Cheryl Serrill

Cheryl Serrill

Take Home Midterm RE 5100

Dr. Schlagel

1. Imagine (if necessary) that you are teaching a first grade class. It is the beginning of the year and it appears that you may have some slow-starting students in your class. 1.) What sorts of assessments (explain what and why) will you use to determine where they are and what they need? 2.) Given typical deficiencies among low beginners, what aspects of early literacy work will you emphasize(and why) so that they improve in both basic skills and grow in their interest in all aspects of literacy?(2 pages)

As I begin teaching first grade in the beginning of the year, I observe some students in class who have some difficulties. It is possible that these students are reading at the emergent level. To determine a child’s reading ability I would administer the following battery of assessments: Alphabet task, Concept of word task, Phoneme awareness(spelling) task, and word recognition task. (Morris & Slavin) The alphabet task has two parts: recognition and written production. The recognition part consists of the student naming the letters, upper and lowercase as the teacher points to them in random order. In the production section, the student writes the alphabet names as the teacher dictates the letter in random order. The alphabet letters are the building blocks of the writing system. A student who is able to recognize and name the letters brings knowledge to the “learning to read” effort. To produce phonetic spellings in writing, the students must know the names of the letters and how to produce them. (Morris, 2005)

The Concept of Word task measures the student’s ability to match spoken words to written words while reading. The student “finger point” reads four different sentences and identifies preselected words within the sentences. Upon completion of the “finger point” reading, the teacher points to a target word within the sentence. Responses are recorded. All four sentences are administered because the student’s performance can vary from sentence to sentence. Concept of word is the child’s ability to “read spaces” in text and is crucial in the “learning-to-read’ process. “Until the child can memorize a short poem or storybook page and read the few lines of print while pointing accurately to the words while reading, he will be unable to learn new sight words in reading or attend to letter-sound cues within words in text.”(Morris, 2005)The Phoneme Awareness (spelling) assessment consists of six words which the teacher clearly pronounces without elongating the sounds. Four of the spelling words contain 3 sounds, or phonemes (back, feet, road, and dig) and two of the words contain four phonemes (step and jump). The assessment consists of a total of twenty phonemes. Students scores are calculated by the number of phonemes represented in the student’s spelling.Spelling ability and word reading ability in the early grades are highly correlated. By assessing a student’s spelling ability, we gain insight into how the student spells words. “A student’s success in learning to read is based on the development of the understanding of phoneme awareness. A quick qualitative analysis of the beginning reader’s spelling attempts, reveals the amount of phonemic and spelling pattern awareness possessed by the student at that time.”(Morris, 2005)The Word recognition task consists of ten words. The student attempts to read each word as the teacher points to them one by one. The first five are frequently occurring sight words and the last five are short-vowel decodable words.A child’s ability to automatically and accurately recognize printed words drives a child’s reading. “Word recognition is developmental and provides a foundation for reading progress. A student’s word recognition ability is a good predictor of a child’s reading level.”(Morris, 2005)

Based on the deficiencies on the emergent readers I will immerse the emergent readers in patterned text with 3 to 6 words on a page to develop a concept of word and automaticity of sight words. Tender support will be need in the beginning. Students will benefit from picture walks, echo reading, partner reading, and repeated readings. Word sorts will begin with beginning consonant sounds with two highly contrasting letter sounds, which can be “searched for” in new and big book stories. Students will work on these literacy tasks in small ability groups for intense instruction. Students will progress to word families only when sorts become automatic. Students at the emergent level will need big books and language experience stories to teach voice print match, directionality, beginning consonant cues and sight word vocabulary. (Morris, & Slavin, 2003) Center activities should be rich literacy activities such as a listening center with a repeated and familiar book, word study, reading independently or with a partner, and writing, drawing, or a combination of both. “Students should be read aloud to several times a day to motivate students to become readers.”(Cunningham, & Hall, 2001)

Option 3: What is fluency in Reading? Why is it important? Discuss some ways that fluency could be developed in achieving second graders or above?

“Repeated reading is beneficial for students who are significantly behind in their reading development.”(Rasinski, 1989)Repeated readings are important because they help to develop fluency, word recognition, and comprehension when used on a regular basis Performance reading and reading to an audience focus on repeated readings and plenty of practice. In our class discussions we shared key ways to develop fluency in our students. Students should keep practicing. The way to get better is to read and re-read. Reading and modeling the expression inspires students to want to read. Most books that are children’s favorites are the ones that have been read to them over and over. Students should be provided with high interest materials. When students have materials that are of interest and value, they will want to become readers.

Rasinski cites several ways that fluency can be developed: Reader’s Theater, Student-Led Read Aloud, and Poetry Coffeehouses. Student-Led Read Aloud give students the opportunity to practice and make sure their reading is expressive and meaningful. Radio reading allows students to read their text like a professional radio announcer. Book talks give students the opportunity to share their perspective on books with their peers and convince them to want to read the book. Recorded books on tape are great to use with primary and intermediate students. The older students can read and record the book which gives them the benefit of oral reading. The younger students benefit from hearing another student read in a different expressive voice. Reader’s Theater gives students repeated practice and allows freedom to share in front of an audience. As students become more fluent with the text, students may choose to dramatize their script. Students rehearse with each other and perform to their class and it may go even further to another grade level or the school.

Poetry Coffeehouses are a fun and relaxing way to get students excited about rereading and developing fluency without them knowing it. Students practice and rehearse poems or readings all week. When Friday comes the teacher sets the class mood with dimmer lights and refreshments while students share their poems or readings to the audience. This is a great way for students to develop a love for poetry.

Samuels gives a more clearly defined definition of fluency. “Fluency is divided into two components- accuracy of word recognition and reading speed. For the purposes of building fluency, speed rather than accuracy should be stressed.”(Samuels, 1979) Students who have difficulty reading should begin in easy high interest stories. Samuels advocates for repeated reading by comparing it to an athlete, like a football or basketball player. He shares how athletes spend a huge amount of time practicing to develop skill in their sport to develop their speed and smoothness of the game. Repeated readings are the exact same type of practice. (Samuels, 1979)

“Fluency, the ease and efficiency with which one processes text is a crucial component of reading. The processing of printed words needs to be automatic so the reading can concentrate his or her attention on acquiring meaning.” (Morris, 2008). Students should do lots of reading in “easy” text that is familiar. Students should be in text that is at his or her independent level. By putting students in text that is at an independent level, fluency and speed can increase with minimal errors. Repeated Readings of passages are a great way to motivate student fluency. Students graph the number of words read and record and graph the data. The graphing provides immediate and positive feedback for the student. (Morris, 2003).

“An often overlooked way to strengthen reading fluency is to strengthen the child’s knowledge of orthographic or spelling patterns. Inaccurate or slow processing of printed words will limit a student’s reading speed”. (Morris, 2003). If a child’s store of automatized words and word patterns is increased, his fluency will increase. (Carver, 2000).