Module Five: PPT (Phonics, etc.)

Powerpoint Summary: “Teaching phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency”

           

            This powerpoint initially began with building the word lesson plan. I found all of these steps to be very helpful and interesting. It is interesting to learn how intricate and detailed some of these lessons can be. I think it is important to realize the many different ways a teacher or instructor can teach phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency. Through multiple processes and means, students receive a well-versed and cultured education rather than a simple, redundant explanation day after day. The flexibility in this education also accommodates many different types of learners.

            I liked the idea of creating “little books” to help students with their phonics and fluency. Creating an individualized learning opportunity that specifically caters towards learning new spellings, etc is very helpful to young learners. In my current classroom we use word walls and I find those to be incredibly helpful to my students. It is a great reference for them to simply look across the room and see how to spell the word. Also, in our class, due to certain spelling words being on our word wall, our students are forced to memorize that word, creating automaticity with those commonly misspelled words.

            This lesson provided me with many great ideas of how to teach phonics, high-frequency words and fluency in many more effective and interesting ways. This powerpoint is a great frame of reference and I enjoyed learning more about new methods of instruction in this topic. 

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. 

Module Four: 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 Four: "Identifying Reading Disabilities"

Powerpoint Summary: “Identifying Reading Disabilities”

            This presentation was helpful in understanding the background of teaching students with disabilities and how the teaching program has developed over the years. I am glad this presentation included the different stages of reading development. I had learned about that a long time ago, however, I did not remember all the specifics about each stage so this was a great review for me. I think it is important that this Powerpoint included the principles for low-achieving readers. We always need to remember to individualize the lesson, provide appropriate challenges, to make the learning environment comfortable and engaging, etc. These principles are a key foundation to fostering more growth and improvement in low readers. It is important to be knowledgeable and up-to-date on the most effective means of identifying a disability and then, how to help that child learn in  the most beneficial way possible. I think the guiding principles will be a great reference when working with a student who has a learning disability. 

Module Four: "Assessment: Formative and Summative, Practices for the Classroom"

Powerpoint Summary: “Assessment: Formative & Summative, Practices for the Classroom”

            The beginning of this presentation immediately caught my attention. When Green, 1999 discussed that assessment is something we do with our students and not to our students, I immediately thought of the differences between formative and summative assessments. I always feel as though formative assessments are when we are sitting with the child, one-on-one, and working with them on the problem. However, summative assessments to me are always actual “tests” where the student works alone and does not receive much teacher support. Why is that? I think the rest of this presentation will explain just that.

            The presentation continued on to explain that assessment is for learning. “Formative and for” seem very similar to me. It is proven that formative assessments are the most beneficial type of learning for students. Therefore, why do we not implement this type of assessment more often in our classrooms? The presentation continued on to explain that summative assessments are assessments of learning. Identifying that yes, these assessments do determine if a student has learned a concept, but what benefit do these assessments provide for the students? I think as teachers we need to be cautious about making sure that our assessments, homework assignments, or grading are all beneficial for the student because that is what is most important.

            I found the garden analogy to be very interesting. It is a direct visual of whether or not our assessments are benefitting the students in a positive manner that provides growth and the opportunity to bloom. I also found the self-evaluation continuum very eye opening. Overall, I found this presentation very interesting and beneficial. I think now I will become much more conscious about how I assess my students. 

Module 4: Video Summary

Video summary (Running records):

            I found these videos to be very helpful in regards to the accurate marks of how to make a running record. Personally, I have been one to make up my own markings as I go because I could not always remember the correct ways to mark the reading. Therefore, this video was very insightful to me. My favorite tip was when a child sounds out a word, that you write down their initial sounds/attempts and then once they get the word correct, then you make a “tick/correct” mark. Previously I may have just circled that work or marked missed, however, the student deserves the note that he sounded it out and then correctly figured out the word. Running records are a very important formative assessment that are so necessary to perform with students whenever necessary. They allow for the teacher to know what areas a particular student struggles with and then, the best steps to take to help student. Therefore, these reminders were helpful because they always remind me of the value of formatively assessing our students to give them the best learning possible. I enjoyed watching these videos and feel much more prepared and knowledgeable for the next time I do a running record with the students in my classroom.

Module Three: Opitz, Chapter 7, 8, and 12 Summary

Module Three: Opitz Chapter's 7, 8, and 12 Summaries

Chapter 7:

            At the beginning of this chapter, I enjoyed reading about the differences between emergent literacy and reading readiness. I too thought that they were very similar concepts, however, learning their differences was new to me. I like the way reading readiness is termed a “waiting period” because that explains to me that the children are in a developmental state where they are almost reading to begin reading instruction. I also enjoyed reading about the pre-reading tests and assessments. The text provided many great examples of how to make that type of assessment as effective as possible. I can see how those assessments can be very difficult to administer, so the steps to help that process seemed very beneficial.

            This chapter continued on to explain what concepts are, how to assess certain concepts and how to determine that a concept has been developed in the appropriate manner. At times in my classroom, it can be difficult to really understand if a child has mastered a concept and is ready to move forward. Therefore, the assessments provided between pages 114-120 were great visuals for me to reference in regards to utilizing some new tools to determine if a child has a concept of print and has mastered the subject being taught.

            In my current job, we have to spend much time assessing students writing and determining if a student has comprehended a story. It can be difficult to determine why a child may write a certain way and if they are understanding the writing concepts being taught in the class. This is why a “writing observation form” like provided in the chapter can be very helpful in regards to really understanding a students writing and ensuring that they are writing how they should at their developmental level. I also appreciate this form because it can be changed due to grade levels while still incorporating some key concepts necessary for good writing. I really enjoyed reading this chapter and I feel like I have learned many new things about children’s ability to master concepts, how to assess certain tasks and lastly, how to assess a students writing. All of the components addressed in this chapter can directly be related in a beneficial manner to my current job in a second grade classroom so I will use this chapter as resource for multiple things.

Chapter 8:

In this chapter, I appreciated reviewing the different types of reading levels for children. Differentiating between independent, instructional, frustration, and listening capacity levels helped me understand those levels better and will help me when consulting with some of my students and determining their individual reading levels. I have never performed an IRI reading assessment, so learning about the steps taken to administer and the scoring of this assessment was very interesting to me. I have always enjoyed learning about different reading assessment methods, so learning about the IRI was interesting to me.

This chapter did a great job explaining about a miscue is and how to analyze miscues. At times, when reading one on one with a student, I may mark their miscues and realize their errors, but not fully understand why the student is making that mistake. While reading through this section, I realized that reasons causing these miscues could be an inappropriate text choice and also understanding why the miscues are occurring. In continuum of this, the section on running records was helpful as well. I have never made notes like the Figure 8.6 but it is a very smart way to mark miscues determining from a child’s missed meaning cue, structure cue, or visual cue. Those are three great points to determine when and why the student is struggling.

Chapter 12:

In my current classroom, we have recently begun our word study for this school year. The students are focusing on different vowels sounds and recognizing vowel and consonant word patterns such as a CVC word or a CVCe word. These concepts are difficult for my class at times. Therefore, while reading through the consonant exercises and vowel exercises provided, I realized maybe incorporating techniques like these on top of our word study may help the students grasp the concept more fully.

This chapter continued on to explain different assessment methods of phonics which I found very interesting. I have performed some of these tests such as the Names Test and the Early Names Test during an undergraduate field placement. I am glad to have learned about different phonics assessments that you can also use with a student. The chapter continued on to discuss teaching phonics in a whole-part-whole method which I find to be very successful. For instance, figure 12.7 shows a great progression in instruction, teaching students the many different skills necessary in how to be a phonemic reader. I think moving from learning whole reading skills to then particular focus on certain struggling areas is key in teaching the student the many different facets reading encompasses and the importance of mastering all those concepts, one step at a time. 

Module Three: Overview of Assessment

Module Three:
Powerpoint: Overview of Assessment

This powerpoint was extremely helpful in learning so much about the assessment process. It will be a great reference when assessing students in the future. I especially was interested in the four types of assessment: screening, diagnostic, monitoring, and outcome. I did not know all those components came together to create one, large assessment. It says that progress should be monitored monthly or weekly, and I would say it should be weekly through small, formative assessments. The more feedback a student is receiving, the more benefit a child will receive from teaching methods improving.

When this presentation discussed scoring, I did not know about "Stanines" and what that type of scoring that represented. Most schools score differently and use different programs, however, it is always interesting to me to compare types of scoring and the numbers different programs use to represent low, middle and high scores.

Overall, this presentation was a great review and learning for me. I appreciated the definitions of validity vs. reliability and formative vs. summative assessments. This presentation will be a great resource to use in the future when doing assessments in my classroom.

Module Three: Phonics Evidence and Strategies

Module Three:
Powerpoint: "Phonics Evidence and Strategies"

Reading this powerpoint was a great review on phonics and the most effective ways to teach phonics. This powerpoint defined phonics as the ability to know letter-sound correspondences, to be able to decode and encode. When teaching phonics, the lessons should be explicit and systematic while also continuing over a long period of time. When a student has mastered their phonics skills, they should have accurate letter-sound correspondences and can recognize spelling patterns. All of these comments were a great review for me along with the differentiation of phonemic awareness and phonics because those two terms can be easily confused.

In regards to consonants, vowels, compound words, etc, I really appreciated the strategies suggested on how to help children master those concepts. Those things can be very difficult for young readers, so implementing worksheets that specifically focus on these concepts or different individualized exercises can be very beneficial. In my current class, we do word study every day which focuses on different sounds of words such as long vowels or short vowels. We use individualized worksheets that focus on one vowel letter sound (short and long) to help the students learn other words with that same sound and understand why the sound is short or long. This method tends to be very effective with our students.

Lastly, yes, some students do come to mind. I hope to implement more focused work on each of these concepts and taking more instruction time to ensure that the students are understanding the concept being learned. It was a very helpful presentation and will be a great resource when working with my class.

Module Three: "Formative Assessment: Simply, No Additives"

Module Three:
Article Response: "Formative Assessment: Simply, No Additives" By: Kathleen Roskos and Susan Neuman

While reading the beginning of this article, I couldn't help but agree that formative assessments have been pushed under the rug in regards to all the necessary standards of summative assessments. I think that good teachers are constantly using formative assessments, even if it is not an intentional, planned assessment. By observing students and really interacting with their learning, an observant teacher knows when to change a teaching method or how to fix a current problem which are both types of formative assessments. Continuing on reading about the different subsets of formative assessments, I liked the way Roskos and Neuman defined formative assessment as a type of "Gap Minder" explaining that the, "central purpose [of formative assessment] is to identify the gap between where students are and where they need to go in their reading development" (p. 535). This is why allowing formative assessments to happen daily is so vital in a classroom. When a teacher is more aware of student learning and improvement or struggle, then that teacher is able to make an effective changes for all students in that classroom by "minding the gap" and being on top of the students learning.

The different components that this article reflects upon were also very helpful to me in understanding the different categories of self assessment. Just like I was reflecting that formative assessment can happen informally during the school day, Roskos and Neuman also agree with this idea. They explained that, "One of the beauties of formative assessment, however, is that it can occur in real time during the natural course of instruction and therefore inform teaching and learning as it goes" (p. 536). I think this is the most valuable idea to take away from this article. Yes, formative assessments may have their plans and organization but perhaps, the most valuable assessment is when it is unplanned. That way, the teacher is actively involved in the classroom and changing things as the class progress. I hope to teach more in this manner, ensuring that I am staying involved in the student learning and changing things when necessary.

Video Analysis: Phoneme Segmentation Assessment

I think the exercise the teacher is using in the video with the student to help them learn the different phonemes in a word is effective. I think manipulatives are always beneficial in helping students grasp a new concept. Having each block represent a sound is also a very attainable and easy concept for young children to grasp. However, one concern I have with this video is that every time the student is sounding out the word with her blocks, she is spelling the word backwards. The first letter sound (aka. block) is being pulled down by her right hand, and then the following sounds/blocks are being added to the left, explaining to me as an outsider that the last sound of the word looks like the first sound or letter according to the blocks and reading left to right. This could potentially hurt the child's understanding of the sounds and correct spelling of the word.

Despite that concern, I think utilizing this type of instructional tool would be very helpful in my tutoring sessions. In undergraduate, during different field placements, I would do letter box lessons one on one with students during guided reading. I found great results from doing these types of phonemic assessments with students one on one. I would also recommend to use tiles that have the letters on them. That way, the student is observing the correct spelling of the word along with the main focus of the lesson, to understand how many sounds are in the word. I will try to utilize this in my own tutoring sessions next week. I think my student would benefit from this type of hands on learning.

EDRD 7717: Powerpoint Summary

The Assessment of Reading and Writing Processes:

The assessment of reading and writing processes powerpoint was very interesting to read. It was a great review of the processes teachers should take to assess students and understand and evaluate their writing. It was helpful in regards to vocabulary, portfolios, rubrics, scoring, etc. The writing tips were extremely beneficial. I also appreciated reflecting on the techniques recommended to help assess their learning. I did not know all that entailed in analytical scoring, so I enjoyed learning about compositions and organizing work into a portfolio that both the teacher and student could be proud of.

The following are my answers to the questions posed at the end of the presentation:

1. Some examples of study skills are assessing students vocabulary knowledge, having the students make notes of their learning’s, understandings, and observations.

2. Good strategies are listening to the students listening and speaking vocabularies and watching their them while reading vocabulary aloud.

3. Two techniques: observations and journals.

4. Portfolios can assess progress in reading and content areas. The teacher works with the students to decide which works will make the portfolio.

5. The TOWL-3 means “Test of Written Language 3”.  This is designed for students ages 7-17. This assesses mechanics of writing, sentence combining, spelling, and ability to write a story. 

EDRD 7717: Page 14, Activity 4 (Opitz)

Through looking through Table 1.1, it is apparent that less proficient readers struggle because they are forced to focus all of their reading time and understanding on identifying words correctly and monitoring their reading. Their main focus is pronouncing the word correctly, which takes all of their time and energy, naturally leaving them with no opportunity to grasp the meaning of the word and the text. When a proficient reader is able to fluently overcome all of the words and spellings, they will naturally understand the text and recognize the meaning becuas their main focus is just that, comprehending the text.

I think the main difference is the level of capability. When a student must focus on every sound and every letter simply to identify a word, then their opportunity to try to understand the text has been removed. A fluent reader is able to overcome those struggles and understand the story. This is why learning the basics of letters, sounds, and connections early on is so important because once that is mastered, then every student has the opportunity to become proficient. A proficient reader enjoys reading, whereas most likely, a less proficient reader does not enjoy it because it is such a difficult and monotonous process. Reading must be taught in an interesting manner, which is why overcoming these fundamentals early on allows for reading to be enjoyable at all.

EDRD 7717: Video Analysis

I thought that this video was very interesting to watch. It is apparent that students struggling with reading can struggle in their every day classroom requirements while also causing them to fall far back behind. I agree with the video that ongoing assessments are extremely crucial to help improve a students reading ability. I have always been taught in my reading courses that formative and summative assessments are crucial in realizing immediate process and how to continue forward in a supportive and beneficial manner for the student.

In my own personal experiences with assessment, I have found that simply at times, smaller, more organized instruction can be vastly more beneficial than large group instruction. This is why tutoring or resource teachers can be such fantastic aids because they can directly focus on one students needs and help accommodate the teachers instruction in a more personalized manner. Through this smaller assessment, daily or weekly check ups and assessments can help record progress in an effective manner, making sure the student is improving and not slipping through the class. At my current job, I work with many students in small groups, allowing me time to work with students of different reading levels, offering differentiated instruction where necessary. This is vital in confirming student growth and learning. During my small group time, I am assessing student improvement and making anecdotal records of the current situation. I believe that assessment is a vital component in student success and working with the student and helping improve their abilities should be the number one goal on an educator's list.

Final Personal Model of the Theory of Reading

Lizzie McCalley

Dr. Ritchie

EDRD 7715

July 11, 2012

Personal Model of the Theory of Reading

            Throughout the course of this semester, my knowledge about reading instruction, reading techniques, and reading philosophies has grown tremendously. However, despite my growth and new learnings, I still whole-heartedly believe in what my first paper explained. Reading is still a practice, a journey, and a lifestyle and I am a true testament to that belief after this semester.

            Through all of the different reading and writing I have done this summer, I have developed in my knowledge of helpful techniques and enhanced my abilities. Despite my ability to read, decode unfamiliar words or understand letter-sound relationships, at times, with certain new materials, even educated readers like myself have to go back to the initial reading steps to understand the text. This is due to the reading in our courses being more scholarly, higher-thinking, or educated texts that I am trying to learn from. It is as though I am Kindergarten student all over again. To a young five year old, their struggle may be letter-sound relationships, whereas for me, my struggle is determining and defining the difference between action research, practitioner research, and teacher research for example. We all utilize different tools in an attempt to understand new and challenging texts. This is why I believe reading is a constant journey.

             Over the first semester of my graduate program, I have experienced my own hurdles in new learning. I have learned how to adapt my reading styles, accommodate to new information, and learn new concepts that interest me and will benefit me in the future. This first semester has already been challenging, eye opening, and incredibly impactful. These qualities have emerged from the constant reading, writing, and discussions that take place every Monday and Wednesday. Through this learning process, I have realized how fortunate I am that I am able to read and how thankful I am that I can read well. Being literate should be a requirement for all. However, far too often, some students fall through the cracks and never learn how to read fluently. This fault limits so many young peoples future and possibility in the world. Therefore, reading is a powerful tool that everyone should master, making my responsibility of teaching reading in a classroom very great.

            In my first paper about my personal model of the theory of reading, I reflected upon the power of reading. Reading has the ability to open new doors, broaden horizons, and create new opportunities. This is why reading instruction is extremely valuable to teach correctly and explicitly. Reading instruction should provide multiple opportunities to read, question, and interact with different texts. Appealing to student’s interests is key in order to help children believe in the power of reading. When reading is simply another subject, that is difficult and uninteresting, it is no wonder students struggle with reading. I was one of those students. Reading was not introduced to me in an appealing and exciting manner, causing my younger years to be very difficult with reading and my lack of interest. Luckily, as I got older, certain teachers changed my view of reading, however, not every child undergoes that change. This is why, as a future teacher, I want to drastically stray from the teaching methods I received as a child, and do my best to make reading appealing, exciting, and most importantly, explain to students its importance and value far greater than they can comprehended in the elementary school years.

            Throughout my continuous growth and learning as a graduate student, I am constantly reassured that I chose the right endorsement. I am enjoying reading different types of literature and bettering my writing style through more exposure to good literature. This is why I want my future students to see reading the way I do. Reading has not always been my favorite thing to do, but I am able to see the rewards that come from reading and I want my students to reap the same rewards. Reading is a tool no one can take from you. I hope to provide this tool, help students interactive with it, and grow into a fluent, passionate reader. 

Module 6: Reading Reflection

I would say that I agree with the philosophy Weaver discussed in chapter 15. He discussed the whole language approach, the importance of students to understand print, and also the practice of decoding texts. All of these methods are extremely beneficial to students learning and reading achievement. When Weaver (2002) discussed early reading instruction he made a very good point about the benefits of teaching the comprehensive literacy approach. Weaver (2002) explained, “There is a large body of comparative research that has found that children with comprehensive literacy instruction such as shared reading, shared writing, phonics taught in context, and lots and lots of experiences of being able to read to and opportunities to read self-selected books and write on self-selected topics learn to make sense of print better than children with traditional, part-to-whole reading instruction” (p. 369). Through this evidence, it is apparent that all of the different methods of literacy instruction help students to focus on the print, understand more about the topic, and learn more from the comprehensive literacy instruction. I think this proof will encourage my teaching to still incorporate these different comprehensive literacy methods because they are very valuable and beneficial to student’s literacy growth. My perspective has changed drastically since I initially took the DeFord TORP. My score increased the second time so I feel as though I have learned a lot over the course of this class. I have learned many new valuable teaching methods of helping students comprehend text and increase their literacy rates.

Module 6: Instructional Challenge

Next year, you will be teaching in a school where the vast majority of students did not meet standard on your state's criterion-referenced test and where more than 75% of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. What are some specific universal literacy strategies you may implement to ensure students success? Include both in-class examples and things you could do outside the classroom.

           

            Teaching students that are below the grade level and probably have little to no access to books outside of the school day, it should be the teachers commitment to provide as many reading and writing opportunities to those children at all times. I would create a system where students could take books home once or twice a week. This process would help encourage further reading outside of school, while also hopefully involve some parent-child reading and academic interaction. When the students would take the book home, they would mark it off their list once it was completed and brought back to school. Then they could take home the next book on the list for the following week or however quickly they finished the book. Already printed for each child would be extension activities to help them continue thinking about the book and exercising some skills learned throughout the school day. During my internship, the teacher I observed did this, and she did not always get as much parent interaction as she had hoped, but it did encourage the students to read more and provided them more access to books.

            In the classroom, I would organize different reading centers that involved peer or small group reading. This would allow the stronger leaders to help the struggling readers while also encourage peer interaction and learning from their classmates. I would also heavily emphasize read aloud time and shared reading in my classroom. Allowing the struggling students to hear the proper way a text should be read and discussed about would be key in enhancing these students reading abilities. I also think shared journal would be key in a classroom like this. My internship was at a Title One school where most of my students were on a free or reduced lunch. Shared journal was a time where they all became very excited to share about their experiences and take pride in their moment to talk about themselves. Afterwards, the class asked questions and then everyone wrote and drew about the story. This is a great way to not only encourage active participation, discussion and writing skills, but it brought a confidence and excitement to many students.

Module 5: Instructional Challenge

This is a hard situation that could occur in your classroom. Therefore, the teacher should try to be as accommodating and encouraging as possible. This is why I think read aloud or shared reading would be two great programs to implement in large group time. This would allow the ELL students a chance to observe the teacher reading different texts and engaging the students, while also perhaps appealing to the ELL’s interest if the text appealed to them.

            During different conferencing or guided reading lessons, I think the teacher should have built as much background knowledge on the student as possible, trying to find different texts that interest them as just one means to make the language barrier not as scary. Mini-lessons may also be beneficial before breaking off into large group workshops allowing the ELL student to receive a preview of information and understanding about the topic.

            I think the classroom teacher should become very involved with the ELL teacher. Asking that teacher any tips of lesson techniques or strategies to get the three ELL students more involved. Also, the classroom teacher should try to make his lessons and the ELL lessons as relatable as possible, helping the students not get confused from switching classes and engaging their current learning rather than throwing two completely different curriculums at them.

Module 5: Reading Reflection

Phonics instruction is teaching children how to understand different letter-sound relationships. One skill to teach phonics can be through decoding. This process helps identify and therefore understand a word, through knowing the letters that make up this word. A decoding lesson could occur in a guided reading lesson facilitated through teacher-directed instruction, focusing on letter-sound building skills.

            Phonics instruction fits into a literacy program through different activities such as a read aloud. This process allows the students to hear the correct relationships of sounds and letters come together to pronounce a word correctly that was just read aloud by the teacher. Phonics can also be taught through shared reading. Teachers can utilize alphabet books, for instance, to emphasize the sound of each letter while also putting those letters together to make words. When a student observes a modeling explanation of how to say all the letter sounds in a word to make up that one word, they are more likely to understand the process. This is why guided reading is one of the most vital activities for phonics instruction.

            This is when a teacher can model how to sound out a word, for instance, using a letter-box lessons of sight words on a leveled reader for the student. The teacher will model the concept, guide the student in a practice and then allow independent work while the teacher observes. Through utilizing manipulatives to teach the student what each letters sound is and then how placing in them order, and sliding down the row (an arrow moving to the right or an actual “slide” picture) helps teach the student these letter-sound relationships. You could teach phonics during large group work, mainly by displaying proper techniques of sounding out words. It could also be taught in more smaller, private, conference like setting or through a private guided reading lesson so that the teacher can see one-on-one if a child is understanding this process or not.