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Also published by ACEL • e-Shortcuts – Wisdom for successful school leadership and management• e-Leading – Management strategies for school leaders• e-Technology – Technology in the classroom• e-Early Learning – Thinking on early learning

e-Teaching April 2016 (12) – researched and prepared for ACEL by Marion Piper, Deputy Head of Junior School, Shelford Girls’ Grammar, Melbourne, Australia

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APRIL 2016 (12)

“Twenty-first century literacy entails much more than reading, writing, spelling and comprehension” (Hopkins, Green, and Brookes, 2013).

Explicit teaching of skills assists in the development of the child’s reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing abilities. To assist in achieving the desired learning

outcomes that will enable children to develop and improve communication skills, detailed literacy

Literacy Rotation Centres: using technology to assist

young learners as they think, create, question and

communicate

units are required. These need to reflect teaching strategies, materials and resources. Additionally, the units of work should indicate how the strategies and approaches help early years learners to think, create, question and communicate through a range of text forms, including those that are print-based, communicative and are ICT multimodal in nature.

In the table is a suggested Literacy Rotation Centre model for use in Early Years education to encourage and motivate both teacher and learner

Explicit teaching of skills assists in the development of the child’s reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing abilities

reading and writing’ (p. 100). Young (2009) suggests a number of measures to ensure such writing opportunities occur within practice, with Ljungdahl and March (2012) identifying ways to encourage even the reluctant writer (p. 444). Effective Literacy Unit Planners allow for explicit teaching of phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation through a weekly spelling focus during literacy rotations under teacher direction. Reading and writing tasks are scaffolded to enable the teacher to model, share, and guide and encourage independence to further develop skills, knowledge and confidence.

A Literacy Planner should reflect current pedagogical theory and neuroscience research, and provide children with opportunities to navigate and interpret interactive digital environments that lead to increased opportunities for language acquisition (Hopkins, Green and Brookes, 2013). Reflected in the Literacy Rotation Centre should be a careful selection of a range of texts, materials, resources and strategies, as Honan (2013) advises. This includes the recommendations to incorporate digital technology as part of ‘new’ literacy acquisition, engage, motivate and promote student learning and creativity through ‘possibility thinking’ (Burnard et al 2006) and additional thinking routines as suggested by Burnard et al (2006), Exley, Burton, and Barnett, (2007), Todd (as cited in Honan, 2013), Hesterman (2013) and Craft (2013). Integrating the vast array of information and communication technologies within traditional teaching strategies provides differentiated learning opportunities

to achieve writing, reading, speaking, listening and viewing outcomes as part of a child’s literate identity (as identified by Hill, 2012). For the teacher, this will mean making informed decisions prior to planning relevant and appropriate learning experiences through an understanding of what existing skills the students have.

Children’s ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll, Amanti, Neff, and Gonzalez, 1992) and Thomson’s (2002) metaphor of ‘virtual school bags’ encourages educators to create literacy plans that draw on students’ real life experiences. Unit Plans developed from an effective Literacy Rotation Centre need to show evidence of children’s ‘capacities, interests, strengths and cultural investments’ through the connections and personal experiences that Comber and Kamler (2005) and Ollerenshaw (2012) refer to. The teacher who is able to tap into children’s knowledge of what is familiar to them, together with what is personal to a child’s experiences, contributes to successful literacy learning.

Within any classroom, there are children who are at very different stages of literacy development (Hill, 2012). Differentiation, as suggested by Ellis, Gable, Gregg and Rock (2008), needs to be included in all Unit Plans to meet student diversity. It allows for flexibility in student performance, with literacy rotation activities designed to enable demonstration of learning.

Hill (2012) states that ‘the literacy program should contain opportunities for language experience, shared book, guided reading, modelled writing, shared and guided writing and independent

Literacy Rotation Centres

Target Alphabet Centre

Word Centre Writing Centre Book Browsing Centre

Interactive Literacy Centre

Grammar/Punctuation/Spelling focusPhonogram cardsMemory gameLetter/picture object card matchBuild-a-word with lettersAssorted tactile letters and wordsAlphabet booksHave-a-go dictionaries

Games and cards eg Junior Scrabble, MIAOW cardsWord standsOnset and rime word cardsCloze activitiesPocket charts with sentence stripsMagnetic letter/word tiles, boardsPipe cleaners for letter outlinesCrossword build-a-puzzle

PaperPensCrayonsPencilsNote paperOverhead transparenciesCameraStimulus booksEmail/laptops/iPads/stand-alone desktop computersResponse/related tasks to booksBig books – stimulus materials

Related books to current plannerIndependent books for student browsingTopic books related to current units of inquiry/studyJingles/raps/poems/acrostics for reading and illustratingAnthologies

Listening post/CD player with opportunities for music, songs, dance, storytelling, imaginative/reflective playiPad with interactive games and activitiesInteractive whiteboard for stimulus pictures and reading textsStand-alone desktop computers for pod casts Finger Puppets with matching storiesBig puppetsFelt boardsVideo cameraMicrophones

A Literacy Planner should reflect current pedagogical theory and neuroscience research...

through each literacy rotation. By connecting to their preferred learning style, students are able to use this as motivation for pursuing ideas and interests, sharing experiences and knowledge.

Hill (2012) identifies that the data for assessing the effectiveness of children’s learning can occur in many ways (p. 432). Assessment of learning can be achieved through formal and informal measures and needs to indicate the achievement of outcomes. It should be ongoing and allow for further decisions in regard to future planning (p. 433). Effective Literacy Unit Plans enable the teacher to evaluate what the children have learned, in addition to what they need to learn next, as the unit develops throughout the term.

The Literacy Rotation Centre needs to integrate the children’s experiences with popular culture and new technologies, include explicit teaching, the application of knowledge and skills through consideration of pedagogical theory and neuroscience research, and should be able to be modified through differentiation and ongoing formal/informal assessment. The literacy strategies should also assist the learner to think, create, question and communicate, enhancing the language acquisition of the students in a classroom – the intention of an effective Literacy Rotation Centre which reflects a detailed literacy planner and confirms best practice.

ReferencesBurnard, P, Craft, A, Cremin, T, Duffy, B, Hanson, R, Keene, J, Burns, D 2006, ‘Documenting ‘possibility thinking’: A journey of collaborative enquiry’, International Journal Of Early Years Education, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 243–262. B Comber, B Kamler (eds.) 2005, Turn around pedagogies: Literacy interventions for at-risk, PETAA, S Newtown, NSW.Craft, A 2013, ‘Childhood, Possibility Thinking and Wise,

Humanizing Educational Futures’, International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 61. pp. 126–134.De Bono, E, 1992, Six Thinking Hats for schools: Book 3, Hawker Brownlow, Cheltenham, Australia.Exley, B, Burton, J, Barnett, J 2007, ‘Australian children catch the bug: Motivating young children to engage in reading’, Young Children, vol. 62, no. 6), pp. 36–40. Hesterman, S 2013, ‘Early childhood designs for multiliteracies learning’, Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 158–168.Hill, S 2012, Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching (2nd ed.), Eleanor Curtain Publishing Victoria, Australia. Honan, E 2013, Thinking through new literacies for primary and early years, Primary English Teachers Association, (licenced with permission from PETAA) Newtown, New South Wales.Hopkins, L, Green, J, Brookes, F 2013, ‘Books, bytes and brains: The implications of new knowledge for children’s early literacy learning’, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 23–28.Moll, LC, Amanti, C, Neff, D, Gonzalez, N 1992, ‘Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms’, Theory Into Practice, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 132–141.Ollerenshaw, A 2012, ‘Literacy trails: A whole-of-community program to encourage literacy and numeracy awareness for children in preschool and early primary’, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 147–156.Thomson, P 2002, Schooling the Rustbelt Kids: Making the Difference in Changing Times, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Winch, G, Johnson, RR, March, P, Ljungdahl, L, Holliday, M, 2012, Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature (4th Ed.), Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia.Young, J 2009, ‘Enhancing emergent literacy potential for young children’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 32, no. 2), pp. 163–180.

I never feel lonely if I've got a book – they're like old friends. Even if you're not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And they're part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life. Emilia Fox

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. Ray Bradbury

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. Benjamin Franklin

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

I’ve never known any trouble than an hour’s reading didn’t assuage. Arthur Schopenhauer

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. Oscar Wilde

Effective Literacy Unit Plans enable

the teacher to evaluate what

the children have learned,

in addition to what they

need to learn next, as the

unit develops throughout the

term