WE-ASC

Bayh College of Education
Department of CDCSEP
401 N. 7th Street, Terre Haute, IN 47803
United States of America

Supporting Classroom Teachers Through Language and Literacy Strategies

Children in poverty bring to the school environment a plethora of needs that impact their ability to be ready for elementary school in the United States. The quality of teacher-child language and pre-literacy interactions is vital to all children. An effective preschool teacher, who uses targeted literacy enrichment strategies during book reading, can significantly raise students’ chances of later academic success. This presentation will include information regarding how to support teachers in the classroom, focusing on preschool classrooms especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A crucial conclusion is that some teachers do not have the training and credentials necessary to provide a variety of language and literacy experiences for children who attend preschool classrooms. The diversity of children’s experiences can be challenging to a teacher. Professional development opportunities are one way teachers can gain tools to use in their classrooms. However, translating those skills learned during a professional development session into the classroom can be a challenge, especially when no one is available to ask questions, make inquiries about ideas for expansion in the classroom, or reinforce the implementation (Hughes, et al, 2002). Establishing a working relationship with another professional, such as a speech-language pathologist, is one way to assist in the implementation of new skills and to see results for children (Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2003).

This presentation includes results from a study which examined teacher change in use of literacy enhancement strategies following modeling by an SLP during a 10 week book reading program. The research question was: Do teacher’s literacy enrichment strategies during book reading change following ongoing, in-class training with modeling by an SLP? Results indicated that teachers did increase their use the targeted literacy enrichment strategies following modeling; however, with time, teachers continued to use only specific strategies.