we had 8-10 assignments a week to complete and I was struggling to do them on top of all my other work. Now, looking back I am feeling like my hard work is paying off, as I am more digitally literate and I am about to answer my research question. I really like the I Search paper. I think it is very unique, and really sheds some light on the concept of research. I am excited that the class is almost over, as is the semester. I can’t wait to be finished in May and have that degree! 
Amanda Williams
November 9, 2007
I am reviewing the I-Search paper of a peer, which can be accessed here:
http://hollidaymu.wordpress.com/category/i-search-paper/
Voice: This piece in written in first person, by someone who is interested in the topic of literacy skills and their development in children living in poverty.
Audience: The paper is written for students, educators and even members of the general public who are interested in how they can help children living in poverty develop literacy skills. Also, the paper could be of use to a parent who has a low socio-economic status and is working hard to keep their child on par with other children.
Say Back: I think that you are saying that there are a variety of different ways that SLPs, teachers and programs can help children who are in poverty. Some of the ways you listed which can assist are: reading, talking, and even listening to a tape. You emphasized the importance of effort from everyone including : the child, family, teacher, and other professionals for the program to be successful.
Bless: I really liked the fact that you put your personal touch in the paper with your experience with Energy Express. It sounds like you are truly interested in your research question which is very important in writing a good paper! I liked the way you related your conclusions section to your searching section. It is organized very clearly, and briefly sums up your research. Great Job!
Address:
- While looking at the Searching section I noticed that the first sentence doesn’t have qoute marks, but in the citation directly after it you listed a page #, is it a direct qoute? or was that something else? (Page 208 of the APA publication manual talks about that.)
- In the second paragraph of the searching section the sentence “appropriate interest or level books or pre-school experiences. ” is a little awkward, maybe you have one too many ‘or’s.
- The last sentence of the second paragraph of the searching section, the word peer needs an s on the end.
- I really like the fact that you incorporated your knowledge about the topic and connected it to your life, but in the last section you discussed some of your connections to the topic and I am not sure if that is relevant in the conclusion. It sounds great, but I am not sure if it is appropriate in that section. I could be wrong.
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