Module 6: Instructional Challenge

Next year, you will be teaching in a school where the vast majority of students did not meet standard on your state's criterion-referenced test and where more than 75% of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. What are some specific universal literacy strategies you may implement to ensure students success? Include both in-class examples and things you could do outside the classroom.

 I think the students would benefit from a comprehensive literacy program.  Incorporating whole group, guided reading, conferences, and extra tutoring would give the students exposure to many different reading strategies.  Providing mini lessons on certain skills embedded in children’s literature.  I would try to make reading as fun as possible by using technology, playing skills games, reader’s theater, listening to stories on recording.  I would like to have a classroom library, with age and skill appropriate books for children to use during reading time.  Providing the students with a daily opportunity for sustained reading time is also important.  Students should have access to games or puzzles that promote literacy skills inside the classroom.  I would take my class to the school library as often as possible, where they would have time to explore and find possible books they are interested in.  I also would like to send home family literacy bags that have a story and activity to complete.  I would work with other teachers within my school to set up a family reading night where families can come to the school to learn about reading and to make literacy games that they can play later at home.  I think the students could also benefit from book buddies or pen pals.  I would work with my colleagues to set up a time that the students can read books and write letters to each other.  Also, I would encourage people within the community to volunteer their time and effort to read to the children whether in a whole group or individual setting.  The involvement with people from outside the classroom could influence and effect reading and literacy skills. 

Module 6: Reading Reflection

Does any of the information presented in Chapter 15 influence your personal philosophy of reading? In what ways? How has your perspective changed since you took the DeFord TORP a few weeks ago?

In Chapter 15, Weaver presented information that has made me more confident in my personal philosophy of reading.  For my philosophy of reading I have always believed that a good reader, reads for meaning, but now I feel like I have a stronger understanding of strategies that can help me teach children and make them be successful, and when I say successful I refer to the children being able read for meaning.  All of Weaver’s information has shown me how to implement the tactics in my classroom.  Weaver has shown that children will be more successful when stories have familiar language, are taught from whole to part, and that it is important to use comprehensive literacy instruction such as, shared reading, shared writing, and phonics taught in text.  Also I am now more aware of making sure that I am giving more background knowledge about a text to help better their comprehension. 

My perspective has changed throughout this course because now I realize that children can make miscue while reading but that does not mean it decreases their comprehension.  A child can still have good comprehension and be a good reader even if they make a miscue because they are not changing the meaning of the text.  

Personal Model of Reading Theory

            If you ask a person to name something that everyone should learn how to do, their response will most likely be learn to read.  Reading is the most important skill a person will learn as it carries you throughout life.  Reading is fundamental to children’s development and they need it to become successful and productive adult.

            I believe that one of the most important parts of teaching students to read is to provide them with books on topics that they will enjoy.  Students are drawn to all different types of interests and teachers should encourage students to select books that they will find appealing.  Reading books you are interested in can lead to a love of reading that I think all learners should possess.

I think reading is not an exact method. It is a process of using all strategies of reading; predicting, monitoring comprehension, confirming, and clarifying, and that is what makes a proficient reader.  Reading is more than knowing the graphic/phonemic cues.  That is only a small part of reading comprehension.  I feel like the most important part of the reading process is understanding the syntax and semantics.  This course has taught me that just because a student miscues while reading does not mean that he/she is not a proficient reader.  Ultimately it depends on what type of miscue was made and if the miscue still retains the same meaning of the original context.  Even proficient readers make miscues as they may add or skip over words. 

Using a comprehensive literacy approach to teaching reading is very beneficial for students.  They receive exposure to so many different types of instruction.  Whether it is whole-class instruction, guided reading instruction, individual instruction, or extra tutoring help.  Through whole group instructions students experience read alouds and shared reading.  During this time I like to preview the book where I demonstrate book handling skills, read the title and author, draw attention to the cover and the illustrations inside the book.  This helps to build students’ schema and recall prior information learned.  It is a great way to help students with their comprehension as they already have an idea of what will come next in the story.  Shared reading experiences are also valuable to me because as we read stories time and time again, students will be able to participate more by choral reading, practicing word pronunciation, voice intonation, and noticing details they may not have seen before.  Guided reading instruction can benefit students as it gives them a chance to focus on a skill they may need extra practice with in a small group setting.  Holding reading conferences is an opportunity to not only assess the students’ progress but to get to know my students on an individual basis.    

            I think it is important for young students to build their knowledge of phonics and phonological awareness.  Phonics teaches students to quickly read unfamiliar words by decoding and recognizing letter patterns that in turn increases their fluency.  I would like to use an embedded approach in teaching phonics where the skills can be incorporated into children’s literature and not just taught explicitly on their own.  These skills also do not always have to be taught during reading time, they can be incorporated through the reading of other subjects as well as writing instruction.

            I feel that writing is also essential to teach as it goes hand and hand with reading.  So many writing skills are developed as students are introduced to new books and reading strategies.  I feel that writer’s workshop is an excellent technique for students to practice writing.  I would begin writer’s workshop by introducing a skill or topic through a mini lesson.  After the mini lesson, students can practice during independent writing time.  During this time I would also include individual writing conferences.  Once the students finish their writing, they will have the opportunity to share and read their own work to their classmates.

One thing that I have grown to believe is that every time students read something, does not mean that they need to complete an assignment on it.  Sometimes reading a book or text is just enough.  I do not want my students to feel like reading is a chore and think that if they read a book at school that they will have to answer questions and write a journal entry about it.  That would take all the love out of reading, which is something that I hope to instill upon my classes in years to come.  

Module 5: Instructional Challenge

As your school year starts, you realize that you have three ELLs who are newcomers to the United States. Discuss how a comprehensive literacy program addresses their needs, drawing attention to specific components of the framework that are particularly relevant. Then discuss any additional scaffolding you would offer to support these children's needs.

A comprehensive literacy program can be beneficial to ELL students. There are many strategies that can be incorporated into the program that can best fit all learners. In the scaffolding approach the first step is whole group instruction. I think that the ELL students would benefit from whole group instruction because they can listen during read alouds and shared reading experiences hearing spoken words and seeing the visual pictures. Also other lessons can be taught focusing on skills like word chucking or comprehension.

Next I would include the students in guided reading and small groups. Using flexible grouping during guided reading would give me an opportunity to work with ELL students and also other students that may need extra practice in a small group setting. I think that students learn from other students, whether through play and other social interactions, so I feel it is important to pair up ELL students with someone in the class. Together they can complete assignments, share reading together, or discuss comprehension. It builds vocabulary and increases their understanding.

From there I think individual conferences where I could evaluate and see where the student is at and possibly work with that student one on one. If I felt the student was lacking in a particular area I would offer extra tutoring.

Module 5: Reading Reflection

Where does phonics instruction fit within a comprehensive literacy program? When and how would you teach phonics?

I think phonics is an important part of reading and should be incorporated into a comprehensive reading program. Phonics helps teach students how to quickly sound out unfamiliar words. It teaches decoding skills and mainly teaches spelling skills. Students are able to recognize blends, consonants and vowels patterns, and diagraphs. When students are working on their writing assignments, they draw upon those phonics techniques to help them sound out how to spell a word that they are stuck on. I do not think that phonics teaches reading comprehension. However, many phonics activities can be incorporated in other learning activities and are not taught just in isolation. For this reason, phonics should be taught with other reading strategies and activities that help build comprehension and teach students to use the context to help identify unfamiliar words. I would teach phonics in mini lessons, guided reading, read alouds, or shared reading. Phonics can even be worked on during individual conferences. It can also be embedded into a writing and reading workshop, as part of the whole reading concept. As students are exposed to more and more texts, they become familiar and show a better understanding in phonics.

Module 4: Activity 2

Take a look at the NRP Report Summary:
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/Publications/summary.htm
and Allington's response:
http://www.hcd.hr/conference/key_allington_eng.pdf
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?

After reviewing the websites, I think that the 5 pillars in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, the National Reading Panel set are important for students’ success in reading. All pillars can build up strengths for appropriate reading skills and I think all students should be exposed to them throughout their journey of learning how to read. I feel that one of the most important things for children to practice reading with books and text that they are interested in, as Allington said. I feel that children that are forced to read about topics that they do not enjoy takes the love out of reading. They look to reading as a chore and then they do not fully commit themselves to material. I believe that if children find a topic they love to read about they will want to read everything they can get their hands on about it, even if the text challenges them. I feel the second pillar that Allington stated is important as well. Children should not be taught subjects like science or social studies through material they cannot comprehend. The main goal is to read to understand. Teachers need to provide different leveled texts to students that are struggling in reading so they are able to derive meaning from the text.

Module 4: Activity 1

Even though this video has strong religious overtones, (please let me know if it offends you, and I will provide an alternate assignment), it is useful for determining strategies that beginning readers use when becoming literate, even at age 50. Watch the video and reflect on what strategy or strategies Robin used most to help him learn to read.

That was an inspiring video, of a man that had a strong will to learn to read. I noticed different strategies, mainly phonics, as I was watching this video. First of all, Robin was using word families (-ack and –ick) learning to sound out words like "pack" and "brick". He was also chunking parts of the word to figure out what each one said. While he was reading the stone soup book, he used the sentence context to read the words. After he read the sentence and it didn’t sound right to him he went back and self- corrected. He also used writing to read. He wanted to write "has" and instead he wrote "hand". We realized that "–and" was in the word and knew it was not correct.

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’s miscues demonstrate that he is lacking in fluency and is not a proficient reader. The miscues he makes are not syntactically or semantically acceptable because when he reads he does not comprehend. I think previewing the book by reading the title, looking at the pictures, pointing out the characters, would help Marcus learn more about what the book is going to be about and may lead to less miscues. Also buddy reading or reading with a partner would help Marcus in that the partners can discuss the meaning from the text and compare each other’s ideas. I also think that Marcus could benefit from listening to books on recording. He can hear the correct grammar and pronunciation of the word comparing his miscues to the actual words in the text.

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)?

The strategies that I am using already in my classroom from the comprehensive literacy program are read-aloud, shared reading, guided reading, sustained reading, sustained reading, write-aloud, shared-writing, journals and writing to learn. I’m excited to see that I use already a lot of the strategies with my students. I teach pre-k, so we are definitely at the beginning stages of learning to read and write so I have tried to explain how these strategies are implemented throughout the day.

Read-aloud: In my classroom we do read-aloud daily. We are in a large group setting with all the children on the rug. I do at least 2 stories a day, one story will be with the theme that we are learning about in the classroom and the other will be for fun. After every read-aloud we use story wands, a story map or do a literacy chart to check for comprehension of the story. At the beginning of the school year I may only focus on a couple questions from the story, like who are the characters? What was the setting? but towards the end of the year I am asking multiple questions and having the children make predictions.

Shared Reading- We use shared reading during our large group time, small group and for transitioning. With my age group we do a lot of finger play with songs and nursery rhymes, so after the children learn the finger play I will read the story with the book and the children enjoy reading along with me.


Guided Reading- During our small group time and sometimes during our center time we have guided reading. I will have a group of 4-5 children sitting with me. At this age I use this time to focus on reading for meaning but also like to have the children work on the book handling skills and will give them the opportunity to look at the book while I'm reading.

Sustained Reading-The children in my classroom have many opportunities throughout the day to do sustained reading. We have a reading center that is filled with books and comfy quiet places. They can choose to look at the books independently or with a partner. We also have a listening center, where the children can listen to a story while looking at the book.

Write-Aloud- I use write aloud during calendar, language and literacy and phonological awareness time. I use big chart paper and sometimes sentence strips. I use it after I illustrate a picture, teaching letter names and sounds and also retelling of stories.

Shared-Writing- In my class we have a morning message every day the children help write. I do a lot of literacy charts where the children are able to recognize their name by their sentence and will help point to the words while the children do shared reading to read it back. I also used shared writing for teaching letter sounds and having the children sound out words, rhyming, syllables and beginning sounds.

Journals/Writing to learn- At this age group the children are still learning to write, so I do a lot of “writing” with the children illustrating a picture and dictating what they drew. The children will draw pictures in response to their favorite part of the story, draw the setting, draw the characters etc.? The children will the dictate the picture to me and I write what they drew. Towards the end of the year the children receive journals and will use the journals for response to a questions like, draw what you did over spring break. They enjoy the journals and some children do start trying to write sentences with my help.