Tasks Week #12

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Reflection with Continuing Classroom Strategies

           

            The teacher’s strategies are clearly in sight throughout the room with his writing and reading workshop clothes line.  Not only visuals, students know their strategies and when to use them to understand how to make connections.  During story time after the reading students would raise their hands and say I made a connection.  The students would use the words text to text, text to self, and text to world in their answers.  Another strategy during student reading they know to find the meaning of a new word by using sentences around the word.  As the teacher presents a lesson plan a students would respond that they do not know the meaning of a word used.  The teacher would repeat the sentence with the word to allow time for students to make a connection to the meaning.  The teacher would praise students with their answers and acknowledge the use of strategies, and occasionally ask students what strategy was used.

            Another teaching strategy I observed was the use the continued use of differentiated instruction as he scaffold students.  With a mini book writing workshop that incorporated a Social Studies Project using non-fiction biographies.  The students were introduced to their graphic organizer for writing a title, three things/characteristics I found interesting about the person, then describing each characteristic with a complete sentence or sentences, and drawing a picture on the page opposite on different pages in their mini book.  The teacher and I took the students on a trip to the library to look, and choose their own biography from a list of famous people, for their non-fiction biography books, and assisted by the librarian and the teacher to gather a book.  After returning to class their assignment continued as they read their books and took notes.  The teacher scaffold as needed to keep students on task and directed me to those who need help.

            I observed other strategies during centers and different guided reading levels I observed how the teacher scaffolds students throughout their reading and comprehension.  He would also have students create their own KWL chart, and told students that they are doing a great job, and there was no need for a graphic organizer all the time.

            Technology strategies included students interacting with the Smart Board during math lessons.  Students would vote on their activity that was geared toward their learning time lesson.  Also during recess or free time students were allowed to take turns using the five computers to play interactive educational games.

            The teacher’s strategies and experiences are clearly shown in his classroom.  Though he taught Fourth grade for over ten years this was his second year teaching second grade.  I believe he was doing a great job as a second grade teacher and mentioned to him that he was right on tract with his teaching strategies, because I was just learning them.  He was happy to hear he is getting up to speed with the strategies and technology.  His class was engaging, fun and exciting and the students appreciate him.  You can see that during his class and even when his old students come back to visit. 

Tasks Week #11

Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) compared to Dibbles

            The Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) is a means to assess a student’s abilities in reading and comprehension.  It is a two phase, thorough, lengthy, but necessary process that starts with students reading from a selected word list to find reading fluency with site words identified automatically to ensure a non frustrating reading level passage that ensures scoring accuracy.  There are three steps required in order to administer the “Word Lists” correctly.

            Phase one of The Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 is the “Word List”, and its three steps are preparation for the administrator and the student, the assessment and making meaning from it all.  Phase two of (QRI-5) is assessment from a Reading Passage that enables one to score a student’s abilities in reading and comprehension.  This phase is an eight step process that includes preparation for the administrator and the student, administering the “Concept Questions”, the “Prediction” task, the “Passage”, monitoring the student reading, “Retelling of the Passage”, answering questions and making meaning from it all.  It is very time consuming, as a result you can only assess on average three to four students a day.

            If you need to assess an entire class in one day, DIBBLES is the way to go.  In just a short time, with the help of a Palm Pilot, or some other new technological hand held device, you are able to assess Initial Sound Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, Letter Naming Fluency, Oral Reading Fluency.  It takes a total of nine minutes to administer all five tests above, once you understand how to implement them.  I used this software and technology of DIBBLES, only one day and after two or three sample exercises I was able to learn to assess by understanding 95% of this software.

            What I like about DIBBLES is how well it uses nonsense words.  These words are very important because it clearly shows strategies students are using to pronounce them.  If they were true words, it may cause an error on the examiners part because the word used may be pronounced more than one way, not just the correct way.  If pronounced incorrect, it will be hard to place where the student’s mistake was.  Nonsense words will show how consent and vowels are used by the student, leaving only one true way to pronounce them.

            It is important to assess students and two methods should be used.  I recommend the “Qualitative Reading Inventory 5” for a formal assessment, three times a year minimum.  I would also recommend “DIBBLES” at least twice as much, as an informal, two assessments between each of the three “QRI-5” formal assessments.

            A teacher can only help their students if they know a students learning level. The primary role of every teacher is to understand all differences whether academic or cultural. Through differentiated instruction, teachers can now create reading tasks to accommodate the students with varied reading levels.  Teachers can tier all lesson plans to help students who need scaffolding, students who are on task, and students who are advanced.  It is only when the teacher knows the students ability that the teacher can help the students academically advance.

Tasks Week #10

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Day 5: April 28, 2011

QRI-5 - Administering and Scoring the Second Passage

            This is a second Administering and Scoring for a Second Passage.  This would be phase two of The Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) which is the assessment from a “Reading Passage”, that enables one to score a student’s abilities in reading and comprehension.  This phase is an eight step process.

            This second passage is a narrative like the first passage.  This was a “First” grade level passage with 250 words read in 335 seconds.

            The First step in this phase is preparation for the administrator and the student to be assessed.  Materials that are required are examiner and students copies for the passage, pencils, stopwatch, audio recorder, a quiet area with two chairs, and a desk or clipboard.  Equally important are copies of the instructions on how to administer the reading passages.  It is important the student is comfortable and understands what is about to happen.

            My choice to include the original examiner scoring worksheet for the passage was important for me to allow you the reader to understand the fast pace of administering the “Reading Passages”.  This is much more in depth then the previous word list and that which is know as a “Running Record.”  An examiner will not know all that goes into this until you administer one.  Please find attached, on the following page, copies of the teacher’s passage worksheet and the student passage.  In this phase I choose to go back one grade level to grade 1.  I prepared the teacher’s and student copies for the grade 1 level passage.

            Step Two is administering the “Concept Questions” for the passage to be read.  We knew each other prior to our meeting today from past observation hours and we had a brief conversation to make sure he was comfortable. As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “Before you read, I want to know what you already know about some ideas of the text, I will ask you a few questions to find out.”  The boy was ready so we proceeded.  He scored 7 out of 9, which was 77.8% at familiarity.

            Step Three is administering the “Prediction” task.  As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “The title of the passage is The Trip it includes all the ideas of the previous questions I just asked you; Can you take a guess or make a prediction what the passage will be about?”  The boy answered and his prediction was correct with a strong clear response.

            Step Four is administering the “Passage”.  The first reading passage administered was a “Primer” narrative titled “The Trip”.  As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “You now get to show me how you can read on your own; We’ll see how well I pick things for you to read so some you will read loud and some you can read to yourself; Do you understand so far?; and that my job is to make sure I remember all the things you do as a reader; I’m going to take notes and record this; This will make sure I don’t miss any of the great things you do; Since this is your time to show me who you are as a reader; I can’t give you any hints or any help; If you come to a word you don’t know, do your best and keep on going, Do you understand so far?” The boy responded, “Yes.”  I continued the instructions as per the QRI-5 by saying, “When you are done reading; I will ask you to retell what you read; Your job is to pretend that I didn’t hear you read this or that I didn’t know this reading passage; So tell me as much as you can; After you tell me all you can remember; I will ask you some questions; Again pretend I do not know anything about this reading passage so tell me all that you can, Do you have any questions? The boy responded, “No.”  I then asked him if he was ready and he said, “Yes”.  I told him the title of the passage is called “The Trip.”  I told him to begin, and I started the recorder with a stopwatch.

            Step Five is monitoring the boy reading the passage and documenting the miscues.  The number of total miscues, also known as total accuracy, is twenty six.  Fifteen of the twenty six miscues are meaning change which is also known as the total acceptability.  The level he was reading was at low instructional for total accuracy and frustration for total acceptability.

            Step Six is the “Retelling of the Passage”.  He was able to recall thirteen ideas.  Three were categorized as Setting/Background, six were “Events” and the final four were other ideas recalled that included inferences.

            Step Seven was the questions for the passage.  The boy was able to answer a total of 5 out of 6 questions.  Five were answered correctly, four out the four explicit, and one of the two implicit questions.  This score meant the boy was at instructional level.

            The final step, step Eight of phase two is making meaning from it all.  On the next few pages one can review my scoring from the teacher’s passage worksheets.  In retrospect, as I indicated with phase one, the “Word List”, and the previous phase two of the first “Reading Passage”, this second “Reading Passage”, tells that the student will need to improve on his knowledge of site words.  He is a second grade student, reading on the First grade level.  By improving site words, the boy will spend less time figuring out words and meanings by concentrating more on what the story is about.  He had a high instructional level of comprehension but his reading level is a grade behind.   The reading and writing exercise at the end of this report will help guide this student to academically advance into his reading level and by the mid third grade he will advance to his third grade reading level.

Tasks Week #9

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Day 4: April 8, 2011

Reflection with Reading and Writing Assignment

            The boy likes to read about animals.  I told him I like animals also, I grew up with a dog in my family.  I asked him if he would like to a writing assignment about animals.  He said, “Yes, I like to read and write about animals; I like many different types of animals, like dogs, cats, birds, cows and horses.”  I told him that is wonderful.  It is good to know about different animals.  He also told me he wrote about fish at the beginning of the year.

            I told him that writing can be fun. He said that he did not like spelling.  I continued to tell him that when we understand and know how things are done it is fun to do them.  It is like doing a math problem.  If you do not understand how to solve a problem it can be frustrating and you won’t want to do the problem.  Also may cause you not to do homework, if you don’t know how to solve the problem.  Once you understand how to solve the problem, you do you feel?  He said, I feel good inside because I got the right answer.  I told him writing is the same; there are special steps to take in order to write a report.

            Part One of the Reading and Writing Assignment is the Reading Assignment.  Vowels are important to understand with their short and long sounds and when they are paired together.  The student will read a book of his choosing on a “Primer” grade level.  He will read the same book for a week, and write a question each night about the book.  The following day he will show the teacher each question then answer each question during his morning work, respectively.  The teacher will make corrections and the student will rewrite after his lunchtime.  The repetitive reading each week and writing of questions and answers will help the student to develop important site words and promote his reading fluency.

            Part Two of the Reading and Writing Assignment is the Writing Assignment.  Part One of this lesson involved reading and writing, and one can clearly see how the two go together.  It is important for this student to also understand how to write a successful report.  He has had trouble with type of writing.  I chose a report on animals because he likes them, relates to them because he has two pets, a dog and a cat.   In addition, he has written a report in the past about Fish, however it is unavailable for viewing.

            I asked the student if he knew what a graphic organizer was, he said, “I think so”, but could not tell me what it was.  I told him, “It is a way to organize your writing; In order to organize your writing you must first organize all your thoughts; When I speak to you and ask you a question, sometimes it is hard for you to respond, unless I give you a specific question; Do you understand?” he responds “Yes.”

            I next explain and model how the “Animal Report Form” graphic organizer is used.  I showed him an example of how a similar report on “The Shark” like the one he did earlier in the year on fish, so he can relate to it.  He liked the example I showed him and started to work on choosing an animal.  He chose, “The Horse”.  I told him it may take a day to gather all the facts.  I reminded the boy that the teacher had some books on horses in the classroom library and that he might want to research his facts during computer lab today.  He liked that idea and told me he would research the information on the computer.  He also told me reading from books is his favorite, but he wanted to try the computer because it is more fun sometimes.

            It is important that this English Language Learner understands his tasks and why he does them.   Knowing about knowing is how one learns.  The boy wants to learn and always does his best to learn, however he is below the rest of the class learning level.  As a result he does not always get scaffolding from the teacher, who has 25 students, with 5 different learning levels.

Tasks Week #8

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Day 3: March 30, 2011

QRI-5 - Administering and Scoring the First Passage

            Phase two of The Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) is assessment from the two Reading Passages, one from day three and one from day five of my field observations, that enables one to score a student’s abilities in reading and comprehension.  This phase is an eight step process.

            I chose two narratives, because it was important to the cooperating teacher and myself to find the correct reading level based on the students comfort level.  In addition, the end result would be concluded on two assessments, one at “Primer” and one at “First” grade levels to compare with similar text, with a truer scoring accuracy.  Unlike assessing with additional variables to effect scoring, such as one narrative passage at “Primer” and one expository passage at “First” grade level.

            The First step in this phase is preparation for the administrator and the student to be assessed.  Materials that are required are examiner and students copies for the passage, pencils, stopwatch, audio recorder, a quiet area with two chairs, and a desk or clipboard.  Equally important are copies of the instructions on how to administer the reading passages.  It is important the student is comfortable and understands what is about to happen.

            My choice to include the original examiner scoring worksheet for the passage was important for me to allow you the reader to understand the fast pace of administering the “Reading Passages”.  This is much more in depth then the previous word list and that which is know as a “Running Record.”  An examiner will not know all that goes into this until you administer one.  Please find attached, on the following page, copies of the teacher’s passage worksheet and the student passage.  In this phase I choose to go back to grades two grades from grade 2 to primer.  I prepared the teacher’s and student copies for the primer level passage.

            Step Two is administering the “Concept Questions” for the passage to be read.  We knew each other prior to our meeting today from past observation hours and we had a brief conversation to make sure he was comfortable. As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “Before you read, I want to know what you already know about some ideas of the text, I will ask you a few questions to find out.”  The boy was ready so we proceeded.  He scored 9 out of 9, which was 100% at familiarity.

            Step Three is administering the “Prediction” task.  As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “The title of the passage is The Trip it includes all the ideas of the previous questions I just asked you; Can you take a guess or make a prediction what the passage will be about?”  The boy answered and his prediction was correct with a strong clear response.

            Step Four is administering the “Passage”.  The first reading passage administered was a “Primer” narrative titled “The Trip”.  As per the QRI-5 instructions, I said to the boy, “You now get to show me how you can read on your own; We’ll see how well I pick things for you to read so some you will read loud and some you can read to yourself; Do you understand so far?; and that my job is to make sure I remember all the things you do as a reader; I’m going to take notes and record this; This will make sure I don’t miss any of the great things you do; Since this is your time to show me who you are as a reader; I can’t give you any hints or any help; If you come to a word you don’t know, do your best and keep on going, Do you understand so far?” The boy responded, “Yes.”  I continued the instructions as per the QRI-5 by saying, “When you are done reading; I will ask you to retell what you read; Your job is to pretend that I didn’t hear you read this or that I didn’t know this reading passage; So tell me as much as you can; After you tell me all you can remember; I will ask you some questions; Again pretend I do not know anything about this reading passage so tell me all that you can, Do you have any questions? The boy responded, “No.”  I then asked him if he was ready and he said, “Yes”.  I told him the title of the passage is called “The Trip.”  I told him to begin, and I started the recorder with a stopwatch.

            Step Five is monitoring the student reading the passage and documenting the miscues.  The total number of words in this passage is 119 words and it was read by the boy in 187 seconds.  The number of total miscues, also known as total accuracy, is six.  Three of the six miscues are meaning change which is also known as the total acceptability.  The level he was reading was instructional for both total accuracy and total acceptability.

            Step Six is the “Retelling of the Passage”.  He was able to recall nine ideas.  Six were categorized as “Events” and the final three were other ideas recalled that included inferences.

            Step Seven was the questions for the passage.  The boy was able to answer a total of 6 out of 6 questions.  All six were answered correctly, four explicit as well as the two implicit questions.  This score meant the boy was at independent level.

            The final step, step Eight of phase two is making meaning from it all.  On the next few pages one can review my scoring from the teacher’s passage worksheets.  In retrospect, as I indicated with phase one, the “Word List”, this second phase, the “Reading Passage”, the student will need to improve on his knowledge of site words.  By improving site words, the boy will spend less time figuring out words and meanings by concentrating more on what the story is about.  He had a high independent level of comprehension but his reading level was at an average instructional level.   The reading and writing exercise at the end of this report will help guide this student to academically advance into third grade.  However, one will soon review the a “Second Passage” at grade level one read by the student on Day 5 of my field observation hours.

Tasks Week #7

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Field Experience

Day 2: March 16, 2011
Part I1: QRI-5 - Administering and Scoring the Word Lists

            The Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) is a means to assess a student’s abilities in reading and comprehension.  It is a two phase, thorough, lengthy, but necessary process that starts with students reading from a selected word list to find reading fluency with site words identified automatically to ensure a non frustrating reading level passage that ensures scoring accuracy.  There are three steps required in order to administer the “Word Lists” correctly.

            Phase one is the “Word List”, and step one of three, is the preparation for the administrator and the student to be assessed.  Materials that are required are examiner and students copies of the word list, pencils, stopwatch, audio recorder, a quiet area with two chairs, and a desk or clipboard.  Equally important are copies of the instructions on how to administer the word list.  It is important the student is comfortable and understands what is about to happen.

            My choice to include the original examiner word list was important for me to allow you the reader to understand the fast pace of administering the word list.  As simple as it is, an examiner will not know all that goes into this until you administer one.  Please find attached, on the following page, copies of the teacher’s word list worksheet and the student word list.  In this phase I choose to go back to grades from grade 2 to Primer.  I prepared the teacher’s and student copies for the Primer, Grade 1, and Grade 2 word list.

            Step two for this phase for administering the word list.  The student and myself knew each other prior to our meeting today from past observation hours and we had a brief conversation to make sure he was comfortable.  I introduced the word list as suggested by the QRI-5 instructions.  As per the QRI-5 instructions, I told the boy, “I have a list of some words for you to read; Some you will know and some you may not know; Don’t worry, you are not expected to know all the words, I can not help you or let you know if you are right or wrong; Do your best; Are you ready.”  The boy was ready so we proceeded.

            The first word list administered was “Primer” and the student had a score of the Total number of correct words read at 75%.  He had 15 out of 20 correct words read automatic, 0 out of 20 correct words read identified, with a total number words read correct at 15 out of 20.  The level he was reading is at middle “Instruction”, a range between 14-17 words read correct and 70-85% respectively.

            The second word list administered was “First” and the student had a score of the Total number of correct words read at 70%.  He had 8 out of 20 correct words read automatic, 6 out of 20 correct words read identified, with a total number words read correct at 14 out of 20.  The level he was reading is at low “Instruction”, a range between 14-17 words read correct and 70-85% respectively.

            The final word list administered was “Second”, the student grade level, and the student had a score of the Total number of correct words read at 30%.  He had 4 out of 20 correct words read automatic, 2 out of 20 correct words read identified, and with a total number words read correct at 6 out of 20.  The level he was reading is at “Frustration”, below 14 words read correct and below 70%.

            The final step, step three of phase one, is making meaning from it all.  On the next few pages one can review my worksheet scoring from the teacher’s word list.  In retrospect, the student will need to improve on his knowledge of site words. The reading and writing and exercise at the end of this report will help guide this student to academically advance into third grade.

Tasks Week #6

Dimensions of Informational Text Comprehension

(as measured in the Concepts of Comprehension Assessment (COCA))

Concepts of Comprehension Assessment also known as COCA was developed to improve students’ knowledge in comprehension.  Four of the most important are used for the teachers benefit to improve students understanding of a particular task.  The four dimensions are Comprehension Strategies Use, Knowledge of Informational Text Features, Comprehension of Graphics in the Context of Text, and Vocabulary of high utility of science words and strategies for rarer words.

Tasks Week #5

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Field Experience

Day 1: March 9, 2011

Part I:  The School and The Classroom

This semester field experience allowed me with hands on activity which gave me the opportunity to personally get to know the school and the classroom.

Northeast Elementary School is located in a residential area south of the Long Island Expressway and East of Washington Avenue.  The school is two stories high with two main wings, one to the southwest and the other southeast, that join together at the, north part of the school that creates the gym and cafeteria.  Having a continuous centralized central hallway with classroom on either side allows natural sunlight to enter each room.  The school entrance is just south of the cafeteria with main offices directly adjacent.

            My observations took place in this Spring, in the second grade classroom I observed earlier in the fall.  It is located just off the main hallway on the northwest side, opposite the cafeteria.  All the classrooms that branch of this hallway are located on the north and south side.  The south side overlooks the west parking lot and the north side faces a school road that leads to the main east parking lot.

            The classroom clearly displays progress from the fall and is described as an inviting place to learn and teaching strategies can be seen on every wall.  It is well organized with different learning areas well defined and used always.  One enters the classroom through the entry door, decorated with the teachers name and room number, on the north wall.  As you enter and turn around there is a closet to the left and a desk to the right with the lunch count, in and out boxes for homework, students coat racks and book bag storage, and the teachers desk is in this area.  Signage on this wall consists of a school map, chart for completed homework, sharpen pencil before class begins, rules for addition and subtraction posters.  On this wall is also the classroom light switches, thermostat, clock and speaker system.  Up and above from east to west about 3’ off  the north wall and high enough for no one to reach is a clothesline for writing workshop.  Instruction posters created by the teacher on poster paper get hung by cloths pins in view for students as they work on their weekly writing task.  Turning to the right on the east wall there is a students bathroom, wash area with sink, soap, towels, hand sanitizer and a water fountain, an area for a portable smart board, and computer station with five working computers and a printer, and fixed and mobile shelving with reading books.  Signage on this east wall consist of the Pledge of Allegiance, a word wall designed from red brick wall paper to represent a graph organized with words in each brick, map of the United States of America, long vowel sounds and word families, and students great work samples.  Along the south wall are the windows with a view to the west parking lot, with heaters and storage shelving below with First Dictionaries and a large library of reading books, which are still organized, after the few months that past, in different bins including; Fairy Tales, Plants, Geography, Marine Life, Space and Solar System, Science, Birds and Reptiles, Animal Characters, Historical Fiction, realistic Fiction, Informational, Mystery, Fantasy, Traditional Literatures, Sport Stars.  Continuing on along the west wall are the reading level books organized in bins from A-N learning levels.  An above opposite the writing workshop clothes line is a reading workshop clothes line with previously created posters including; , IDR Individual Daily Readers with instructions at carpet with mini lessons, Reading Ask Thick Questions, Reading With A Partner, read alone.  On this west wall is the blackboard with a cork board on each side, that are all used for displaying daily tasks, pull-down video screen, pull-down maps, a calendar, and students writing centers folders  . Signage includes the alphabet, posted daily tasks, and student birthday poster.

            The teacher still does not use his desk as a tool to sit behind.  Like always he is in view in front of the blackboard with the writing and reading workshop clothes line on each side of him as he presents every lesson.  Student’s desks are made for two with storage for each under the table top.  On top is a bin for pencils, magic markers, crayons, glue sticks.

            The students are well controlled by their teacher and know their routines.  The day starts at 9:00am and the students arrive.  They unpack their book bags and hang up their coats.  The teacher takes the attendance with the computer which is online and students record their lunch onto the lunch chart.  At 9:25am the morning announcements start over the typical classroom speaker/intercom system.  It starts with the “Pledge of Allegiance” and important events of the day.

            The teacher rearranges his room a few times a year.  This time students’ desks were set up in two rows on the north side with 12 students in the first row and 13 students in the second row.  Each row has the students facing each other with 6 or more on each side.  This arrangement allows the teacher to view all students with students having to turn their head 90 degrees instead of the fall arrangement where half the class needed to turn 180 degrees.  The round table was now in the back used for guided reading and for creating crafts for changing classroom displays.     The students consist of 12 boys and 13 girls who all speak English.  At least 75 % of the students in this class are Hispanic with English as their second language.  Not all their parents speak English.  The teacher is fluent in English and Spanish.

Tasks Week #5

Reading Rockets website:

http://www.readingrockets.org/shows/launching/readingrocks

Reading Rocks! An empowering, upbeat, and totally hip show for kids ages 7-12

This video entitled “Reading Rocks!” was developed by the Reading Rockets Website designed to help struggling readers ages 7-12.  No more should students have feelings of frustration that causes them to give up.  The videos help the struggling reader to move beyond their negative feelings that were developed from being teased or being misunderstood by teachers. Students should not tease each other and teachers should think twice about their students who may care, and may just need another way to accomplish their task.

This video introduces you to five struggling readers.  The first is about how struggling readers create a real movie of a classroom scene involving them, other classroom students and a teacher that created a negative learning environment.  This allowed the struggling student to have a visual and understand why they had negative feelings on reading and how the problem can be resolved.  The student needs to be focused on their reading, not on the students who tease them or the fear from a teacher’s punishment due to a misunderstanding. 

In this lesson, the use art and music to help the reading and spelling of a dyslexic student.  The student was encouraged to make connections with his abilities and use them to help his trouble areas.  He was inspired to create a Harry Potter game, then wrote a book about it, letting other students know that he went from a non reader to an author.

The third struggling reader is an English as a second language student.  She felt left out, because she could not pronounce some words.  This caused her to turn away from her reading leading to a negative impact on her academic achievement.  Her story is that she did not give up, even though she had feelings to quit.  She now speaks and reads two languages, English and Spanish,  because of her extra work in school and at home.

The fourth lesson was about realizing that we are all different, and we are all important.  There is no problem to big to stand in the way of learning to read.  Improvement by using ones strengths is something to make you proud.  Everyone has different talents and need to learn in a different ways.

The last lesson was about a struggling reader who benefited from partner reading which helped all students as they teach and learn from each other.  Reading was confusing to this student because he got stuck on words he did not know.  The partner would help out and encourage him to try harder.  It was not about being the best reader, but a reader who improves at their own level.

Questions to think about:

How can reading rockets help struggling readers?

How would you introduce this video and encourage students to watch?

How can reading rockets help elementary teachers?

How can reading rockets help family involvement in their child’s academic achievement?

Tasks Week #4

IRA PodCasts website:

http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/Podcasts.aspx

PodCast: Creating a home reading program
Motivate kids and involve parents in an effective at-home reading program to supplement classroom activities

I found this PodCast full of valuable information for teachers, students, and parents or guardians.  This is an at home reading program to increase reading time that does not fit into the regular school hours.  It is designed to increase the joy of independent reading at home.  The 4R’s are Read, Relax, Reflect and Respond. This differentiating reading program will sure help all readers with their comprehension and engagement.  The first two R’s, students read and relax at home in a quiet space with materials that interest them such as books, magazines or newspapers.  Teachers assign how much reading time for each student’s ability.  For example 4^th grade students could read for 80 minutes per week.  Lower or upper grades could read a little less or more.  Students record the days and times of their daily reading into their daily reading log such as a spiral notebook.  The last two R’s allows the student to respond and reflect at the end of the week.  The teacher provides a prompt for students to reflect upon the reading they did.  Students can choose a prompt to answer from a list comparing characters in the story to people they know, a chance to look up the author on the internet to explore the reasons why they wrote, or students may want to create and respond to their own prompts.  Students are encouraged to write a half to full page response in the classroom.  This reading program allows for student choice on what they read and what they write about.  Also equally important is that it involves parents or guardians, requiring initials on student log entries verify the reading task were completed.  Teachers also are encouraged to respond critique or reflect on the students work.  It will keep student engagement because the student sees the interest and caring from the teacher as the teacher themselves becomes a role model to the student.

Tasks Week #4

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Field Experience

Day 1: March 9, 2011

Part II: Interview with the Teacher – Four Questions Answered

1• Please describe your ELL teaching experience.

            I have been educating Brentwood students for almost twenty years. The majority of our students are ELLs. About five years ago, I received my "TESOL" certification. Then, I "looped" from third grade to fourth grade. All of the students received ESL services. I also spent one year in a dual-language classroom and one year on  special assignment as a "Classroom Embedded Instructional Coach" for the bilingual classes.

2• What is your perception on ELLs in terms of their learning motivation and performance (especially in reading and writing)? What learning difficulties do ELLs usually encounter in schools? What is the role of family and community in helping ELLs’ learning?

            I really do not think that being an ELL has much of an effect on  learning motivation. Motivating students is my responsibility! If a child is highly motivated, it's my job to keep that "fire" stoked. If a child is not motivated, I will do everything in my power to become so!

            As far as performance- grrrr! We have moved toward this ridiculous notion that a child's standardized test score reflects his/her academic ability. It's both maddening and sad to me that our state's DOE doesn't know much about language acquisition. How can you expect a child to receive a score that reflects "English Language Proficiency" after living in this country for just one year! The great thing is, many of our ELLs beat the odds!

            I read an article that said the number one reason for failing schools was lack of family and community involvement in the schools. Family and community involvement improves academic and emotional success exponentially.

3• In your opinion, how do classroom teachers resolve ELLs’ learning difficulties? What

strategies do you adopt? Are they effective or not? Do you participate in on-going

professional training for teaching ELLs? What is your experience in terms of working

students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds? How do you make sure that

your teaching is culturally responsive? How do you go about reaching out to the family

and the community?

            I can really fairly comment only about the teachers in my building. Although the majority of teachers have not taken TESOL classes, their instincts are often successful. There is also a high level of communication among the staff. Lots of sharing.

            Luckily, my TESOL classes provided me with many strategies. Some good, some not. My most successful strategy is perhaps the easiest to do. Reading is reading! No matter what language you are reading. Get the right books in children's hands. Find out what they want to read. Get those books that they can read. Fill your room with as many books as possible. Watch what happens. A teacher's level of enthusiasm about reading must be somewhat over the top. To me, the use of environmental print is quite effective. I call it "reading our world". I send the children off through the halls to find real life examples of our word studies. I tell them to read signs, cereal boxes, video game boxes, etc. We have a pocket chart that displays the names of the students in our room- a great reference tool.

            It may sound nerdy, but one of my favorite things to do is read about how to become a more effective teacher.

            Respect for differences is how I live my  life both in and out of the classroom. I have my parents to thank for that one.

            I reach out to families in many ways. I give them my cell #, I invite them to spend some time with us during the school day, I will be inviting them to spend one weekend day with me at the library for about an hour and a half, etc. Very importantly, if a parent apologizes for their "poor English", I make sure to point out that I am jealous of them. They are speaking two languages, and I, only one.

            Our school does so much for the community.

4• If you have an ELL in your class whose culture you are not familiar with at all, how do you go about teaching the child?

            First of all, I find out as much as I can about it. I would pull out the smart board, and take the class of a virtual tour of his/her home country. Lots of visuals. I would try to find books written in their first language. I would send home a tape recorder with books on tape in English. Most importantly, I would use the other students in my class. I have no doubt that they would embrace him/her immediately and be more than happy to guide him/her.

Tasks Week #3

Questions to generate a discussion:

1. Why or why not should student reading assessments follow State requirements?

2. Why is it important for teachers to understand assessment for State test and the National Assessment of Education Progress?

3. Is it really necessary to implement the RTI and can teachers be held responsible for an unsuccessful or a wrong result that places a student into special education?

Tasks Week #3

Article 4

Journal Reflection
Title: Response to Intervention (RTI): What Teachers of Reading Need to Know

Authors: Eric M. Mesmer, Heidi Anne E. Mesmer

It is journals like the one above that encourages teachers to help their struggling readers with successful Response to Intervention.  Monitoring your students work with in a specific time frame, with strategies to help struggling readers might scare a teacher at first, because if the student fails maybe the teacher would feel like they failed or think they are held responsible for not being able to help their student.

The journal provides an excellent example with the steps and strategies using the Response to Intervention method.  Starting in the first step, the student was assessed with the Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening.  The student was monitored in the fall of second grade with a first grade word list and a spelling assessment.  The second step, involved planning and designing of the intervention, in which accurate, fluent reading in context was the problem.  An increase in the amount of reading practice to build up his reading level was implemented.  The third step, involved the monitoring of the student with reading passages from a second grade levels to those of different levels.  Word accuracy and reading rate, words read per minute, were recorded.  Step four, was implemented because the student was continuing to struggle.  The Word Attack Test was administered which would give results in difficulty decoding words, vowel patterns, which lead the student struggling with accuracy and fluency.  A new strategy with practice for the problem words was developed, that guided the student to analyze word parts and reading the words sentences.  By the fifth step it was decided that special education was not necessary, because of the growth of the student.

The student started the RTI reading 55% to 60% accuracy.  After six weeks, the students Response to Intervention showed a 100% of correctly read words.  The student should continue using the reading strategies and practice over the summer.  Providing the student with exercises or assignments may help keep the student on task and parents involved in their child’s academic achievement.

Tasks Week #3

Article 3

Journal Reflection
Title: The Assessment of Thoughtful Literacy in NAEP: Why the States Aren’t Measuring Up

Authors: Anthony J. Applegate, Mary DeKonty Applegate, Catherine M. Mcgeehan,

               Catherine M. Pinto, Ailing Kong

From researched based journals like the one above, it seems that there is a conflict between required State tests and the reading abilities associated with the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

 It is said often said that teachers teach for the required State tests.  Teachers face a multitude of challenges such as English language learners, children with behavior disorders, the planning for differentiated instruction to accommodate student’s needs for academic achievement.  How much time does a teacher have to implement instruction or the understanding through conversational and a higher level of thinking?

As student teachers it is sometimes clear for the correct path teachers can take.  I will try to give a clear example using architecture; if it works on paper structurally it can be built.  The design may not work but it can still be built.  However, the house that was built before the architectural approved plans, the structure is often hidden from view as the design is visible.  Therefore, the architect will make an educated guess that is proven by mathematical calculations in order to predict the required structure, but often in the field structure is undersized and needs to be corrected.  This example is much like successful teaching, we know what we need to do, and the question is how does it work in the classroom or out in the field?

Reading comprehension should be more than the memorizing or reciting of detail by looking back to text for answers.  The reading abilities associated with the National Assessment of Educational Progress are meant to increase students understanding through a higher level of thinking that includes a thoughtful response as the reader uses their previous knowledge and experiences.  Test scores have elevated, but is that only a result of the lowing of testing standards to meet the requirements of the “No Child Left Behind Act”?

Tasks Week #2

Article 2

Journal Reflection
Title: Preparing Classroom Teachers to teach English Language Learners
Authors: Tamara Lucus, Ana Maria Villegas and Margaret Freedson-Gonzalez

Why do teachers have trouble teaching English Language Learners in the classroom?  The above journal article provides important knowledge about the ELL’s and how to teach the ELL’s.  The number of ELL’s is growing rapidly and teachers need to be prepared because it is very likely teachers will have at least one ELL in their classroom.

Learning about an ELL is the most important thing a teacher can do to help their ELL.  If a teacher gets to know the student’s cultural background, behaviors, and the student’s level of academic education or knowledge, a teacher will have a head start on what strategies to use to effectively teach.  Teaching a lessons or encouraging reading in their native language, providing a social English conversational interaction between classmates can be a start.  In addition, it is important your ELL is comfortable, free from any frustration or anxiety in the classroom.

Once a teacher understands who their ELL is, strategies can start to be implemented to guide the student to academic success.  Through differentiated instruction, the teacher can build on the student’s strengths to help their weaker areas.  Scaffolding the student with tiered lessons can help to ensure all students are engaged at an equal level of understanding.  Teachers can do their part to examine research based journals or take an extra step to continue their education by taking a course or two at a local college or on-line.

Tasks Week #2

Article 1

Journal Reflection

Title: Organizing Instruction for Struggling Readers in Tutorial Settings
Authors: Kouider Mokhtari, Amy C. Hutchison, Patricia A. Edwards

The above journal provides an example of a case study between one tutor and one student with low reading scores.  This study like many others provides teachers or educators with teaching strategies to help a struggling reader.  This case study is very specific and allows the educator to understand the necessary steps to help starting with first, an assessment of the struggling reader in the classroom and at home, second, using that assessment to determine an effective plan to help with troubling areas such as word identification and decoding strategies.

Tasks Week #1

Tasks Week #1

Create this blog for this course.