Module 1: Reading & Activity Response

      The thing that sticks out most from the readings this week was the chapter dedicated to educational and noneducational factors that could affect a student's reading performance. A few of the situations that were mentioned are things that I am currently noticing in my new school. I did my student teaching in Jones County, GA where there wasn't much parent envolvement and I had a high population of low socioeconomic level students. While I was doing my student teaching, sometimes the students would not get their homework done or wouldn't get certain assignments signed because their parents weren't around to help them and they simply did not have the needed support. There also did not seem to be much discipline on the parents end after hearing of something that happened while the child was at school. On the complete other side of the spectrum, I am not teaching in a Forsyth County, GA school where I have a volunteer list that seems to be never ending. The parents want to come in all the time to help with small groups, and are even offering to help me do creative things with my lesson plans. The students always have their homework and have their agendas signed nightly. The parents are in constant contact with me about how their child is doing and how they can help them succeed in the classroom (some even asking for extra work for their child to complete at home). If something happens in the classroom, the parents are sure to discuss the consequences when the student gets home after school. With that said, I can tell a significant different in their reading levels. The majority of the students in my classroom are reading above level books, while 80% of the students at my old school were reading on middle of second grade levels- some were even reading on a first grade level.
      However, the book also states that reading level could have to do with environmental factors as well as the teacher's noticible perceptions of specific subjects and their methods of teaching. Of course if the children do not have adequate access to appropriate books as home and do not have the support needed for specific activities then they are not going to do as well as they could with their reading abilities. But if the children also have a teacher who doesn't like to teach reading and does not continue to improve their own reading abilities then the child does not have a good "reading role model". Children can only do as much as they are taught, experience or observe, so if the child is not becoming a part of or seeing reading done on the level we expect of them then they will not reach their full potential.
      I have a student who is new to the school this year, and I had begun to notice that something did not seem to be connecting with her. I was always having to redirect her on specific assignments and ask her to go back and complete specific questions. So, I went back and looked and her pretests for math and reading. She skipped the majority of the word problems for math and did not even complete her reading pretest. So, I then went to look at the rest of her tests that she took recently. She did the same thing on those- skipped the word problems. I began to put the pieces together and realized that I needed to do some further testing. I did a reading test on her to find her reading level, and she tested in the 10% for reading fluency and the 12% for reading comprehension. When she reads, she reads letter by letter so she is unable to absorb the content and therefore comprehend the material. After looking over table 1.1 on page 8 in "Reading Diagnosis and Improvement" I now see that she exhibits the majority of the characteristics for a less proficient reader. From here, I will be implementing new reading techniques for her specifically such as allowing her to experience other ways of reading aside from the typical sound it out routine.

Module 1: "Watch & Learn: Assessing Reading Skills"

      This was a very interesting video to watch because even though there were some tidbits of information that we have previously discussed there was also information that I had never thought of before. Even though some students may have very high IQs, they may not be able to read. It is vital that students practice their reading on a daily basis. It is also important that the students get a good model of what reading should sound like. For example, the students will be able to hear fluent reading as well as hear the questioning process. Students need to understand that they are reading for a purpose and not simply reading to identify words. The students need to spend more time trying to understand the passage instead of decoding the words within the passage. However, the video talked about allowing children to read lists of words, but I do not think that should be done as frequently as simply reading text. The students need to be able to see the words in context in order to truely understand their meaning because some words have various definitions, but the students would only know that if they studied the words in different contexts. Watch & Learn also discussed about assessing students frequently in order to monitor their progress. This is important so the teacher can build the lesson around the students strengths and weaknesses.
      Through my experiences, I have seen teachers complete running records on the students' reading fluency and comprehension in order to determine their leveled reading group for the upcoming week. The students are broken up into groups of similar reading level where they read the same book as a group and complete various assignments on the content. The students are able to work a few days independently and then work with the teacher in order to make sure that comprehension is taking place during their independent time. Last semester we talked about having frequent conferences with students in order to see their standing on specific content and understand where their weaknesses may be stemming from. Even though the students may be on varying reading levels, you may find that they are having the same struggle just in varying degrees. Therefore that topic is something that can be discussed as a class.

Final Personal Model of Reading Theory

The most important thing for teachers to be aware of is that students learn best through a whole-to-part literacy structure. Constance Weaver explains it perfectly in Reading Process & Practice when she states,

“As children have more and more experience with print, development proceeds not from part to whole, but from whole to part: from being read to, to being able to read; from an understanding that print represents speech to being able to match spoken words to print words; from perceiving print words as whole units to being able to analyze print words into units that represent onsets and rimes” (2002, p.369).

Whole-to-part literacy most nearly means not teaching individual rules or strategies, but teaching them through reading and writing so that the students can see them in their appropriate contextual environment. We can accomplish this through a comprehensive literacy program with reading and writing workshops.

In a comprehensive literacy approach “teachers and students attend to skill-related knowledge like phonics by drawing examples from texts being read and relating the skills back to their reading. [While] teachers…help children master letter formation, spelling patterns, and punctuation when the children use writing as a means of expressing themselves, communicating and coming to know and understand new concepts and experiences” (Weaver, 2002, p.3). Therefore, reading and writing need to be taught in conjunction with one another in order to further the students’ understanding of particular concepts. As started in Breaking Ground: Teachers Relate Reading and Writing in the Elementary School, “Reading and writing would be allowed to flow and develop in an interactive process, each supporting and enhancing the other. [Graves] had watched the strong effect of writing process on children’s reading in previous years and marveled. The two processes seemed to go together naturally” (Graves, 1985, p.16).  

            The more children are able to participate in reading experiences the stronger their reading and writing is going to get. First, the teacher needs to demonstrate various reading and writing strategies rather than simply explaining them and expecting the students to fully understand. This quote from Inside Writing: How to Teach the Details of Craft explains it perfectly:

“It is unheard of for a math teacher not to show the art of solving problems on the chalkboard. An artist paints with his class, a science teacher illustrates the art of investigation and documentation, and a coach shows how she spreads her fingers to control a basketball. Good teaching means demonstrating the decisions and skills required to participate in the field of study or endeavor being taught” (Graves & Kittle, 2005, p. 1).

Through read-alouds and shared reading, the students will be able to hear and see the print on the page, as well as listen to the teacher orally go through different reading strategies. When the students see the teacher using these strategies and what they accomplish, they will begin to understand their importance in comprehension. The same goes for writing; teachers can allow students to experience the writing process through write-alouds and shared writing. With this strategy, the students will be able to see a piece of work from conception to brainstorming to final publication. These activities will also build student background knowledge of various topics. Background knowledge is vital to fluency and comprehension, as well as the writing process because if students have never heard of something how can they be expected to read or write about it. They will also build student’s word familiarity because the students will be getting more and more exposure to various types of words.

            Once the students have seen the reading and writing process, it is time for them to try it on their own through guided reading/writing, sustained reading/writing. This way the students can take what they have learned through demonstration and begin to read and write on their own. Because students had a lot of exposure to different types of words through teacher-lead activities, they will be able to figure out unfamiliar words through analogy, in order words comparing the unknown word to familiar words in order to figure out its pronunciation. This is when students begin to segment words into recognizable “chunks” such as syllables or onsets and rimes. However, teacher scaffolding and mini-lessons do not stop here- teachers need to keep in constant contact with students through reading/writing conferences. These conferences are used to check on the student’s progress and see if they are having any troubles with any of the strategies or content. This is the time where teachers can resolve any issues with the students individually.

            With that said, through a whole-to-part comprehensive literacy approach students are more apt to gain more knowledge and understanding through reading and writing. Students learn more naturally through whole-to-part compared to part-to-whole because they are able to use and build upon the surrounding context. “Evidence suggest that many emergent and less proficient readers develop phonics knowledge most readily by learning whole words and deriving phonics knowledge from them, rather than by learning phonics first” (Weaver, 2002, p.57). The less time students focus on “decoding” words through phoneme-grapheme relationships, the more time they will be able to spend on comprehending the given passage.

Resources

Graves, D. (1985). Breaking ground: Teachers relate reading and writing in the elementary schools. New Hampshire : Heinemann.

Graves, D., & Kittle, P. (2005). Inside writing: How to teache the details of craft. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Retrieved from http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/002154/part1.pdf

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.

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. 

            I believe that the most important aspect of universal literacy is to simply read to and read with the students because “being read to helps children understand the purposes and pleasures of print as well as learn the language we use in stories- language that we don’t use in our daily conversations with children” (Weaver, 2002, p.368).  Studies have shown that students who are successful in school programs were read to often when they were younger. The more experiences we give children with print, the more word familiarity they are going to have when they are attempting to decode unknown words because most people will decode words through analogy compared to the “sound it out” strategy.

            However, along with reading experiences, the students need to be equip with adequate reading materials. Students need to be reading books that are on their specific reading level as far as not too easy but not too hard because this way the students will still understand the meaning behind the text but they will also be learning new vocabulary. As well as appropriately leveled text, the books need to be predictable compared to decodable “because children use language they already know in order to read, the unnatural syntax of decodable stories makes it more difficult, not easier, for children to read” (Weaver, 2002, p.367). Students also need to have the appropriate background knowledge in order to understand the circumstances that are being discussed in the book they are reading. So, when the students are participating in read-alouds, shared reading and guided reading it is important that we show the students different things that they may have never come in contact with in their lives. By learning new topics and concepts through reading the students will keep building upon the knowledge they already have and various things they have previously learn through text.  

            Studies have shown that “children in the affluent neighborhoods had more age-appropriate books in their homes than the children in the impoverished neighborhood had in their classrooms” as well as their homes (Weaver, 2002, p.375). Therefore, it is vital that we give our students access to a variety of books in order to improve their reading skills. This could be through the classroom library or various send-home activities such as a book in a bag. For a book in a bag students will be able to take home a book as well as various corresponding activities that would be completed and brought back to school. This gives the students access to books while they are at home and activities they can do with their family. 

References

             Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.

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?

           Chapter 15, as well as the rest of Weaver’s book, as completely changed my personal philosophy of reading. In my undergraduate program, I had to take two classes called “Children’s Literature” where all we basically learned about was phonics instruction. It was one of the most difficult classes for me simply because it was hard to understand. I did not feel as though I could think it terms of phonics rules and specific phonics “lingo”. Even while I was writing my original philosophy, I had to keep referring and rereading from my text book because even though I had an idea of phonics I really did not truly understand what I was even trying to convey. Now, I completely understand why because Weaver stated that it is even hard for adults to understand phoneme segmentation because it is not how we read. There are so many different things that go into reading besides being able to sound a word out. The main and most important thing that changed for me can be summed up when Weaver states, “As children have more and more experience with print, development proceeds, not from part to whole, but from whole to part: from being read to, to being able to read; from an understanding that print represents speech to being able to match spoken words to print words; from perceiving print words as whole units to being able to analyze print words into units that represent onset and rimes” (2002, p.369).

            Children need to be taught comprehension and reading strategies through observation because we cannot simply tell students the rules and expect them to understand and implement these rules successfully. As their teacher, we need to set the example by showing them how to use the tools while they read and why they are important. “Teaching reading strategies helps students-and even us, as teachers- to read more deeply, to probe a text more thoughtfully and thoroughly. Teaching reading strategies helps readers not only engage with and understand text, but make connections with other texts, the world and their own lives” (Weaver, 2002, p.329).

            One thing I did get correct is that reading and writing need to be taught relation to the other in order for the students to truly absorb the specific strategies. The students will be able to see that the two, in a way, overlap because, for example, the students will be able to deeper their understanding of spelling patterns by seeing them in a familiar text and then turning around and spelling them in their own writing. The more language experiences we give our students the more the students will gain in their contextual and background knowledge. However, more specifically children need to be taught in a comprehensive literacy program where the students get varying levels of teaching scaffolding and involvement. 

References

             Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.

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 English language is hard to learn because there are more sounds than there are letters, so it would be hard to teach students every letter and its sound and expect them to be able to sound out these letters in isolated words. The comprehensive approach allows for phonics to be taught through the combination of reading and writing workshops. Students are more likely to remember “chunks” of words, which means we should give the ELL students as much access to the English language as possible through guided readings, read-alouds, and sustained reading, as well as their writing counterpart. Reading more and more books allows for students to recognize words, but it also allows the students to see various letter-sound relationships. ELL students need to see these phonics rules in context in order to fully understand them.

I think the best way to provide scaffolding is through various reading and writing conferences, as well as literacy groups and shared reading. With literacy groups and shared reading, the students would be given the opportunity to hear the text read while being able to see the words their own text, and then be able to reread the same text. When the students are able to read and reread the same text they will become more familiar with the content and words which will begin to raise their confidence. The conferences will allow me to see where the student thinks he/she is having an issue so that I can talk them through it or show/teach them in another manner. All students learn so differently that it is essential to have these conferences in order to cater to the specific students’ needs.  

Module 5: Reading Reflection

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

            Weaver states that “a comprehensive literacy program is more integrative, with skills and strategies taught and used in context, and with emphasis upon the guided and sustained reading and writing of whole, meaningful texts, an emphasis that is sorely needed to help children become both functionally and joyfully literate” (2002, p.279). Therefore, phonics instruction is something that should be taught throughout reading and writing, not in isolated skills. It is hard for adults to sound out each letter in a word and understand what word they are saying, so how are we expecting children who are just learning the English language to complete this task. “Phonemic segmentation Is not a natural task, nor one normally needed for reading, beyond the ability to separate an onset from a rime” (Weaver, 2002, p.307). As we have learned in this chapter and in previous chapters, children learn best when comparing unknown words to words they are familiar with in order to figure out its pronunciation. They are also more likely to read words in “chunks” through syllables, onset and rime. “The findings of Schatschneider, Francis, Foorman, Fletcher, &Mehta (1999) suggests the following developmental order, based on a continuum of easy to difficult tasks: (1) comparison of first sounds: identifying the names of pictures beginning with the same sound; (2) blending onset-rime nits into real words; (3) blending phonemes into real words; (4) deleting a phoneme and saying the word that remains; (5) segmenting words into phonemes; (6) blending a phonemes into nonwords” (Weaver, 2002, p.311). Through the various quotes I provided and further information in these chapters it seems obvious that simple step by step phonics instruction is not cognitively effective for any age readers.

            I have always been uncomfortable with the thought of teaching phonics, but it was partially because I had never adequate instruction as to how to do so effectively. I did not think I could remember all the rules because that’s not how I think when I read, and after reading Reading Process & Practice I understand why. Phonics needs to be something that is taught daily through reading and writing experiences in order to allow the students to see the letter patterns in real life context. Various aspects of reading workshops allow for the teaching and understanding of letter-sound relationships by “recognizing letters and letter clusters, developing letter-sound knowledge- particularly an ability to read common onsets and rimes, developing ability to use letter-sound knowledge along with prior knowledge and context to make reasonable predictions” (Weaver, 2002, p.283). However, it does not just stop at reading workshops, phonemic awareness is furthered through putting these patterns to use within their writing with spelling.  

References

             Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.