Rosenthal and Ehri Assignment

1. What was the hypothesis tested by the researchers?

Pronunciations and meanings of new vocabulary words will come easier when students see the spelling of the words than when they do not.

2. Who were the subjects?

The first experiment involved a group of 20 second graders enrolled in a urban school with a large minority population whose vocabulary level was below average.  The second experiment performed was with a group of 5^th graders from a lower SES school.

3. What were the experimental conditions?

The second graders were taught the pronunciations and meanings of 2 sets of 6 concrete nouns. The spellings were shown for one set and not shown for the other set. The word set and the order that students completed the conditions were counterbalanced. The fifth graders were divided into 2 groups, based on higher or lower orthographic knowledge. Spelling ability also differed between the 2 groups. Two and three syllable, low-frequency nouns were used in their experiment. They were taught 10 words with 5 – 8 trials.

4. What did the treatment involve?

The second graders shown pictures and taught the pronunciation and meaning of the 6 words in each set. They were tested on their recollection of the pronunciations and meanings with 6-9 trials. The fifth graders were taught meanings of words with pictures, defining sentences, and clarifying sentences.

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

The spelling-present group gained more in vocabulary learning. The spelling-present group also recalled pronunciations better than the spelling-absent groups.

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

The fifth graders who were high on a word reading task benefited more from the spelling aids than their peers with less orthographic experience and knowledge because they were more knowledgeable in decoding and if they can read better they can pronounce and determine meaning more easily as well.

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

The authors generally concluded that showing the spellings of new vocabulary words improves pronunciation and learning the meaning of new words for children. This implies that teachers should definitely be aware of this fact and adjust their instruction accordingly.

Internship Reflection Week 4

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.

The class is currently reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They answered a worksheet as a class from the reading that they had done the previous day. They then paired up with a partner to read together. They sat “ear-to-ear” and took turns reading a passage to each other. The listener would ask the reader a question about the passage that they had just read. The reader would have to prove in the text how they found their answer. This is a reading strategy that is new and different from any that we have discussed in class.

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) ?

We have still been assisting the students with their writing prompts that they are putting the finishing touches on. They had a guest speaker again to discuss writing strategies with them.

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

I find it interesting that the class has a guest speaker who comes in and talks to them about reading strategies. I think it is a great idea because sometimes it helps to hear things from someone else or get a new perspective, especially if your our techniques aren’t working as well.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

The class has been working on the same writing prompt for a pretty long while at this time. How long is an appropriate amount of time to spend on one prompt?

Internship Reflection Week 3

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.

The class has been playing jeopardy with language arts terms. They are not very familiar with the terms at all. The categories include things such as figurative language, poetry, etc. Most of the things that they are doing in language arts at this time is at a higher level than the things that we have been talking about in class. They have also been working on an imaginative writing prompt that begins with “You wake up one morning and are on your way to school and you find a watch on the ground. You pick it up and put it on and ‘Bam!’…” They are practicing using descriptive and rich vocabulary words, such as strolled instead of walked.

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) ?

We have been helping with their writing prompt that I mentioned above. We read what they have so far and make suggestions about what can be done to improve their stories. Sometimes this may mean that we suggest they take out superfluous details or that they add a little more detail to an event. We make sure that they have an introduction, a body and a conclusion separated into different paragraphs.

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

The book fair is at the school this week. It is interesting to see what type of books the students pick to buy. For example, one of the girls who I thought would probably be interested in “girly” books or subjects said that she wanted a book that was “really scary”.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

What kind of suggestions do you have for helping students learn about the language arts terms that they are obviously struggling with, judging from the jeopardy game?

Internship Reflection #2

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.

My fourth graders are continuing to prepare for the EOG’s by doing practice tests. They have also played some jeopardy games for story parts. This week my class was starting to read a play as a class from their book.

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) ?

We conducted our QIWK spelling test this week. I chose the lowest achieving student and conducted the WRI flash test. She reached frustrational level on the 3^rd grade list.

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

The interesting thing that I noticed after the QIWK test was that our lowest achieving student was far lower than any of the other students and seemed to be entirely on a level of her own. I read a chapter with her in her Social Studies book and she is a poor reader as well.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

My teacher is currently working on getting this student referred, but if she is so much lower than the other students in reading, why hasn’t she been previously referred?

Internship Reflection #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.

The fourth graders are all preparing for the EOG’s and therefore are doing practice tests in reading. It is evident that seeing words in text does indeed help them in their spelling.

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 only teaching I have done thus far in my internship has been in math. But I did assist each student in finalizing their writing tests, which is a content writing in math.

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

It is very interesting to me that the students no longer have a timed writing test with a surprise prompt. They receive the prompt early on and have time to work on it and have several drafts of it before they actually turn it in. It is a content writing, which is currently math. They can receive as much help as they need on it before turning in a final draft.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

I wonder how much help is appropriate to give when assisting with the writing test.

Curt Assignment 2

1. What grade is Curt in?

Curt is an eight year old, third grader.

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

first grade: 100, 95, 75

second grade: 50

third grade: 20

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

1-2: 97

2-1: 90

2-2: 84

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

1-2: 65

2-1: 44

2-2: 36

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

first-grade: 60% (6 out of 10)

second-grade: 0% (0 out of 10 spelled correctly)

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.

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.)

Preprimer

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

first grade

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

Curt is at a late first-grade, early second grade reading level. He is at a first grade instruction.

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

He is at a first grade spelling Instruction Level.

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

Curt is at a late first grade, early second grade reading level.

Morris & Slavin Chapters 1,2,3

(Chapter 2)

1. Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.

Every child should be equally prepared for the first grade reading program, no matter if it takes extra instruction to get students who may be struggling on the same level.

2. What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?

Reading aloud to children, guided contextual reading, letter-sound study, and writing. (p. 9)

3. Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)

It helps children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surroundings, provides them with a vocabulary to name the new experiences, acquaints them with the characteristic rhythms and structures of written language, involves the child in creating a mental image and sustaining it over time, and allows them to use language symbols to create a mental world beyond the present context. (p. 10)

4. Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?

It affords children a concrete, supportive, and meaningful entry into reading. (p. 11)

5. Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA).

The class recounts or dictates a story, the teacher writes it down on chart paper, and then it is read and reread by the children with the teacher’s support. (p. 12)

6. Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)

Big books have oversized print and pictures so that a large group of children sitting around a teacher can follow along visually as the teacher reads and the language patterns are natural and rhythmic, featuring repetitive refrains. The reading takes place over a period of three days. (p. 13)

7. Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?

Dictated stories and big books complement each other in  a beginning reading program and a consistent use of both methods will extend children’s experiences and nurture their language development, and help them master basic print-related understandings. (p. 16)

8. Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?

Yes, they must first learn the alphabet, phoneme awareness and letter-sound correspondences, but by the end of the year they should at least be able to finger-point read a four-sentence story and read a list of ten isolated words.

(Chapter 3)

1. What does Fraatz (1987) mean by “paradox of collective instruction”?

First grade teachers must provide instruction to the group as a whole, while still attending to individual needs. (p. 33)

2. What are the three critical components of learning to read?

Beginning readers must learn to:

a. Attend to individual sounds within words

b. Decode printed words by matching letters to sounds

c. automatize decoding or word-level processing so that the mind can concentrate on the meaning of what is being read

(p. 34)

3. List the four tasks that the first-grade teacher can use to assess individual children’s reading ability during the first week of school. Describe what each task is used to assess?

a. alphabet – recognition and production

b. concept of word in text – the child can read a word from a sentence after finger-point reading a book (they actually know the individual word, not only in context of the sentence.)

c. spelling – six-word spelling test using sounding-it-out

d. word recognition – child reads ten words as the teacher points them out.

4. How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?

In round robin reading, the students sit in a circle and take turns reading 2 to 3 sentences at a time, going all the way around the circle. SOR features the teacher previewing the book with fingerpointing and echo reading. The student is then paired with a stronger reader and they take turns reading a page at a time. Finally, the student reads with the teacher, receiving help only if needed.

5. Why is appropriate leveling of books important?

It is important that children read books on a level appropriate to their individual ability because if they read text that is too easy for them, no improvement is produced. If they read text that is too difficult for them, only frustration is produced and the child will be deterred from reading. Decodable and conventional texts should be used in the classroom.

6. Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of? Why is it recommended that teachers follow such a sequence of instruction?

The developmental sequence of word study instruction is: beginning consonants, word families, short-vowel patterns, long-vowel patterns, etc. This sequence is recommended for teachers because the concepts flow easily from one to another and provide easy transitions for students as well as teachers.

7. How could you assess where a beginning reader is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?

A beginning reader’s invented spelling should be examined to determine where they fall on the continuum of word recognition skill. A lot will depend on whether or not they include vowels or if they simply use random consonants. It will also depend on whether or not they can even recognize the beginning consonant.

8. Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.

To teach beginning sound consonants, the teacher will introduce picture cards that begin with three different letters. The student will group the pictures by their beginning sound. The next step will be to introduce the beginning letter cards with the pictures and let them match the pictures with the correct letter individually.

To teach short-vowel word families, the teacher will begin with three short-vowel header words, such as cat, mop, and sit. The students will read the words and will follow by sorting words into the correct columns, reading all of the words in the column as they go.

9. What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?

Word sorting, word games and spell checks help develop beginning readers’ sight vocabulary and decoding facility.

10. What is instructional pacing?

Pacing refers to the teacher’s skill in guiding their students through a set of graded reading materials. The four factors that influence the teachers’ pacing are: 1) difficulty of the classroom reading materials, 2) time allocated to reading instruction, 3) number of low readers in the classroom, and 4) the teacher’s years of experience in teaching that grade

11. In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?

Writing in the early months of first grade can help children develop phoneme awareness. Later in the year, writing allows the student readers to assume the stance of an author, affords them opportunities to read and reread text, and provides a purposeful arena for experimenting with, practicing, and eventually internalizing letter-sounds, spelling patterns, and sight words.

12. What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.

The three tasks used for end-of-year reading achievement assessment were word recognition, passage reading, and spelling.

Word recognition consists of the student reading a list of forty words from and early first grade level to mid second grade level. Each word must be read within 3 seconds. The test should continue until the child misses three words in a row. Each correct word counts one point. 30+ scores are late first grade readers, 22 to 29 scores are primer readers, 14 to 21 are pre-primer readers, and 13- are early pre-primer readers.

Passage reading consists of the student reading up to six passages in difficulty from early first grade to late second grade. The child will stop reading if they fall below 85% accuracy on the pre-primer 2 level, or below a 90% on the primer or above passages. The score is equal to the highest passage reading level achieved.

Spelling consists of the student spelling 15 words. Each word gets a score of 1 to 5, depending on the spelling of the word. The score range could be from 0 to 75. 55+ indicates strong, late first grade word knowledge, 40-54 indicates mid to late first grade knowledge, and 39- indicates early to mid first grade word knowledge.

Words Their Way

1. Emergent (Preliterate): Ages 0-5, not reading conventionally, random marks to legitimate letters, prephonetic, scribbling, memorize and spell simple words.
2. Letter Name-Alphabetic (Letter Name): Ages 5-8, use names of letters as sound cues (early), letter name spelling (early), segment phonemes (middle), vowels omitted (middle), semiphonetic (middle), long vowels used (late), full phonemic segmentation (late)
3. Within Word Pattern (Within Word): Age 7-10, recognize vowel patterns, transitional spellers, homophones.
4. Syllables & Affixes (Syllable Juncture): Age 9-14, inflected endings, open and closed syllables, base words + affixes and prefixes.
5. Derivational Relations (Derivational Constancies): roots, meanings, spellings

Text Talk Beck and McKeown (2001) Response

1- In the article, Text Talk, what seem to be the most important points? Discuss several of them.

Teachers can present more challenging material to children through read aloud because they can comprehend it much more effectively than if they were to read it on their own. Limited word recognition keeps them from comprehending when reading themselves than when hearing read aloud.

Discussing books with children enhances their language development and forces them to learn vocabulary and situations beyond what they may encounter in their everyday lives.

Teachers should lead discussions that require thinking outside of the box of the students day to day life and background knowledge. Ask challenging, thought-provoking questions.

2- Summarize the key steps in planning and performing a Text Talk lesson.

Text Talk lessons begin with choosing books that present event structure and complexity of events. Next ask initial questions that explain text ideas rather than only require recalling facts. Ask follow-up questions to encourage elaboration. Show pictures after children have heard a selection of text. Present background knowledge to support meaning building. Finally discuss sophisticated vocabulary words found in the text.

Flanigan (2005) Response

1. What role does fingerpointing play in developing concept of word and phonemic awareness?

Fingerpointing is very important for children to sound out words one syllable at a time, using the first letter of each syllable.

2. Describe the 4-stage model of early literacy.

a. Beginning consonant knowledge.

b. Concept of words in text.

c. Phoneme segmentation recognition.

d. Word recognition.

3. Describe what this means: “It is not in the telling, but it is in the very act of reading that Jack will actually learn how to read.” p. 10

It means that just memorizing the story and retelling it is not reading. Reading occurs when he can actually look at each word and read it.

4. What instruction helps develop beginning readers’ awareness of words and phonemes?

Reading aloud, finger-pointing, echo reading, choral reading, partner reading, and buddy reading, among others, are excellent skills to develop word and phoneme awareness.