Prominent Theorist Paper

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3NnbbLCOrnEQVA3NnRXYWlDQUU

Module 4: Activity Two

I think the most important topic that Allington describes is "access to interesting text and choice." When students have a choice, they are much more open to doing any assignment a teacher may give them. Just from witnessing different classes during my field placements, I have observed that when students are reading books they are interested in or have chosen themselves, they are much more willing to read more and learn more about that text. This is especially important with younger children because if reading starts off on a bad note of something that is required and they are not interested in, they will have that same philosophy for a long time. Reading is such an important skill for students to learn, so why not initially make it enjoyable and more towards their interests. This not only engages them but gives them an independence because they can say, "Look! I've chosen this story because I like spiders and it is about spiders!" It gives the student a confidence in what they are reading and also a sense of pride that they chose the story and mastered reading the story. Choice and interest are very key in young age children so that is why I think it is the best topic to choose.

Module 4: Instructional Challenge

            This is an interesting situation, because Marcus is simply guessing a letter to substitute, meaning that he is not focusing enough attention to really try get the right answer. His issue with not recognizing the word sounding incorrect, tells me that he needs much more practice with observing read alouds and hearing the proper way it should sound.

            One of my suggestions for Marcus would be to have him go back to some initial basics. He needs to learn his sounds again it sounds like. He could begin with different phonics exercises, engaging his sounds of each letter, therefore teaching him when something should sound right or wrong. I would also encourage many read alouds from the teacher with Big Books. This would help Marcus hear how the word should sound, while also see the word because the teacher would use a pointer and point to each word as the teacher reads it to the class. I think modeling a concept and the student being able to observe and listen initially is key.

            Another means of allowing Marcus to observe before attempting it on his own, would be working in small groups with the teacher, and the teacher provide a book talk before reading. This would allow some group discussion, even interacting with Marcus to get him thinking about the text before hand. Then, two-students could partner read or a small group choral read, so Marcus can learn from others and again, hear the proper way certain words should sound. Overall, I think he needs much more reading instruction and reading practice. Hearing others read will always help him remember the proper way it should sound too. 

Module 4: Activity 1

This video was extremely touching. I found it incredible that a man at 50 years old was able to go through life without being able to read. It made me sad for him that he has lived in a world that was not accessible to him. It made me disappointed in his education because his teachers let him pass by and did not stop to help him and really work with him. This is a fear and danger that we as teachers must desperately try to prevent.

Robin started from the very basics. He initially learned letter, letter sounds and the different phonemes in a word. He had to go back to the basic because he had no initial knowledge higher than that. An example they showed during the movie was him doing letter-box lessons, practicing how to combine letters to make a word. He became very observant in his "chunking" ability. He was able to recognize that "at" was in "hat" for example. This was a good tool that he was taught. He would practice his writing to make sure spelling was correct and eventually grew out of the leveled readers and tried to read street signs or the newspaper.

I think what was most helpful to Robin was his steady progression and determination. At his age it must have been a frustrating process, but the reward of reading his birthday card for the first time I can imagine made it all worthwhile. So he studied and utilized typical reading techniques which allowed for him to master one level and then move higher up to eventually be on his way to being fully literate.

Module 4: Reading Reflection

Looking across Chapters 10 and 11, which of the understandings and strategies in the comprehensive literacy program are you already addressing/doing with your students (or have you done, or do you plan to do)?

            While reading through the different components of a comprehensive literacy program, I realized I had been exposed to all of these different techniques. My internship placement this past semester was at a constructivist based, Kindergarten school, so shared reading and shared journal was heavily emphasized. In that particular classroom, each day would begin with shared journal and midway through the day, we would do shared reading. Both of these subjects I really enjoyed because it was a great time to get the students interacting in their learning while also encouraging the students to be open about their experiences or the things they enjoy most. In the classroom I was interning in, one student would share each morning about something they did recently, a trip they have been on, or just a story about going shopping with their mom. We would encourage the students (the audience) to ask descriptive questions about the story the student shared, and then the students would be able to draw a picture and then write about the story. The head teacher or I would scaffold the drawing or writing if necessary, but all of the students always enjoyed this time of day because they got to listen to their peers and learn from them.

            In other field placements, I have interacted with these other literacy programs; in particular, read-alouds, guided reading, and guided writing. Interestingly enough, literature groups and individual writing conferences were things that we automatically did with the class I did my internship in so until reading this, I did not know they were a particular comprehensive literacy method. We used those techniques to discuss whole group and get all of the students actively thinking about the text or took the opportunity to have some one-on-one time with students. I think all of these approaches are extremely successful and necessary to implement in a classroom with young students. I have seen the benefits of these teaching methods and plan to use them in my own classroom some day. 

Module Three: Reading Reflection

While reading the initial short story, “The Boat in the Basement,” it was interesting to me how I automatically corrected one or two errors such as the “he” instead of “she” or the “bastement” misspelling. However, I was surprised to learn that there were six errors total! This proves that a proficient reader does read for meaning and ignores some letter errors or miscues because despite them, we can still achieve an understanding. This small, initial story helped reinforce my disagreement with Adams and my agreement with Weaver. Adams suggests that, “Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts.” This cannot be true because educated readers eyes do not focus on every, small letter in a sentence. As Weaver (2002) explains, “When we read for comprehension, it seems clear, in fact, that we do not first identify the smallest units of language, letters, and then work upwards” (p. 90). Rather, we group all of those letters together to create one whole word, and then focus on word chunking and making connections.

            While doing activities one and two, I found two to be much easier than activity one. It was nearly impossible to determine the vowels that were missing and the consonants that were missing. This difficulty I had with the activities reminded me of how little readers focus on the individual letters and due to that, causes me to be unable to determine the missing letters. However, if initial and ending letters were provided, and the words were in a sentence, surrounded by supporting evidence, I would be able to identify the words. This is why reading is a whole effort process. Activity two was possible for two reasons. One, the whole word was still in tact mostly and two, the words were placed in sentences. Context and familiarity can be two large factors in reading being successful. However, learning the skills of whole word groupings and making connections between words in a sentence allows the reader to able to read correctly through a text and hopefully, generate a meaning and understanding of the text. 

Module 3: Activity 2

I think the activity displayed in the video is tremendously helpful and necessary in a child achieving phonemic awareness. At Auburn, we were taught to educate in this manner, and not only do I think it is an organized and effective method, but I have seen the rewards from teaching in an individualized, more focused manner like this. I believe activities like this allow the student to enter at his or her own pace, taking each sound and letter one at a time, and doing their best at their current level. The wonder of working one-on-one allows for each individual student to receive the unique instruction they need. It is a great exercise to review letter-sound correspondences, see the correct spelling of words, and then putting together all they have learned to read the words aloud in a smooth, together manner.

             I think letterbox lessons or different exercises like the one shown in the film, allow a reader to build confidence when faced with a new text with unknown words in them. It creates a foundation to help students reading abilities. Of course, students need to be reading books to become more proficient, but initial exercises like the one in the video, help provide the building blocks to be able to eventually read the book in a fluent-like manner. I find this technique to be extremely successful and beneficial in helping a child become a proficient reader.