Leah

Leah Eslinger 6-14-11 I found the information in this text very informative and thought –provoking. While I reflected often on my personal reading philosophy, I also thought about my district’s reading programs and recommended strategies. Figure 1.4-//Developmental Continuum of Literacy Learning// on page 12 stood out to me the most. A significant discepency exists between Developmentally Appropriate Practices and early childhood curricula. While I learned about Developmentally Appropriate Practices in my undergraduate classes in Early Childhood Development, it is a concept I have thought little about since my career began. The description of Phase 2 for students in Kindergarten does not match my district’s expectations for kindergarten students, and I imagine this is true across Pennsylvania districts. Though kindergarten formerly consisted of half days of instruction which sometimes included a nap, students are now expected to be readers and writers by the time they turn six. They are expected to know their alphabet and numbers when they walk in the door. I have often heard teachers and administrators explaining to parents that current kindergarten expectations are a closer match to the mid-late first grade expectations that they likely experienced in school. This shift within a single generation is alarming and makes me wonder what will be expected of my children when they enter kindergarten. Developmentally Appropriate Practices have unfortunately taken a back seat to standardized test preparation, even at the kindergarten level.
 * Literacy Lessons**

Just a little thought on the section about homework-we are //required// to send homework in all subjects (not necessarily every subject every night).This was also true of the two districts where I student taught. I thought this was fairly commonplace among schools based on my experiences-I am wondering what other districts’ policies are about homework.
 * Smart Answers**

//Leah,// //I also wrote about homework. My school does not require me to assign homework but I feel pressure from many of my parents to issue homework each night. Several of my parents insist on extra homework for their children. I find this issue to be very frustrating.// //Brandy// //﻿// //6/16/11// //Leah,// //In my district, we are not required to assign homework. However, I know my principals like to see students reading independently. Having a learning support class, I rarely assign reading for homework because my students struggle with it tremendously. Whenever I do assign any type of homework, I am lucky if 50% of my students complete it because most of them do not receive any support at home.// //Caitlin﻿//

6-17-11


 * Classroom Strategies**

When reading the section about Fact Pyramids, I found myself stopping to think about a lot of points mentioned for this method. A Fact Pyramid addresses an obstacle that learners of all ages and skill levels encounter. Buehl makes an important note that textbooks are not typically designed to help students understand big concepts and instead focus on “superficial details”. While newer textbooks attempt to address this need, many teachers often reinforce the concept of memorization of minute details such as dates and names. I often had difficulty with this in history and science in school. I focused my time and energy studying exact definitions and specific years instead of understanding causes and effects, relationships between concepts and events, and important themes. The idea of organizing information into Essential Knowledge, Short term Information, and Background Detail really made sense to me. Even if I don’t use this exact graphic organizer in my classroom, I know that I will keep this in mind while introducing concepts and themes to my students.


 * Literacy Lessons**

I found the examples of purposeful picture and words walks particularly useful in this chapter. While I learned about picture walks in college and observed many teachers complete this task with students, I never really understood that this is an activity that requires preparation on the teacher’s part in order to be meaningful and productive. The reading series that I am required to use has pictures separated from text. Words on one page, illustration on the next-and they are not laid out next to each other. I have always had trouble with this concept because pictures often motivate a child to read. I am glad to see reliable information that pictures aid in comprehension and are a valuable tool for reading instruction.

6-20-11 One strategy recommended in this section of text was Different Perspectives for Reading. I really thought about Buehl’s comment that “two people can read the same article and come away with different but equally valid interpretations of what the text means”. I underlined “equally valid” in my book because I want to remember that next time a situation like this occurs in my classroom. Because teachers (and other adults) already have already interpreted a text before giving it to students, we are likely to directly and indirectly influence students to interpret text in the same way that we have. This could be through emphasizing particular words and phrases, questioning in a certain way, or facilitating a discussion based on personal perspectives and opinions. This is a very natural tendency for me, and I look forward to the challenge of consciously changing this behavior. The graphic organizer provided would be too complex for my students, but this strategy has many implications for questioning during guided reading and discussion during read aloud time. Developing empathy is an important skill for all students to learn and I see this strategy as a way of introducing or reinforcing this idea. I teach a social group for students with emotional disturbances, autism, and other social/emotional issues and I also see this strategy being useful for that population of students. It is a difficult thing for children to see others perspectives and it is extremely intimidating to approach the idea of empathy for students who often don’t understand their own emotions and motivations. Finally, Different Perspectives for Reading provides a meaningful goal for repeated reading of texts. This is something I never quite know how to frame for my students who ask, “Why do I have to read it again?”, so I’m excited to have an activity that will answer that question. I hope that students find this to be motivating and interesting.
 * Classroom Strategies**

Leah, your entry really made some great points. I also have never thought about how I'm influencing students to interpret a text the same way I did. That's a very interesting idea, which I will need to consider when discussing a text with my students. I also am often asked by students why they need to do a repeated reading. I often do give them a purpose for doing it, but have not thought of having them view the text from a different perspective. This will be a purpose I will add to my list. :) Thanks! - Kelly

Leah – I’m glad you are finding some good resources ideas in the Strategies text. You are right about having students look at text through their own perspective. It’s all about their schema! Dr. P.

//Leah,// //I think you make some really good points in your reflection on the Beuhl text, especially concerning empathy. I think too often children growing up now-a-days don't have much that really shocks them or disturbs them (i.e. due to television programs, video games, internet, etc.) and it's important to teach our students to look at the fact that there are different sides to every issue.// //- Molly//

6-22-11


 * Smart Answers**

There were a lot of items in this week’s section of Smart Answers that I related to my classroom instruction and assessment. Garan notes “whether a method words or not depends on how we measure success.” As a special education teacher, I spend a significant amount of time planning assessments for progress monitoring and IEP goals. Because these goals and short term objectives have to be measureable, I find myself assessing students’ fluency based on words correct per minute, their decoding based on a list of isolated CVC words, and their comprehension based on a list of low level questions after reading a text. Even rubrics or projects have far too much subjective material to be appropriate for IEP goals, which is a shame-these are valuable assessment tools. Often times fear of law suits motivates and influences how I write an IEP or even teach reading skills. Parents are increasingly eager to sue teachers and districts when their children are getting ready to leave high school and realize they have few vocational skills. There is a lot of pressure on teachers to be able to show parents, administrators, and now lawyers the skills that students acquire. People are interested in graphs with lines that go up, letters on report cards, and PSSA scores.

While progress monitoring is extremely useful and has important implications for instruction, it has a lot of limitations. For instance, how do you measure a child finally ‘getting’ a funny story that you read aloud in class? How do you show the progress that takes place when a reluctant reader finally chooses to go to the classroom library to read a book during free time? I do try to document these instances in communication logs with parents, but it is discouraging when the parents just want to know the test grades or whether they will pass to the next grade. Yes, I can show that my students are moving through the lessons in their textbook and reading more sight words, but there are so many other factors (the //really// important ones) that are not objectively measureable. If anybody has good ideas for more meaningful assessments for reading behavior…don’t be shy!

6/23/11 I feel your pain Leah! There are so many moments in a learning support classroom that are not measureable. Those are the moments that help see the real growth or potential in a student, not the standardized tests, and endless progress monitoring that happens frequently in the classroom. Personally, when I write an IEP I put in the require information of course, but also try to include information that finished painting the whole picture of the child. ~Melissa

6-24-11


 * Literacy Lessons**

Banned and challenged books have always been of great interest to me. It is an issue that has to be examined from many perspectives. Parents may want to control the age and maturity level of their child before exposing them to certain concepts or language. Teachers may want to have authentic discussions with students about topics that are controversial. Administrators want to make sure that students are familiar with different texts and classic literature while respecting their districts’ families. It is a difficult subject with no clear right or wrong. When looking at figure 3.14, I noticed that I read more than half of the Most Challenged Books and there were only a few of those books that I could identify a topic that might be controversial. //James and the Giant Peach//? A book by my **favorite** author that I read in school-yet I can’t think of a specific reason it would be inappropriate to teach in school. Often a single word puts a book at risk for being banned from a classroom-many that children may not even pick up on.

The most current example that I can think of is the Harry Potter series, which I have never read. While many children and adults love this series, there is great concern about the witchcraft involved in these stories. My school district is very sensitive to this matter and while we have Harry Potter in the library for students to check out, we do not read the stories aloud or teach the concepts in it. When I read this section in our text about challenged books, I was wondering if I //know// that Harry Potter books are banned at my school or whether I //feel// that it’s not an appropriate book to use in a school where jack-o-lanterns, witches, and Halloween **__are__** officially banned. There is no list of banned literature in our teacher handbook nor are there specific guidelines on picture and chapter books that may and may not be taught at each grade level. I’m curious if there is a similar culture of understanding concerning appropriate and inappropriate books at other school districts or whether there is a more official list of books that should and should not be taught.

6/26/11 Leah, Upon seeing __James and the Giant Peach__on the most-challenged book list, I wondered why as well. Especially when that is the one novel I do with my students towards the end of the year to escape the SRA series. The students always love reading that novel, especially this year's students. At first it was alittle shocking to see it on that particular list, however, after reading what you had written about a single word putting a book at risk for the banned list it hit me. I know of one definite word I made sure we passed over, ass. I think I was actually reading that portion to the group. I know that some of them realized the word itself, and for those that do follow along, they noticed I had skipped over it. Now, there was no verbal discussion about that word what so ever, so if that is the reason for challenging the book, I don't agree with that reason. I too am looking to see if my district has a list of banned books. ~Melissa Leah – Dealing with book restrictions is always a tricky thing for teachers. Sometimes you have to make a choice based on the culture of the school rather than quality of literature. Dr. P.

6-27-11


 * Classroom Strategies**

There were a bunch of strategies in this section that I liked! I used the RAFT strategy for our classroom discussion on connecting text frames to children’s book. I chose //Wemberly Worried// by Kevin Henkes for this particular strategy. I thought a neat project could be writing a letter to Wemberly from her security blanket about how to cope with anxiety and stress. I will probably use this technique with my students this year. I think this strategy could work for students of all ages and skill levels as well as for different content areas. Some of my students are naturally creative, some are not comfortable with creative projects, while others do not quite have the intellectual capacity for certain types of creative activities. I look forward to using this as a model for all of my students so that they can experience success with creativity. (Also a great way to sneak a letter-writing unit into whatever book I want to read!) J This is a similar idea to the Different Perspectives for Readers strategy that I commented on last week, but I appreciate the innovation and motivational tools for this particular strategy.

I think Buehl’s section on Math Reading Keys is worth note as well. Math vocabulary often gets ignored or pushed to the back burner behind story vocabulary, science vocabulary, and social studies vocabulary. I work with below-benchmark students in general education math and am continually reminded of struggles with math vocabulary when it comes time for our “PSSA crunch”. Students can often parrot back vocabulary terms with virtually no ideas on application of that term. The classroom I work in for math has math word posted on a cabinet and some posters for various math concepts, but as Buehl notes that terms are “equally unclear in the book’s glossary” and the same goes for generic posters and charts. I am interested in how students would define math words in their own words and with their own examples in order to make sense of these complicated terms.

6/28/2011 Leah~ I like your idea of writing a letter using the RAFT strategy and the book Wemberly Worried. The students could also make a connection to self by thinking of something that worries them and have the class write each other letters on ways to cope. I could see students not wanting others to know about their worries so you could give them a number instead of writing names on papers.

Math Vocabulary can often get ignored, however my principal is requiring each of us to have a math wall with math vocabulary posted. I think after I teach a lesson using a new vocabulary word, I will have my students help me generate a definition to post on the math word wall. Thanks! Nicole

//Leah,// //I agree that math vocabulary often gets ignored. Even after students read the definitions they are often still confused. I would also be interested in seeing how students define math vocabulary on their own. This past year I started thinking more about math vocabulary and how I can teach it more effectively. Teaching 1st and 2nd grades its important for me to begin preparing students for tests such as the PSSA.// 6-29-11

Vocabulary instruction seems to pop up everywhere! It was our faculty meeting focus two years ago when our principal required the staff to read //Bringing Words to Life// (a really interesting read) and discuss vocabulary instruction each month. I don’t really have a specific set of vocabulary words that I am required to teach in content areas, for PSSA prep, or through a reading program; however, I have realized that school is an ongoing vocabulary lesson for many of my students. Having many strategies for teaching vocabulary at my fingertips will be very useful for me working with the group that I have coming in this year. In a room where there are students in 5 grade levels with a variety of abilities and disabilities, no method will work for everybody. Like many people have already posted, board games are a great way to incorporate vocabulary practice which also involves social skills like turn taking and ‘being a good sport’. I think this year I will have blank graphic organizers (4 squares, concept circles, and word wall cards) on hand whenever words come up in guided reading lessons or language group activities that students need to really think more about. The section //Parents and Stakeholders as Vocabulary Partners// was also a good reminder of all the different influences there are on a student’s vocabulary development. Trying to get parents involved can be very frustrating and disappointing, but this section reminded me that it //is// important and provided some interesting ideas to try to strengthen the home-school connection.
 * Literacy Lessons**

7-1-11 I was glad to see that there was a section on //Reading as a Means to an End.// As a special educator, I often have to think about functional literacy skills for my students. While this is important for all students, it is essential for students with disabilities. Many life skills teachers have goals for students about reading the newspaper, following a recipe, recognizing safety signs, or reading a map. I co-teach a language group with the speech therapist at my school and we are constantly amazed at the many types of things that we assume our students know or understand when they do not. Many have never been to a restaurant, grocery store, bank, or post office. Even at the elementary level, we consider that at some point they will have to navigate these places independently. We always try to incorporate reading skills in a functional way. For some students, this may mean learning who to ask for help in certain situations as their reading skills may never be strong enough to be completely independent. Of course, we teach //all// students reading and writing skills, but functional literacy is very important even at the elementary level. By the middle of the year, my students are fairly comfortable looking at and following simple recipes (with support). It is great when I see them looking for the word //ingredients// or showing understanding of measurement abbreviations. This year they put together a cook book from what we made throughout the year (pizza bagels, s’mores, ranch dressing, fruit kabobs, etc.) and the end result was really great! Functional literacy skills can be presented in a really engaging way and are important for all learners. I am glad to have the importance of functional literacy reinforced in this textbook.
 * Literacy Lessons**

7/3/11 Leah, I liked that you states that functional literacy skills are important for all learners. In hearing my colleagues discuss their Harcourt reading curriculum, I wonder how many of the skills presented those students will actually use (and/or remember) in real life. I’ve witnessed how poorly students follow very explicit and concise directions. How will they follow a recipe? Will they simply buy food pre-made or eat at restaurants their entire life? Reading a map is another shocker a lot of the time. Why would anyone need to read a map with tools such as Mapquest, and GPSs are available? However, even users of those particular tools need to be able to follow directions carefully. I think to myself on multiple occasions during the year about why regular education puts so much emphasis on participles and prepositional phrases when children in fifth grade are still lacking those functional literacy skills you are speaking about.~Melissa