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.

Module 4: Activity 2

Which NRP topic area(s) or �missing pillar(s)� that Allington describes do you find to be most vital for children�s literacy success? Why? Post your response on your blog. Name the posting "Module 4: Activity 2."

From the missing pillar article, I feel that a balanced approach to teaching with whole class teaching, small group teaching, and side-by-side instruction is the most vital strategy for children's literacy success. These are the parts of a comprehensive literacy program. All students differ upon ability and the way that they learn. Having this approach will allow all students to learn. The whole class teaching allows for many things to occur to model proficient reading. For example, in a comprehensive literacy program, a student can see an example of how to read fluently and with expression during the read-aloud portion of the program. Whole class discussion of this read-aloud can also allow students to bounce ideas off of each other and may have them see something from the text differently. Small group teaching allows students to receive more one-on-one time with the teacher. Typically small groups in reading take the form of guided reading groups and literature circles in a comprehensive literacy program. Students are given the opportunity to show how they can read. The teacher can listen and help the students with whatever individual problems that they have. Side-by-side instruction in a comprehensive literacy program looks like reading conferences. This is a great way for a student to talk with the teachers about problems that she or he is facing in reading. It also allows for great discussion about the book the child is currently reading.
For me, I feel that this strategy from the missing pillar article is most vital for a children's success, because the strategies are all a part of the comprehensive literacy program.  These different types of instruction allow for students to see a demonstration of reading and then implement what they learn into small group times or side-by-side instruction. These different methods allow the children to truly succeed in reading.

Module 4: Activity 1

Even though this video has strong religious overtones, (please let me know if it offends you, and I will provide an alternate assignment), it is useful for determining strategies that beginning readers use when becoming literate, even at age 50. Watch the video and reflect on what strategy or strategies Robin used most to help him learn to read.

This video is truly amazing! It is so inspiring that someone can accomplish anything that he or she sets his/her mind to. In the video, Robin used many strategies to help himself with his reading. I noticed that he typically looked for chunks or phonograms to help him determine a word. For example, when reading a sentence that he copied I think from a truck he saw, he noticed the chunk -est in the word "best," and he was able to figure out what the word was. He did this throughout the video looking for word families that he knew. It was amazing how this strategy alone helped him read the majority of the words that he did not know. I noticed that he did not do a lot of "sound out" of words. Instead, he drew on his schema and looked for chunks that he knew and then applied some phonics skills to determine the word.
Robin also used a lot of semantics when reading. Throughout the video he would make a miscue in a sentence, but after reading more words after the miscue, he would go back and self-correct, because he knew that what he originally said was not correct.
I also liked how he used real-world, practical examples to read. He used ads, email, and newspapers ad different sources to help him practice reading.
It is absolutely inspiring that he had the determination to learn to read at the age of 50.

Module 4: Instructional Challenge

Marcus is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching strategies would you suggest to help Marcus? Post your response to your blog and name the posting "Module 4: Instructional Challenge."

Respond the the Instructional Challenge Blog Postings of two other members of the class. Discuss areas of overlap and disagreement with their ideas. 

It seems that Marcus is not focusing on that reading should have meaning, and it should make sense. Making miscues that interrupts the meaning shows that Marcus is not comprehending the text. There are many strategies a teacher could implement to help Marcus. Book walks, read-alouds and discussion, books on tapes, literature groups, and buddy readings are all possible strategies to help Marcus. Personally, I would begin by doing a book walk with Marcus. Discussing the pictures and allowing Marcus to use his schema will allow him to understand what the book is about, which should then transfer into his reading. Reading the book aloud and discussing what is happening in the story would also help Marcus read the book later on during a sustained reading time . I would first try these two strategies and go from there.

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)?

Currently, I am already implementing many parts of the comprehensive literacy program in my first grade classroom. Last year, my reading block consisted of read-alouds, guided reading groups, inquiry, and sustained reading. Sometimes I incorporated these into science and social studies, as the push with common core is to integrate these subjects with reading. In writing, I implemented model writing, individual writing conferences,  sustained writing, journals, shared writing, and inquiry.

After learning the many benefits of the comprehensive literacy program, I would like to implement more of the components of the program. For reading, I specifically would like to look into incorporating reading conferences. I have learned a lot about these from the articles I read for my comprehensive literacy project on reading workshop. The majority of the articles focused on the importance of meeting with your students individually. This is a great way to gain assessment information about each of your students. For writing, I would like to look more into guided writing. On page 238, Weaver provides an example of what guided writing would look like. I like how for this portion of writing, the student is told to orally give sentences to use in his or her writing. I also like how the computer is used as a strategy to help the student reread and edit his or her work easily. I think this is a great idea for all students, but specifically with students who struggle with writing. I know often times, after reading a student's work, he or she would have to erase and rewrite a large portion of their writing. This often discouraged the children to write, because they would have to start all over. Giving the child a computer to revise their work will make changing anything simple and easy.

Module 3: Activity 2

I do think that some phonological awareness mentioned in the video is needed for children to learn how to read. I don’t however think that it is the most important strategy though. The nonsense word test I feel is completely absurd and meaningless. I do not understand the point of reading words that have no meaning at all. Understanding text is the purpose of reading. Reading nonsense words is completely defeating the purpose.

A reader needs many other strategies in order to become a proficient reader. A proficient reader is defined as being effective and efficient. He or she needs to be able to also understand the words that are read. A proficient reader uses graphic cues, schema, syntax, semantics, and context to gain meaning from what he or she is reading. The readings in the book have shown me that a student can sound out many words and pronounce them correctly, but if he or she does not understand the meaning of the word, then the child is not truly reading.

Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist.

Erica, a fifth grader, reads grade level passages at a rate of 177 words correct per minute, or 30% faster than grade level norms. When asked to retell what she has read, Erica struggles and is able to give little to no information from about the text. Many other children in Erica's class also read well above grade level expectations for fluency rate (or automaticity), but the teacher laments that they struggle with comprehension and using appropriate expression and intonation while they read. What is going on here? What advice can you offer the teacher? Write a memo to the teacher from the viewpoint of the school's Reading Specialist. Give the teacher and explanation for the phenomenon and offer her advice on dealing with the situation. Please keep the memo to no more than 400 words. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist."

            It seems that the students in your class are focusing on getting the words correct. They are not focusing on gaining meaning from the text that they are reading. Your students’ do not understand that the purpose of reading is to understand the text.

            The “Think-Aloud” Strategy could be used to help your class to begin to understand what they are reading. This strategy is a way of discussing what is being read. For example, if you are reading a text, you can model the “Think-Aloud” Strategy by stopping at a point and thinking aloud of what is currently going on in the story, such as the very hungry caterpillar is eating a lot of food. The students can contribute with their thoughts as well. Once you have modeled how this strategy works, students can be broken up into groups, in which they can implement the “Think-Aloud” Strategy on their own. Doing this will enable children to process what they are reading and truly understand the text.

            Let me know how this strategy works for you and if I can provide any further assistance.

Thank you,

Kimberly Wood

Reading Specialist

Module 3: Reading Reflection

I do not agree with Marilyn Adams in her statement regarding how readers look at the individual letters when reading. Good readers read based on context, schemas, semantics, syntax, and graphic cues. They use all of these factors together to gain meaning from the text. Relying on reading by looking at the individual letters not only is an incorrect idea, but it would require a significant amount of time. According to the reading, reading “means that various features within words—not necessarily letters—are picked up  by the eyes before the words or chunks of letters are perceived and before words (must less the individual letters) are identified by the brain” (Weaver, 2002, p. 109). Often times, readers are predicting what word comes next or looking ahead when reading. When I am reading, I notice how I may read ahead or reread a word if it does not make sense. I never am focusing on the individual letters. In the end, Marilyn Adams statement does not represent the true idea of how readers read.

References: 

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading Process & Practice (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Prominent Theorist or Researcher Assignment

Here is the link to my Researcher Assignment. I chose to research Vivian Vasquez.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BymP-jX0jKBhMjcyX0NIamh6Z0U/edit?usp=sharing

Module 2: Activities 1 & 2

Activity 1:

Complete Exercise #3c on page 58 in the text: first write a definition of each word listed. Did you notice yourself using any fairly consistent principle for determining what the words might mean? Discuss. Then read the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange to find the meanings of at least six of the words: http://www.ebooktrove.com/top_ten/AClockworkOrange.pdf. In each case, how do you finally determine what the word means? Combine this assignment with Activity 2 in this module. Create a blog post.

Definitions:  Before reading, I tried to determine the definitions of these words standing alone. I tried to look at the endings of the words to determine what part of speech the word may be. I also thought about words that sounded liked the words and hoped that these words would mean something related.

·         Deng—a loud sound

·         Tolchock—a vechile

·         Veck—a v-neck shirt

·         Viddy—funny

Definitions from reading:  After reading, I tried to see how the word was used in the sentence. I determined if the word was a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb. I then used the context in the sentences before, the sentences after, the words before, and the words after to help determine the definition.

·         Deng—money

·         Tolchock—to steal from

·         Veck—man

·         Viddy—allow

·         Creech—Screeching

·         Droogs--dogs

Activity 2:

Read Exercise 7 on p. 85 and rather than showing it to an audience, complete the exercise yourself. Answer the questions, including the two at the top of p. 86. Combine this assignment with Activity 1 in this module. Create a blog post. Name this blog posting "Module 2: Activities 1 & 2."

1.     Who tried to read the words letter-by-letter?  Why not?

I did not read the words letter-by-letter. I didn’t do this, because I found if I did this, I was not able to blend the word together.

2.     Who tried to read the words mostly by chunking them into syllables?

 I tried to break the words down into syllables into read the words.

3.     Who tried to read the words by sampling the letters more or less all at one?

To read the word, I read each syllable all at once to determine how to say the word.

4.     What words do you know the meaning of, or think you know the meaning of?

The word “extravasate” sounds like a verb providing something in addition to. The word “dissepiment” sounds like a noun that is in a negative state.

5.     Did pronouncing the words give you insights into their meanings?

Yes, pronouncing the words gave me the ability to look at word endings to determine the part of speech. I also used prefixes that I recognized in other words to determine the meaning. For example, I know that “dis” typically is a prefix that is negative. So for the word “dissepiment.” I assume the word means something in a negative sense.

6.     How do you handle unknown words when you encounter them in normal reading?

When I am reading, I mainly use context to help determine the meaning of a word. I will look to see what words or sentences before or after can help give me clues as to what the unknown word means.  From this, I can usually determine the meaning of the word.

7.     What do you think are the implications of this experiment and discussion for how we should help students deal with unfamiliar print words?

I think this experiment was to show us that students can use their schemas to determine what an unknown word is by looking at prefixes and suffixes. In text, students can use the context around the word to help define an unknown word. 

Module 2: Instructional Challenge

OR: It my little monkey here.	ER: Is my little monkey here?
OR: We got to tell.	ER: We've got to tell.
OR: Frog look at Toad calendar.	ER: Frog looked at Toad's calendar.
OR: A word what sounded good.	ER: A word that sounded good.
OR: hisself	ER: himself
OR: I can come to your party?	ER: Can I come to your party?

Are these children proficient or non-proficient readers? I think these children are proficient readers. It seems that their dialect is factoring into their reading. According to Weaver, "Proficient readers make miscues that reflect their predictions, their prior knowledge, and even their preferred language structures" (2002, p.74). It is natural to pull one's own language into reading a text. Weaver provided a good example when she gave the rural mountain speech passage and discussed how she found herself making miscues by translating the text into her own proper way of reading and writing.

I feel that these children are doing the same thing. I do not feel that their miscues are affecting the overall meaning of the text. The children are comprehending what they are reading even with such miscues. Weaver explains this as the readers changing the surface structure, but the deep structure is still understood (2002. p.76).

If I were teaching a student that was making miscues based on his or her dialect, I would not correct the child. The most important thing would be to ensure that this student is comprehending the text. If the student is not comprehending the text, I would correct the child and decide why the child is making miscues.

 I do wonder if dialect related miscues would reflect in their writing. If so, at what point would dialect miscues need to be corrected? 

References:

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process & practice. (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Module 2: Reading Reflection

The major folklore of reading instruction relates to the “theory” that reading is considered an exact process. In other words, the reader is expected to read everything exactly as printed on the page in order to understand the message of the author. In general the consuming public, legislatures, courts, and too many educators hold to this theory. It is like the theory of the world being flat during the time of Columbus.

                                    --Robert Harper and Gary Kilarr

In the quote above, Robert Harper and Gary Kilarr respond to society’s reading perception. They disagree that reading is a process in which all words are read correctly in order to comprehend the text. I without a doubt agree with Harper and Kilarr. Reading is more than reading words correctly. Reading is using context, syntax, semantics, schemas, and graphic cues in order to gain meaning from the text.

According to the reading, being able to say every word in a passage is not required in order for comprehension to be achieved. Proficient readers, “focus primarily upon the construction of meaning from text, not upon identification of all the words” (Weaver, 2002, p. 80). When looking at the running record samples in the book, often times, students’ miscues do not affect the meaning of the text. These miscues are made, because students are predicting what word comes next, or they use prior knowledge in order to read the word. For example, in one of the running records, Billy substituted the words “of the clock” for “o’clock” (Weaver, 2002. p. 65). He kept the meaning as both phrases relate to the time of the clock, but he used words that better fit in his schema. In this example, precise word identification had no effect on the meaning.

Students sometimes make miscues in the reading due to their dialects, but these miscues do not affect how the reader is able to understand what he or she is reading. Many times, a reader will translate a passage into their own language structure. For example, the author discusses when reading a passage with rural mountain speech, she read the sentence containing the phrase “I ever” to “ever I” (Weaver, 2002, p. 75). This preserved the meaning and kept the deep structure of the text, which is truly what is important.

In the end, society’s idea that reading is simply word comprehension is completely false. Reading is using context, schema, syntax, semantics, and graphic cues. These strategies are all needed in conjunction with each other, in order to fully comprehend a text.

References: 

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading Process & Practice (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Module 1: Activity 2

 a.      What is corandic?  Corandic is an emurient grof with many fribs.

b.     What does corandic grank from?  Corandic grans from corite.

c.      How do garpers excarp the tarances from the corite? Garpers excap the corite by glarking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped storbs.

d.     What does the slorp finally frast? The slorp finally frast a pragety, blickant crankle:  coranda

e.      What is coranda? Coranda is a cargurt, grinkling corandic and borigen.

f.        How is the corandic nacerated from the borigen? The corandic is nacerated from the borigen by means of loracity.

g.      What do the garkers finally thrap? The garkers finally thrap a glick, bracht, glupous grapant, corandic. Which granks in many starps.

I was able to answer such questions based upon the word order and the syntactic clues. The questions were only recall questions that were identical to the sentences in the passage. The assessment questions only required me to look for the words in the questions that matched the words in the text. I was then able to provide an answer, and get the answer correct without even comprehending what the passage was about.

Unfortunately, many questions that children are given are like the questions above. I had no idea what I was reading, but I was able to get every question correct simply based upon syntactic clues. Assessing the children on simple recall facts that specifically match the text is showing the students that it is not a necessity to comprehend what you are reading. It is important for students to use syntactic strategies when reading, but it is also important for the students to grasp the meaning of the text. We as teachers need to be sure that the assessments we are able to create truly assess the students on comprehension using a sociopsycholinguistic method. Many standardized tests and curriculum based workbook and activities unfortunately use questions such as the ones above. These questions require only one part of the sociopsycholinguistic view of reading, but as seen through this activity, there are many more parts to reading that play a role in a reader fully grasping the meaning of a text. 

Module 1: Activity 1

Module 1: Instructional Challenge

Read the following passage:

Hocked gems financing him, our hero defied the scornful laughter. Think of it as an egg, not a table, he said. Then three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging over vast calmness, and sometimes over turbulent peaks and valleys, until at last welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying monumental success.

Answer these questions about the passage:

1.     What are the hocked gems?

The hocked gems are something that is of value that was taken from the main character.

2.     What should we think of as an egg and not a table?

We should think of valuable things as fragile like an egg, and that these things may not always be around.

3.     Who are the three sturdy sisters?

The three sturdy sisters signifies a metaphor over problems with money. People can become very stressed in certain financial situations. In life, there will be calm times as well as turbulent, tough times.

4.     What kind of winged creatures appeared?

I think the winged creatures are birds flying overhead. These birds represent hope. There may be stressful times in life, like financial problems, but in the end, everything will be okay.

If I were to use this passage in my first grade classroom, I would first have to introduce the pronunciation of these words as many of these words would be too advanced for them. From there, I would pull from their schemas what they know already about these words. I also would have them look at the context, and I would have them view how these words are used in the sentences to determine meaning from the text.

If the children’s schemas do not match the content of the text, I would work to develop the students’ schemas. A student’s schema is built upon experiences and exposure to topics, so I would work to introduce a new text that may not match the schemas in my classroom. Introducing them to the words and the experiences that go with the words through discussion, pictures, and any physical movements that may coincide with the words will help develop the students’ backgrounds of the topics. 

          I think that some time should be used in texts that do not match a student’s schema. I feel that a schema can be developed through reading things that a student is not familiar with. I think this should be incorporated more into a small group time where discussion can take place if a student does not have the background to understand a certain part of the text. I feel that independent reading time, where a student is reading on his or her own should focus more on the student’s interest and schema, so that the student is fully comprehending what he or she is reading, as discussion of things the student does not know would more than likely not be taking place.

Module 1: Reading Reflection

What are some of the major differences between a skills approach to literacy and a comprehensive or sociopsycholinguistic approach?

There are many differences between a skills approach to literacy and a sociopsycholinguistic approach. According to the reading, skills approach involves teaching a student from the bottom up. A sociopsycholinguistic approach is the complete opposite. It involves a more in-depth and interconnected method for reading and comprehension.

 With a skills approach to literacy, students learn to recognize letters and letter sounds, and then move on to more complex reading strategies, such as learning word families and sounding out words. Comprehension and meaning are completely left out of the equation until students are able to verbally say the words. The skills to reading are taught more in isolation rather than pulled in together. Reading is viewed as first being able to pronounce words and meaning as something that will develop later.

On the contrary, sociopsycholinguistic fully entwines all concepts of reading from a skills approach, as well as including schemas, and context. These skills are taught together versus in isolation. When a student is reading, he or she will use background knowledge, phonics skills,  the context of how the word is used, the meaning of the word, and how the word looks in a sentence to full comprehend the text. The sociopsycholinguistic approach also understands that with each reader bringing his or her own skills and schemas, each reader may comprehend the text differently. Students transfer what they already know into the reading and develop their own meaning to the text.

In essence, skills approach to literacy focuses only on the basics of reading. Fundamental skills must be learned before comprehension can be factored into the learning, and skills are taught in isolation. Sociopsycholinguistic views reading as a whole. Students incorporate basic skills, such as letter names and sounds, but also use their schemas to determine meaning and context in order to create their own comprehension to the text.

Personal Model of the Theory of Reading

Personal Model of the Theory of Reading Assignment

Kimberly Wood

Kennesaw State University

How do you teach reading? This is a question that I have been asked by several friends who are not in the education field. After a couple years of teaching, I can explain how I teach reading, but the process of the students learning how to read from my teaching baffles me at times. I feel learning to read begins when children are young. Being around a print-filled environment with books, labels, words, and letters, exposes children to literacy and gives them great background knowledge to begin the process of learning to read. Though this is not always the case for all children, as some students are not exposed to literacy at a young age, so the prior knowledge they build occurs in the school environment

            At school, all children are learning how to read on a daily basis throughout the school day. Typically children are taught how to read through a mixture of phonological awareness, phonics, prior knowledge, and reading comprehension. I believe that all of these factors coincide together in the reading process. A student just beginning to learn how to read in school is initially exposed to letters and letter sounds—the basics of phonics. Students learn to recognize letters and the sound of the letters in different words. Upon mastery, students memorize sight words that they will easily and quickly recognize in text, move on to spelling words that focus on a phonological pattern, and work on blending sounds together to form words. These steps help to set children up with the basic skills of reading. Also, in the early elementary grades, teacher read-alouds are common to show students how to read fluently as well as exposing them to words. I feel that these all factor into a student learning how to read.

            In the classroom, the most effective way for a student who is learning how to read is a small group guided reading time. I feel that this is the time that a student truly is learning how to read. From my personal experience, I group my children based on their reading levels. Some students read at an advanced level and some read at a lower level. Prior to reading a book on the students’ level, I choose words that I feel the students may not know how to sound out or words they make not recognize. We go over these words as a group where I write the word on the board, and the students repeat it. Usually the students know the meaning of the word, but they cannot read it. For example, a student may not be able to read the word “fire truck,” but once we read the word, the student can explain the meaning of the word. He or she is then able to transfer learning what the word “fire truck” looks like to the actual text and gain meaning and comprehension from the text. Throughout the small group time, students take turns reading. They use decoding skills, picture cues, prior knowledge, and the words that they were taught in the beginning, like “fire truck,” to read and understand the text. If students come to a word that they do not know, it is their job to use the skills to determine the word. Also, throughout the reading, I use Marzano’s thinking clouds/questions as well as higher order thinking questions to monitor the students’ comprehension. It is a combination of all of these factors that children use in order to understand the author’s complete thought.

            Teaching reading will continue to be a learning process for me. I know that learning to read can begin at an early age though the process of learning letters, the letter sounds, blending sounds, sight words, and spelling words. This way of teaching reading is useful in combination with small group time where meaning of words and comprehension all work together in an effort for students to truly be reading.