Julie

Julie Baker 6/15/11 As I was reading through the selections I came to discover how much I love the book __Smart Answers to Tough Questions__. I wish that I would have had this book long before this especially during parent-teacher conference time! I enjoyed reading the answers to the "tough questions". I was, however, intrigued by one of them in particular. Chapter 8 discussed Rewards and Accelerated Reader Program and how these programs are ineffective. The section went on to explain how books should be savored and not rushed through, giving rewards for reading can cause students to stop reading when the rewards are taken away, points are the main motivation, and the love for reading is lost when external perks are involved. Last year and many years before that my school district was using a program called Scholastic Reading Counts. Students selected a book to read that was on the book list (teachers purchased books and the quizzes to go with it), students read the book and took the "comprehension" quiz on the computer. If the child passed the quiz, he/she was rewarded a certain number of points and after so many points prizes were earned. Well, this past year our school district was told not to use the program anymore. Teachers were upset because of the money they used to invest in the program but also because they were able to tell if a child was "comprehending the text". Well, I was one of those teachers. I was so upset they decided to stop this program and no further explanation was given to us. After reading this section, I understand why my district stopped using it. It makes complete sense to see how children were only motivated to read books on the book list just to earn points and rewards. I look back now and see how children lost the love for reading during that program. Some children zoomed through those books and did not get a chance to enjoy them. Also, I had some students who rarely earned points. After our class discussions I now know the "comprehension" questions were very low level questions that were answered through a multiple choice selection. Also, after two or three times of taking the same quiz, students could probably randomly select the correct answer without even knowing what was read. I only wish my district would have further explained their reasoning because I was absolutely clueless. I also wanted to point out a quote from __Literacy Lessons__ that I found interesting. "A teacher must have a variety of reading programs or methods of instruction. One program will not fit the needs of all readers". I find this interesting when school districts purchase a single program and expect everyone to use it and it only.

//Julie,// //I was also interested in the section about rewards. Last year I used a sticker chart to keep track of how many books students read for homework. My intent was to motivate some of my students who did not like to read. I found that this strategy backfired! One of my top readers stopped reading chapter books because she wanted to read more books! (It didn't matter that I gave more stickers for chapter books). Lesson learned! I will never use the reading sticker chart again.// //Brandy//

Julie, I was surprised at this information as well. My district uses AR which sounds similar to your program and was mentioned in the text. While my students are not responsible for AR points as per their IEPs, I have always had concerns about it. Students try to find easy books with easy quizzes to get points to earn a pizza party. I could see the pizza party (or pajama party, ice cream sunday party, class movie etc.) a a reward for reading, but not necessarily as any sort of motivator. Like Brandy noted, stronger readers were no longer choosing challening books and struggling readers were just struggling with one more school requirement. Leah

__6__/17/11 As I was reading through Literacy Lessons I was drawn into the section on word study. Over the past few years we have had a reading specialist come into our school and teach us the major/important components of a literacy block. We worked through read alouds, shared readings, literacy centers, small group differentiated instruction, and word study. When it came to the word study section, very little information was given to us about how to incorporate it into our instruction. So, when the word study section was discussed, I of course, was drawn into it. For three years my district has been using a phonics program called Project Read. For those of you who are not familiar with it, basically it begins with short vowels and works its way through VCV, VCCV, etc. with "red" words being addressed throughout the way (words that do not follow the patterns). At the end of this year we were told that this program was no longer going to be used next year. I started to panic a bit thinking how am I going to teach word study now? Word study is not as difficult as I make it. According to the text, word study focuses on phonics rules and associations among words. The text states that most connections in word study are phonics related but that it is important to know that word study involves more than studying vowel sounds, syllables, and segmenting words. It includes experiencing word analogies, word meaning, letter patterns, letter and sound associations, and syntactic structure. With this being said, my district has chosen to use a program or book (I'm not sure what it is yet) called Words their Way (I think this is the name, we will receive it in August). So, I am excited to learn about another approach to word study. I can see why the Project Read program is being discontinued since it addressed phonics rules only and word study is much more than that. These two chapters were very informative!

Julie, I am glad to see that your district is interested in "Words Their Way." We use that in my school and it is awesome! There are many approaches to teaching word study and a ton of activities for learning different words. The best part is that many of the activities are hands-on. I'm not sure which books you are getting, but they even have wor sort affix books and books focused on struggling readers. The Appendix at the back of the book contains a comprehensive bank of word lists, word sorts, picture sorts, games and templates for you to use in your instruction. I have also been struggling with teaching word study and this book has given me lots of great ideas. I have sticky notes and "dog eared" pages all throughout the book. I hope it is helpful for you as well! :) Christi
 * Saturday, 6-18-11 **

Saturday, June 18, 2011 Julie, my district also uses Words Their Way. I really enjoy using the program also, and I find it very useful when trying to plan activities! I'm not sure if you have access to a smartboard, but I always make a sorting activity with the words so that the students can come up and drag the words into the appropriate columns. They really enjoy the interaction and it seems to really help them focus on the spelling patterns! Hope you enjoy the program also! Kelly Emerick

__// J //__// ulie, // // I love Words Their Way. When I started at my school everyone was using the spelling lists that come with the basal program. I used them for awhile and hated them! Most of the kids were not challenged and they were not learning anything except how to memorize. Last year I began using Words Their Way for my 1st and 2nd graders. I've noticed a huge improvement in both reading and spelling as a result. // // Brandy //

June 20, 2011 In the Smart Answers text, I was drawn in to the section on phonics. In my district we teach phonics using a program called Project Read. As mentioned in one of my earlier post, this program starts out with short vowels, then goes to long vowels, vowel patterns, blends, and throughout red words are discussed which are words that do not follow any of the phonics rules. I have been teaching it for three years and I am still learning the many different rules of our English language. I can not imagine how my students feel especially when I am constantly saying, "Oh, well that word is an exception". (I think my students picked up on the word exception a lot this year:) Anyways, we are not using this program anymore. The research in the text states that phonics does not help students above first grade, There are many other important skills that are necessary for reading instruction and a variety of methods need to be used. I also agreed with the text when it mentioned that students who spend too much of their time sounding out the words will spend less time with the meaning of the print, which is very true. I found myself this year telling my students to "sound out" the words when I should have been doing more than that to help them. Also, I had a student who was very low this year in most aspects of reading. We worked a lot on sight words and very basic phonics rules. It helped her a lot but I agree with the section that discussed the phonics readers. I was guilty of using these a lot this year with my struggling readers. We did not focus on the comprehension of the text more so the phonics rules or sight words. We did this because the phonics readers did not make very much sense and were difficult to understand. Words were thrown in just to fit the phonics pattern and most often the struggling readers did not even know what the word meant. However, I also use Scooby Doo phonics readers that are great. The stories make sense and the phonics rules are addressed throughout. I did come to the understanding that phonics can still be taught but that it should not be the only method. Some students will learn to read well with the phonics approach whereas other students need some other instruction. Either way, the instruction should include various approaches and address the need's of your students in order to make them successful in reading skills.

Julie, I appreciate your post. I have difficulty with teaching my students tons of phonics rules and expecting them to be able to retain and apply those rules to their reading. We use various phonics programs to in an attempt to reach students with all different learning styles but sometimes these programs conflict, and then students are more confused than ever! I too use phonics readers in my classroom (I work with only struggling students) and while I understand that they do not compose a complete literacy program, I do find them useful for text that students can read independently and feel confident in doing so. The Scooby-Doo readers are fun! I didn't know they would be such a big hit with my kids-I picked them up at a yard sale a few years ago and wish I had bought more. :) Like we talked about in our little early childhood group today, there's no method that will work for everybody. Some students may need more explicit phonics instruction and for a longer period of time than is recommended.

6/21 Julie, It caught my attention when you mentioned that you told you students that some words are exceptions to the rules. I run into the same problem when teaching my students. This, of course, runs into with frustration for them at times (as well as me). I really enjoy teaching the System 44 program but of course, as you suggested, I have to have other support for my students to learn phonics as well. I have a student that loves the Scooby-Doo readers! I actually found Sponge Bob readers as well just a few weeks ago. I'm excited to use them with my students. Thanks for your post! Bethany Lepley

Julie: Our conversation today about Words Their Way supports what you posted a few days ago. The multiple modalities and thinking built into the program really assist students in learning how to build words, not just memorize them. Dr. P.

//Julie,// //I also find myself telling students to sound out words. In my practicum site this past spring we had an ELL student who struggled with reading. He had trouble not only sounding out the words but he also didn't know what the word he was reading meant. After reading the Smart Answers book I know my approach to helping him wasn't the best, I was focusing solely on phonics and not what he could comprehend. We also used Scooby-Doo readers in my practicum site and the students love them! They really enjoy saying the silly words and sounds that Shaggy and Scooby make.// //- Molly// 6/22/11 ﻿After Nicole and I gave our presentation on schema, I was really drawn into the __Classroom Strategies__ book in the section that discussed brainstorming prior knowledge. It is so vey important for us as teachers to activate our students prior knowledge before beginning a lesson to ensure comprehension can take place. The LINK method seemed great. The teacher creates a key word and writes it on the board, Smartboard, etc. The teacher gives students 3 minutes to list any associations that come to mind with this word. Students may then challenge or ask for clarification about a word or phrase. Students will then turn their papers over and write what they learned about the topic. I really liked this idea and I know the example in the book was given to a group of 6th graders but I would be willing to try this with my second graders. I think it would work well especially when we study animals, dinosaurs, weather, etc. I also enjoyed the alphabetic brainstorming. Students could work with a partner and come up with a word that describes the topic using all the alphabet letters. I think this would be great to try but this may be too difficult for my second graders. However, I loved both of these examples as means to activate background knowledge and someone's schema. This would be a great way to see those misconceptions about material and for teachers to use this as a teaching point! Students will definitely love the interaction with each other!

Julie, I completely agree with what you are saying. The activators are a great time to get their schema activated and ready to go. I was also thinking about the fact that if they learn it wrong they are going to have that in their schema and it would take longer to recorrect that. By using the brainstorming we can see what they are thinking and correct any wrong thoughts that they may have about the subject. This will also help thier schema when they get into he lesson and the students might be more engaged in the lesson and retain more. -Amanda

6/24/11 I enjoyed the section in __Classroom Strategies__ text when it discussed the "follow the character" strategy. Using this strategy, teachers would review the characters, setting, plot, etc. The teacher would then discuss how a detective goes about solving a mystery, following the character by tuning in to what he or she says. Students would then have a blank grid of the character analysis graphic organizer. Students would then analyze a main character of the text describing what they do or say, how are they involved, how they change, what do others say about them. I really liked this strategy for use in the classroom. I think it definitely involves higher level thinking skills because students not only need to know the character but they need to be able to discuss how the character interacts with others in the text. I could definitely see my students using this graphic organizer in the classroom. I also believe this organizer would fit well with many types of books. I am excited to try this graphic organizer in my classroom!

Julie – You are doing a great job of selecting strategies to use in your classroom. Good choice with this graphic organizer. Dr. P.

6/27/11 I was so excited to read the section in __Smart Answers__ about fluency, comprehension, and Dibels. My school district stopped using Dibels this past year and we moved to a similar program called Aimsweb which we are no longer using either. The other second grade teacher and I always vented our frustrations about these programs because of the purpose they served. My students were tested on nonsense words, word use, and fluency. My first complaint about Dibels was the fact that it was really only timing children to read faster. The comprehension section was never even scored- of course you could track it but building principals were only looking for the green, yellow, and red students. I remember sitting in many benchmark meetings and trying to explain that just because a student scored in the yellow, did not mean that they were not a good reader. It was crazy! I found that the students were nervous about being timed for one minute and were focused on reading too quickly. Then, when I did mark how many facts they could retell me, most often those students who read fast could not tell me anything that they read. The program was not my favorite but it was used to place our students in intervention groups, Title I etc. I remember showing parents the graphs and trying to explain where their child scored and where they needed to be for fluency- on the bulls eye, it was crazy because it seemed to focus only on reading fast. The nonsense words were even difficult for me to say. The book mentioned how reading nonsense words has nothing to do with "real" reading. Now, we are using the Fountas and Pinnell leveling kit which focuses on fluency, accuracy, comprehension (better comprehension than Dibels), and a writing piece. In my opinion, I learn much more about my students through Fountas and PInnell over any other assessment.

6/28/11 Bethany Lepley I found it interesting to read your thoughts on Dibels. I don't have to give them personally but I know our elementary school gives them to the students. I did work with them a little in student teaching and I completely agree with your opinion. Nonsense words are very confusing for kids and only teaches in isolvation. I'm happy for you that your school district is using a program that focuses more on comprehension as well! We have to give the GORT to students before IEP meetings. It's a reading test that focuses on fluency and comprehension. Is is interesting because with my students they struggle with the fluency but can go further with the comprehension. Thanks for your thoughts!

6/29/11 In the __Classroom Strategies__ text I enjoyed reading about the magnet summaries. Dr. Paxton had mentioned this idea earlier in the class but I was not very familiar with it. I like the idea of having students select the important words from the text and then cooperatively coming up with words to describe the topic. I also think students would enjoy working together to write summary sentences. I am not sure if I would have my second graders arrange their cards in the order that they would want the summary to be read. (I think this might be too difficult for them) Anyways, I think this method would allow students to prioritize the important facts from a selection and would also allow me to observe how groups write their summaries. This activity would give me a lot of information from how well students work on the task, to how well they can locate important facts, to how well they can write a sentence to summarize the facts on the card. I am very excited to try this in my classroom in the fall! Julie

6/30/2011 I also would like to implement the magnet summaries into my teaching this coming year. I'm not sure about your second graders but mine have difficulties writing and orally explaining the summaries from text. They can retell very well but not summarizing. The last few years I've used the "hand summary" graphic organizer, the students have a hand that they must fill in book details with these guidelines; someone, wanted, because, but so. I attached one below but it isn't exactly the same as the one I use. However, the magnet summary would be a new approach and would help them prioritize what is most important from the text by writing the key ideas and vocabulary.



Thank you for the graphic organizer idea! I love it! 7/1/11 The __Literacy Lessons__ text discussed reading with recipes as a way to practice fluency. I never really thought to do this so I had to read the steps on how to implement this in my classroom. I would need to select a recipe card and then make a copy of it. I would have students highlight unfamiliar or difficult words. Then, students would discuss the vowel sounds of the highlighted words,syllables, etc. Together students would read together the recipe with an expert reader. Then, the students would discuss the steps to complete the recipe. Each group would read the steps orally. Then, I would provide some sort of follow-up activity. I think this would be a great way to practice fluency and students would really enjoy this because it is different. I also think this would be a great way to incorporate math and parts of science too. This is a method that would make great connections between subject areas. I could also see students asking to take the recipe cards home to hopefully read and create the recipe with an adult. That would be enjoyable for all. Julie