EDRG 644 Teaching Reading and writing
Reflection
My first artifact is an assessment journal I kept which details my experience with administering and interpreting the results of a DRA test I gave to a student while another colleague observes. I enjoyed collaborating with another one of my Kindergarten colleagues. We both were familiar with the DRA and running records. After giving the assessment together we agreed it was nice to know that we were both on the same page with regards to how we administer the test. The hardest part of assessing is interpreting the data and deciding on the next steps. It was helpful to bounce ideas off of each other, and talk about the next steps. Once again, this shows the power of collaborating.
My next artifact is a scope and sequence I developed for a Kindergarten classroom. Since I teach Kindergarten this is near and dear to me. Every morning during literacy instruction we cover one of these skills, so it was helpful to my teaching to be able to break each of these skills apart and give examples of how they can be implemented in a classroom. It gave me some new ideas. To be totally honest, I always get the idea of phonemic awareness and phonological awareness confused. I now have a clear picture in my head of what each of these skills is referring to. I also learned that teachers should focus on one or two types of phoneme manipulations at a time, and then move onto harder ones. More time should be spent on blending and segmenting since they are the two most important phonemic skills in learning to read and spell.
NETS*T Standards
*Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
*Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
*Model Digital Age Work and Learning
*Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
*Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
21st Century Skills
*Creativity and Innovation
*Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*Communication and Collaboration
*Information Literacy
*Media Literacy
*Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
*Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
*Model Digital Age Work and Learning
*Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
*Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
21st Century Skills
*Creativity and Innovation
*Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*Communication and Collaboration
*Information Literacy
*Media Literacy
Research
In my research, I learned the critical elements teachers, like me, need to teach kids to read. The National Reading Panel (2001) has identified five essential elements of reading instruction that must take place in order for students to effectively learn to read. They include the explicit teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001). Children do not learn in isolation, but in the context of what is being taught. Teachers can help students develop fluency by having students read aloud repeatedly to someone. Teachers should teach vocabulary indirectly by reading to them, and allowing them to read extensively on their own. Comprehension can be taught while reading texts, by asking questions about the text as children are reading, clarifying words and sentences they don’t understand, and predicting what might occur next in the text. This research directly affects my teaching. I am in the belief that teachers should not follow a textbook front to end. Textbooks are only one of many resources I use to teach my kids. Knowing the theories behind how children learn best will further my knowledge in guiding my kids to become independent readers.
Another take away from this class is the
fact that having students read and write is not enough. In order for students to read and write,
teachers must have a comprehensive balanced literacy program. I learned exactly what this entailed. Researchers have documented that effective
literacy instruction should include:
“Phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, fluency instruction,
vocabulary instruction, comprehension instruction, good instructional choices,
clear purpose and timing, constant use of data, culturally responsive
instruction, intellectually challenging activities for all, grouping practicing
and individual student activities, teacher and student actions, appropriate
time spend on reading instruction and alignment of standards, curriculum and
instruction” (Cooper, 2012).
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Assessment guides my instruction. I learned of a new assessment called the CORE Phonics Survey by Scholastic. I used this assessment with one of my high readers. Our reading program has phonetic skills for low, on level and beyond leveled readers, but some of my kids are even above the beyond level. So, I sometimes struggle with how to instruct my higher readers. This assessment taught me a lot about where she is as a decoder, and how I can better help her ability to read. In the future, I plan to give this assessment to all the children in my top reading group.
Resources