I read the article "Response To Intervention (RTI): What Teachers of Reading Need to Know" by Eric M. Mesmer and Heidi Anne E. Mesmer. The article discusses the importance of having a good RTI program in the schools. With a good RTI program, and the correct identification of a student as having a learning disability, the student can get the help they need to advance developmentally and academically. According to the article, an RTI is a process of measuring if a learner's academic performance improves when they are provided with well defined research based interventions. However, RTI's are different for each student. Instead of standardizing the interventions to see if students have learning disabilities, RTI's are student measured responses to interventions. In order to get accurate results of the interventions, the RTI is broken down into 5 complex steps.
In the first step, all students are assessed on basic literacy skills, and their results are compared to NCLB benchmark results. In the second step, the students who did not meet the benchmark requirements receive extra help through the pre determined research based interventions. In the third step, many assessments monitoring the students' progress are taken. This is done to make sure that all interventions are effective for each individual students, and to make sure that all students are making adequate academic development. In the fourth step, students who continue to struggle with literacy skills receive interventions that are more individualized. With the new individualized interventions, progress continues to be monitored. In the fifth and final step, students who still continue to struggle with literacy skills are evaluated for special education eligibility.
With the new research based intervention programs, fewer students are falsely identified as special education. Also, the new intervention programs provide better instruction for students who struggle with literacy skills. RTI's help struggling students get back on track developmentally and academically, and it does so in a very quick and precise manner. An RTI really is a fast track to helping struggling students get caught up with the rest of the class without prematurely labeling them as special education or learning disability. What I like most about the RTI is the belief that with the proper aid and intervention, all students can, and will, succeed in an academic environment.
]]> While there
are problems and challenges with trying to bring new literacies into the
classroom, the teacher can over come these challenges if they realize the
importance of these new literacies and embrace the changes that come with it.
This article, "Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies" by
Diane Barone, and Todd E. Wright, focuses one teacher that has successfully intergraded
technology into his classroom. Todd Wright is a teacher at Fernely Elementary,
in
The question on everyone's mind of course, is if this new technology increases student leaning. A lot of the new literacy skills not those that are assessed on standared test so it is hare to measure the additional knowledge that the students might have gained. Since 2002 Fernley has made adequate yearly progress every year.
All in all Todd's class room exemplify integrating new literacies into the classroom. We know from our reading and class lecture that it is really important to teach student use of new literacies that come with technology. Solely using paper and pencil is highly impractical for preparing students for the world we live in to day. Even though students are not assessed on the skills that new literacies bring, it is still important to teach them. A good literacy teacher can certainly prepare students for standardized test using these new literacies.
]]>So how can teachers use this knowledge about literacy? In the second part of the article, Ben-Yosef explains how we as teachers can use the multiple literacies to increase the learning of our students. Children from different cultures have different literacies. Teachers should draw on the knowledge of literacy that these students have instead of forcing our knowledge of literacies on them. Teachers should draw on the knowledge of all of their students. Ben-Yosef explains that we need to create bridges between the literacies of the students and the school literacies, "We can create bridges by opening our minds and the doors of our classrooms to local and vernacular literacies and using them as building blocks on which to construct our teaching." (Ben-Yosef, 82). The article talks about a teacher who used student's home literacies to teach reading. The teacher had students bring text from their daily lives and homes to the classroom to discuss and learn from. It is very important for teachers to draw on the literacies that the students know and understand. This will make it easier for the students to learn new information. Another teacher in the article had her students teach her the rules of writing rap before she taught them the rules of Shakespeare and sonnets. This is a very effective teacher practice. She was using the literacies that her students already knew and understood to learn new information. To end the article, Ben-Yosef concludes that "Building bridges between home and school literacies ensures a meaningful educational experience for all students" (Ben-Yosef, 82). In my future classroom I will make sure to build bridges of literacy and I hope you do too!
Ben-Yosef, Elite. "Respecting Students' Cultural Literacies." Educational Leadership. 61.2. (2003): 80-82. Print.
]]> In this article, its main focus is on the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 five research-based components of reading and oral language which are: 1) Phonemic awareness, 2) Phonics, 3) Vocabulary, 4)Fluency, and 5) Comprehension, based from the National Reading Panel. In the beginning, it also talks about Title 1 and having a high-quality education for all children, and throughout the article it talks about effective teacher practices.
To start off, Title 1 states "...is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging Stat academic achievement standards and state academic assessments" (pg. 734). This basically says, in the subpart, that every child needs to be reading by grade three and that by having research-based. Teachers need to be knowledgeable in the proven research approaches with reading; that they need to reach out to the students on an individual basis and that using word study is one way on how a teacher can incorporate phonemic awareness, vocabulary, spelling, and high-frequent word recognition within a lesson.
Moving on to the five research-based components that the National Reading Panel. According to the article, Cunningham and Hall (1994), states that making words has three empirical supports (pg 735). The first support is that learners understand the onsets and rimes better than phoneme isolation. An example given in the text is D-an rather than D-a-n. The second support is that 37 rimes can be found in approximentally 500 words. Some examples given are: -op, -ot, -ack, -ake, and -ice. The final support is the patterns of spelling by using an analogy (735).
Vocabulary is an aspect of comprehension and vocabulary instruction and is deemed to be a measurement of importance as described by the National Reading Panel (735). Beck and McKeown sayd that effective teachers should use explicit instruction and that they should "take advantage of the students' listening and speaking competencies to enhance their vocabulary development" while providing the students with friendly definitions and explanations to expand the context. The article notes that the teachers promote vocabulary growth (and language development) through authentic and meaningful experiences (737).
Next is fluency. Repeated readings and giving formal efforts are the two approaches that are to help the students read at a silent reading level while reading books for recreational and instructional use. Pressley stated that being fluent is important because the reader will not have to decode every word within the text before being able to comprehend the text. Samuels (2001) has also reinforced what Pressley said that word recognition comes from the amount of reading that the reader has done (738). Teachers should scaffold what fluent reading sounds to have a good effective practice.
Comprehension was the final one that was talked about in this article. This article states that "comprehension has three subparts: vocabulary instruction, text comprehension, and teacher preparation of comprehension strategies" (738). Comprehension needs to be taught explicitly to the students since it is the goal of reading and it needs to be relevant to the students. Discussion of the texts is one effective assessment and way of working on the comprehension strategy (739). Working with small groups is a good way to explicitly teach the students and the groupings need to be flexible (740).
Source:
Stewart, Margaret Taylor. "Early Literacy Instruction in the Climate of NO Child Left Behind." International Reading Association. 57.8 (2004): 732-744. Print.
In "Teaching Expository Text Structures Through Information Trade Book Retelling" by Barbara Moss we as readers are introduced to the concept of expository texts and how we as teachers can teach these texts. In this article Moss explains what the strategy of retelling is, how to teach expository texts and how teachers can assess students' retellings.
To start off it is important as a reader and a teacher to understand why it is important that we teach students about expository texts and according to Moss she believes that "teachers are aware of the demands of living in an era when information is increasing at an alarming rate" (710). Moss also states that "mounting pressures for improved students standardized test performance have resulted in increased attention to exposition" (710). I agree with Moss in that we as teachers understand living in an era with information increasing at an alarming rate because as a teacher we can all remember a time five or ten years ago that information was not as readily available as it is today. We as teachers also are able to think about the internet and how its role in text is becoming larger and larger. Moss's second statement about standardized test also is very accurate because according to Daniels "70 -80% of standardized reading test content is expository" (710). This once again shows us as teachers why we should be teaching about expository text and learning how to successfully teach this text is very important for our students.
Expository text used with retelling has "shown promise for engaging students with literature as well as comprehension of expository text structures" (710). This last sentence shows teachers, administrators, parents and all others concerned about literacy development how important teaching about expository text is to students. Some of the reasons according to Moss why we should teach about expository texts is because it helps students in the "digital world with the ability to use the Internet quickly, efficiently an affectively which is important to success at school and in the workplace" (711). Think about this statement, how many times a day do you use the Internet and how often is this text expository. When you stop to think about this statement you realize nearly almost all of the sites you visit are of expository text and learning about this text is largely important to our students. While some teachers are teaching expository text we need to remember to expose students early to this type of text (Kindergarten is recommended in the article) and teach these students to read this type of text. When teaching this text we need to teach the common structures of "description, sequence, comparison and contrast, cause and effect and problem and solution" (711). As literacy instructors we know that it is important that this text must have authentic literacy tasks and must provide rich opportunities for the students.
One of these rich opportunities that is authentic is the use of retelling which is the noted strategy in this article. Retellings are "oral or written postreading recalls during which children relate what they remember from reading or listening to a particular text, recalling as much information as possible not just the main points" (711). As a teacher we can see that retellings seem easy but we need to remember that students are recalling what they had read which helps with their overall comprehension of the text. These retellings will also help students develop summarization skills that are important in later grades as well as flexibility to read all types of texts. When students retell they become actively engaged with a texts which we as literacy teachers have learned how important it is to become engaged with a text. Engagement with a text helps to increase motivation as we have learned in class from Cambourne's conditions. According to this article students can also "sense text organization and develop their oral language abilities. This type of retelling is also very beneficial to ELL students" (712). As teachers we know it is important to find a strategy that could be adapted for all students as this article explains this text shows that this retelling works and helps ELL students.
Looking at the type of books that should be selected when using the retelling strategy we need to use "information trade books" and should be selected based on "literacy quality", "books that don't overwhelm students with difficult vocabulary" and finally "books that clearly illustrate the text structure being taught" (712). As literacy teachers we can also align this information with research and other information that we have learned in class about align books to students making sure that the books are developmentally appropriate as well as using the five finger rule for vocabulary. A thing to note when teaching about expository texts is that all structures should be taught individually with the easier ones being taught first and gradually moving on to the more difficult text structures.
Learning about this retelling strategy is very important as a teacher and we need to remember that students will not automatically know how to retell so as teachers we must model this retelling and then have students practice retelling as a large group and then move to a small group for retelling. A suggested method in this article of retelling is a "cumulative retelling which is ideal for small groups; the 1st student in the group retells the first events from the story, the 2nd student retells the next series of events but repeats the earlier events and this process continues until the entire text has been retold" (715). As literacy teachers in ELED 3102 we have learned about the whole part whole read aloud lesson plan format which would work wonderful when using this strategy for expository texts. Looking at this lesson plan we also know that there must be a way to assess students for the work they have done. In this article Moss suggests using a "scale that is a holistic evaluation of retelling" this scoring method would acknowledge the "student's response as a whole, with all individual, unique features and richness, ability to identify main ideas, details, overall text structure and infer beyond text, summarize and relate text to own life" (716). Using this way of assessment we as literacy teachers would acknowledge that fact that all students are unique and not all retellings will be the same. We also need to remember that we want to push students to make text to self-connections to make the text more authentic for their own life. This assessment will also allow teachers the ability to see how these students comprehend the text and if they will need further work with expository text.
As
mentioned in this blog previous it is important that we implement this strategy
of retelling for comprehension through the use of the whole-part-whole lesson
plan which allows for teacher modeling and then student practice. This article is very important to refer to as
a strategy guide for help when we as literacy teachers are introducing
expository texts into our classroom someday. I personally believe that this strategy is effective and could be beneficial to teachers when introducing expository texts.
An example from the article, is a classroom talking about desegregation of schools in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1960. The main person being taught about is Ruby Bridges. By implementing the five practices of literacy the author describes, the students are able to comprehend what others in that time would have thought about desegregation. The students are able to think about how they would have felt at the time and what they would have done in this situation.
I personally think that having students learn to understand text in multiple ways helps increase their understanding of the text later on. They are able then to remember the information from that text more fluently and comprehensively. It also provides them with background knowledge for later text of the same concept. ]]>Looking Inside Classrooms: Reflecting on the "how" as well as the "what" in effective reading instruction -- Barbara M. Taylor, Debra S. Peterson, P. David Pearson and Michael C. Rodriquez
We learned that effective teachers maintain an academic focus, kept more pupils on task, and provided direct instruction. Effective direct instruction includes making learning goals clear, asking students questions to monitor understanding of content or skills covered, and providing feedback to students about their academic progress. The National Reading Panel Report (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) concluded that instruction in systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension strategies was important in a complete reading program. The panel's conclusion found that outstanding teachers taught skills, actively engaged students in a great deal of actual reading and writing, and fostered self-regulation in students' use of strategies. The overwhelming sense one gets when examining the observational notes presented in this article is that some teachers feel so compelled to make sure that key information is discussed that they bring it up themselves, thereby robbing students of opportunities to test their own knowledge and skill acquisition, and themselves of opportunities to evaluate students' growth toward independence. Coaching techniques were used to encourage children to elaborate on their ideas. I believe classroom literacy instruction needs to reflect best practices as identified in the research. In addition to what teachers teach, how teachers teach is also important to consider in search of making changes in reading instruction to improve students' reading achievement.
]]>One example of a coaching strategy is general cues which promote thought by the reader. These cues are non-specific in nature and prompt readers to think about word-recognition and how to apply the knowledge they have to the word recognition task. Possible questions for this method include, how are you going to figure that out? What can you do? The prompts do not point the reader in any direction which allows the reader to think for themselves.
The opposite of general cues are specific cues which prompt readers about the word recognition task more specifically and focusing reader's attention on graphophonic knowledge, word-part identification, and contextual supports.
Teachers as a whole and especially us as young reading instruction teachers rely to heavily on the phrase, "sound it out" when a student is struggling reading a sentence or word. "Sound it out" can work at times, but there are not only more effective strategies, but also strategies that we as instructors need to incorporate to truly be doing our jobs as reading instructors.
One of these strategies is called coaching.
I liked the idea that the article posed, which was that technology is a natural occurrence in our everyday lives, so it only makes sense to use it in the classroom. We already use overheads and computers, but these are things that the teacher mainly uses and what this article emphasizes is to put technology in the hands of the whole class-community. This way, the class can become more easily connected through methods such as instant messaging and class-web pages with links to vocabulary and stories.
My only concern with the scene depicted in the article was that more traditional methods of instruction were only briefly mentioned. I wonder what the effect will be when students have the option to type instead of write (or to IM instead of speak) at all hours of the day--especially for those who have internet access at home. How will their handwriting skills be affected? And does this matter in the long-run (that is, will we all just end up using computers and typing as a means of writing anyway)?
Although the amount of computer-based instruction that should be used is debatable, the idea of allowing the students--and not just the teacher--to use the computers makes practical sense and would definitely help motivate students in the classroom because they are using a fun tool that they are familiar with for educational purposes.
]]>Coaching students while reading is so important that is not being included in many university reading methods courses. It is a technique that Marie Clay helped develop. She "viewed young readers as active learners working to construct a self-extending system. One way children develop this system is through powerful interactions with teachers during reading (2)." Coaching can also be referred to as scaffolding. General cues to promote though are "non specific in nature and they prompt readers to think about their knowledge of word-recognition strategies and how to apply this knowledge to the word-recognition task (2)." These cues do not point readers in a specific direction so the responsibility of thinking falls on the reader. Cues to prompt specific action "provide readers with more detailed information about the word-recognition task. They focus readers' attention of graphophonic knowledge, word-part identification strategies and contextual supports (3.)"
To coach successfully, teachers must be aware of the "knowledge sources available for word recognition, have specific knowledge of students' work-recognition abilities, be able to analyze a word, and generate appropriate cues (6)." It is important to know each of your students so that you can provide cues that will be a best fit strategy.
Teachers must recognize developmental differences when coming up with instructional cues because the cues we suggest must support student's movement through the stages of word learning. The three stages of word recognition are the "selective-cue stage, the spelling-sound stage, and the automatic stage (7)." Students at the selective-cue stage should be cued to attend to print information to build their awareness and knowledge of letter-sound relationships. Those at the spelling-sound stage should be cued to fully analyze the constituent letters and orthographic patterns in words.
There are three factors that contribute to effective teacher coaching: "the teacher has considerable explicit knowledge of phonics and English orthography, they maintained a conscious awareness of students' instructional histories, and the teachers were aware of student's individual strengths and weaknesses" (10).
(Clark, Kathleen, "What can I say besides 'sound it out' Coaching Word Recognition in Beginning Reading, The Reading Teacher, 2004)."
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