Assessment

This week I read the article, “A Child’s Response to Intervention Requires a Responsive Teacher of Reading”.  IDEA offers U.S. schools confronting rising enrollments of students with learning disabilities two options for individuals with disabilities. The first option is that local education agencies can use as much as 15% of their special education funds to pay for early intervening services and to support professional development and literacy instruction. Second, offered by IDEA response to Intervention that can be used to provide early interventions with labeling students at risk for school failure as learning disabled.  The article then goes into the fundamental principles of the RTI Model. The main principles are ensuring identification of a struggling child, provide effective intervening services, and monitor the child.

Overall, it is pretty evident that a struggling child needs an expert teacher.  A teacher needs to be trained and know how to work with children who are lower-performing learners. Given the federal requirement for evidence-based interventions, the most reliable source for teachers, administrators, researchers, and policymakers seeking effective reading interventions is the What Works. TheWWC’s mission is to provide “a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.” The article offered some good information on RTI and the requirements of a teacher who is teaching a struggling student. 

Real Life Reading Inquiry

I observed my five-year old niece, Keelyn, for my Real Life Reading Inquiry. Keelyn is in Kindergarten, and from what I have seen, it seems that they are stressing reading a lot more in Kindergarten than I remember. She comes home every day from class with a letter assignment; they randomly go through the alphabet and pick a letter for that day. Then the assignment requires them to pick objects or toys from around the house that begin with that letter, and that are small enough to fit in their backpack. It seems that her teacher is really building a great foundation for these children to start reading on.

I went to my parent’s house to observe Keelyn read, and she knew I was coming so she wanted to show off her new skills, so she already had all the books she wanted to read out on the floor. The first book she read is titled “I am Going” by Mo Williams. The book is extremely repetitive, but seems to focus on some basic first words that are important for children to learn when they first begin reading. She was extremely proud of herself that she could read the whole book by herself, but after a few minutes of listening to her I started to realize a few things about her reading. Although, she was reading some words, it was almost as if she had the book memorized. After talking to mom, I learned that both my dad and mom read that book to her numerous times that week.

After this book, we moved on to a few more books; “Biscuit Visits the Big City”, “Flat Stanley and the Haunted House”, and “Mac and Cheese”. Since these books were a little more difficult compared to the first book she read, I could she her frustration setting in. If she didn’t know a word, like the word never, she would say the word no instead. She recognized the n, but didn’t know the rest of the word. When I corrected her, she would get frustrated and would want to quit reading. I let her finish reading the books and she would ask me for help on at least every page.

From observing Keelyn read, I would say she is in the logographic stage of reading. She acquires small sight vocabulary or written words, and according to the handout from class logographic stage is, "not yet reading the letters in the words but are trying to find any identifiable feature that will help them remember the words." I think she can read some words, but she is still at the stage where she is reading from what she remembers, and recognizes a lot of words.  Regardless of her stage of reading, I think she is the smartest, cutest five-year old out there!

From the books we read, we finished her Thanksgiving class project. It required you reading a certain amount of books, and each book title would be written on a feather. When you are done reading all the books, you put the feathers together to a make a turkey!

Guided Reading

The article I read is titled Guided Reading for ALL students. It states that guided reading “is the process by which we can help students to be strategic in their reading- and improve their skills at getting information from books”. The article says that during Guided Reading students actively participate in the group reading process – by listening and making their own conclusions about the text. The author believes that Guided Reading is never about passively listening as a book is read – it is about each and every student actively listening to the book and participating in the discussion after it has been read. An important part of Guided Reading is repeated reading of a text – every day for a week – and setting a different purpose each time the book is read. The articles says that the purposes need to be broad and encourage the students to listen to the whole book…

If the book being read is “Where is the Green Sheep? ” by Mem Fox , broad purposes would be: “Read the book to tell me your favorite color sheep” or “Read the book to discuss the funniest thing a sheep does”. It says it is best to avoid narrow purposes, such as “tell me two colors of sheep” as many students would only listen for the first two colors and then their focus would move to remembering “the answer” rather than listening to the whole text. Narrow purposes also tend to be more obvious – so they don’t encourage a student to process a whole text and problem solve.

The article also addresses student with disabilities, one of the concerns she gets about guided reading to children with disabilities is that people feel the students can’t participate in guided reading because they don’t understand what is expected of them. Her response is that until we expect them to understand, and give them the opportunity to participate, then they won’t be able to do it. We need to see the students we work with as readers and writers – we need to have an expectation that they CAN succeed. I believe this statement completely, we do not know what each student is capable of until we include them and see what they are capable of.

http://sealbark.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html  - Watch Me!

This video is awesome! It shows what children with disabilities are capable of reading, and we should not judge them off their disability, you have to treat them the same as any other child that is learning to read, and help them in the same ways.

-Do you have any tips on guided reading to children with disabilities? I searched and searched and couldn’t find too much on the subject. 

Vocabulary

Paparazzi- that is what my five-year old niece told me I should be for Halloween when I asked her last week when I was trying to plan a last minute costume. She told me she heard that word earlier that day at school when all the parents were taking pictures of the students in their Halloween costumes. At that point, my niece had no idea what the meaning the word paparazzi was, but that just proves that a child can pick up a new word after hearing it once, and even add it to their vocabulary. I explained what the paparazzi is to my niece, and within the past week she has used her new word every time she has seen a camera.

The article I read this week, “Vocabulary Lessons”, made me think of the example of my niece and the new word she learned.  Children can hear a word once and automatically add it to their vocabulary. The article explained the importance of a good vocabulary and provided some ideas and tools to teach students new words while enhancing their vocabulary.  The authors stated that…

“Playing with words enables students to develop a metacognitve understanding of how words work. When learning is fun, students become interested in words and see them as objects that they can use and examine”.

 I think that is the most important part to the article, because children need a fun way to associate things when they are learning anything new. Great examples are using word walls to introduce new words or letting the students act out a new word. Another important thing to teaching vocabulary is providing strategies for independence, so when the student is stuck on a word they have the means to discover the definition.  A great way to do that is teach students the importance of a dictionary and how to use one, and then provide them with one so that they are able to independently look up a new word. 

Comprehension

In the article “Comprehension Strategies for Early Readers”, I liked the example about making connections and the Velcro Theory. Explaining that it is easier to learn new things by sticking the new things you learn to things that are already know. Even in college I find that theory true when trying to learn a new definition or idea. I try to find things that are already in my brain to associate the new definition or idea to. Chapter 7 in the book provided some great examples to help children comprehend what they read, like Literate Conversations, Informational Text Lessons, and Think-Alouds.  At the elementary age children are so focused on the actual reading part and making sure that they read smoothly and pronounce the words correctly, that they forget to comprehend what they are reading.

I think the most important thing for teachers is to remember that is just as important for students to comprehend as it is to read. It is important to provide the students with work and assignments that lets them decipher the text, rather than go back and just find the answers without actually understanding what the texts is saying. I know for me that visualizing what I am reading plays a big part into what I am reading. It is best if the children think of what they are reading as a story. That is why I thought Visualizations and Mind Movies was such a great idea. The students can see the story visually and match the pictures up the words that they read. Overall, I think the articles I read provided me with some wonderful tools for comprehension, and explaining to my future students that it is more than just reading, it is also the act of understanding what you are reading. 

://crescent.rale.k12.wv.us/Webpage/comprehension.htm- MORE IDEAS!

Fostering Fluency

AlthoughitisfallbreakIamdoingmyhomeworkformyreadingeducationclassIamprettyproudofmyselfthatIamnotdoingthisthenightbeforelikeIusuallydoIreadchapterfouranditistitledfosteringfluencyIfounditinterestinganditgavesomegreatexamplestouseintheclassroomAlsoIneverrealizedhowdifficultitistonotusethespacebar.

The words above are my copy of the example that they provided in the beginning of Chapter 4- Fostering Fluency by Cunningham and Allington. If you had a difficult time reading that and had to pause, you have experienced what it feels like when you cannot read something fluently. I thought it was neat way to start out the chapter, it put the difficulties that children have with reading in perspective for me. I am so use to being able to read without struggle, it almost reverted my mind back to when I was in elementary school learning to read, and it brought back the struggles I remember having. At this age, the one thing that I can compare children’s difficulty of reading to is me in my Spanish class trying to read and comprehend the words of a different language. If I have a difficult time with a word and have to pause and look it up, I lose my whole train of thought and lose any comprehension that I had of the sentence or paragraph. So in a sense, even thought I am in college I can understand the struggle and the frustration that children have towards reading.

CLICK THIS!!! http://msjordanreads.com/2012/02/26/fluency-boot-camp/ _

The link above is great idea for the classroom, it is called Fluency Boot camp and provides a lesson plan, activities, and the worksheets needed for the lesson. It seems like a fun idea! 

Making Words

This article represented a little irony for me, considering that I spent all weekend babysitting children who are learning to both read and write. On Friday, I actually spent time in an elementary school working with children who are struggling with writing. I noticed a lot of typical mistakes the children made when attempting to spell pretty simple words. One of the little girls I was working with was trying to spell “feel”, but instead spelled “fiel”.  Even though some of the words were spelled wrong, the children were still using the word in the correct context, so I understood pretty easily what they were trying to write. Also, at dinner tonight I was trying to help my five year old niece understand rhyming words and how you can change the first letter of pat to b and make bat, which also rhymes. So I feel like this article is right up my alley!  I think Cunningham and Cunningham’s article “Making Words” would be a great activity to do of course in the classroom, but even for the children I work with, for the children I babysit, and my niece. It provided a fun and interesting way for children to improve phonics and spelling, which will lead them on the road to being a better reader! I remember doing this activity on the chart in elementary school, but I found more fun ways to do this...

I thought this was such a cute idea! Since the two sides of the eggs can slide around, this is a great way for "Making Words"

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/278519558174722268/

A great idea for parents to do at home for this purpose is fridge magnets!

Week 5

I thought the article, What can I say besides “Sound it Out”, was great because it gave real life accounts of the word coaching recognition and how the children responded to it. Chapter 5 in Classrooms that Work was all about teaching phonics and spelling patterns. What really stuck out to me in the article was the game called The Wheel.  Any game that incorporates learning as its key function will automatically have a child interested. Although they are learning, they mainly see it as a game and a fun thing to do. I also liked Making Words, it is something that I remembering doing in elementary school.  Another thing I thought about was using media and technology to help children with phonics and spelling patterns. I looked around on the internet and there are so many phone apps and online games that address phonics and spelling. It would be great for the students to do in class, or even at home considering technology is in almost every household. 

Source- http://www.teachthought.com/apps-2/50-popular-ipad-apps-for-struggling-readers-writers/

The URL above is for the website which has a list of different apps and games. It it more directed towards children that have learning disabilities, but since I am a Special Education major I found it a great tool to hold on to. 

Fourth Week

The first article, IRA/NAEYC, talks about the processes of reading and writing and the child development of learning. It says that Kindergarten, when the child is really starting to learn how to read, that a teacher need to expose them to many forms and function of print because it serves as a foundation that is critical. From the article I understood the importance of reading out loud to children. The teacher can read the story to the students, and retell the story and break it down for the students to understand while she is reading. It is also a fun way for the students to learn how to read with the class. I look back at Kindergarten and the first thing I always remember is the colored benches that we sat at while Mrs. Swicegood read to us. We were learning to read, but we were also listening to a good story at the same time, which made it a lot more interesting for kindergartners.

The second article I read was Letting Go of Letter of the Week. The article mentions that students enter school at different levels of reading and writing. In kindergarten it is important to make them comfortable with each other and the process of reading so they can all build on the skill. I liked the examples of taking everyday things, like familiar logos, and showing the children that they already know how to read while also building their confidence. I think that is a great place to start because if a kid is the slightest bit discouraged about reading, it will show them that they have the capability to read.

The third article by Yopp and Yopp was about supporting phonemic awareness and development in the classroom. It broke down phonetics and provided great examples of games and activities to help children with phonological awareness. It teaches children to read in a fun manner, but all the activities have a direct purpose. One of the songs they suggested was Tikki Tikki Tembo, the songs purpose is to teach syllables to children. That stood out to me because I remember learning that song in first grade and till this day I can still sing the song. At the time I never realized exactly what I was learning with that song, but it is funny now because something I learned so long ago and loved, I can use to teach my future students.

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173468221l/293595.jpg

Literacy Foundation

                       The Jones Family

The Jones Family Culture of Literacy goes in the life and home of an African American family living in a small rural town called Pinesville. The article explores the many ways that the children of the family learn to read even before they start school. It dives into the many different ways that the family reads, ranging from reading the bible to reading information on a loan. My blog last week mentioned that reading is everywhere around us, and I think this article does a good job of illustrating that and showing how you can use that to an advantage when teaching a child to learn. I think the way the Jones teach their children to read would be a great source in the classroom. Instead of just having books in the classroom, it would be a great idea to have newspapers, children's magazines, or even food labels. That way children are exposed to every source and medium of reading. I think this is a great way of working with the child, rather than against them. It is teaching them a necessity of life, but letting them learn in a way that interests them and teaches them more about the World.

                     Literacy Foundation
The article in the book explores the foundation of literacy and suggests activities for building the foundation. My niece, who is in kindergarten, is learning to read through a lot of the activities that are suggested in the chapter. Each day she comes home with different creative activities, and different homework that requires the practice of reading... and she seems to actually enjoy them! This reading gave me some good ideas to not only help my future students, but also my niece!

photo 1-http://www.facebook.com/Jumpstartkids

Classrooms Working, Working Classrooms.

Education... One thing that I have argued up and down that our Nation needs to put more of a focus towards, arguing that it it a key aspect and the ultimate foundation to all of our lives. But after reading the articles, I believe  reading is the ultimate foundation to an education. I've always known how important reading is, but while I was reading these articles I started to think how much my everyday live revolves around reading. Whether  it is reading ingredients for a recipe, or the reading the channel guide on the TV, the concept of having to read to figure something out or to make a decision is everywherreeeeee. One of the things the author wrote that stood out to me was when she said it is not about having children that "can read", it is about having children that "do read", major emphasis on the "do read" part of that sentence. 

I think the articles provide great tools to ensure that children will read and be engaged, rather than having to read and just getting it over with. Considering that all children are different and have different interests and hobbies, I think it would be silly to tell them what to read every time they read. I liked that Cunningham's article talked about providing children with different genres to choose from, then also providing them with a list to keep track of those genres. From my personal experience, I am going to be a lot more interested in reading if it a subject that I am either passionate or curious about, and I think the same goes for children. Another thing that was not directly stated, but something that I took from the article is that a teacher needs to be creative when teaching children to read. Whether it be children popcorn reading with a group, or sitting on a comfy couch in the classroom, I think reading needs a little diversity. 

After reading these articles, I am curious of other "out of the box" and creative ways that I can teach students to read. I think its time for me to do some exploring on Pinterest for ideas!