While watching this video with Professor Duke, she was describing different ways students process and take in text in order to comprehend it. As future teachers this has us thinking about certain ways we can incorporate these strategies into our own lessons.

What do good readers do?
I think as readers, and as teachers there are behaviors we do naturally but it is important that we understand what we are doing and why we are doing it so that we can model and accentuate this behavior for our students. She reminds us that good readers are active readers, are constantly evaluating themselves, set clear goals for themselves, look over the text before they begin, construct questions, try to construct meaning of concepts and integrate prior knowledge and activate it. Good readers also engage in different types of texts differently.  For instance, with narratives the reader may pay close attention to setting and character.

What can teachers do to develop comprehension? I think this is in important aspect of the video because we know what good readers are but as future teachers, learning how to develop comprehension is trickier. Duke tells us to create a supportive classroom and not to just offer good instruction. What I got from this is that one major thing is that a good chunk of time must be spent reading!

Yes, instruction is important but one thing your mom used to tell you is still true, practice makes perfect. You cannot expect your students to improve in short periods of time. I think I took away from this video that you have to consistently spend large amounts of dedicated class time to this, and be dedicated to it as a teacher. Also just reading for reading sake is not good enough. We have to model that reading "real texts for real reasons" is important. To become strong readers the student has to read beyond the reading program and relate to the text. Also Teacher modeling and think aloud sessions is key with a do as I do formula.

What can teachers do to help struggling readers?
I think something i have encountered to be a struggle aside from obvious student issues is motivation. I think keeping students motivated is very important. I think keeping students engaged by allowing choice and having conversation about the text is the way to engage the average struggling reader.

The true struggler reader is another story. This why the assessments we have been learning about is so important. Theses ongoing assessment is important because we can diagnose and form an intervention as soon as possible and work this in to our classroom strategy. Duke talks about effective comprehension routines, and I think creating one for a struggling reader is important. I think an intervention in combination with a comprehension routine and ongoing assessment is the scaffolding struggling readers need.

Which ideas from the video struck you as most relevant to your teaching of comprehension?
For me I think the use of predicating, and thinking aloud before the text. I think this gets the students brains working and gets them engaged in the txt. It gets them interested and helps you spot any motivation issues right from the start.

What new instructional practices will you implement in your classroom?
I hope to be able to implement them all lol! I think Modeling and think aloud is invaluable. Showing the students how I read, then how I think and process the information will be the most important thing I take with me. This way the student has a model. It is somewhat met cognitive, but it is basic really. I think it is how I learned to read from my mother when I was young!

Comparing QRI-5 and DIBELS as Assessment Tools for the Classroom

Although the QRI-5 and DIBELS assessment both test for literacy measures, both tests are very different and should be used at different moments and for different reasons in the classroom. When I began learning about both forms of assessment I was initially comparing the two against each other. One checks for fluency, one comprehension. Is this assessment appropriate for fifth grade level? Then I realized a large fault in my thinking. I was comparing tests small measures, what each test could do or would gauge for, rather than considering my student as a whole child and looking at his/her education in a holistic approach. In order to really examine each students with merit, and develop interventions when necessary, or on the other end of the spectrum develop enrichment a teacher needs to step back and take a whole look at the student from finish to end and see the students progress. I think fro this very reason; both DIBELS and assessment such as QRI-5 are needed in tandem.

Assessment such as DIBELS which is often used a screening test and measures components such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic principles, fluency, vocabulary and initial comprehension is a good and quick way of an educator getting an initial understanding of where his/her student stands in terms of level. Screening tests such as DIBLS help the districts place students in appropriate classes, and help get students the initial appropriate interventions. However as a classroom teacher it could also be used as a quick way to gauge your class and inform instruction. As a new teacher, a testing system such as DIBELS may help develop scaffolding systems for lessons if for instance the teacher notices many students are having difficulty with the same phonemic principles.

 

DIBELS screen assessment, shows you if the student is at risk or not

The QRI-5 assessment system, is very different and much more intensive then the DIBELS system. This system uses a combination of Miscue analysis, site words, retelling and implicit and explicit questions to gage comprehension of both narrative and expository texts. This system is much longer, and a more rigorous form of assessment which gives you more detailed information about the students’ literacy level, and comprehension. This is also particularly useful for understanding if the student is better at comprehending narrative or expository text, or what type of weaknesses the students may have in terms of literacy. The QRI-5 is also one of the strongest methods for finding and forming and intervention strategy for a student. This means a teacher can assess a student and react quickly with the classroom. By administering such tests a few times throughout the year, a teacher can gauge the students level, react, intervene and monitor the students and progress.

Just one part of the QRI-5 assessment where the student is being analyzed for miscue and retelling.

In order to benefit the student, just as many forms of teaching and scaffolding are necessary, there is no difference with assessment. Each test holds a different value, and while a few of the measures such as phonics overlaps, each of the assessments has a different purpose and is meant to be administered in a different way at a different point in the year. The best and most holistic approach as a teacher is to learn how to master these test and use them in tandem and to your advantage. The DIBELS is best used a screening tool, it’s strength is the quickness and the information it provides for emergent readers, however it quickness is also a downfall as the teacher must be a master of the test and must practice it carefully before administering it to the student or the results could be altered at the fault of the teacher. The QRI-5 is much longer and more intensive but is a much more holistic and detailed view of comprehension and the  miscue analysis of a student’s reading level. It is also appropriate for a much older readers and is very good for forming intervention strategies. As a future teacher, although I know it will take a lot of practice, I hope to master these test and interweave them into my lesson plans and create lessons that both scaffold struggling readers and gifted ones. Using assessments such as DIBELS and QRI-5 will give me the information necessary to not only decide which students are at what level, but also what the group as whole needs to discover and through lessons and what I need to scaffold.

What Contributes To An Effective Writing Program?

• Discuss the components of an effective writing program and why they are important.
• How might you rearrange your schedule to create more time for students to write in general and, in particular, for students to write about their personal experiences?
• How can you create ways for students to make personal connections in different subject areas through writing?
• How can student work help you decide which conventions to teach?
• When can you promote student inventions and experimentation with different formats in writing?

Case Study Findings

I am pasting in the synopsis of the results of the QRI-5 and also the lesson plan I create to target my case study student Jose and his struggle with comprehension skills.

Results

The student demonstrated much of what was suspected before the QRI-5 was administered. However, this was not the data that was shown by purely administering a Miscue Analysis. Jose was on an Instructional Third grade level. His Miscue analysis was borderline, however there were clear comprehension problems that identified on the third grade level QRI-5 level test, as opposed to the second level. As a teacher this should make one pause for concern. This student has demonstrated strength in phonics, and that is pulling him through his reading levels, however his comprehension is very week.  He struggled greatly with many of the implicit questions, and even when allowed to go back and look for the questions, there was indifference and no more answers were provided. His miscue analysis showed that he was borderline instructional. With a little help he could be boosted to independent. As an educator, I do not feel that is true and that could be cause for alarm, especially for ELL student where comprehension could be greatly based on prior knowledge.

Strategy for Intervention

In many ways, although the teacher has made Jose background and level tests available to me, I am not privy to confidential information like conversations between the resource room teacher and the classroom teacher. I do not think Jose has an RTI, and I know for a fact his resource room time has been slowly declining as he slowly gains level. However, once again, I feel that with the simple QRI-5 test Jose was failing comprehension his grade level. Could it be that neither teacher noticed this? Mrs. P has a guided reading group and one of the main components is comprehension. She is diligent about asking compression questions, and having the students formulate their own inquiry questions.

So what went wrong? I can assume there are certain variables that could affect a student’s literacy at any time. I do not think the QRI-5 was too far off. Right from the start Mrs. P told me Jose was on third grade level but struggling. This is what the results found. In certain context prior knowledge can have a huge impact on comprehension, as can a comfortable setting. After the first administering of level-2 the student lost focus. As a classroom teacher trying an intervention on a student I would try different stories and different levels, and administer the tests multiple times sequentially, of course giving the student a few days break in between so not to frustrate them. This would help gauge the level of the student and allow the teacher to be certain with the level. Unfortunately in the case study, I was only able to administer it twice.

Observations Week 3/28- Research

Another excerpt from my report, and what I struggled with in terms of trying to administer the test as a Grad student:

"As a means to getting to know Jose and his personality, reading habits and level, I first casually examined him multiple times in a guided reading circle. The first few times he read orally and answered comprehension questions. After getting to know each other a little better a casual miscue analysis was administered to get a better idea of the technicality of his reading ability. It seemed Jose was at independent level with his third grade R level reading book. There are some questions to be raised about this, because this was not completely the truth. Jose has demonstrated strength with phonics. He has also demonstrated tremendous potency with oral reading, conversation and prosody. What he did scuffle with occasionally was comprehension. As soon as possible this student was to be administered the QRI-5, which would give the research a better holistic sense of how the student can identify the words and comprehend the text. The miscue analysis would be addressed, however the QRI-5 also considers concepts, retelling, key words and explicit and implicit thoughts.

The only downfall to administering the QRI-5 is that it does take some time. It is necessary that some time be set-aside for a student such as Jose. A quiet area in the classroom was set aside where the student and the teacher could work alone on the test and reading material, so that the student would not be disturbed."

Observations Week 3/28- Case Study

I was very fortunate that things have calmed down around the classroom this week. On mOnday morning, I arrived early on and my case study "Jose" was ready to go for the QRI-5 assessment. As I mentioned before I have assessing him all semester and have been trying observe him and build a repore.