Module Five: Ppt, "Kinds of Words"

Powerpoint Summary: “Kinds of Words: Tier 1, 2, 3”

            This powerpoint was a great review of what each tier is qualified of. I found the key points about research to be very helpful, especially the 7^th point. That the most effective approaches to vocabulary development include: “active learning, connections to previous knowledge concepts/words, and multiple repetitions.” This type of learning is extremely beneficial for young students to truly master new, challenging vocabulary.

            I also found the vocabulary rating scale to be a great tool for my students. Having them determine their own understanding for a new vocabulary word would be a huge help to me in determining where my students are in their understanding of the meaning of a word. Lastly, I really appreciated the vocabulary resources. I have heard of some of these books but not all of them. It is always great to learn about a new reference to help teach your students new means of vocabulary instruction. 

Module Five: Powerpoint Summaries

Powerpoint Summary: “Linking Phonics and Vocabulary Development”

            This Powerpoint discusses how phonics is the ultimate achievement of all students  learning how to read and become fluent readers. One process to achieve phonics is through the practice of decoding. When a student is successfully able to decode words, then the student is more able to understand and read the vocabulary in a text. To achieve this, a teachers instruction must be diligent and informative. When a teacher directly creates instruction to cater towards the students reading needs and text interests. The skills of decoding are very vital in determining a student’s phonics achievement.

Powerpoint Summary: “Vocabulary Development”

            Initially, this presentation provides you with different analysis strategies that are all very helpful in improving students reading abilities. It then went on to discuss the prompts for fostering decoding strategies. I have never thought about the questions that I asked whether they were semantic, syntactic or phonic. But this section gives me great feedback about knowing the types of questions I am asking my students and how they are questioning them and how they are beneficial to their decoding learning.

            It is also important to teach students good skills of correct ways to decode their miscues, and teaching them self-correcting skills. This is why it is so important to give students appropriate texts that are on their level. Through this phonics learning process, automaticity with high frequency words is very important. Some of the different techniques provided are shared reading, singing-high frequency words, experience stories, and predictable books. I have used shared reading in my classrooms before, and I have seen the benefit of this teaching method in learning sight words. I have also used techniques of repeated reading and read alouds, which can also be effective in teaching students their sight words. I agree that word walls can be very effective along with the use of graphic organizers for learning. Lastly, I have never made small books for the students. This would give them a sense of ownership over their work and learning their sight words. This was a very beneficial powerpoint and I am glad I referred back through so many helpful techniques.

Module Five: Chapter 13 Summary

Chapter 13 Summary:

            I enjoyed reading chapter 13 because I learned the importance of studying along with new methods on how to teach students the proper way to study and learn material. In particular, I benefitted from reading about good study procedures and also building good study habits. I know as a graduate student and a working teacher, it is very important that I have good study habits and an organized procedure for studying, because otherwise, my busy work schedule can cause me to unbalance my study time for school. Young students may feel this way but in connection with the lack of wanting to study. However, by implementing certain habits of when, where and how much time allotted to study, it could become part of their normal routine.

            Another section of this chapter that I found valuable was the concentration section. The activities Opitz provided would be very helpful to use in a classroom setting. So often this is one of the most difficult tasks to overcome in order for students to learn to the best of their abilities. By implementing fun, game-like activities students may become more willing to concentrate because what they are focusing on is interesting and exciting to them. I am also glad that this chapter touched on the importance of asking questions. When students are encouraged to ask questions about the material they are studying, they in turn critically think about the text along with expanding their knowledge of the topic. 

Module Six: Ppt Summary- Considerations for a Assessment

Powerpoint Summary: “Considerations for a Assessment”:

            This powerpoint is discussing how intelligence assessments do not accurately assess a students ability, specifically, their problem solving skills. Often, these tests tend to hurt struggling readers, being more biased to more advanced students. Therefore, a low success rate on these types of types then cause students to have low expectations and lack of drive. I can relate to this type of reaction to intelligence tests, always feeling very overwhelmed and unable along with not being a good test taker, so receiving bad grades only made my anxiety worse.

            The powerpoint continues to discuss the different components of some of these types of tests, and I think the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test seems the most approachable and realistic for students. This type of test helps shy or hesitant students, therefore, being more accessible to more kinds of learners. I found it interesting as well, that I had not heard of many of these types of tests. Are they not commonly used across schools in the country? Perhaps I just have not had much interaction with these types of tests.

            I feel like I learned a lot of new information in this presentation. I did not realize the vast amount of testing opportunities, if chosen, to help determine intelligence. However, I think there is a medium to be found between determining certain learning abilities versus a students problem solving skills. You cannot rely too heavily on either method, just intelligence assessments or their avoidance all together. 

Module 4: Powerpoint Summaries

Powerpoint Summary: “Linking Phonics and Vocabulary Development”

            This Powerpoint discusses how phonics is the ultimate achievement of all students  learning how to read and become fluent readers. One process to achieve phonics is through the practice of decoding. When a student is successfully able to decode words, then the student is more able to understand and read the vocabulary in a text. To achieve this, a teachers instruction must be diligent and informative. When a teacher directly creates instruction to cater towards the students reading needs and text interests. The skills of decoding are very vital in determining a student’s phonics achievement.

Powerpoint Summary: “Vocabulary Development”

            Initially, this presentation provides you with different analysis strategies that are all very helpful in improving students reading abilities. It then went on to discuss the prompts for fostering decoding strategies. I have never thought about the questions that I asked whether they were semantic, syntactic or phonic. But this section gives me great feedback about knowing the types of questions I am asking my students and how they are questioning them and how they are beneficial to their decoding learning.

            It is also important to teach students good skills of correct ways to decode their miscues, and teaching them self-correcting skills. This is why it is so important to give students appropriate texts that are on their level. Through this phonics learning process, automaticity with high frequency words is very important. Some of the different techniques provided are shared reading, singing-high frequency words, experience stories, and predictable books. I have used shared reading in my classrooms before, and I have seen the benefit of this teaching method in learning sight words. I have also used techniques of repeated reading and read alouds, which can also be effective in teaching students their sight words. I agree that word walls can be very effective along with the use of graphic organizers for learning. Lastly, I have never made small books for the students. This would give them a sense of ownership over their work and learning their sight words. This was a very beneficial powerpoint and I am glad I referred back through so many helpful techniques.