Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I WRITE ...?

: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early

Writing Skills. The Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120 [it is linked

in the reading list]

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early years literacy education: A meta-narrative of

paradigmatic tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood

Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I

WRITE ...?: Scaffolding preschoolers’ early writing skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–
659. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120.

The articles provides very practical information for educators to firstly

understand the process of children’s writing development, and then how
to identify which of the four stages of early writing their students are
currently in, followed by effective strategies to move students along the
writing continuum and progress their writing (and reading) skills.

This article is written by three credible (now) associate professors within

Teacher Education departments at different universities across the USA.
The authors have research interests in early literacy development and
intervention via teacher professional development. They present key
information about early writing skills and teaching strategies in a user-
friendly table, with detailed descriptions of each stage of the
developmental writing framework listed sequentially throughout the
article.

A strong feature of the article is the link between the stage of writing a
child is in and other literacy skills, in particular, reading ability. This
highlights the interconnectedness of oral language, reading and writing,
as well as the importance of providing preschool age children with literacy
rich learning environments and individualised scaffolding that sets the
foundation for successful reading and writing in the early years of school
and beyond.

The authors draw on seven references to create their developmental

writing framework, which at the time (2013) included four references
between 30 and 76 years old, and three that were more recent (i.e. 2008-
2012). Despite the authors being highly credible, I feel the validity of the
framework would be greater if the authors had performed (or described it
if it was done) a more thorough literature review to ensure all research
was considered. In addition, a research project to determine the
effectiveness of the recommended strategies would also help to improve
the framework’s validity. In saying that, being a preschool co-educator, I
was able to put the framework into action the day after I read the article
(conducting my own action research) and saw marked improvement in my
ability to help children with their writing skills.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012). 'Smart' technologies in the early

years literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory
classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 14(2), pp 147-174.

In this article qualitative research methods are used to investigate the

challenges and triumphs faced by a first-year teacher using Apple iPad’s
in her Foundation classroom. What entails is a complex and multi-
dimensional meta-narrative created through the inclusion of teacher,
principal and student (21) interviews, classroom observations and student
work samples. Most of the story is set at the interface between the
progressive student-centred pedagogy desired by the teacher and the
traditional print-based teacher-led literacy block that we have all become
accustom too.

The authors are both from Deakin University, Warrnambool Campus,

Victoria. Lynch is an Associate Professor in curriculum and pedagogy and
has previously completed a PhD in educational technology. Redpath holds
a coordination role in the School of Education, lecturing in language and
literacy. The article details extensively the methodology for the meta-
narrative and considers all possible biases, the most concerning being the
possibility of the researchers to interpret results in favour of their shared
pedagogical beliefs with the teacher.

The article is aimed at providing teachers with inspiration to stand firm in

their pedagogical beliefs and continue to strive for their ideal use of
technology in the classroom despite barriers faced. In addition, the
authors are appealing to other stakeholders such as policy makers, school
leaders and parents to be more open-minded about the use of technology
in the classroom, allowing for teachers to draw on the student’s skills from
home techno-practices and have them learning in the context of the
multi-literacy world we know live in.

Alarmingly, from my observations, it appears that techno-literacy learning

in the classroom today continues to be a glorified version of the traditional
print-based learning activities. While this may be disheartening to some, I
see it as motivating because the students in this project tell the story;
when provided with a sense of agency to direct their own leaning through
the use of iPads, they produced meaningful work that could be shared
with a wider audience creating a positive and encouraging learning
community.

Edited by CHELSEY TREGEAR on 10 Nov 2022, 23:31:30

Reply
DUONG NGUYEN
20 hours ago, at 13:42

NEW
Annotation 5 Week 11

Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I

WRITE ...?: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

This paper addresses why it is essential to foster early learning skills, how
writing generally develops in young children, and how teachers can
actively support it. This paper presents a straightforward framework with
four development levels, including 1) Drawing and scribbling; 2) Letters
and letter-like forms; 3) Salient and beginning sounds; and 4) Beginning
and ending sounds. According to the authors, this framework aims for
teachers to understand the goals and allow teachers to organise
appropriate strategies to support writing that meets the needs of students
at each level. For example, the first step is to identify each child’s current
level of development. Hence, the knowledge and understanding teachers
gain from students’ work after determining could help them to choose the
most appropriate goals and teaching strategies for varied skill levels in
the classroom. The article also explores how elements of print, text and
written language features can be introduced during engaging emergent
writing experiences. Furthermore, the authors emphasise the importance
of demonstration (modelling) and practice for emergent writing
development, arguing that children must observe and experiment with
the processes a competent writer uses.
The article provides a helpful rationale explaining the basis of the study
design. A vignette from a preschool classroom supports the paper to
demonstrate how this framework can be used in writing lessons. However,
the research sample is small, along with a vignette approach which means
that the interpretation of actions and clarification of individual judgements
in this setting may entail some form of bias. The findings are based mainly
on the author’s point of view, with limited references to support their
results. The research demonstrates four different types of children under
this framework is a potential teaching strategy that I can consider when
teaching young children how to instruct students to write explicitly.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early

year’s literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australian primary classroom.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

This study describes how the iPad was used as an instructional tool to
facilitate emergent literacy in a preschool classroom in a rural area in
Victoria. In particular, formal and informal interviews with teachers and
students were conducted and analysed to explore how a graduate teacher
and students' perspectives when incorporating Apple iPad into a prep
classroom in a rural area in Victoria. Although iPads and other similar
tablets have not been extensively studied as a literacy-teaching tools in
the early childhood classroom, Lynch and Redpath’s work with preschool
students using iPads provides anecdotal evidence that students can work
together to use different gamify apps for differentiated literacy practice
(such as phonics and handwriting) with limited teacher assistance. The
paper supports many examples from naturalistic interactions that
demonstrate that students' higher levels of engagement and social
learning are presented when incorporating iPad into the classroom.

Whilst the teacher acknowledged the benefits of technology in the early

years of literacy education, printed-based and teacher-centred approach
remained prioritised in the classroom due to the pressure of relevant
stakeholders (e.g., parents, school boards). The authors highlight that
many of the learning activities were not allowed to implement on iPad or
implemented effectively. Consequently, these practices positioned
students as passive "consumers" rather than active "producers" in the
learning process.
The widespread use of technology in the classroom has dramatically
impacted education. This paper is a helpful reading because it has given
me ideas on how I might be able to teach literacy to my students with the
use of intelligent technologies for students. Besides that, this paper
summarises the challenges teachers and students encounter with
technology and the mismatch between curriculum guidelines/policies and
teaching practices/ expectations for teachers. The most prominent finding
to emerge from the analysis is that students attempted to distract
themselves subtly, playing their ‘favourite game’ when the teacher was
not around, for instance. For this reason, as a future teacher, I face the
dilemma of using technology in the classroom (value conflict). I strongly
believe this reading can be used to inform relevant stakeholders and
policymakers on how to strengthen the practice of integrating these
devices into the classroom. I found the findings are generalised and lack
quantitative results to validate the authors’ perspectives. Overall, I
strongly believe this reading can be used to inform relevant stakeholders
and policymakers on how to strengthen the practice of integrating these
devices into the classroom.

Reply
AMELIA FRANCIS
10/11/2022, 08:56
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I
WRITE ...?: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

The article starts by presenting a real-life example of a problem many

early childhood teachers and educators experience; the one of teaching
children to write and differentiating for each child’s ability. The aim of the
article is to present teachers with a framework to evaluate children’s
writing and help determine their next step in their own development.

Cabel, Tortelli & Gerde (2013) go through what early writing is, what the
experiences look like, and why it matters in regard to future literacy
performance. To support their arguments, the use of peer-reviewed
research articles and information from the National Early Literacy Panel
(NELP) is utilised. The authors describe how early writing develops, from
drawing and scribbling to letters and letter-like forms, to salient and
beginning sounds, and beginning and ending sounds. For each of these
stages of early writing development, examples of children within each
stage are provided. Real-life suggestions and examples are provided, to
assist teachers in implementing the framework, assessing their students’
writing and trajectory for their development. This is particularly helpful, as
it puts all the research within the article, in a realistic and practical
light. The table which outlines the ‘scaffolding children’s writing using
individualised strategies’ was incredibly easy to interpret and provided a
great one-pager printout for teachers to have on them for easy access
when planning and teaching writing.

The authors have written this article in a very easy-to-read way, using a
good selection of research to support their claims. The use of examples to
complement the table brought the framework to life and enables teachers
to really see what each stage would look like in real-life.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early

years literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory classroom.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

Lynch & Redpath (2012) present a meta-narrative about a newly

graduated teacher’s experience in incorporating ICT in her prep (first
year) class. The focus within the research is the use of iPads to support
literacy learning in the early years. The authors begin with an in-depth
discussion about the early years literacy, within the context of Victoria. As
part of this, they use properly sourced information from the State
Government of Victoria and peer-reviewed journal articles. In addition to
this, they include curriculum descriptors to highlight how the importance
of technology in literacy teaching is overshadowed by mandated
assessments, and the traditional pen-and-paper view of literacy. The role
of ICT in the early years being sent with contradictory messages is
touched upon by the authors. They explain the mismatch between
curriculum content descriptors and information being sent out via state
education departments.

Lynch & Redpath (2012) described their research approach, including

methods of data collection, location of the study, participants, and
measurements used. The findings were split into three categories. These
consisted of dominant attitudes and practices, teacher’s visions and
reflections, and student samples. In each of these parts, examples of what
teachers said and did, and the work that students did, was provided. This
allows the reader to place what the research is saying, in real life
scenarios.
This article was lengthy, but necessarily so. It utilised peer-reviewed
journal articles and government and education sources to support its’
findings. The examples provided allow the reader to see and compare to
what they can do in their classroom setting. They finish by stating that the
use of iPads in the classroom can be transformative. A more current study
with today’s modern technology would be beneficial to carry on from what
Lynch & Redpath have done in 2012.

Reply
TRACY NGUYEN
10/11/2022, 02:22
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). How Do I Write...?
Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The Reading Teacher, 66(8),
650–659. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1173

The study by Cabell, Torterelli, and Gerde (2013) presents frameworks for
preschool teachers to use to assess students' writing and create a
learning plan for children. They have highlighted the significance of
encouraging early writing skills, how writing generally develops in pre-
schoolers, and how teachers can actively encourage this process. The
authors have used an example of four standardized students in the
preschool setting and how teachers implemented their knowledge of early
writing to form the lesson for students. Cabell, Torterellu, and Gerde
investigated the four stages of early writing development, including
drawing and scribbling, letters and letter-like forms, salient and beginning
sounds, and beginning and ending sounds, to provide teachers with a
framework for assessing their students' writing endeavors. The article will
help early childhood educators create individualized early writing support
for every student while encouraging other crucial early literacy skills
through writing by offering examples and suggestions for integrating
individualized writing instruction into general classroom contexts. The
article will be helpful for not only teachers but also pre-service teachers in
researching interventions in developing strategies for students' early
literacy development. To communicate the aims of each stage and
suggest techniques for accomplishing the goals, the authors have
implemented a chart displaying the four early writing development
frameworks. However, the limitation of this article is that when they
mentioned individualized strategies that could be more detailed about
students with special needs like ADHD and dysgraphia. The article is
beneficial for pre-service teachers in developing personalized learning
plans for students by evaluating the stage of the students and choosing
the appropriate strategies for writing instructions.
Lynch, J., & Redpath, T. (2014). “Smart” technologies in early years
literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic tensions in iPad use
in an Australian preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy, 14(2), 147–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798412453150

The study by Lynch and Redpath (2014) looked at evolving patterns

of technology use in an Australian Preparatory classroom and the use of
Apple iPads to promote literacy development in a preschool context. The
research indicated that the more comprehensive policy and pedagogical
background of early years literacy education and the institutionalized
experiences in the setting might conflict with teachers' ambitions to
transform learning through technology use. The authors gathered the data
in 2010 and 2011 via classroom observation and interviews with teachers
and students at a public primary school in rural Victoria that was well-
equipped with ICT. The technique employed is ethnographic research,
which included conducting formal and informal interviews, observing
student mannerisms and learning environments, and gathering artifacts
(examples of students' work and curriculum framework documents). The
authors found the impact of using iPads to promote literacy instruction in
preschool to rely significantly on how they are used, as with other
technological devices. They looked into how the iPad's mobility, easy
navigation, and touch experience make it appealing for early childhood
education by guiding learners through the content and positioning them
as consumers. The paper presents a beneficial justification for the
adoption of iPads to teach literacy in early childhood environments that
bring new ideas for pre-service teachers in thinking of how they will
develop their lesson plans. The results are supported by various resources
to demonstrate the efficacy of ICT in teaching literacy and the introduction
of iPads to close the gap between home literacies and techno-literate
practices in preschool contexts. However, it would be a solid
recommendation to use report data and display it in charts or graphs to
see the difference in student performance after incorporating technology
into their learning and paying closer attention to how to use them in
literacy development effectively. This article is helpful for pre-service
teachers' understanding of how to utilize technology to teach literacy and
how to consider the iPad's limitations regarding using books and
worksheets as successful teaching tools.

Reply
YUKUN CHEN
08/11/2022, 19:00
NEW
 Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I WRITE ...?:
Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

Researchers have found that preschool writing education is key to a child's future
development of reading and writing skills. Therefore, in an effort to make educators aware of
how to better teach writing, the authors provide a framework and guidance for teacher
assessment and the characteristics of young children's writing.

The authors identify the alphabetic principle as a critical element of early literacy, which
helps children to develop a deeper understanding of how words and sounds work together.
Children often make connections between letters, the sounds of words and the meaning of
words, which helps them to understand specific messages. In addition, drawing and doodling
are also significant as a way for children to write, and the work that children create from the
information they acquire eventually evolves into their understanding of early writing. This
has inspired me in some new ways, as I had previously considered drawing to be important
but had not recognised its role in writing. In addition, the researcher recognised that
children's writing abilities need to be carefully assessed as their levels are often inconsistent.
This makes the assessment more accurate and provides a rational guide for the development
of the child's future writing skills.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early years literacy
education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic tensions in the iPad use in an Australia
preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

In today's increasingly technological world, the integration of information and

communication technology (ICT) with education has become a topic of research for many
educators. This article examines the impact of iPads on early literacy education through
interviews with students in preparatory classes using iPads for learning and teachers.

To better examine the data, the authors used a meta-narrative, which is a narrative method
that uses reading and vivid narratives. The authors divided the study into three parts,
examining the impact of iPads from multiple perspectives, which ensured that the findings
were independent, comprehensive and unbiased. In the first part, the authors examined
students' attitudes towards iPads. The results showed that most attitudes towards iPads were
positive and that they enjoyed using them for learning and leisure because they were easier to
use and more attractive than other devices. In the second section, teachers' attitudes towards
iPads were also positive, although they felt that they were not currently being used enough. It
is not enough to use them for early literacy education, they should be integrated into the
integrated learning curriculum. In the third section, the authors analyse the impact of the
iPads from a practical point of view, and the data shows that the children's use of the iPads is
flexible and effective. As a result, the authors conclude that iPads can be used to support
early literacy learning in schools, and in many cases are more engaging.

Reply
MARK CARTER
08/11/2022, 18:31
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I
WRITE ...?: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

This 2013 paper describes a basic framework for teachers helping young
(preschool) children progress in their writing development.

It begins with a vignette of a classroom scenario where young children of

varied abilities ask a teacher for help with spelling. The teachers internal
decision making dialogue about which approach to take set the scene for
the theme of the paper- aiding a teacher in this scenario to make this
decision. From there a brief introduction to the structure of the paper is
given; four scenarios illustrating different situations are used and specific
examples of fitting individualised writing instruction into common
classroom activities.

The next section “Early Writing and Why it matters” explains a useful
three-part taxonomy for thinking about the elements of early or emergent
writing;

 mechanics- the manual act of producing physical marks,

 meaning children attribute to the markings (ie.composition), and
 understanding about how language works (orthographic
knowledge).

This paper concentrates on the last element- orthographic knowledge

which it suggests is a good indicator of a young student’s later literacy
trajectory. A short literature review in support of this claim is given.

The following section on “How Writing Develops” takes a developmentalist

approach- acknowledging the large body of evidence which shows
typically anglophone children’s writing abilities develop in a specific
sequence. Based on this evidence, they summarise four developmental
stages of writing which form a framework to evaluate the stage a child is
at in writing, and what they know about print and sound. These stages
are;

 drawing and scribbling,

 letters and letter-like forms,
 salient and beginning sounds, and
 beginning and ending sounds.

Each is explained with specific examples of how to scaffold children at

these stages to progress in the section “Providing Appropriate Support
for Young Writers”. This section uses short hypothetical examples of each
to illustrate how the teacher can perform this scaffolding and ends with a
short “putting it all together” narrative showing the blending of these
elements in one situation.

A useful table of strategies to support children in common classroom

contexts (ie. Journals, morning message) structured by stage of
development is given.

The paper’s conclusion gives some advice on how to implement the

advice given in practical contexts and recapitulates the importance of this
learning for student’s future trajectories.

This paper is of great real-world use to a pre-school teacher, connecting

evidence-based developmental understanding to actual classroom
situations and practice. If only the Masters of Teacher at CDU spent more
time on content like this during the course (and much less on postmodern
hot air like the following paper) pre-service teachers would be far better
prepared for work in the classroom...

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early

years literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory classroom.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

This is another paper based on 12 year old observations of early iPads use
in early learning literacy situations (like Yelland & Gilbert, 2016:
annotation assignment in week 7) . Context and author’s research
approach is different but some of the same logical fallacies are made. Has
other issues.

The paper begins (after a simple Introduction section ) with what the
authors’ title as an account of the public school literacy policy context in
the state of Victoria. This is actually a value laden critique which tells the
reader more about the author’s opinions on it than about the actual policy
itself. It concludes with a paragraph decrying the lack of duplication of
technology types and uses in the classroom to that which students are
alleged to be experiencing in their home lives. This echoes position taken
in Yelland & Gilbert (2016), albeit with heavier use of supporting citations.
This does not hide the logical flaw in claiming that the classroom must ape
the home use of a technology. The obvious counter argument this writer
made in the week 7 annotation stands; that part of the formal schooling
raison d’tre is to provide those things which the domestic learning
experience does not.
Next a section headed “Locating the Study” gives a brief account of the
study site and subjects then goes on to describe the authors’
methodology and study design. The method is described as “ethnographic
fieldwork” (p.152) and a selection of actions taken to gather data were
listed (observations, interviews etc.). Modern ethnography is especially
suited to studies which seek to examine actor-context relations but
requires long duration immersion with the study subjects (Yanow et al.,
2012). The authors of this paper do not properly explain what this
methodology entails or the basis for adopting it. Ethnology methods have
a large complex literature to explore and many known pitfalls in practice.
The authors do claim that the nature of this method making objectivity
hard but then explain this approach suits their postmodern ideological
approach. They make no mention of the long tradition of positivist
approaches to field ethnography, researchers who didn’t find objectivity
too hard. They use technical terms from ethnography discipline like
“reflexivity” and “positionality” without exposition or citations. Their goal
of using ethnography this way is to produce a subjective meta-narrative to
describe a phenomena they claim to have encountered in
the constructivist-interpretivist tradition (a term they do not themselves
use). They openly describe needing to see the world though pre-fabricated
narrative arcs. They declare their ideological allegiance to “critical
pedagogy” and invoke Paulo Friere, but again offer no citations or clear
explanations as to why this could be a valid approach. They then explain
their results of the study are structured into three consecutive chapters.

Chapter one is named “Dominant attitudes and practices”. This describes

how the iPads are intended to be used in classroom literacy teaching and
includes accounts of what the students actually do with them. It describes
focused use of “gamified” and literacy-specialised apps. As this study was
conducted so long ago none of the apps mentioned are available to today
to review even if you had a vintage iPad capable of running them. They
then describe some use of apps in “multimodal” literacy uses but claim
these are done in a way that reinforces traditional approaches.

Chapter two is titled “Teachers Visions and reflections- Empowering

learners”. This consists of outcomes from three interviews with a newly
graduated teacher blended into a narrative. The authors are clearly
excited that the interviewees responses appear to suit their ideological
bias, building the story of a teacher hungry to use the technology in
“exciting” ways but held back by restrictive structures and conventions.
The reader notes that one can by “reading between the lines” of their
account see that these devices are new the school and corporate
knowledge of their optimal use isn’t in place at the time of the study.

Chapter three describes a period occurring after chapter one where the
choice of apps and tasks set by teachers to be performed by students has
changed to include more creative outputs. The authors create an almost
Manichean dichotomy between “closed” and “open” apps which overlays
with their bias neatly. Closed apps are the ones described in chapter one
including the gamification apps where the content and the users routes
through it are constrained toward finite outcomes. “Open” apps are those
which allow users a degree of freedom to create an output (ie. images,
recordings etc). This chapter culminates with an account of the teacher
claiming to be “naughty” for using the technology in a way they perceived
to be worthwhile but “against the rules” of the school’s literacy program.
The authors use this anecdote as a springboard to cite ideological texts
positing teachers who “do good” as those who “challenge the status quo”
vs those who “being good” as complying with external demands. This of
course is loaded with the a-priori assumption the status quo and its
external demands are automatically wrong.

The concluding section summarises the paper’s contents and enters into
more explicit discourse about the “tension” plot-line they have built up
through the paper. They mention the “closed” gamified apps they seem to
disapprove of as having an “underlying behaviourist paradigm”.
Unfortunately this is not explored more as educational gamification does
have its roots in Operant Conditioning techniques. There is a huge body of
evidence supporting the efficacy of operant conditioning as a learning
technique in certain contexts and the growing literature on educational
gamification is building upon this. To see a potentially powerful
pedagogical technique dismissed out of hand for ideological reasons is
jarring. There is also an innuendo that leaving learners with iPads to work
alone while the teacher delivers other work is perhaps an ulterior motive
for the focus on the “closed” apps. “Open” creative apps are again held
up as superior with ideological sources cited to back this up. The authors
highlight an apparent paradox in technology use in schools being a
government goal but then in practice being held back by governmental
policy. They again expound their meta-narrative of institutionalised “bad”
pedagogy dominating over their preferred “good” pedagogy inspiring
resistance from heroic activist teachers. Unfortunately the paper does not
examine the government policy they claim proscribes one pedagogical
approach to ipad use over another, it is simply asserted to. It is possible to
speculate that the policy itself is nowhere near as intransigent and
dictatorial as claimed, and instead what these authors have seen
is teachers when adopting a radically new technology (as ipads were at
the time) proceeding cautiously and conservatively. The newly graduated
teacher- no doubt trained in the very fashionable postmodern and
constructivist pedagogies which dominate Australian early childhood
education- may have interpreted this cautious workplace culture as
institutional intransigence and rigidity.

As with the Yelland & Gilbert (2016) paper reviewed in week 7, many of
the supposed issues and opportunities raised were likely an artifact of the
era in which the study was performed, when tablet apps were in their
infancy and teachers still learning what was practical. This paper’s
dichotomous open and closed app categorisation is outdated now as user
customisable educational platforms like Seesaw can blend both types of
interaction, gamified and creative, according to the situation. The
postmodern subjective and openly politically bias nature of this paper
makes it hard to apply anywhere beyond simply furthering a postmodern
ideological discourse or as a historical document to show readers how far
this technology has progressed since 2010.

Reference: Yanow D, Y. & Ybema, S & Hulst, M. (2012). Practising

organizational ethnography. Qualitative Organizational Research: Core
Methods and Current Challenges.

Reply
ETHAN GAO
08/11/2022, 01:40
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I WRITE ...?:
Scaffolding Preschoolers' Early Writing Skills. The Reading

Teacher, 66(8), 650–659. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

In this article, Cabell, Tortorelli, and Gerde reviewed the importance of

early writing skills, how writing develops in young children, and how
teachers can support this development. The focus of this article is
providing rich writing experiences can help to lay a foundation for later
reading and writing success. The authors provided an explicit scaffolding
of the development of writing skills, drawing and scribbling, letters and
letter-like forms, and salient and beginning sounds. The article offers
teachers a framework for evaluating and understanding the writing that
young children produce, as well as research-based recommendations for
tailoring instruction based on a child's strengths. This article is helpful to
my research topic as the four levels of writing skills are hugely helping my
designing of the English ePortfolio. The limitation of this article is not
found, and it contributes valuable information on an appropriate
scaffolding of overall early literacy development that teachers can use the
table to identify the goals and teaching strategies for each level of
students. Thus, this article can form the basis of my research in designing
the ePortfolio.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early years

literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic tensions in the iPad
use in an Australia preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

In this article, Lynch and Redpath reviewed a study on using portable

personal computing devices in the early years of schooling, such as an
iPad, which can be used to support literacy learning in the early years of
education. The authors interviewed a teacher, Monique; she mentioned
from the research that by utilising technologies, students could improve
their learning opportunities and experiences by learning and developing
new skills. This paper examines the use of Apple iPads in an Australian
Preparatory classroom in the first year following their
implementation. Students moved from handwritten and drawn plans to
drawing apps; they could capture audio tracks and share their final
product through ubiquitous social networking sites by using the
screenshot functionality of their iPads. This article is helpful to my
research topic, as using technologies such as iPad is highly conformed to
contemporary classroom teaching. The limitation of this article is that the
authors did not provide adequate information on the side effect of using
iPad. This article cannot form the basis of my research; however, it will be
useful supplementary information for my research on using technologies
to design lesson plans.

Reply
LEE KEE
07/11/2022, 17:18
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). How do I
write…? Scaffolding preschoolers' early writing skills. The reading
teacher, 66(8), 650-659. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

The article discussed the importance of fostering early writing skills and
how writing develops in young children and how teachers can actively
support this development. It provides examples and concrete suggestions
for fitting individualized writing instruction into common classroom
contexts. From the study, Mrs Jackson uses children observation to
identify their prior knowledge in writing and plan for next writing learning
experiences by assessing children’s writing samples to plan for
individualized strategies for scaffolding and expanding children’s writing
efforts.

The article provides a useful rationale explaining effective writing skills

which help in developing other critical literacy skills too. I was impressed
with the ideas of making signs and labels at blocks and clay centres and
incorporating writing in dramatic play. Through this study it reflected that
the author doesn’t mention the oral language as an important component
skill of writing. Writing not only includes the ability to accurately represent
the graphic form of speech (letters and words) but also the ability to
develop and express. In the early years of school, children will learn
fundamental writing knowledge and writing skills. Children’s growth as
writers through five phases of writing development—beginning, emergent,
early, transitional and fluent. Generally, children learning English as an
additional language or dialect (EAL/D) have a different developmental
path for learning to write. The EYLF stated that children are encouraged to
express themselves through language and develop their ability to convey
and construct messages with purpose in different contexts. Therefore, it is
helpful that the set up a literacy rich classroom environment with
materials and resources that support them as they write, e.g. charts of
common sight words, alphabet charts and displays of writing around the
room. Besides, providing activities that further develop the children’s
hand–eye coordination, wrist and hand muscle control and grip strength.
Furthermore, allow sufficient time on writing activities that involve the
teacher using different teaching approaches to enhance children’s
understanding of writing purposes and written texts.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) . 'Smart' technologies in the early

years literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory classroom.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

This article presents a qualitative study investigating the use of iPads to

support literacy learning in the early years of schooling in Victoria. This
research involved the participants including principal, teachers and Prep
students. The Prep classroom had been observed to collect the
information of students in regards their attitudes and practices of Ipad or
Ipod in the classroom. The data showed iPads used to support the learning
of traditional print-based literacy skills and literacy apps. Furthermore,
interview data from teachers reflects that ICT devices support and
position students as active stakeholders.

The article is useful to my current literacy’s lesson plans as it

demonstrates how to rethink the literacy curriculum by integrating
technologies in Transition class. The use of Ipad or ICT devices opens up
opportunities to support the literacy learning in class which involves
students with different skills, multimodal texts in a range of contexts. With
the advancement of technology, teachers’ tasks are getting more
interactive. Teachers can adopt pedagogical strategies to support positive
learning interactions between students. These approaches can lead to
higher order thinking skills, provide creative and individualized options for
students to express their understandings. Ipad also provides unique
opportunities for scaffolding and supporting learning for students with
special learning needs and from culturally diverse backgrounds. IPad and
ICT devices provide a variety of ways for students to weave together
words, pictures, and sounds, then communicate their ideas, thoughts, and
feelings. Good software allows children to engage in self-directed
exploration, and tailored to individual needs. Importantly, students feel
motivated through this new methodology. It is clearly stated that iPads
are beneficial in supporting literacy learning in the early years of
schooling. Conversely, teachers have to address the potential problems
and challenges in using it and suggest efficient ways that help to support
the development of ICT practices in the classroom.

Reply
RIKO YANG
07/11/2022, 15:23
NEW
Annotation1

Mackenzie, Noella. ( 2016) Becoming a Writer. Chapter 11 in Growing up

Literate: Australian Literacy Research for Practice. Pp177-194.

This article describes the 'becoming a writer' study to increase

practitioners' understanding of how children learn to write effectively
around school age. The qualitative and quantitative analysis was
conducted over five years, with three phases of collecting writing/drawing
samples, a survey of preschool teachers and a case study of students. The
findings suggest that writing helps your learners physically and
cognitively, that drawing and writing help students increase their
attention and fine motor skills, and that teachers should encourage and
help students make meaning. And in terms of teaching practice, drawing
and writing support children in building literacy and comprehension skills
and developing their confidence.

The research analysed up to 600 samples across Australia and used

various analysis methods to reduce biases. Each research stage was
ethically recognised and approved by the university and education
system. The findings support the positive effects of drawing and writing on
young children's cognitive and future practical experiences. However,
evidence of falsification of student work emerged in the collection. The
5like scale used in the survey produced results that tended to be overly
optimistic, which were inconsistent with teacher attitudes and practices.
Furthermore, the implementation process of the study was too long, and
these shortcomings impacted the timeliness and validity of the findings.

In conclusion, this study recommends that educators meaningfully

construct learning models rather than prioritise texts to help children's
literacy learning process. This paper offers an emerging vision for
educational practitioners to understand how they can improve children's
writing skills and enrich their overall writing environment.

Annotation2

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early years

literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic tensions in the iPad
use in an Australia preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

This article demonstrates a qualitative study that explores new patterns of

portable electronic device use in the context of early childhood education.
The researchers use interviews and observational data from students and
teachers to uncover the tension between the new technology and
institutionalised literacy and argue that the introduction of ICT technology
contributes to the construction of technological literacy in the learning
context.

The researchers compared the data by pinpointing metacognition,

teaching environments, and the entire process over two semesters for
comparison. To be detailed, preschool students' attitudes towards iPads,
teachers' perceptions of ICT use in the classroom and data from the
previous semester were discussed to create a picture of emerging
teaching. The results demonstrate that ICT's flexible and interactive
impact on education depends on its use. However, today ICT is only a
presentation of knowledge, and students are solely receivers rather than
content producers. However, the study only evaluated one primary school,
which the government funds generously. When using iPad to promote
emerging teaching, the socio-economic status of the family and school
still needs to be considered. Meanwhile, the character and ability of
teachers also affect the use of technologies efficiently.

This paper provides a direction for the future use of technology. It gives a
glimpse into the exact use of iPads in the kindergarten literacy learning
environment and how teachers can effectively use ICT in literacy lessons.
Besides, it makes the iPad ideal for children to link emerging family
literacies with technology literacy practices in early childhood.

Reply
SWECHHA NAKARMI
06/11/2022, 17:40
NEW
Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I
WRITE?: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–659.

This article provides a framework that helps to assess early years writing,
thus helping children to develop their writing skills. Furthermore, this
article talks about the importance of enhancing early years writing skills
and the developmental stages of writing in children and how teachers can
assist in these levels of developments. There are four levels of early years
writing development outlined in this article that act as a framework for
teachers. This framework is used as an assessment by Ms. Jackson to
explore four different students in these different levels and identify their
prior knowledge and their readiness to learn, giving an opportunity to find
what the children know about sound and print.

The findings suggest that early years writing skills have four levels of
development: drawing and scribbling, letter and letter-like forms, salient
and beginning sound and beginning and ending sound, which is identified
as a framework to assess a child’s writing efforts. Children in early years
when asked to write, are unable to differentiate between drawing and
writing. It is much later in development when children are able to
separate drawing from writing leading them to scribble. This scribble
gradually changes in features once children absorb from their
environment where letters go from left to right and are written horizontal.
Scribbles are then followed by writing letter-like forms that initially may
not be conventional letters since children confuse between numbers and
symbols with letter-like forms and conventional letters. When children
reach a significant point in developmental stage of writing, they tend to
produce the sounds they heard. These are salient sounds and may have a
letter in writing for each sound, word or syllable they hear. This is the
stage children begin to understand the alphabetic principle. Now as
children develop phonemic awareness, they are able to write the
beginning and ending of the sound, and eventually grasp the boundaries
in a word so much so that they put spaces between words.

Preschool teachers recognise the significance of writing in early years,

which is why they create writing opportunities for children during school
days. However, with little access to practical guidance, preschool teachers
struggle to help children with individual writing instruction. It is even
harder for someone like Ms. Jackson who intends to provide explicit
instruction to fulfil the need of diverse skill levels in a classroom. Having
said that, this framework helps teachers' scaffold children’s writing
skill onto the next level. Ms. Jackson helps 4 children who need scaffolding
instruction to develop their writing. Katrina is someone who likes pictures
than print in the books and needs to be able to separate the two. Ms.
Jackson intends to engage this student in journal writing and eventually
integrate letters in her writing. Then there’s Marvin whose writing has no
link to the sounds in the words. The goal for him is to understand
alphabetic principle and recognise the salient and beginning sounds and
contemplate those in writing. Carmen has some sort of understanding of
alphabetic principle, writing in left to right and letter-sound
correspondence while writing. Ms. Jackson pushes Carmen to include the
final sound in writing as she does with the initial one. Jayden is on the
fourth level of development who struggles to differentiate similar words
which is why Ms. Jackson focuses on middle vowel sounds then gradually
work on short and long vowel sounds.

This demonstration of preschool children with varying writing ability and

needs is undoubtedly a great example for teachers to provide scaffolding
in each level of their writing development. However, this individualised
strategy for writing instruction may not work for everyone. Students with
additional needs like dyslexia may not even fall in the abovementioned
levels of writing development and are unable to follow these sequential
developmental steps. And even for independent and capable learners, it is
likely that they might go back to their previous stage of development
unless the activities that help reach their goal are continuous, repetitive
and gradual.

For those who read this article, it provides you with a straightforward
framework to assess children's writing depending on their current level of
development which can be determined through observations. This
framework is easy to follow since the table in the article outlines the goals
and also provides appropriate strategies to achieve and move onto the
next developmental stage.

Lynch, J. & Redpath, T. (2012) 'Smart' technologies in the early

years literacy education: A meta-narrative of paradigmatic
tensions in the iPad use in an Australia preparatory classroom.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Vol 14, No 2. Pp147-174.

This article entails a study done on using iPads in the first year of
schooling in a small, primary, state-funded school in Victoria,
Australia with an intention to find the impact on functionality when
traditional education practices meet modern technologies. This study
started off with a narrative when in 2010, this school was the first one to
integrate iPads and hand it over to Prep teacher for its use by her 20
students. According to the findings, the practiced curriculum and policy of
early years literacy education does not quite align with how teachers
intend to incorporate technology in learning, especially when it comes to
print mode and digital-based learning, and their respective standardised
curricula.

To elaborate, there are three chapters to the findings. The first chapter
talks about how students responded to the integration of digital
technology and their ability to use them. As per the interview and
observation, data suggests that although these students had only been
exposed to iPad for four to seven weeks, they were highly competent not
just in its use but also finding an app and operating it, and care for the
device. The students were at ease even if they faced a technical problem
with an app because they could simply close and re-open the app rather
than relying on an adult to fix it. The iPads are used to support print-based
literacy through the help of gamified app in learning rotation activities for
literacy block. The second chapter talks about the teacher’s vision for the
classroom and how during observations, the study found discrepancy in
the vision and classroom practices. The teacher envisioned the technology
to effortlessly mix into her teaching and learning where the ICT is
relatable and a part of teaching that allows students to be independent
learners. The teacher seemed dissatisfied on how iPad was used only into
literacy as a part of gamified app which then leads students to consume
the content rather than create their own knowledge. And the third chapter
speaks on teacher’s conflict in trying to endorse her vision for teaching
and the current existing classroom practices. However, the changes she
wanted to bring were not just limited to the process of teaching and
teaching resources but also the role of teacher-student and the identity
associated with that position. And incorporating ICT seemed like an
innovative initiation to empower students towards self-directed learning.

These findings were identified through performing ethnographic fieldwork

by two researchers gathering data via formal/informal interviews with
students, teacher and principal along with observations of student
behaviors and classroom activities and collecting curriculum framework
practiced by the school and the student’s work samples. The principal was
interviewed to gain perspective on his vision for the future, his views on
purchasing and integrating ICT in prep classrooms. The teacher was
interviewed to understand her credentials when it comes to ICT and how
she intends to use it in the classroom for the benefit of the students. Out
of twelve, six Prep students were interviewed in Term 4 of 2010 which was
six months post purchasing iPads and the remaining six were interviewed
in Term 1, 2011. While each student showcased how to use iPads, they
were questioned about how frequently they use the device in class and
outside of school, their perspective and preference towards the device
and apps within it.
One significant context of this study talks about the current early years
literacy teaching practices that is dominant in Victoria, debate within the
pedagogical space, and the interchange between these practices and
those who constructed the use of ICT in primary schools. The Victorian
Curriculum for early years literacy heavily relies on traditional print mode
of learning and rigid accountability practices and policies for teachers to
follow in order to gather data and guide assessment. Although the
Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority encourages to adopt more of a
creative and flexible learning approach, and the curriculum statements
identifies the use of technology and focuses on digital learning to support
that approach, it is ironic how these curriculum goals are overlooked by
an assessment routine that is entirely based on a conservative literacy
viewpoint. Even though the government commits to ‘unlock the full
potential of digital technology in our schools’ (DEECD, 2006) and the State
Government of Victoria (2009) associates ICT to ‘exploration and
experimentation’ and ‘imaginative and creative play’, the curriculum,
policies and assessment continues to give importance to students’
expertise on print-based skills.

The classroom practices that are imposed by early years literacy curricula
and policies clash with modern multiliteracy concept and early childhood
infused with technology that indicates towards inadequate print-based
literacy. This difference in demand and supply suggests that curricula
need to be re-conceptualized with multimodal literacy, and this conflict
may confuse teachers on how ICT impacts early years literacy learning.
With teacher-led single-mode print skills that still is dominant in early
years curricula, the expectations set by the government, principal and
parents make it difficult for teachers to integrate ICT for teaching literacy
except if being used as a reward rather than a stand-alone literacy skill.

This meta-narrative could be an eye-opener for anyone who views ICT and
its integration merely to display acceptance of modern technology in the
classroom without having a deeper understanding of traditional
curriculum and policies. Not only that, but this study helps us realize that
it is equally important to not use them only during a part of the literacy
block through an app that only allows student to consume what’s given
that to explore creative and flexible ways to learn new things, keeping in
mind that learning largely depends on how ICT is used.

Edited by SWECHHA NAKARMI on 6 Nov 2022, 17:45:30

Reply
MELISSA JAYNE LINAKIS
06/11/2022, 12:27
NEW
Mackenzie, Noella. ( 2016) Becoming a Writer. Chapter 11 in Growing up
Literate: Australian Literacy Research for Practice. Pp177-194.

In this book chapter, Mackenzie (2016), presents the findings of

the Becoming a Writer program of research in order to build on existing
research and increase understandings of how children learn to write,
especially during the first year of school and the year before
school. The Becoming a Writer study took place over five years in NSW
and Victoria. The study was conducted over three phases and aimed to
provide some answers on what writing looks like in the first year of school,
what teachers attitudes were to learning and teaching writing,
what Foundation Year Teachers are looking for when analysing students
writing, and what the relationship is between drawing and writing in the
first year of school. The author presents a review of the literature,
discussing what it means to be literate, how writing fits into conceptions
of literacy, and highlighting that there is a strong relationship between
drawing and writing. Mackenzie goes on to describe the three phases of
the study. The first phase involved the collection of 337 drawing/writing
samples and aimed to aid understanding of student writing in Foundation
Year. The second phase collected data in 3 ways, through demographic
information, responses to a 5-point Likert scale, and responses to a
sample of Foundation Year student writing, and aimed to provide insight
into teachers attitudes to learning and teaching writing. The third phase
collected data through a number of different methods over a year-long
case study of 60 Foundation Year students and their teachers and aimed
to explore the relationship between writing and drawing. Mackenzie
presents a discussion of the data over the three phases, finding
that written texts can occur in a number of different modes, that oral and
visual modes of literacy, or talking and drawing, are just as important to
early writing development as written text, and that students should
be scaffolded and provided with opportunities through intentional
teaching to experiment and add written text to drawings in order to
experience parallel meaning-making. Mackenzie concludes the chapter
with a discussion of the implications for practice finding that: teachers
should support students through intentional teaching to build a range of
competencies and understandings through experiences that include child-
initiated or free play, curriculum- and adult-initiated play, and that
teachers should receive high quality professional development in this
area.
Lynch, J., & Redpath, T. (2014). “Smart” technologies in early years
literacy education : A meta-narrative of paradigmatic tensions in iPad use
in an Australian preparatory classroom. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy, 14(2), 147–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798412453150

In this article, Lynch and Redpath investigate how the use of information
and communication technology (ICT) in a Preparatory Year classroom can
be used to support literacy learning with multimodal texts. Data was
collected through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and classroom
observations, from the principal, the Preparation Year teacher and 22 Prep
students over 16 months at a small rural school in Victoria but the study is
ongoing. The data is presented as an interpretive meta narrative where
the authors summarise the students responses, competence, preferences
and attitudes towards the use of iPads in the classroom, discuss the
teacher’s vision and aims while highlighting inconsistencies and tensions
between these visions and aims, and focus on the teacher’s professional
growth throughout the study. The authors conclude the article by noting
that digital technologies can be used to bridge the gap between home
literacies and classroom literacy practices and result in transformational
work in schools.

Reply

BEI LUO
06/11/2022, 12:26
NEW
Annotation 9

Cabell, S. Q., Tortorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. K. (2013). HOW DO I

WRITE ...?: Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills. The
Reading Teacher, 66(8), 650–
659. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853120

This article provides a practical framework for preschool teachers to

understand and apply the knowledge to evaluate children’s writing and
use appropriate individualised teaching strategies to scaffold children’s
early writing development. The author of this article first discusses the
importance of early writing skills in later reading success and explains the
four developmental levels of early writing: drawing and scribbling; letters
and letter-like forms; salient and beginning sound; beginning and ending
sound. Then, it offers explicit classroom examples of how Mrs Jackson
efficiently provides individualised writing instructions to support each child
move to the next level of writing development.

The article has provided all educators and preschool teachers with a
precise understanding of how to put the research theories into practice.
The author concludes that the Table provided in this paper illustrates the
goals and types of activities that help scaffold writing instruction for
children at each level of development. One of the strengths of this article
is that it presents step-by-step instructions to assist teachers in using this
framework. In addition, the author presents different ways of thinking, for
example, the Pause and Ponder, Take Action, to allow teachers to reflect
on their professional practice.