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.