Module 4: Activity 2

Which NRP topic area(s) or �missing pillar(s)� that Allington describes do you find to be most vital for children�s literacy success? Why?

 
      I thought that they were all key points that every teacher in the classroom needs have in order to make the children be successful. It was hard for me to pick the one that was most vital to me. If I had to pick one, I feel that it would be “assess to interesting text and choice.” It is important for a child to love what they read. If a child loves what they read they will want to read more. It will allow them to build confidence in reading. If they are able to choose the book they want to read then they will be more intrigued and able to make connections throughout the story. Not only will they be reading, but they will enjoy what they are reading. It will motivate them to want to read more. If a child being motivated to read plays a critical role in reading development. Students who are motivated to read will want to spend more time reading, read for a variety of purposes, and create situations that extend opportunities for literacy.

Module 4: Activity 1

Watch the video and reflect on what strategy or strategies Robin used most to help him learn to read.

    WOW!  This was a very touching video. It truly touched my heart to see the determination in Robin. It makes me very thankful to be able to have the education I have. His advice at the end of the show makes it encouraging for me as a teacher.

     Robin first started from the beginning and taking the different phonemes found within the word. He used different tiles with spelling patterns on it. He used the same beginning sounds and word families. He was able to make the connections with the same sounds and what words are similar to that word and what family it belonged in.
     He made a lot of personal connections while reading. He was able to pick out a few of the words in the sentence and then knew it didn’t make sense. He used his contextual clues and went back to keep reading until it made sense to him. He used the chunking ability to him notice that rat was in the middle of congratulations. He is making the connections to familiar words within the word.
     Robin did a lot of the reading independently. The teacher didn’t constantly correct him. She set back and let him learn and catch his own mistakes. This helped boost his confidence and willingness to exceed reading. Whenever Robin has a chance, he was reading. He read signs, newspapers, The Bible, and other real life writings that keep him practicing all day. He was determined and practiced repeatedly.

 

 

 

 

 

Module 4: Instructional Challenge

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

     Marcus is lacking the connection between the letter and the sounds within the word. There are different teaching strategies that I would use to help Marcus. I would first let him read aloud in a small group with me. This will helps him get comfortable and boost his confidence level. I think it would also be great to get him with a partner and let them read together. I think that he would benefit it from this because it is one of his peers and the other student help him on his miscues. 

    Another strategy that might work is to record him and let him hear himself. It would help him realize the mistakes he is making. I feel that if I told him the mistakes, he wouldn’t be aware of them, but letting him listen to them might make him realize what he needs to work on. He could also record the words that he noticed he messed up on and write them on notecards to practice. This will help him realize his mistakes and set his own goal on what he wants to work on.

     Read aloud would benefit Marcus as well. If he hears his partner read or follows the words along with this fingers as I read or computer read would help him recognize his mistakes. If Marcus was able to catch another students mistakes and if he catches his own mistakes, I feel that the miscues he is making will not be as serious.

Module 4: Reading Reflection

Looking across Chapters 10 and 11, which of the understandings and strategies in the comprehensive literacy program are you already addressing/doing with your students (or have you done, or do you plan to do)?

Literacy program that I use in my classroom is known as the C.A.F.E and Daily 5. It is a program that is takes all of the necessary programs and puts it into one plans. While doing CAFÉ we follow different programs throughout the day. The programs that we use throughout the day consist of , conferencing with students, guided reading, reading independently, listen to reading, working with words, guided writing, or reading to learn which involves me incorporating science or social studies text.

I will continue to do the C.A.F.E / Daily 5 program because all of the different programs are addressed. Conference with the students is one of my favorite. I enjoy talking with the students and letting them pick out their goals. They tell me what they are reading about and why they like it. We just chat about the characters and I encourage the kids to make connections. Another that I love to do at the end of every day, is read a book to the student. The students love listening to me read. We also do novel sets and they love being involved in the literature discussion with the novels. The students love journal writing as well and will share them with the class. I feel that I do a lot of the literacy programs that Weaver discussed throughout the chapter.

Prominent Theorist Paper

Click on the link for my Prominent Theorist Paper on Patricia Cunningham

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxjTDQwFTHYpV0lDSkU5NGRzVU0/edit?usp=sharing

Module 3: Activity 2

It is amazing to how our brain can fill in the letter and make out the words and what they say. I think it is neat how "cracking the code" works. With that being said, I don't think it is the best instructional tool to use with kids. Children should know their phonics and be phonemically aware of the sounds in the word. While watching the video, I thought it was great to hear the kids “crack the code” of the sounds. I am just a little weary about using that to teach the kids. I feel that students need to build phonemic awareness with real words. I feel that if they are reading these types of words, then what is their spelling or writing going to look like? I feel it’s all about balance and if we used “cracking the code” to teach the kids, I am not sure that it would build their fluency. I think that readers focus on the words to create a meaning rather than understanding the word.  The letter sounds are very important for any child to know. If as student is reading words that they don’t understand the meaning of, then what are we teaching them? I feel this will only hinder their vocabulary and writing skills. If I were to use “crack the code” then I would do it with my proficient readers, but not to make my readers proficient.

Module 3: Mock Memo from Reading Specialist

Dear Teacher,

Erica’s situation is very common in my third grade classroom. It is difficult and hard to implement strategies. In third grade, my students are so focused on saying and pronouncing every word correct, that they don't comprehend the material that is being read.  They hesitate while reading, which causes them to make mistakes with their comprehension.  Their fluency was not up to where it should be. In third grade, we start with the fry words list. I call them back to assess them on the individual words. We do a Dibels Fluency screen and I work with the students on their fluency level. I began to realize that this was taking up too much time in the classroom. I would run out of instructional time. I thought of a better way to do this by implementing it into the centers of the day. Why not give them the article that I am testing them on and let them test each other with a friend? I also took the phrases that were used to increase fluency and put them into a power point slide and let the students do the slide independently. As I mentioned earlier, I would take the words and scripts and use them in centers. I feel that collaboration is key when it comes to students excelling in fluency. I would also have them working with technology, acting out theater plays, quizzing each other, and working on different apps on the ipad.

     Another instructional strategy that might help is evaluating. When evaluating in a group, it is important to be just as involved as the children are. Start by asking her questions. I feel that this would help Erica. If she is interested in her reading then maybe she will perform better. Try to find a series of book that is on her level and that she might truly be interested in or can relate to. If a student can make a personal connection, then their fluency level will exceed.  Fluency is not what makes or breaks a student with reading. Fluency is a part of being a gifted reader.
    Above all, I feel that it is important to keep a positive reinforcement throughout the reading process. The students get nervous when reading aloud, but if they are comfortable with reading they will be sure to do their best. I want the students to understand that it isn’t about the speed they read. It is important to understand what they read. I just wanted to give some ideas and advice. I want you to know that you’re not alone in this. I am here for any advice or questions you might have.

Mrs. Wunderle

Module 3: Reading Reflection

Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts? Why or why not?

I do not agree with this quote by Mary Adams. I think that our eyes see every word on the page, but we don't process every letter of the word..  If we read letter by letter then we would make mistakes and it would hinder our comprehension of the text. When I read the “The Boat in the Basement” on page 88. It shows that as humans we make connections with the contexts around the words. I know that reading is much more than understanding and pronouncing distinct letters. I am also understanding that proficient readers are both effective and efficient and in order to read proficiently, a reader must read for understanding. Our eyes individually process each letter, when reading fluently proficient readers read quickly and do not focus on each distinct letters, nor do they read word-for-word. Throughout the book I saw many quotes from that support me with this. One that really stood out was "Furthermore-an observation from everyday life-good readers do not read word-for-word or even line-by-line when they choose to read more rapidly than that, as many good readers do, especially when reading for their own pleasure and their own purposes-even when their purpose is to gain information." (Weaver, 2011)

Unfortunately the English language is hard to learn. It is probably one of the most confusing ones to understand. We just adopted a new phonics program and I feel that it is important to know the individual sounds, but not emphasis so much while reading for fluency.

Module 2: Activity 1&2

Creech- It reminds me of the word screech. A horrible sound.  

Droogs- Reminds me of the word drugs. Medicine that humans take to help their symptoms.

Glazzies- reminds me glazing Like a constant state or putting a base on a piece of food

Goloss- the lip gloss that you put on your lips. A clear seal.

Malenky- Linking things together.

Messel- a mussel that lives in te water. 

Millicents- small weight of something or cost of money 

Poogly- ugly with pudge or fat 

Razrez- a razor

Skorry- a scary story

Spatted- spit

Zoobies- a trap 

I felt I had to lock myself in a room and re read this constantly. It was not easy for me at all. I used virtual cues and prior knowledge as I read these words. I thought of words that reminded me of the sound and related it to what I thought te word meant . As I said them out loud, I was able to relate to another sound pattern that is in another word. I used the virtual cues to help me notice the patterns, by if they were provided for me in a sentence I would have been able to use the context clues to help me figure out what the word meant.  This is very challenging to me. I just continue to pronounce it the best I can and make my best guess. I feel students do that as they read.

A Clockwork Orange started with the terms in the document. As I read the article I was able to understand the meaning of a few of the words. The first was droogs. After he stated droogs he used the names of the boys. He used it in the sentence and referred to them as his cousins, friends, mates etc. Messel was the next word, it talked about the feeling of something and on how he felt about something in the past. He looked a malenky bit poogly when he viddied the four of us like that, coming up so quiet and polite and smiling, but he said Yes? What is it?” This quote shows that malenky is an adjective used to describe someone or something. I believe that it is describing the singer. Poogly is also used in the same quote and I think it means how he feels. Gloopy was referred to someone who is called dumb or senseless. Maybe even a  scaredy cat. Someone who is scared of everything or says someone calling you dumb. In the book it was used when he was scared to say anything because of the fear of being called gloopy

I have always had diffiuculty when I read. As a I read the story I would pronounce the word the best of my ability. I do this in my class as a strategy with names. When they come across a persons name , they stop and it diminishes their chance of comprehending the material. I will tell them to take the first letter and relate it to a name they know that begins with the same letter. This helps in some instances, but it does help them notice new names that they would have never noticed before. 

I feel that students should atleast make an attempt at the word, but when they don't know it, just try to say it with confidence and continue reading. It's what's around the word tht explains the meaning of it in the context. After they finish reading I have them go back and pick three words that they didn't understand. They make a guess and see of their guess was correct by checking it in the dictionary. I normally add the word to the new word of the day . Understand words as you read is important, but comprehension is more important. A student should be faced with words that are on their level. I feel that challenging the student is important, but I wouldnt give my third grader a 7th grade reading.

Module 2: Instructional Challenge

Take a look at the following examples of children's dialect-based miscues while reading and the difference between the child's original response (OR) and expected reponse (ER). Then answer the questions that follow.

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

Are these children's miscues evidence of proficient or non-proficient reading?� Explain. If you were teaching children who made these miscues, what, if any, assistance or teaching would you offer? Post your thoughts to your blog. Name this blog posting "Module 2: Instructional Challenge."

   

I feel that the evidence shows the miscues of the reader. The different examples all show examples of a proficient  reader because they can subconsciously move from one word and look head to the the other words and mispronounce the word they are reading. Proficient readers  tend to make the majority of their miscues in basic words because of their natural instinct to predict upcoming words as Weave wrote in the book "When reading aloud, our understanding is usually ahead of our voice" (Weaver,76). This is very true.

The rest of the examples are from proficient readers as well, because it shows that the student home or personal life has a big impact or the dialect from the student.As the chart says they leave off the simple ending sounds. Example in the 2nd box shows the student leaves of the letter s. However eve though the wording was changed it still shows that the students understood what they were reading. A students dialect can be an effect of reading but it doesn't alway hinder what the student is understanding or comprehending. 

 If I had the problem with in my classroom, I don't think the students would need extra practice. If the student is unable to tell me what they are reading about then I would work with them but as Weaver wrote about what the Goodmans discovered in the 1970s "no evidence that inability to cope with Book English is a general problem for any group.  The students dialect or inter language influence was evident in their reading, but it is not itself a barrier to comprehension (Goodman pg 3-22) (Weaver, 76)

 I found that very intrepid because they harp on fry words and different pronouncing f words where I teach and if it doesn't effect their comprehension then a lot of time is wasted. 

References:

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. 

Module 2: Reading Reflection

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

The quote made by Harper & Kilarr was really interesting to me.  I do not agree with the theory because a student does not have to know every word on the page to comprehend what he or she is reqding. I feel that sometimes kids put in tee words in the sentence and still comprehend the whole picture. If its every word in the sentence then there is problem and yes that will hinder the students comprehension level..Reading is not an exact process.  The way children read is in their own individual ways. The needs of one student isn't the same as another. If it was an exact process then students would be further behind then what they are. On page 45 it states "such withholding challenging texts from students until they can recognize nearly all words acuratly. Such restraint will actually inhibit their acquisition of new vocabulary" (Weaver 45) . If we follow an exact process and never change in our ways , we are restraining a child from learning and never challenging him or her. As I read through chapter 4, Weaver, helps you understand that readers can make mistakes and miscue on the reading material, because they aren't focusing on each letter or each word in isolation. Proficient readers are using both syntactic and semantic context to read. Students should not be taught an exact way to read! If they are reading as stop to correct a word, they have lost the totally knowledge of what they have read. As weaver wrote " since meaning is the goal of reading, we hardly need to insist that every word identified accurately. Instead demanding an accurate rendition of the surface structure, we might better call for a reasonable interpretation of deep structure." (Weaver, 73) i feel that quotes sums up everything I think and believe. If we used an exact process and made sure the word had to always be pronounced right, then we are hindering a child from truly comprehending what they are reading. 

Module 1: Activity 2

Module 1: Activity 2

Complete Exercise #5 on p. 39 by reading the passage and answering questions a-g that follow it.

A.      What is corandic?

            A croandic is an emruient grof with many fribs; it granks from corite.

B. What does corandic grank from?

Corandic granks from corite, an olg which cargs like lange.

C.      How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite?

Garkers excarp by glarcking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped storbs.

D.     What does the slorp finally frast?

The slorp is garped through several other corusces, and the slorp frasts a pragety, blickant crankle and coranda.

E.      What is coranda?

Coranda is a cargurt, grinkling corandic and borigen.

F.      How is the corandic nacerated from the borigen?

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

G.      What do the garkers finally thrap?

The garkers finally thrap a glick, bracht, glupous grapant, corandic, which granks in many starps.

 

How is it that you are able to answer such questions? What does this experience suggest about the kinds of comprehension questions found in workbooks and on standardized tests?

As a reader we use the syntactic cues like the function of the words, the ending sounds in the words, and word order to read the passage. As we read the passage and notice familiar words, letter combinations, word order or word combinations, we make connections from the prior text to our prior knowledge.  We recognize the familiar patterns within the order that helps us understand what we are reading.

The king of comprehension questions that are found in workbooks and on standardized test are questions that when read after a reading are difficult for the child to understand. IF a child reads the questions first, he/she will connect to not only what might be going on in the passage, but they develop a prior knowledge and recognize familiar words that are in the questions and inside of the passage. It suggest that they read the questions first and then read the passage. The answers come directly from the text and it can be a strong test strategy for students.

Module 1: Activity 1

Module 1: Instructional Challenge

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

1. What are the hocked gems?

I think of the hocked gems as being a valuable item that is far within his reach. I think that he has to go through a process to get to it.


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

 I feel like this is talking about to process to get the valuable item. Think of it an egg because eggs can break easily where as a table is very hard to break. So think of this as an easy task and not a hard one.


 3. Who are the three sturdy sisters?

The three sturdy sisters to me indicate some kind of reassurance that he is on the right route and even if the times get hard things will be ok. The three sisters are the proof that the task can be done.


4. What kind of winged creatures appeared?


The wing creature that I believe appeared was a white dove because it said it signifies a monumental success. Just as doves were released at Hiroshima to represent the anniversary of America's nuclear attack in World II



If you were to use this passage with students, what schema would you need to activate with them first? I would have them look at the keywords in the passage and find synonyms of the words. Put them in a sentence format. Relate that sentence structure to the one that is portrayed above.





How can you help teach children whose schema and the text's content don't match? Try a different approach and give clues and hints that will help the children connect to their background knowledge.



How much time should children spend in texts that don't match their interests or schema? They should not spend a long time on texts that interest them. If they don't have interest in the topic then they will not comprehend or find any connection with the material being read.

Module 1: Reading Reflection

Dayna Harkey
6/12/13
Module 1: Reading Reflection

 

Module 1: Reading Reflection (Chapters 1&2)

 

This was a very interesting two chapters for me. It made me self-evaluate in many ways. We just switched to the “Recipe for Reading Program where we teach phonics sounds, fry words, and other screens. I thought it was the best way to teach students, but after reading this I am not sure which approach is the best.

There are a few major differences that I learned between a skills approach to literacy and a comprehensive approach to literacy. The first is when literacy is approached more as the skill approach, the teacher is focusing more on the different methods and step by step skills that the students learn to connect to reading. It goes again the ideas of schemas and our prior knowledge on information that we learn from everyday life. They focus on the beginning steps on breaking down the sounds in words. They emphasis on isolation the different sounds that are found within a word. The skills approach reminds me of building block to literacy. It starts with the smallest blocks and stack them on top of each other, one by one, to develop their understanding with reading. The students focus more on the individual sounds in the word. The skill approach is like a phonics approach with zero concentration on comprehending anything that is read.

            If they truly just make a connection to understand what the word is saying within the sentence, then they will have a stronger comprehension level. The comprehensive or sociopsycholinguistic approach is different. Unlike the skills approach, it doesn’t break down the different skills with reading. It is taking the skills but using them in different strategies. It is using prior knowledge or making connections to construct meaning of what they are reading. It is having the literature discussion about the books and making predictions by looking at the pictures. It is based more on the student’s emotions and beliefs rather than the “chunking” of the phonic sounds with in a word. If a student spends so much time thinking of phonetically saying a word, they lose all comprehension within the story they are reading.
           Connie Weaver points out many instances how sociopsycholinguistic is better for the student because it is teaching them to blend sentences and comprehend sentences they are reading. I agree that the comprehensive approach is better. I never saw comprehension from this point of view and will have to do some evaluating within the classroom on how to help my students comprehend what they are reading.

Personal Reading Theory Model

Dayna Harkey
ECED7715
6/12/13

Personal Reading Theory Model

To me reading is one of the most beneficial and feasible activities that a child can do. It is the strong foundation in every child’s life that must begin at an early stage. Even though, I didn’t feel that way growing up. As I child, I remember being top of my class in fluency scores. I loved reading out loud and didn’t have a problem doing it in front of my classmates.  As the years passed, I started to become less interested in reading. My reading scores started dropping, along with my confidence. I didn’t want to read, but I had to. I felt forced to read books that I didn’t enjoy reading or I had to read books that were on my level. As I got older I still didn’t have a desire to read. As I began college, I realized I started to enjoy reading because it is relaxes my mind.
When I got the news that I was going to be a third grade teacher, I was ecstatic! I knew that being a third grade teacher was not going to be an easy task. I began hearing stories about the students having to pass the reading part of the CRCT in order to pass the grade. I began to feel stressed and worried. I knew as a struggling child I didn’t enjoy reading because I was forced to read books that I didn’t have interest in. As a teacher, I wasn’t worried about the test, it was making sure the students had the passion for reading, which I lacked throughout my life. I also knew that if a child can’t read well by the end of third grade, odds are they will struggle catching up and the effects of falling behind can be devastating to a child. 
 I believe that the more children read, the better they become at reading. The more enjoyable things they read, the more they will continue to read and develop skills. Reading should be viewed as a pleasurable activity. The more children are read to the greater their interest in mastering reading. Reading out loud exposes the children to proper grammar and phrasing. It also enhances the development of their spoken language. Even when a child doesn’t understand a word, they absorb something from the context that may deepen their understanding for the next time they come across a word.
This year I was introduced to a new program that covered all of the importance with reading. Just as education is changing daily so are the programs used to teach the children. A recent program that I was introduced to was the Daily 5 and CAFÉ reading program. This is what I used in my classroom. The Daily 5 are steps that I use to implement a student driven management system and  The CAFÉ approach are the student’s goals. The Daily five approach transforms the literacy block to a time for students to benefit from both whole group and small group instructions. It gives the students an opportunity to approach reading at many different angles. Some enjoy reading silently to themselves. Others, enjoy reading with a partners. They also enjoy listening to reading and following along with someone who is reading. I have some students work on writing and spelling with working with words. These five steps all connect at the end of every week. I conference with student once every week and we discuss personal goals and what they think they need to work on. I feel that gives them the sense of leadership with reading. It is also important to try to keep the excitement and passion there for the students, by letting them pick a novel that they enjoy reading. Giving them a chance to be the leader and having control over their own reading goals gives them a sense of security. I believe that if they set their own goals it helps boost their confidence and passion within reading. 
 I personally believe that reading is the door that opens to endless possibilities for children. I want to make sure that my students enjoy reading. My personal goal is to keep reading fun and exciting. I want children to view reading as a lifelong pleasure, instead of task they have to do.  Reading is an important skill that needs to be developed in children. Not only is important for the survival in schools, but also in the world as adults.