The article, Looking inside classrooms: Reflecting on the "how" as well as the "what
in effective reading instruction, was one of my favorite articles. I like articles that are explicit in stating what has been found helpful. In this article, the findings of the study that were found to be helpful were small group-instruction and word skill work, active responding, and higher level questions. I was pleased that the article stated that teachers can rob children of their opportunity to take responsibility of their own skills and strategies if the teacher "tells" them something, when they could be coaching them. I think it's easy as a teacher "tell" children, instead of coach them because you think it's your job as a teacher to teach them something by telling them. I wish that more teachers knew that by telling them, it is actually doing them a disservice. I also like the metaphor used about equipping the children with a "full backpack" of skills, strategies, habits, and dispositions towards literacy. I agree with this because I believe it's not important for children to remember simple facts about books they read. I think it will serve the child more good, If they are given strategies and skills to understand those books on a deeper level.
In the article, The Schools We Have. The Schools We Need, brings up many interesting topics, I especially liked reading about sorting vs. supporting. Because I was a struggling reader all throughout elementary school, I was always put into one of the lower reading groups. I completely agree with his thought "our schools have become places were readers in trouble are assessed, sorted, labeled and then segregated from their peers for all or part of the day" (p. 18). He also addresses the idea that "labeling is not instruction". I don't believe I became a better reader because I was placed in those lower groups. I remember in 3rd grade, I had a really great teacher and I really wanted to read one of the books one of the higher groups was reading. He talked to my mom and they worked out a plan for me to be in that higher group. My mom and I would read the chapter we were going to read in class, the night before and talk about what happened so I wouldn't be behind in class. While, I know not every mother would be as willing as my mom to take the extra time to do this, it boosted my self-esteem so much. This experience gave me the confidence to read more challenging books. I think it's important for struggling readers to get extra attention but it does not always have to be by grouping and labeling them as "struggling readers."
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
June 28th readings
The first thing that stuck out to me in the article, Matching texts and readers: Leveling early reading materials for assessment and instruction was the emphasis on the background experience of the students. The authors stress the importance of many other factors that contribute to a child's understanding of a text, but to me the importance of background experiences was especially stressed. This new leveling system that is talked about in the book wants to empower teachers to make choices about eh materials that best suit the needs of their students, based on the children's experiences. I think a lot of the time, teachers have great and innovative ideas they would like to incorporate into the classroom, but the curriculum or the school doesn't allow for that. This new approach will allow teachers to cater to their children's needs. I also liked that the article talked about the importance of children selecting their own books. The article states, "interest and background knowledge will have an impact on the readability of a text for a particular student" (p.355). I agree with this statement and believe more teachers should use the interested of their students as a platform to get them interested in reading.
I liked reading about Clay's ideas in Running Records, the assessment seemed to be conductive to what the children are being taught. I think a lot of the time, children are taught different things than they are tested on. This makes the children learn how to become good test takers and not fully learn the information. However, I think Running Records has taken this into account while designing their assessment. I also think that Running Records will be helpful because of the assessment can serve for teaching individuals and groups. This assessment helps teachers evaluate whether some texts are appropriate for children and it can also be useful to see if regrouping is necessary.
I liked reading about Clay's ideas in Running Records, the assessment seemed to be conductive to what the children are being taught. I think a lot of the time, children are taught different things than they are tested on. This makes the children learn how to become good test takers and not fully learn the information. However, I think Running Records has taken this into account while designing their assessment. I also think that Running Records will be helpful because of the assessment can serve for teaching individuals and groups. This assessment helps teachers evaluate whether some texts are appropriate for children and it can also be useful to see if regrouping is necessary.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
June 23rd readings
The article I found is called, Making Guided Reading Work. I found this article, among others from the same author, on Educationworld.com. I choose this article because it had a lot of direct applications for guided reading in the classroom. The article first starts out by explaining how to establish a routine that allows for uninterrupted time to work in small groups. The article explains the progression of how they introduce different centers that guide them more and more towards independent small group activities. I found this portion of the article to be very helpful, I would never have thought of the importance of getting the children used to small groups before even introducing guided reading.
There is an example of a mini lessons for guided reading in the article that I found useful. I would recommend someone reading this article before they taught a guided reading lesson. The mini lessons includes examples and language that teachers may want to use. The last section I really enjoyed was, guided reading for struggling readers. It emphasized the importance of using a book that the child is familiar with to help build skills and confidence. I found this article really helpful for understanding how guided reading is applied in classrooms.
Here is the link: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/miller/miller011.shtml
You have to scroll down to the "more guided reading resources" section and click "Making Guided Reading Work."
There is an example of a mini lessons for guided reading in the article that I found useful. I would recommend someone reading this article before they taught a guided reading lesson. The mini lessons includes examples and language that teachers may want to use. The last section I really enjoyed was, guided reading for struggling readers. It emphasized the importance of using a book that the child is familiar with to help build skills and confidence. I found this article really helpful for understanding how guided reading is applied in classrooms.
Here is the link: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/miller/miller011.shtml
You have to scroll down to the "more guided reading resources" section and click "Making Guided Reading Work."
Monday, June 20, 2011
June 21st Readings
I enjoyed reading the article, Kindergartners Can Do It, Too! Comprehension Strategies for Early Readers, because I have never witnessed a think aloud activity. I liked learned about the process of the children using schema, make connections, visualize, ask questions, and infer when interacting with texts. I enjoyed how the article was set up because it ran the reader through all of the steps of the activity, it made it easier to come away with a technique that is easily applied. I also enjoyed that the author pointed out the fact that "all students within the classroom were able to engage with text to begin to negotiate meaning construction." Even though there is usually a large reading ability gap between the children, I think it's important for all of the children to participate in some activities together.
The article, The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction, was helpful in explaining the difficulties that teachers face while trying to teach comprehension. It also gave a solution for how to teach reading comprehension called the comprehension matrix. This article reminded me how many factors affect comprehension, understanding and being aware of these factors can help teachers come up with effective reading comprehension activities. I found the chart on page 107 of the comprehension matrix very helpful. To me, the chart was very easy to read and the examples in each box were very helpful. This is a chart that I will refer back to while I am teaching reading comprehension in my classroom. Lastly, I also found the comprehension strategies useful. Some of the common strategies among all of the theorists were, connecting, questioning, purpose setting, visualizing, inferring, predicting, retelling, deciding what's important, monitoring, and evaluating. It amazed me with how many there were! Although I find teaching reading comprehension daunting, the fact that there are so many strategies is more settling. I know that if one strategy is not working for one child, there are many more to choose from.
The article, What every teacher needs to know about comprehension, is a good overview and introduction into comprehension. I wish I had read this article first because it explains all of the components of comprehension well. I liked how the article explained that for children to be competent comprehenders, they must master decoding skills, develop fluency, build and use their backround knowledge, learn vocabulary words, and respond to texts. This just illustrates the importance of stressing the importance of all of these areas and how they all impact one another. One thing I wish the article had were more examples in the classroom.
Lastly, I enjoyed the part of chapter 7 explaining classroom conversations. It has always been reiterated to me that as a teacher, I must ask children questions about the reading, but I haven't learned about the importance of children making connections. The three types of connections listed were a helpful framework to go off of. The connections are text to self, text and to world. I like that the book pointed out how some children find it easier to answer questions and some find it easier to make connections, I never thought of this alternative. I also LOVED the Oprah Winfrey Interview idea! I wish creative ideas like this were brought to my classroom in elementary school. I love the idea of the teacher playing the role as Oprah and having the students play the role of the characters in the book. This seems like such a fun way for the children to understand the characters on another level.
The article, The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction, was helpful in explaining the difficulties that teachers face while trying to teach comprehension. It also gave a solution for how to teach reading comprehension called the comprehension matrix. This article reminded me how many factors affect comprehension, understanding and being aware of these factors can help teachers come up with effective reading comprehension activities. I found the chart on page 107 of the comprehension matrix very helpful. To me, the chart was very easy to read and the examples in each box were very helpful. This is a chart that I will refer back to while I am teaching reading comprehension in my classroom. Lastly, I also found the comprehension strategies useful. Some of the common strategies among all of the theorists were, connecting, questioning, purpose setting, visualizing, inferring, predicting, retelling, deciding what's important, monitoring, and evaluating. It amazed me with how many there were! Although I find teaching reading comprehension daunting, the fact that there are so many strategies is more settling. I know that if one strategy is not working for one child, there are many more to choose from.
The article, What every teacher needs to know about comprehension, is a good overview and introduction into comprehension. I wish I had read this article first because it explains all of the components of comprehension well. I liked how the article explained that for children to be competent comprehenders, they must master decoding skills, develop fluency, build and use their backround knowledge, learn vocabulary words, and respond to texts. This just illustrates the importance of stressing the importance of all of these areas and how they all impact one another. One thing I wish the article had were more examples in the classroom.
Lastly, I enjoyed the part of chapter 7 explaining classroom conversations. It has always been reiterated to me that as a teacher, I must ask children questions about the reading, but I haven't learned about the importance of children making connections. The three types of connections listed were a helpful framework to go off of. The connections are text to self, text and to world. I like that the book pointed out how some children find it easier to answer questions and some find it easier to make connections, I never thought of this alternative. I also LOVED the Oprah Winfrey Interview idea! I wish creative ideas like this were brought to my classroom in elementary school. I love the idea of the teacher playing the role as Oprah and having the students play the role of the characters in the book. This seems like such a fun way for the children to understand the characters on another level.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
June 16th readings
In the article, Vocabulary Lessons, the statement claiming, "5th grade students who engage in just 10 minutes of independent reading a day reads 662,000 more words each year than students who do no independent reading. Increase that reading to 20 minutes a day, and the gap widens to almost tow million more words read each year" (p.67), was shocking! I had read the Hart and Risley study in a previous class so I was aware of the gap between children from different income levels. However, I didn't realize the impact on the children reading for just 10 minutes a day! This fact is settling because it really is as simple as giving children only 10 minutes out of the day to read; but it's also disturbing to me that all children aren't reading 10 minutes a day. I wish I could broadcast this fact to every teacher and parent! Another tip from the article I wish all parents and educators knew is that to help struggling readers, not only to read to them but also play word games with them. Playing with words teaches children to understand how words work which will go a long way in their education. I think this article did a good job explaining why increasing children's vocabulary is important while providing helpful lessons to do so.
In the article, The Vocabulary Rich Classroom, something that seemed to obvious to me but never occurred to me was "the more words the reader knows, the easier it will be to read and understand what is read" (p.364). It seems so obvious that vocabulary correlates with reading comprehension but without this article, I may have not made that connection.I also never thought about how teachers sometimes find many examples of unnecessarily simplistic language. Instead of using subtract, they will use take away. I never would have thought of this as a bad thing until I read this article. I think discoveries like these reiterate the importance of teachers constantly reading the latest findings and articles and books like these. Another important idea brought up in this article is the research supporting "knowing fewer words well is more important than knowing many words superficially" (p.365). Just because a child can write a definition on their paper doesn't mean they fully comprehend the fully meaning.Lastly, I really enjoyed the explanation of the three-tier model. I feel a little overwhelmed with what words are important for children in my classroom to learn and this model provides a little insight into that.
As I stated before, I previously studied the Hart and Risley findings. However, the article, The Early Catastrophe, provided more insight as to how they collected their data. One thing I found interesting was, "the 42 children grow more like their parents in stature and activity levels, in vocabulary resources, and in language and interaction styles" (p.7). I've always felt very lucky to have grown up in the family that I did. Both of my parents are educated and made my sisters and my education as a top priority. However, I know that this is not the case for all of the students that will be in my classroom. I find it so frightening how much impact some parents, who don't have their children's education as a priority, have on their children the first few years of their lives. This fact just reiterates the importance of the role, we as teachers must play in children's life.
In Chapter 6 of the book, I enjoyed reading about taking advantage of media and technology. The media that is available in classrooms now is nothing like when I was in elementary school, which was only nine years ago! Therefore, using art and media in the classroom seems like a foreign subject to me, that I try to stay away from. The book brought up a good point, "you and your children can take virtual field trips all over the world and back in time" (p.102). This chapter has opened my eyes to media, as long as it is used in moderation. Another part of this chapter I enjoyed was how to effectively use dictionaries. This reminded me of my mom. She is a first grade teacher and a terrible speller, so anytime she would write a new word on the board she would have her children look up the word in the dictionary. I always thought this would be kind of boring as a first grader. After reading this it reminds me that because of the technology that is now available, children will not have very much experience with dictionaries (I know I don't). What better way to incorporate dictionaries into the classroom but to take them on a dictionary scavenger hunt?
In the article, The Vocabulary Rich Classroom, something that seemed to obvious to me but never occurred to me was "the more words the reader knows, the easier it will be to read and understand what is read" (p.364). It seems so obvious that vocabulary correlates with reading comprehension but without this article, I may have not made that connection.I also never thought about how teachers sometimes find many examples of unnecessarily simplistic language. Instead of using subtract, they will use take away. I never would have thought of this as a bad thing until I read this article. I think discoveries like these reiterate the importance of teachers constantly reading the latest findings and articles and books like these. Another important idea brought up in this article is the research supporting "knowing fewer words well is more important than knowing many words superficially" (p.365). Just because a child can write a definition on their paper doesn't mean they fully comprehend the fully meaning.Lastly, I really enjoyed the explanation of the three-tier model. I feel a little overwhelmed with what words are important for children in my classroom to learn and this model provides a little insight into that.
As I stated before, I previously studied the Hart and Risley findings. However, the article, The Early Catastrophe, provided more insight as to how they collected their data. One thing I found interesting was, "the 42 children grow more like their parents in stature and activity levels, in vocabulary resources, and in language and interaction styles" (p.7). I've always felt very lucky to have grown up in the family that I did. Both of my parents are educated and made my sisters and my education as a top priority. However, I know that this is not the case for all of the students that will be in my classroom. I find it so frightening how much impact some parents, who don't have their children's education as a priority, have on their children the first few years of their lives. This fact just reiterates the importance of the role, we as teachers must play in children's life.
In Chapter 6 of the book, I enjoyed reading about taking advantage of media and technology. The media that is available in classrooms now is nothing like when I was in elementary school, which was only nine years ago! Therefore, using art and media in the classroom seems like a foreign subject to me, that I try to stay away from. The book brought up a good point, "you and your children can take virtual field trips all over the world and back in time" (p.102). This chapter has opened my eyes to media, as long as it is used in moderation. Another part of this chapter I enjoyed was how to effectively use dictionaries. This reminded me of my mom. She is a first grade teacher and a terrible speller, so anytime she would write a new word on the board she would have her children look up the word in the dictionary. I always thought this would be kind of boring as a first grader. After reading this it reminds me that because of the technology that is now available, children will not have very much experience with dictionaries (I know I don't). What better way to incorporate dictionaries into the classroom but to take them on a dictionary scavenger hunt?
Monday, June 13, 2011
June 14th Readings
One thing that stood out to me in the article, Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom was the chart on page 131. I have always been confused by the terms, "phoetics," "phonics," "phoneme" and "phonemic awareness." This chart not only gave the definitions of these easily confused words but also examples. After reading this chart, I feel like I have a better grasp on these concepts. Another part of the article I found extremely helpful was the phonemic awareness instruction. I have learned about the importance of phonemic awareness but I've never really gotten a good understanding of how to incorporate phonemic awareness into the classroom. As we learned last week in class with fluency, fluency cannot be the entire language arts curriculum, it must be integrated into the literacy program. This article stresses the importance of phonemic awareness must be only part of the literacy program because many times phonemic activities will not be useful, unless it is placed in the context of actual readings. This article pushed my thinking to realize not only is phonemic awareness important in the classroom but how to present it as well.
I enjoyed reading the article, What can I say besides "sound it out?" Coaching word recognition in beginning reading. I liked how the author referred to reading as a "powerful interaction with teachers." I don't believe all teachers or adults share this belief. Recently, I have seen teachers to expect the teachers to do all of the teaching, and the children to do all of the learning. I believe if teachers view reading more as an interaction then they will have more confident readers in their classroom. While reading through the different scenarios, the author states, "to coach successfully, one must... have specific knowledge of students' word recognition abilities" (p. 445). This statement reiterates the importance of getting to know your students. I always wished my teachers would've spent a little extra time getting to know me as a learner and what helped me learn. This article is tied in with the first one because for a teacher to effectively coach, the children must have understanding of phonic elements.
In chapter 5 of the book, while the author is explaining the "Making Words" activity, she explains that this activity is a type of instruction called, guided discovery. Guided discovery is the thought that, "in order to truly learn and retain strategies, children must discover them." I never thought of reading this way. The author also states that because not all children will discover words easily on their own, the teacher will need to guide their students to making these discoveries. A teacher could use the tips about coaching that were given in the article, What can I say besides "sound it out?" Coaching word recognition in beginning reading, to help their students make word discoveries. I also enjoyed the part of the chapter labeled, Modeling how to decode big words. I've always learned better when things were modeled for me, and this part of the book lays out a conversation the teacher can have with their students while modeling how to decode a word. I believe the language this example uses gives children the language they need for their private speech or thinking. I've always struggled with sounding words out and this chapter has explained to me that I was never fully equipped with the tools and the phonemic awareness to do so.
I enjoyed reading the article, What can I say besides "sound it out?" Coaching word recognition in beginning reading. I liked how the author referred to reading as a "powerful interaction with teachers." I don't believe all teachers or adults share this belief. Recently, I have seen teachers to expect the teachers to do all of the teaching, and the children to do all of the learning. I believe if teachers view reading more as an interaction then they will have more confident readers in their classroom. While reading through the different scenarios, the author states, "to coach successfully, one must... have specific knowledge of students' word recognition abilities" (p. 445). This statement reiterates the importance of getting to know your students. I always wished my teachers would've spent a little extra time getting to know me as a learner and what helped me learn. This article is tied in with the first one because for a teacher to effectively coach, the children must have understanding of phonic elements.
In chapter 5 of the book, while the author is explaining the "Making Words" activity, she explains that this activity is a type of instruction called, guided discovery. Guided discovery is the thought that, "in order to truly learn and retain strategies, children must discover them." I never thought of reading this way. The author also states that because not all children will discover words easily on their own, the teacher will need to guide their students to making these discoveries. A teacher could use the tips about coaching that were given in the article, What can I say besides "sound it out?" Coaching word recognition in beginning reading, to help their students make word discoveries. I also enjoyed the part of the chapter labeled, Modeling how to decode big words. I've always learned better when things were modeled for me, and this part of the book lays out a conversation the teacher can have with their students while modeling how to decode a word. I believe the language this example uses gives children the language they need for their private speech or thinking. I've always struggled with sounding words out and this chapter has explained to me that I was never fully equipped with the tools and the phonemic awareness to do so.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
June 9th readings
In the article, One- Minute Fluency Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction, discussed the controversy of whether one minute fluency assessments truly lead to our understanding of the child's development. The author claims that fluency is made of four components: accuracy, rate, prosody and comprehension. An important aspect of accuracy was brought to my attention. The author uses an example of Kenny's think-aloud response for a passage that he reads, where he makes only a few errors. Although Kenny only misread 4% of the words a simple mistake of mistaking the word "burned" for "buried," tampers with the meaning of the passage. This reminds me of my own experiences of reading comprehension. I've always struggled with paying attention to detail in everything I do. I have many times mistaken words, which leads me to misinterpret the meaning of the text. This aspect of accuracy reminds me to stress the importance of encouraging children to slow down while reading, the meaning is more important than the time it takes to finish a given passage. Another thing that struck me in this article, was the important of figuring out the “why” children are struggling with accuracy and speed as opposed to “whether” the child is struggling. Lastly, the author stresses the importance of incorporating endurance. I never thought of reading like a sport. Children need to build of their endurance by reading longer texts, so children will use their literacy skills to accomplish a variety of literacy tasks for a variety of purposes.
In the article, Creating Fluent Readers, Rasinski focuses on the importance of developing fluent readers. I had always heard the term “fluency” but never truly understand the concept. The definition given helped me fully understand the concept, “refers to the reader’s ability to develop control over surface-level text processing so that he or she can focus on understanding the deeper levels of meaning embedded in the text” (p.46). One part of the article that struck me as interesting was the distinction between fast and fluent. The author voices her concern that some schools are stressing the importance of “picking up the pace,” encouraging the children to beat their previous scores, and the emphasis of speed over meaning. In school, I remember feeling rushed while reading. I was more focused on finishing my assignment; I often did not fully understand the meaning of the passage. As the author states, students’ reading rates will improve as they become naturally more efficient and confident in their ability to decode words.
Fostering Fluency in the book, Classrooms that Work was my favorite reading. I believe that this reading really laid out what fluency was and how to foster fluency in struggling readers. I think that this was one of my favorite readings because I would relate to it. The author stresses the importance of making a commitment you have to make to help all of your students become fluent readers is to make sure all your students are spending some of their time reading easy text. Throughout my schooling, I always felt like I was being pushed to read books that were beyond my reading level. After reading this chapter, it has become clear to me that my problems as a young reader were fluency.
In all three readers, the three components of fluency were stressed, accuracy, speed and prosody. While all readings focused on different aspects of fluency they all provided suggestions that teachers can use to help their struggling readings.
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