Real Life Inquiry

         For my real life inquiry I decided to work with my friend's niece to see what she knew about concepts of print. Maddie is three and a half years old and is very bright for her age. She cannot read yet, but I was shocked at how much knowledge she has already attained about books and reading! I read an article by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher titled Identifying Instructional Moves During Guided Learning. This article helped me prepare for the questions I was planning on asking Maddie as we read a few books together. The article mentions starting with a question, and then depending on the answer, probing with more questions until the student reaches the answer on their own. During mine and Maddie's time together we read three books. I used the procedure of guided reading and read-alouds we have learned about in class. I also reread the article on the IRA's position statement about the stages of development. This article related to my real life inquiry about emergent literacy and how exposure to concepts about print lead to better reading knowledge and success.
        Working with a three and a half year old I was not expecting her to know many of my questions regarding emergent literacy. I used the checklist we received in class as a guideline for my inquiry. Before we read a book I asked Maddie to show me the front of the book, back of the book, title, title page, where we start reading, which way we turn the page, and about return sweep. To my surprise she knew every answer except what a title page was (which is not surprising because that is the least interesting page of the book to a child!). Maddie obviously has had much experience with books already, and even wanted to "read" to me when we were done. She told me a silly story while she turned the pages of the book. She pretty much just described the illustrations she was looking at, but that is a great first step to reading! I noticed she picked up on my voice inflections, and even tried to prompt me for questions like I did to her. It was really fun and quite humorous working with her. I was pretty impressed at how much a young child knows about books and reading. I asked Maddie what part of the book was telling the story and she pointed to the words! I was shocked! She clearly understands that adults read the words to her when they are reading a book. I think Maddie is eager to learn to read, and by my short time I spent with her I would say she is going to be quite successful!
       This real life inquiry taught me that no matter how young the child is they are already aware of books and concepts of print. I also noticed how much they copy adults, and that reinforced how important it is to model good reading behaviors. As a teacher I will definitely make sure to incorporate read-alouds and guided readings in to my everyday instruction. It is so important for students and children to be exposed to good reading behaviors and get them excited about books! The picture below is not of Maddie (I did not take any pictures of us reading) but it is a good example of children and their  knowledge of print and how they model good reading!