Online Class

what do good readers do?
apply back ground knowledge
predict
ask questions
use prior knowledge
use context clues

what can teachers do to develop comprehension?
motivate students
encourage
model good strategies
help build vocab
teach students about the passages they are reading
teach comprehension strategies

what can teacher do to help struggling readers?
they can monitor student and their work
mentor them or couch them into using better strategies
practice with them
help them to understand ways to adjust


Which idea struck you as most relevant to your teaching of comprehension?
the video gives explicit instructions for improving student's comprehension. for me I liked the idea of teaching about the passages and activating and connecting prior knowledge. Especially in a ESL classroom, students are coming from all over and its hard to know what your students have acquired through the years. You have to assess what they know but also don't take anything for granted. Help you students with strategies for connecting and also help them learn about the topic through building vocab and understanding.

What new instructional practices will you implement in your classroom?
I like the idea of authentic opportunities to read and respond to text. It's important to have a broad range of strategies and adjust your strategies to the student

How will you use the ideas presented in this video to improve the comprehension of your struggling reader?
My struggling readers that I am working with work on all levels. I am working with 10 students at once so i have to be able to adjust and have different strategies for building comprehension skills. Context clues seem to help the ESL students a lot but prior knowledge is also a big issue. Many students are not familiar with things the same way that the other 25 students in their regular classroom are. the need to practice more with learning about the passages as well as coming up with the strategies used to connect the knowledge they already have.

Obervations

Observed April 14th and 15th. worked on assessments with students. evaluated each student on word list from QRI-5. Students range from not even a kindergarten level to a fifth grade level. I am amazed at how Mrs. M. teaches lessons for each student. Many of the students have great "sounding out" strategies. also students often get stuck because they sound the word out perfectly but are not confident that that is even a word. (ex. wool)

Observed on April 28th. students had a ESL celebration day. students created presentations, skits, power points, songs and class work to show their parents, principle, teachers, and district administrators what they have accomplished. ESL students from each grade came; K-6th. Parents brought food from their culture and shared it with the rest in attendance. Students on every level performed and showed their English language skills through different performances.

Observed on April 29th. Worked with students on QRI-5 assessments. started with students that were at the lowest level in the class and working my way through to all 10 children if possible. So far only have 3 done. One student from Netherlands, who has only been here a couple months, is performing at a pre-primer level 2 grade level. He had low fluency and needs pictures to assist comprehension. few words seem automatic. He stumples on sounds of vowels but does a great job of picking up picture clues and sounding words out. He also corrects his mistakes.

Observed May 3rd. Had full control of the class today. Teacher had to take students out one at a time so i was the teacher for the day. Started off with reading a book with students at carpet. while I read the "run away tortilla" the students listened, counted, helped read and sang the Senorita Tortilla's words after each page. After reading the book students went to seat and corrected spelling sheets for practice for the NYSEST. Then then rewrote the words in alphabetical order. When they finished they moved onto a worksheet that tested their knowledge of sequential order, paying attention to detail and topic, middle and concluding sentences. After pasting the sentences in order they rewrote the sentences in their notebooks to practice the coping section of the NYSEST. After they were finished they had to read their story to me and fix ant mistakes.

Dibels vs. QRI-5

Although Dibels and the QRI-5 are both excelent tools for assessing students literacy capabilities they are also very different. Dibels works in 60 second intervals. The student is assessed on their aromaticity and fluency. Dibels assesses the 5 major areas of literacy; phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary and comprehension through a benchmark evaluation. The assessment can either be done on paper and pencil or through a hand help device such as a palm pilot. This allows for immediate results that can be available for the student, teacher, parent, school, district or even state. The program also allows the teacher to have access to intervention strategies and activities that will help improve areas of struggle. The students are marked as established, emergent or at risk. Since the Dibels is fast and effective it can be given to the entire class in a short amount of time. The QRI-5 is an individual administered informal reading innovatory designed to provide information about (1) the conditions under which students can identify words and comprehend text successfully and (2) conditions that appear to result in unsuccessful word identification or comprehension. The QRI-5 is broken down into different sections to evaluate the students level. to start off the student goes though a word list, then reads a passage and then finally retells the story and answers questions. Depending on how well they do the student would be assessed as frustration, instructional or independent. Both assessments are beneficial for the student but a main difference is the time constraint. Also while the QRI-5 isn't norm based, Dibels scoring is often compared to other students, including sometimes to the state. I feel that Dibels would be better for younger grades to evaluate sounds, letters and fluency but feel that the QRI-5 would have its greatest effects from grade 3 and up because i feel it evaluates comprehension better.

Observations

So after emailing and caling back and forth with the school district, they have finally placed me in a ELL classroom. This teacher is only willing to work with me under the conditions that she has absolutely nothing to do with me and i stay out of her way. She also only took me in knowing i was to do 10 hrs, which I clearly stated as well as the deparment that set up the observations that it would be 20. The teacher and the assistant principle both emailed me and called me to let me know that now, in mid-April can finally start my 20 hrs but that they can only allow me their an hr and a half a day, for four days a week.

Today I have finally started my Observations and completed an hour and half of my assigned hours. I jumped right into working with the students. The class has about 8 to 10 1st graders in it from all over the world. Since students seemed to be missing i worked hand in hand with the teacher to complete a writing assignment with the students. Since they are preping for the NYSESLAT i worked on practice for the writing section.

The students got a picture, cut it out, glued it to their notebooks and then had to explain what was going on in the photo. The children learned to tell a story through a topic sentence, 4 details and a concluding sentence. some student were able to move through it with confidence and some had great difficulty. A young student from the Netherlands has only been in the country for about a year and came here with no english speaking skills. he now is able to communicate and write full sentences. He knows most sounds and letter and uses a letter chart to help him write. He also has a book that he writes sight words in if he doesn't now how to spell them. For example he wanted to write "They are ready to go out" but came to me to write out in his book and help form the sentence. Jackie an El Salvador 1st grader was nt only welcoming but was able to write descriptive sentances. she was also happy to correct miss spelled words and ask questions about how to spell something.

After they were finished writing and read it to me or Mrs. M, they were asked to underline the topic sentence, the details and the conclusion all in different color crayons. This will help them with organization for the exam.

All of the children seemed very excited to learn but even though they are willing they still have difficulties. Te project today was part of my writing sample. I'm trying to get as many children involved as possible. each week in going to try to have them do a writing sample. As the weeks continue hopefully they will improve and be ready for the written part of the NYSESLAT. It will also show the students their progress.

Tomorrow I plan to work on the QRI-5. Im hoping to use the rest of the week to test as many students as I can and get an idea of where they stand in relation to where they should be for their grade level. Mrs. M says many of them if not most are behind and even expeience difficulty in other subjects just because they are not able to read the material, not that they are unintelligent.

Effective writing program

1. Discuss the components of an effective writing program and why they are important? - inventions, conventions and personal connections are very important components of an effective writing program; with out them students would not relate the reading to anything and it would become abstract. these components allow the students writing to be original, and students to edit and be interested in their work. 2. How migth you rearrange your schedule to creat more time for students to write in general and inperticular, for students to write about their personal exoperinces? - One way that i might try to make more time would be to ulitize the time that i do have more effectively. one example of this is while im getting ready for my days lessons and while kids are unpacking i might have them do a writing do now journal. This could also work inbetween lessons so they might sum up things they learned or questions they still have about the subject. these journals would give me great insight into the students progress. 3. how can you create ways for students to make personal connections in different subject areas through writing? -One way to help students make connections is through literacy webs and maps. this will help the student relate the subject to differnt things and might give the student inspiration for the connections they have. Through practice the studetn will eventual start to make these connections on their own. 4. How can student work help you decide which conventions to teach? -by evaluating, observing and assessing the students work on a regular basis the teacher is able to gain insightin to the students progress and what the teacher needs to introduce or readdress. the students work will let the teacher know what conventions they will need to teach in the future. 5. when can you promote student inventions and experimentation with different formats in writing? - once students are familar with other components then they can invent. after connections and the sbility to go back and reveiw their work.

COCA

The coca is meant for students in the first and second grade. the test is given to student individually and is comprised of two separate forms. both forms come with administrative protocols, information text, student score sheet and scoring guide. the coca is designed to include opportunities to ask the children questions during the reading of the text. It assesses different dimensions like comprehension strategy use, knowledge of info text features, comprehension of graphics and vocabulary. The assessment technique can be done once a yr or even more often to evaluate how a student is progressing. The coca can also be done with every student or just the ones of concern in groups.

I thought the concept of the coca is great. i also like that there are two different versions so the child isn't constantly reading the same thing. although its done individually it only takes about 15min so it doesn't take that much time.

A writers Story

I like that he brings out the differences in others as a good thing and a reason for everyone to have a voice. I also like that he talks about difficulty and that its okay to struggle. this is great because children can relate to him and his books. they are inspiring and make children proud and more confident with themselves. this will motivate students to learn. All of his books and ideas seem to relateable , interesting and encourage deep thinking and connections without the student even noticing.

What age group do you feel this is most beneficial for and why? do you feel it can work at all levels?