Page 71 - Reading Nest - The Supportive Literacy Environment Handbook

Ideally the overall learning environment at school or kindergarten should support literacy,

managers should be aware of its essential features and take steps to ensure every classroom
meets its requirement as best as possible. The learning environment and curriculum of the

educational institution can hugely support literacy, even if they are not the major factors.
It is still possible that in a progressive school and well-furnished classroom with a functional

reading nest, a teacher might apply methods unsuitable to evolving every child’s literacy.
For instance the teacher makes everybody read out loud in front of the class and disparages

those less successful, and only the best are allowed in the reading nest if they complete a task

before others. There are opposite ways as well, where managers do not know or value
creating an environment supporting literacy but where teachers have set up a nest which is

supportive of children’s initiative, text-rich and cosy.