RE 5100 Midterm Essay 1
Within the first weeks of school, I would reassess the children using the same end-of-year test given to them in kindergarten in which each child’s alphabet knowledge, capability to finger-point read passages, spelling abilities, and sight word recognition skills are documented. An advantage of this type of assessment is that since it is given individually to each student, I gain a wealth of knowledge about the child’s literacy development in addition to which aspect(s) needs to be concentrated on in the classroom within a relatively short amount of time (ten minutes per child). Knowing each child’s alphabet knowledge is important since it’s the key to all other aspects of literacy; as a result, if a child is deficient in this area, I would know exactly what letters the child needs to work on – for example, letters with minimal contrasting sounds such as “b” and “p”. Perhaps the child can discern beginning sounds only which will show up as he tries to read and spell during the assessment. Finally, if a child scores low on word recognition, I would know that I need to provide literature which contains many repetitions of specific words the child will need in his repertoire.
An additional assessment that I would use is the group dictated story. Instead of testing the entire class at one time, I would divide the class into groups of six to eight students. This assessment depends more on observations of the students’ language behaviors than actual one-on-one testing of knowledge. The results of the observations would show how interested a child is in reading activities such as looking at the story while it’s being reread. I would also know how much vocabulary knowledge the child has by listening to his comments or sentences he created. Finally, I would also know the child’s reading abilities such as if he can find certain words in the story or if he can read the story independently or with help. I believe that by combining an individual test along with observations of each child within a group setting, I would have a more complete knowledge of what the child already knows and where I would need to begin instruction.
After the testing is complete, I would then begin working on ways to foster letter-sound relationships so that the lower ability students’ decoding and writing skills improve in addition to their sight word vocabularies increasing. One of the best activities to build this relationship is by using picture and word sorts. Picture sorts can help the children work on beginning sounds while word sorts are used to teach a variety of relationships such as ending consonant or medial vowel sounds. To reinforce the sort activities, as stories are being read, I would ask the students to point our words that contain the target sounds they’ve been working on. This can be accomplished by using big books. Since these books are usually interesting and enjoyable, students do not mind reading them over several times. This rereading provides opportunities to not only work on phonic skills but to also concentrate on reading strategies such as conflict, setting, or predictions and sight word development through the repeated text.
The optimal way to develop the above skills without hindering anyone’s development is to group students across various first grade classrooms according to their reading abilities so that everyone could receive instruction based on their individual needs. This usually is not an option, so alternate organization is required. One way is to split the class into different ability groups which in turn requires strict classroom structure because, while I am working with one group, the others must be working on different reading enrichment activities without disturbing other groups. Grouping within the class can be beneficial since the teacher will know exactly what each of her students’ capabilities are and group them based on their needs. For the lower students, more time can be spent on phonics instruction as well as beginning reading and writing activities. The advanced readers can work on building more complex sight word vocabularies in addition to receiving more advanced phonics instruction such as working on long vowel sounds. Writing activities also become more refined as a result of the students concentrating on correct spellings and longer sentences.
Dictated stories are not only an assessment tool but also an excellent way to instruct the entire class with no one being left out. Everyone can experience the writing stimulus and give input to the story based on his/her own knowledge and experiences. As the teacher writes, she can ask students questions on how to spell the word or parts of a word. Once the story is finished, everyone can read the story together and then more activities can be completed later based on vocabulary and phonetic knowledge.
Finally, reading big books together as a class is a beneficialtool for everyone. All levels of readers enjoy reading and listening to good, predictable literature. The key is what the teacher does to reinforce the readings. During the reading, she should work on various reading strategies with everyone such as identifying characters and how they are acting or discussing how the characters solved the problem in the story. Phonics practice and sight word recognition skills can also be included in instruction. Afterwards, a lower student can pair up with a more advanced reader to practice rereading the story to each other. As with anything, the more practice a struggling student can receive in reading the better he will eventually become.
Hopefully, by using the various assessment tools and strategies described above, every child in my class will show improved and substantial literacy growth during their first year.
RE 5100 Midterm Essay 2
Over the years, invented spelling has received a bad reputation among educators and the public because the perception was that bad spellers were being created. However, invented spelling has its place in kindergarten and first grade classrooms as children are learning how to discern letters and their sounds and then use both to create words. As young children are exposed to more and more print, they become curious about the letters and try to copy them. Consequently, this first writing could take the shape of squiggly lines or just random letters strung together, but it has a definite meaning to the child. As the children begin to learn letters and their corresponding sounds, it begins to appear in their writing as they think about the word they are trying to spell. For example, a student who has recently learned the letters “m” and “p” will begin to think about these sounds when he is trying to spell the word “mop”. When asked to write the word, the child sounds it out and puts “mp” on his paper. This child has just begun his journey as a spelling problem solver, and, as he becomes more aware of different phonetic sounds, it will become apparent in his writing. An additional benefit of this phonetic awareness is that children become better readers since they can begin to decode unknown words in text on their own.
This invented spelling provides much diagnostic information to the teacher about her students as well. First, by examining what the children write, she can assess which letters and sounds they know. Then, the teacher can develop lessons so that any letter knowledge deficiencies are addressed. Besides knowledge of letters, the teacher also learns which developmental writing stage each child is in at that time. Some of the students may be in the semi-phonetic stage since they are only representing beginning and some ending sounds in their writing. Others may be in the phonetic stage since they are writing the letter sounds they hear in a word. Children’s writing mistakes can also tell the teacher what problems that child is having; for example, he may leave out the vowels in unaccented syllables of a word (strip is written as sep) or he may substitute specific letters for various blends or digraphs (dish is written as dih).
Once the teacher knows how the children are spelling and what mistakes they are making, it is easier to develop a strategy to improve their spelling abilities. Before this is done however, it would be a good idea to administer a spelling inventory to specifically see which developmental level each child is on. Thus armed with observation and testing results, the teacher can place the children into appropriate spelling groups. Research has proven that the best way to move students from invented to conventional spelling is to provide practice on their particular developmental levels. Each group should be given leveled spelling lists, perhaps from a basal spelling program, based on the patterns or mistakes the group needs to practice. So that this practice does not become too dull, various word sorts or games can be played which keeps the students engaged in their learning. With repeated viewing and practice of the target patterns, the children should begin to transfer this knowledge into their written work. Once this transfer has taken place, conventional spelling should become automatic thus quieting the thousands of invented spelling dissenters.