reading response #4

The reading for this week has got me a little worried for when I have to do the observation survey on my student. I am starting to understand his limits and figuring out how long I can test him before he starts getting wiggly and loses focus. He is starting to become a little cocky because when I gave him a book that is his instructional level he just looks at me and says " are you kidding me?"

I really enjoyed reading chapter 11 in Gillet since there is no chapter 11!!

Before doing my reading response I had to calm down after seeing how many pages of the reading assessment terms that we will be tested on. I think I might need to go and buy more ink for my printer after I print that whole thing.

Sorry thing response is so short, got to keep working on my case study! Two weeks left.

For this week: Running Records and the Observation Survey

Hopefully, you've had time to read up on Marie Clay's observation survey and have been thinking of a small emergent reader to practice on. This week, we will be focusing on that as well as on your demonstrations of running records and a brief view of Sandra Wilde's Miscue Analysis system.

Don't Forget to Bring:
3 Running Records with completed MSV analysis and a recording of one to share
Have copies of one to share or something that we can all see on a document camera
Bring your copy of "Sand" so we can practice the observation survey pieces a bit
Don't forget your blog entry.

See you this week!

Finally Understanding the Survey

The six literacy tasks in this Observation survey are well thought out. I found the reading easier and more appealing this week. As I prepare to deliver my concepts about print assessment tomorrow I feel enthusiastic about trying some of the other assessments on the little ones as well. At the same time, I realize that I have my hands full. As I rehearsed tonight I realized how much of a challenge this is going to be to complete this small assessment.

I remember seeing the early primary students flourish with their writing progress between October and Holiday break last year. Portfolios are very powerful at this age. When the literacy begins to come together in the brain it really happens quickly. I am inspired tonight for sure. A musical assessment, beyond hearing and recording sounds, is the only part of this early childhood survey that I see is missing. I exhale.... I finally understand what the Observation Survey is about.

Today.

Tripping....is one way to describe my running records....tripping.  However, I am getting better.  Running records were not something I did in my class, but about two years ago I noticed that some of my incoming students were struggling in reading.  I didn't know why and I didn't know how to find out.  I tried several different strategies and improvement was made, but I think back and wonder...what exactly was going on?  I knew about running records, but I thought that you only really used them in early elementary.  I had never heard of the QRI or most of the other acronyms for various assessments in general.  The past couple of weeks I have been working with various students in my school and as of today, I can see the messages from assessment in reading jumping out.  I actually sat down with my principal after doing Marie Clay's Oberservation Study using Sand with a first grader and talked about what I figured out during the test.  It was informing.  I'm still learning, but I had an "aha" moment and that felt good.  Now, when I dig into my running records I am starting to see where the strengths and gaps are for a few of my students.  However, the MSV still mystifies me.  I read, reread, look at examples from class, search the internet for more examples, and in the end, I am still confused.  It seems so simple, but I can't get my mind to work with me.
During this class I don't think I have ever read, realized, or thought so much about reading before.  I have uncovered an entire world!  I think the more I practice administering reading assessments and go back and analyze my collected data I will begin to understand more. 
This was today and I'll take it.

Week 4 Reading

I think assessments are exiting my eyeballs. Hum, honestly I wish I had more time to process more of this information. I am an indecisive person. In fact my first year of teaching I would plan out my week of teaching on the Friday before I left to go home for the weekend and by the time Monday came around I change all of my lesson. Of course over the weekend I would grade the student work and decide they need more support on these terms or those terms.

For much of the reading my thoughts were I hope I don't Know when I might run into this or the need for this assessment. However, now I have references to start so that I can assess this information if i need to. I like the reminders of words I have not used in a long time like Homophones and Homographs. While reading about those I thought about re-looking at these types of words for a just for fun game in class to help support my ELL and ELL monitored students. All and all I enjoyed the thoughts on words and teaching words.

It is interesting to think about how hard it is to undo something that the student has ingrained into their mind as the right way to do something or how hard it is to redirect misconceptions in any subject area. One point in the text I very much agree with which is that some students are auditory readers and some students are visual learners. After reading through the observation survey I am a little nervous about following through with the procedures. However, I am a scientist and as a scientist thinks I want to make sure to follow the procedures exactly. For chapter 6 I find most of the assessments interesting and I always find the process of something even the process of learning or the process that most learners follow as very intriguing. Anyhow, I know at some point I will take the time to re-look at these chapters by looking at what I wrote or what I highlighted and make notes to focus upon.

#4 - Loads of Reading - Great Reminders

Wow - I finished reading all the chapters and I feel energized. Okay a bit overwhelmed too. I sometimes forget that some children don't have a lot of back ground knowledge and it's my job to help them love to read. Starting with the cover and the importance of print concepts. The assessments we do on children is so important we don't want to assume anything. We must report the facts. Understanding the importance of terminology as well as punctuation marks are important as a reader. Our reading for chapter 6 is jammed full of suggestions and information such as the ten pointers for reading aloud. Rehearsing before we read to children. We need to preview information to be sure it's appropriate. The way children are arranged. I know that's a must in my classroom. Drawing children into my group by changing my voice is an important too because I model how to read. At my school we model, lead, teach and reteach information. Children love to hear a story more then once. I like how they defined the goal of reading which is to construct meaning from text.

I have never taken a personal day but I did for the first time in 20 years. I flew to Boise State University for Parents Weekend. I read at the airport and in the plane and the lady that sat beside me notice that I was taking notes. She said my grandaughter reads to me and I need to help her. Is that okay? I found myself going into the importance of reading and recognizing print as well as sharing research based information. I encouraged her to do picture sorts, read alouds and the importance of connecting phonics instruction with words. This chapter was loaded and I shared information I was learning and reviewing. She asked me about readability and lexiles. I felt confident in sharing the knowledge I've learned in this class. I've been doing running records this week. My student has great days and then he comes up with some make believe stories too. I wish this class lasted longer. I feel like there is so much information to hold onto. I'm looking forward to our class time.

Response #4

Chapter six was packed full of ideas. It seems that each and every page had concepts and activities that I wanted to test and try out immediately. I also wish that I had a chapter like this under my belt before I began teaching first grade. One of the parts that really stood out for me was about using invented spelling. Previously when I would teach my class to sound out words and write a short sentence about the picture they had drawn it was difficult. A student would ask how to spell a word and I would help them figure out all of the correct letters. Of course, there are many letters that are silent and letters that don't sound the way they should. By me showing the "correct" way to write the words I think it made them more cautious of using invented spelling. After reading the section on "Assessing phonemic awareness by means of invented spelling" I see that invented spelling is a wonderful way to assess what phonemes they are hearing.

The section on early intervention programs and reading recovery programs was very insightful. The link between both of them is that even with great instruction, and even one on one instruction the progress made is not always an indicator of future success. Future success depends on what is done in the classroom and afterwards in the home. As with many things, teachers can gather the bricks and set the foundation but it is what happens after the walls go up that spells success for the student.

So Much Information

I am one of those people who can tend to make TOO many connections when reading text as informationally dense as the Clay and Gillet.My mind is swimming with validations about ways in which education has made a wrong turn as well as returning back to the ultimate idea of true differentiation (wince) for ALL students. Meeting kids where they are is key to a relevent educational experience. I wince because this requires a lot of reflective teaching, i.e. TIME.

As I move towards conferencing and strategy grouping, I also move away from my mandated reading program and I better be able to defend that action. In reading Clay and Gillet's Chapter 6, I reviewed all the teaching and assessment techniques I was kind of "raised on" as a new teacher back in the early 90's. It is a reminder for me that as I build on my case study's strengths, we can begin to address his reading habits and limits that do not serve him as a reader.

In a school where kids are place in reading groups by DIBELS ORF alone, the only information I got was ORF 7, INTENSIVE RISK. Doing the DRA and Clay assessments, I am armed with the information that he DOES use picture cues. He DOES use visual and meaning cues. He does have basic comprehension skills. He has very limited English vocabulary. He cannot read in his primary language. He knows the majority of his letters and sounds. He struggles with speech production and articulation. He does have the majority of the concepts about print. He HAS learned a great deal since entry in kindergarten. This is so much more informative and diagnostic to me. It helps me to plan what is next instructionally for him.

Seeing, Acting, Emerging: Ch. 6 Reflection

It was interesting to to read about the concept of word assessment where the child memorizes and then attempts to connect what they know in their brain to the written word in the poem My Little Dog. Next, Assessing the connection between the letters and the individual speech sounds “phonemes” is what I like to imagine as the physicalization of printed word - Phoneme Awareness. And last of all, I cringe with thoughts of controversy upon reading the description of Letter-to- sound matching. The phoneme to grapheme correspondence is what we call “phonics.” Darrell Morris’s sequence on page 179 is interesting. I am interested to know other sequences of how people believe we should scaffold learning to read words. I am curious about the Rudolf Steiner philosophy on the emergent reader. In any case, the controversy behind teaching phonics to the whole class in the 2nd and 3rd grade classroom becomes more and more clear to me as I read this chapter.

Once again Chapter 6 provides a great framework for a whole body of knowledge that I feel I already own live teaching skills in. I notice that the Project Glad model follows many bits and pieces from this chapter. The print orientation concepts and alphabet and letter matching games are solid teaching practice that can be repeated over and over throughout the primary years. There is a certain element of trickery that the teacher must engage in to promote literacy development in these years. I liked the strategies in getting the students to write how they will defend themselves from the monsters that they developed. This is meeting kids at their level after you have already hooked them.

#4 Reading Response

I enjoyed the reading in Clay this week. On page 24, it says, "For learning to occur it is very important to ensure that the difficulty level of the reading material presents challenges from which the child can learn and not difficulties that disorganize what he already knows." I am reminded that some of my struggling readers need access to texts that they can be successful with in order to grow as a reader. My classroom has a lot of books, all different genres and reading levels. However, some of my struggling readers are beginning to really notice that they aren't able to read some chapter books like their peers. I have noticed that one reader in particular has been keeping a very large chapter book that is far beyond her independent or even instructional level. She is aware that she cannot read the same books but it has become important to her to "show" others that she can by keeping a harder, bigger text in her book bin. I have talked to her about finding good fit books, but she says that she likes to try the hard books anyway. I let her, but I make sure that I encourage her to read some of the books that she can truly grow from rather than becoming completely frustrated :)

I am excited to administer the Concepts About Print observation survey. This seems like a wonderful tool to use for those kids who are new to print. If I were a kindergarten teacher, I'd definitely use this. I can see how it's important to practice a few times though.

After reading chapter six of Gillet, I am reminded of the importance of the anticipatory set of a lesson. I know very well that it is so important to get students hooked and engaged at the beginning of a lesson, but I sometimes find that I do not put enough energy into this as I should. If my lesson has a purpose, I better arouse my students' interest so that the lesson can be more meaningful.

Heading into the school week, I plan to continue DRA assessments. They are so time consuming! The 1st and 2nd grade teachers got a sub so that they could do their assessments. It's definitely something I am considering! I might even do the QRI, though I don't like how there's only a measure of grade level. The DRA is so specific, beginning 3rd, middle 3rd, and end of 3rd grade. It's so much more detailed it seems. On the other hand, I think the questions on the QRI assessment tell more about the raw comprehension than it does on the DRA. I'm thankful that I at least have access to both the DRA and QRI.

More goodies on the livebinder!

Hello, all!

I have now posted exemplar papers and assessment terminology to the livebinder for your perusal. The terminology is not a complete list, but a good one for the most part to prepare for the test. In addition, make sure you review the powerpoints and complete the assigned reading. Knowing the names of major players in the reading field, and their programs, is very important as well. You can find the list under the first tab.

I created a new tab for exemplar papers (unfortunately, all mine). I put them in the order they were completed. In my class, we started with Sandra Wilde's miscue analysis system, then moved on to Running Records. In order to understand the case study, you should read them in order. Please also remember that my requirements were not exactly the same as yours, and that you need to follow the syllabus in regards to what needs to be in your paper. I posted these so that you could get a generalized picture of what a case study analysis looks like. Please be kind...lol.

Blog #3

MSV miscue analysis… I thought at first it was going to just be hard to keep up with the child as they were reading a passage, that turns out to be not so bad with my first graders. It’s analyzing their mistakes and self-corrections that is a lot more taxing then I thought. For the most part I feel like I can understand where my student is needing extra support after completing a few running records with them. However, the MSV miscue analysis is taking it one step further and looking specifically at every single detail. Very time consuming! I can see myself using this strategy when I have a child that continues to struggle after interventions have been put in place, rather than on every single child in my classroom.

I too liked reading Gillet’s chapter covering the different reading strategies. It was a good list of reminders of things I know to do, but sometimes forget. I definitely do a lot of those strategies throughout the day, but I get comfortable and don’t always switch up my activities as often as I should.

Post #3

I loved reading a section focused on older readers (ch. 8). Before I began this reading cohort study I should have anticipated the elementary focus inherent in such a program. Particularly in our “Current Issues in Literacy” course I found myself translating information from a more elementary framework to apply to a middle school one.

My own personal observations strongly align with those of the authors regarding the two problems with older students and reading: 1. Older students don’t read enough, and 2. Older students don’t understand what they read. I know that these issues only increase as students in my district move from middle to high school. Both issues need to be areas of major focus for secondary teachers and families. However, I’d like to focus a bit on the comprehension problem.

I’m a content teacher (social studies) as well as a reading teacher. We content area teachers largely see reading as a primary vehicle to convey information to students. Yet, because of the reading deficits that information isn’t being effectively transferred with the majority our students. Many of us (myself included) got into teaching thinking of ourselves as “experts” of sorts in some subject. We are specialists. But, we are teachers first, and historians second (or scientists, or mathematicians, or musicians, etc). Chapter 8 was largely review for me, but a good reminder of strategies that “I already know” but sometimes forget to employ.

Early in my MAT graduate coursework at Concordia, Dr. Jerry McGuire asked our class “how many of you are going to be reading teachers?” None of us raised our hands. “Wrong,” he said, “you’re all reading teachers!” Well said.

Reading Blog #2

This blog entry is from Gillet’s Ch. 3. I wanted to write a bit about the organization and recording keeping associated with the reading. I appreciated the discussion in the text dealing with the specific student tracking systems and teacher organization. As the “scatterbrain” teacher I know that “clean systems = less teacher (and student) stress.” However, I think I gained more from visiting Tonia’s classroom in Molalla than I gained from the textbook. (Last week I attended class with the Molalla cohort).

It was really powerful for me to see the systems Tonia set up. I took a couple of iPhone photos of the student journals and learning logs. I even copied down the class library check-out system notebook and the way books are organized on her shelves. As an adult learner I’ve discovered that I really learn from exemplars. I think I always have benefited from seeing good (and bad) examples. I know that I’m not alone. Many of my students seem to really appreciate examples of work.

From the reading I’m most drawn to (and intimated by) the depth some teachers have deployed with using student portfolios. I know that my current system is little more than a collection of work to show off at conferences. I want portfolios to include true baseline data, snapshots of progress, reading history/logs, writing, student designed reading targets, etc. I’m more interested in the “authentic” tracking of reading progression by my students so that we can monitor and celebrate growth. By “we” I mean me, her/his parents, and the student. But, before I get overwhelmed with all of the ideal portfolio elements I need to remember to walk before I run.

Reading Post #3

In response to Ch8: Assessing & Teaching Older Readers, I was able to make several connections with the section discussing how older students don't understand what they are reading. My first year (2 years ago) of teaching was with a self-contained 5th grade class. After spending the year doing DIBELS, using the Scott Foresman curriculum and then working with the strategic readers for the last trimester of school, I found that many of our students were excellent at decoding and using different reading strategies/techniques to meet/achieve success with rate and fluency, but struggles terribly with comprehension. I was truly amazed at how difficult it was for my students to respond in written response to comprehension questions following the reading.

Now, as a middle school math teacher, I can't stress to my students enough how important language, vocabulary and comprehension is. In class I have my students use an ongoing word wall of Common Math Language, unit vocabulary posters, a running list of Word Problem Solving Strategies, and students are required to answer any word problem using complete sentences with complete/proper punctuation.

I also find it completely frustrating when OAKS season rolls around, I take my MATH classes to the lab to begin testing, and then am faced with the dilemma that at that very moment I am having my kids complete a READING test, just as much as they are taking their MATH test. This past year I had the opportunity to sit with one of my ELL students who is just a whiz at math. His first round of testing I had him sit by himself and test. He missed "Meets" by 7 points. The second round, I made sure myself or another teacher was able to sit next to him in case he wanted the questions read to him. Sure enough, he asked for the majority of the questions to be read, and Met. Later I asked him why he felt he was successful this time around. He told me he thought it was because when an adult read to him things sounded more clear and it was easier for him to understand the task he was being asked to do.

It is very true that we need to be concerned about our older students' reading abilities because as they get older, so much of what students must learn comes to them through reading. We are asking them to read all different kinds of texts. One of the hardest things for me to do with my math classes is explicitly teach how to "self teach" themselves by reading examples and text in a math book. I sometimes forget how that is a learned strategy and that I cannot assume anything.

Week # 3

First, I'd like to respond to what Michelle O'Meara wrote about being surprised about dyslexic students scoring average to above in intelligence. When I read the chapter, I wondered how a dyslexic student would perform on a test that is mostly a reading test and then thought about the dyslexic student I had in class. For my student, given a test to read and then respond in writing was a disaster for him. Dyslexic students are like the poster child for the chapter about Teaching Middle and Secondary Readers and learned helplessness. My student thought he was dumb and there was nothing he could do to get better at reading. I'm not sure how the authors test students with dyslexia since most tests are of the reading variety, but it clearly shows this disability doesn't mean the student cannot learn. I read with interest the methods to use with dyslexia and will incorporate them. One strategy that I used with my student was using visuals to explain a new concept. It helped him "see" what he needed to grasp.

I liked what Celeste wrote about being able to help her students to read "just right" books as well as the red books that showed they were better readers. I believe that focusing on how fast students read as the measure of success encourages students to compete (dibels). Thankfully, good assessments will help us to understand what individual students need to become better readers, and teach reading skills like questioning, comparing and contrasting, and rereading.

I got a lot of great information out of the chapter on ELL students since the new eighth edition I have is almost fifty pages long. I noticed some of the techniques they talk about can be used for any student who might need extra support. For example, pre-teaching, mini lessons on problem areas and using visuals help many kinds of learners within a classroom.

The last thought I had was about the statistic claiming that 70% of older students are below-level readers and deficient writers. Why we don't retain more students and how we can get better at helping the low students before they reach middle and high schools? Great, relevant chapters!

English Language Learners

The chapter on helping ELL students really caught me this week. I happened to read it the day after I was doing a DRA for an ELL student who is literate in his first language (Russian). He was telling me about the books he reads at home and some of them are in Russian. When I told him he could put those books on his reading log and they would count for his home reading, you would have thought that I gave him a million dollars. Although at first he didn't believe me. "Really?" he says. "But in school I am practicing in English." I told him that as long as he keeps reading in both languages (he is on grade level in English) he'll be fine and that I didn't want him to start struggling with his reading in Russian because he wasn't doing it as much. Then I was able to tell him that in fact reading in Russian will help him be a better reader in English. I still don't think he quite believes that part (it's not even the same alphabet!), but he's happy to be able to keep reading his books in Russian with his dad.

Of course he is one of the lucky ones that is literate in his first language. My heart breaks for those kiddos who aren't and end up losing parts of their native language or not developing their ability to read in their native language. It's so frustrating to know what would help these kids be on track (teaching reading in their native language first) and yet not be able to provide it because of the usual suspects: time, money, etc. etc. etc.

#3 Another Week Down

Well, just like some of you, I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I enjoy this class and what we are learning, but what I dislike is feeling rushed and like there's no time to breathe. I suppose part of it is my fault for being as busy as I am, but such is life...

This week I did running records and more DRA-2s with my students. Running records are so much easier when the reading is recorded! I can't tell you how many times I re-listened to my student's reading just to make sure I was doing it right. What I find difficult to do quickly is when a student repeats a word or phrase, getting some words right and some words wrong. There's a lot going on in a matter of seconds that needs to be recorded on paper. Having the voice recorder was fabulous as a tool to help me remember what exactly my student said.

In Chapter 8 of Gillet, it talks about some of the emotional consequences that might come from having difficulty with reading when students are older. It's something that is unpleasant to think about. We don't want our students to experience embarrassment and anger with it comes to reading. Though this chapter was focused mainly on older students, it made me think of one of my students in third grade. This student of mine is 8 years old. He is a very active little boy and has a difficult time focusing and also with finishing tasks in the classroom. Sometimes, when a task seems too difficult or too long, he tends to shut down very quickly. Reading about learned helplessness in this chapter made me think of this boy and how he too, even at a young age, sometimes shows major signs of withdrawal and anger about the task or subject being learned. I'd hate to see him with such negative feelings, so right now I'm trying to find a way to motivate him! I don't want him to have low self esteem or to believe that he is unable to do certain things. This serves as a healthy reminder of how important my job is when it comes to teaching reading and also making it so that students enjoy it in the classroom.

What day is it again????

I must agree with the previous post in that I too feel a tad overwhelmed. I have a talent for biting of too big of a chunk from time to time, and here I am again. School + reading endorsement + teaching a college class + marathon training + 3 1/2 year old daughter = mush for brains. Luckily, I will be able to subtract two things from this equation in a week and a half and I'll feel half normal again.

As for the reading, I'm always excited to see anything that deals with older students. Chapter eight mentioned a few strategies that I already use pretty consistently in my own class as well as some new tricks that I would like to try. I especially like the I.N.S.E.R.T model. I teach students to use margin notes, but this model gives a clear and efficient way to mark text. It can be especially helpful in a choral reading where a student may not be able to stop and make extensive notes.

Reading 3 and other items

Ok, starting to feel overwhelmed and it is not even close to the end of this class yet. It just seems I am doing things last minute for either this class or for teaching my other classes. So inevitably no matter what I do I feel like I am drowning or I feel like I am trying to run and keep up with the rest of them, whoever them is, and instead I am falling two steps behind.

That being said I did enjoy the reading this week. They used different phrases for before reading, during reading and after reading strategies but in the end it was interesting. I didn't enjoy the political jargon that was included in the chapters but if I must try to read it, I will. I found the section on Strategies for Teaching Reading and Writing to English Language Learners to be not that applicable to the older ELLs. I was excited to start reading this section so it was kind of a let down. I also found the factors related to reading problems not that interesting.

I started doing running records this week and they are hard to do with a class to also look after. It is also difficult to do them with fast readers but oh well. At least I have a recorder so I can go back and double check my written work.

I started keeping a portfolio or typed journal of items for this class and I took notes on the readings we have done. All in all I honestly think I am crazy for taking classes and teaching classes at the same time. My head is spinning almost 90% of the day.