Week 12

How teachers can try to develop comprehension:

• Motivate
• Encourage their students writing
• Model good comprehension
• Help build their students vocabulary
• Teach the students comprehension strategies
• Teach their students about the passages

Good readers must know how to:

• Apply their background knowledge
• Predict what will happen next
• Ask questions (to teacher and themselves)
• Use the context clues
• Try to make a connection to their prior knowledge

How teachers can help struggling readers:

• Monitor their struggling students
• Practice more with the struggling reader
• Help the student understand how to adjust

The video as shown me a lot of great things I can use in my classroom in order to help my students understand the text better. I learned that the IRE questioning is like having a one on one with the student. When the student gives a right answer to the teacher they receive praise. I think that this doesn’t help the student at all and it does not help class discussion which is really important because it helps the teacher know what the students do and do not understand. I also think that the students prior knowledge is really important because for a student to use what they already know they will better comprehend what new information they are learning. This is why I think that class discussion is extremely important. This video is very informative and helps give teachers ideas on struggling readers.

DIBELS vs. QRI-5

After doing examples from both the QRI-5 and DIBELS, I have noticed that they are very much alike. Both DIBELS and the QRI-5 is a reading and comprehension assessment which are used to asses the students reading abilities. In DIBELS, you use a software in which it breaks down the pronunciation of words and sounds. It also goes over word recognition, as well as understanding what pictures/words start with a specific sound or letter. Where in the QRI-5 you read passages, answer questions, and re-evaluate the passage that was read. Both are very alike, but there are a few differences in each. Both of these assessments are very useful in helping teachers figure out whether their students are low risk, or high risk readers.

QRI-5 Analysis- Brianna

During the lesson of the QRI-5, we watched videos of a third grade ELL student named Brianna. We first watched Brianna read the words off of the primer word list, which let us see what reading level we should begin her on. She confidently and correctly read all of the words off of the first word list, so from that we went on. On the first list she had a hard time with a few of the words. She was given a Narrative story to read, which was called Mouse in a House. She very accurately answered the concept questions and from that she went on to Level two.

In the Level: Two expository writing prompt, Whales and Fish, she was not able to recognize the topic very well. She was not able to answer many of the concept questions that she was asked, also she had a hard time recollecting the main events that had happened in the story, which showed us that she was just reading to try and get the passage  over with. From this, it showed us that we should not move on to Level: Three.

Brianna did very well on the Narrative part of the QRI-5, because she was familiar with what she was reading. She did not do well on the Level: Two reading, because she did not really have any familiarity with Whales and Fish. This assessment is good to help a teacher meet the different needs of the students in their classroom, because every student is different and learns differently. The teacher needs to fix their lessons to help meet the needs of the students in their classroom.

Observations

As I continue my observations, I have been able to seee a lot of the writing and reading lessons that Mrs. Moore does with her fourth grade students. This week when I observed the class had started to write their reports on the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The reports are supposed to be about three to four pages long and including pictures. Each student read one of the books in this series and will write a well thought out report basically summarizing th book. This class has a lot of students who like to get up and present, so next time I go to observe they will present their reports for me.

Week 8

• Discuss the components of an effective writing program and why they are important.
• 1. the importance of an effective writing program is where you can get your students to use the proper grammar and fluency.
• How might you rearrange your schedule to create more time for students to write in general and, in particular, for students to write about their personal experiences?
• 2. I would use whatever down town we had in the classroom to help the students.
• How can you create ways for students to make personal connections in different subject areas through writing?
• 3. have the student write why they think they are struggling in and why they feel they are not doing well.
• How can student work help you decide which conventions to teach?
• 4.by looking at the student`s work it will show you what areas they are strong in and what they are weak in.
• When can you promote student inventions and experimentation with different formats in writing?
• 5. I think that it is very important for your students to be confident in their writing skills. When they feel that they are a good writer they will write and write.

COCA

I that this is a great way to assess a student`s reading level. This method, COCA, helps allow you as a teacher to work one on one with a student to get a better understanding on the student`s reading level. There are two different levels that can be used, Salmon and Dragonflies. This is good becasue you can chose which one fits best for all different types of students. Also, by a  teacher asking the students questions it helps the teacher get a better understanding  on what the student`s comprehension level is.

A Writer`s Story

From this video clip, it showed how the author had the students come up with an idea to show his imperfections when he was a child and told his own stories. By doing so, he showed all of the students that it was alright to be different and who you want to be. He made the students come up with their own stories about someone who was an outcast and different from everyone else. I thought this was a great idea to use in a classroom. By doing this it can somewhat have an effect on kids being bullied in school, because it shows the students how everyone is different in their own way and it isn`t “weird” so nobody should be picked on. This video clip shows a lot of positive outcomes.

Question: How would you use an activity like this in your classroom to make the student aware of bullying?

R4

I listened to the podcast about the reading engagement method. It talked about motivating students to read more at home and how parents should help their children read more at home as well. The R4 is used to help the students understand what they must do when reading and for the teacher can touch base and see how the student is performing with their reading. When a student understands on their own what they are actually reading, I think they will feel more confident in what they read. I think that it is a great way for parents to also help their children read and it will help make the students want to read more in the classroom as well as at home. The R4 is a method which helps promote students to read at home and the R4 is to Read Reflect relax and Respond.  is This podcast has taught me a lot about the R4 and it informed me on why students are having problems reading on their own and it will help with their confidence as well as their reading skills.

NAEP testing

In this article it talks about the differences in NAEP testing and the tests that are given by the state to the students on their levels of reading. In this article it talks about how teachers all over don’t spend enough time reviewing on the reading and literacy with their students and it causes the students to start falling behind each year. This article talks about that teachers are more focused on working with the textbook rather than on the testing that is being done. On tests, the students are scoring well because the bar is set very low, but it does not help the students to their benefit. The NAEP test helps challenge the students and it is exactly what the student’s need. It will help them do better and it sets the bar higher in which they need to strive harder to pass this test.

-Why wouldnt the states make it mandatory for the school districts to make the teachers focus more on the testing rather than the textbooks?

RTI article

In this article it discusses RTI, which is Response to Intervention and it talks about the effect that it has on the struggling students. RTI was made to help teachers learn more about students who have learning disabilities. It helps teachers react to what the certain students need and then help them in that area that they are having a problem with. RTI is very important to the students as well as teachers. It has made a big impact on many people’s lives especially those students who are not meeting the standards and are falling behind. The RTI helps give a better chance to those struggling students and move forward and not struggle. I feel that this helps many struggling students who are just giving up because they feel as if they cannot keep up anymore and feel like failures.

Video Assessment

In this video there are many things being discussed by Dr. Paratore. She talks about the importance of many assessments which are used to evaluate the reading and literacy of the student`s. The topic being discussed is how students should understanding what they are reading not just reading it. She thinks that as a teacher, you should learn how to assess the students to make them stronger readers and many different methods should be used to help the student`s want to read. Running records were mentioned as a good way to help the reading assessments. This video was interesting because it gave many ideas and good information that can help prepare me for my future as a teacher.

Week 2 ELL Survey

1. I am very familiar with interacting with people of different backgrounds or cultures. I have many friends and teammates that have different background then I do and I think everybody is alike no matter watch race or ethnicity you are.

2.Yes, I work in a summer camp and a few of the kids were ELL and we had to work with them.

3.Not teaching, just watching them be taught.

4. They need one on one help, especially if they are really struggling, or else they will feel like they are failing and give up on learning.
5.Reading, speaking, and writing.

6.

1.      Give them something that interests them and makes them want to do well and motivates them.

2.      One example strategy is Sheltered Instruction, it is used to describe those instructional practices that help teachers make content more accessible and comprehensible for ELLs. One model of sheltered instruction is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). The SIOP is research-based and field-tested. Teachers who used the SIOP checklist for lesson planning became more proficient in linking language and content in their instruction, felt more in control of their professional development, and increased their ability to accommodate different levels of proficiency in their classrooms.   

7. I would defiantly use any of the strategies, I feel that you must try different strategies on different ELL to see what way they learn best.