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?

Creating a Home Reading Program

This pod cast sparked my interest because of personal experience. As brother is growing i have had many years spent with him struggling to read. often times his teachers would try to enact mandatory reading hrs at home. This seemed to never work with my brother in the past so i wanted to see if there was a new way of introducing it.

I like the idea of the r4. the first 2 sections read and relax are the same as most teachers use, but what i liked about their strategy was reflect and respond. i like the idea of the parent involvmnet as well. i believe this gives an opportunity for the parents to know what is going on and have involvement while the student still gets to decide which book and when to read it as long as it ends up being 80 hours a week. My brother would often lie about his 30 minutes he was supoe to be reading each day. by having the parents enisial the hours the teacher has a better hope for honesty. Also student responses would help the teacher to learn about what the student is interested in, problem areas, strengths and show evidence of improvement throughout the year.

I also like that the students will solely be graded on doing the work not on exactly what the write or how they write it. this exercise is to help motivate students to want to read, not make them feel stressed and unsatisfied with their work. The teachers notes will also help motivate the student though noticing and caring what the child writes about.

I think that having differentiation in the reading program is a wonderful idea. i love the idea of different prompts for the students to choose from as well as having different opportunities for students to work on the R4 if the student doesn't have the ideal parent involvement at home. The student is able to make this reading program fit their needs while still getting the most out of the activity.

RTI and Thoughtful Literacy Articles

After reading RTI Reading, it was clear to see that it is a process that incorporates both assessment and intervention so that immediate benefits come to the student. Response to Intervention uses assessment data to inform interventions and determine the effectiveness of them. RTI is important beacuse it help students sooner rather then later. After the child is evealuated the tstudents education is adabted to their needs. RTI works on a 3 teir procedure; these tiers are presented to the student so that they get the least restrictive environment possible. All students participate in teir 1 but the students will recieve differentiated instrucation byt their regualar classroom teacher. In tier 2 students are given more evidence based interventions that meet their needs, this is done general classroom by the teacher or another teacher who is more able to meet the students needs. At the third and most intensive and evidence based curriculem that is supplemented to support the child. this is done usualy in a resource room, by a Special Ed. teacher or specialist. Students do not need to be disabled to recieve this support, RTI is a way of getting each student the help they need and to create a curriculum that doesn't replace the average students work but supplements it.

"The Assessment of Thoughtful Literacy in NAEP: Why the States Aren’t Measuring Up" is an article refecting the gap in state testing from NAEP. Each test is given as a form of assessment for the state and nation. these scores are suppose to be evidence of what is being taught and what students are primarily struggling with. But each test all though is suppose to measure almost the same thing, show completely different results. This may have to do with the NAEP including much more open ended questions; it requires much more thoughtful responses. The bottom line of these articles is that assessment is important and you want to make sure you are teaching lessons that meet the students' needs and having lessons and assessment methods that show evidence of this.

my question is:
what do you feel is the best assessment technique or way of showing evidence in the most areas?
for example a student is having difficulty in several areas what is one activities that will show results/evidence in each literacy area?

Evidence of assesment

After watching the video, i had a much better understanding of ways to assess key reading elements for each student. The presenter broke each area down into word knowledge, fluency, comprehension, motivation and interests, language, writing and general. After going over the different areas of literacy she explained that its important to measure these areas to know where each student stands. She explained that these assessments should be embedded into the lessons and happen through out the classroom activities, while teaching. Its also important to keep records of what you observe. I think the most interesting part about the video was when the teachers began listing ways and activities that can be done to assess each area. ideas like student teacher confrences, asking questions to students, listening to student conversations, Informal reading invatories, read aload sessions, writing samples and think aloud activites all help give evidence of atleast one literacy area if not more than one.

1. I have many friends and co-workers that are from sdifferent cultures and speek multiple languages. For example, my best friend is from egypt and speaks arabic, my other friend is from bosnia. I also work with many hispanic men at the resturant i work at. At times it is very frustrating becuase when tey switch to their native language and i cant undstand them i want to know whats going on.
2. I do not have experience working with ELLS
3. nor do i have experience teaching with them
4. I believe that since ELL's have a different native language they often have to work even harder to reteach themselves. their brain has to create new connections, sounds and norms. Although they may be a genius, learning a new language is difficult especially later in life. Students will struggle to read and write and will often at times get frustrated.
5. Learning Difficulties would include phonics, fluency, comprehension, frustration, depression from leaving their country or differences pointed out by students may impact students work and progress. Another difficulty could be parent involvement. because the parents might not know the language yet it will be difficult for the student to look for help from home.
6. Ofter times ELL's get extra or outside assistance in the classroom. strategies like cultural awareness, a program where there is a bilingual teacher as well as resource room time helps the student to transition better. Depending on the student these strategies are effective but it is always important to evaluate the student and make strategies based off their needs. not every student is the same. Family and Community are crucial in helping the student. Like i said before it is hard for a student when the parents/ family are further along then the student. The community should be providing resources for both the student and the family in order to make sure they are adjusting and progressing especially with reading and writing.
7. My intervention strategies would be to evaluate the student and come up with a individualized plan to motivate them and help them progress. i would make sure that i am communicating with all colleagues, family and community of any help they could provide.