Literacy Playshop

What is the literacy playshop approach? The literacy playshop approach is a way to enhance literacy development in children through creative means. Instead of focusing on reading and writing, it incorporates play and imagination. It focuses on what the children know about popular media and what they are interested in. The teacher then can create media playshops on things that children are interested in such as their favorite super heroes or favorite Disney princesses. When children are watching movies or their favorite cartoons they are incorporating literacy without even realizing it. If teachers can tap into that and help them enhance this with something that the child loves, the learning experience will be that much more beneficial in the classroom.

I think that the literacy playshop approach is an interesting way to think about literacy development. I think it is particularly useful in younger classrooms where children are constantly playing pretend and using their imagination to act out their favorite popular media characters. I have found with my focal student that this is particular difficult to do because she is in second grade and is very mature. She does not like popular movies such as Frozen and does not have a favorite show or movie. She is not one to play pretend because that is seen as something a "baby" would do. She enjoys reading the book series "Ivy and Bean" which is about two best friends and is something very relatable to a second grader. When wanting to incorporate this literacy approach into the classroom I think it is important to consider who your students are and if it will be beneficial for them or not.