EDLI635 Theory and Practice of Literacy Instruction

Click here  to view my Running Record titled " Fruits from my garden " . You can view Miriam's  Multiple Choice Quick-check  response sheet and the  retelling form  here.  I drew up this  lesson plan   to improve her reading fluency and comprehension.  Here you can view my  reflection   on my running record.

The article, "Seven Literacy Strategies That Work" by, Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Douglas Williams discusses seven practical strategies that can be used in the classroom to enhance student reading. Using a KWL chart in literacy lessons is something that I have done in the past in my own classroom. Using this chart gave the students a good introduction to what they will be reading about. After listing their questions and hearing what their friends are wondering about the topic, the students got a clear focus on where they are headed while reading the book. At the end, filling out the last column was an excellent way to wrap up and write down the most critical points of the book. KWL charts are a fantastic way to involve students in the reading lesson. It allows them to organize their inquiries and develop an interest and purpose in their reading. Before reading a book with a class, I would complete a KWL chart with them. I would give each student a personal chart and dra...

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Explain the three levels of words and how you can use word levels to decide which words to teach. The first level of words is familiar words that are used very often. These words don't have to be taught to students. The next level of words includes those that often appear in print or conversation however they may be difficult for students to understand and read. The words in this tier are the most important for teachers to focus on in a classroom.  The third level includes highly technical and very unique words. These may be words that are part of Science, Math, or Social Studies curriculum. If so, these words can be left to the biology, social studies, and math teacher to teach. When selecting words to teach you, it can be based on materials within the classroom. Fluency does not have to be a separate lesson, instead, let it be embedded within content or reading lessons. How do you teach your student...

How can you ensure that your struggling readers have access to texts they can easily read? An important factor to develop fluency is to practice reading with high success - 98% - 100% - and read with comprehension. Having a large variety of books gives access to students to books on their level. Struggling readers should be taught how to identify what type of book is just right for them. The books can be arranged in a library format. When children choose books they should be ones that they can read accurately and have background knowledge and experience with.  The books can also be with texts that are connected to science and social studies lessons. How can you foster a learning environment in which students have many opportunities to practice reading? The way that students learn to read is when there is a  nice balance of whole group reading, small group reading, and side by side instruction. A classroom that is focused on the whole group reading won't have high ...

View my fluency and word study chart here What texts and materials do teachers have in their classrooms that support students' development of fluent reading?  A student library is a great way to encourage independent reading on an individual level and promote fluent reading. When children have a choice of books on varying levels, they are able to choose the one they feel is most appropriate for them. When a students read books on the proper level of understanding and decoding,  fluency is more likely to develop within student's reading. Additionally, a selection of books in a library setting gives the students a positive outlook toward the reading sessions. How do they select vocabulary to teach in all areas of your curriculum?  Teachers should choose words to teach based on students level of understanding, knowledge, and background. These words can be either those that are used often and necessary for general education. Or, words that are part of the science ...

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Zeldy is a first grader who has beginner reading skills. Her accuracy rate is 91% and rate of error is 1 out of every 11 words. She is able to read many site words. Zeldy is able to decode single syllable words (cvc, cvcc words) nicely. She can read all the common blends and fluently read words with blends. Zeldy reads fluently however she gets stuck on multi syllable words. When she comes across a word with more then one syllable Zeldy will decode the word while whispering and then read it out loud. Yet, there were some long words that she was unable decode correctly. I also noticed that erred on several words that have a "long i" sound without an "e" at the end of the word.  Zeldy was very hesitant while reading, which resulted in poor comprehension of the text. When I asked Zeldy questions about the details of the story she had to look back for most of the answers. Zeldy was able to tell be what the general idea of the passage was.  I also noticed that she was...

This student seems to have good decoding skills. Her accuracy rate is 94%, which is very good. Yet, every time she got stuck on a word she hesitated to try reading it and seemed lost. The child self-corrected herself  1 out of every 4 times she erred, which is the borderline indication that the student is self-monitoring herself. Her rate of error was only 1 out of every 17 words. The student was able to read fluently with little teacher support. Also, the student seemed to confuse the sight word "to" with "it." There were two mistakes that I noticed throughout the passage. Firstly, she read the word "must" as "most." Second, she added on an "ed" to the word "live" several times. The child used visual cues and meaning to help her decode the hard words. Her rate of error was only 1 out of every 19 words As per comprehension skills, the student was able to recall what the passage was about. She stated the comparisons and differ...

I currently teach Title One groups in an elementary school in Brooklyn. I teach Math to first and second graders and Math and Literacy to fourth grade. In addition to my afternoon job, I recently started working in a special ed class as a one-to-one shadow for a child with autism I teach her math, decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension skills. Here is my teaching philosophy

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The shared reading activity done with the class engages students on all levels. The words of the poem were posted in large print on the board and the teacher uses a pointer to help the students follow along. The teacher and students read the poem slowly together. The poem includes many words based on the previous phonics lesson. Although not all students know how to read all the words, since they are reading together the students can participate by saying the words they know and leaving out the harder words. Most of the words are repeated in the poem. Thus the second time a word is read the children are familiar with the word. The lesson after the poem was to reinforce the phonics lesson that the poem focused on. the teacher presented the “v-c” sound and placed a “c” at the beginning of the word for more examples. Then she placed a blend before the vowel. To help the children read she divided the word between the blend and the vowel and asked a child to read each part separately. This...

The four consecutive lesson plans created by Carolyn Wilhelm focuses on teaching students to compose found poetry. The objectives of these lessons are clearly stated which is an important factor to start with when is writing a lesson plan. The first lesson introduces the topic of found poetry in a clear yet subtle way. Before introducing the “exciting” part – the performance, the students are asked to discuss and analyze this new form of poetry. I like that the class will create a collaborative definition to explain what found poetry is. Each consecutive lesson is linked to the lesson before using a handout or review. This allows recapture of focus in minimal amount of time.   The planning sheet handout is a great tool to help the students learn how to write this type of poem. In general, handouts are great to assist step by step guided instruction. The self-reflection at the end is a great tool for honest evaluation of performance. It helps students notice areas...

The first thing that caught my attention when I began watching the video of Sheila’s classroom is her soft tone in which she stated that she hopes that her students enjoy being in her classroom. Her sensitivity to each student and devotedness as a teacher came across by that statement alone. She teaches for their benefit not only for hers. The end of her sentence about viewing every student as a reader and a writer shows her view of potential within each student regardless of where they are coming from. Although I was struck by the next statement since it sounded a bit tough, the students need that “strictness” occasionally, to place them in the student position in the classroom. The culture in the classroom is extremely effective. Sheila speaks to them in a loving form and students aren’t afraid to respond to call-out questions. Students seem to know what they are supposed to be doing during morning meeting, read aloud, guided practice, and independent work. Sheila Owen make...

As I begin my education in English Language Arts, knowing the standards of what will result in success in my students is a vital point. After watching the instructional videos and reading the standards I got a clear overview of the Common Core standards for ELA. ELA is divided into five parts reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. Although each component is focused on individually, they all work hand in hand to develop a high standard of English as a language. In the early years of a child’s education English is taught primarily by one teacher. In these years the foundational skills of reading and writing are taught. From grades 6 – 12 application of the five areas of ELA is introduced. The ELA teacher continues to teach while subject teachers use reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language within their subjects to help students apply English to the real worlds. Thus teachers of different subject areas all work with assistive technology to develop the English ...