University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus College of Education Department of Curriculum and Teaching Alexandria Acevedo EING

4018-0U1 Annotated Bibliography

Dyer, J. L. (2011). Musical Thought: Using Music to Enhance Literacy Instruction. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 39(4), 3-9. The author Angela Salmon, a professor of Education at Florida International University (FIU), in this article analyses the effectiveness of music as an aid to facilitate the process of getting children to participate in activities that promote literacy development. The article states that Language, both written and spoken, has a great deal in common with music and that the brain processes music and language using the same structures. The article explains how music is so directly (and subconsciously) linked with childrens day to day activities that it made it easier for them to relate lessons to sounds and experiences they experienced every day, which, in turn, facilitated mental imagery. The text also states that the combination of musical elements and literacy instruction could prove to be beneficial in a variety of ways such as: increasing engagement, helping with memory and enhancing phonemic awareness. The author also provides proof of how the addition of music to the teaching process proves to foster new and creative thoughs and self-expression. This article, as well as some of the others I have included here, focuses on the utilization of new techniques to promote emergent literacy development in classrooms. Adapted from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ891619&site=ehost-live

Helman, L. A., & Burns, M. K. (2008). What Does Oral Language Have to Do With It? Helping Young English-Language Learners Acquire a Sight Word Vocabulary. Reading Teacher, 62(1), 14-19. This article written by Lea M. McGee, a professor of early literacy at Ohio State University and Teresa Ukrainetz, Ph.D, dicusses a study that examined the importance of sight vocabulary, as well as the relationship that exists between oral language proficiency and the rate with which sight words were acquired among English Language Learners. Strategies for teachers to support the acquisition of sight word vocabulary with students are discussed and specific examples are given. Mostly the text focuses on word acquisition and how this skill applies to the reading development of young ELL students. Adapted from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=34467425&site=ehost-live

McCarthy, P. A. (2008). Using Sound Boxes Systematically to Develop Phonemic Awareness. Reading Teacher, 62(4), 346-349. In this article the author Patricia McCarthy, professor of Educational Psychology in the University of Minnesota, explains how, for some students, learning to spot the difference of sounds in words, especially on the phoneme level, is confusing. For these students the use of sound boxes, also known as Elkonin boxes add a kinesthetic aspect to this auditory process frameworks their learning so that they may become more skillful at manipulating the phonemes in words. This article focuses on their uses as tools to teach phonemic awareness in primary language education. The article shows explanations and diagrams of how to make sound boxes, contains a diagram of a system of organization for sound box cards based on a gradient of difficulty and how to implement those in the class. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35534027&site=ehost-live

Murphy, J. C., & Hernandez, L. (2011). "Teacher, I Can Read!" The Marvels of Early Intervention Strategies. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(4), 166-169. This descriptive report written by Jean C. Murphy, a professor at Chicago State University tells the story of how the student teacher Mrs.Gomez managed, through the use of core intervention strategies, to stop and reverse the downward spiral of reading failure four children in a school in Chicago were in and put them on the road to reading success, in only three weeks. Mrs. Gomezs strategy consisted of giving the focus to intensive instruction in sight-word recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, and vocabulary. She utilized games and contests to motivate students and refused to give up, at the end of three weeks, the four students were caught up to the reading abilities of their other classmates, a feat that seemed impossible. Adapted from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ994561&site=ehost-live

Parette, H. r., Hourcade, J., & Blum, C. (2011). Using Animation in Microsoft PowerPoint to Enhance Engagement and Learning in Young Learners with Developmental Delay. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 43(4), 58-67. This text is intended for educators, specifically those of Special Ed students. The authors Craig Blum, Jack Hourcade (both professors of Special Education) and Howard Parette Ph.D in this article speak about how teachers can implement the use of technology (specifically Powerpoint presentations and Animations in these) to enhance the learning process, especially with Special Education students. One of the advantages of integrating technology into the classrooms of Special Ed students is that these programs make learning more attractive for the students as well as make it easier to deliver the material in an easy-to-understand, structured and systematic way. This way students are engaged in the learning process and the teaching is facilitated for the teacher. Another advantage for Special Ed group is that the PowerPoint software contains so

many editing features and options it is possible to specifically tailor the visual animation of the instruction to the specific needs of their unique learners. The skillset that is mostly targeted through the implementation of these softwares is that of the basic emergent literacy skills such as: phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, word recognition and comprehension. Adapted from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ920103&site=ehost-live