TIP 5,6,7

I agreed with the Family Literacy part in Chapter 5 and how important it is to stress literacy in the home with your children. I think that is setting the foundation for children in terms of reading and writing. I was fortunate enough to have a childhood that was filled with my parents reading to me and having me read to them. I think that is why I love to read today and why I always enjoyed books. I think children should be exposed to books in the home and of course in the classroom as well. Children learn 24/7, not just between the hours of 8am and 3pm. I also like the idea of the big books. At work, I've come across books with small writing and pictures, and I hate using them during story time. Books with large print and big, colorful pictures make the children more eager to be engaged in a book, and it gets their attention. Getting their attention is the most important task in the classroom. I think the Maturation Theory is, for a lack of better words- dumb. Children should be introduced to literacy as soon as possible while still making them comfortable and happy with reading and writing. Children learn so much when they're still very young, so it would be silly not to take advantage of those years.

I also liked the theory of social learning in chapter 6. I think it's very true that children gain insight in literacy through modeling and socializing with people. Communication plays a huge role in learning how to spell, write, and read. I really enjoyed the part about social interraction between author and reader. I never saw reading books like a form of social interraction and now it brings a whole new spin to it. If you take away all of terms and theories in literacy, what you have is communication and interraction in the general sense.

Lastly, in chapter 7, several cognitive theories were used in explaining literacy, and all mostly had to do with memorization. Out of all of them, I related and agreed most to the Interactive Theory. I don't see literacy as a one way process, and it this theory goes along those same lines. I was also interested in the Automatic Theory because it gave valid information as to why some children enjoy reading and some don't. It's a refreshing way to look at a popular problem.

I had no idea these theories existed. I actually had no idea theories of reading in general existed. I guess I thought that since I love reading and do it frequently, that I know a lot about it. I think I was wrong. I have read a lot of info on literacy (and there's more to come), but I'm interested in learning more as a future teacher. As with anything, I don't think you can ever stop learning.