K. Driggers @kodriggers - Tumblr Blog

Reading Student - 7th Meeting

This week's meeting with my student was our final meeting. We read 2 chapters in a book and then we talked about him as a reader. As he read today I noticed that he still points to a majority of the words as he reads. If he is not pointing he will often get lost and then reread portions of the page. I have really noticed his body language as he reads. I think body language says so much. As he reads he leans far over the book. As he points he covers up a majority of the page with the rest of his hand; he does not just use his finger. He sometimes lays with his head on his arm on the table as he reads. He will often read at a whisper and tends to mumble. You can tell that he is not confident in his reading and that he is not very interested in what he reads. As he has read to me I have noticed that words that he is unfamiliar with he is not able to read. We have come across the words "caviar" "escargot" and "exclaimed." Once I told him what these words were he has mentioned that he never heard them before. When there are pictures in the book he almost always comments on them. He notices how the characters look in the pictures or why something looks the way it does.

When asked what he thinks he has gotten better at as a reader over the last several weeks he mentioned a few things. He said that he is better at sounding out words, understanding what he reads, and vocabulary. He really does understand what he reads. He has many miscues in his reading but he is able to comprehend what he reads. When he comes to an unfamiliar word and he is told the word and its meaning he is usually able to recognize the word when he comes to it again in his reading.

When asked what he needs to continue to do to become an even better reader he said he needs to read more. We talked about stamina. He knew the word stamina and referred it to sports. We talked about how if you run one day and run even longer the next you increase your stamina, if you keep practicing soon you will be able to run further than ever. We talked about how that is the same with reading and how it should be practiced daily. This student knows what he needs to do to become a better reader. He knows that he does not read much outside of class and that he needs to. However, I am not sure that he will do so. I can only hope that he does. He is a very intelligent boy. I would hate to see him fall behind in other subjects because of his reading.

Reading Student - Meeting 6

I was not very pleased with my meeting with my student this week. I had realized during out meetings each week that my reading student would read the next chapter in the book during out meetings; he was not reading any of the book outside of our weekly meetings. It was hard for me to keep the characters and events straight, so I knew it must be hard for him to do the same. Last week I assigned my reading student to read 3 chapters out of the book we were reading before our next meeting. I asked multiple times if he thought he would be able to complete this task and he replied with yes. We discussed the different times during the week that he would be able to get the chapters read (silent reading in class, after school program, at home at night). During this week's meeting, we began the session with discussing what happened in the book since we had last met. He gave me a VERY BRIEF summary. When I would ask for more details or clarification he would respond with "I don't remember." As we began to read the next chapter in the book it became very clear to me that he had in deed not read the assigned chapters. I can not say that he did not read at all but I am fairly certain that he did not read all of the chapters. We learned about things in the book that were the complete opposite from what he had said was happening. I asked him several times if he was sure he had read all of the chapters and each time he responded with "yes."

It's very frustrating, that since I am not his full time teacher there is not much that I can do in a situation like this. There are no consequences. There is no way for me to disprove what the student told me. I went on to elaborate on how important it was to be reading everyday. If he reads each day he will only benefit himself; he will become the stronger reader he wants to become.

After reading and discussing the chapter read we began to work on the birthday invitation that we started the previous week. I noticed that as he wrote on the "final copy" of the invitation that he said he was abbreviating much of the writing on the invitation. Disney World was DW, Carowinds was CW, April was App, and his name was abbreviated to 3 letters. When asked why he was abbreviating everything on the invitation his response was that most things are abbreviated on invitations. I asked him if he wanted to spell the places out so his audience was clear on what was going on and he thought abbreviation was fine. I can not help to think that he was abbreviating words that he was unsure how to spell. He was doing this as so not make a mistake. I have noticed that his writing skills are almost hand in hand with his reading skills.

Reading Assessment - Chapter 1

Response to Intervention - RTI

they (readers) need to understand that reading is a meaning-making process (WM 1)

believe in their (readers) ability to make sense of print (WM 2)

find pleasure in reading (WM 3)

WM1, 2, 3 - generative theory of reading

self-monitor - they (readers) stop when the text does not make sense

hypothesis test process - notice what they (readers) are doing, consider multiple possibilities of developed hypotheses, tested out those hypotheses, and make more observations (pg.2)

All levels of reading develop upon one another. You (the teacher) can not move on until a previous skill has been taught and mastered.

"kaleidoscopes of experiences - reading, thinking, teaching, observing, reflecting..." (pg.1) - love that phrase

"Once we understood the conditions under which the child problem-solved words and maintained meaning, we knew where to begin instruction" (pg.3) - this seems like such a DUH statement. Of course we need to understand what and how the child reads and comprehends before we can begin to form an instructional plan for them. However, I think that too often teachers get so busy and caught up in standards and pacing guides that they forget that they must meet the needs of each student. They must first learn about each individual child before creating instruction.

"She was fluent in English, though she did not yet have a good handle on academic vocabulary" (pg. 9) - in another one of my classes we are learning about the difference in social and academic language for ELL students. It usually takes ELL students 1-2 years to become fluent in social language (everyday, conversation talk). It can take ELL students 5-7 years to become fluent in academic language. It is important to remember that just because students can speak and understand the language does not mean the are able to comprehend all of the language.

"...emphasize what students can do rather than what they cannot do" (pg.25) - as a reading teacher I really need to work on this. I often get so wrapped up on what the student needs to improve on, that I forget what they are already doing so well. I am going to consciously work on giving positive feedback to students.

"Having the child spend an extended amount of time experiencing reading as meaningful increases the odds that she or he will come to understand and hold onto the meaningfulness of text when it becomes more complex" (pg3). - I have noticed that my reading student does not have many opportunities to read. I believe that if he had more opportunity to read he would be more successful to read. If he was able to read more he would be able to practice reading strategies, work on comprehension, and hopefully begin to enjoy reading more. I really believe that his lack of reading time is what impacts his reading the most.

It is so important to build readers confidence. I am constantly having to reassure my reading students that he is reading and pronouncing words correctly. He really needs that encouragement and reaffirmation as he reads.

There were so many characteristics of the student in Case Study 4 that reminded me of my reading student. He was very shy and not confident in his reading ability when we first began reading. As we have gotten to know each other and read together each week it seems as if he is becoming more confident reading. I hope just like the student in the case study, that my reading student begins to enjoy reading and views it as fun!

I often find myself splitting up words for students and then asking them to sound them out - oops!!

Choice Words - Chapter 4 & 5

I love how this book gives you exact phrases to use with your students.

"How did you figure that out?"

review the process

how did you figure that out

children are in control of problem-solving

children figure out problems independently

children are able to reflect on their work and thinking

"What problems did you come across today?"

it is normal to come across problems

leads into "how did you solve that problem?", "how else can we solve it?"

children are in control of exploration

"How are you planning to go about this?"

assume the child has a plan to solve the problem

everyone makes plans

gives child choice of how to use their time

"Where are you going with this piece (of writing)?"

what will the child do next?

what is the child's plan

"Which part are you sure about and which part are you not sure about?"

leads into "How did you figure that out?"

leads into showing successful parts of student work

"You really have me interested in this character (in your writing) because of the things he says, and if you show me how he says them and what he looks like, I will get an even stronger sense of him."

draws the students in

shows what has gone well

"if you were to put this...." NOT "put this..."

"Why..."

so important to all aspects of lessons

allows students to have ownership

"Why would an author do something like that?"

leads into "how else could the author have done this?"

leads into "What could you have done differently?"

allows students to think like an author, to put themselves in the authors place

"If children are not making errors, they are not putting themselves in learning situations." (pg 39) - Love this quote!! If you never make mistakes you can not learn from them.

"How else..."

how did students solve it

"else" builds flexibility into students' work

"That's like..."

allows students to think about connections

comprehension & understanding

metaphors

"What if..."

"suppose"

abstract thinking

leads to multiple versions

If/then hypothesis

Playful language

develop interest in language (fun)

builds vocabulary

Reading Student - 5th Meeting

Each week my reader brings a Zeke Meek book to our meeting. He absolutely loves these books and I think he feels very comfortable reading them. Each week he reads me a new chapter in the book. He does not read any of the book outside of our lessons.

My reader once again did a great job reading a chapter in the book. He was able to use several reading strategies (look at pictures, sound out, skip and come back). He also did a great job retelling the story; he always does. He always has great comprehension of the text.

After we read today I decided to do a small activity with him. I keep reading that reading and writing are closely connected. I wanted to see how true that was with my readers. In the story the main character receives several birthday invitations and even sends his own birthday invitations out. I decided that my student would create his own birthday invitation. He put his name, the place, his age, and what would be at the birthday on the invitation. This was a rough draft and we will continue on our project next week. We are going to use construction paper and markers and make it just like a real one. (I noticed that the student struggled with spelling. He needed reassurance in his spelling just as he often does with his reading.)

As we began the project the student mentioned that he had never sent out a birthday invitation; he usually just has a few friends come over. This made me realize how quickly i jumped to the conclusion that all kids send out birthday invitations. I had made the assumption that he had sent out birthday invitation, I did not think about his own personal experiences. I had forgotten that all students do not have the same life experiences. I have noticed through my student's reading that he is not able to make many personal connections with the stories he reads. He has not had many of the same life experiences, he is not able to connect with the characters on a personal lever, and he cannot see himself in the stories. I am not saying this student has not had wonderful life experience, he has just not had the same as the characters in the books he reads. I will only meet with this student a few more times but I hope to find a book that he can see himself in; that he can relate to a character personally.

For next week I gave my student a small assignment. I told him to read the next 3 chapters in the Zeke Meek book before our next meeting. I wrote in down on a piece of paper (read chapter 6, read chapter 7, read chapter 8). I wrote each chapter out so it did not seem so overwhelming. I told my student that we would discuss what he read. I wanted him to remember details so he could keep me up-to date on the book so we could continue to read the following week. I am very interested to see if he completes this assignment. He seems excited and willing to do so. I am really trying to get this student to read outside of school. He is a great reader with so much potential to become a better reader. I feel as if he just needs more practice. He needs time inside as well as outside of school to read. I am really hoping that he completes the assignment and we can continue to get him to work toward reading outside of our meetings.

I am going to bring in another book from another series for my student to begin. I am thinking about starting a mysteries series with him. This will become a great way to talk about predictions and foreshadowing. I really think he will enjoy a mystery book. Hopefully the suspense in the book will keep him hooked to the book and continue to reading.

What Really Matters In Literacy Education

I have been to the Center for Inquiry multiple times. Each time I go is a new experiences. Students work on the floor, in chairs, on tables, wherever they feel comfortable; students are not restricted to desks. Students learn through newspapers, magazines, music, dance, and group work. All of the students are activity engaged in the class and are working together during the lessons.

I absolutely love how the students are able to discuss the literature in a group. They are able to discuss their feelings, responses, reactions, and questions and have a conversation with their classmates. They did not have to wait to raise their hand and then be called on. They were able to have an "adult like" book conversation.

Teach what matters not what is counted!!

Getting to know the child as a reader (pg. 45)

regular individual reading conferences

take notes on the reader

daily schedule (pg. 40)

demonstrations

engagements

reflections

celebration

demonstrations of language, skills, concepts, and strategies in use

extensive opportunities to engage in uninterrupted reading, writing, and conversation

individual, small group and whole class reflection sessions

daily opportunities to celebrate accomplishments with others in the classroom or school

"Children learn language as they learn it for various purposes; they learn about language as they consciously reflect upon its process skills, and concepts; and they learn through language by exploring content across disciplines via oral and written language" (pg 40).

Patterns of Development in Writing : A Case Study

Children learn to speak and write by experimenting, they construct and revise their own rules.

When learning to spell students often use invent spelling.

Invent spelling

form words by sound-letter relationships on the basis of letter names

Differentiation - is the subdividing of what was earlier a diffuse whole into parts with more specialized forms and functions.

Decentration - movement outward from the young child's egocentric view of the world; being able to take another person's point of view, which increases about age seven

Differentiation goes hand in hand with decentration. Students are able to differentiate writer and audience, and various kinds of audiences

"Understanding the purposes of a child's writing means understanding his changing view of himself and the world" (pg 200).

Watching Young Writers

We respond differently to writers and readers. We tend to acknowledge when children do well in speech even when it is not correct. However, we do not always see what is correct when children read and write incorrect (we tend to just see where they should be corrected).

Errors in writing tend to seem permanent, that is often why they are corrected so quickly. People often just see the mistakes students make in writing, they do not see what students already know (writing goes left to right, sound is represented by letters)

Students are constantly learning about and revising rules they have learned about for speech as well as writing.

Letters represent syllables - letters represent sound

Invented spelling and children's judgement about how to represent sounds are consistent and fairly uniformed across children.

Teachers learn so much about their students from observing, listening, and questioning. Teachers do not always need to be giving instructions and critiquing students.

learners vs. mistake makers

"The focus is on what the child does not yet know (the conventional spelling) rather than on the knowledge the child has demonstrated of the alphabetic principle of our writing system, of specific sound-letter relationship, and of letter forms and sequencing." (pg. 99)

Remember: "...children start writing at a level far below the language of their own speech." (pg. 112)

Exploring sign Systems Within an Inquiry System (Chapter 3)

sign systems - different potentials for meaning; used for exploring, thinking, and communicating understandings; way to learn about the world and themselves; tools for thinking and for communicating

composing music on how literature makes one feel

drawings

music

art

mathematics

movement

drama

oral

written language

transmediation - process of taking understandings created in one sign system and moving them into another

text - any chunk of meaning that has unity and can be shared with others - novel; picture book, piece of art, dance, song, mathematical equation (new meaning to me)

text sets - (not just books) dance video, folklore, art prints, picture books, poetry, informational books, art prints, musical recordings, tapes of sounds from particular environments, artifacts

Students need to have different way to think and explore in the classroom. They need to be able to relate learning to their daily life.

I love the idea of sketch journals just like I love writing notebooks/journals. I think it is very important for students to be able to get their ideas and questions down on a page regardless of how they do it. All students express themselves differently.

I love the unit on consumer issues. Students were able to use resources around them that they interact with on a daily basis. They were about to learn about consumer issues as well as learn about and use magazine articles, magazine ads, coupons, play money, and computers.

"Michael Halliday (1985) who said that in any meaningful language event, learners have the opportunity to learn language, learn about language, and learn through language. Learning language highlights the "doing"..." (pg48)

"...led them to discover other possibilities that they then shared with others." (pg.55)

"I can learn things I am interested in." (pg.59) - Students/children seem to retain information for longer periods of time when they are learning about things they are interested in and that pertain to their life. When students are learning about a topic they are not interested in or do not think they are interested in, it is important to portray the information in a manner that interests the child. Allowing students to choose how to learn material is a way to get their interest.

What type of classes of pd would teachers need to take to be able to incorporate sign systems into their classroom? What would teachers need to know about art, music, and drama?

I love this who sign system idea in the classroom. It is very hands on and touches on many areas that children are interested. I do not see this being done for every subject and every unit. However, I think this is a great system to incorporate into the classroom often.

Reading Student - 4th meeting

Today we went to the library and talk ed about just right books.

When asked how to determine a just right book, my reader said, "you just read a page. If there are 6 words you don't know it is too hard. If there are only 2 words you don't know it is too easy."

He went around the library and picked out 3 books. He choose one "too easy" book. He choose a "just right book." Then he choose a "too hard" book. (I put quotes around the type of books because I don't think there is a too easy book for students. I believe that books like that are usually fun, easy books for students to read. I often catch myself reading "too easy" books; I enjoy them.)

The "too easy" book he selected was, The Great Graph Contest by Loreen Leedy. He choose this book because, "it looked easy. I looked inside the book and it looked easy. The characters looked babyish." He read the book with easy and only stumbled over 2 words creativity and thirteen. He was able to retell what the story was about. He believed this book would be great for a 3rd grader to read.

The "just right" book was the Zeke Meeks vs. The Horrendous Halloween by D.L. Green. He laughed as he brought this book over (he reads a Zeke Meek chapter each week to me). He choose this book because, "I read these all the time. The words are just right. I understand what I read. They are funny." He read this book with ease as well. He was able to retell the story and discuss specific details from the story. I really do believe the Zeke Meek series is great for him.

The "too hard" book was The Fire Eternal by Chris D'Lacey. He choose this book to be too hard because, "in the 3rd grade I couldn't read even the title. I only knew 2 words in 2 sentences. I didn't understand what was happening at all. It's really big. I think it would take 2 months to read nonstop." As he read he did a very good job with reading the words. There was a lot of figurative language in the first few pages. I found the text to be very hard to comprehend. He was able to retell that the story was about a storm beginning (correct). He said he thinks its a big storm like a hurricane.

I really think he did a great job choosing books on different levels. I was very surprised, just as he was at how well he read the "too hard" book. I talked with him about trying out books that are "too hard" and just seeing how it goes. That it's okay to try books and if its too hard to put them down.

Next week I think we are going to read some more articles from online. I think I am going to bring in several about roller coasters and sports.

Reading Student - 3rd meeting

Today we began with the Zeek Meek book. As he read a new character was introduced. After we read a chapter he was able to recall the new character we met and characteristics of that character.

As he was reading he came to the word "gnats." He did not pause or stumble over this word and read it correctly. I was so surprised by this. This example goes to show how phonics was not used in his reading at this point. He recognized the word, he knew the "g" was silent and was able to say the word and continue his reading. That was a surprise for me!!

We also read two articles today. He read a portion of an article on football equipment and football injuries. I do not think this was the best article for him. Some of the words were very challenging. He was stumbling over so many of the words that he was not getting the jist of the reading. I hope I can find a more "kid friendly" article about football as a sport. I really like that he gets to read about things that interest him.

We then read an article about dodge ball in schools. This article was better for him to read and was much shorter than the football article. After he read it we discussed what he thinks schools should do about dodge ball; should they allow students to play or not. It was very interesting to hear is stance on this topic considering dodge ball is one of his favorite sports.

Next week I am going to bring some articles about Carowinds/Disney World/Universal studios. He said he has been there before and wants to read about it. He especially wants to read about roller coasters. I am going to try and find articles maybe about how the park was built or how roller coasters are constructed. I am interested to see how he does with theses. He always seems excited to get to choose a topic to read about for the following week.

As he reads he loves to talk and explain things to me. I think this is great that as he reads, the reading triggers thoughts but I also think is distracts him from his reading. When he is stopping to talk and comment on the book every few sentences he is not really getting the storyline of the book. His reading is getting to chopped up. I need to figure out a way for him to continue his reading and discuss at the end.

After he read I asked him what he learned about the characters in that chapter. He was able to tell me a few things and then he looked back over what he had read. I thought this was a great strategy that he used. We often want students to remember everything they read and be able to recall it when we ask. However, as a reader I am always referring to what I have read to answer questions or write a response. I do not remember every detail that I have read.

Each week I bring my student some candy to munch on as we talk and read. It has not been a problem until this time. When he begins to get frustrated during the reading he would pause and get some candy eat for a second and then continue reading. It became a distraction this time. He would hold the chocolate too long and then have to get up and wipe the melted chocolate off his hands. I do not mind bringing candy or a small snack but I need to figure out an appropriate time for him to have it. I do not want that to distract him from his reading. Maybe he could have it the last 5-10 minutes?!?!

Goal for next week - This student tends to read very fast once he gets going. He will add words in, skip over words, and ignore punctuation. This week he is to work on reading slower and pausing at all punctuation. I read 3 sentences to him twice. The first time I read fast through the sentences not pausing or acknowledging punctuation. I read the same sentences again and paused at each punctuation mark. He said it sounded better when I slowed down and read. He is going to work on that this week and we will continue to work on that our our meetings.

Reading Like Behavior: Its Role In Learning to Read

"By being read to regularly from very early in their lives, children soon begin to demonstrate their growing enjoyment of the experience (pg.2)" - The more children are read to the more they can hear the language over and over. When children see people in their lives enjoying reading they will also do the same. I really believe that children that grow up in households that value reading the child will too.

"If children are being read to on a regular basis, are allowed to chose their favorite stories to be read over and over, and are invited to participate in the reading, using whatever strategies seem appropriate, reading-like behavior will almost certainly begin to appear in some form." - Children love to be independent. When a story is read over and over and they begin to learn the words, there is no doubt in my mind that they would want to "read" too. They will want to be able to read and tell the story to someone else.

As far back as I can remember, my mom or dad read to me every night before I went to bed. Some nights I was even read several books. Reading was also a big part of my life. I can remember two books that I began "reading like behavior." There was some Halloween book about popcorn and it filled up an entire house. I remember being able to "read" that book and being so proud to do so. There was another book about a wide mouth frog that I loved. I remember "reading" it to my sister often. I think the satisfaction of "reading" helped me to become a strong reader today. I loved reading then and I love reading now. Having parents who enjoyed reading and who made reading such a large part of my life helped in developing me into a strong reader.

The Limitations of Phonics

phonics - the sounds of all of the individual letters in a word

26 letters - 40 distinctive sounds

"We have learned to pronounce the word, not the letter. (pg.26)" - I feel as if we have learned to do both. Before learning to read, one learns about letters and sounds. We have learned to pronounce letters, letter sounds, multiple letter blends, and words.

"elephant, haphazard, or shepherd, or SH in bishop and mishap? (pg27)" - so true about not looking at letters and sounding out words, I was able to just look at the word and recognize it. That word is in my memory.

"Phonics works if you know what a word is likely to be in the first place (pg30)" - Students may not have any idea what the word is but when teachers help the student sound it out or help them figure it out that's how the correct sounds come to be.

"...we recognize words in the same way that we recognize all the other familiar objects in our visual word... (pg.32)"

"Why, then, have letters? (pg.34)" - This was my question from the beginning of this passage. Why have letters and words if reading is just memorization. Why take the time to develop an alphabet and words if they are in a sense meaningless to us as readers? - "...letter are a convenience for producing written language (pg.34)" - This is true. Without letters we would not be able to communicate with others and put thoughts down on pages.

"...written language is not permitted to vary with dialect...(pg.36)" "The spelling of words is a convention that crosses hundreds of dialect boundaries (pg 36)" - Can you image words and learning to read if words changed based on dialect in a certain area. How would we ever learn to read and write and communicate with one another?

"Most people know perfectly well the meaning of a number of words that they can't pronounce... (pg 42)" - This is me as a reader. I am a much better reader when I read silently than if I read out loud. There are many words that I am familiar with and know the meaning of but I am unable to say out loud. If I were to read out loud one would not see me as a strong reader.

There is not just one "easy" pronunciation of every letter or sound. Most letters stand for multiple sounds. I have mixed feeling on this. I understand that there is no way for students to learn and teachers to teach all of the letter sounds and letter blends, however, I remember in school learning certain rules and then exceptions to rules. Many hours of school are or have been dedicated to learning rules and exceptions. example: "t" sound "i" sound "o" sound "n" sound. Each letter has its own specific sound, but when placed together in a word -tion we know that as the "shon" sound. It's a rule that was learned to help in reading.

Reading Student - 2nd Meeting

Today was the first day I heard my reading student read. I noticed several things he did while reading.

Before we began to read the book (2nd Zeke Meek book) he was able to recall the characters, setting, and plot of the 1st book. He was able to tell me exactly what happened and what he thought would happen in this story.

Started out reading very fast. He began to miss many words so I told him multiple times to slow down. After the first page he was reading at a much better pace.

Pointed to the words as he read.

He liked confirmation on words that he did not know and then figured out. If he struggled with a word and then said a complete word he would look at me to make sure the word was correct.

As he read he placed several small words into the sentences that were not on the page. They did not change the meaning of the sentence but were added often.

When reading, he did attempt to sound out many words. This had a 50% success rate. He would get some words correct after the 1st or 2nd try. There were other times that he was not close to the correct word.

If there was a sentence that he particularly struggled through I would ask him to reread that sentence. He would then read the sentence with ease.

If there was a word that he was unfamiliar with and I told him the word, he was able to correctly recognize that word later on in the story.

He is able to comprehend and retell about the story. He made struggle with some of the words. He may omit and add some words as he reads out loud, but he understands what he is reading and what is happening in the story. He is able to retell specific events and and in the chronological order that they occur.

The word "bonnet" appeared in the story. The student did not know the word and was unable to figure it out. I later realized after telling the student the word that he was still unfamiliar with the word. He had never seen a bonnet. He does not have any sisters that would have dolls that would have worn one. This goes to show how important background knowledge is when reading.

Student absolutely loves this book!

After reading 2 chapters in the book I decided to try something new with this student. Lately I have been hearing how important it is for students to read about things they are interested in. How students can read at much higher "levels" when it comes to things of their interest. This student told me that this weekend he was going to High Wire the inside trampoline park in Columbia. He was so excited to go and he had never been before. After we read in the Zeke Meeks book we looked up High Wire on my phone. We spent the last 30 minutes of our time together reading information from the High Wire web site. He read all about the facility, birthday parties, themed nights, workout classes, dodgeball game, and the waiver form. He was so excited to learn about all of the different things that were offered at High Wire. He said he was so excited to go. I cant wait to hear about it from him this week. The reading was a bit challenging for him but he got through it. He was able to comprehend everything he read even if he didn't get all of the words correct. Since he knew what he read reading about and was interested in the topic he was able to figure out some unknown words easily. This was such a great activity for him.

Next week I am going to print out some articles on his favorite football teams and players. I think this will be a great way to get him interested in reading! I am excited to see how it goes! I cant wait to hear about his trip to High Wire.

Learning the Language

"...children cannot tell us the rules, they use, we must infer their knowledge of the rules from indirect evidence. (pg.33)" - Young children and even some adults are not able to tell you the rules that they speak by. They are able to speak and know what sounds correct and incorrect. They are not able to tell you why or why not the sentences they speak are spoken the way they are.

"The child is clearly not imitating or copying her mother's sentences. (pg.34)" "...children do not copy precisely what they hear but instead construct sentences according to rules of their own that they have extracted from the language around them" (pg.35)" - What!!! I would have never assumed that. I was always under the impression that children learned to speak from hearing others speak; that they formed sentences based off of exactly what other people around them said. Children are beginning to subconsciously learn rules of the language.This blows my mind. After reading this article this statement does make sense, however, this was completely new information to me.

The Psycholinguistic Guessing Game

"Traditionally, reading instruction has emphasized the visual aspect of reading; i.e., word recognition. (pg.319)" - Reading is much more that reciting the words that are on the page; reading is understanding the text and being able to comprehend what the writer is talking about.

"...if children are encouraged to use syntactic and semantic information, they will become more aware of the nonvisual aspects of reading and not feel compelled to process every bit of visual information when they read. (pg.321)" - How would teachers test this? How would teachers work to make sure students were able to read passages if they were "skipping" words. I know that I personally am a much better reader when I read to myself than if I have to read out loud. Someone listening to me read would not think I was a strong reader. How would I show to someone else how capable I am of reading?

graphophonic cue system - relationship between written language and sounds it represents

syntactic - the way words are patterned in sentences

semantic - meaning of language

sound-symbol - graphophonic cues

word order - syntactic cues

Over the past few years I have conducted several Burke Interviews. Each time I am talking with child and ask them about reading strategies they always say they "sound it out." Children always say that a strategy they use often to figure out unfamiliar words is "sound out" method and then I see the child trying to sound out words in his/her reading. Thinking about my own reading I do not ever catch myself sounding out unfamiliar words when I come to them. I usually catch myself just skipping the word all together.

I never thought that it would be harder for students to read isolated words than to read words clustered together. However, that does make much sense now. Readers are often able to make sense of the passage and use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words or the passage as a whole.

The reading student I am working with this semester is not a strong reader so I was told by the classroom teacher. However, I am beginning to disagree. When reading aloud, he skips words often or adds small words into the text. He is able to comprehend and understand what he is reading. He can retell exact details. I have realized that just because his oral reading is not perfect he is still a great reader.

Readers in Elementary Classrooms: Learning Goals and Instructional Principles that can Inform Practice

"Activity is basis for experience-in life and in classrooms. Activities that structure experience in the context of schooling should stretch the learner. (pg.49)" - Activities in the classroom are a wonderful way to teach lessons. I remember as a students that some of my favorite topics to learn about and that I remember to this day were done through activities. Activities give students that hand-on that helps them remember and learn. Activities allow teachers to give that background knowledge and/or experience on a topic that some students may not other wise have.

"...fluency grows as a function of the amount of practice in reading connected text and in response to the quality of direct instruction (or models) of fluency offered. (pg. 54)" - I believe that students do not always have the time to practice reading and their fluency. This is a task that must be practiced outside of the school. Students that read outside of school often have a better fluency than those students that do not. Once students hit a certain age/grade they begin to realize who does and does not have fluency when reading aloud in class. I think that the students that do not have fluency reading associate that with not being a good reader and that then leads to students not liking to read. If students do not read they are not getting practice in and its a never ending down hill battle.

"...comprehension questions fail to encourage the diversity of responses students have toward literature, nor do they challenge students to analyze or evaluate the texts in meaningful ways. (pg. 59)" - I have never viewed comprehension questions in this way. However, I completely agree. Comprehension questions are often black or white/ right or wrong questions. There is one question and students are expected to give one specific answer. They limit students the thinking that should be taking place. Open ended or discussion questions would allow students to open up more and discuss the reading more in depth. I am a fan or reading groups and discussions because this allows students to question what they are reading, discuss it with others, and evaluate the texts more in depth.

"...children had real reasons for reading and writing, were supported for risk taking, were responsible for their own learning, and felt they belonged to a literate community. (pg.67)" - I believe that this is the goal for all teachers. However, this is much easier said then done. To allow students to choose what to read and what to write is giving students a lot of freedom. I know that I personally always have the fear of - are they reading a challenging book? Is the book too challenging? Is the book too easy? Are they really understanding what they are reading? Are they writing like they are supposed to? Are they using the right strategies? I feel like allowing students to be in control often means the teacher giving up some strict ways. I believe it benefits the students in the long run and really does help students to be in control of their learning. Running a classroom like this takes a lot of planning, routine, and procedures. Students need to see and practice the expectations that are given to them. They need to know how to choose "right" books to be reading. I think this process is a big trial and error. It may take several years for the classroom teacher to get it down pat, but once it is the students will benefit greatly and enjoy learning.

I love choice in the classroom. I really feels like it allows students to be in control of what they are learning and make them feel powerful in the classroom. I can just imagine a student going home and saying "we did this today because I choose to." They would feel so important. Having choice in the classroom, requires flexibility from the teacher.

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