"Writing Across the Curriculum"
Writing strategies help upper elementary and middle school students with reading
In this podcast, the author speaks about the importance writing plays in literacy. There are different types of writing when it comes to education. There is "learning to write" which typically and English Language Arts topic which teaches students how to write for expression, narrative essay etc. What teachers need to consider as well is that there is also "writing to learn". This is an instructional approach which uses different strategies and writing techniques to help create a deep understanding and comprehension. Many teachers in upper elementary level, middle school and high school find these techniques particularity helpful for content reading. Frequently in content reading the ideas and concepts can be difficult for the student to have true understanding, so using writing strategies in combination with the reading strategies proves successful.
There are many different writing strategies teachers can adapt with their reading, but they are essentially broken down into pre-writing, during writing and after writing assignments. Many of the pre-reading assignments concentrate on activating students prior knowledge and creating inquiry. For instance, using a technique such as Brainstorming, the students can work in groups and jot down ideas about what they think the reading will be about. Then they could read the text and return to their brainstorming notes and writing to see what was correct about their assumptions and what was not. Another pre reading assignment is something called a one minute paper. The student would write quickly about a question the teacher assigns. The question could be as easy as what do you think about photosynthesis? Or s complex as discuss important components of photosynthesis.
Many of the during reading strategies focus on note-taking skills, and teaching the students how to take notes during their reading. It's a read, stop, think technique. I have actually seen this in process in a fourth grade class. The students were reading fiction books but were provided sticky notes. On each of the pages they were supposed to stop reading, think about what they read and jot down some key ideas. Later the students were to refer back to the stickies during a conversation about the reading. These sort of techniques help slow down the reader and increase comprehension.
Post reading techniques are important because they demonstrate student comprehension. These small activities can be used as informal assessment and conversation about comprehension between the teacher and student. One popular strategy is to have the students create an index card which has a compare/contrast and analyze portion and one that answers open ended questions provided by the teacher. This can indicate the level of compreheshion to the teacher very quickly, and the teacher can hand back an index cards with notes on where the student is and what the student can do to increase their level. One of my favorite tools are graphic organizers, and this is a good way for students to organize and record their own thoughts.
The idea is to create techniques and strategies to arm the students with the ability to have creative and critical thinking and writing skills. This helps deepen literacy in your classroom, especially if you are concerned with ways to create comprehension, in sometimes tougher content areas.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Waiting for Superman.
I have a lot to say about this documentary so I thought I would share with you all. I have never seen a movie or documentary where it had made me feel so conflicted inside. It questioned many things I believe are inherent rights for teacher protection, as it was very biased and anti-union. On the other hand, you heart goes out to so many of the students in schools across the country who are being lost in our failing system.
In many ways, while watching this I was thanking god I live on Long Island, as competitive as the job market is, our schools (in general) are so amazing. Living here you become trapped in an education bubble, a little naive that the education system in America is truly failing, because in all our schools are so great.
While I know there are issues with the unions, and tenure because nothing is perfect, it is a necessary evil to protect teachers from a corrupt system. That's why it was created. Can it be reformed? Absolutely. The creators, however, feel they should be demolished. I can not write too deeply about matters of which I am not completely involved, but I am very lucky to have many a friend who is a teacher, mostly young , untenured ones, and believe it or not they were not too happy with the film.
I think had the creators put all the politics aside, the film would have been much more appealing to the masses. The heart and soul of the film is the education system that is failing so many students. Way too many kids are not graduating High School, and so many factors are involved as to why. This is not only happening in low socio-econmic areas either. Along with following students from the bronx, D.C. it also follows an upper middle class, primarily caucasian student in a "good" district in silicone valley.
It is a very eye opening film!
Reader Response
The Assessment of Thoughtful Literacy in NAEP: Why the States Aren't Measuring Up
The authors of this article state that not all reading test are created equal, and state test could be less effective then the NAEP. One thing the state and NAEp framework have in common is that both require more than just the "ability to extract information from text." Both require some level of comprehension and thoughtful response from the student.
The research uses many methods and test and things like vocabulary knowledge, familiarity with genre, text organization, characterization, detail, text emphasis items, and higher order interpretation items. The first thing was to examine the "portion of items that assessed comprehension in an open-ended as opposed to multiple choice format" between the NAEP and state tests.It appears that the NAEP places a lot of weight on the readers capacity to create a response to the text, where the state places more merit on the student's ability to recognize and distinguish it from other less adequate responses.
In the NAEP vocabulary knowledge was seldom used, where in some state test 25% or more of the test checks vocabulary. The problem with these vocabulary test portions is they are trying to test for the ability to use contextual clues. There is one big problem with that: prior knowledge. There is know way to know if the student is performing well because they are using appropriate contextual clues, or they have learned he word elsewhere.
In the NAEP genre accounts for avery small percentage as opposed to the 11% on state tests. Some of the poor assessment genre features include just asking the student to apply a mindless definition of a genre element to a text. This can lead to problems because the student can easily answer this question with no reference or comprehension of the text.
The authors also compare the state test and the NAEP in terms of recognition and interpretation. Which test are created to have the students recognize the information and which is actually having them interpret them. This is smart, because one can thinking of the higher orders of thinking and true cognitive ability, and to have true understanding the student must synthesize and interpret, not just recognize. The research shows the NAEP helps foster higher order thinking.
In all, the research and analysis of the authors of the article found that teachers who encourage higher order thinking and engagement with text will prepare their students better for both test, regardless of which test is a better model of assessment. In the end, that is the most important thing for teachers to remember.
The authors of this article state that not all reading test are created equal, and state test could be less effective then the NAEP. One thing the state and NAEp framework have in common is that both require more than just the "ability to extract information from text." Both require some level of comprehension and thoughtful response from the student.
The research uses many methods and test and things like vocabulary knowledge, familiarity with genre, text organization, characterization, detail, text emphasis items, and higher order interpretation items. The first thing was to examine the "portion of items that assessed comprehension in an open-ended as opposed to multiple choice format" between the NAEP and state tests.It appears that the NAEP places a lot of weight on the readers capacity to create a response to the text, where the state places more merit on the student's ability to recognize and distinguish it from other less adequate responses.
In the NAEP vocabulary knowledge was seldom used, where in some state test 25% or more of the test checks vocabulary. The problem with these vocabulary test portions is they are trying to test for the ability to use contextual clues. There is one big problem with that: prior knowledge. There is know way to know if the student is performing well because they are using appropriate contextual clues, or they have learned he word elsewhere.
In the NAEP genre accounts for avery small percentage as opposed to the 11% on state tests. Some of the poor assessment genre features include just asking the student to apply a mindless definition of a genre element to a text. This can lead to problems because the student can easily answer this question with no reference or comprehension of the text.
The authors also compare the state test and the NAEP in terms of recognition and interpretation. Which test are created to have the students recognize the information and which is actually having them interpret them. This is smart, because one can thinking of the higher orders of thinking and true cognitive ability, and to have true understanding the student must synthesize and interpret, not just recognize. The research shows the NAEP helps foster higher order thinking.
In all, the research and analysis of the authors of the article found that teachers who encourage higher order thinking and engagement with text will prepare their students better for both test, regardless of which test is a better model of assessment. In the end, that is the most important thing for teachers to remember.
Reader Response
Response to intervention: What Teachers Need to Know
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a hot button topic in schools today. It is a new way to respond to students needs, before they can get support and also diagnose learning disabilities. RTI was created because of the problems in the model used for identifying students with learning issues. Usually by the time the school has diagnosed a student who needs help, the student has fallen even further behind in their curriculum. This is a way general classroom teachers can intervene and help the students before and during the whole process.
There are five steps in the RTI process:
1. Universal literacies are established. Screenings help identify students who may be at risk.
2. research based interventions are used when the student does not reach the benchmark. With most models the intervention is first administered to small groups.
3. The progress of the student must be monitored and observed. RTI demands that progress monitoring be the continuously collected through assessment. The assessment should be administered repeatedly and should be sensitive to small changes in the student.
4. The intervention needs to me individualized for the student. Some students may still struggle after an intervention is put in lace, this student will require more intense and targeted interventions.
5. The teacher should be a decision make and so should the school. They must determine if the student needs support/special education help.
RTI in real life practice can be confusing, and the authors use case study student "Mark" to demonstrate the intervention. The walk through the five steps above to show how Mark reacts and how the teachers and school react through each of the five steps. After going through the five steps, after one year Mark's development improved. If it had not the final step (5) would be to have diagnosed Mark with a LD and recommend him to special education support.
One of the major questions the authors attempt to answer, and one which is so valid to new teachers such as myself is, why RTI? The short answer is through assessment and intervention strategies a general classroom teacher can deliver strategies that immediately affect and benefit a struggling student.
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a hot button topic in schools today. It is a new way to respond to students needs, before they can get support and also diagnose learning disabilities. RTI was created because of the problems in the model used for identifying students with learning issues. Usually by the time the school has diagnosed a student who needs help, the student has fallen even further behind in their curriculum. This is a way general classroom teachers can intervene and help the students before and during the whole process.
There are five steps in the RTI process:
1. Universal literacies are established. Screenings help identify students who may be at risk.
2. research based interventions are used when the student does not reach the benchmark. With most models the intervention is first administered to small groups.
3. The progress of the student must be monitored and observed. RTI demands that progress monitoring be the continuously collected through assessment. The assessment should be administered repeatedly and should be sensitive to small changes in the student.
4. The intervention needs to me individualized for the student. Some students may still struggle after an intervention is put in lace, this student will require more intense and targeted interventions.
5. The teacher should be a decision make and so should the school. They must determine if the student needs support/special education help.
RTI in real life practice can be confusing, and the authors use case study student "Mark" to demonstrate the intervention. The walk through the five steps above to show how Mark reacts and how the teachers and school react through each of the five steps. After going through the five steps, after one year Mark's development improved. If it had not the final step (5) would be to have diagnosed Mark with a LD and recommend him to special education support.
One of the major questions the authors attempt to answer, and one which is so valid to new teachers such as myself is, why RTI? The short answer is through assessment and intervention strategies a general classroom teacher can deliver strategies that immediately affect and benefit a struggling student.
Reader Response
Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education: Preparing Classroom Teachers to Teach English Language Learners
In this article, the authors inform us about the growing number of English Language Learners. The skills to work with ELLs is something that every teacher today must be equipped with. However, the authors feel this is not being covered in many Teacher Education programs and they are reaching out to drive home the importance of preparing young teachers for these new classrooms.
There are key principles which teachers who have ELLs in their classroom must understand. First, conversational proficiency is very different from academic language proficiency. Some ELL use the English language fluently in conversation but struggle academically. Secondly, ELLs should have access to not only material on their level, but also material a bit beyond their level. This can help the student read fluently, but also increase learning in the content area.
Social interaction and group work can help ELL's develop their language proficiency and conversational skills. This can be tied in to similar theories of Vygotsky, for native speakers as well. The peer interaction can benefit both the ELL and native speaker. Also, ELL students who are strong in their own native language, tend to achieve a higher level of english proficiency then ELLs who are weak in their native language.
Another important thing to consider, is creating a safe and welcoming classroom and environment. This can help ease anxiety about performance. As a teacher paying attention to linguistic form and function is key. There should be emphasis on communicative approach.
The main focus of a general classroom teacher in relation to the ELL student is to make sure the student is learning the curriculum. If the student is cognitively able to learn the content, but the language is problem, this should not hold them back from the content. There should be interventions and techniques used by the teacher to facilitate the curriculum.
In this article, the authors inform us about the growing number of English Language Learners. The skills to work with ELLs is something that every teacher today must be equipped with. However, the authors feel this is not being covered in many Teacher Education programs and they are reaching out to drive home the importance of preparing young teachers for these new classrooms.
There are key principles which teachers who have ELLs in their classroom must understand. First, conversational proficiency is very different from academic language proficiency. Some ELL use the English language fluently in conversation but struggle academically. Secondly, ELLs should have access to not only material on their level, but also material a bit beyond their level. This can help the student read fluently, but also increase learning in the content area.
Social interaction and group work can help ELL's develop their language proficiency and conversational skills. This can be tied in to similar theories of Vygotsky, for native speakers as well. The peer interaction can benefit both the ELL and native speaker. Also, ELL students who are strong in their own native language, tend to achieve a higher level of english proficiency then ELLs who are weak in their native language.
Another important thing to consider, is creating a safe and welcoming classroom and environment. This can help ease anxiety about performance. As a teacher paying attention to linguistic form and function is key. There should be emphasis on communicative approach.
The main focus of a general classroom teacher in relation to the ELL student is to make sure the student is learning the curriculum. If the student is cognitively able to learn the content, but the language is problem, this should not hold them back from the content. There should be interventions and techniques used by the teacher to facilitate the curriculum.
Reader Response
Organizing Instruction for Struggling Readers in Tutorial Settings
The authors of the article suggest that many teachers struggle with organizing assessment and instruction in their classroom. This according to them, originates from struggling readers difficulty"related to the types of text read (print or online), the tasks or activities readers engage in and the sociocultural contexts of reading." When the students needs are kept in mind, the struggling reader can be taught to read if their plan is thoughtfully organized.
They use a case study "Alyssa" who is in third grade and at frustration level, a struggling reader, as a case study. She had scored poorly on the Iowa's reading State test and the teacher felt it necessary to continue further assessment to get to the bottom of her reading troubles. She struggles with vocabulary, decoding and greatly with comprehension.
The authors share three "practical guidelines" of how the teacher was able to put together a plan to help Alyssa.
1. "Use multiple assessment data to help design and guide instruction". In other words, as a teacher who may need to create a plan similar to this for a struggling student, one must use various forms of assessment to test fluency, word recognition etc and use those finding to inform the lessons. If the student has fluency problems, modeling fluency and prosody would be helpful.
2. "Implement an instructional framework for organizing and managing instruction." When a teacher is in a tutorial setting with a student, time is limited. It is important to use a prearranged studied plan. The authors' use an adaption of Rollers framework: use easy books, read new books, writing activity, a mini-lesson, and an introduction of a new more challenging book. Also reaffirm that the student should spend at minimum 5 minutes a day out side of school reading, involve the parents if necessary.
3."Monitor student's response to instruction." Observing the student, and seeing how prepared, how engaged and how responsive the student is to the intervention methods is key.
I thought there were some very good aspects to this article, and ones I would practice in my classroom. However what strikes me is the amount of time the teacher needs to spend with "Alyssa". This would not be possible in a class of 20+ students. Of course, some individual time is necessary and an intervention is a must, but I feel like the full tutoring plan would be impossible for e to completely implement and it makes me a bit nervous, thinking I may have to do so.
The authors of the article suggest that many teachers struggle with organizing assessment and instruction in their classroom. This according to them, originates from struggling readers difficulty"related to the types of text read (print or online), the tasks or activities readers engage in and the sociocultural contexts of reading." When the students needs are kept in mind, the struggling reader can be taught to read if their plan is thoughtfully organized.
They use a case study "Alyssa" who is in third grade and at frustration level, a struggling reader, as a case study. She had scored poorly on the Iowa's reading State test and the teacher felt it necessary to continue further assessment to get to the bottom of her reading troubles. She struggles with vocabulary, decoding and greatly with comprehension.
The authors share three "practical guidelines" of how the teacher was able to put together a plan to help Alyssa.
1. "Use multiple assessment data to help design and guide instruction". In other words, as a teacher who may need to create a plan similar to this for a struggling student, one must use various forms of assessment to test fluency, word recognition etc and use those finding to inform the lessons. If the student has fluency problems, modeling fluency and prosody would be helpful.
2. "Implement an instructional framework for organizing and managing instruction." When a teacher is in a tutorial setting with a student, time is limited. It is important to use a prearranged studied plan. The authors' use an adaption of Rollers framework: use easy books, read new books, writing activity, a mini-lesson, and an introduction of a new more challenging book. Also reaffirm that the student should spend at minimum 5 minutes a day out side of school reading, involve the parents if necessary.
3."Monitor student's response to instruction." Observing the student, and seeing how prepared, how engaged and how responsive the student is to the intervention methods is key.
I thought there were some very good aspects to this article, and ones I would practice in my classroom. However what strikes me is the amount of time the teacher needs to spend with "Alyssa". This would not be possible in a class of 20+ students. Of course, some individual time is necessary and an intervention is a must, but I feel like the full tutoring plan would be impossible for e to completely implement and it makes me a bit nervous, thinking I may have to do so.
Observation updates week of 2/21.
Two weeks ago I observed a third grade, and a first grade classroom at the DKschool. The teachers there are so helpful. I was able to pick my case study and also see the progression of reading in two years. It is quite amazing!
In the first grade class, they were doing "Fun-dations" and using root words to learn vocabulary and phonics. In the third grade class, the teacher Dr. P (who is a reading specialist, but teaching third grade right now), new I was trying to do a literacy case study so she set up a guided reading group so I could see how it was run, and hear my case study, who I will call John, read orally. She had four groups in her class, all reading at different levels, so it was nice to compare John's reading ability to the other levels. I also was able to do a very informal miscue analysis on him without him even realizing because the teacher was doing the guiding. All in all I am so very happy with my placement and I think this will help my research as long as I can get in to the school in a timely manner. Also I am not so sure they are willing to share the students records and body of work, as they seemed hesitant about that as it breaks all sorts of "laws" without parental consent. However, I can probably get a copy of a writing sample or two.
I was supposed to observe last Weds. at DK school. Unfortunately the teacher called out sick, so we have to reschedule. This week they have off for winter break, so hopefully I will get to go next week.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Question for my classmates....
Learning about the structure of Response to Intervention and what an RTI actually is, has me thinking about how it would affect my daily routine as a classroom teacher.
How do you think RTI will affect your classroom, and how does it change what you have learned about your future daily routine, the way you interact with students and your lessons?
How do you think RTI will affect your classroom, and how does it change what you have learned about your future daily routine, the way you interact with students and your lessons?
Monday, February 7, 2011
Observation Report
The school I am going to be observing at has asked I come in this Weds. to meet the two teachers I will be working with and the principal. I will be observering two different first grade classes, both have ELL learners I can work with. Now I have to make an observation and choose my case study!
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