Reading vs. Literacy

My cat Autumn - "Your going to read how many books?"

 Recently, my friend Bridget suggested I share chapters from my books. She thought it would be a great way to reach more people looking for educational ideas. I think she's right, and now plan to share a chapter once a month. 

First, let me tell you a little about the photo above. Autumn is also known as my office assistant. She keeps me company while I write and checks out all the children's books I bring home. For the most recent addition to The Pringle Plan series, I read over 1,000 children's books! "Why?" you ask? I wanted to recommend the best Read Aloud books for Kindergartners that related to the Common Core, STEAM, and family topics. All titles were found at local libraries to keep it affordable.

The latest book in The Pringle Plan series is intended to help parents and teachers use Read Alouds to spark conversation, and engage in activities that build background knowledge.

This month, I'm sharing a chapter from The Pringle Plan For Kindergarten Comprehension:

READING VS. LITERACY

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 HE TITLE OF MY BOOK INCLUDES THE WORDS “KINDERGARTEN COMPREHENSION.” I want to be clear that this text is not about teaching kindergartners to comprehend what they have read. That is a long term goal. After all, reading at this age requires a lot of mental energy just to decode letters and memorize sight words. Kindergartners will best develop reading comprehension through Parent and Teacher Read Alouds and Conversation. In the long run, our ultimate goal is not mere comprehension of a story, but Literacy. What’s the difference? Well, literacy, proper literacy, begins with the ability to understand what you’ve read, or in the case of kindergartners, what you’ve heard. But that really is just the beginning. Someone who is truly literate has the ability to take what they understand from their reading and use it. They may use it in practical ways, such as following directions in a recipe, or learning how to repair an appliance. They may use it to let their imaginations take a ride through factual stories of history or fantastical places dreamed up by their favorite authors. Literacy means you can read something and experience a transformation in your understanding of how the world works. You can use it to learn to empathize with the circumstances and feelings of others; and you can use it to inspire and move your own life in a new direction. Literacy means you can bring your own experience and knowledge to enhance your comprehension of a written piece. It means you can make informed choices about which works you view with trust and which you view with skepticism. The more literate you are, the more enlightened you are. The more enlightened you are, the more rational your decision making, and the more purposeful your pursuits. The more purposeful your pursuits, the better citizen of society and the world you will become. We all gain from the true, proper literacy of all.

So, if that’s what proper literacy is, is there such a thing as improper literacy? Yes. Improper literacy is being able to do nothing more than decode words and follow words across a page. Aside from the mental exercise of decoding, no real thought goes into it, no attempt to extract information, or bring your own thoughts, feelings and experience to it. Functionally literate people lack the ability to do anything with what they’ve read – it holds no meaning for them. That’s sad, because there are many ways to make sure readers achieve literacy. There’s no reason to neglect teaching literacy when the consequences of illiteracy and functional literacy are so great. Unemployment, employment in low skilled work with low paying wages, poverty, and incarceration are all consequences of a failure to achieve literacy in today’s advanced world.

The primary method for helping readers achieve literacy is to build their background knowledge. Throughout this book, I use questions and activities that build background knowledge, to keep reminding you of its importance. Why is it important? My favorite explanation has to do with sports. I have very little interest in sports, and know very little about them, which means if I were to read a book, or even a short magazine article, about sports, it would be like reading a foreign language. I wouldn’t get it. It would go over my head. If I were to take a comprehension test on the sports material, I would score pretty low. In fact, I might even fail despite being fairly intelligent. On the other hand, a child with poor decoding skills who loves sports, watches games with his family, memorizes zillions of sports rules and statistics, and thrives on debating offensive vs defensive team strategies with his dad, could read the same material I did and pass a comprehension test with flying colors. Why? Because he has the background knowledge he needs to inform his reading. His brain can leap past the fact that he isn’t able to decode every word, make connections and draw conclusions based on what he already knows. More importantly, reading this material now adds to his background knowledge, so he can go on to understand further sports reading. However, in today’s world, he will need to know about more than sports. To function in a civilized society where technology becomes more advanced on a daily basis, the issues of politics are increasingly complicated, and our economic and environmental fortunes are tied to an international community of diverse challenges, values, traditions, religions, economies and political systems, every child, every reader must have background knowledge.

So, how do you build background knowledge? The easiest, and most time honored method, is through conversation. In terms of human history, reading has only been important to the general population for about 500 years. Before that, learning took place through conversation - sharing what you know, answering questions, and asking questions to check for understanding. Talk about anything and everything with your child. Don’t worry about talking above their level. Children will question anything they don’t understand. Talk about the Kindergarten themes in this book and taught by your child’s school, but don’t stop there. Kindergarten is a time when children are introduced to folktales from around the globe. Talk about the location of those places. What continent are they on? Find it on a map or globe. Talk about some of the history behind the tales – Again, don’t worry about talking beyond their level. Kindergarten students are curious. They will be interested in what you are interested in, ask questions, have fun trying to pronounce “big” multi-syllable words, and amazingly will retain some of the things you talk about. They won’t get all of it, but as they get older and ready to learn more, they will have an interest and feel a certain comfort level from having heard this before. In another words, they won’t have that overwhelming fear and overload of learning that children who have not been read and talked to feel. Be sure to go places. Go to the park and talk about nature. Go to another town, and show your child how you are following a map. Go to a museum and talk about history, art, and science. Celebrate seasons and holidays and talk about the stories and traditions of our American culture, as well as the cultures of other countries. Go to the beach and talk about the ocean, sea creatures, and how sand forms. You get the idea – talk, talk and more talk.

Keep in mind that conversation is a two way street. Be sure to listen. Be patient. Understand that your child won’t understand or remember everything you say. That’s ok. It’s also important to remember in a classroom setting there is a range of IQs, maturity, knowledge and experience. Limiting the level of books you read or the quality and level of questions you ask can have the unfortunate result of holding gifted students back and preventing others from exploring interests they are ready to grow in. Use a conversational style with your Read Alouds.  Your questions are not a test, they are meant to prompt your students to think and build knowledge. It’s ok and even beneficial to interrupt your reading to answer a student’s relevant question, take time to look at the illustrations more thoroughly, or add some background information. A relaxed atmosphere encourages a desire to learn by side-stepping the fear of failing a test-like question. Create a safe place for children to acknowledge what they do not know. A child’s job is to ask questions. It is how they learn best. Explain anything they don’t understand, and be prepared to stop if they’ve had enough. After all, children like and need their quiet play time too. Give them time to think about what you’ve taught them. Remember that our brains process information during sleep. After a nap, or a good night’s sleep, they may comprehend more than you thought they understood at the time of your Read Aloud. Later, you can revisit topics again and again.

By helping your children develop comprehension of Read Aloud stories, you will lead them to learning to read on their own with greater ease than students who have not been read to. They will develop a natural curiosity about the words they have decoded so fluently. In time, they will start thinking about what they have read, ask questions, and develop comprehension of their own reading. More importantly, children who read with comprehension, will be far more likely to become literate – our ultimate goal.

Laura S. Pringle is the author of The Pringle Plan, a series of educational guides. 

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