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**Effective Teaching **


==**of Literacy in the Early Years **== by Tim Lyons  

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  //~Why should i aim to be an effective literacy teacher?//~     ======

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  <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> Good question. First of all, let’s look at what literacy is. ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">According to Susan Hill, literacy is ‘reading, writing, speaking and listening, and involves the knowledge and skills required to engage in activities required for effective functioning in the community’ (Developing Early Literacy, 2006, p.3). ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> What children learn about literacy, before they are old enough to start school, impacts greatly on their literacy development, during their first years of school. Therefore, parents and pre-school teachers have the responsibility of giving kids a good head-start! (first pic)    ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> The fact that all children are different and have had varied experiences prior to school, means they will also be at varying developmental phases in their learning, when they do arrive at school. These phases in literacy development include: beginning; early-emergent; emergent; early; transitional and extending. ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">Have a peek here at a child in the beginning stage of literacy development! ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">In her book, Developing Early Literacy (2006), Susan Hill singles out three important factors in children’s learning of literacy. ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">They are:      ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">      ====== <span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">
 * ======<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">adults scaffold children’s learning      ======
 * ======<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">children are active problem solvers, and      ======
 * ======<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">learning needs to be connected to children’s worlds      ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">Teachers must scaffold (or support, and assist with the building of) children’s learning. They must recognise the ways in which children learn, and respond by engaging students in all aspects of the literacy program. They also need to ‘learn about children’s homes and communities in order to make connections between what children already know or are interested in and what they need to learn to be readers and writers’ (p50). ====== <span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(117, 78, 47)"><span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63); font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(117, 78, 47)"><span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63); font-family: Georgia,serif">

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(117, 78, 47)"><span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63); font-family: Georgia,serif">// Then what is 'effective teaching'? // <span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">     ======

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<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> Effective teaching has been described as ‘what the classroom teacher does that leads to improved outcomes for students’ (ministry of education, 2003, p.8). A serious focus on the three key points mentioned above will lead to effective teacher practice, and ‘(effective) teacher practice’, as the Ministry of Education states, ‘can make a major difference to student outcomes’ (p.9). ======



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)">//©Tim Lyons// //2008// //700143454//