Reading+Development

__Reading Development__
 The reading process is constructing meaning from print and from other symbols; it involves not only just the print and illustrations, but also the reader to bring to the process their knowledge of the world and their past experiences. (Hill, 2006)   ‘Reading is active problem solving, because the reader has to search for, use and check against each other, several integrated sources of information,’ (Hill, 2006, pg 141) including the text meaning, the sentence structures, the sounds and the letters, illustrations, format and layout, through the use of sampling, predicting, self correction and conformation. (Hill, 2006)   Many childhood researchers and teachers believe to be able to learn to read the child has to naturally mature first (Morrow, 2005).   According to Clay (2002) cited Hill (2006) all readers need to find and combine the information that they find in print with what they carry in their heads from their past experiences with language, for example knowledge of the world, the possible meanings of the text, the sentence structures of language, rules about the order of ideas, or words or letters, the words often used in language, the alphabet, special features of sound, shape and layout, special knowledge about books and literacy experiences. (Hill, 2006)   When children attend to the print they use several strategies to make of use of cues, which they combine to be able to read. Semantic cues are meanings that come form knowledge about the world, from previous encounters with books, such as them being read out loud and from personal experiences, when experiences have not been encountered the child has difficulty with the meaning. Syntactic cues come from the structure or syntax (word order), of the written language, and grapho-phonic cues are individual letters and the phonemes associated with the letter. The visual information is important for the word meaning as the word may have the same sound, but different meanings, such as “hi” and “high”. (Hill, 2006) By using the semantic, syntactic and grapho-phonic cues, children can predict, guess, expect, make associations, and correct themselves to derive meaning from the text. (Morrow, 2005)   Reading development begins at birth and there are different phases of reading development, starting at beginning and moving through the phases of early emergent, transitional and extending. (Hill, 2006)

__Comprehension__
 It is imperative as teachers to be able to assess whether the child comprehends what they are reading, otherwise the text, however well read, is not providing any information to the child.   ‘Comprehension is understanding the meaning of what is read from the print, illustrations, layout and design.’ (Hill, 2006, pg 190) There are three elements involved in comprehension, including the reader, which consists of all the aspects that make us different, for example, cultural experiences, age, gender and knowledge. The text is another aspect, which can be print, electronic, and in the form of different genres, and the activity is the last element which has three dimensions, the purpose (why read), the process (what mental activity engaged in while reading) and the consequences (what readers learn or experience as a result of reading. (Hill, 2006)    It is important for teachers to note that many children put a lot of effort into decoding words and meaning can be lost. Similarly it is also important to note that in research done by Gaskin (2003) there were five roadblocks researched that have to be cleared before comprehension takes place, these include building active involvement, holding attention, being persistent, taking time to reflect and being flexible.(Hill, 2006)  <span style="color: rgb(224, 26, 138)">  <span style="color: rgb(224, 26, 138)"> Strategies and activities to assess and develop comprehension include literal comprehension questions, interpretive questions, and inferential questions, activities to partake in before reading such as predicting what the text is about, encourage questioning of the text, activities to partake in whilst reading such as making images in the mind about the text, seeking clarification on the text, and activities to partake in after reading the text could include constructing summaries. (Hill, 2006)

__Teaching Strategies fro Reading Development__
T<span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)">o be an effective teacher of early literacy, teachers need to continually observe children’s development through the phases of reading, whilst scaffolding the children’s learning through the use of strategies and activities which enhance their learning, whilst remaining in their zone of proximal development.
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> modeled reading
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> Teacher selects a text and reads it to the class
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> Teacher models skilled reading behaviors, such as fluency, phrasing, and intonation
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> The use of different text styles and genres incorporated
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> shared reading
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> A whole class or small group instructional approach
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> Before reading the teacher creates interest by posing questions to the class and inviting them to make predictions about the text
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)"> Teacher involves students in problem solving of the text
 * <span style="color: rgb(123, 15, 210)">Teacher reads the text and invites the children to join in where appropriate
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> independent reading
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Child reads independently, from a book of their own choice
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Is a level lower than guided reading
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Guided Reading
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Small group with explicit learning focus related to children’s needs
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Teacher prompts questions to gain interest and listen to predictions about the text from the group
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Children read text independently
 * <span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> Teacher moves to each child teaching and prompting at point of need
 * <span style="color: rgb(163, 12, 233)"><span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"> After reading children respond to the text and teacher revises teaching points related to the teaching focus
 * <span style="color: rgb(163, 12, 233)">Provides opportunities for children to use their skills in decoding, the alphabetic principal, phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, phonics and high frequency words. <span style="color: rgb(163, 12, 233)">

<span style="color: rgb(130, 12, 187)"><span style="color: rgb(224, 26, 138)"> media type="google" key="7234435355880823218&hl=en" width="400" height="326" <span style="color: rgb(16, 255, 0)">The Video above is an example of small group Guided Reading <span style="color: rgb(212, 33, 138)"> <span style="color: rgb(212, 33, 138)">