Self Evaluation

My experience throughout the course of Reading Education 430 has advanced my literacy skills to be a better educator. I have taken a lot with me from this course, including but not limited to strategies to strengthen and encourage fluency, comprehension, and interest in literacy. My commitment to this course was strong and I believe will prove beneficial as I begin my internship this August. I spent ample time on the readings and reflections. I made meaningful remarks in my blog posts and took thoughtful considerations to what those who commented on my blog posts had to say. I intend to use my blogs from this course as a great point of reference when applying what I have learned to classroom situations.

Before this course, I had never blogged and would have given limited consideration to such. However, this course has opened my eyes to the benefits of community learning and growth that open responses such as blogs create. Through blogging and my input in class, I was able to grow by learning from others. The activities we did in class that were samples of literacy activities we could do with our students were also of great benefit. I have put all the activities in my reading portfolio, as well as articles I found useful to revisit in the future. To help aid me when I do reference my reading portfolio, I highlighted important concepts or facts while I read, making for quick reference later on.

The experiences Reading Education 430 provided me with are without a doubt useful to me as an educator. I have grown so much in one month in my confidence with elementary literacy instruction. I have developed knowledge on what it means to be literate, how to encourage literacy, and ways to foster those who need extra help. While my growth as a successful educator is just beginning, this course provided me with a solid foundation. I have come away with a great portfolio that I will be able to reference in my classroom and have blogs to refresh me of what I have learned. I took this class very seriously and completed all the necessary steps, I would assess my grade to be an A.

Inquiry Project: Helpful Word Wall Resources

Brabham, E. G., et. al., Building walls of words. The Reading Teacher v. 54 no. 7 (April 2001) p. 700-2
This article was a great resource for me to get a better understanding of exactly what a word wall is, how to use one, and the benefits of using a word wall effectively. I would recommend this article to teachers because it is packed with information and good considerations but not too long. Straight to the point and very insightful.

http://www.santarosa.k12.fl.us/reading/wordwall.htm
This site provides a basic overview of what word walls are and how they can be used. It also gives visual examples of different word walls teachers have posted. It is a good site to quickly reference to see how you can involve a word wall in your class.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev086.shtml
This site provides good article information, supported by first hand experience from classroom teachers. It explains how teachers can use word walls at all grades and gives suggestions for different uses word walls can take.

http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/word_walls/words.html
Good site for interactive games and activities to engage your class in to help promote word wall learning.

Inquiry Project: Word Walls!

It is no secret that the majority of primary classrooms have a word wall, neither is it a secret that print rich classrooms help to promote student literacy. However, the key to a successful word wall is perhaps more than meets the eye. When used correctly, word walls can transform classroom conversation and provide visual scaffolds that help students develop literacy skills and phonemic strategies (Brabham and Villaume p.700). Yet, one question I had about word walls is how to use them effectively? The overwhelming response, though it can be pursued in a multitude of ways, is through ongoing student interaction with the word walls. Through direct and meaningful interface that students share with the words on the wall, literacy and fluency will increase.  

            To begin with, one needs to have an understanding of what characteristics make up a word wall before it can be of use. While there are numerous ways to display and interact with your word wall, there are also overarching features that need to be met. According to Brabham and Villaume’s article, “word walls are a cumulative composition of developmentally appropriate words that are essential to understanding instructional texts” (p 700). The word wall needs to be easily accessible to all students and neatly organized. The intent behind student access to word walls is that it serves as a visual cue when needed and thus, develops student independence when reading and writing.

            Word walls can also foster fluency and development of phonemic awareness skills. As the teacher introduces new words to the wall each week, a period of discussion about the word should take place. Students can clap the syllables, chant the word, break the word into smaller parts, and so forth as a means of developing phonemic awareness about sounds letters and groupings of letters make. Interactive games are a great way for the students to have fun and exhibit their knowledge of the words, while at the same time reinforce their learning. Reading and writing exercises that focus on the words of the week, and should also include words previously learned, help make the recognition of the words automatic.

            In early elementary grades (K-2), words walls are a great way to have students learn high-frequency words. According to our text Classrooms That Work, approximately 100 words consist of half of all the vocabulary we read and write in our lifetime (Cunningham, Allington p.59). This, to me, was a shocking statistic, one that really opened my eyes about how essential it is for children to learn to read and write these words without hesitation. Interactive word walls are a great way to teach children high frequency, yet abstract words (that, there, what, at, it, of, etc).

            In upper elementary grades (3-5), many teachers use multiple word walls. Using this approach, there is generally a main word wall that is composed of literacy and conversational words. Then there are domain specific word walls (science, math, social studies). These specific word walls will help students develop vocabulary for multiple genres, that although may not be common in everyday conversation or reading, but that are significant in understanding specific material. 

            Word walls provide students with an observational reminder of high-frequency words and words that expand their vocabulary. When used correctly, they can be highly effective. The key to word walls is that they are interactive! It is not enough to simply paste the words to the board and assume students will remember them. By playing games and incorporating the words into everyday reading, writing, and conversation students will come to know these words automatically.

Running Records by Marie M. Clay was a great introduction to ways in which teachers can assess student literacy during oral reading exercises. This little book offers great insight as to how we can notice and record student errors while reading in a meaningful way. The book offers a common language for scoring certain mistakes such as word insertion, self correction, and repetition to name a few. For a teacher to be effective, they must know what the students are getting incorrect to understand the area to focus instruction on. Running Records provides use with symbols meant to signify the different types of mistakes students make while reading. I think this book will be very useful for me to be successful in identifying and correcting difficulties children have. I look forward to practicing doing running records next year in my internship. Observing children's oral reading can be fast paced and to be able to provide correct analysis of the reader, I will need much more practice.

"Matching texts and readers: Leveling early reading materials for assessment and instruction"
This article addresses the difficult task of leveling texts for our young readers in the classroom. It begins by outlining all the differences the reading programs available have in their leveling system. Bottom line, none of the reading programs offered in schools rely on the same leveling rubric, thus making it confusing for teachers. So this article takes leveling into its own hand. They develop a 10 step leveling system for beginning reading instruction, using 5 considerations:vocabulary, size and layout of print, predictability, illustration support, and complexity of concepts. A nice chart of each level, examples of what the levels contain in terms of the five factors, as well as an example of an anchor book are represented in the article. Leveling books is never going to be a one size fits all approach. A student can not decode a word that is not already in their vocabulary. And when a beginning reader is reading independently, the material should be at least two levels below the students instructional level. Leveling books is hard enough, but you must also know your students very well to know what type of books interest them and what level suites them best.

"The schools we have. The schools we need"
In this article Richard L. Allington elaborates on the image of public schools as portrayed by the media and the reality of the schools we have. In schools, we often confuse terms such as experience v. ability. When a disadvantaged child who has not been exposed to a print rich environment comes to school and performs at a lower level than a student who has been exposed to a variety of print, we mistake them as less able. When the real culprit is their lack of experience. We also think that we need to "slow things down" for these students. Again, we are misdirecting our instruction by labeling their intellectual ability as low. There is also to great of an emphasis on sorting students into groups based on ability. The lowest performing students also get taken out of the regular classroom to have one on one time with a paraprofessional. This can actually damage the student's development. This article argues that students need to remain in a print rich classroom. Instruction, not as much curriculum, attributes to student success. High quality instruction that models, demonstrates, and engages students is key. Students are also spending less time reading in school. Reading is the way to develop vocabulary. There is a lack of books in lots of schools and even schools that have lots of books lack in variety. Schools also place an importance on students ability to recite facts. This memorization is confused with comprehension. We must engage students in conversation about what they have read and been taught for them to actually understand how to apply it meaningfully. Allington proposes that schools open earlier, stay open later. Provide students with extra support and more experiences.

"Looking inside classrooms: Reflecting on the "how" as well as the "what" in effective reading instruction"
This article focuses on a study of techniques and strategies highly effective teachers use versus those with less effectiveness. The subject focused on promoting reading skills through student interaction, more small group instruction (as oppose to whole group instruction), higher level thinking and questioning, and a preference for coaching versus telling. It seems as if these techniques of highly successful teachers would be obvious, but too often it is ignored for low level thinking, rote memory, and telling as oppose to coaching the student to find the correct response. The way we all learn best is to do it ourself. When someone just hands you the answer, you are bound to forget what you have jut been told. Teachers also need to ask higher level thinking questions. This will help the students apply what they have read or been taught and get them thinking in a more complex manner. When you read aloud to students, take time to ask questions, also allow the students time to ask questions. Some teachers seem (and may feel) so rushed to hit all the points outlined in basal, that they ask the questions themselves and may even answer them before the students have time to respond. According to the findings of this study, it is more beneficial to the students, to slow things down. Give them an opportunity to ask questions and provide open ended questions to get them thinking for themselves.

These articles offer thoughtful strategies and techniques for being a successful teacher. I agree that we, as teachers, need to be more conscious to ask students higher level questions. Teachers face many pressures to cover a lot of material, thus they feel rushed. This can contribute to the lack of higher level thinking and taking time to make sure topics are fully understood. This is a sad reality, but one that we as teachers have to face. Finding a balance and compromise that best suites you and your students is the only way to make this work. It will not come easily. But I think it is a critical topic for discussion. We all want to have our students succeed that is why we are there everyday. We just need to take time to focus on the material that matters and strategies that we can implement to help foster student growth. Teachers also need to be weary of the misconceptions Allington addressed in his article. It is easy to judge a student based on performance, but we need to take a closer look at environmental factor that have played a role in shaping the students intellectual development. Also beware of too much labeling in student ability. When a student is labeled as too low achieving, they are taken out of the classroom and provided assistance from a paraprofessional. While this may help some students, it has the ability to keep the student further behind. The student needs to be immersed in a print rich classroom. The most normal instruction a student can have.

"Decisions, decisions: Reading to primary students during guided reading" Robert M. Schwartz
This article focused on how to respond to student errors during guided reading. Schwartz states that guided reading lessons are a very useful tool for beginning reading instruction, however incorrect responses by the student must be responded to by highly skilled decisions. The articles lays out a four factor model that affect teacher response during student guided reading. The four factors are: response history, cues, strategy, and prompt support. The fact that all four factors play into the construction of individual errors, teachers must be skilled at providing immediate response. To be able to make such quick and accurate responses, the teacher must make careful observations of the errors students typically make and how they recognize or respond to such errors. Most errors contain a partially correct response, and it is best to play off those positives. We must also notice student cues as they read. What cues they pick up on and which ones they do not. To help struggling beginning readers, teachers can used leveled reading where the material is often print right, and sticks to a simple but meaningful vocabulary. Teachers need to use scaffolding strategies to monitor and correct the students errors. The goal is for the student to eventually be able to do independently, what they have done with the teacher. The teacher should always prompt the student with questions such as "does that sound right to you?" or "what do you think?". Through these questions and taught guidance, the student should develop self monitoring skills over time.
This article highlighted the difficulties teachers face when correcting student errors during guided reading. Responses to student's errors is not a one size-fits-all approach. Teachers must spend lots of time observing student response history to understand the types of errors the student most commonly makes. Responding effectively to student errors is hard, especially when there is a small group not just an individual. It takes a split second decision that overtime must come naturally to the teacher. Many factors play into student errors and the correction of such. We must consider if the student used cues to correct their initial attempt, if they simply ignored the error, and how does the student respond to our prompts. However, all these questions need answers because for struggling beginning readers, it is less likely that they will switch their processing strategies without direct support. It is our objective as teachers to teach students how to read and self monitor independently. This article proposes some very tough ideas and truths. Monitoring student errors and responding with the best means for that individual student is not a simple task. It takes time to get to know your student's reading history and understand the typical mistakes they make. It seems like a daunting task, and a skill that I am far from reaching full understanding. But I look forward to learning more strategies and responses to student error during guided reading.

This weeks' readings focused on reader comprehension. What it takes for students to comprehend, how different factors affect comprehension, and tools for teachers to understand how to teach student comprehension. According to the readings, comprehension "the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language," has traditionally been one of the most widely researched and studied factors of how students understand reading. However, it is too often neglected in the classroom and the information may seem to broad and hard to apply to the class. The Comprehension Matrix was designed to help teachers follow a three step, three part instructional plan to hep increase student comprehension. There are three factors in the Comprehension Matrix: the reader, the text, and the situation. Then there are three times in which the student should check for comprehension" pre-reading, while reading, and post-reading. The comprehension theory has also been influenced by three theories; schema theory, transactional theory, and constructvist theory. In all the theories, the overarching idea is that all students bring different experiences to the reading. And it is within these experiences that each student individually links what they are reading to preexisting schema. Based on these theories, each student is likely to comprehend the same text in slightly different manners. Because each child will form slightly different meanings from the same readings, the teacher must model for students how to think about reading for comprehension. This can be done through read alouds, where the teacher will also think aloud. Also teach students to check for comprehension as they are reading, be able to visualize what you are reading to gain meaning Teachers need to model questions the readers can ask themselves as they read, and use scaffolding to wain the students into finally being independent comprehension readers. 

Comprehension comes naturally to most adults when reading standard text or reading on a subject in which they are familiar. This is because we automatically know to be questioning in our head, we also have more schema to help us make sense of the text. However, we cannot forget that this was a skill that we were most likely taught or made aware of as a young student, and we need to model the same for our students. I think these articles were good to point out the obvious. Yes, I think we have all heard of comprehension and can give an adequate definition for it but it is also easy to forget that what comes easy to us as adults may not be so obvious to young students. These readings offered suggestions as to how to provoke comprehension in your classroom. I certainly think that thinking aloud as you read aloud to your class is very important. This practice will naturally begin to engrain in the students brains that they should do the same as they read. I also like the text to self, text to text, text to world strategy to help student connect and link what they have read to prior knowledge or make it real to their lives. I thought the Oprah Winfrey Interview technique was also fun and probably something elementary students would like (though it may need to be renamed). KWL's and web charts are also useful to help students organize and clarify their thoughts. It is all about connecting what the students already know to what they have just read. To do this, the students need to understand what they do already know and how to think about linking that to what they have just learned.