Literacy in the classroom

Marcus is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching strategies would you suggest to help Marcus?              To help Marcus understand that reading should sound right and make sense, I would start off by using retrospective miscue analysis by recording Marcus reading a text and playing it back to him. When miscues are made, I will stop the tape and ask him if what he read made sense. I would then have him reread that portion of the text and find the correct meaning, with teacher guidance (Weaver, 2002).   I would also encourage Marcus to listen to recorded books. I would have Marcus first read the book independently and then I would have him listen to the book being...

Marcus is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching strategies would you suggest to help Marcus?              To help Marcus understand that reading should sound right and make sense, I would start off by using retrospective miscue analysis by recording Marcus reading a text and playing it back to him. When miscues are made, I will stop the tape and ask him if what he read made sense. I would then have him reread that portion of the text and find the correct meaning, with teacher guidance (Weaver, 2002).   I would also encourage Marcus to listen to recorded books. I would have Marcus first read the book independently and then I would have him listen to the book being...

After reading chapters 10 and 11 I have learned a lot about my teaching and things I need to start implementing in my classroom. In pre k it is easy to get caught up just teaching skills based literacy. After reading these chapters I see my wrongs and have made many plans to change the way I teach. Yes I will still teach my students’ letter recognition and sounds, as that is important at this age, but my way of teaching it will change. I am hoping to be able to create a literature-based classroom. I love the idea of teaching my students the basics and comprehension all at one time while reading. I hope to incorporate more choral and shared reading opportunities in my classroom, as well.   At the end of the year when my students start to read, I am not going to push for absolute correctness of every word, I am going to focus on getting my students to visualize what they read and gain meaning of what they read all while using books that have a less predictable structure.   ...

Click the link to read my paper on Lesley Morrow https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0q6y0FhSAKCRi1tMTU2RTVsTzA/edit?usp=sharing

What do you think of this? What do such activities and cracking the code contribute to proficient reading? What else might a reader need to become proficient? I think that reading is a combination of things. I believe that students need to start off with the basics at first and then as they become more confident they are able to make sense of the words and what they have read more easily because they have the foundation for reading. In the video, it discusses how they use a systematic and direct approach. The students’ start of listening for individual sounds, then they move to segments of sounds and blending, and then they read the whole word. For this process they use both real and nonsense words. I think the use of nonsense words is a way to show that the student is beginning to become a proficient reader because they are using the cues they have learned to read words they are unfamiliar with. This is a beneficial way of teaching in the beginning, but as students grow old...

Erica, a fifth grader, reads grade level passages at a rate of 177 words correct per minute, or 30% faster than grade level norms. When asked to retell what she has read, Erica struggles and is able to give little to no information from about the text. Many other children in Erica's class also read well above grade level expectations for fluency rate (or automaticity), but the teacher laments that they struggle with comprehension and using appropriate expression and intonation while they read. What is going on here? What advice can you offer the teacher? Write a memo to the teacher from the viewpoint of the school's Reading Specialist. Give the teacher and explanation for the phenomenon and offer her advice on dealing with the situation. Please keep the memo to no more than 400 words. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist." Dear Fifth grad teacher, After hearing what you have noticed with Erica and her class...

Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts? Why or why not?   I do not agree with Marilyn Adams’ view on skillful readers processing individual letters of words as they read. There are numerous examples in the text that completely disprove this theory. To focus on individual letters of words would mean that our eyes actually fixate on what is being read. There have been several studies on eye fixation, for example, Rayner (1997) states that 20-30% of words on a page are skipped, Carpenter (1987), found that only about 68% of the words are fixated on, and Hogaboam (1983),   wrote that 40% of the words on a page were skipped, not fixated on   during his study (Weaver, 2002).   These studies show that as we read, our eyes do not fixate or focus on every letter or word.   Another great example of this being an in...

Activity 1: Excercise #3c As I was trying to find the meaning of the following words, I was really unsure as to their meaning. I found myself constantly trying to think of a word I know that sounds or relates to that word. I was attempting to use my schema, what little I have in reference to the words below that I am vary unfamiliar with. Creech- to creap up on someone Droogs- a gang or group Glazzies- glasses Goloss- rainboots or galoshes Malenky- Messel- muzzle Millicents- a measurement of time Poogly- feeling down Razrez- a razor Skorry- feeling sorry Spatted- spitting Zoobies- animals that live in the zoo After reading the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange, I was able to understand the meaning of the words using context clues.   It made it much easier to find meaning to the word then before when all I had available was the word. Having the word in context and the context before and after helped me to find understanding in what the ...

OR: It my little monkey here. ER: Is my little monkey here? OR: We got to tell. ER: We've got to tell. OR: Frog look at Toad calendar. ER: Frog looked at Toad's calendar. OR: A word what sounded good. ER: A word that sounded good. OR: hisself ER: himself OR: I can come to your party? ER: Can I come to your party? Are these children's miscues evidence of proficient or non-proficient reading? Explain. If you were teaching children who made these miscues, what, if any, assistance or teaching would you offer? The student’s miscues are evidence of proficient reading. The student may not be using “proper grammar,” but they are reading using their home dialect without changing the meaning of what is being read.   When looking at their original response and then the expected response you can still clearly see they understand what is being said, maybe more s...

"The major folklore of reading instruction relates to the "theory" that reading is considered an exact process. In other words, the reader is expected to read everything exactly as it is printed on the page in order to understand the message of the author. In general the consuming public, legislatures, courts and too many educators hold this theory. It is like the theory of the world being flat during the time of Columbus."                        - Rober Harper and Gary Kilarr I agree that the theory of reading being an exact process is folklore. Reading is more than grapho/phonemic cues this is only part of the reading process. The reading process is a combination of schema and substitutions/omissions, as long as the meaning is still preserved. There is no exact way to read. It is about reading effectively and efficiently using all necessary strategies to draw meaning ...

        Complete Exercise #5 on p. 39 by reading the passage and answering questions a-g that follow it. How is it that you are able to answer such questions? What does this experience suggest about the kinds of comprehension questions found in workbooks and on standardized tests? A.       What is corandic?             A croandic is an emruient grof with many fribs. B.       What does corandic grank from?   Corandic granks from corite, an olg which cargs like lange.   C.       How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite? Garkers excarp by glarcking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped storbs. D.      What does the slorp finally frast? The slorp frasts a pragety, blickant crankle:coranda. E.       What is coranda? ...

Hocked gems financing him, our hero defied the scornful laughter. T hink of it as an egg, not a table, he said. Then three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging over vast calmness, and sometimes over turbulent peaks and valleys, until at last welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying monumental success. Answer these questions about the passage: 1. What are the hocked gems? I found that hocked can mean to pawn something for money, so this leads me to believe that the hocked gems are a significant object that someone had to pawn or give away for something like money in return. 2. What should we think of as an egg and not a table? We should think of it as an egg and not a table, because an egg is fragile and if it is broken it’s a big deal, but a table is sturdy and strong. So the situation should be handled with concern and care. 3. Who are the three sturdy sisters? The three sturdy sisters are three people or maybe groups that are looking for proof for w...

Teaching reading is a significant part of being a teacher. As a pre-kindergarten teacher I have the vast responsibility of introducing and preparing my students for the world of reading. I begin the school year by teaching the basics. I continually build upon each step until my students have the beginning knowledge they need to sound out words and read. While introducing the steps to reading I continually focus on vocabulary. The students may not be able to read the vocabulary words, but they are gaining the pre-knowledge they need to use and understand words they will be reading one day. Phonological and phonemic awareness are the main focus of being prepared to read. I begin each year with the goal of my students having an understanding that words are made up of individual sounds and if sounds are learned,   then we are able to put the sounds together to understand and read words. This will ultimately lead to being able to read and understand what was read. With the basics of...

There are major differences between the skills approach to literacy and the comprehensive/sociopsycholinguistic approach. Skills approach is simply looking at how well a child identifies words by identifying letter sounds and decoding. This approach puts a major push on phonics and fluency. Can the child identify the phonemes? Can the child read a text rapidly and correctly?   By using the skills approach the student’s prior knowledge/schema is not taken into consideration. Therefore, there is no understanding or comprehension of the text read. The comprehensive or sociopsycholinguistic approach looks at reading as a combination of schema, letter sounds, visual aspects, context, and meaning. The comprehensive approach takes the reader into consideration, such as, what their background knowledge/schema is. Are they reading the text the way they are because of a previous experience?   This approach shows that reading is not just phonics and fluency. Reading is a pieces the...

About Me Hi my name is Shawnee. I graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2010. I am currently a prekindergarten teacher for the Cartersville City School System. I have taught prek for three years. I have been married to my husband for three years and we have an amazing one year old son. I love spending time with my family and make a point each day to have one-on-one time with my son. I love being a teacher. I have dreamed of being a teacher since day one in kindergarten and was happy to finally achieve that dream in 2010. I love each and everyday of my job and enjoy how everyday is different! You never know what might happen when you're in prek, but that's what makes being a teacher so much fun! I enjoy seeing my students grow througout the year and see that light bulb light up when they have mastered something new!