Nicole

Nicole Altland

6/15- In the book, Literacy Lessons it states that basal readers focus a unit on a theme, designed to motivate readers. These reading programs are thought to be effective because the information is in a scope and sequence format, grade level related skills and strategies, and the reading lessons guide the teacher's instruction. The books that are chosen are often award-winning, authentic literature that are used to teach phonics, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary, etc. Learning centers, games and assessments are available but at an extra expense.

My first year teaching, I was expected to go page by page from the basal reader to teach my reading instruction. My students were not engaged in the text at all. The one postive of reading from a basal is, all students have the book in front of them so they can follow along and have fluency modeled. Now that our district doesn't use a basal, I use a single-copied text from my personal library but don't have access to enough copies for the entire class. Possibly, with time, I'm sure I could access enough copies for each student.

Smart Answers to Tough Questions discusses the research that doesn't support the use of basal readers. Some key points to discuss with families:
 * less effective
 * often times all one level texts are used
 * all text under one cover- not the way we read in real life
 * basal readers move from topic to topic, which doesn't allow much deep understanding of topics.
 * abridged- stories are shortened to fit under one cover
 * comsumables cost alot to taxpayers
 * harmful to comprehension
 * ask lower-level comprehension questions
 * not much thinking required for teachers
 * lacks individualization

//Nicole,// //I understand the frustration of not having enough copies without using the basal reading books. This has led me to use more reader's theatre scripts in my classroom (which the kids love!). I decide on a text that I want the students to read (sometimes I even use the stories from the basal reading book). Using the text, I create a reader's theatre script for the kids and print out a copy for each. This is a great way to engage students and make reading interactive. Put the copies in plastic sleeves and keep in a reader's theatre center!// //Brandy//

//Brandy,// //I guess I have gotten the idea that using the basal at all, is terrible. I never thought of turning the stories into reader's theatre scripts. You teach second grade, right...would you mind sending some to me through email? If not, I completely understand.//

//6/17~ Smart Answers to Tough Questions//

//I enjoyed reading the section from the book about Independent Reading and Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). The points addressed in this section of the book are important reminders to all of us of the importance of students reading independently and not only listening to text or reading in a small group. They need to see that we trust their ability to be successful.//

//Good ideas...// //*choose their own high-interest books// //*easy books still serve a purpose, by helping with fluency and confidence building// //*Neat idea...Have a "book sell" in small groups targeting the appropriate reading level of the group members.// //*Encourage student discussion in a "book club" manner// //*offer a variety of reading materials (like we talked about it class)// //*The teacher should read too.//
 * Independent reading and SSR shouldn't be the only part of a reading program.

The big fear.... Are my students really reading and comprehending? We need to offer our trust.

I use The Daily Five which is a reading program focused on structure. I take the first month of school and depending on the group, it may take longer, but my students learn appropriate ways to read independently. Once the teacher models what is appropriate and why they must behave a certain way. The authors stress picking students that possibly will act up during independent reading, they will have a chance to model the wrong way to read independently but then model the correct behaviors. This allows the others to see this child can be successful. Now the students have a chance to practice, by setting the timer for 3 minutes for the students to read independently. The teacher will then ring the chime if inappropriate behaviors are recognized. The class will meet back on the rug to rate their behavior (never thumbs down, either thumbs up or in the middle) We then discuss why we were called back to the rug, but no names are mentioned. We have a small session on why that behavior shouldn't happen. They continue with the same amount of time to read independently and build on minutes if they were successful. The students have fun trying to beat their time.

Nicole, I'd be happy to send you some scripts! I teach first and second. If I don't have them on my computer at home I'll get them from school so it may take me a few days! Brandy

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I agree that our students need to see that we trust in their ability to be successful, however, I question whether my students trust that they can be successful in reading (especially that I work with a learning support population). I was also pleased that this text confirmed the use of easy books does serve a purpose. My students do enjoy pulling picture books from my classroom library even as fifth graders. My population tends to be alittle less mature than the rest of the population. Even though the text is simple these texts do build their confidence. The point that teachers need to read too made me hang my head. I’m sure we’re all guilty of doing other things while the students are doing SSR. This is one area where I really need to step it up. I have found (and perhaps it is wrong of me to be surprised) that upon asking my students about what they read, they are able to summarize some of the plot. I really liked your explanation of The Daily Five. That would be a great way for me to start beginning my year as well. A lot of the time my students display behavior that is not appropriate for SSR. However, upon thinking about it, it may be difficult to remediate quickly. A lot of my students tend to be ADD or ADHD, and they struggle greatly with staying focused on a book, especially independently. It makes it even worse when they are not on their medication. Also, what makes it even worse than that is when the parents allow the child to take charge of whether they want to wear their medicine patch or not. However, as long as I do my part and set up the skills and environment for them to excel, I can’t focus on what is out of my control I guess. -Melissa ====== You are making some great connections between your reading and your background knowledge. Your comments about finding appropriate texts for your readers seemed to really resonate with your peers. Dr. P.

6/20/2011-Literacy Lessons- Literature Circles
The Language of Literature Circles section on motivating readers talks about using a shared text to discuss in a group. Harvey "Smoky" Daniels created literature circles which is a process for documenting systematically and sharing the information. He says that many readers just read the words on the page without thinking about the author's message, assumptions and prior knowledge. He also feels it is important to be engaged in the reading material. He discusses the roles each member of a group prepares for, those being; vocabulary terms, summarizing content, make connections and build background, generating and answering questions, monitoring, predicting, inferring information, visualizing the message of the author, and evaluating the literacy choices the author made. These roles each have directions(graphic organizers or role sheets) for the teacher to introduce and model for proper use. Daniel stresses the importance of having the reader complete a graphic organizer or role sheet during the reading. I haven't encouraged this with my students but will once school starts. Daniel discusses the use of graphic organizers and role sheets for recording purposes, which I stated previously, the next step is sharing the graphic organizer or role sheet with the small group. He feels it's important for the teacher to share explicit expectations for the discussion portion. I completely agree, if students don't have expectations literature circles won't be effective. He states that the teacher must model how to share information (implement and practice communication skills, wait time, praising, and probing questions). Before group time, goals need to be shared and the teacher needs to keep track of progress and production. I find this very important when conducting literature circles with my students, because students will often talk about information that has nothing to do with the text. That is why discussion logs and discussion rubrics are great resources when keeping track during group time. The teacher can use these or the students can learn how to use them as well. At the end of the literature circle of the book, Daniel states if teachers fail to effectively use literature circles, reading motivation can be harmed in our young readers. How terrible is that? Literature circles are intended to be motivators not the opposite. This makes me evaluate how I conduct literature circles in my classroom.

6/22/2011- Literacy Lessons pg. 116 I enjoyed the session pertaining to the Sports Strategies Analogies used with comprehension. There are pictures of individuals playing a specific sport that relates to a strategy. For instance: tennis-Generate and answer question strategy (A person playing tennis takes turns serving the ball, just as students take turns asking and answering questions). I think my second graders would pick up on the strategies easily if they are relating these strategies to something else. They could even act out the sport too. To go along with this idea.... I was introduced to another analogy like this one, but it is based on wearing different hats. There are pictures of hats and the comprehension strategy that goes with it. For example: there is a police hat, construction worker's hat,etc. I incorporated some of the hat lessons into my teaching two years ago, when I taught 1st grade. This inspires me to begin using a method like this again. We need to do what we can to get these strategies into their reading process for comprehending.

Nicole, I thought this was really neat also-a great way to make that information stick. Although some of my students would be equally, or maybe more, confused by these sports references, I know it would work on some level for everybody. Even as just a more interesting way to introduce strategies and use them during the year. I have a small group of older students that work on just comprehension activities, and I could definitely use this strateu with them. I like your idea of wearing different hats as a similar analogy. The past two years I've had all boys in class and several of them have interest in 'community helper' themes so this might be more appropriate for my class. If you have more information or a website with information, I would really appreciate more detail on it. If not, no big deal-I"m not trying to make more work for you!!!! -Leah

Leah~ It is actually a resource book with reproducibles. I think it has the word "hat" in the title....no surprise! I will check it out and get back to you. Nicole

6/24/2011 I loved the idea of Frayer's Four Square from chapter 5 (Enhancing the Reader's Vocabulary Development) of the __Literacy Lessons__book. This graphic organizer is for vocabulary instruction that requires students to define, and analyze a word selected by the teacher or student (with some requirements). The teacher outlines four sections of a box with attributes of the word. For instance: Write the definition, Text Connection, Antonyms, Synonyms, etc... Once the activity is modeled several times, students could also work collaboratively with a group of four and pass it around the group with each box filled in with a different attribute. At the end, the students would share why they included what they wrote. It allows the other student to share answers that may not be familiar to other group members. Additionally, if an answer is incorrect other group members could assist in fixing it. I am definitely going to use this vocabulary graphic organizer with my second graders! Nicole -You are doing a great job of selecting strategies to use in your classroom. Good choice with this graphic organizer. Dr. P.

6/27/2011-Fluency and Comprehension/DIBELS I like how the book __Smart Answers__ spelled out the inappropriateness of DIBELS. It is so true, we should experience what our students go through when speed reading through text and nonsense words. I know I would surely stress out, make mistakes and most definitely lack in the comprehension. What are we teaching our students? Do we want them to speed-read all throughout their lives?...no! We need our students to be exposed to Teacher led fluency modeling and independent practice through SSR (Sustained Silent Reading). Now the book does say that first graders just learning to read, fluency does help comprehension to a point. This is opposite for older students and students beyond beginning reading. This reassures the importance of good modeling and daily practice.

6/28/11 I absolutely agree Nicole! I wrote about Dibels too. That whole test drove me crazy! We had to give Aimsweb this year which is similar to Dibels. I still could not stand either of them. I observed the same thing in my classroom. My students were simply reading for speed and, of course, they lacked the comprehension. On the other hand, students would read at a slower speed and score low but I knew they were great readers- it just took them some time. My building principal only looked at the number of students who scored in the green and, of course, I felt like a horrible teacher seeing my yellows and reds. I think the test is just as stressful on teachers as it is the students especially when administration viewed the scores and asked why certain students scored yellow or red. I am thankful we are no longer doing either test! I mentioned in my post that we are using Fountas and Pinnell to level our students and it measures everything. I can finally see who my "speed readers" are who lack the comprehension and who my "slower" readers are but still can comprehend. It serves a better purpose! Julie

6/28/11 Nicole and Julie,

I agree that I would be just as anxious and stressed as my students if put through the same rigorous testing procedures and prompts. I’ve had a little experience with Dibels, and I use Aimsweb as mandated by the special education department. Luckily we do not focus much on reds, greens, and yellows. We understand what they mean, but usually for IEP meetings we look at a lot of information in additional to the Aimsweb colors. Your posts made me think of students from this past school year. One girl could read with incredible speed on grade level passages, and have few errors. She was very aware of the minute on the timer. However, her major issue is comprehension which stems from her reading so fast she isn’t even thinking about what she is reading. This was especially frustrating when my administrator decided to move her out into regular education based on those impressive fluency scores on grade level material. I tried many times, which also backed up the parent, to convey that this student can read but has major comprehension issues. In the end she is now moved out for next year, even though I spent the whole year in the classroom with her. The other student was a slower reader (and autistic), and would take his time making sure to accurately pronounce the words. He was aware of the timer but still strove for accuracy. Do to this, he was never meeting the goal needed to move on to the next grade level. He was falling far below the goal actually. However, he is a good reader with amazing comprehension. ~Melissa

6/28 Nicole, I agree with your position on Dibels testing. Dibels is not an accurate measure of reading ability because many students, as you mentioned, are so concerned with reading quickly that they are not thinking about what they are reading. They do not have the time to employ the various strategies that we teach them to use when comprehending a text, like questioning, making connections, and monitoring their understanding. This past year I had a student in my room who read at a "strategic" level on the Dibles test, meaning that he did not meet the benchmark but didn't fall into the lowest "intensive" group either. Still, at the beginning of the year I decided to place him in the on-grade level group for reading, with the idea in mind that I would need to work with him on fluency. I did not plan to have as much fluency instruction in my above grade level group, so I felt that this would not be the best placement for him. As time went on and I got to know this student more as a reader, I realized that he was a very thoughtful and careful reader, who was able to comprehend texts far above his grade level. He wasn't the most speedy reader in the room, but his ability to comprehend texts was outstanding. At that point, I began to wonder what purpose was being served by continuing to progress monitor his fluency with timed readings every week. If the goal of fluency instruction is to build automaticity that will aid in comprehension, and a student is already able to comprehend text, is it necessary to dwell on reaching this "benchmark" number of words per minute in oral reading? I had another student in my classroom that was the opposite of the student mentioned above. This particular student far exceeded the benchmark goal for Dibels at the beginning of the year. Looking at that data, I decided to place her in the on-grade level group for reading. As I got to know her more, I realized that she was severely lacking in her ability to comprehend and discuss what she had read. Although her fluency was above-grade level, she was not taking time to make meaning out of those words in her head. She was the student who after reading a chapter would come to me and say, "I have no idea what this was about." This goes to show that a high score on Dibels does not always lead to a high level of comprehension. Again, what is the point of reading quickly if students do not understand what they have read? -Rachael

6/29/2011 Literacy Lessons-Vocabulary Development It is reassuring that the book encourages games as a motivational tool for vocabulary acquisition. We often are restricted to using basals or scripted resources in teaching vocabulary skills. The book lists six professionalIy developed games that can be used in the classroom. I will definitely incorporate a few of these games into my word work section of the day. The games listed in the book are: Scrabble- make words from letter tiles and attach other words to the existing word. I could see my students working collaboratively in a word work center. Go Fish- Students will create cards with terms, either synonyms and antonyms to then match. This activity would also work well as a word work center, but words are created beforehand. Trivial Pursuit- create question cards that focus on various content area vocabulary. This activity would work well with my above level group of students. Apples to Apples- Allow readers to create their own cards and synonym cards to relate to that initially created work. Scattergories- Use topics taught in various content areas to create word lists.

I would have to model these games before placing the games in a word work center for independent or partner practice. The last three games listed I would feel more comfortable using as whole group activities during my word work instructional time. The book also states that parents can use these games at home. I can't wait to see my students get excited about using these games during class time.

6/30/11 Nicole, I want to try to use those game in my classroom as well. My students always respond so well to games and these are simple games to implement and seem like they wold really engage the students. They get so tired of the basal and they need to enjoy learning. What a fun way to practice vocabulary! -Christi

7/1/2011 The Reading with Recipes section from the __Literacy Lesson__ book was very eye opening to me. Dr. Baynum talked about a girl named Hannah that struggled with reading yet had an interest in cooking. Dr. Baynum had cooking sessions with Hannah to boost her reading fluency and comprehension. What a wonderful way to engage and motivate a student. We need to get to know the interests of our students so we can incorporate it in our instruction. I was thinking about my struggling readers this past year and what might have helped their fluency and comprehension if I would have done something like Dr. Baynum. I usually find books that interest my students but never go to the level Baynum did. To engage and motivate all my students(even my struggling students), I plan to give an interest survey to my students at the beginning of the school year to use for my planning.