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”?