Optiz Page 14 Activity

As a first grade teacher, reading is a subject area that students tend to show the most progress in. Some students arrive reading chapter books, while other students are able to read short decodable books but progress to more difficult text. After reading the chapters in Reading Diganosis and Improvement and this activity, I knew I specifically wanted to focus on a student this year that arrived in my classroom with little knowledge of how to read. When reading with him in a small group during guided reading time, I noticed that he fell into the less proficient reading category. When listening to him read, I noticed he depended heavily on the pictures. This book was a predictable text. He was able to get the first few words, "I help my," but then after that he used the pictures to determine who was being helped in the story. Often times he said a word that could match the picture, but it did not match the graphic cues of the word. He also would guess when he came to unknown word and when the picture was not helpful. This student was not using any other reading strategies to determine the word. He attempted to read the text correctly, but he was unable to read the text correctly or comprehend what the book was about. Seeing that this student is showing behaviors of a less proficient reader, I need to be sure that I work with him on his needs and provide the necessary interventions to help him become a more proficient reader.

Watch & Learn: Assessing Reading Skills Video

This video shows a young girl who is ten years old and is struggling to read. I found it interesting that the girl was in the 94th percentile in math, but in reading she was in the 12th percentile. This video shows how this child is struggling with decoding words, and therefore is not comprehending what she is reading.Ongoing assessment is needed by the teacher in order to cater to each student and his or her needs.

 I like how it was mentioned that reading is an emotional battle too. A struggling reader can get discouraged and become embarrassed and gain low self-esteem, all from struggling to read. With fluency, the girl will be able to improve her comprehension and become a better reader.

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. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module 6:Instructional Challenge."

This year, reading will need to be a focus due to the fact so many of the students did not meet the standard on the CRCT. To help with this, I will implement some specific universal literacy strategies.
Due to the fact that so many of the students are on free and reduced-price meals, I am going to be sure that whenever we begin discussing a topic or reading the book, that the students have enough information that they need to understand the text. It has been proven that students that have a significant knowledge about the topic of the book will gain more meaning from the text versus students who do not have prior knowledge of the topic. These students may have different schemas than what I assume they have. I need to build upon their existing schemas, so that they can use their background knowledge when it comes time to read a book. For example, if I am reading a book about a taxi. I need to be sure that the students know what a taxi is, what it is used for, and where they are commonly seen. This information would help the students understand the story about taxis better.
At home, the students will also need to practice reading. Parents, friends, brother, sisters, cousins, or whoever lives with the children will be responsible for reading books that the children like as well as on their level. This extra practice should help reinforce the reading that is going on in the classroom. Students will be allowed to check-out books from the school library that are appropriate for them. They can take these books home and read them with another person.

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?

After reading Chapter 15, some of my thoughts of reading were definitely, which has been the case this for this entire course. One of the interesting things I read was the idea of decodables on page 366. Decodables are a resource that is provided with most purchased curricular. The book brought great points at high these books usually have unnatural language, and therefore students cannot use some of the strategies they have been taught, such as syntax. I love the graph that Weaver has on this page that shows the amount of errors compared to a book that consists of predictable language. With this information, decodables are definitely something that curriculum companies and even the people who choose the curriculum for schools should look at.

Weaver also discusses that the more students know about a topic, the more they will understand (2012. p. 373). While this is not a new idea to me, it is definitely something that I am going to be sure to be conscious of when teaching. When I am about to begin a new book with the students, I am going to be sure and discuss the topic indepthly. This will help the students when they try and read the book themselves. They will be able to comprehend the text and answer any questions that follow.

Final Personal Model of Reading Theory

Final Personal Model of the Theory of Reading Assignment

Kimberly Wood

Kennesaw State University

How do you teaching reading? This is the question that plagued me at the beginning of this reading course. After completing this class, I feel more confident in answering this question. I have learned that reading is a sociopsycholinguistic process. Constance Weaver describes this as a process of using graphic cues, schemas, context, semantics, and syntax in order to gain meaning from a text. These strategies need to be taught to the children and used by them when reading.

Reading should be a part of a comprehensive literacy program, in which reading and writing workshops are used to support the sociopsycholinguistic reading process. Students should be given time to participate in both large group and small group times during the reading block. Read-alouds and shared reading times should be used in a large group format, in which a teacher may read a book demonstrating how to read fluently and with expression. It also should involve times when students help and demonstrate what they know about reading. Specific reading strategies can also be taught during this time as a mini-lesson, such as predicting or thinking aloud. In my first grade classroom, read-alouds will involve reading a big book and shared reading will involve the students reading from their text book.

Literature circles and guided reading times are a time for the teacher to interact with students in a small group. I feel that this is the time that the students read a book on their level. The students should read the book quietly aloud, and the teacher should listen to the students and assist when needed.  The teacher should then facilitate discussion about the text being read. Also, this is a time that the teacher can learn what support the students need and address these issues. For example, if a student comes across a word her or she does not know, the teacher should provide strategy options for the student to use to figure out what the word is. This is a new concept for me that I will use in my guided reading groups this year. Previously, I would allow another student to say the unknown word. I now know that a student that does not know a word should be given strategies, such as using prior knowledge or use the picture, in order to read the unknown word.

After reading about reading workshop and the comprehensive literacy program, I learned the importance of independent reading and conferencing. Having students read books for a sustained period of time is an extremely beneficial time for students to work on their reading. These books should be on the students’ levels, but the students should be given the choice to pick the book they want to read. Conferencing can take place during this time to meet with students individually to discuss problems, issues, or questions.

One of the biggest things about learning to read that has changed for me is the idea of teaching phonics. Previously, I have taught phonics independently, and I definitely did not integrate it into other times like I should have. Each morning we sing phonics songs, go over the skill of the week, and review the spelling words.  I now know that phonics is something that should be brought into all aspects of reading workshop, and it should not be isolated. Phonics is something that can be discussed during shared reading or guided reading for example when a word pattern is utilized.

Though I have learned a lot from this course about reading, and I will change many things this upcoming year, reading will still be a learning process for me. Reading should be something that is taught as part of a comprehensive literacy program in a sociopsycholinguistic process. I cannot wait to begin this upcoming school and year and utilize the knowledge that I have learned about reading.

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.

A comprehensive literacy program is able to address the needs of all learners based upon its wide range of teaching strategies. Specifically focusing on ELLs, through reading workshop and writing workshop, these students can receive the type of instruction they need to succeed. During reading, read-alouds are a great opportunity for the ELLs to receive demonstrations on how to read fluently, how to think aloud, and how to read with expression. Guided reading will also be a great way to work with these students' specific needs. Here, I would be able to work on whatever skills they are struggling with. For example, while reading a story, we can go over any phonics skills that they are not understanding as well as vocabulary words that they do not know the meaning of. Reading conferences can further provide me with specific information on each ELL individually. I would be able to discuss with them what he or she is having a problem with and talk with him or her on how to fix that problem. During writing, a comprehensive literacy program provides ample opportunies to assist ELL students. Like reading, writing aloud, guided writing, and conferences can help me address the needs of these students. During a writing aloud, the ELL students would be able to see an example of writing. In guided writing, I would be able to help these students as a group on the specific struggles they are having. For example, if the students are struggling with coming up with words to use in their sentences, we can work as a group to come up with a list of words for them to use. Conferences would give me the opportunity to gauge where each ELL is in his or her writing. I would be able to help them on each of their specific problems. Through the reading and writing workshop times in a comprehensive literacy program, I would be able to reach whatever the needs are to all students.

Module 5: Reading Reflection

Where does phonics instruction fit within a comprehensive literacy program? When and how would you teach phonics?

I think that phonics is something that can be integrated in many places of a comprehensive literacy program. I do not feel that phonics should be isolated and taught alone. Phonics can be a part of read-alouds, shared reading, and guided reading groups. Students can also apply and practice the phonics skills that they already know during sustained reading. During writing workshop, phonics can be reinforced here as well during write-aloud, shared writing, guided writing, and conference time.

This school year, I will be teaching first grade again. Our entire team sets aside 5 to 10 minutes in the morning where we sing some phonics songs. After this, phonics is integrated into reading and writing. I feel that in the beginning, having the brief time to practice phonics skills is appropriate. This year, I would like to pull back the amount of time spent on phonics as a separate component, and I want to work more on integrate phonics into reading. I would really like to focus on phonics during guided reading groups. Here, I will be able to differentiate. My higher leveled groups may not need any extra phonics practice, but my lower groups may need to have more reinforcement. We are receiving a new curriculum this year for reading, so I am interested in the resources that it will provide and hope that it has some ideas for integrating phonics as part of the reading program, and not specifically isolating phonics on its own.