Module 5: PowerPoint Responses

Vocabulary Development PowerPoint

In this PowerPoint we see different strategies for developing a student’s vocabulary. Personally I love to see students self correct. It is proof they understand what they read was wrong or did not make sense and they are reading for meaning. High frequency words often pose a problem for students that struggle with reading because they do not follow the typical pattern. My student teaching experience allowed me to work with students that were significantly below grade level in reading and many of them struggled with high frequency words. I’ve tried most of the strategies in the PowerPoint, however, I’ve never tried the Carbo Recorded Book Method. It sounds like it can be very beneficial for a struggling reader since it’s much slower than a book on tape.


Linking Phonics and Vocabulary PowerPoint

This slide conveyed the point that phonics and decoding skills are both linked together. It's important to make sure students understand that all parts of reading will help them to become stronger readers and to provide them with texts that will allow them to demonstrate this.


Phonics, High Frequency Words, and Fluency PowerPoint

This PowerPoint was awesome to me! I loved how it explained the word building process, as well as how to introduce the letter sounds. I completed my student teaching process in a third grade classroom last Fall and saw first hand how many students struggle with phonics, fluency, and high frequency words. I spent a lot of my time reteaching the material instead of building upon the skills they should have already developed in the earlier grade levels. I also liked how the PowerPoint mentioned using poetry to increase the students' confidence in their reading ability since it is more predictable. I've never been a fan of using predictable texts, however, I do see the potential it has for struggling readers.

Assessing Vocabulary PowerPoint

This PowerPoint was very informative. While reading through this PowerPoint I was immediately thinking back to how a student comprehends even though they may miscue. I personally would rather a student miscue the word “house” for “home” because the meanings are similar. I know ultimately the student understood what the passage meant but needs more review with the word. Just like the PowerPoint mentioned, “There are different ways of “knowing” a word.” When I worked with my students and they came to an unfamiliar word I would often ask them prompting questions (that dealt with the passage) to assess whether or not they were able to determine meaning from the word. When looking at the sample approaches in the presentation I don’t believe I’ve used any of them, however, I like the idea of using a Vocabulary Rating Sheet and the Partner Quizzes.

Module 5: Rubrics Video Response

This video was an excellent example of how to use rubrics and how simple they can be. Throughout my student teaching experience I loved to use rubrics to grade students. It provides them with a clear understanding of my expectations from them and exactly how I their assignments were graded. Whenever completing work for my own studies I always like to have a copy of the rubric open on my computer or next to me as well. Initially the video stated that a rubric is allows for standard evaluation for a certain criteria to make grading simpler, which I thought was a great way of stating the purpose of a rubric. The video goes on to explain how to use a rubric by the example of how determine the quality of a chocolate chip cookie. It goes on to explain how the category scores are a part of the whole grade and you can receive either all, half, or none of the points possible for that category. Once each category has been scored, you add up the points in each category to get the final grade. I think this video would be appropriate to show students that may not have encountered rubrics before or just to help clarify how grading is done with any parents that may have concerns.

Module 5: Chapter 13 & 14 Response and Activity

Chapter 13 discusses the importance of having good study skills and learning strategies.  I've heard many of the quotes on page 316 like, "I don't need to study." When thinking back to my middle and high school experiences I remember cramming for an exam the night before and only being concerned about getting a good grade on the test, not about retaining the information. Now as a teacher, I understand just how important it is to study parts of the information over a certain amount of time for the it to actually "sink in" and retain the information, as opposed to just studying for the test. It's my job to ensure the students have good study habits, but in my opinion a large part of that involves parent involvement or even an older sibling helping a student study. At the beginning of the school year or open house, we can provide the parents with information on good study habits such as skimming, questioning, summarizing, and reading and writing strategies. Also, parents can use the SQ3R method to help students study nightly. As long as students study continually instead of just cramming the night before the test they can retain the content and do better on exams and open-ended questions.

In chapter 14 we learn about working with parents. I've had the opportunity to observe and work in both a school with little to no parent involvement and a school with a ton of parent support. In my experience I have come to believe that the support each student has at home is a factor in their acheivement at school. As I mentioned from chapter 13, a large part of how well a student performs in the classroom depends on parent involvement at home. One of the examples the text provided was the Family Literacy Project. I've heard great things about it, although I've never tried it, I think it would be beneficial to try in a classroom with little parent involvement. The text also provided another great suggestion for parents to use, captioned television. It's a great way to use television to improve students' reading. Not only are they seeing the words in print, but they are also hearing the fluency and tone from the speaker.

Activity #2 p.335: Some teachers in your school system feel that elementary-grade children are too immature to learn study skill techniques. How would you convince these teachers that this is not so?
Study skills are important to teach to students at a young age. I've seen many students "freak out" over the pressure they have on them to perform well on a standardized test. If we teach them to gradually study the content they are learning they will not have to cram the night before a test. It will greatly benefit the students academically in the future the sooner they learn proper study habits.

Module 4: PowerPoint Responses

Assessment: Formative and Summative PowerPoint

The PowerPoint states that formative and summative assessments are interconnected. I’ve always assumed the two were similar, but not actually related. One of my favorite things stated in the PowerPoint was that formative assessment has the greatest impact on learning and achievement. I love using formative assessments in my classroom. It provides me with a clear understanding of where my students are and what they comprehend from my lessons. Formative assessments allow me to able to modify my lesson plans to meet the needs of my students through their feedback and responses. Another thing the PowerPoint mentioned was that formative assessment is assessment for learning and summative assessment is assessment of learning. This cleared up the confusion I have had of the two through those two phrases. The summative implications for classroom were also helpful. It mentioned having the students participate in self-assessments and sharing learning goals, which I would love to implement in the classroom.

Assessment: Identifying Reading Disabilities

Throughout my student teaching experience my CT and I had many students that had reading disabilities.  Although we were in a third grade classroom of 19 students, 13 of the students were well below grade level.  Of those 13 students, 6 were on RTI.  In our school we used a four-tier pyramid as apposed to the three tiers provided in the PowerPoint, with the fourth tier being special education services.  The PowerPoint mentioned, “Performing poorly on English reading test not indicator of reading disability-Need to be tested in reading in their native language.” I had many ELL students in my class and I always wondered if that contributed to their reading issues. I wish I would have provided them with texts in their native language to determine if that was the issue. Before the previous literacy course I always believed in the part-to-whole approach, however, now after EDRD 7715 and this course I fully believe in the whole-to-part approach as mentioned in the PowerPoint, especially in phonics and comprehension.

Module 4: Running Records Video

In the three part video series on running records, the instructor provides several lines of text relating to packing. The instructor demonstrates and explains in detail how to use the proper marks to use the marks on a running record. I use running records whenever I administer the DRA with my students. I've used the marks slightly differently than demonstrated, however, the examples she provided make more sense. One of my favorite things she demonstrated that I don't normally do when using running records is if a student sounds out the word like p-pa-packing. She includes the p-pa over the correct word and then gives a checkmark. I normally would just wait and put the appropriate mark above the word. I also liked the use of the "hug" mark for when a student repeats a phrase of words. The arrow and "blocking" off the phrase help the teacher to see the errors a student has made. These three videos helped reiterate how to use the markings of a running record properly and were a nice refresher.

In Running Records: Assessing and Improving Students' Reading and Comprehension video the teacher and student demonstrate a child reading and a teacher scoring a running record. One of my favorite things about the video was when the teacher asked the student what his goals were before reading the text aloud. After the student finished reading the teacher went back and breifly provided the student with some feedback and asked if certain things made sense throughout the text to aid in his comprehension. Personally I love to see how other teachers perform certain assessments and I really enjoyed seeing how this teacher uses running records with her students.

Module 4: Reading Responses

Throughout chapter 8 I was able to take away the importance of running records and other oral assessments. During my student teaching experience I had the opportunity to assess several students using the DRA. It provided me with the information I needed to know and helped me to place students in guided reading groups based on their needs and reading levels. The listening capacity test is something I had never heard of before reading this chapter. I believe it's important to know how are students are listening since much of their comprehension comes through listening. I can't even count how many times I've repeated myself in the classroom or during a read aloud and how many students miss what I've said. I would definitely like to try the listening capacity test in my own classroom.

In chapter 9 we learned about the different types of texts available to help students progress in reading. Optiz's text provides excellent descriptions, examples, and suggestions for using the variety of texts within a classroom setting. One of my favorite examples provided was the real life texts. I had never though of using things like restaurant menus, song lyrics, or board game instructions. There are so many different types of reading and texts we come into contact with and must comprehend in real life situations and the real life texts can help students that have a "mental block" with reading, because they may not consider it reading. Using the different types of texts and capitalizing the students' interest can help them become more successful in reading.

Chapter 10 focuses on helping students comprehend the material they are reading. As a reading instructor, comprehension is one of my primary goals when teaching reading. I believe if a student is able to comprehend the material, a reader's fluency will come eventually. In addition, as comprehension is there, other skills in reading will also progress, such as decoding, inferring, and listening. The text provides several informal assessments to use for assessing a student's level of comprehension. Based on the results of the assessments, we can change our instruction to meet the needs of our students.

Teaching phonics is something I'm really excited about, so chapter 12 was very interesting for me to read. Many teachers focus on just emphasizing phonics through worksheets, but the text provided excellent exercises of how to teach phonics. I believe students primarily learn phonics best through read-alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual conferences in a comprehensive literacy approach to reading.  It is important to remember when teaching phonics to focus on determining meaning, not to put emphasis on phonics and phonemic awareness.