Cory Cooper Hansen

Teacher Talk: Promoting Literacy Development through Response to Story.

Abstract This study documented how young children talked about story in a supportive environment. Participants were 22 kindergartners and their teacher, who engaged in extended talk about story after listening to a picture book or chapter from a novel. Data collected included transcripts of videotaped conversations during large- and small-group discussions after story, informal interviews, memos, and field notes. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed that the teachers questions and responses encouraged literary talk and decreased as the children grew in their ability to respond in literary ways. Teacher talk served to set the climate for engaged listening, encouraged children to transact with the text, and established an environment that supported literacy development.

Boys in the Club: Exploring Positive Male Archetypes with Preschool Males.

Relatively unexplored by research is how young boys transact and respond to literacy experiences during read-alouds. Some teachers perceive boys to be less interested in literacy and to prefer different kinds of stories than young girls. The purpose of this study was to analyze how two groups of preschool boys responded to different texts and how they constructed visions of honorable manhood in their transactions with these texts. Group A (n = 9) heard books with positive male characters, or archetypes, and Group B (n = 10) listened to traditional early childhood favorites. Archetypes elicited slightly less response as measured by meaningful word utterances but encouraged more text-to-text connections revealing the importance of fatherhood and friendship in transaction. Some text features encouraged response typically regarded as undesirable in classroom read-alouds. Results inform early childhood educators of different responses by boys and the researchers suggest books to provide meaningful literacy experiences for young boys.

The Art of Author Study: Leo Lionni in the Primary Classroom

A two-week author study culminated in a child-created book celebrating the words and pictures of Leo Lionni in one kindergarten classroom. The author study was built around exploring elements of literature and developing more complex response to picture books through art experiences. A rationale for using art within an author study is provided as well as procedures to implement the study, activities to promote comprehension, and directions for different methods of illustration. Sample lessons and pieces of artwork are also included.

Technology as an electronic mentor: Scaffolding preservice teachers in writing effective literacy lesson plans

A marked difference in the quality of reading lesson plans after early childhood education students were required to use the Unit Builder feature in a web-based productivity tool (TaskStream) prompted the design of a study to measure significant changes. A rubric was created that meshed the qualities of effective teachers of literacy and the elements of an effective lesson plan. Two researchers independently evaluated 32 lesson plans. Statistically significant differences in quality were found across all nine measures of effectiveness. It was concluded that technology, as a cognitive tool, positively scaffolded students as they learned about lesson planning in a content area and increased the effectiveness of their literacy plans.A marked difference in the quality of reading lesson plans after early childhood education students were required to use the Unit Builder feature in a web-based productivity tool (TaskStream) prompted the design of a study to measure significant changes. A rubric was created that meshed the qualities of effective teachers of literacy and the elements of an effective lesson plan. Two researchers independently evaluated 32 lesson plans. Statistically significant differences in quality were found across all nine measures of effectiveness. It was concluded that technology, as a cognitive tool, positively scaffolded students as they learned about lesson planning in a content area and increased the effectiveness of their literacy plans.