Concepts of print

Concepts of print are the fundamental understanding of how books and print media operate (Ortiz, Spalding & Aneasen, 2014). When creating techniques for teaching print, there are a number of print ideas that are essential. The first is that English is known for reading from left to right, but languages like Japanese and Arabic read from right to left. A left to right reading method correlates to how words are pronounced, such as the letters p-i-n, which are arranged from left to right. Additionally, words are arranged from left to right corresponding to the succession in time of the spoken words (Barnhart & Barnhart, 2010). Secondly is a top to bottom approach which attempts to derive meaning from a given coded message (Manzo & Manzo, 1990). With this approach, a reader emphasizes on building comprehension by using prior understanding as a basis to understand the material being read. These two strategies are employed in a class setting where learners employ both strategies to build their comprehension.

The third print concept is that letters and words convey a message. With print, letters, words and sounds are used in encoding a particular idea that is to be shared to another party. For a message to be passed across to another party, there is need for various elements of communication namely, the channel, through which a message is conveyed; the sender who sends the message; the receiver, who receives the message; and the feedback, which is the response from the receiver. A fourth concept, is the notion of a “return sweep” where a reader moves from one line to the next as the top to bottom approach is adhered to. Finally, is the concept that every book has an author, a front and back cover. This enables readers to easily understand print concepts.

Part 2: Activity

In order to reinforce print concepts, an excerpt from appendix B, “Ciardi, John. “Wouldn’t You?” Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young. Selected by Jack Prelutsky. Illustrated by Marc Brown. New York: Knopf, 1986. (1961)” which involves reading a poem aloud is used among learners from the class profile. Three key activities are used namely: following words from left to right, adhering to the return sweep, and demonstrating awareness of reading word boundaries (Scanlon, Anderson & Sweeney, 2016).

The first activity involving testing the following of words from left to right is scheduled to average about six minutes. It involves the students engaging in the following tasks:

Who can identify in the passage where reading should start from.

Who can identify the direction that should be followed when reading the passage.

Begin reading out aloud. Stop after the first twenty words and determine the next word to be read.

Now let us read the entire story together keeping track of each word read.

The second activity enforces the ability to adhere to the return sweep, where readers’ capability to move from one line to the next is assessed (Balajthy & Lipa-Wade, 2003). The activity also spans five minutes and involves students engaging the following tasks:

Open the story and read the first line to the further right end.

Place your finger to the next line of the text at the position where it starts.

Read as you track with your finger.

Now let us read the first paragraph using this method.

The third activity enforces the understanding of demonstrating word boundaries. With the activity, students are empowered to identify word boundaries and how they can easily spell out different words in a given paragraph. The activity spans seven minutes and involves students engaging in the following tasks:

Use your hands to frame letter I. Repeat this with the next letter f. Reveal the entire word If. Spell out this word.

Repeat the same for the second exercise reading out each word in the sentence

Read the words without framing them.

Rationale employed

The rationale to select students from the class profile involved identification of five key aspects. First, the activity required only English students, namely Arturo, Eduardo, Diana and Fatma. This was important since the activity involved the application of the left-to-right directional property that characterizes English language. Secondly, the students were to belong to the grade level age bracket in order for the activities to be significant in enforcing print strategies. Further, two of the students were below grade level in oral language development while the other two were to belong to the age level bracket. This enabled easy sharing of concepts between the two classes of students. Further, they all were below grade level in the reading performance level.

The activities used in enforcing the print concepts involved identifying word boundaries and the number of words in a sentence, reading from left to right and adhering to the return sweep when reading. These enabled the readers to develop core competencies that would enhance their comprehension of print strategies. Further, a simple poem with nine sentences was selected as the reading exercise as it enabled the students to easily grasp concepts within the allotted time for each exercise. Time allotted for each exercise as well, was sufficient to enable both slow and fast learners grasp the concepts being taught.

References

Balajthy, E., & Lipa-Wade, S. (2003). Struggling readers. New York: Guilford Press.

Barnhart, C., & Barnhart, R. (2010). Let's read. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

Manzo, A., & Manzo, U. (1990). Content Area Reading: A Heuristic Approach. Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company.

Scanlon, D., Anderson, K., & Sweeney, J. (2016). Early Intervention for Reading Difficulties, Second Edition. New York: Guilford Publications.

Ortiz, E., Spalding, L. and Aneasen, J. (2014). CliffsNotes FTCE: Elementary Education K-6. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Pub.