Internship Reflection #4 April 21, 2010

1) What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction? What connections have you seen between what you observed and our readings  and/or class discussions.

2) Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk)

–The class learned about idioms today. Ms. Kelly had them draw an idiom out of an envelope and draw pictures about their saying. The assignment was to write  the idiom phrase across the top of the paper (for example, “Hit the books”), fold the paper in half (hamburger style), then on one side draw a picture of what the idiom is literally saying, and then on the other draw a picture of what the real meaning is. So for “hit the books,”  I could draw a picture of someone literally hitting a book on one side, and then on the other, draw a picture of someone studying intently. Ms. Kelly divided the class up in small groups to work on the project so that Sarah and I could help them figure out the meanings of the idioms they drew. My group had to work with “cat got your tongue,” “get your feet wet,” and “when pigs fly.” I don’t know why, but it was sometimes difficult to explain the meanings of some of these sayings. I had grown up hearing them so they came naturally to me, but for these kids, they were seeing them for the first time. It was especially difficult for the ESL children because they didn’t know what some of the words even meant. This made me think a lot about how children approach reading and spelling the English language the first time. It’s incredibly hard and it doesn’t come naturally to them.

Internship Reflection #3 April 16, 2010

1) What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction? What connections have you seen between what you observed and our readings  and/or class discussions.

-This week, the kids continued to practice for the E.O.G. Ms Kelly gave them “I Spy” books for their reading portion. She had them all grab a partner and look through the books together. On each page, there was a riddle about the objects they were supposed to find in the picture. For example, one page read:

“I spy a rabbit, eleven bears in all,

a dog on a block, a seal on a ball.”

For each page, they were to alternate reading the riddle with their partner and then find the items in the picture. While I was walking around, I heard a pair reading the riddle above and I asked them which two words rhymed, and they told me “all” and “ball.” Then Ms Kelly talked about how riddles can also be a form of poetry.

2) Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

-On Thursday, Ms Kelly let us give the kids a spelling test and then grade them afterward. Some of the mistakes I saw could directly be related to what we learned in class. On the word, “friendly,” a child made the mistake of spelling it “freindly.” This student could very possibly be in the within-word pattern stage because they understand that there is a pattern in the word, they are just using it incorrectly.

Internship Reflection #2 April 3, 2010

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction? What connections have you seen between what you observed and our readings  and/or class discussions.

-This week for their reading lesson, Ms. Kelly had them write “context clues” sentences. The students had to make up a word and use it in a sentence that contained context clues that might hint to what their made up word meant. Later in class, they read their sentences out loud and had the rest of the students had to guess the definition. For example: “I put on my zinger before going outside in the cold.” In this case, “zinger” means “jacket.” After that activity, she gave them worksheets that helped them practice and use context clues to figure out what large words meant. All of this practice is for preparation for the E.O.G.

Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

-This week, I conducted my WRI with one of my students. It was very interesting watching her attempt to sound out the words. When we got to the second and third column, she began to struggle with the flashing of the words, but after seeing them a second time she could usually figure it out. She would see the flash, and then I could actually see her spelling and sounding out the word in her head before confirming it. It was a really neat experience.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

-This week, our class went on a field trip to see “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” This was a really cute play put on at the community college near the area. It was so much fun! The students learned the importance of being honest and finding the things you’re good at.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

No questions this week

Internship Reflection March 26, 2010

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?

-Most of the work that the students have been doing has been EOG review. Therefore, the teacher has been giving them questions and passages that might be found on the EOG and she goes through them with the class. The teacher gives them different EOG strategies like underlining in the passage where they found the answer and to cross out answer choices that they know are wrong.

-There is a word wall at the front of the class where each letter of the alphabet is written on different shoes. Under each letter shoe is a list of words that begin with that letter (“S”-sometimes, school, said).

What have you taught in your internship?

-I have conducted the spelling test in class. I also have helped them with their math problems and readings during their EOG review.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

-The students get “froggy bucks” for being good and a certain number of froggy bucks gives them various rewards.

-The teacher’s clothes are really cute and she wears uggs!

-The teacher has the best behaved student be the “paper passer.”

-The teacher actually conducts the experiment during their lesson on probability. Instead of saying “what if,” she actually has them draw markers out of a paper bag. (During this activity, she has one student be the tally marker, and each student gets to draw out of the bag to keep all of the kids involved)

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

-My teacher made the comment that she doesn’t like “Investigations.” This is the kind of textbook we were told would be the best to implement into a school. This is something I would like to ask more about because it doesn’t seem to be as efficient when you’re first starting out.

Curt Article March 4, 2010

1. What grade is Curt in?

He is an 8 year old third grader.

1. What was the flash score for words at: first-grade level? second-grade level? third-grade level?

First: 75%

Second: 50%

Third: 20%

1. What was the accuracy score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

1-2: 97%

2-1: 90%

2-2: 84%

1. What was the rate score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

1-2: 65 wpm

2-1: 44 wpm

2-2: 36 wpm

Look at the spelling scores in Table 5.2 on page 172.

1. What was the percentage correct score for: first-grade words? second-grade words?

First: 60%

Second: 0%

Consider the following expected scores, then compare those expectations to the scores Curt produced. With the Word Recognition Test, flash scores are generally interpreted as follows: 90-100% indicates Independent Level; 60-85% indicates Instruction Level; Below 50% indicates Frustration Level.

With oral reading accuracy, scores are generally interpreted as follows: 98-100% indicates Independent Level; 95-97% indicates Instruction Level; Below 92%   indicates Frustration Level.

With oral reading rate, expected grade-level ranges are as follows:

Grade–Words per minute

1^st–45-85

2^nd–80-120

3^rd–95-135

With spelling scores, around 50% correct indicates Instruction Level.

1. Which grade-level flash score is the best choice for Instruction Level? (*Note: 92-94% accuracy is marginal; take a close look at Rate.)

The preprimer flash score.

1. Which grade-level accuracy score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

The first grade accuracy score.

1. What do Curt’s rate scores indicate about his grade-level reading? Where is he instructional according to rate?

The rate scores indicate that Curt is at a first grade reading level and is at a first grade instruction level.

1. What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instruction Level.

They indicated that he is at a first grade instruction level.

10.  Put all of these scores together, and what do they indicate Curt’s reading level to be?

All the scores indicated that Curt is at a first grade reading level.

Rasinski (2004) Article March 3, 2010

Rasinki (2004) Article

1. What are the three dimensions of fluency? How can you assess each dimension?

• Accuracy in word decoding: Readers must be able to sound out the words in a text with minimal errors. In terms of skills, this dimension refers to phonics and other strategies for decoding words.
• Automatic processing: Readers need to expand as little mental effort as possible in the decoding aspect of reading so that they can use their finite cognitive resources for meaning making.
• Prosodic Reading: The reader must parse the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units. If readers read quickly and accurately but with no expression in their voices, if they place equal emphasis on every word and have no sense of phrasing, and if they ignore most punctuation, then it is unlikely that they will fully understand the text.

1. Rasinski refers to fluency as a “bridge” between decoding and comprehension. What does he mean by the “bridge” metaphor?

Successful reading requires readers to process the text (the surface level of reading i.e. decoding) and comprehend the text (deeper meaning. Reading fluency refers to the readers’ ability to develop control over surface-level text processing so that he or she can focus on understanding the deeper levels of meaning embedded in the text.

1. What instructional methods does Rasinski suggest for students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading?

Rasinski suggests that students use assisted readings and repeated readings because these students require instruction in learning how to decode words. These two methods that have been shown to improve reading fluency. Students need to hear what fluent reading sounds like and how fluent readers interpret text with their voices. After reading a passage aloud to students, ask them to orally read a passage with a partner who is at the same reading level, or vary it up by having them read with a partner with a higher reading ability. This is a powerful strategy for improving fluency and comprehension. Repeated reading helps them practice and leads to improvement in reading and decoding.

1. Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS) is used to measure prosodic quality of oral reading. List components of the MFS and describe briefly what each refers to (p. 49).

• Expression and Volume: Do they read with good expression and enthusiasm throughout the text? Do they vary expression and volume to match his or her interpretation of the passage?
• Phrasing: Do they generally read with good phrasing, mostly in clause and sentence units, with adequate attention to expression?
• Smoothness: Do they generally read smoothly with some breaks, but resolve word and structure difficulties quickly, usually through self-correction?
• Pace: Do they consistently read at a conversational pace and maintain an appropriate rate throughout reading?

Words Their Way February 27, 2010

1. How does a Preliterate (Emergent) speller read and write?

The child may undertake reading and writing in earnest. Students may write with scribbles, letter like forms, or random letters that have no phonetic relationship to the words they confidently believe they are writing. These students may “read” familiar books from memory using the pictures on each page to cue their recitation of the text.

1. How does a Letter Name-Alphabetic speller read and write?

The early letter name-alphabetic speller is a beginning reader who has moved from pretend reading to real reading and begun to use systematic letter sound matches to identify and store words in memory. Just as early attempts to spell words are partial, so, too, beginning readers initially have limited knowledge of letter sounds as they identify words by phonetic cues.  As readers and writers acquire more complete knowledge of letter sounds in the later part of the letter name-alphabetic stage, they will include, but often confuse, vowels in the words they write and read.

1. How does a Within Word Pattern speller read and write?

Transitional readers and spellers move into the within word pattern spelling stage when single letter-sound units are consolidated into patterns or larger chunks and other spelling regularities are internalized.  After automating basic letter sounds in the onset position (initial consonants, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs), students focus on the vowel and what follows. Short-vowel rimes are learned first with consonant blends in the context of simple word families or phonograms such as h-at, ch-at, or fl-at.

1. How does a Syllable and Affixes speller read and write?

These learners have relatively automatic word recognition, and thus their minds are free to think as rapidly as they can read. They can use reading as a vehicle for learning new information from texts, and their vocabulary grows with their reading experience. Intermediate and advanced readers are also fluent writers. The content of their writing displays complex analysis and interpretation, and reflects a more sophisticated, content-oriented vocabulary.  Syllable and affix spellers read most texts with good accuracy and speed, both orally and silently. For these students, success in reading and understanding is related to familiarity and experience with the topic being discussed.

1. How does a Derivational Relations speller read and write?

Derivational relations spellers have a broader experience base that allows them to choose among a variety of reading styles to suit the text and their purposes for reading. They read according to their own interests and needs and they seek to integrate their knowledge with the knowledge of others. The same picture is evidenced in their writing. With purpose and practice, derivational relations students develop and master a variety of writing styles.

1. What is the existing research evidence on the relationship between spelling and reading. Briefly describe research findings discussed on page 20.

Significant correlations between spelling and various measures of word recognition and decoding have been reported. Intervention studies exploring the added value of supplemental spelling instruction have repeatedly found that students who receive additional spelling instruction perform better on reading tasks such as oral reading, silent reading comprehension, and other reading-related measures in addition to spelling. Students’ spelling attempts also provide a powerful medium for predicting reading achievement.

Stahl Article February 26, 2010

The Effects of Three Instructional Methods on the Reading Comprehension and Content

1. Describe in broad stokes the reading processes that take place during comprehension of informational text (p. 362, under Construction of Meaning and Concept Development with Informational Texts).

                       Cognitively, comprehension of informational texts requires accessing accurate, relevant knowledge, managing mental processes (both top-down and bottom-up) during reading within the confines of a limited working memory, and constructing a coherent mental representation through pruning and organizational processes. Both explicit cognitive strategy instruction and high level social interaction around text are important keys to improving text comprehension and concept development.

1.  Specify the effect that background knowledge may have on constructing mental representations from informational text. Why should teachers be concerned about activating prior knowledge?

                        Young children rely heavily on background knowledge in their interactions with text. Mediation that prompts young readers to activate relevant background information is an important support, but teachers must be sensitive to dialogue indicating that children may be relying on inaccurate or irrelevant prior knowledge. McKeown and Beck’s work with interactive read-alouds in kindergarten and first grade determined that extensive discussions around the students’ experiences led to inaccurate or limited recollection of the text. As a result, their “Text Talk” read-aloud procedure calls for a focused discussion of the text.

1. What are the three instructional approaches that can be used to help primary-grade students comprehend informational text? Describe their common (p. 365) and distinctive features (p. 363-5).  

                          Picture Walk: The pre-reading conversations that happen before readers begin a text. It is commonly used with leveled text—small paperbacks that have been leveled, using a narrow gradient readability scale based on qualitative text features. The conversations typically occur as the teacher and students preview each page or few pages of a new book, before reading. The pictures are used as a catalyst for a discussion of what the book is likely to be about. Two or three vocabulary words are explicitly introduced during the PW.

                          Know-What to Learn-Learn: A technique that is meant to enable teachers to access the prior knowledge of students and to help students develop their own purposes for reading expository text. It is a process during which the teacher generates a discussion about a text topic and uses a chart or worksheet to record students’ statements about what they know (K), want to learn (W), and, after reading, what they learned (L).

                          Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA): An instructional framework that views reading as a problem-solving process best accomplished in a social context. The teacher’s role is to select an instructional level text, divide the text into meaningful sections, and facilitate discussion of each section of text. Students are responsible for establishing their own purposes for reading, generating predictions, justifying those predictions, independently reading the text, and verifying or revising predictions based on evaluations of information in the text during the teacher-led discussion of each section.

                              All of these methods have a strong emphasis on reader engagement and social mediation, they activate the prior knowledge that the students possess, and they all purposefully predict and anticipate what information might be likely to be included in a text.

1. What is the purpose of the experimental study reported?

                        The purpose of this study was to explore how the PW, KWL, and DRTA might influence developmental reading abilities and content acquisition when used with informational text in the primary reading group context. The focus of the investigation was on the ways the differences in instructional approaches influenced the construction of meaning by novice readers.

1. Who were the subjects?

                        The participants were 31 second-grade students in two demographically similar schools, in the same school district, in a midsize Midwest city. Originally, there were eight groups of four students participating in the study—four groups in each of two cycles of instruction. The cycles were conducted consecutively during the first half of the academic year with a three-week break between the cycles. One child from School A moved early in the study.

1. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.

                       The texts addressed science topics that had been taught to the students in their first- or second grade science curriculum as part of the state science content standards. The specific sequence of topics for each group during both cycles was: spiders, the moon, how water changes form, and insects. Each week, they used a set of three different informational texts containing common information about the same topic, resulting in a total of 12 texts or leveled little books during the study.

1. How long did the experiment last?

                      They gathered data over 10 weeks, and conducted two four-week periods of intervention within that time frame. Groups 1 through 4 from School A received the intervention during the first cycle, and Groups 5 through 8 from School B received the intervention during the second four-week cycle.

1.  What were the experimental conditions?

                        The study was designed to replicate, as much as possible, the small group reading instruction that approaching-grade-level readers typically experience. Interventions and data collections were conducted for each group. All lessons were recorded on audiotape. In School A, sessions were held at a table in a hallway. In School B, sessions were held at a table in the school’s kitchen or at a table in a partitioned room shared with other teachers working with small groups of children.

1. Describe the procedures specific to the Picture Walk, KWL, DRTA, and the Control Group conditions.

                            During the picture walk, Stahl followed the guidelines that were recommended for books at this level. Before reading, she presented a brief overview of the text. Then the class engaged in an interactive discussion about the book as they worked through the book page-by-page, talking about the pictures, the text structure, and the student’s prior knowledge, and formulating predictions based on that information. Topic headings were addressed, when available. To generate a discussion of the pages, Stahl frequently said to the children, “What words would you use to describe what you see happening on this page?” or “What do you think the writer is going to be teaching us about on this page?” the children mumble read the text independently. After reading, they discussed whether their predictions were verified and collectively summarized the information from the text.

                       On Day 1 and Day 3, they made a group KWL chart interactively. After Stahl introduced the topic, the children discussed the topic. Their input was written on the chart in the Know column. On Day 2 and Day 3, each child wrote what he or she knew on a personal KWL chart before it was shared and written on our large group chart. Next, the children categorized the recorded information. The next step was for the children to generate questions about the topic. Before generating questions that were placed in the “What I Want to Learn” column, Stahl provided the same brief overview of the book that the other groups received before reading. The table of contents of the book was discussed, when available, so that the students would be more likely to anticipate the content and generate questions that could actually be answered in each book. She wrote their questions and “want to learn” statements on the group chart each day. Then she guided various discussions to help the children generate questions based on the table of contents or text headings and that would likely be answered from reading each text. After their pre-reading discussion, the children mumble read the entire text. After reading, they began their post-reading discussion by considering whether the text had provided answers to any student questions. If so, Stahl recorded the information in the “What I Learned” column.

                             For the DRTA, (before reading) the students formulated and justified predictions about the text based on the title, cover, prior knowledge, and if available, table of contents. Students predicted for a two-page or three-page section of text. Then they mumble read that section of text. After reading each section of text, a brief discussion was held to verify predictions, summarize the information in the text, and generate new predictions for the next section of text based on the discussion about the text, pictures, and headings, if available. At the conclusion of the entire text, discussion was minimal about the overall text.

1. What measures were used to determine the relative effectiveness of the treatments? Describe the measures briefly.

                        The Vocabulary Recognition Task (VRT) is an experimenter-constructed yes/no task used to estimate vocabulary recognition in a content area and to confirm that groups had similar levels of prior knowledge of the topic.

                        The Maze Task is a multiple-choice cloze modification. It is a timed (three minutes), group-administered task. The original text read by the students is reprinted after the deletion of 10 content words. The score on the maze task is the number of correct responses.

                         Free Recall is prompted with the question: “Please tell me everything you can remember about the book. Also tell me anything the book made you think of.” Individually, the students recall everything they can remember from the day’s text.

                         In a Cued Recall, each child is asked to answer three explicit and three implicit questions based on that day’s text. First, the items are scored as correct or incorrect as a measure of general comprehension. Both correct and partially correct items were scored as correct. A four point scale is used to produce weighted scores for each answer

1. Which treatment(s) were found to be more effective in increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge and maze performance (p. 381)?

                        All intervention groups made vocabulary gains. The use of informational texts with novice readers does extend their vocabularies. It seemed likely that the picture walk would yield greater vocabulary gains than the other methods because two to four tested words were explicitly taught before reading each text. However, students in all interventions made similar gains. Both the PW and DRTA yielded statistically significant effects on the maze. A comparison of effect sizes suggests that a slightly larger proportion of variance is explained by PW than DRTA. Both procedures were more effective than KWL or the control procedures in facilitating fluent reading and micro-level comprehension.

1. Students’ comprehension of the texts was greater under the DRTA condition than KWL and the control conditions. What do you think explains DRTA’s advantage over the KWL condition (p. 382)?

                        This may be the result of the close reading facilitated by this instructional approach. Although the students in all four groups were monitored during mumble reading to be sure that they could read the text and were, in fact, reading the text, teacher guidance during the DRTA tended to direct the children’s attention to the important ideas and assist with difficult text concepts in a way that was not provided for in the other interventions.

1. It was found that the treatments did not differ in the quality and quantity of students’ retellings (p. 384). In other words, students were not differentially affected by the treatments in the way they integrated textual information with prior knowledge. What does this finding mean in terms of the different emphases employed by experience-based (KWL) vs. text-based (DRTA) treatments?

                      This finding supports and extends the earlier research that indicated that DRTA is effective in promoting inferential and evaluative responses to text. DRTA has several features that recent studies have associated with higher levels of achievement. DRTA procedures tended to demand higher levels of thinking by the students than did the other three procedures by requiring justification and verification of predictions.

1. In light of the findings from this study, what conclusions can you draw about the role of teacher support in children’s construction of mental representations from informational text?

                          I have concluded that teacher support in children’s construction of mental representations of the text is of the utmost importance. The teacher is the one in charge and the one who can gear a child’s thinking when they approach a text. With teacher guidance, the students can focus their attention on the important ideas and will have an easier time understanding difficult text concepts. It is important for teachers to demand higher level cognition in order to encourage the students to think beyond the text.

Text Talk Lesson February 20, 2010

The Rough Face Girl

Summary: This story is an alternative version of Cinderella. The Rough-Face Girl is treated like a slave by her two snobby sisters and has burned her skin from spending too much time by the fire. There is legend of a handsome “invisible being” and only the woman who can see him can marry him. The sisters try to fool the Invisible Being’s sister by claiming that they have seen him, but their lies are found out. The Rough-Face Girl has claimed to have seen him and goes to the sister. She answers all of her answers correctly and tells her to go bathe in the water. When she does, her rough skin disappears and in its place is smooth new skin. The Invisible Being marries the Rough-Face Girl for her beauty on the inside and they live happily ever after.

Focus: To keep the children involved in the story and understand the development of its plot.

Cover: Show the cover and read the title. What do you see? Why do you think she looks that way? Let’s find out. Begin reading the story.

Pg. 1: What do you see? What do they live in?

Pg. 2: What do we know? What is a Wigwam?

Pg. 4: So what is going on? Why does the RFG look this way? What do you think of her sisters?

Pg. 12: What is happening here? Did the sisters’ plan work?

Pg. 14: What is the RFG going to do? What do you think of her?

Pg. 19: What do you think is going to happen? What do other people think of the RFG? What do you think the Invisible Being looks like?

Pg. 20: Why is the sister excited? Why does the Invisible Being say the RFG is beautiful?

Pg. 28: What happened? What did the water do? What do you think will happen next?

Pg. 30: What do we see here?

Wrap up: Why was the RFG able to marry the Invisible Being? Why did he think she was beautiful? What does this say about beauty? What do you think of the story?

Rosenthal and Ehri (2008) February 20, 2010

1) Their hypothesis was that exposing second and fifth graders to the spellings of new vocabulary words would enhance their memory for pronunciations and meanings of the words. The purpose of this viewpoint is to consider theory and evidence supporting the contribution and importance of word spellings for vocabulary learning and instruction. The hypothesis tested was that students will learn the pronunciations and meanings of new words better when they see spellings of the words during study periods than when they do not.

2) 20 second grade students

3) Each student learned two sets of vocabulary words. In the treatment condition, they learned spoken words that were accompanied by spellings during study periods. In the control condition, students learned spoken words without spellings. We measured how quickly students learned the words as the learning trials progressed, and how well they remembered them after a delay of one day.

4) The treatment involved the students learning spoken words that were accompanied by spellings during study periods

5) Based on the chart showing the difference in scores, the spelling-present group gained more in vocabulary learning than the spelling-absent group.

6) Higher level readers have larger syllabic spelling units and the article stated that students with higher orthographic knowledge will acquire richer and richer vocabulary over time compared to those with poorer orthographic knowledge.

7) Teachers need to understand the importance of spelling while teaching new vocabulary. Learning the spellings of words provides a big boost in learning their pronunciations and meanings. Teachers, students, educators, and researchers need to become aware of these findings and incorporate them into their practice.