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Instructional Context
In language arts I teach twenty-one second grade students who are seven to eight years old. I have nine students working below grade level expectations in reading and writing. Six of those students come from single parent homes; therefore I seek to provide additional one-on-one attention and guidance. There are five students at grade level and seven students above grade level. My classroom has two students that speak English-as-a-second language. There are four students who have ADD, three students receiving Title 1 help for reading, three students who attend speech class, and one student who is LD in reading. I am able to teach in my own classroom all day. My rural school has started a collection of group and class sets of books. The school I teach at is so large that I am unable to schedule computer time to allow my class to work on projects; therefore I utilize classroom computers and work with the computer teacher. I have high expectation for all students in my classroom environment in which I create a safe, caring, and positive climate. There is a wide variation of development with some students reading as third graders while others struggle with decoding words. Some students lack the confidence to try new skills. I believe it is important to expose them to multicultural literature since one third of the class is minority.
Analysis of Two Children’s Literacy Development
Anthony
Anthony is a quiet, seven year old student who has many facets. At the beginning of the year he resided in the home with his mother, father, and younger brother. After his father was removed from the home, he, along with his mother and brother moved in with his paternal grandfather. The move has impacted Anthony at school and in completing work at home in a positive way. He is being exposed to regular interaction with his parent as they read together and play word games. I selected Anthony because he does not meet grade level expectation set by our state. I have chosen to use Option B on both Anthony and Kayci. I used informal assessments such as anecdotal notes during guided reading, self-selected reading and writing, and writer’s workshop to identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses by observing them in literature circle and during independent seat work, by collecting work samples, reading journal entries, and playing word games. In addition within the first month of school I gave each student a running record and sight word test. I wanted to find out where Anthony was achieving at the start of the school year so I used The Literacy Map Baseline Benchmark Checklist.
When writing, Anthony spells words as he hears them. In his reading he will read word by word with some pockets of fluency. He is a self-motivated reader, yet his comprehension is not very strong. He has almost mastered phonemic awareness, however he has some confusion with short vowel sounds. Anthony successfully writes about personal experiences. He writes complete thought but does not correctly use punctuation and capitalization.
Upon entering second grade Anthony would write in a list form rather than in a story. Work sample one is an unassisted piece that Anthony wrote the first week of school to provide a baseline for his writing level. In work sample #1 he capitalizes words in the middle of the sentence, used three periods, and began several of the sentences with “and I.” (Work sample #1) He also wrote in a list form in his math journal by repeatedly writing “and then.” I learned that I wanted to begin working on spacing and punctuation with Anthony. I wanted to learn more about Anthony’s prior knowledge (schema) before, during, and after reading text as well as seeing if he was able to determine the most important ideas and themes in a text.
I wanted to help Anthony, as well as other students, think about what he was reading. After reading research and The Literacy Map, I realize I needed to teach the kids to be conscience of their thinking as they read. I modeled questioning before, during, and after reading, in addition to inferencing using big books.
To gather information on what Anthony was thinking as he read I had him write down questions he had during the read on post-it notes. In small groups students shared these questions with each other. I had the students talk about the questions during the read for two minutes and again after the read of two minutes according to P…. I discovered Anthony was not making predictions of what would come next. This prompted me to gather information through an informal assessment to learn if he truly comprehended what he read. Therefore during his twenty minutes of guided reading I taught him to use comprehension strategies by modeling connections I had, importance in text, and drawing inferences. To build his questioning I had his literacy group only write down questions they had as they read by saying “I wonder…”. While reading with Anthony one on one I noticed that he was thinking about the story in more detail since he had utilized the post-it notes during comprehension activities.
I worked with Anthony during mini lessons and editing conferences on writing samples. Anthony became conscious of his spacing in between words and at the end of the sentences when I had him use his finger for spacing. I observed it was easier for Anthony to use his finger as a tool for spacing rather than moving a pop cycle stick on and off the paper. In work sample #2 Anthony showed punctuation marks were added when he took a breath. I still observed Anthony writing in lists and continuing to misuse capital letters. I created a song to help him correct capitalization when editing his writing. My county has adopted “Write from the Beginning” as our writing program. The program is a very structured process for teachers and students. I have seen that the program is so structured that it limits the creativity for many students. I do not believe it is appropriate for all students, but I believe it will help Anthony become a stronger writer.
In sample #2 he wrote about a time he lost something. In this sample he showed that he had the ideas and experiences, however he continued to list them. I have noticed that Anthony uses his mental images in his writing. Anthony sometimes discusses “how,” “who,” and “what if” questions. Work sample #3 I used the flow map to help Anthony elaborate on his writing. He was challenged to pick only three events that he did one time when he played in the snow. The flow map indicated to me that Anthony can “tell me more” or provide details about events. Once Anthony had finished the flow map he used it to share his story out loud with a peer. I had him read his map in sentence form by starting at the opening sentence and follow the arrows to the closing sentence. This allowed Anthony to talk about the ideas he had written on his flow map, which gets language going in sentence form before he wrote his rough draft on primer paper (with wide lines).
Each work sample indicated that Anthony continues to have difficulty with short vowel sounds, for example, ugo for ago. I wanted to see if Anthony understood the vowel sounds and word chunk rules. I observed him during word sorts. I began by giving him three words to use as the “toppers” and then observing him as he moved the words from each column. I taught him a matching game he played with his word sorts. This gave him practice of looking for words with the same vowel sound and making connections to use in his writing. Word sorts were also used to build his base of word chunk rules.
Anthony is self-motivated when reading fiction books. He confidently writes narrative journal entries and stories and is more lukewarm about writing fictional stories and in his math and science journals. He sits still and gives me eye contact while on the carpet, at his seat, or in literature circle; however, he has difficulty with following directional activities. He rarely responds to other classmates’ strategies or ideas. Since Anthony appears to be paying attention I wanted to administer a following direction activity on him.
Kayci
Kayci is an inquisitive, seven year old active learner who enjoys reading and writing stories and books. She lives in a stable environment with her mother, father, and two younger siblings. Kayci’s family’s value of literacy is reflected in her experiences she brings to her class work. Kayci was selected because she is a model student, who writes stories in her free time, yet has room for growth and improvement. Kayci has extensive knowledge; however, I wanted to see Kayci write with more clarity in a concise manner. Kayci chooses to write independently for enjoyment. She enjoys speaking in front of the class, writing, and reading. She enjoys listening to information that I present to her, however she does not practice active listening in cooperative groups. Kayci has the tendency to take charge in literature group as well as other cooperative group activities; therefore I wanted to find ways to help her become a “team player.”
To help Kayci become a team player I rotated letting her pick the group of students she worked with and assigning her to small groups. I assigned jobs, which rotated, to each member in the group to help students become successful at working together. Kayci continue to take charge of the group and is quick to tell another member of the group that their answer is not correct before talking about it.
During the first month of school Kayci’s running record indicated that she has strong intonation, fluency, and phrasing. She self corrects three words for a 97% accuracy rate on the highest second grade tested running record level. Even though Kayci has an extremely high running record and choose books on her level I wanted to see if she read a variety of text or genres. For two weeks I noted that she was reading fiction chapter books during independent reading time. She was fluent and read with intonation when I listened to her read. I realized that I needed to challenge her to read other genre so I could observe if she was reading with intonation on those texts as well. I created a bingo board for Kayci to mark off when she read a poem, non-fiction book, book about an animal, autobiography, biography, and fantasy.
I emphasize and integrate literacy across all content areas. Work sample #1 is taken from our CGI (cognitively guided instruction) Math Journal. During CGI time students create two math strategies, draw a picture of one, describe the other strategy using sentences, and then share with a peer. It is evident that Kayci was able to successfully sequence her thoughts. She wrote in detail expressing her ideas elaborately. However, I noted that punctuation and proofreading are not practiced when writing in the math journal. I realize Kayci may not spend the time to proofread her sentence because she enjoyed sharing her strategies in detail with a peer.
Kayci chooses to write stories during her free time. I have realized that Kayci would prefer to write than interact with her peers and is definitely not motivated by materials incentives. My school’s accelerated reading program awards student’s prizes for the number of point they have. Despite Kayci’s reading level she has very few points. It is important for me to realize that she is not motivated by prizes, rather she chose to read fiction and nonfiction books she was interested in. Therefore I motivated her by highlighting interested facts about authors like Mary Pope Osborne, Patricia Polacco, Chris Van Allsburg, and Mark Teague.
Supporting Literacy Development
Anthony
Anthony receives additional literacy development from a Title 1 teacher for thirty minutes each day. He has equal opportunity in small-guided reading groups where he has access to me and to more individualized instruction. Guided reading allowed me to tailor Anthony’s instruction to meet his comprehension needs and helped me to observe the strategies he employed.
Anthony is motivated to read Accelerated Reading books. I have made sure Anthony has access to selecting materials for reading when I allowed him to have free access to the library. As soon as he took a test I encouraged him to go to the library right then to pick out a new book. He has been responsible about picking out books on his reading level. The access has been important for Anthony since he comes from a home with a modest library environment.
Throughout the day literacy development is entwined in everything we do. During math I have use children’s books to introduce math objectives for example when teaching money I used Pigs in a Blanket. Literacy is a vibrant part of CGI problem solving. Students listened as I read the story problem to them followed by a coral reading. Then students learned new strategies by listening to their classmates explain new strategies. They recorded in their math journal diagrams and sentences explaining strategies they created. Literacy is also integrated into science experiments through investigations and journal entries as I attempt to make the experiments personally relevant and captivating to children. (Standard V)
As an early childhood teacher I make ample use of print in the classroom. Anthony has visual access to strategies, signs, and labels posted, as well as student created books, a reading and listen center. The listening center helped to support his development as he listens to stories before they are read in small group.
In the upcoming weeks I will pair Anthony up with a book buddy, a peer from our classroom, to provide him with opportunities to receive the benefits of exclusive attention, interesting reading experiences, and personalized instruction.
I have daily contact with Anthony’s mother because she walks him in. I use this time to celebrate his accomplishments, answer questions she has, and share ideas that she can try at home. After building a strong relationship with his mother I have learned through conversations that she has a lot of responsibilities and is making the best of the situation. She is concerned about Anthony’s self-esteem after his father was taken away. In the fall I offered to sign Anthony up for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. She graciously accepted the idea. Within a month a lady was paired with Anthony. She comes every Wednesday to eat lunch with Anthony and play word games (word searches, crosswords, words in a word, concentration, and word jumble) that I provide for her to use. She will bring books for them to read together and is able to stay for thirty minutes after lunch. He looks forward to this day and loves to bring her back to the room to show her work he has done. His mom has been gracious and open for all suggestions. I am aware that it takes a community to provided support to children. I have sent home centers in baggies for Anthony and his mother to play together. At the beginning of the year when Anthony was read to at a minimal amount I sent home leveled readers on tape that he listened to a week before he read it in class. At the first conference I gave his mother a sheet of comprehension questions that I ask after running records. I encouraged her to ask him two of the questions each night to help scaffold reading at home.