I have had a chance to teach some basic addition math to my students using various lessons that my teacher had and also worksheets and activities to support the lessons. I have had the opportunity to work with the majority of the kids in their respective reading groups to get a feel for where there where at, and what needed to be done to ensure that they were prepared to enter the second grade. We had several opportunities to partner read, and also do Text Talks.

Overall my experience at this school has been very enjoyable and made all the school work that I have had to do in the second half of this semester worth it. The majority of the faculty at the school were very nice and I found my teacher to be extremely helpful and supportive. I really loved interning in such a diverse school and working with all the kids. It was nice to get some hands on experience with ESL and ELL students and see how certain classes and lessons were modified towards them. Overall this was a fantastic experience and I’m looking forward to getting back in the schools.

I’ve been working with several of the boys in the class on their reading skills. Some are ESL students, however to me they seem to be on par with everyone else in the class. I often find myself sounding out the words with the kids and reading with them when it calls for it.

When working with groups of children it usually involves myself teaching them math or reading certain books that the whole class is going over. We have done a few different Text Talks and I have also seen the teacher do these as well. The kids love getting read to and tend to behave much better when being read to than any other part of the day.

The curriculum at the school seems to be very good. The teacher that I am placed with really knows her stuff and it shows in her teaching. I have been really impressed with the level of performance of the ESL/ELL students in my class.

I haven’t exactly taught a lesson to my students, however I have helped them all with various work ranging from math and spelling, to reading and behavioral issues.

I have worked with a group of children several times. We have done reading exercises where we all read a book together and work on various worksheets that dealt with spelling and grammar.

One thing that I have noticed is that my teacher seems very enthusiastic when it comes to the holidays and having little parties and events for the students. I think it is nice that she takes some time out of their busy school days and provides the students with an opportunity to have a little fun while at school.

I have not had a real opportunity to teach a lesson yet, however I have been helping the students with the spelling and sentence structure in their short stories, as well as helping them become more proficient readers by doing lots and lots of finger point reading and echo reading.

One interesting thing that I noticed right off the bat was how the whole school is open, there are no doors on  any of the classrooms and you can see into the rooms over the short walls that border them. North Wilkes is a very diverse school with children from many different backgrounds and ethnicities, they have a very large hispanic population. I do believe there is also one male teacher in the school besides the PE specialist, which is nice to see.

One question I have is what would be an ideal way to improve the neatness of a childs’  handwriting? Some of these kids can spell and make proper sentences just fine, however I can have a difficult time reading it if they are not there to help me.

Accuracy in Word Decoding: Calculate a percentage of words a reader can accurately decode on grade level material.

Automatic Processing: Take a look at the students reading rate. To find the students’ reading rate have them read a grade level passage orally for 60 seconds and then calculate the number or words read correctly.

Prosodic Reading: Listen to a student read a grade-level passage and then judge the quality of the reading using by using a rubric that scores a student on the elements of expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace.

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

He means that fluency connects these two concepts like a bridge. A student can be good at either category of reading, but without fluency they cannot be a fully successful reader.

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

Rasinski suggests assisted readings and repeated readings which will help with automatic and prosodic reading.

4. 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: How the child says the words (pronunciation, expression, volume).

Phrasing: How the child reads. Whether they read in a monotone voice, with a mixture of run-ons, or in particular phrases.

Smoothness: Whether the child makes pauses while the read both frequent and non, hesitant with words and trouble sounding out.

Pace: The child’s speed of reading, whether it be slow or fast. Also if they read at a conversational pace.

The third grade.

2. What was the flash score for words at: first-grade level? Second-grade level? Third-grade level?

1st grade was 75%, 2nd was 50% and 3rd was 20%

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

1-2 was 97%, 2-1 was 90% and 2-2 was 84%

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

1-2 was 65wpm, 2-1 was 44wpm and 2-2 was 36wpm

5. What was the percentage correct score for: first-grade words? Second-grade words?

First Grade words: 60%, Second Grade Words: 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

1st-45-85

2nd-80-120

3rd-95-135

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

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

Curt is at the instructional level, 60%-85% in his first grade level flash scores (75%).

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

The first grade because curt’s accuracy scores were at 97%.

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

Curt’s rate scores indicate that he is sufficient in the first grade level and that he is instructional at the second grade level.

9.What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instruction Level.
Curt’s spelling scores indicate that he should be instructed in the first grade level because he scored around 50% at the first grade level.

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

If you look at all of the scores together, Curt’s reading level is late first grade to early second grade reading level.

For proper and effective comprehension to emit within a reader, they must access accurate, relevant knowledge, manage mental processes during reading within the confines of a limited working memory, and construct a coherent mental representation through pruning and organizational processes.

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

Background knowledge can have a profound effect on how a student constructs mental representations from informational text. The evidence shows that young children use their background knowledge to relate it to their own individual experiences, memories, or knowledge. However, this can also take away from the reader what is really happening in the text because they rely to heavily on their background knowledge. Teachers need to be aware of how much dialogue they create pertaining to the text because students are likely to rest upon prior knowledge and can have a tendency to hold on to that prior knowledge instead of that of the current text.

3. 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).

All three approaches are structured, teacher-facilitated social interactions, focused on increasing students’ comprehension of text. All three approaches engage students in generating purposeful predictions based on prior knowledge and information text features, such as pictures, tables of contents, and headings.

Picture Walk
-Conversations typically occur as the teacher and students preview each page or few pages of a new book before reading
-Commonly used with leveled text
-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
-Promotes fluency and comprehension
-Yields student generated discussion and predictions about the text

Know-Want to Learn-Learn
-Enables teachers to access the prior knowledge of students and to help students develop their own purposes for reading expository text.
-Uses a chart or worksheet to record students’ statements about what they know, want to learn, and after reading, what they learned.

Directed Reading- Thinking Activity
- Teachers select an instructional level text, divide the text into meaningful sections, and facilitate discussion of each section of the text
-Students are responsible for establishing their own purposes for reading

The commonalities of these approaches are an emphasis on reader engagement and social mediation, activation of relevant prior knowledge, and anticipation of what information might be likely to be included in a text.

4. 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.

5. Who were the subjects?

The participants were 31 second grade students in a midsize Midwest City, in the same school district, and in two demographically similar schools.  These students had an instructional reading level three to six months below grade level.

6. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.

The reading materials used during the intervention were texts with topics that were likely to be familiar to second grade students.  The sequence of topics for each group during both cycles was spiders, the moon, how water changes form, and insects.

7. How long did the experiment last?

The experiment lasted over 10 weeks, consisting of two four week periods of intervention within that time.

8. What were the experimental conditions?

A 45 minute orientation session was held with each group one day after screening, but before the interventions. They used these orientations to conduct and practice logistical routines such as management procedures, scheduling confirmation, and assessment tasks. The children were introduced to the same book for a total of 12 selections during the intervention. The assessments were conducted on the third day. The day that followed the conclusion of the intervention cycle, the students were interviewed about the comprehensions strategies and instructional preferences.

9. Describe the procedures specific to the PW, KWL, DRTA, and the Control Group conditions.

PW
-Engaged in an interactive discussion about the book as we worked through the book page by page, talking about the pictures, the text structure, and the students’ prior knowledge, and formulating predictions based on that information questions were asked to generate discussion.

KWL
-Made a group KWL chart, students discussed and then their input was written on the chart in the Know column
-Each child wrote what they knew on their own individual KWL chart before sharing and writing it on the large group chart.
-The children categorized the recorded information
-Children then generated questions about the topic and put them in the “What I Want to Learn” column
-After reading, there was a post reading discussion in which they considered whether the text had provided answers to any questions the students had. If so, they recorded the information in the “What I Want to Learn” column.
-Discussed other new learning and recorded it on the group chart

DRTA
-Before reading, the students formulated and justified predictions about the text based on the title, cover, prior knowledge and table of contents.
-Students predicted for a two page or three page section of text
-A brief discussing was held after reading the text 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.

Control Group Conditions
-Before reading, the children were presented with the same brief overview of the text that had been provided to the treatment groups
-Independent reading was always followed by drawing a picture and / or writing about something they would like to share with the group based on the text

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

Vocabulary Recognition Tasks
-Children were asked to identify words that they could read and that were related to the topic; this technique of yes/no was a reliable and valid measure of vocabulary assessment

Maze
-Maze was a timed(3 minutes), group administered task. The original text read by students was reprinted after the deletion of 10 content words. The score on the maze task was the number of correct responses.

Free Recall
-Students provided an individual recall of the text
-The answers were written  on the cod sheet and scored

Cued Recall
-After the free recall, each child was asked to answer three explicit and three implicit questions based on that day’s text
-The items were checked for correctness of an answer and then a four point scaled was used to produce weighted scores for each answer

Post -Intervention Interview
-At the conclusion of each research cycle, individual interviews with the students in that cycle were conducted
-The question surveyed three types of strategy knowledge- declarative, Procedural, and Conditional Knowledge

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

While all the intervention groups made effective gains in students’ vocabulary knowledge, both the PW and the DRTA yielded statistically significant effects on the maze.

12. 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)?

The DRTA’s advantage lies within the teacher guidance, which directed the children’s attention to the important ideas and assisted with difficult text concepts that was not provided in the other interventions.

13. It was found that the treatments did not differ in the quality and quantity of student’s 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 means that, experienced based charts (KWL) are no more better for children than that of text based (DRTA) because children gain no significant benefits of understanding the text any better with prior knowledge of content.

14. 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 believe that it is important for a teacher to acknowledge and understand a students prior knowledge but to also realize that this prior knowledge can be inaccurate or misleading for the students. It is also very important for us as teachers to provide text appropriate questions that will require our students to experience critical thinking and reasoning, which will help to develop their understanding and comprehension of new text.

A preliterate speller will usually write with scribbles, letter like forms, and random letters that do not have a phonetic relationship with the words they believe they are writing. When it comes to reading they will often pretend to read and read books from memory by using the pictures to tell them what is going on in the text. While reading they will use cues such as names they know of their friends or stores, especially when the word they are trying to tackle starts with the same letter. The children also use logos and visual cues to understand and remember words.

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

Students in the letter name stage will use systematic letter sound matches to identify and store words in their memory. They read words, word by word and finger point to each. They identify words mostly by phonetic cues. They often confuse bowels in words when they read and right, and they must also read aloud to vocalize the sounds of words.

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

In the Within Word Pattern stage, children put  letter sounds into patterns or larger chunks and internalize them. Students then focus on vowels and short vowel rimes. After this students will use long vowel patterns however they will still get confused with them. These students reading is supported by familiar letter patterns that help guide them. These students will begin to read at a more fluent level and their sight word vocabulary  allows them to write more quickly and with better detail.

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

Students who are in this stage are able to read and write with great speed and accuracy. These students take great joy in writing poetry, editorials, persuasive essays, or their own versions of fantasy and realistic fiction.

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

At this level students are able to choose for themselves the best way of reading a text that they are working with. They read according to their own interests and needs and enjoy sharing with others what they have taken from their readings. At this stage they are able to develop and master a variety of writing styles.

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

The existing research states that students who receive additional spelling instruction perform better on readings tasks such as silent reading comprehension, oral reading, and other reading measures besides that of spelling. They also have observed that practice at spelling helps a students  reading more than practice at reading will help a students spelling. Ellis and Cataldo also stated that spelling was the greatest predictor of reading achievement.

The hypothesis that the researchers 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. Who were the subjects?

The subjects of this study were 20 second graders who were enrolled in an urban school with a large population of minority students.

3. What were the experimental conditions?

In the treatment group, they learned words that were accompanied by their spellings. In the control group, the students learned words without their spellings. They measured how well the students learned the words as the researched progressed and also how well the students remembered them after a delay of one day.

4. What did the treatment involve?

The first study consisted of six words with their spellings and meanings. Each word had a flash card with a picture and the spelling beneath the picture. After the first study, all the following ones were based on students recollection of the words from that first study.

5. Which group (spelling-present vs. spelling-absent) gained more in vocabulary learning? How were the groups’ recall of pronunciations affected by the treatment?

By looking at the results, it is clear that the spelling-present group gained more in vocabulary learning than that of the spelling absent group. Over 60% of the words were pronounced correctly when spelling was seen, while less than 50% were spelled correctly when spelling wasn’t seen.

6. Why do you think that fifth graders who were high on a word reading task benefited more from spelling aids than their peers with less orthographic experience and knowledge, even though the two groups did not differ on receptive vocabulary knowledge?

Higher level readers have a larger knowledge of larger syllabic spelling units and also grapho-phonemic units. The article goes on to state “that students with higher orthographic knowledge will acquire richer and richer vocabulary over time compared to those with poorer orthographic knowledge”.

7.What general conclusions were derived from the study findings by authors? What implications were offered for vocabulary learning and instruction?

The main conclusion that was derived from this study was that providing students with the spelling of new vocabulary words greatly helps the students in learning and comprehending these new words. By having educators incorporate these strategies into their teaching will only help to promote and boost learning in the classroom.

Curt is in the letter name stage  and also  the word pattern stage of word knowledge. This means that Curt tends to spell out what he hears for some words like “plate” although he also understands the pattern of the silent “e” in the word “bike”.

2. Describe partner reading.

Partner reading is just that, reading with a partner. To properly start partner reading, a walk through takes place. The tutor and the student will look at the pictures in the book and talk about what they think is taking place. They then start from the beginning of the story and read by taking turns. The tutor can ask questions throughout the story if need be.

3. Which is harder for a student, partner reading or DRTA?

DRTA is harder for a student, because like Curt, the students are not only required to read but they must also answer questions that focus on their comprehension of the book.

4. In planning a DRTA, what is important about selecting places to stop?

In planning a DRTA, it is very critical that you stop at places that will produce thought-provoking questions. While there is no predetermined place to stop, you would want to make sure that where you’re stopping, you can produce questions that will both challenge and require the kids to use their memories to find answers and solutions.

5. In planning a DRTA, what is important about deciding questions to ask? What kind of questions? How many?

At certain points throughout the story, you might need to only ask a prediction question. At other points you may find yourself asking questions to check the children’s understanding of important information in that section of the book to gauge their comprehension. There is no right number of questions to ask, you should ask as many as you feel are appropriate and needed.