Week 10 Reading

The article I chose was Teaching Flexibility with Leveled Texts: More Power for Your Reading Block.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-flexibly-leveled-texts-more-power-your-reading-block

Important things/ideas from the lesson today are:

• When grouping students focus less on discrete levels and more on areas of need.
• Be cognizant of word count in lower level text versus grade level text. Below level students may need to to use multiple texts to equalize the amount of reading practice.
• Provide well prepared and organized multilevel topical text sets to allow students to independently build background knowledge and make connections as they progress to more challenging text.
• Allow students time and freedom to self select text that requires minimal support to build fluency and confidence. 
• While providing multiple levels of text within a classroom library provide an ample supply (approximately 70%) of easily accessible books. 
• Promote reading engagement by supplying alternative and real-world forms of text: magazines, plays, newspapers, poetry, digital and online texts. 

but the most important thing I learned today is that in an engaging and challenging classroom, the teacher must carefully decide the degree of instructional support needed for readers to engage in the text selected.

Week 9 Activity

From Chapter 7, I chose Objective B1-c: Compare these two characters:                    and                       .

The text I will use is Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. 

I chose this text because I know my reader enjoys stories with an element of humor and silliness. This text has a GLE of 3.3/ AD810Lwhich is slightly above his instructional level. We will read the book together as a first read, I feel he can read the bulk of the text independently. Words such as companions, dreadfully, especially, and gracefully are found sporadically. If the words are reviewed prior to reading for identification and meaning hopefully he will be able to retain meaning while reading. 

I have purchased the book as an audio e-book in addition to traditional print to allow opportunity to listen to the story as well as reread it on his own. The book also can be used for several other activities within this chapter such as:

Objective B1-b: What happened at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story?

Objective B3-a: Prove that (character/person) is very                          . 

Week 9 Reading

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-interactive-picture-e-books-grades-k-6

I chose an article about e-books since I have a set of iPads that I use with my students. I have purchased interactive e-book apps (such as Dr. Seuss) and non-interactive books through iBooks.

Three important things/ideas from the lesson today are students should be "experts" at using their devices prior to reading e-books for academic purposes in order to limit the distractions from device operation (screen orientation, page turning, etc.), teach students to transfer print reading skills to e-reading, and to beware of gimmicks and distractions but the most important thing I learned today is that an interactive e-book does not replace a good teacher.

As mentioned in the article, current research can not identify a simplistic relationship between e-books and comprehension, their features can be alternatively beneficial and problematic. The article offers the following advice-
1. Consider whether the interactive features in the e-books you use with children distract, support, or extend their understanding of the text.

2. Provide strategy instruction that is adapted for e-book reading.

3. Analyze e-books for quality, accuracy, and readability before using them for instruction.

4. Give students opportunities to practice reading with both traditional and electronic books.

Week 8 Reading

I chose the following article: Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the Needs of All Students. While completing the whirlwind of the MAT-E program at Frostburg State University, the program coordinator had introduced us to some resources for UDL. It is an amazing concept that I aspire to live by.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-all-students

Three important things/ideas from the lesson today are define multiple goals that allow for multiple means of attainment, assess diverse learner needs, and evaluate barriers that may exist within the current curriculum, but the most important thing I learned today is the purpose of UDL implementation is to create expert learners – learners who can assess their own learning needs, monitor their own progress, and regulate and sustain their interest, effort, and persistence during a learning task. 

Week 7 Activity

Activities for Video Thread

Objective A4-a: Predict what will happen next in the story

I think this activity is a good starting point for my student. Up to this point we have focused on Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, lately fluency, and now we are ready to begin applying comprehension. Another reason I chose this activity, I know my student's background knowledge is strong and he enjoys self to text connections but at times he expands way beyond what the story is about. This would be a good activity to teach and demonstrate the importance of focusing more on the information within the text rather than embellishing with things that do not relate.

I plan to use this activity with the book chosen earlier:
The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble

Objective A5-a: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in text, including figurative language.

This would be another great activity to use with my student. His phonics skills are still below grade level and when he reads he still replaces words with similar phonetic patterned words. These words typically fit grammatically, replacing nouns with nouns and verbs with verbs and for a stand alone sentence they may make sense but the replacements often change the context of the story.

Texts I am considering for this activity:
All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka
All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle

Week 7 Reading

Chapter 4 

Three important things/ideas from the lesson today are true collaboration requires much more than just discussion and cooperating it is an "intellectual pursuit to achieve a goal," the reading process parallels the writing process steps (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), and successful collaboration requires a pre-planned foundation of rules and expectations, but the most important thing I learned today is that the responsibility of "building a culture of collaboration" doesn't fall solely on the shoulders of the teacher, students need to bare some of the responsibility particularly when it comes to inclusiveness.

INCLUSION 



Teachers really do hold the power in the hands to shape the society of tomorrow.

Chapter 5

Three important things/ideas from the lesson today are answer frames are a temporary scaffold that must have a defined goal for elimination, students must know what type of evidence they are searching for in order to apply the proper reading strategies, great answers must answer all of the questions and be accurate, but the most important thing I learned today is that "A great answer to a reading comprehension question always references the text with specific examples or details."  

Text Evidence

Our district uses DIBELS for testing and it just blows my mind that the retell portion is relied on as an adequate means of assessing comprehension. The answers I receive from students makes me wish they used the same creativity and imagination in their writing. 

Week 6 Reading

Three important ideas from the lesson today are explanation, modeling, and bridging, but the most important thing I learned is "When the strategy is response to literature,... good written response is heavily dependent on good oral response."

Explanation - Students need to know the purpose of reading PRIOR to reading. This prepares them to look for evidence as they read.

Modeling - This step should be a brief exercise to move instruction from telling to showing in order to shift the responsibility of task performance to the students.

Bridging - This step should comprise the majority of the lesson time. It is the step that allows the teacher to assess who is getting it and who is not, provide appropriate differentiation techniques, and whether or not to proceed to the next step.

Week 6 Activity

https://voicethread.com/myvoice/#thread/6588166

Week 5 Activity - Book Review - The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
by Trinka Hakes Noble
pictures by Steven Kellogg

Trinka Hakes Noble was born in 1944 and grew up on a small farm in Southern Michigan. She led a typical mid-western farm life that at times seemed to be touched by the unexpected that often appears in her stories. Her work varies from historical fiction involving main characters of the same age as the intended audience of fourth and fifth graders, to tales of folk lore and fantasy, to stories of ordinary events that are shaped by the unexpected. Her variety is achieved successfully by attending to the appeals of her target audience. The characters within her stories are easily related to by the intended reader.

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash is first in a series of four books. The books are written on a second grade level and the story lines would greatly appeal to the 4-8 year old age group. Each story involves a pet boa constrictor and the chaos it brings to typical events such as class field trips, gym class and birthday parties.

In this particular book, the story is written as a narrative between a second grader and her mother. The dialogue between her and her mother (the pulling teeth kind of conversation parents often have with their children about their school day) is authentically written. As the mother tries to get more information out of her daughter, the events seem to become more and more absurd. During the conversation, the mother becomes increasingly concerned where as the daughter continues the conversation in a matter-of-fact way.

This story could be used for other objectives such as cause and effect, visualization, sequence of events, and point of view.


Rubric for Identifying Great Picture Books
Complexity  -  2  
Content depth  -  2
Amount of text per page; length of book  -  2
Multidimensional characters  -  2
Interesting language  -  2
Visual appeal  -  2
Opportunities for connections  -  2
Multicultural representation  -  1 
Significance of the theme  -  2
Creative treatment of the topic  -  1

Strengths -
Visualization - The illustrations of the text are superb and aid the students to vividly visualize the events of the story.
Interesting language - The story is told as a dialogue between a second grader and her mother and is written in a way that is authentic.

Weaknesses -
Multicultural representation - This story takes place on a field trip to a farm. Without the accompanied illustrations students within an urban setting may not visualize the story the same as students in a rural setting. For example - Wash being hung out on a clothesline probably isn't a typical scenario in today's urban setting.
Creative treatment of the topic - The story line is told in a straight forward matter of fact manner which leads to the humor of it.

http://www.trinkahakesnoble.com/bio.html

Week 5 Reading

This has been an overwhelming year for reluctant readers. In the fall, my second graders were at a stage they really couldn't read a book independently at all. The first three months were intensive with explicit phonics instruction. Attempting to read a story often left them frustrated and beat down. In class, they were expected to be covering second grade material and yet all 10 of my students were still at a beginning first grade level. At Thanksgiving time, I decided to use a book hook I like to use during the second half of the year with first graders. I have almost every available app for Dr. Seuss books on my iPad. On Fridays, we do a student led read aloud mirroring these apps through the projector. We have various methods for the read aloud. One of their favorites is each student is assigned a number, we roll a giant foam dice to decide who the next reader will be. Within a couple weeks the students were checking out Dr. Seuss books from the library and reading them independently. I loved Dr. Seuss as a child. When I was student teaching in a second grade classroom, the teacher had a small group of struggling readers after school. She had bought numerous small group sets of Dr. Seuss books for this purpose. These books are perfect for this age group of struggling readers; repetition of high frequency words, extensive use of appropriate phonics skills for this age group, and rhythm and word phrasing to build fluency. The illustrations in the books are not only playful and whimsical but assist readers in identifying unfamiliar words. Dr. Seuss books can be long and tiring for new readers to tackle independently so practicing them as a small group first really helps students successfully conquer one on their own. It has been amazing hearing them proudly announce each 60 some page book they have completed. From there the students have been trying to find their own personal interests. It has been a struggle for them to independently identify just right books within a library that doesn't have a proper book leveling system in place. Our goal is to by the end of the year have a cohesive school wide labeling system to allow students to quickly and independently identify the reading level of the books within the library and classrooms. This will allow us to get our students one step closer to the age-old dilemma mentioned in the text: Do we give a man a fish so he can eat for a day? Or do we teach him to fish so he can eat for a lifetime?

Week 4 Activity and Reading - Portrait of a Reader

  
1. Phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and concepts of print

At the beginning of the year, Student 14 (even as a second grader) struggled with this component. He was able to correctly identify only 16 consonant sounds and 1 vowel sound. He was placed in a small group that was still significantly ahead of him but with the scheduling needs of the whole school it was the only place to put him. During small group time, I was able to spend a few minutes at the end of each session targeting specific skills he needed while other students would work independently.These skills included letter sound correspondence for letters he was still unsure of, blending sounds, and segmenting words.

2. The alphabetic code: Phonics and decoding

At the beginning of the year, Student 14 was able to correctly identify only 2/10 CVC nonsense words and 3/10 CVC words within 2 sentences on the PSI (Phonics Screener for Intervention). On DIBELS, he was only able to correctly identify 24 letter sounds (goal was 54) and 3 WWR (goal was 13).

This has been his main area of focus and instruction to date.We are slowly beginning to focus more on fluency than individual phonics skills.

3. Fluent, automatic reading of text

At the beginning of the year, Student 14 had a DIBELS score of 20wpm for fluency (goal was 53) and an accuracy rate of 65% (goal was 90). At that time, fluency wasn't an area to be addressed since there was such a struggle in phonics and decoding. In December, MOY Benchmark showed an increase to 34wpm for fluency (goal was 72) and an accuracy rate of 77% (goal was 96%). On February 6th, progress monitoring showed an increase to 52 wpm and an accuracy rate of 87%.

At this point, I would want him independently reading text which includes the following phonics skills, CVC, Blends, Digraphs, Long Vowels w/ Silent e, and Vowel Teams. His area of weakness is vowel teams. He also struggles using these phonics skills to decode multisyllable words. This roughly converts to a 1.6 - 2.0 AR level. Keeping within this range for independent reading will help strengthen his fluency rate and accuracy. 

Since he has a much higher comprehension level than his independent reading level, he often likes to use the tablets to access higher level reading material that has a read to me feature such as ebooks and News-O-Matic.

4. Vocabulary

His vocabulary is strong. He has a lot of background knowledge in various areas. 

5. Text Comprehension

He has good comprehension skills. If text is read to him, he is able to recall not only details but answer some higher order questions regarding the text.

6. Written Expression

His ability to write does not match his ability to generate thoughts and ideas. His written expression is limited by this.

7. Spelling and handwriting

His lack of phonics skills directly effects his ability to write.He is also using spelling games on my ipads for both phonetically spelled words and sight words.

8. Motivating children to read and developing their horizons

The fact that he is so far behind the rest of the class does seem to bother him. When he is in group, he is eager to read but struggles to stay focused if it is not his turn to read. It is encouraging that he is finally at a point where he can start to independently read stories that interest him.

The majority of the students I work with are with me because of a lack of motivation to read independently. What has surprised me the most is the fact that none of the classrooms from which they come from has a student friendly class room library. IF there are ANY books for them to access they are all thrown on a shelf. There is no sorting of topics or interests and no labeling as to book level. When I asked many of my students a while back about their reading for fun, most responded they have no idea how to find books they can read. They stated they get books off the shelf and can't even read the first few pages so they quit reading. We have a school library that is run by parent volunteers. Each student is allowed to check out ONE book a week. When I asked how they know which book to check out they all said a book that has orange duct tape (meaning it is an AR book) and a blue dot (which turns out to signify a second, third AND fourth grade level). I was completely blown away when I realized these kids had no way of finding a "Just Right" book so no wonder they were frustrated with reading. I immediately set up a mini library within my room. Every book is labeled with an AR level and AR quiz #. Books are then organized in bins by level. Many of my students are now taking 2-3 books per day, reading them and taking an AR quiz. We discuss the books they have read, whether they thought it was too hard or too easy. What they thought of the quiz that went with the book. Over time, we have narrowed their appropriate reading levels. It has been a great experience for them.

B1-b: What happened at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story?
Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes   2.3
Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola  2.3
From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman  2.9

A4-a: Predict what will happen next in this story?
Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino  1.6
Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown   2.3
The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble   2.2

A5-a: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language.
The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne   2.1
All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle   2.3
All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka   2.2
In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming   2.0
Water Dance by Thomas Locker

Despite this student's background knowledge and vocabulary, he struggles with self correcting while reading. He often chooses a word which is visually similar yet makes no sense while reading. I think A5-a would be a good exercise for him to practice monitoring his reading for meaning.

Week 3 Activity - Running Record

I conducted a running record using a short second grade passage from a prior reading assessment class. This was photocopied from a book and unfortunately I can not locate the book at the moment. I will update the source for the materials as soon as I locate the book. Within my groups, the two students of the utmost concern are Student 1 and 14, both are boys in Group 1 and are being watched closely for possible SAT referrals. They both have poor attendance, missing at least 1 day per week. Student 14 is diabetic and Student 1 suffers from high anxiety.

Prior to reading, ask the student to read the title to his/herself. Then ask them what they think will happen.

The test included the following passage containing 100 words:

Zoo Work

Bob works at the zoo. He takes care of all kinds of animals. The animals are brought to the zoo from all over the world. Bob gives hay to the elephants. He feeds raw meet to the lions and fresh fish to the seals. He knows just what to give every animal. Each day Bob washes the cages in the zoo. When an animal gets sick, Bob takes it to the zoo doctor. He will make it well. Bob keeps the zoo keys. When the people go home, Bob locks the gates to the zoo. Then he can go home. 

The passage also had  the following comprehension questions:

1. What is the story about?

2. What does Bob do?

3. Where do the animals come from?

4. What did Bob feed the lions? What did Bob feed the seals?

5. How often does Bob was the cages?

6. Who takes care of sick animals?

7. What does Bob do when the people go home?

8. How does Bob know what to feed the animals?

9. Why do you think Bob locks the gates at the zoo?

10. What is "raw" meat? 

Student 14

Bob works at the zoo. He takes cars SC-V of all kind of animals. The animals are brought T to the zoo from all over the world. Bob gives they S-V to the elephants. He feeds raw O meat to the lions and fresh fish to the seals. And I He knows just what to give every animal. Each day Bob washes the carriage S-V in the zoo. When the S-MS animal gets sick, Bob takes it to the zoo doctor. He will take SC-V it will S-V. Bob keeps the zoo carries S-V. When the people go home, Bob looks S-V the great S-V to the zoo. Then he can go home. 

Student 14 made a total of 10 errors (90% accuracy rate). There were 2 self corrected errors. The self correcting rate is 1:6. This rate shows he is not self-monitoring or using decoding strategies well. The majority of his errors are visual code breakers. When asked what he thought the story would be about he answered, "There will be animals. Maybe an animal will break out." He did remarkably well on the comprehension questions. The only questions he struggled with were #7 & #5. His answer for #7 - he feeds them. The story stated "he locks the gates and goes home" but he was unable to read that portion of the text so he answered with his own best logical answer. His answer for #5 - every time they get sick. The story stated "Each day Bob washes the cages in the Zoo." Once again, he was unable to read a portion of the text "cages" so he gave his own logical answer. Even though he struggled with accuracy reading the text, he scored at an Independent/Instructional level for comprehension. This comprehension strength has also been evident in his DIBELS testing and small group readings.  

DIBELS Testing - At BOY his DORF-F was 20 and DORF-A was 65%, MOY (12/ ) DORF-F was 34 and DORF-A was 77%. Progress monitoring on 2/5, his DORF-F was 52 and DORF-A was 87%. Since MOY, he has been able to score a 2 on the retell even though his length of timed reading has been limited.

PSI Testing - BOY showed he only knew letter sounds for 16 consonants and 1 vowel. He also could only correctly identify 2/10 CVC nonsense words and 3/10 real words within sentences.

Reading Attitude Survey - results to be added

He is showing a steady increase despite the fact that he has a high absentee rate and complicated diabetic condition (causing him to see the nurse quite frequently during the school day). His classroom focus is poor, even in small group. It is difficult for him to follow along while others read but when it is his turn he tries hard (this is not a behavior or discipline problem, truly just an inability to remain focused). He is very cooperative and seems to enjoy reading. He is very teachable and would excel quickly with one on one tutoring. His retell and comprehension is strong. His weakness is clearly in the structure and mechanics of reading (mainly phonics). 

 

Student 1

Student 1 was absent Thursday and Friday. The running record will be performed as soon as he returns.

DIBELS Testing - At BOY his DORF-F was 15 and DORF-A was 68%, MOY (12/ ) DORF-F was 29 and DORF-A was 83%. Progress monitoring on 1/30, his DORF-F was 34 and DORF-A was 83% (he was absent for progress monitoring on 2/5).

PSI Testing - BOY showed he knew letter sounds for 19 consonants (b,d reversal) and 5 vowels. He could only correctly identify 5/10 CVC nonsense words and 8/10 real words within sentences. For consonant blends he could correctly identify 2/10 nonsense words and 2/10 real words within sentences.

Reading Attitude Survey - He scored a 2.3 for recreational reading and 3.3 for academic reading. He is the type of student that does his work but it takes longer than the average student. Since he is typically catching up on school work in the class room, he doesn't have much opportunity for independent reading during free time.

Student 1 isn't showing the same progress as Student 14. His anxiety definitely plays a role in his reading. At times you can visibly see him shake when he is to read aloud. He is on medication but it seems to be inconsistent. He was tested and received glasses in the fall which has helped him considerably in the classroom. 

Like many of their fellow students in Group 1, these students at the beginning of the year struggled just to decode CVC words. Within this group, we are still focusing on phonics skills, sight words and word manipulation and play. We are gradually using whole text to practice fluency and detail recall. At this point, there isn't too much focus on deeper meaning within text. Students who have reached that point moved on to Group 2.

Testing conducted on some of the other second grade students:

Group 1 Students

Student 7

Bob works at the zoo. He takes care of all kinds of animals. The animals are brought to the zoo from all over the world. Bob gives hay to the elephants. Bob S feeds raw meet to the lions and fresh O-SC fish to the seals. He knows just what to give every animal. Each day Bob wishes S the kitches S in the zoo. When an animal gets O-SC sick, Bob takes it to the zoo doctor. He will make it well. Bob keeps the zoo keys. When the people go home, Bob locks the gates to the zoo. When S he can go home.

Student 7 made a total of 4 errors (96% accuracy rate). There were 2 self corrected errors, both were initial omissions that were caught while reading the following word. The self correcting rate is 1:3. 

Group 2 Students

Student 20

Bob works at the zoo. He takes care of all kinds of animals. The animals are both S to the zoo from all over the world. Bob gives hay to the elephants. He feeds raw meet to the lions and fresh fish to the seals. He knows just what to give every animal. Each day Bob washed S the cage S in the zoo. When an animal gets sick, Bob takes it to the zoo doctor. He will make it wheel S. Bob keep S the zoo keys T. When the people go home, to SC lock SC the cage S to the zoo. When S he can go home.

Student 20 made a total of 8 errors (92% accuracy rate). There were 2 self corrected errors. The self correcting rate is 1:5.

Student 17

Bob works at the zoo. He takes care of all kinds of animals. The animal S are built SC to the zoo from all over the world. Bob gives hay to the elephants. He feeds ree S meet to the lions and fresh fish to the seals. He knows just what to give every one SC. Each day Bob washed S the cage SC in the zoo. When an animal gets sick, Bob takes it to the zoo doctor. He will make it well. Bob keeps the zoo keys. When the people go home, Bob locks the gates to the zoo. Then he can go home.

Student 17 made a total of 3 errors (97% accuracy rate). There were 3 self corrected errors. The self correcting rate is 1:1.

Week 3 Reading - That's a Great Answer, Introduction

What do you like about the book?

I am excited to read this book since teaching literature-response strategies is my weaker area. As a new teacher, I still need to reread educational material in order to fully digest it. The conversational tone of the "Introduction" should make it an easier read for a novice such as myself. I appreciate the fact that the author has reflected on her first book and decided to update it to provide teachers an insight to her observations. 

After skimming the book, I have found the following items peaking my interest: 

• an organized bibliography full of text suggestions for each strategy (as a novice this will save me valuable time)
• a CD with all the materials needed (I hate trying to photocopy out of a binded book)
• lessons are designed using scaffolding leading students to independence
• writing is also included in the lessons
• inclusion of collaborative tasks

What resources provided by the book do you anticipate being helpful to you as a Reading Specialist?

• the organized bibliography of text suggestions
• the oral collaborative task templates
• the well designed and thought out answer frames (way more than just a broad ditto sheet)

What concerns if any do you have about the book?

I only have one concern related to this text at this point. I could really be implementing these ideas with my students right now. Hopefully, I am patient enough to fully understand the text before implementing the strategies to I can avoid any pitfalls she mentioned in the introduction. I would be mortified if I stressed a student to the point of tears.

Week 2 Reading - How Standardized Tests Shape - and Limit - Student Learning

According to the article, "How Standardized Tests Shape - and Limit - Student Learning", standardized testing has a negative impact on student learning. The three main areas of focus in the article are- the changing nature of teaching, the narrowing of the curriculum, and the limiting of student learning and how each of these items are negatively impacted by standardized testing.

Evidence provided to support this argument:

• Teachers lose between 60 to 110 hours of instructional time in a year due to testing.
• Mandatory curricula designed to prepare students for standardized testing limits teachers from providing instruction more suited to the needs of the students. (I am experiencing this at full force this year)
• Time spent prepping students for testing through practice tests or drill sessions reduces teacher abilities to 
• Non-tested subjects such as music, art, foreign languages, and social studies are squeezed out impeding students from a well rounded education.
• Curriculum is narrowed to focus on literacy skills found on standardized tests rather than higher-order critical reading skills.
• Limitations of machine scoring for testing writing effects the focus of writing instructional time. A greater focus is made on the mechanical skills needed to score points and not the substance of the writing. 
• Students designated not-proficient hold a negative perception of their abilities.

I agree and disagree with this article.

As a reading specialist, I see the need to administer standardized tests as indicators for student performance particularly in reading. What I don't see is the need for it to be so high-staked and stressful for everyone involved. The lack of good reading skills can have a direct impact on performance in other subjects but that should not diminish the significance of those other subjects in a child's education. I also believe teachers should have more say in the tests that will be administered to their students. Too often, these decisions are made by individuals at administrative levels who most likely have no experience within the given grade they are making decisions for. Tests seem to be chosen based on financial decisions (fewer test choices covering broader grade ranges for purchasing power) rather than individualized purpose per grade. 

Last year, I worked only with K-2 so I did not use WestTest Data for my instruction. I was in Hampshire County and they had decided to no longer use DIBELS or Acuity. They had chosen STAR Reading for first through fifth. They used PASI (Phonemic Awareness Screener for Intervention) for kindergarten and first grade and PSI (Phonics Screener for Intervention) for first and second. These tests provided valuable information for not only student weaknesses but also identified students that were advancing beyond the pace of the classroom. 

I am now in a different county working with K-4. Mineral County uses DIBELS but is no longer using Acuity (as expected now that WestTest is no longer implemented). After administering DIBELS within just a few weeks of school starting, I was like ok, here are the kids identified as struggling but now what do I do with them. Since the results for the second grade were as they were, I decided to administer the PSI on my own to the entire 2nd grade class and there you go, I knew exactly what I needed to teach. As I found with all the grades DIBELS was a good indicator for identifying struggling students but did not provide enough information to fully guide instruction. As far as I know, the county does not provide materials for further testing beyond this point so it would be up to the classroom teacher and Reading Specialist to do so.

I administered DIBELS to the entire school within 4 days (with the exception of the first grade teacher who wanted to do her own testing). I think it would be great for the classroom teachers to administer these tests themselves but as she found out it took her almost 4 weeks just to do her class. This large of a testing gap could render the results invalid. I think it is much better for classroom teachers not to do the individualized testing such as this. I think it is much better to use a designated person such as a Reading Specialist. This way students are pulled out individually and only miss 5-15 minutes of instructional time per testing versus the loss of collective instructional time for the classroom teacher to do it. Also, having one individual testing school wide would ensure more consistent results especially for subjective areas such as the retell. Lastly, the testing is much more accurate if completed within as small of a time frame as possible, especially within the K-2 grades. 

In regards to kindergarten, DIBELS worked as a good indicator of students for intervention. Skills such as letter naming, first sound recognition, phoneme segmentation, letter sound recognition, and the blending of those sounds. Once students identified for intervention were placed in an IPAP (Intensive Phonemic Awareness Program) group, other skill deficits were evident during instruction. While this testing easily identified students requiring phonemic awareness instruction, I am not sure as a stand alone it would be adequate to assess all the pre-reading skills necessary for a kindergartner. 

While in Hampshire County, the kindergarten teachers no longer had access to DIBELS so they were generating their own comprehensive assessment inventories based on the pacing of their instruction for each quarter. These tests were designed mainly by the teachers themselves with input from the Reading Specialists. Since they were comprehensive and individualized, the tests were administered by the Reading Specialists to prevent a loss in instructional time for the teacher. During the 3rd and 4th quarter the teachers administered the tests themselves for any students they were considering for retention. These assessments had a direct impact on the instructional plan for both the classroom teachers and Reading Specialists. They were also directly used for Progress Reports for parents. This is the type of testing that is set to expand into first and second grade. My daughter attends pre-k in Maryland and they have used this type of testing and reporting for a few years now. As both a teacher and parent, I like the objectivity of the reporting. 

For me, DIBELS isn't really as effective once you reach middle of the year third grade. Only one student was identified as Intensive and a couple others as Strategic. By this point, most students are beginning to struggle more with comprehension than decoding and fluency. DIBELS probably isn't the best indicator for comprehension. Ideally, I would prefer the opportunity to explore other options for testing beyond this level. 

While attending Frostburg State's MAT program, the reading assessment course was taught by a principal in Washington County. We attended class on Fridays at her school and administered various assessments to her students. Their county-wide choice of reading assessment was Fountas & Pinnell. I could see this as a much better choice of comprehension assessment rather than DIBELS for third grade and above. Since it is typically a differentiated assessment based on reading level, this would not be a standardized type test. It would provide information as to levels of instructional and independent reading for each student and would be administered as needed per student. 

I am also working with a group of five fourth graders. DIBELS was really of no use for instructional planning for this group. These students were identified by the classroom teacher for intervention based mainly on classroom performance. Their MOY Benchmark has fluency ranges of 88-140 WPM. This has been the most challenging group for me to work with in a sense of knowing what skills to work on with them. Their WestTest Data also did not give me individual indicators of skills needed just the overall concepts of what constitutes non-proficient. Since I did not work with grades above second last year in Hampshire County, I was not able to review STAR Reading data for this grade level to see if it gave indications of skill deficits. Curious to know if anyone in our group is using this form of assessment. 

I am very interested to see where the Common Core testing will lead us. From what I have seen regarding Smarter Balance during a brief professional development seminar and from the online site, I fear the students I work with are no where near ready for that level of testing. What I do like is the idea of computer adaptive testing that will focus on growth rather than just a baseline.   

Sorry for the super long post!!

Week 2 Activity - Identify Students

Upon arriving at my school this year, I was informed of a situation with the second grade class. During the previous year their teacher had numerous personal and medical issues that caused her to be out of the classroom the majority of the year. Since many of these were separate yet extended occurrences, the students had 5 different subs through out the year for varying lengths of time.

After performing the Beginning of the Year Benchmark for DIBELS, 10 out of 20 students were classified as Intensive and 3 more were classified as Strategic. Three of the Intensive students have IEPs and are working with the Special Ed teacher. I have been working with the remaining 10 students since the beginning of the year. 

Once I began working with these students, I administered the Phonics Screener for Intervention from the 95% Group. This test is broken down by phonics skills, CVC, blends, digraphs, long vowel silent-e, etc. and students are given 10 nonsense words and 10 real words within 2 sentences per skill for a possible combined score of 20. An ideal score would be 17 or higher. As DIBELS showed only 7 students were able to score 17 for CVC skills, 3 for blends, 2 for digraphs, and only 1 student was able to score 17 for long vowel silent-e. Students entering second grade should have a solid understanding of each of these skills plus some knowledge vowel teams. Over half the class, was unable to blend letter sounds to decode a word. 

During the first week of December our district opened the Middle of the Year Benchmark window for DIBELS. During this testing, the number of students in each category stayed the same but we had one Strategic move to Core and one Core move to Strategic. We also had one Intensive move to Strategic and vice versa. The students are finally able to read a book independently and many of the students have made huge strides but as they progress so does the rigor and goals of the testing. 

I will be using the survey for the entire class and the teaching methods with the 10 students I am working with for 30 minutes daily in 2 small groups. Within a week or two I will also be tutoring these students in even smaller groups and some one-on-one in the afternoons. 

I used the Professor Garfield Elementary Reading Attitude Survey on my small groups and will administer the survey to the remainder of the class this coming week. This will allow me to compare the results of struggling readers with non struggling readers. I also plan to re-administer the survey at the end of the year to see if scores increase as their reading ability improves. 

Group 1 

Student 1

Student 7

Student 8

Student 14

Student 15

Group 2

Student 2

Student 6

Student 10

Student 17

Student 20

Week 1 Reading - Implementation of the Common Core State Standards

Implementation of the Common Core State Standards

"What is tested ends up being what is taught."

While going through the MAT program I was able to observe teaching in Mineral County, WV and Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties, MD. This was just before the implementation of Common Core. I witnessed a wide variety of teaching styles and techniques, some great and some not-so-great. What struck me as the most disconcerting was observing a teacher instruct students on a daily basis how to answer questions that would be found on the standardized test for math. The examples for practice were almost identical as to what would be found on the test. The students were then explicitly instructed how to answer these problems to obtain the full 3 points. The written math calculations (show your work) were all identical. These answers even included a written response as to how or why they arrived at the answer. Out of a class of almost 30 students their answers were nearly identical given a word here or there. These methods allowed this school to achieve Blue Ribbon Status based on test results. 

"Recent research on learning indicates that students learn best when they have opportunities for collaborative, hands-on and minds-on manipulation of real-world problems, data, and/or patterns."

Since my teaching experience began during this chaotic transition to Common Core, it has given me the opportunity to observe teachers that have embraced the freedom of exploring a wider approach to teaching math. Last year, I observed second grade teachers piloting Engage NY for their math curriculum. I also attended professional development for Numbers Talk and was able to implement it during my math intervention groups and observe whole group implementation within the classrooms. After arriving at my new this year, I recommended Engage NY to the first grade teacher when she expressed her frustrations with Everyday Math. She and her students have fallen in love with it! 

Watching parents and especially educators blast Common Core math on social media sites drives me crazy!! Like some of the others, I used the widely circulated Facebook post below. It blows my mind that adults, particularly well educated adults, view Common Core Math this way. My question to these complainers is this, when you are out in public and you are faced with a math problem such as this or calculating tips, do you whip out a calculator or grab paper and pencil to calculate these things. Hopefully not! You calculate it in your head. I would solve this problem by adding up, 316+100=416. 416+4=420, 410+7=427. 100+4+7=111. Grant it, I have only looked at Common Core at the elementary level and can't speak for anything above that. 

Overall, I think the general idea of Common Core is fantastic. A cohesive set of standards that can be applied state by state has been long over due with our modern day mobile population. I think there are issues and areas that desperately need addressed, such as any standards not coinciding with the developmental readiness of students, assessments, professional development, and the access to resources. One of the hot topics is kindergarten and whether or not students should be expected to read before leaving kindergarten. There is a great deal to be covered in kindergarten and those students who have phonemic awareness typically are successful. I believe reading in kindergarten is achievable but the biggest hurdle is the wide variance of readiness for kindergarten which could be mediated with implementation of mandatory Pre-k. There should also be an understanding that not all children at this age are on the same level developmentally and it shouldn't be expected of all students. Those who are not ready should be given the additional time and support needed without delaying attainable skills for other students. 

Censorship Now: Revisiting The Student's Right to Read

"Regardless of the form it takes, censorship has uniformly negative effects on student learning. Research indicates that restricting students from choosing their own texts can limit their ability to become effective independent readers."

As a Title 1 teacher it blows my mind when a teacher complains about students in the class being "poor readers." When I question them about the time spent in the classroom for independent reading, the response is "There is just too much curriculum to cover. We don't have enough time for that" and the reading block is comprised entirely of teacher led instruction and teacher selected text. That is one of the reasons I am not a fan of county-wide implementations of a reading series such as Reading Street and Treasures. I believe teachers often get so stressed over following the weekly schedules and trying to implement all the provided lessons and activities there is no room for originality or individuality of teachers or students. 

Reading Instruction for All Students

"Reading research shows that educational policy needs to include professional development opportunities that enable teachers to match instructional approaches to diverse student needs. In order to support teachers' ability to draw on a complex set of instructional approaches in service of diverse learner reading outcomes, teachers need frequent and sustained opportunities to learn with one another about the range of instructional supports, interventions, and formative assessments as they emerge from the latest research and practice."

Professional development is a major concern at our school and in our district. With only one teacher per grade, grade level collaboration within our school is not possible and county wide collaboration is only available for half a day at the beginning of the year. There is very limited time to collaborate with other teachers within our school. The only routine collaboration schedule is for the special ed teacher and myself to jointly meet with each teacher once a week in the morning during homeroom time. We only have about 15 minutes and during that time the classroom teacher is often distracted by students and trying to prepare for the day. 

Financial budget cuts over the past few years have all but eliminated the necessary funds for high quality professional development, particularly on a school wide approach. A transition to Common Core is most definitely ill timed with the current economical condition of most school boards. This has placed not only the financial burden on the individual teacher but also the investment of time to seek out and attend quality professional development on one's own.   

Yeah, this might be a little early for reading!!

Week 1 Activity - Introduction Post

Hi! My name is Gina Fox. This is my first semester at Fairmont State. I graduated from Frostburg State University's MAT Program in May 2012.

I postponed my teaching career for a year when I found out my recently adopted daughter (Alicia, now 5) had a pending sibling on the way. Since my son (Jackson, now 2) had a rough start the first year, it turned out to be a very wise decision.

I began looking for a teaching position in the fall of 2013. In October, I was hired as a Reading Specialist long term substitute for the remainder of the school year at Augusta Elementary (Hampshire County). I worked exclusively with K-2. I loved every minute of it and was hooked!

I am currently working as a Reading Specialist at Fountain Primary School in Mineral County. The only thing I don't like about this position is that it is only part-time.

I am taking this course to obtain a Reading Specialist Certification and to also strengthen my knowledge and skills as a reading teacher.

There are many books that I loved when I was young, one that I vividly remember reading was Where the Red Fern Grows. As an animal lover, I was always drawn to books revolving around animals and their bonding with people. This book deepened my interest in historical nonfiction, particularly stories about my peers in different times and cultures.