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.
I would start with reading aloud to my students through a teacher read-aloud. Then I would use either the same book I read in a shared reading format or something that relates to their background knowledge for the students to read with me and their peers with the ability to see the words. Then I would move my students into the guided reading format with students not only grouped by ability some times but grouped by interest level. I want those students to find reading fun and successful, so bringing forth familiar topics should help move the students toward literacy success. Next I would give the students the option to choose a book for their sustained reading time. This allows students to choose topics that may or may not be familiar to them, but it is something of interest for the student. To make sure my students are comprehending their sustained reads I would incorporate journal writing with question prompts to help guide their own instrcution and to give me the ability to monitor their understanding. These are all strategies I would implement in my classroom.
Next to take this to outside the classroom, I would give my students what their lexile level is so they are able to find something that is on their reading ability from the library. Next I would make sure that the topic they have chosen to read about is age-appropriate. I would have a composition notebook that is designated for homework/journal time for when they aren't at home. I want my students to get in the habit of reading every night at home and this doesn't have to be burden on their parents wallets. The books would be approved by me from the library (FREE) and I would provide the notebook to be used at home. I would give my students a list of topics or questions that they could refer to when journal writing at home. I think I would give students prompts every few days on what topic to write about but allow for choice the rest of the time. That way students are reading and writing every day at home and at school to help strive for literacy success! I also think it's important to stress to parents the importance of reading at home. Whether it's a note I staple into their agenda's or something I speak about at orientation. From personal experience, last year we only had 5 parents in the whole grade attend curriculum/orientation night so for me it would be something I would need to send home. Reading and writing EVERYDAY is SO important to literacy success.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Module 6: Reading Reflection
Does any of the information presented in Chapter 15 influence your personal philosophy of reading? In what ways? How has your perspective this changed since you took the DeFord TORP a few weeks ago?
Well throughout this summer semester the findings presented by Weaver have influenced my personal philosophy of reading and is summed up in Chapter 15. I always knew the purpose of reading was to read for meaning but throughout my coursework preparing me to be a teacher, my previous professors put emphasis on phonics instruction in the part-to-whole format rather than whole-to-part. I completely stand behind "when looking at how we can achieve universal literacy, this body of research shows that low-achieving children achieve more with comprehensive, whole-to-parts reading instruction than children with traditional, parts-to-whole reading instruction" (Weaver, 372). I also resonated with Weaver that "reading is more than decoding (pronouncing) print. It is making sense of print. Schema researchers have shown that readers of all ages must first understand a topic to understand text on that topic"(Weaver, 373). Reading is something that should be enjoyed and readers shouldn't feel the pressure of decoding words perfectly in isolation. When you are exposed to more and more text you are able to "decode" much easier and especially when you are reading on a familiar topic. Chapter 15 does a solid job of summing up what we have learned throughout Weaver's whole text about what the comprehensive literacy program should look like and why it is important to teach reading predominately in this format.
My perspective from the DeFord TORP a few weeks ago has changed from skills to whole language. This goes to show that I agree with what was presented as part of the Comprehensive Literacy Program and that I will incorporate this type of thinking in my own instruction in the coming year.
Well throughout this summer semester the findings presented by Weaver have influenced my personal philosophy of reading and is summed up in Chapter 15. I always knew the purpose of reading was to read for meaning but throughout my coursework preparing me to be a teacher, my previous professors put emphasis on phonics instruction in the part-to-whole format rather than whole-to-part. I completely stand behind "when looking at how we can achieve universal literacy, this body of research shows that low-achieving children achieve more with comprehensive, whole-to-parts reading instruction than children with traditional, parts-to-whole reading instruction" (Weaver, 372). I also resonated with Weaver that "reading is more than decoding (pronouncing) print. It is making sense of print. Schema researchers have shown that readers of all ages must first understand a topic to understand text on that topic"(Weaver, 373). Reading is something that should be enjoyed and readers shouldn't feel the pressure of decoding words perfectly in isolation. When you are exposed to more and more text you are able to "decode" much easier and especially when you are reading on a familiar topic. Chapter 15 does a solid job of summing up what we have learned throughout Weaver's whole text about what the comprehensive literacy program should look like and why it is important to teach reading predominately in this format.
My perspective from the DeFord TORP a few weeks ago has changed from skills to whole language. This goes to show that I agree with what was presented as part of the Comprehensive Literacy Program and that I will incorporate this type of thinking in my own instruction in the coming year.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Personal Model of Reading
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1loyPbsAKJJifXmn65r-NMgtmuRXQZf6ifxPEAqXGSiA/edit
My final paper on my personal model of reading
My final paper on my personal model of reading
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Module 5: Instructional Challenge
As your school year starts, you realize that you have three ELLs who are newcomers to the United States. Discuss how a comprehensive literacy program addresses their needs, drawing attention to specific components of the framework that are particularly relevant. Then discuss any additional scaffolding you would offer to support these children's needs.
The comprehensive literacy program is meant to expose students in various different forms to literacy. Through the reading workshop I can help my ELLs become familiar with English texts through beginning with read-alouds to allow them to hear what the sounds are without straining them to follow along word for word with their eyes. The students can listen. I would then have students paired up with a proficient reader while I do the shared reading. They will listen as the class along with me discussed the selected text. Now the student will be able to follow the words as we read to see what the language looks like. Then to follow the shared reading I would group my ELLs together in the same guided reading group. I would scaffold their learning by starting with much lower-level text. Through the shared reading and guided reading I would work with these students on developing sight word knowledge. I would start small to build success before moving on to more difficult text. Students need to feel successful in reading and writing in order to enjoy it and want to work more at literacy. Through guided reading I would "make use of various skills, including-but not limited to-phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding" (Weaver, 286). Not only would I work with these three students together but I would conference with each student individually to gain persepective on their interests and what they feel as though they are struggling with. This will allow me to build a trusting relationship with my students.
Using what I have done with my students in our reading block, I would transfer the same strategies into the writing workshop model. I would start with modeling my writing process, shared writing with the whole class, then allow them to work in pairs with proficient writers. I wouldn't set these three students to independent writing until I felt they felt comfortable with the process. I think working with their peers during this time is more important than working with me. I would conference with these students and use guided writing sessions to work on some skills but I think allowing them to try to express themselves on their own will provide them with more success. Literacy is something you have to work hard at but if you are given the right resources any student can be successful!
The comprehensive literacy program is meant to expose students in various different forms to literacy. Through the reading workshop I can help my ELLs become familiar with English texts through beginning with read-alouds to allow them to hear what the sounds are without straining them to follow along word for word with their eyes. The students can listen. I would then have students paired up with a proficient reader while I do the shared reading. They will listen as the class along with me discussed the selected text. Now the student will be able to follow the words as we read to see what the language looks like. Then to follow the shared reading I would group my ELLs together in the same guided reading group. I would scaffold their learning by starting with much lower-level text. Through the shared reading and guided reading I would work with these students on developing sight word knowledge. I would start small to build success before moving on to more difficult text. Students need to feel successful in reading and writing in order to enjoy it and want to work more at literacy. Through guided reading I would "make use of various skills, including-but not limited to-phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding" (Weaver, 286). Not only would I work with these three students together but I would conference with each student individually to gain persepective on their interests and what they feel as though they are struggling with. This will allow me to build a trusting relationship with my students.
Using what I have done with my students in our reading block, I would transfer the same strategies into the writing workshop model. I would start with modeling my writing process, shared writing with the whole class, then allow them to work in pairs with proficient writers. I wouldn't set these three students to independent writing until I felt they felt comfortable with the process. I think working with their peers during this time is more important than working with me. I would conference with these students and use guided writing sessions to work on some skills but I think allowing them to try to express themselves on their own will provide them with more success. Literacy is something you have to work hard at but if you are given the right resources any student can be successful!
Module 5: Reading Reflection
After reading Weaver's text, chapters 12 & 13:
Where does phonics instruction fit within a comprehensive literacy program? When and how would you teach phonics?
Phonics fits within the reading instruction of the comprehensive literacy program but is not taught in isolation. Chapter 13 in our text puts emphasis on how phonemic awareness promotes learning to read and learning to read promotes phonemic awareness. Weaver says "phonemic segmentation is not a natural task, nor one normally needed for reading, beyond the ability to separate an onset from a rime. This fact is important to understand because in some schools, readiness for first grade-or kindergarten!-is being assessed in part by measures of phoneic awareness"(p.307). I would agree with this because I don't think that phonics needs to be taught explicity for a student to become a proficient reader. I also am coming from an upper grades level of teaching so I don't have as many students who struggle with phonemic awareness. Phonics can be brought into instruction through shared reading or read-alouds. I think shared reading is where I would focus on phonics teaching because I can model myself working through unknown words to demonstrate for my students how they can do it on their own in sustained reading time. In chapter twelve's description of shared reading Weaver writes "using letter-sound knowledge along with other cues to identify words (also, teachers can make a not of readers who overuse letter-sound knowledge without also using meaning and other cues)" (p.293). This goes back to what we have learned in previous chapters that reading for meaning is most important to making a student a proficient reader. We shouldn't focus so much on letter-sounds and focus on students gaining meaning from their text. I think it's important to show how we can use previously learned words to help decode unknown words through read-alouds and shared reading. I don't think I need to teach specific rimes and onsets in order for my students to read upper-level text. Having more exposure to different types of text is the best way to help students with phonemic awareness. The comprehensive literacy program is to build students overall literacy competency and skills are to be incorporated into reading groups or writing practice. The skills shouldn't be taught and drill practiced for effectiveness.
Where does phonics instruction fit within a comprehensive literacy program? When and how would you teach phonics?
Phonics fits within the reading instruction of the comprehensive literacy program but is not taught in isolation. Chapter 13 in our text puts emphasis on how phonemic awareness promotes learning to read and learning to read promotes phonemic awareness. Weaver says "phonemic segmentation is not a natural task, nor one normally needed for reading, beyond the ability to separate an onset from a rime. This fact is important to understand because in some schools, readiness for first grade-or kindergarten!-is being assessed in part by measures of phoneic awareness"(p.307). I would agree with this because I don't think that phonics needs to be taught explicity for a student to become a proficient reader. I also am coming from an upper grades level of teaching so I don't have as many students who struggle with phonemic awareness. Phonics can be brought into instruction through shared reading or read-alouds. I think shared reading is where I would focus on phonics teaching because I can model myself working through unknown words to demonstrate for my students how they can do it on their own in sustained reading time. In chapter twelve's description of shared reading Weaver writes "using letter-sound knowledge along with other cues to identify words (also, teachers can make a not of readers who overuse letter-sound knowledge without also using meaning and other cues)" (p.293). This goes back to what we have learned in previous chapters that reading for meaning is most important to making a student a proficient reader. We shouldn't focus so much on letter-sounds and focus on students gaining meaning from their text. I think it's important to show how we can use previously learned words to help decode unknown words through read-alouds and shared reading. I don't think I need to teach specific rimes and onsets in order for my students to read upper-level text. Having more exposure to different types of text is the best way to help students with phonemic awareness. The comprehensive literacy program is to build students overall literacy competency and skills are to be incorporated into reading groups or writing practice. The skills shouldn't be taught and drill practiced for effectiveness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)