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?

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

In Allington's Five Missing Pillars of Scientific Reading Instruction, I feel that the five pillars: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are all essential components of reading instruction. I would implement all five pillars in my reading instruction in order for my students to be successful in reading. I feel that pillar two and four are the most vital. Although I feel these combinations are all vital to students' literacy success. I think that providing students with appropriate leveled texts is so important because that would boost the students' motivation to read. The students can focus on gaining meaning from the text rather than identifying all the words correctly. I think that when the students are not able to read fluently, it would interrupt getting the meaning of the text. I think that teaching the students the strategy of how to look for just right texts will give the students the power to select their own texts to read independently. That way the books are not always the teacher-selected books. Also, having classroom organization with a balanced whole class teaching with small group and side-by-side instruction is very vital because we have such diverse learners that learn in all different styles. Teachers can differentiate for small group and one-on-one instruction. Small group instruction will help to reinforce the same skills and allowing the students to practice the skills. Side-by-side instruction will benefit the struggling readers by providing personal attention to their specific needs. 

Module 4: Activity 1

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GctEw_7hTWc

This story of Robin's journey to literacy is truly inspirational.  As I watched this video I was very touched  by Robin's profound dedication to learning how to read. Even though he tried multiple times in the past to learn to read and did not succeed, he continued and was determined to learn to read so he could read to his grandchildren, about the world, and his Bible. This video of Robin's struggle to be literate at the age of 50 helped me to realize no matter how impossible it seems to teach a child  that is diagnosed with learning disabilities. I will continue to find strategies to  help that student overcome it and to motivate that child to never give up hope. 

Robin used many strategies to help him read. First, he used letter tiles to make words. He used different beginning sounds  and word families like "ack" and "ick"  to sound out words. He was using the "chunking" phonograms strategy to figure out each word. When he signed up for his first email account. He saw the word congratulations on the screen. That long word can be intimidating. However, Robin found a smaller word "rat"  that he recognized inside the big word to help him figure out the word congratulation without sounding out the word. 

Robin started reading leveled text with visual cues to help him learn to read. He read and reread the sentence until it made sense to him. When read the word "give" he said "gave" Robin asked "does that make sense?" he then changed the word to "give" and read the sentence again. He was paying attention to the meaning of the text. He was was monitoring his own reading. When Robin reads the caption on the newspaper articles, he used context clues and the picture to help him read. I think with practice, Robin with become a more proficient reader. 

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?

I believe it is important to allow Marcus to select this own text (independent level) to read first without any interruption. During this time I would use the Retrospective Miscue Analyis (RMA)  to record Marcus reading the text on the iPad. This will allow Marcus and I to watch/listen and reflect on his reading. I will play back part of it and pause where Marcus has made a miscue that doesn't make sense. I would ask "does that make sense?" I would invite Marcus to reread and teach him strategies to figure out unfamiliar words such as using analogy, syntactic, semantic knowledge and cues to predict what is coming next. 

The next step is to meet with Marcus daily  for guided reading, I would place Marcus  in small group with other students with similar difficulties. I would have the students read a text on their independent level because we want to focus on reading to construct meaning. First, I would do a book walk with the students to activate their schema and background knowledge. They would make prediction during the picture walk. I would introduce new vocabulary words/content words in the book. I would show them different strategies they can use when they come to a difficult word (ex: stop and think out loud if that word made sense in the sentence, use onset and rimes/chunks). I would let the student whisper read independently. Afterward, I would allow the students to take turns reading with a partner. This will allow the students to listen to each other miscues. They can also practice retelling the story. 

I would also do lots of shared reading and read-aloud with Marcus and with students who are struggling with the same miscues in small group or whole group. I would read teach concepts about print, reading strategies, words, phonics, and decoding during this time. After reading the story, I would ask students to retell or put the story in sequential order using a story map or timeline  on big chart paper. I would allow all the students the opportunity to say something they remember from the story. The students can help me draw pictures and write sentences to go with the story. By doing these activities, Marcus and sit to observe to learn from his friends. Also, I would ask Marcus to share something he remembers from the story. Allowing Marcus to have the confidence to participate. 

Finally, I would allow various opportunities throughout the day for Marcus and all the students in the class to have independent reading time and partner reading time. It is very important to allow time for the students to practice reading and allowing them the freedom to select books according to their interest. Also, I would provide students to access narrated/animated books to listen to on the iPad and a computer.  

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)?

Reading chapter 10 and 11 from Weaver's textbook  was very enjoyable  for me because it offered so many different strategies for many types of readers. I will be referring back to these chapters for instructional resources to help my struggling readers.  I loved reading about all the major components of a comprehensive literacy program  to get a deeper understanding of them. I am familiar with all the components of the literacy programs. However, I have not had the opportunity to implement all of the components in the comprehensive literacy program. I'm not a classroom teacher. Therefore I'm not able to incorporate all of the components in my own teaching. 

I do not have my own classroom. For that reason,  I do the push-in model  where I go into each classroom  during literacy center block for approximately 45 minutes daily  to work with students primarily in small guided reading  groups. During the literacy block, the classroom teacher and I would each meet with a guided reading group. I would meet with 2-3  groups when I'm in the classroom. Typically my groups consist of 5-6 students on the same reading level. The groups are also determined on the basis of students' individual needs at the time. At the beginning of the school year, I focus on early reading strategies with pattern books: left to right directionality with return sweep, one to one correspondence, locating known words in text, locating unknown words in text,  decoding strategies or fix-up strategies, and phonics. The classroom teacher would  conduct DRA2 (Developmental Reading Assessment 2nd Edition) to determine if the students are able to move to another reading level. Then, I would focus on reading comprehension such as building background knowledge, predicting, making connection, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determine importance, retelling, summarizing/ synthesizing, clarifying and self-monitor.  In addition, I focus on accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary. 

I have not had much opportunity to confer individually with students. I plan to do more individual reading conferences with my students. According to Weaver's text, these are some of the things I plan to do with my students. I plan to observe my students' reading habits, interview them about their book preferences and reading goals. Discuss with students on what he or she is currently reading. Have the students read  the book, and listen for the reading strategies being used or not used well. I plan to record the students reading independently on the IPad  After that I plan to have the watch & listen to themselves read and reflect or look for miscues. Also, I plan to take this one- on-one time to teach reading strategies that will help with difficult words, monitoring comprehension, reading to draw inferences and develop understanding. Most importantly teach the students to construct meaning from the text by retelling aloud. 

Module 3: Activity 2

What do you think of this? What do such activities and "cracking the code" contribute to proficient reading? What else might a reader need to become proficient? 

After watching this video on helping struggling readers by teaching phonemic awareness, or hearing sounds within words with  this cracking the code technique using pseudowords/nonsense words.  In the video, they  said that the teacher is teaching this technique that experts  know works. This technique can be one of the instructional tool to teach struggling readers but it should  not be the only way since study has shown it to be helpful. I believe what Dr. Reid Lyon stated in the video are beneficial for struggling readers like teaching in a systematic way with teacher-directed and teacher feedback. With struggling reader, the more one-on-one individual tutoring is  helpful for the student. 

Proficient reading  requires the readers to use many strategies.  A proficient reader use schema, syntax, semantic, context, and graphic cues. The students need to create meaning from the words they are learning. I think that using nonsense words will be difficult to teach less proficient reader because they need actual words with pictures (visual cues) to go with those words to help them learn the words. If the teacher teaches with nonsense words then the teacher would not have pictures to go with the word. I personally have never taught phonemic awareness using nonsense words but I would not rule this out since it can an additional instructional tool. Although I feel it is more beneficial to use words that are basic/common every day words and words that the students will come across to create meaning because this is essential to become a proficient reader.  

Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist

Erica, a fifth grader, reads grade level passages at a rate of 177 words correct per minute, or 30% faster than grade level norms. When asked to retell what she has read, Erica struggles and is able to give little to no information from about the text. Many other children in Erica's class also read well above grade level expectations for fluency rate (or automaticity), but the teacher laments that they struggle with comprehension and using appropriate expression and intonation while they read. What is going on here? What advice can you offer the teacher? Write a memo to the teacher from the viewpoint of the school's Reading Specialist. Give the teacher and explanation for the phenomenon and offer her advice on dealing with the situation. Please keep the memo to no more than 400 words. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist."

Dear teacher, 

I would like to start off by saying that I am very impressed  with your class' accomplishment on reading  above grade level expectations for fluency rate. You've done a marvelous job with your students so far on reading with fluency. Thank you, for bringing to my attention about your concerns with your students struggling with text comprehension. Let's take a closer look at a student in your class, Erica, it appears that she is mainly focusing on reading all the words correctly when she reads. She is not focusing on gaining meaning from the text that she is reading. You've also noticed similar cases with your other students. Your students are focusing more on words identification/words accuracy  rather than trying to construct meaning from the text they are reading. 

Here are some of my suggestions, first allow your students more opportunities to read independently and read with a partner (a less proficient reader with a more proficient reader) with texts that presents supports and challenges to the students (text should be easy enough to keep students going, but challenging enough to keep students learning). The texts can be teacher-selected  or student-selected text on the students' independent reading level that way they're able to read books based on their interest and read to get meaning from the the text.  Encourage the students to make connections and share their connections with a partner. Also, the students can practice re-telling the story to their parents. Second, I suggest doing more shared reading with your students to provide additional modeling of strategies proficient readers use including concept of print, word study, syntax, and comprehension strategies (making connections, determine importance, predicting, asking-questions, re-reading, and self-monitoring). Before reading an unfamiliar text to the children, you should provide support through the introduction to the book. For instance, reads the title and author, activates background knowledge, give a brief summary of the book,  introduces any challenging words, concepts, and language structures. Be sure to allow students to practice these strategies after you model them. Shared reading  or reading aloud to your students with modeling reading with expression  and intonation will help them strengthen this area of their weakness listening to you read aloud.  My next suggestions to help readers who have difficulty comprehending texts is the thinking-aloud strategy. This strategy will help them focus on meaning, develop effective reading strategies, and reflect on their reading strategies. For this think-aloud strategy, you should model reading aloud and stop periodically to show your students your think process while reading. This strategy will provide a effective model for children to engage in their own meta-cognitive comprehension strategies while they read a text. 

Please try out these reading strategies with your students and update me on their progress. We can arrange a planning time to develop different strategies to make the needs of the individual students in your class. In addition, I have a copy of Weaver's text called Reading Process & Practice, you may stop by to check it out during your planning time to reference back to this book for additional strategies you can implement in your classroom to help the students construct meaning of the text. Let me know if you need further assistance. 

Sincerely, 


Loan Le
Reading Specialist

PROMINENT THEORIST: ALLAN LUKE

PROMINENT THEORIST: ALLAN LUKE

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5imJIYltom1VmI2ejZ4T0pjTDg/edit?usp=sharing