C & R chapter 11 and Roswell, Calvert and Bates Articles

C & R chapter 11

In this chapter, the authors highlight some the challenges that teachers might experience when teaching writing. One of the number one challenges faced by teachers is having students who refuse to write because it is too hard or boring.  In order to help solve this issue, the author makes the following recommendations. Before students value writing, they have to see the importance that it plays in their own lives. The teacher can provide the students with authentic opportunities to write such as writing letters, opinions on real life issues that are important to them, or completing tasks through writing. Another way to engage writers is provide them with choices in what they write about it. For example, instead of providing students with one prompt from which to write, the teacher can allow the students to choose from multiple prompts. The authors also suggest providing choices for students when they can complete spelling or handwriting pages. Teachers can also keep a file of students writing, so that they can visually see their growth over time as a writer. A second challenge for teachers has to do with having limited writing resources. The authors answer to this question is use the resources provided in this book as well as online.  The third challenge that teachers may experience when it comes to writing is finding time to teach it. I agree with the authors in that writing instruction is very important and should not be neglected, because there is a lack of time. One way teachers can fit writing into their schedules is to integrate writing within other subjects throughout the school day. Teachers can also incorporate writing time into literacy center activities. A fourth challenge mentioned is trying to meet the needs of all the diverse writers in your classroom. The authors explain how small groups can help to differentiate writing instruction. However, I do agree with the authors when they explained that even in small group settings it is still hard to meet every student’s individual needs. Therefore, sometimes the teacher needs to make time to conference one on one with students as well. This can be done during literacy centers, or while other students are writing or illustrating their pieces. While explicit teacher instruction is needed by all students, the teacher can also teach students to help each other. Sometimes talking about writing with others can help writers to get new ideas. Classmates can also help each other with spelling words. The authors suggest spending an hour a day with writing where part of the time is spent for whole class instruction and the rest of the time is spent with small groups. However, some days teachers may want their students to work on a piece for an hour of uninterrupted time.  

In my own classroom, I vary the lengths of times that students write for. Sometimes we do quick jots, but other times we sit and write for an extended amount of time. I do think I need to be more mindful and make sure that my students are writing more everyday though.  How closely does your class schedule for writing each day reflect the schedule on page 189?

In your experiences as teachers, do you have any other strategies to help with any of the four challenges mentioned in this chapter?

Prior to reading this book, what are some ways you have overcome the lack of resources available to you in helping you effectively teach writing?

How did you think this chapter was related to the new literacies articles? In my opinion, the first idea that popped into my head was how these new literacies may help to engage some of our writers who complain that traditional writing is boring and/or too hard.

Free Play or Tight Spaces? Mapping Participatory Literacies in Apps Article

This article forces the reader to take a moment and look at the apps that students are using and how effective they are at developing literacy practices that allow children to participate in digital cultures.  One phrase mentioned in this article that I hadn’t heard before was “app gap”. Although there has been a rise in technology usage and purchases this is not true for all people. Research from a study showed that only 35% percent of lower income families downloaded apps. On the other hand, 75% of upper income families reported downloading apps. Those numbers are strikingly different, and contribute to the app gap. The author stated that some children may not even know what an app is. As teachers, we will have to work to close the app gap. I think districts will need to provide teachers with professional development opportunities to explore these apps and see how they could be used in the classroom. The author suggests using a rubric that considers six dimensions of participatory literacies to compare apps in regards to how learners actually use them. The six areas are: multiplayer, productive, multimodal, open-ended, pleasurable, and connected. I liked that the author took an ideological approach to designing the rubric. The researchers saw literacy as taking place beyond the walls of the school, so that it also factors in their backgrounds and cultures of learners while also involving communicative systems.  When selecting apps for students, the authors seemed to favor apps that also mimic what teaching looks like in the classroom. The authors suggests picking apps that allow students much creativity with production of content, are multimodal and multisensory, have open-ended possibilities, and allow children to collaborate and share across networks. All of those ideas seem to go along with current teaching styles. In that we try to provide students with opportunities to learn that are similar to what they will experience in the real world work force.  It seems as if the author is trying to say that we need to view literacy learning from apps in this same way, in that the apps isn’t just scratching the surface that it really requires the students to delve deep into whatever it is they are learning about.

After reading this article, what apps do you feel are most beneficial for your students and which of the six areas do they meet?

What apps do you use that allow students to work collaboratively with one another?  

If you do not provide opportunities for students to use apps, how might you restructure your current classroom practices to support collaboration, production, connectivity, and other dimensions of participatory literacies?  

Letting Go of Stand Alone Technology Article

This article started off by explaining that teachers may feel overwhelmed with the idea of technology instruction while also having to teach all of the other curriculum, therefore we need to find ways to integrate technology into the curriculum. One way of doing this can be during literacy center time. At my school, students have to use an online differentiated reading program and we do this during our center time, because we do not have a computer lab. Integrating technology into the curriculum during this time has been very helpful. However, after reading this article I realized that I can do so much more than I currently do to effectively achieve curricular integration.  

In order to integrate the two, one can use the SAMR model which is four levels of technology integration: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. The substitution level simply means that the task at hand isn’t changed but the tool used to complete the task is changed. The example given in the article is reading on a tablet versus print. I also think you could say that writing with pencil/paper versus typing what you would write would also be an example. Augmentation is the next level, in which technology is used as a tool, but also changes the function of the task a bit. The previous two levels are referred to as enhancements because they enhance the curriculum. Whereas the next two levels are called “transformations” in the sense that technology is integrated with the curriculum. The third level is the modification level in which the task is redesigned and extended to incorporate the student’s use of technology. The last level is redefinition, in which there is a completely new task all together using the technology to do so.  In order to reach the fourth level, teachers need to provide young students with opportunities at the lower enhancement levels to build up to the transformation levels. When thinking about integrating technology into the curriculum the author made an important point explaining that teachers need to be sure and explicitly teach students the content and how to use the technology.  I liked the sequence that the author suggested of explicitly teaching the literacy content first, and then using the apps for guided and independent practice.

There are so many great ideas listed this article that I can’t wait to try out in my own class! I especially love the QR idea of letting students type their book reviews and then printing and taping them inside the books using QR Crafter the QR Stuff web-site. The notability app is also interesting, but I have never used it. I will admit that while I love all of the ideas it is a bit overwhelming especially the audio and video components. I definitely will need to familiarize myself with these tools more, because I really do think they will allow for deeper student learning and engagement

I also really liked how the author mentioned using wiki spaces to have students publish writing, and explained how students could give tips and comment on peer’s writings. I have never done this, has anyone allowed their students to use this app?

Has anyone used any of the center activities mentioned in their own classroom that help students reach the transformation levels? If not, which activities are you most excited about trying out in your own classrooms?

E-Books and E-Book Apps: Considerations for Beginning Readers

This article was very interesting. I had never thought to consider the features of ebooks and how they might help or hinder emergent and early readers. I also was unaware that there were so many apps available from which students can read ebooks. When using these books in the classroom or for guided reading, it is important for the teacher to consider the levels at which the student is reading at and closely match the reader and text. Some E books are leveled, but if you are using the free app Unite for Literacy, the books are organized by topic versus level.  Understanding the characteristics of certain levels and of readers in the emergent and early reading phases will help a teacher to know which books are appropriate. The teacher also needs to be aware of the features in the book and explain to the students how these features work and decide whether those features are helpful or not.  As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of how these eBooks would help my struggling third grade readers that read at first grade levels. I especially liked the feature that allows the students to read with or without narration. This feature would help to differentiate activities at reading centers. For example, if students were struggling to reading and asked to complete a book review at a center, being able to hear the book would enable them to do this more effectively. Another helpful feature that some of the ebooks offer is a tool that allows the readers to record themselves and send this to the teacher. The author also suggested peers listening to each other and providing feedback on fluency and expression. I also really liked that Unite for Literacy offers the books to be read in various languages, as this would be very helpful for ELL students.  When the students choose this feature, they have a narration button for their native language as well as English so they can go back and forth if they’d like. When looking around on this site, I noticed that the books could be read in many languages, however not all books are available. The written language will only match the language for Spanish and English narrations. 

Does your district use any of the following eBook programs mentioned in the article (Who Can Read? Raz-Kids, (Learning A-Z), PMe Collection, Unite for Literacy)? What have your experiences with these texts been like?

How do you incorporate eBooks in your own classroom?

C & R Chapter 7

Teaching Students to Write Book Reviews

This chapter focused on teaching students to write book reviews, including the phases students go through- from learning about book reviews are to actually learning to write book reviews themselves. This type of writing can be challenging for young children. During Phase 1 (as mentioned above), the students start learning about what book reviews actually are. This includes providing them examples of book reviews, going over the structure of what a book review should look like, and listening to and reading book reviews. Students are asked to share their opinions on the book reviews they've listened to or read. Phase 1 also includes an assessment designed to provide teachers with information about what the students already know about book reviews before the lesson started.  It will serve as a benchmark for later progress. Immediately following Phase 1, a second assessment is given to see if students can identify a book review out of two different texts.  Phase 2 involves learning to evaluate book reviews. Using a checklist, the teacher models to the students how to go through a book review and identify the necessary parts they learned about in Phase 1. Phase 3 is where students begin to write their own book reviews. They plan their book review, using the knowledge they gained during the first two phases of instruction along with graphic organizers. Then, with support from their teacher, the student begins to write his/her own book review. Post instruction assessments are given after the students write their book reviews. This post assessment is very similar to the first assessment so that teachers can track students progression throughout the instruction process. It is likely that students will require more than one cycle of instructions for book reviews, just as with most types of writing instruction.

C&R 5&6 and Writing in Pre-K Article

C&R 5 - Teaching Sentence Construction
At the beginning of the chapter, the author emphasizes the importance of teaching young learners, specifically kindergarten-aged students, how to organize, plan, and revise their writing. It states that instruction is too focused on spelling, handwriting, and grammar. However, our other textbooks support the practice of handwriting skills and encourages explicit and ample amount of time blocked during the school day to practice spelling and word work. What are your thoughts on the writing process in the early years of learning? Do you lean towards the writing process as a priority to teach in the classroom? Or would you tend to focus your instruction on word work and handwriting? If you imagine a balanced curriculum, what would you envision it to be concerning spelling, grammar, and the writing process?

Understanding the different types of sentences, declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory, can be a difficult concept to grasp. What are some strategies you have tried in your classroom to teach these types of sentences? Were there any lessons in the text that you would like to implement in your classroom? There were also various strategies, listed on p. 89, to differentiate instruction for sentence development. Editing checklists and peer editing is always very engaging for my students. What are some ways you differentiate writing?


C&R 6 - Genre-Specific Writing Instruction
Teaching students how to write specifically within a genre can be a challenge. Before attempting to write, the children must understand the types of genres they will be writing about. On page 94, Figure 6.2 shows a table of the phases of instruction and goes into detail about the writing instruction. What are your thoughts concerning this sequence? Does you instruction reflect similar attributes? What have you found most effective during instruction when teaching how to write genre-specific texts? Also, rubrics set expectations for the students. They provide the students an idea of what the instructor is looking for in the text. How do you develop your rubrics? After using your rubrics to grade, what do you do with the results?


Writing in Pre-K
As these students are in the emergent stage of writing, they are still beginning to understand how written letters and words work. This article provides classroom activities that can engage preschool-aged children in writing. Allowing students many opportunities to write during the school day will help develop the connection between words and letters with writing. What are some strategies that you found helpful? Although the activities are preschool-leveled, are there ways to modify the activities to fit your grade level?

C & R Ch 9

Teaching Students to Write Descriptions
Teaching students to write descriptions is identified as an important skill. Children should have a strong foundation in writing descriptions "because those skills will enhance nearly everything that they write"(page 141)--and across subject areas. In order to teach descriptive writing, the authors have outlined a lesson sequence for teaching informative writing through the use of descriptions. My students struggle with descriptive writing. Language is so important in this area--we use a thesaurus to help us when writing. Good and cool are words I won't allow--even when we are talking about something in class--we have to find a different way to say the same thing.

There are 3 Phases, with a pre-assessment  before Phase 1 and an assessment at the end of each Phase. This chapter has many examples of student work and examples of teacher modeling the steps.
On page 143, there is an outline of Phase 1--Learning about descriptions and is broken into 4 different teaching steps. Overall, the goal in Phase 1 is to"expose students to many description examples" (page 145). In Phase 2, the students learn how to evaluate descriptions and on page 151, there is an outline of the steps. Phase 3 involves students learning to write lessons, composed of steps 7-11 and assessment 4. I found it interesting in Phase 3-the learning to write phase--each step  incorporated a graphic organizer.  I think graphic organizers are an important aspect of writing. On page 161 there is a list of topics to encourage descriptive writing.

My students struggle with descriptive writing--I find language delays can hinder their ability to write. How do you address descriptive writing? Do you incorporate graphic organizers in your writing instruction? What topics do you use for descriptive writing activities?

C & R Chapter 8 Teaching Students to Write Narratives

The first step in writing narratives is for students to write a personal narrative. This type of narrative works well for beginning writers, because it levels out the playing field in terms of background knowledge. The author suggests teaching narrative structure in a culturally responsive way because not all cultures use the same narrative form. In this chapter, the author presents the sequence for teaching narratives by giving a pre and post assessment as well as four phases of writing. The phases start out with explicit modeling and scaffolding which lead to a gradual release of independence as writers learn more about the genre and are able to write independently. For assessment one, the teacher provides the students with a prompt asking them to write about something that happened to them. The teacher scores the writing with a rubric and gauges what knowledge the student has or doesn’t have for personal narratives. Some activities that can be used in phase one include: providing students with model narratives and highlighting important narrative elements, creating a class anchor chart of narrative parts, piecing together a narrative that has been scrambled into sentence strips (together and later independently), and comparing and contrasting books that are and aren’t narratives while providing explanations as to why it fits a narrative genre. Assessment two asks the students to compare two texts and determine which is a narrative and explain why with details. Phase two includes step 5, 6, and assessment 3.  Steps five and six involve using a narrative checklist to evaluate a text to determine if it contains all narrative elements. In step five the teacher introduces the checklist and shows students how it can be used while reading through a narrative to determine its effectiveness. For assessment three, students are given two checklists and two narratives. The student is to read and score each narrative, so that they can decide which one is better because it includes more narrative parts. Phase three involves learning how to write narratives independently and includes steps seven through 11, and assessment four. In step seven, the teacher models how to use the narrative graphic organizer on pg. 136 using an event everyone experienced. As a small group, students then use the organizer to plan a new narrative. The teacher provides students with a list of topics that the class experienced together. In step eight the teachers and students complete an interactive write in which the teacher models for students how to use the completed graphic organizer to write a narrative. The students also use the checklist to evaluate the class narrative. In step nine, students can work in small groups or pairs where they take more ownership in planning and writing. Students pick a topic and plan as a group. After planning, groups swap plans and evaluate one another using the checklist. In step ten, students plan, write and evaluate their narratives and peers. If students are struggling to write independently the author suggests using a narrative frame, audio recorder, or using pictures for ideas. Students then have a peer look over their work and use their suggestions to revise their writing. Lastly, the students are assessed using assessment four which asks the students to write a narrative independently. The student’s work is scored using the same rubric from assessment one to gauge how they’ve grown as a writer. The goal of this process is for students to first become familiar with the genre and later learn to use that knowledge to plan and write. The author suggests using this process as well with other narratives. 

I really enjoyed reading this chapter, and I am excited to try out this process with my students! 

H & F Ch 8

I really enjoyed reading about the different word knowledge tool kit activities for transitional readers. Children in this stage are moving from the beginning stages of robotic word by word reading to smooth phrasal reading that has expression and intonation.

I wish I would have read this book years ago. There are so many great ideas that I can’t wait to try out in my classroom. The book lists various activities for reading words, writing words, manipulating words, and transferring words. The teacher’s goal for students is to be able to learn more words, understand how words work, and instill a love for learning new words that lasts a lifetime.

The first category discussed in the book is reading words which deals with skills that improve decoding. There were various sort activities in this section. The Guess My Category Word Sort involves the teacher sorting the words, and the students looking at the columns to compare and contrast the words. Students are asked how to focus on how the words look and sound the same in each column, and then verbalize what they see. This type of sort can also include multisyllabic words that also use the same patterns. However, students should not be tested on these words. Another activity discussed was the Concentration matching game. Students take turns turning over cards, while also trying to remember where the matching patterns are. I really like the speed sort activity, and can see my students enjoying this a lot. Students take turns racing to sort the words and record their times on a data sheet. The Hot Seat game is another activity where students race against the clock. One student points to the words, while another student reads the words. A student stops reading and records their score once the words are all read or a miscue is made. Readers are also taught rules to help them decode multisyllabic words by syllables. Time is also spent with strategies that involve using affixes and base words. My favorite one is called, Building Words in which students are given a base word bank and a prefix and/or suffix bank. The students can then create their own words that may not necessarily be words, but force them to show you whether or not they really know the meaning of the affixes because they provide a definition of their made up words.

The second category was writing which focuses on the spelling aspect of words. The first activity mentioned was blind writing sorts. I plan on using this first activity to replace how I currently assess my students in spelling. Like a regular spelling test, the teacher or a student reads the word, uses the word in a sentence, and then reads the word again. However, the students are given header words for each pattern prior to the test. The students then have to not only spell the words correctly, but also sort and write the words under the correct column. The next activity uses the same process as mentioned above except the student or teacher calling out the word reads the definition, and the students then write and sort the words. When spelling unknown words, the teacher can also have students practice writing words by analogy through use of the SOP strategy (sound, other similar words that have the same pattern, and then thinking about pattern rules).

The third category deals with manipulating words to better analyze how the words work. Students engage in word ladder like activities where they are given a word and asked to change parts to make new words. The teacher can also show the words and then show the word again with the missing pattern for students to fill in. The third strategy involves showing students the spelled word while pointing out and discussing the pattern within the words, then mixing up the letters or letter tiles, and asking the student to spell the word again while thinking about the pattern.

The fourth category involves the students transferring their word knowledge into the contexts of reading and writing. The first strategy involves having the students write their own piece and completing a word hunt during the edit phase of the writing process. Students are given an editing chart with patterns that they’ve learned throughout the year. If a student finds a misspelled word, they can use the pattern chart to rewrite the word in the correct way. The students can also look for words they spelled correctly and add those to their charts as well. This section also mentioned the effectiveness of having your students create their own “big picture” graphic organizer for the different sounds and patterns. These can be kept in journals as well as around the room for students to reference when writing.

The end of this chapter also provided the teacher with ways to help a student that doesn’t understand a word. Overall the big theme of this section was time. The teacher shouldn’t always rush to tell students what a word is. Instead they should allow them time to tackle the word independently. If a student has a miscue that changes the meaning of the text, the teacher can allow the student time to read on, and see if they go back and self correct after reading more of the text. If the student does not go back, the teacher can repeat what the student read and ask him/her if it sounds right.

These strategies and activities will later help students to tackle increasingly more difficult texts in later grades as they learn to think more critically about words when reading and writing independently.

H&F Ch. 6

The Beginning Reader's Toolkit - Activities and Strategies

The activities is this chapter are designed to target a specific skill and meet the needs of yours students after assessments. These activities will help your students understand how words work and how to use them correctly in writing and reading. The chapter divided the activities into four main categories: reading words, writing words, manipulating words, and transferring words.

Reading Words
These activities will give students the opportunity to practice reading words which will lead to automaticity and fluency. Many activities under this category includes word sorts. These sorts allow students to focus on the sounds they hear and manipulate the beginning or end sounds to create new, but similar sound words. Sentence building, timed reading, word bingo, concentration, and other word board games are other activities to practice reading words. Think-aloud strategies, guided practice, and independent practice is encouraged during these activities. Modifications for the activities are also provided, like practicing during center time independently, providing scaffolding questions, and prompting decoding strategies.

Writing Words
The activities provided in this category allows students to practice spelling words and writing them during instruction time. Writing words and sorting them, creating an interactive word wall to use in the classroom, and word booklets are a few resources that students can access to help with spelling. Sentence bingo and other game boards that have students write and spell are some activities that can be provided during center time.

Manipulating Words
These next activities require the students to blend, segment, and change the sounds of words. As they focus on changing phonemes of beginnings and ends of words, the students better understand how words work. Oral activities where the teacher provides phonemes for students to blend are suggested for classroom use. A hand puppet with a movable mouth can also engage students while listening to the sounds. Letter tiles and other manipulatives with letters displayed can also help students visualize and associate phonemes with letters.

Transferring Word Knowledge to Context
These activities will help students transfer their knowledge of words into reading and writing. Dictation sentences and word hunts are activities that will help student connect the idea of words and writing and reading together. Word hunts can focus on a specific spelling word or even spelling pattern, like long e. Graphic organizers of specific spelling patterns can be displayed in the classroom to use as resources. I use these in my classroom and I find that the students refer to the anchor charts often to help with spelling out words.

Word Study Instruction & SAIL articles

Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom

This article explains word study instruction and provides tips for implementing an effective word study program in a K-2 classroom. The author and his colleagues have been very active in investigating and completing research on using word study instruction in the classroom. Word study instruction is an approach to teaching spelling "that moves away from a focus on memorization." Immediately upon reading this I thought about Theresas' posting last week about her spelling tests not being over a specific set of words sent home with her students. Using what they call "word work" teachers explore and teach the alphabetic, pattern, and meaning layers in English orthography.
The authors work is based on "sociocultural theories that view learning  as a change in the ways learners participate in specific, socially situated activities." (pg. 571). These theorists believe that learning is inherently social and that they best through school activities that promote observation, participation, and social interaction. Wertschs' theory of of mediated action and Rogoffs' theory of cognitive development were also used as part of the framework for this piece.

The tips for implementing word study instruction in your classroom are as follows:

1. Assess Students Word Knowledge Using Multiple Assessment Tools
-Assess students before beginning Word Study Instruction
- Need to assess often, periodic assessment isn't enough
- Use students independent work as an ongoing assessment tool
-Using more than one type of assessment tool gives you that much more information you can use to guide your students learning.

2. Use a Homogeneous Small-Group Approach to Instruction
- Use a small group approach since all students reading and spelling levels were not the same throughout any classroom

3. Carve Out Time to Prepare for Word Study Instruction
-Planning word study instruction takes a significant amount of planning time
-Perhaps the most important key to making this type of instruction work

4. Teach Word Knowledge, Not Just Words
-Students need to learn word knowledge so that they can apply this knowledge to other reading and writing activities
-Use high frequency words as examples of exceptions to generalizations you are teaching with word study instruction

5. Demonstrate How Word Study Can Be Used During Reading and Writing
- Use interactive writing as a context for guided practice

6. Teach Strategies that Support Students' Use of Word Study Instruction
- Explicit strategy instruction and guided practice
-Teachers model use of strategies during interactive writing activities

7. Make Your Own Word Wall Work
-Make it clearly visible and accessible
- Place words on the wall that illustrates the orthographic feature or principle you are working on but also can be used as a way to spell other words
-Change the wall often, it should be a dynamic tool. Remove words that students already know

8. "Word Work" Should Work, Too!'
- Plenty of opportunities to explore orthographic features through games and hands-on activities
- Word sorting is highly recommended

9. Engage Students in Extensive "Real" Reading and Writing
- Daily extended authentic reading and writing
- The reading and writing activities provide teachers a context for examining students' use of word study instruction


SAIL- A Framework for Prompting Next-Generation Word Study

The author developed and instructional framework called SAIL (which stands for Survey, Analyze, Interpret, and Link) in order to help teachers realize how they could better utilize small-group word introductions. Survey, Analyze, Interpret, and Link are four seperate lesson components. SAIL groups are differentiated according to student levels so that teachers are better able to target instruction according to that groups needs. These small groups meet with the teacher for 20 minutes a week and follow up opportunities are provided throughout the rest of the week. The Survey part of instruction includes the teacher introducing the words and taking inventory to make sure the students can identify them. Words are typically chosen to use in these lessons because they are either unfamiliar, they have multiple meanings, there are common misconceptions about them, they have multiple meanings, and/or they give opportunities to develop new meanings. Next the teacher helps them categorize the words according to orthographic characteristics. The next lesson component is Analyze, where the teachers help students analyze the categories they have come up with to ensure each word matches up. The students say the words out loud and look for patterns. After the students have analyzed the categories, they attempt to Interpret or compare and contrast how the categories are alike or different. Students share their thoughts with the group and this is where the students should hopefully come to realize the takeaway of the lesson. Lastly the lesson comes to an end when teachers help the students to Link what they have learned by writing or reading a sentence that includes a word with a feature they just learned about or some other activity that links what they have learned to something else. This important step helps put the lesson in context so that it will stick with the student- so to speak. After the Link portion, this is where teachers would provide additional follow up activities throughout the week.

H & F Ch 4

Emergent Reader's Toolkit
Activity for reading words
A few activities for reading words include: concept of print, tracking text, be the word, and get to the word. The activity get to the word is found on page 82. In small groups, provide many opportunities to track the text you are working with. Then, put individual sentences on sentence strips (use large spacing between words). Have students match their sentence to one in the book. Then have them cut each sentence into individual words. Let students count and compare length of sentences. Have them "push" their word up on the table to read each word. Have students mix up the sentence and then rebuild.
Activity for writing words
A few activities in the book listed: initial sound sort, font sort, quick write, and picture captions. The activity for picture captions is found on page 91. Have some interesting pictures available or original artwork students have completed. Have supports such as an alphabet strip or word wall accessible for all to see and use. Talk about what students will write. Have them focus on one single sentence. Count the number of words aloud and then write one line for each word on the students paper. Help them write the words by using stretching out of sounds. Then have them point and read each word they have written on each line.
Activity for manipulating words
Some activities listed in the book: rhyme work, word work, syllable work, onset-rime work. One activity for rhyme work ( I love rhymes and will use this next week) is hot potato: rhyme generation. Choose a beanbag or small stuffed animal to be the "hot potato". Students form a circle to get started. The teacher starts with the "hot potato" and says the word, passes the potato and the student who gets the potato says a rhyming word and passes the potato to the next student. The game continues until no more rhyming words can be created.
Activity for transferring words
A few activities listed on page 100 include: letter and sound hunts, targeted word hunts, and sentence frames. To incorporate sentence frames, select a short and engaging sentence. Choose a key word to leave out and leave a blank space for students to write. Read sentence together and pause at the blank. Help students determine words for the blank--if working on target sounds remind initial sound of words looking to fill the blank. Then help students make sound-letter connections as they write.

Week 12; H & F--Ch 3,5,7 and C & R--Ch 4

H & F Ch 3 Emergent Reader and Writer

This chapter focuses on characteristics of the emergent reader and writer. The authors state that this type of student is usually found in kindergarten classrooms, but can be in all primary grades. In the beginning, students at this stage, pretend read and use memory reading when working with books. On page 63, the authors describe how a student moves from the pretend stage to the conventional stage of reading, " First with targeted instruction, they learn to process oral language as a sequence of sounds--they develop phonological awareness." I believe this step is so critical in progressing with reading and writing. There is a visual on page 65 which shows the phonological awareness progression. In order to help emergent readers progress, the authors recommend a "well-balanced literacy diet" (p. 67). This includes assessment-based instruction, word knowledge, writing, and oral language. There is an example of a 120 minute literacy block in a kindergarten classroom on pages 69-70. I appreciate what the authors said on page 72, " The ultimate goal of instruction is to transfer word knowledge into contextual reading and writing." In order to monitor progress, the authors provided assessments and forms to track progress--the web address on page 72 will take you to a page to register and then you will have all forms for assessments in a file.

How do you provide a well-balanced literacy diet? Does it look similar to examples in the chapter? How do you monitor progress in your reading and writing block?
If you teach other grades besides kindergarten, do you have any emergent readers or writers? If so, how do you help them move to the next level?
 How do you support oral language?

H & F Ch 5 The Beginning Reader and Writer

This chapter focuses on characteristics of the beginning reader and writer. The author states that usually students move to this stage in the spring semester of kindergarten, although not all students move at the same rate. This is the stage that builds to the next stage of reading and writing. I'm glad the authors pointed out the CCSS and Lexile levels do not relate easily to beginning readers who are at preprimer to primer levels (page 109).  Teachers should focus on Guided Reading levels (Founts & Pinnell) or Developmental Reading Assessment levels (Beaver & Carter) for finding appropriate texts.
Spelling in this stage includes a multitude of characteristics which is shown in Figure 5.6 on page 110. The authors recommend to focus on the "front end of the zone" of spelling which will help scaffold instruction. There are examples of where to begin (short vowels) and what areas of spelling to advance after mastery of short vowels. In order to be successful, the authors again refer to a "balanced literacy diet". On page 122, Figure 5.15, breaks down what this would look like in a classroom setting.

How do you know your students are ready to move to the next level in both reading and spelling?
In my classroom, I find some of my students progress faster in reading than writing. Do you see the same issues? 
What key idea did you find beneficial?

H & F Ch 7 The Transitional Reader and Writer
I appreciate the readings this week following the progression from emergent reader/writer, to beginner and on to transitional. It helps me visualize the characteristics of each one as well as relate to some of my students I teach. A transitional reader and writer builds automaticity in reading and writing fluency. The authors define a transitional reader as one who "reads at the late first-grade to early third grade level" (page 178) and a transitional writer as one who has a " solid control of short vowel patterns, blends and digraphs from the beginner stage" (page 180). Students at this level will be able to read and write in chunks, and not by letter by letter. The "well-balanced literacy diet" is addressed in this chapter as well. I found it interesting to note the differences in time spent in each area of the literacy diet from an emergent reader (page 69), beginning reader (page 122) and transitional reader (page 189).

Do the differences in the balanced literacy diet across students in each stage make sense to you?
What key idea did you find beneficial?

C & R Ch 4 Teaching Spelling

I enjoy teaching spelling so this chapter was an enjoyable read!  On page 53, the authors state," high-quality, explicit instruction in spelling is more effective that informal instruction " and "spelling instruction has been found to support both reading and spelling skills". Just as an emergent reader needs a strong foundation in phonological awareness, so does a proficient speller. Chapter 3 from H & F has a visual progression of  phonological awareness (page 65), this chapter has the same visual progression of phonological awareness for spelling ( page 57). The authors provide strategies for teaching reading and spelling together, for teaching spelling by itself, and supporting spelling in different authentic contexts. The authors address invented spelling, while they support the use of invented spelling, they also encourage the use of modeling correct spelling. I also appreciate the chart on page 69 with spelling practices to avoid with recommendations to use instead.

Does your spelling curriculum follow the reading curriculum or do you teach spelling by itself?
Do you incorporate spelling tests in your classroom activities?
What key idea did you find beneficial in this chapter?

Week 11

DS & G 6

Since talking and writing are the two components that allow an “in the head task” like comprehension to become visible, it is pertinent that we include time for them in our plans. The collaborative discussions open up the door for further engagement and deeper thinking of the texts. One key idea that stuck with me from this chapter is more students talking and less teacher talking. Pages 104 and 105 really reiterated the idea of incorporating inquiry into literacy. The teacher’s job is not to give the students the answers but facilitate their comprehension through modeling and asking them to elaborate on their thinking which will help them to think more critically about what they are reading. In doing this, students work together collaboratively to raise their own questions and conclusions of the text. The teacher’s ultimate goal is to use whole group instruction to model for students what high levels of discussion would look like in small teacher led groups and later student led groups. I really like the participation checklist for discussions and think this would be a beneficial tool to use in my own classroom, because it allows the students to see what is expected of them. The use of the fishbowl strategy is also a great way to show the students what is expected of them.

In regards to ELL students I learned that letting the students choose the language with which they discuss texts is very important. It also important for these students to have time to write down their thoughts prior to sharing, so that they can mentally rehearse what they are trying to stay. Higher order thinking skills are also positively impacted when the students have to decide how to share what they’ve discuss in their L1 with others in their L2.

When using the rubric on page 117, I determined that I definitely can improve on my own implementation of discussions. I need model more I wonder questions, so that my students can also do the same in small groups. My students also need more time to develop their own questions for the texts and share those with their groups to get others perspectives to help deepen their own understanding.  Another area of the rubric I need to focus on is helping my students to make connections with the characters.  In conclusion, I think we need to strive to not model parallel discussions, so that are students will learn to not do the same. In doing this, we can help them to be better problem solvers who can think for themselves and become stronger comprehenders.

What were your strengths or weaknesses from the rubric on page 117?

This chapter mentioned how to help students discuss narratives. What are some ways that you help teach your children how to discuss informative texts? Is there anything on the page 117 rubric that you would change/add in for nonfiction discussions besides the character/theme part?

The text mentioned the importance of having all students participate in high level discussions rather than just the same kids who do the thinking for everyone else. I feel like having the students read silently and respond in writing has been the most successful for me in allowing my students time to think before they share. Do you agree with this approach? What other ideas or strategies have worked for you?

How do you teach your students to take turns when discussing and speak spontaneously without raising their hands like page 11 suggests? I am not sure what the most effective way to do this might be with my third graders. I have used talking sticks and even had the kids hold cards that say speaker/listener with prompts, but I’m curious how to best help them with a true discussion where they give everyone a turn to speak, and where it happens naturally.

DS & G 7

The main idea of chapter seven was very cut and dry. Writing about texts without a doubt increases students’ reading comprehension, because it allows them to make connections between themselves and the text. This chapter definitely goes hand in hand with chapter six. For example, the author points out that student should write in their response logs prior to participating in high-level discussions of texts. I really like the idea of the response logs and wouldn’t mind teaching one response at a time, and then having my students practice one and then moving on to the others. I also really like the idea of the dialogue journal, since it gives me a way to model effective grammar especially with my ELL students. Page 129 suggested using mentor texts to help students mirror what the author has done in that particular genre to create their own little book. I would think that this would be a great way to teach text structures. One new idea that I really liked from the texts was the author’s suggestion to have students keep an idea notebook. This seems like it would be a helpful tool for students who struggle to get started with writing. I also never thought about use LEA to teach text structures. I love how authentic and purposeful this writing is for students. In response to assessment of writing, I couldn’t agree more with the author in that rubrics can be extremely powerful and helpful for improving writing. The author points out that rubrics are effective because they allow the students to see what you value and what is expected of them to write an effective paper. Like the author mentioned, I also think it is helpful for students to grade themselves with the rubric and then compare their results with the teacher. When conferencing with students, the author mentioned the importance of complimenting students on content, the overall message and improvements they’ve made. Students love to be complemented on their writing, and I think this is definitely something that we can do as teachers that is very powerful in promoting a love for writing in our students.

What are some ways that you teach your students about digital literacies that help them to use these tools to complete literacy tasks?  

The text mentions the website www.voicethread.com to help students create a digital story. Has anyone used this tool? It sounds like a lot of fun!

What books have you used as mentor texts for helping students to write their own texts that our modeled off the author’s use of various text structures?

West et al article

When reading this article, I was amazed that kindergartners could take part in such an in depth inquiry based learning project. I have seen the power of giving children choices and the effect the positive effect that it can have on student learning, so I can see why Genius Hour would be an effective tool to support literacy.  I have been trying to test the waters with inquiry based learning that focuses on student choices, and even attended training. However, I still feel as if I lack the knowledge about how to implement this type of learning in an organized and effective way, so that the standards are still being met. For me it has been tricky to balance how much help I offer the students as well as how much freedom they are given to tackle their own interests. This article offered us a glimpse into what this looks like in a real classroom and how one might implement it. I liked that the author explained the process step by step. Time wise the Genius Hour block seemed to favor independent and small group learning over whole group instruction. I like the idea of creating a graphic organizer to help students generate ideas. I have typically just let the students make a list of what they are interested in studying. However, I think the author’s idea is better organized. I also liked that the author mentioned spending time on helping students to pick ideas based on whether or not they were interesting or research friendly. I wound think the research friendly aspect would help students to not veer off too much. It helped to also see what types of mini lessons to include in the whole group time (note taking, good resources, interview questions for experts, and ways to sort/store notes).  I think it is important that the teacher modeled how to research her own topic first with the students and also explained which media types would best support the topic. This activity also seems beneficial because it helps the students to see that they can gather information from many sources (print, audio, internet, experts, etc). This idea reiterates the fact that being literate in the 21^st century looks different than it traditionally has in the past.  I think Genius Hour is also hard for teachers to implement because it is not how we traditionally taught in the past as well. However, I think this type of learning is needed in order for us to best prepare our students for learning in the real world.

Do you agree with the time allotment that the author suggested? (10-15 minutes for mini lessons and 45-50 mind individual and small group lessons) Genius Hour seems to be another example of the effectiveness of teaching in smaller more individualized settings.

What are some ideas that you have for implementing Genius Hours with 2^nd and 3^rd graders that still incorporate the same structures used in the article?

What tools would you use to allow your students to ask experts questions on their topic? I think of things like writing letters or bringing in people from the community.

I like the idea of using the text to speech feature on Ipads, especially for my struggling readers. Has anyone used this in their classrooms to help students who read below grade level?

Lightner article

In this article, the first thing I noticed was that the teacher never gave the students an answer. Rather the teacher helped the students to further analyze the text and their thinking by asking them to elaborate or using clarifying questioning. The author points out that using discussion in the classroom can greatly benefit close reading of texts, and speaking and listening. Furthermore, the author explains how discussions of texts with others can also help students build their comprehension. In turn these skills can be transferred and applied to stories that students read independently that may be unfamiliar to them. The terms efferent, expressive and critical analytic were new to me. However, after reading the definitions and examples, I have definitely witnessed my students taking on multiple stances as they read. I also see these stances apparent in their speaking, so again this reiterated the idea about how reading and speaking are connected. It seems to me as if the author suggests that when we have our students close read that we shouldn’t only focus on the efferent and critical analytic stances, but also their expressive stances. I’m not sure if I understood this right, I may be wrong.  I couldn’t help but think of us when w e write in response to the books we read for our grad classes, and how much it helps us to understand what is being talked about in the texts by connecting it to our own classroom experiences. When I can relate the text to my own teaching experiences, it is much easier for me to understand new concepts. Therefore, I can see how these connections should also be encouraged by our students in the classroom when they are trying to comprehend texts. When reading about the foreground an efferent stance, it seems as if there is a fine line for the teacher as a facilitator in the discussions. Where the teacher needs to guide students to the correct answer without giving a way to much information that leads you to just telling them what it is you want to hear. The author explained that we don’t necessarily need to stick to one type of discussion framework (I had no idea there were so many), and that we must use the approach that best meets our students needs and the standards. This article was a bit tricky for me to understand. Please let me know how you interpreted the information.

What types of discussions have you used in your own classroom? What was the purpose of choosing that type of discussion and how did it align with your standards?

Week 10 - DS&G 4, 5, McKee & Reading Comprehension Articles

This week’s readings focused on various aspects of comprehension, including strategies for teacher instruction, strategies for student understanding, and how to assess comprehension. The role of the teacher plays a crucial part in reading comprehension, as the chapters have stated. The teachers set the class environment for rich learning experiences and use different strategies to scaffold student understanding. The Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect Strategy and strategies taught in guided reading lessons (previewing, predicting, visualizing, etc.) were just a few instructional methods we read about this week. Are the strategies discussed in the readings similar to your practices inside the classroom? What are some differences and similarities between your comprehension instruction and the examples from the texts? Where there any unfamiliar strategies that you would like to bring back to your own classroom?
Teaching within a themed unit was also an instructional method for teaching comprehension that we read about this week. Luckily, my district purchased a curriculum that develops themed units and includes stories similar in concepts and ideas for the students, so it is not a struggle to stay within a theme when teaching comprehension. However, supplemental activities and lessons are always great to include for deeper understanding in concepts. Whether you are provided with a themed literacy curriculum or not, how do you go about finding literacy resources and materials to use for your themed units in your classroom? Do you feel that the students are fully understanding the comprehension skills and strategies taught within this instructional method? What might be some pros and cons for developing themed units and lessons that you would advise novice teachers?

Along with themed units, videos, the internet, and other modes can be used to keep students engaged. These sources provide students with not only verbal learning experiences, but nonverbal as well. When do you incorporate videos into your instruction? Are there any "go to" videos or website you find yourself sharing with your students? Do you follow up on these videos or internet resources and keep your instruction continuous or do you use it once and just move on to the next concepts?

S&H (Chps 4,5,10), Interpreting Pictures article, Wessel-Powell et al article

Chp. 4- Word Learning and Word Use in a Language-Rich Environment

This chapter focused on how teachers can create a language rich classroom environment in order to support their student’s language development. Research has shown that explicit instruction in and of itself is not enough to help students reach their true potential vocabulary development. Although some novice teachers might think creating a language rich environment always requires extra time and planning, this is often not the case. Instead of an almost entirely teacher led conversation, children can be encouraged to have more interaction and “have the floor.” This helps in extending students dialogue time and in turn helps vocabulary growth. Because of this it is important for teachers to “….find ways to balance their own verbal directions, explanations, and feedback with opportunities for students to practice their oral and written language.” (pg. 72) Having a language rich classroom does not simply mean having a word wall and other print on the walls. More important than that is that in language rich classrooms, children are encouraged to be active participants which includes ongoing dialogue. In other words, language rich classrooms are not quiet classrooms where you can hear a pin drop. A positive classroom climate, teachers modeling language, opportunities for extended conversation, teacher feedback and responsiveness, organization and management, availability of appropriate books and materials are just some of the ways to create a language rich environment in your classroom?

What are some of your favorite/most successful ways you have found to create a language rich environment? Are there any ideas you would like to try? What are some activities that you do that allow for opportunities for extended conversation?

 

Chp. 5- Word Awareness and Independent Word Learning

 

This chapter stressed the importance of children being able to independently figure out words on their own. Teachers can help with this by fostering word awareness (which includes both metacognition and interest in words) in their students and get them excited about learning new words. Pre readers can participate in oral language activities instead of through written text activities. Attending to word choice in reading (through activities like word swap and word wall connections), attending to word choice in writing (i.e. picture captioning and writing/revising), collecting words (using a word wall or word jar), and playing with words (through word games like Pictionary and synonym bingo) are just some of the suggestions the authors give for fostering word awareness. I had not personally heard of books featuring children who love words which were brought up in the collecting words section of the chapter. This seems like a great way to foster excitement about word learning!  Once children get excited about words, we need to be able to help them become independent word learners. Context, word parts, and use of reference materials are just a few of the tools children can put in the word strategy toolbox. They should also be taught that it’s okay to use multiple sources to help figure out a word and to ask a teacher for help.

 

Even though it was just briefly touched on, it seems like getting children to reach out for help is a significant problem in many classrooms.

 

Has this been the experience for any of you? If so, what have you done or what things do you have in place to encourage them?

 

What word awareness fostering activities do you do in your classrooms?

 

 

Chp. 10- Implementing Vocabulary Instruction in PreKindergarten through Second Grade Classrooms

 

This chapter focuses on putting together everything that has been introduced in the book. With all of the knowledge about language rich environments, word awareness, home-school connections, effective vocabulary instruction, etc. we still need to be able to put all of this information together in order to make sure students are receiving both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. This responsibility is also shared by administrators, parents, and other related service providers. It is a team effort! The optimal situation is for the school to have vocabulary as a known priority school wide. This allows for co-planning, grade level teams, and including other professionals such as the special education teachers, reading specialist, ESL teachers. There are several co-teaching models that have been met with success like The One Teaching and One Supporting model where one teachers provides the bulk of the instruction while the other teacher makes his/her way around the room ensuring the students stay on task. The Station or Center Teaching Model is where the classroom is divided into two groups (while receiving the same instruction), and then meeting back and discussing what they have learned as a class. The Alternative Teaching Model is where one teacher guides the class and the other teacher is there to provide additional support for those who may need it. The Team Teaching Model involves teachers trading off roles in the lesson with both taking active parts. To me the Team Teaching Model and The One Teaching and One Supporting model seem pretty much the same.

 

How do you as a classroom teacher and your school community work to “pull it all together” when it comes to breadth and depth of vocabulary?

What co-teaching models, if any, have you used in your classrooms? What do you like/dislike about co-teaching?

 

Interpreting Pictures article:

 

I found this article quite interesting and slightly surprising. I have never heard anyone bring up students having difficulty with interpreting pictures in books. It does seem logical however that some children would struggle with this since “illustrations are works of art that must be interpreted” (pg. 541) Just as when reading, you must have the necessary background knowledge to interpret the illustrations correctly. According to the author, when a child incorrectly interprets an illustration and the teacher either ignores the comment or does not fully explain how they should arrive to the correct conclusion, the child will remain confused as to why their teacher disagreed with them and could likely feel misunderstood as well. I appreciated that they gave specific examples and included the illustrations that were in question as it would have been much harder to understand. I’m not sure how I would respond if one of my students exhibited this difficulty but I now have a better idea.

 

Have any of you experienced a student incorrectly interpreting an illustration? How did you handle the situation? Do you agree with the article about the appropriate response to a child’s misinterpretation of an illustration?

 

Wessell-Powel et al article:

 

Although historically the definition of literacy “has meant giving meaning to and getting meaning from printed text” (pg. 167), because of widespread use of new technologies, the Internet, etc., the definition has now become much broader. One of ways the definition has expanded is to include children’s storytelling performances. There is meaning behind the voices they use, the actions they make, as well as any images they draw and props they create. This article highlighted Literacy play shop , a curricular model, which was used by two teachers to teach a multimodal story telling unit in their K-1^st classroom at a private charter school as part of a larger 5 year study on teacher designed media literacy. This model mini lessons Monday-Thursday on different storytelling elements. After each mini lesson the children had some time to create their own projects and then came back to share as a class. On Fridays instead of a mini lesson, a storyteller would come to model storytelling techniques. The teachers also incorporated writing in the storytelling lessons through discussions/lessons on character setting, story shapes, script writing, etc. I can see how children would really enjoy Literacy play shop and become invested especially if they were allowed to choose what story they reenacted. I like the idea of turning the classroom into a “museum” like they authors did, and showcasing projects like the storytelling unit. Sometimes they would reenact parts of the story for the parents and visitors which shows they took pride in their work. Since there are currently no great assessments for multimodal literacy, the teachers in this study created a checklist (which included written expression) that the authors modified and expanded. This will help in the advancement of multimodal assessment tools in the future.

 

How do you feel about using storytelling to teach literacy? How do you use storytelling in your class? Have you already incorporated any of the ideas presented in the article in your room?

Language Choice Article; Vocabulary Article; S&H 2, 3, 7

Language Choice (Talking In Class) Article
 The authors of this article suggest that to increase vocabulary acquisition, teachers should know " ..language is our most powerful tool" and should be used meaningfully in classrooms to engage " social imaginations, social relationships, and self-regulation (moral development)". In order to increase these concepts, teachers should ask open-ended questions with no single right/wrong answer. Use "mental verbs" such as "thinking, feeling, imagining" to increase the dialogue in the classroom. When we ask specific comprehension questions that have a right/wrong answer we are choosing to focus on "required and coerced vs intention and curiosity". The authors provide some principles of how to accomplish a strong language rich classroom discussion: a) start talking; b)listening genuinely; c) have students pay attention to the process; d) provide opportunities to learn; e) develop independence in students; f) allow students to be decision makers and g) make positive language choices.  Do any of the principles provided follow what you currently practice in your classroom? How do you determine students are understanding material? Do you focus on these principles in whole group/small group settings?

Important Vocabulary Article
The authors state it is important for students to know how words work by understanding phonology, morphology, orthography, and syntax but the, " foundation for high quality lexical representations is built by engaging students in carefully designed instructional sequences that focus directly on word meaning".  Words to teach are categorized by Tier 1 (easily explained), Tier 2 (likely to encounter in many texts but not everyday) and Tier 3 (domain specific). Teachers need to ask questions about vocabulary words when determining which words to choose such as: "Which words students encounter in their reading" and " Which words provide opportunities for building on to other words". In order to teach words effectively, provide daily lesson of 10-15 minutes over three or four days and ensure your instructional sequence follows," student friendly lessons, meaningful activities and assessment". The authors also provides some activities to incorporate vocabulary learning, such as word associations and word relationships. How do you choose Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary words in your classroom?  Do you choose them for all subjects? Do you use the vocabulary outlined by your curriculum guidelines or add/subtract words? How do you assess vocabulary understanding?

S& H Ch 2
Chapter 2 focuses on the principles of effective vocabulary instruction. It is estimated that students will encounter 88,000 different words in their school career from grade 1-12 (yikes)! In order to be effective when teaching vocabulary, again, the authors outline the use of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 words. On page 25, is an outline of "Words Worth Teaching" that I found helpful in developing a better understanding of words to teach. The authors outline an approach for words to teach " 1)useful, 2)known, 3) frequent in academic texts, 4) thematic. Not only should this approach be considered but also knowing when to teach breadth or depth of certain words and need to adjust teaching in order to address these two areas. The authors also state teachers should follow certain principles when teaching vocabulary ( page 35) with explicit instruction being crucial ( this is provided more in depth in Ch 3). Also, ensuring appropriate assessment and to differentiate for all learners by differentiating according to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an important piece of teaching vocabulary
(page 41). How do you approach vocabulary instruction? Do you use more words in academic texts or more of a thematic approach? How do incorporate UDL in your classroom?

S& H Ch 3
This chapter focuses on explicit and extended vocabulary instruction. The authors state that explicit instruction is not " boring, scripted, tedious lesson delivery" but rather a style of teaching which includes certain characteristics. These include to explain, model, guided practice, and student independence. These characteristics also are effective in explicit vocabulary instruction through read-alouds. There are many examples in the chapter of how to use these characteristics in teaching vocabulary. I found it interesting and thought this chapter related back to the article about language choice, as many of the examples in the book (page 53-55) relate to teacher questions and use of language.Page 64-67 provides activities for extending vocabulary instruction as well as a lesson plan checklist (helpful for me) on page 69. Do you use explicit instruction? Do you use read-alouds to teach vocabulary? Do you find it effective? How do you assess vocabulary using read-alouds?

S&H Ch 7
Chapter 7 focuses on differentiating vocabulary instruction. The key point in this chapter focuses on incorporating UDL as a framework for instruction. UDL is a "guideline to the design and development of curriculum that is effective and inclusive for all learners" (page 145). UDL is centered around three principles: 1) provide multiple means of representation, 2) provide multiple means of action and expression, and 3) flexible options for generating and sustaining motivation. These guidelines are to ensure that all children have access and to the same content and instructional standards. The chapter provides some examples for each of the three UDL principles (checklist on page 158). Page 164 address the role of Response to Intervention (RTI) and how it is possible for this framework to be applied to vocabulary since it has been a successful framework in providing differentiation for children with phonemic and phonics needs. We do not use RTI at my current school but I have been involved with this framework in the past at other schools where I have worked. How does your school/classroom approach UDL? Do you incorporate any of the examples of UDL provided from the chapter in your classroom? If your school uses RTI, do you think this framework is appropriate for vocabulary as the authors suggested?

Clay CH6, DS&G 2&3

Clay Chapter 6

The significant points Clay mentions require three levels of program training:  teacher, tutors, teacher leaders/trainers, trainers who train tutors, year-long tertiary, 3^rd level (college-level, beyond 12^th grade) requires quality implementation. 

Matthew effect complexity of interacting competencies  constructing self-extending system “bootstrapping effect.. (Stanovich, 1986)   A critical question to ponder, if outcomes depend upon earlier learning: What is the long-term potential of using today’s school improvement program designed to elevate test scores?

It is important for teachers to teach “code”, reading/writing in complex and purposeful activities then students will continue to fine tune their knowledge of how to ‘play the game.’ Use constructive-simple level of text, interactive cycle of skills expanding their levels of competency, ultimately, reader finds new ways to solve problems, become aware of new knowledge of strategies to check on self.   What are some strategies to teach “code” reading / writing and complex and engaging  activities for students?   How will teachers know students have mastered the “code”?

Complex model-reader can draw from his or her current understanding and all his language competencies, visual information, phonological information, knowledge of print conventions, extends both searching and linking process and item repertoires.

Phonological awareness can be learned concurrently especially when reading and writing are stressed, to minimize developmental lags with individual instruction.  (Askew, Etal., 1998) 

Dougherty Stahl and Garcia

Chapter 2 Comprehension Considerations For Students From Diverse Linguistic & Cultural Backgrounds

Pages 11-12 suggests those who use an interactive approach comprehend better.  Use open-ended questions, cognitive strategies, and metacognitive strategies.  Social Cultural context has a major influence on reading comprehension. Recognize cultural experiences, include specific literature to allow students to see themselves reflected in curriculum, and validate and incorporate dialect in reading materials in classroom instruction activities.  Page 13 states, English Language Learners perform best when they are supported by bilingualism and biliteracy development are supported at school.  Teachers should avoid stereotypes, they should ask, “What can I change, How can I build a bridge, what part of instruction needs to be explicitly taught?  How do the current curriculum standards support metacognition?  How can teachers positively impact the current curriculum standards which address reading comprehension?  What does current research suggest for effective comprehension activities?

Chapter 3 It’s All About Scaffolding

Reading comprehension is never fully mastered.  Page 33 states teachers should teach students to monitor their own comprehension, overcome meaning-making hurdles, and analyze, synthesize, evaluate, think critically about text, requires repeated exposures of explicitly instruction, teacher modeling, deep questioning, and sensitive prompting.  Gradual release should be used to  gradually assume ownership for engaging in a difficult task.  (p. 53)  How can teachers support struggling students build background knowledge?  How can teachers support English Language Learners with comprehension of difficult and challenging text?