Discussion 5
There are so many ways to support students’ emergent literacy. Before becoming a full-time student, I was a preschool teacher in a kindergarten preparation classroom. One of the responsibilities of this job was to create opportunities for young students to develop their emerging literacy skills. To do this effectively, I built literacy activities into everything that we did. A sample day might include: students finding their name on a popsicle stick, then placing that stick in an attendance chart to show that they are there. Story time at our morning meeting. Handwriting without Tears instruction (letter recognition). Phonics instruction in the form of songs and sight words. Students filling out their own daily report that informs their families of their activities during the day, and much more. I also made sure to build writing activities into all my play centers. I had a writing center that included: paper, envelopes, letter stamps, pencils, chalk and chalkboards, and a variety of other materials. I had clipboards with paper and pencils in the block center, so that students could write or draw plans for their buildings. I also had clipboards in the science center, so that the students could take notes on what they were learning. I had cook books, recipe cards, and clipboards in the dramatic play center so that students could make shopping lists and cook dinner. In addition, my classroom also had labels on everything; including, all the toy bins, the centers, the doors, the windows, the light switches, the computer, even the slide on the playground had a label. I made sure that the students that I worked with were surrounded by words every day.
The skills that I used working in early childhood education would help me to work in an elementary school setting. One thing that I think needs to really be stressed, no matter what age students a teacher is working with, is modeling literacy. Many of the students in our schools do not see reading happening outside of the classroom. I have worked with several students who have never seen their parents read. One little girl once told me that her mother did not know how to read. I shared this with her mother, who assured me that she could read just fine. When we asked the girl why she thought her mom did not know how to read, she explained that she never sees her mom reading and that her mom does not read to her. She went on to explain that if she knew how to read, she would read all the time, and her mom did not. After this conversation, her mother assured me that reading would become more priority at home. If we want our students to read, they should see us reading. If we want our students to write, they should see us writing. Literacy skills should be modeled to students, both at school and at home.
Discussion 4
There are as many ways to assess students as there are things to teach them. This can make it difficult for beginning teachers to navigate the assessment process. Some assessment processes are more suited to some subjects than they are to others; for example, you would not want to give a multiple-choice spelling test. When it comes to supporting students’ literacy development, the textbook provides numerous examples of assessment processes that may be beneficial.
I am currently volunteering in Mrs. Hammond’s first grade classroom at McKinley Elementary School, in Farmington, New Mexico. My time there has allowed me to observe the Common Core State Standards in practice. Mrs. Hammond uses a variety of assessments to inform her about the literacy development of her students. These assessments include worksheet activities, I Station testing, and running records. I feel that she is able to measure their academic growth with this information. The textbook defines measuring growth as, “Measuring growth means that you need to make a comparison between where students were at the point of initial assessment and where they are at the end of the assessment” (Gunning, 2016, p. 60). The information that Mrs. Hammond has collected has allowed her to do this to the extent that she was able to share with me where C. was at the beginning of the year, and where he is now.
I believe that of the assessments that were presented in this week’s readings, running records are the most informative. The textbook states that the two main purposes of running records are to determine if the reading material used by students is developmentally appropriate, and to illustrate the strategies that students are using when they read (Gunning, 2016, p. 84). The section of An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement adds, the grouping of children, the acceleration of a child, monitoring progress, differentiating of instruction, and observing difficulties, to the purpose of running records (Clay, 2006, p. 23). This powerful tool provides teachers with a variety of information, that can be used in a variety of ways. What I find particularly useful is the ability to record exactly what the student does as they are reading. If a teacher is planning the literacy activities that the class will do in the coming week, and that teacher cannot remember if Sally knows how to decode the a_e word pattern, then the teacher can look at Sally’s running records and see if she has had trouble with that word pattern. That teacher can also look at the entire classes records to see if the students are applying a strategy that they learned last year, or if the teacher should review the strategy with the class. The uses for running records are endless.
Running records also provide teachers with a complete record of the miscues that a student made while reading a particular book or passage. This information could be used to perform a miscue analysis. A miscue analyses is an in depth look at the errors that students are making when they read. It allows the teacher to determine if the errors are related to syntax, semantics, or phonics. It also provides information about the part of the word the student uses to figure out the entire word and if the student is self-correcting their reading errors (Gunning, 2016, p. 83). I think that as a teacher I would use this analysis to look for common misconceptions. For example, if several of my students are missing words that have consonant blends, then I may need to go over this information with the class again. However, if the majority of the class is understanding, but a few students are not; then I may need to cover this information again in a small group with just those students.
Assessment is a vital part of teaching and learning. As a student, I use assessments to know what I need to go back over, or skills that I need to work on. As a teacher, assessments allow me to know what areas I need to cover again, and what concepts students are struggling with. Literacy assessments should perform the same functions. Teachers can gear their instruction to the areas where students are struggling, and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.
Works Cited
Clay, M. (2006). An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, 2nd edition . Portsmouth NH: Heinemann.
Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students, Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Discussion 3
After reading and thinking about the role fluency plays in reading, I have noticed that C., the student that I am working with in Mrs. Hammond’s first grade class, is not a fluent reader and could use some help in this area. When reading, C. often must slow down and sound out words. Usually, he is able to do so quickly, and he is right back to reading. However, I have noticed that his reading comprehension suffers because of the number of times that he must stop to sound out a word. Last week, while listening to C. read the book, Wacky Wednesday, I observed him using the initial sound to guess what the rest of a word was. This time this strategy did not work for him and he guessed the rest of the word incorrectly. I waited to see if he would catch his mistake. I believed that he would because the guessed word made absolutely no sense in the sentence he had read. However, C. continued to read as if the word made perfect sense in the sentence. When he reached the end of the page, I had him go back to the word that he guessed incorrectly. This time we sounded out the complete word together.
Mrs. Hammond, the teacher I am working with, uses a few strategies to help her students work on their fluency. One of those strategies is having the students read their reading books three times before taking the computerized test on the book; which the textbook refers to as repeated reading (Gunning, 2016, p. 226). This does seem to make a difference in their comprehension and fluency. When reading with C., I have noticed that he will struggle with the same words the first and second time that he reads a book. He can, usually, read the book through with minimal stopping the third time. His comprehension also seems more complete after the third time of reading the book. I am not sure if this is part of his struggle with reading, or if it has more to do with his focus when he reads. It almost seems like he “picks up” a little more of the book each time that he reads it. Reading this way requires him to read the book at least three times for him to comprehend the story.
I would like to help C. build his fluency skills during my time with him in the classroom. I plan to focus on helping him comprehend what he reads the first time that he reads it. I do not expect him to catch everything, however, I believe that he should be able to summarize a book that he has just read. I will help him work on this by asking him questions about the material that he has read. I think it will be most beneficial if I start with small amounts of text. For example, having him summarize a page after he has read it. I think that this may help C. to focus on what he is reading a little more.
He may also benefit from reading material that is a little less challenging. C. does not have very high interest in reading, however, he gets excited when he moves up a level in his reading material. This has led to getting stuck on several words on each page at the level that he is reading. I think that he would read more fluently, and comprehend what he is reading more, if he were not getting stuck as often. Encountering words that he is familiar with would allow him to read without all the stops. I think that increased fluency and not getting stuck as often may even increase his interest in reading.
I will help him work on his reading speed and inflection by using a choral reading or paired reading technique. This will include the two of us reading together, as well as the two of us taking turns reading (Gunning, 2016, p. 226). I also think that listening to me read may help him with this. I have focused on him reading to me in the past couple weeks, and I have not read to him. I believe that hearing someone read expressively and fluently will help him to hear these qualities.
Last week, I spent some time listening to a couple other students read. One of those students was S., who reads at or above grade level. When S. reads, she uses a fluent pace, and reads with inflection. When she reaches a word that she is not as sure about she slows down a little and whispers when she sounds out the word. The words that she is not sure about are read a lot quieter than the rest of the words. This makes it sound like she is reading fluently, but skipping words that she is not as sure about. I was only able to hear that she was not skipping the word by sitting close to her and watching her mouth move as she sounded out the word. While this is not a strategy that I would teach, it works for her. I am hoping that I can have S. read to me again next week. I plan to take a book that she will be interested in to see if she is as fluent with material that she has not been exposed to before.
Works Cited
Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students, Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Discussion 2
Before reading the 70-page chapter on teaching phonics, I had no idea that so much went into beginning literacy. I do not remember most of my early literacy instruction however, I do know that I had an exceedingly difficult time with phonics. With the extensive content in the chapter, it is no wonder so many students have difficulty with phonics.
Students go through stages when learning how to read. These stages include: the prealphabetic stage, the partial alphabetic stage, the full alphabetic stage, and the consolidated alphabetic stage (Gunning, 2016, p. 172). The partial alphabetic stage is when students begin to use phonics. These phonics skills begin with using initial word sounds combined with context to figure out the word. Phonic skills are fully utilized in the full alphabetic stage, when students begin to decode all the letters in the words they are reading (Gunning, 2016, p. 172). For example, around 23 minutes into the Classroom Excerpts video a teacher uses phonics instruction to teach the long A in the a – consonant – e word formation (Teaching Reading K-2 Workshop, Classroom Excerpts, 2003). This would occur during the final stage when students start to focus on long vowels in addition to consonants and short vowels.
There is more than phonics that goes into reading instruction. According to the textbook, students use a combination of phonics, context clues, and vocabulary when they react to a word that is unfamiliar (Gunning, 2016, p. 176). An example of this can be seen in the Classroom Excerpts video, about 20 minutes into a video the teacher has the students help to figure out the missing words in his morning report. He has the students use initial word sounds and context clues to figure out the missing words (Teaching Reading K-2 Workshop, Classroom Excerpts, 2003). In short, when students learn to read they utilize a wide variety of skills to decode the written language.
This wide variety of skills does not come downloaded in our brains, we must learn it. There are a several lessons included in the chapter to help us learn how to teach our students to read, and I have learned several strategies from Mrs. Hammond, the teacher I am working with this semester. One of the strategies that she uses frequently the book refers to as syllabic analysis. This involved breaking up the word or chunking it into parts so that the parts can be decoded individually before recombining to form the full word (Gunning, 2016, p. 207). When a student becomes stuck on a word, Mrs. Hammond would have the student use their finger to cover part of the word, after the uncovered part of the word is figured out the student moves their finger and figures out the other part of the word. This allows the students to discover the word using their skills, instead of telling them the word. Mrs. Hammond is also effective at encouraging students to use context clues to figure out what they are stuck on. This shows that she is great at both the top-down and bottom-up approaches to teaching literacy.
I have not had the opportunity to observe Mrs. Hammond work with students from diverse backgrounds. All the students in her class speak English fluently, and therefore do not require the textbook suggested strategies for working with diverse students. The most important of these strategies is developing an understanding of the first language of the student. Understanding the language allows us to know the similarities and differences between that language and English. A complete comparison of English and Spanish is included in the textbook beginning on page 214. The other strategies include intensive phonics instruction, sorting activities, and monitoring progress. These strategies are also effective when working with struggling readers that speak English.
All students deserve effective early literacy instruction. This includes thorough phonics instruction as well as teaching students to use contextual clues, and above all else, practice. All students should have access to lots of high quality reading material, both at home and at school.
Works Cited
Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students, Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Teaching Reading K-2 Workshop, Classroom Excerpts. (2003). Retrieved from Annenberg Learner, Teacher Resources and Professional Development Across the Curriculum.: http://www.learner.org/workshops/readingk2/session3/wtv2.html
Discussion 1
Humans learn to speak at a remarkably young age. This is a time of extreme growth and neurological development; however, most of us do not remember learning how to speak. After we learn to use language orally the next great challenge is learning to read that language in written form. This is a process that is more readily remembered by adults. I remember having difficulties learning to read. What is not remembered is the way that we are taught.
There are two approaches that are covered by the textbook, the bottom-up approach and the top-down approach. The bottom-up approach is defined by the textbook as, “Bottom-up approach refers to a kind of processing in which meaning is derived from the accurate, sequential processing of words. The emphasis is on the text rather than the reader’s background knowledge or language ability” (Gunning, 2016, p. 5). This means that students start learning from the very beginning with learning the alphabet. This progresses to learning the sounds of the consonants, then learning simple vowels, then learning more complex vowel sounds, before finally putting it all together. The top-down approach is defined by the textbook as, “Top-down approach refers to deriving meaning by using one’s background knowledge, language ability, and expectations. The emphasis is on the reader rather than the text” (Gunning, 2016, p. 6). This means using the beginning consonant sound and clues from the text and pictures to almost predict what the text is saying. I believe that I fall in the middle of these approaches, which the text refers to as interactionists. An interactionist begins much like a bottom-up approach, by teaching systematically from the beginning. However, they do not stick to the strict progression; instead, they will use elements from both approaches to make learning to read more comprehensive (Gunning, 2016, p. 6). This makes more sense to me than following either approach explicitly. Which is why I utilize something similar when I am reading unfamiliar text. I will sound out the words that are unfamiliar (bottom-up), as well as look to the surrounding text for context clues (top-down).
I believe that the most important aspect of learning to read is not the approach that the teacher uses. I believe what is most important is practice. The textbook covers this in the basic principle of teaching reading section. It states, “Children learn to read by reading” (Gunning, 2016, p. 16). This is also covered in the video “Thalia Learns the Details.” There is a lot going on in the video, but what stood out the most is the practice that Thalia was provided throughout the year. For example, in the video the students practice following along with the print when they take turns using the pointer to follow along with song lyrics (Teaching Reading K-2, Thalia Learns the Details, 2002). Thalia is not told the details of learning to read and then just does it. She is provided meaningful opportunities to practice. Some may think of practicing to read as sitting at a table and attempting to read a book, however there are several ways to practice. This can include listening to others read at story time, following along as someone else reads, singing songs, writing / telling stories, and acting out stories. There is a phrase that I tell the students that I tutor in math, “math is like a sport, if you want to get better at it you have to practice.” After reading the chapters, and exploring modules, I believe I may have to reword this to say that learning is like a sport. You would not expect to run onto a basketball court and be the best player immediately; you would need practice. Along those lines, you cannot expect to read one book and be a great reader, you must practice.
Learning to read in a language that you speak is challenging. Learning to read while you are learning to speak the language at the same time must be intense. If you know the word cat, then you have a frame of reference when you read the word cat, the textbook refers to this as background knowledge. However, that frame of reference is not there if you do not know the word cat. A student that does not speak English may picture a coat or a cut, which will not help the student comprehend what they are reading. The textbook provides a few strategies for English Language Learners, or ELLs. These include providing a secure environment, developing English, and providing comprehensible input (Gunning, 2016, pp. 35-37). Of these, I believe the most important is providing a secure environment. Students, both ELLs and English speakers, must feel comfortable in their surroundings for learning to happen. If a child is teased for their attempts to communicate, they may stop trying. If the child is teased for having trouble reading, they may resist reading completely. Students must feel safe in order to practice learning.
Works Cited
Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students, Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Teaching Reading K-2, Thalia Learns the Details. (2002). Retrieved from Annenberg Learner, Teacher Resources and Professional Development Across the Curriculum: http://www.learner.org/libraries/readingk2/thalia/first.html