Guided Reading Assignment

Guided reading is an instruction method that helps students learn about strategies and tools they can use to become skilled independent readers.  It involves placing students into small groups in which each student is of a similar reading level.  The group reads a book that is at their reading level (not below or above) under the supervision of a teacher.  The teacher interacts with the students to teach and model good reading strategies before, during, and after reading the book.

Before Reading	During Reading	After Reading
The teacher introduced the book and its topic. She connected the book to a topic the class has been learning about. Students made comments about what they saw on the cover, & the teacher encouraged them to make predictions about the text. She read the title and then the group read the title aloud together. Students made predictions. They went through each page together and looked at the pictures to find clues and connected them with their background knowledge. For the main word on each page, the teacher asked what sound it made at the beginning and then had them find it on the page.  She also did the same for reoccurring words.  She asked the students to find words on the pages that they already knew. She also helped them notice punctuation marks, their meanings, and how to read the sentence correctly.  She tells students to use the picture & text to find out what they’re reading.	Each student read quietly aloud. The teacher visited briefly with each student. -          Helped students with difficult words by sounding out the word and repeating it several times. -          Helped them notice pictures while reading. -          Took notes -          Had students reread and/or repeat words that they struggled with The students were encouraged to reread the book if they finished reading it before the teacher finished visiting with each student.	The teacher points out & provides examples of specific things that good readers should do: -          Make sure sounds at beginning & end of the word match what you are saying -          Go back & reread if something isn’t making sense -          Use the pictures to help guide your reading They played a word game together. -          She provided pictures of the weather they read about and cards with single letters on them -          She guided the students in figuring out what sounds each letter made and matching them to the pictures (1 letter for beginning sound & 1 letter for ending sound) -          The students provided the answers with guidance from the teacher when needed. She congratulated the students for doing a great job and gave each a high five.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the video because I loved how enthusiastic the teacher was! I also thought she did a great job at taking comments from each child in the beginning and then moving on with the activity.  You could tell that her excitement was helping the students stay focused and interactive.  The only thing I noticed was that she didn't spend much time visiting with each student. I probably would've spent just a little more time and listened to them read more than just one page, but I understand that lack of time is a major factor in education.  I also felt that some of the students were not getting a chance to participate in the game at the end.  This may be because they were struggling to understand.  The other students were eagerly shouting out answers which is great because it means they are comprehending and motivated, but I think it also would've been beneficial to have students raise their hands to answer.  This way the teacher could notice those who weren't understanding and help guide them through achieving the answer.

Reading A-Z looks like a great resource for teachers planning guided reading lessons.  With a membership, teachers have access to a huge supply of leveled books which are perfect for guided reading.  You can find fiction and nonfiction books and books that come with a guided reading lesson, Common Core lesson, reader's theater script, and even worksheets that focus on comprehension and phonics.  I imagine that finding a wide variety of books at a specific level can become difficult, so it's great that this website makes it so easy.  I could see myself using this site to order books for guided reading, get guides on how to implement guided reading, and simply get ideas to make lesson planning just a little bit simpler.  I especially love that you can get the books in a projectable format which saves paper and could make instruction easier!

Striving for Excellence

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When many people (non-teachers) talk to me about teaching, they often believe it's as simple as following the provided teaching manuals for each subject.  It is so much more than that, though, especially when it comes to teaching reading.  Reading is such a dynamic process, and I feel there is so much more I can do as a teacher to provide the best instruction possible.  Pinnell (2006) and the International Reading Association (2000) both agree on many of the most important steps teachers should take in the classroom in order to become excellent reading teachers.  They believe reading teachers should understand reading development, read aloud daily, implement word study, continually assess student progress using several methods, alter teaching methods and groupings when needed, gain additional professional development, create community, and enjoy reading and writing with students.  In addition, the International Reading Association says that excellent teachers need to be able to combine instructional methods and understand how to scaffold instruction. 

This isn't the first time I've heard these suggestions, because these steps really embody what we've discussed during class throughout the semester.  I've learned how to address each component of reading, ways to motivate my future students, methods of instruction, and methods of assessing.  I've also come to understand that in order to improve students' reading, my instruction needs to be as dynamic as the process of learning to read itself.  Reading has always been such a big part of my life, and I want to be able to share that enjoyment with my students.  I want to make a difference, like most teachers; by using these ideas to guide my teaching, I believe teaching reading might just be one way I can.   

     

Assessment

Standardized test taking has been common in classrooms for quite a long time.  I think we all can remember taking a few of them throughout our education whether it was TCAPs, the ACT, or something similar.  However, I recall looking over my test results and thinking that my knowledge wasn't being accurately depicted.  The truth is that perhaps it wasn't.

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Rubin (2011) believes that the best way to determine a child's reading level is not through standardized test alone but rather through comparing results from several assessment methods.  I completely agree with this, because every child learns or shows their strengths in different ways.  Every method measures reading ability in a different way which provides a more complete picture of a students reading level.  Multiple assessments also help teachers pinpoint specific deficiencies.  If a student scores similarly on each assessment, you can be fairly confident labeling them with a certain level.  However, if a student's scores are varied, you can better determine what their specific strengths and weaknesses are.  Rubin suggests using assessments like standardized tests, the cloze test, Informal Reading Inventories, and running records to place students into the reading levels of independent, instructional, and frustration.  I wonder, though, are there additional assessments teachers can use? Are three levels enough to accurately categorize students?  

Guided Reading

A few years ago when I was volunteering in a third-grade classroom, I remember observing an interesting reading activity.  The teacher introduced a book and then split the class into small groups. Some groups read silently while some read aloud.  The teacher worked with each group individually to help students self-correct their reading, make predictions, aid in problem solving, etc.  I was intrigued by the activity because I loved how independently the students worked, but that their teacher was nearby to provide help and guide their discussion. 

After reading an article by Anita Iaquinta (2006), I realized that this activity was an example of guided reading.  According to her, guided reading is the process of teachers guiding students as they read in order to teach them skills like how to self-monitor, confirm reading, and solve new word meanings which are all important for independent reading. I really liked one point that Iaquinta makes in the article. She points out that no single text will "fit them all."  Students all read at different abilities, so placing students into thoughtfully planned small groups can really benefit their reading.  A dynamic and developmentally similar group is most ideal, and teachers should continually monitor students' changes in reading and alter groups accordingly. Using guided reading is a great way to help level the playing field among students and give each the tools they need to become good independent readers.

Questions to think on: 

1. Do you remember your teachers doing guided reading or similar activities?

2. What should teachers consider when selecting books for guided reading? How do you select a book that is not too challenging or too simple for all group members?

Also, check out these examples of prompts that would be a great tool for teachers to reference.

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Real-Life Reading Inquiry

For my Real-Life Reading Inquiry assignment, I worked with two third-grade students at a local elementary school.  I wanted to explore reading fluency and methods of assessing it.  Of the two students, one was considered to have high fluency while the other was considered to have low fluency according to their teacher.  I spent one-on-one time with each student in a quiet location.  I had them read to me from books from their book boxes, read passages at their grade level that I supplied in order to calculate their WCPM (words correct per minute), and asked follow-up questions about what they read to me.  Through these methods, I was able to better understand their reading fluency levels.

First, let me provide the results of each student’s assessments.  Both read the same grade-level appropriate passage, but ended with different WCPMs.  The high-fluency student read 146 words correctly in one minute and 141 words correctly per minute when including the duration it took to read the entire passage.  This student read with 99.6% accuracy.  Conversely, the low-fluency student read 84 words correctly in one minute and 74 WPCM for the entire passage.  This student read with 98.4% accuracy.  The high-fluency student read above and the low-fluency student read within the normal oral fluency range for third-graders which is 44-99 WCPM according to Theresa Deeney in her 2010 article “One-Minute Fluency Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction” (446).   Deeney also notes that one-minute assessments fail to note how readers perform over an extended period of  time (447).  My observations agree with her statement; although it is slight and still within normal range, both students show a decline in their number of WCPM when assessed for a time greater than one minute.

My results from above made me question why their teacher had placed the students at two different levels of reading fluency even though both were reading within normal ranges.  Timothy Rasinski notes in his 2004 article “Creating Fluent Readers” that an additional dimension of reading fluency is prosodic reading (46).  One way he suggests measuring this is by using the Multidimensional Fluency Scale (49).  This rubric aids teachers in measuring expression/volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace of students’ reading.  Through continued observations and using the scale, I began noticing several differences in the students that helped me better understand why they had varying fluency levels.   

For example, the low-fluency student read simply to get the words out, did not fluctuate their voice, spoke quietly, struggled with several words and needed help figuring them out, and read at a rather slow pace.  Using the scale, they scored around a nine out of sixteen.  The high-fluency student was quite the opposite.  They read with lots of expression, at a conversation-like volume and pace, read in sentence units, and were able to resolve any difficulties on their own.  Their score was a sixteen out of sixteen.  Rasinski states that “scores of eight or above indicate that the student is making good progress in fluency” (49).  Though both are improving, I find it amazing how much more information this scale provided compared to simply using a one-minute assessment.  After this assessment, it was much clearer that the high-fluency student has made more progress than the low-fluency student.  Additionally, I could better pinpoint what aspects of fluency the low-fluency student struggled most with such as expression and pace.

Deeney also notes that fluency includes comprehension (440).  By asking questions about the passages and observing, I was able to get an idea of each student’s level of comprehension.  The high-fluency student was quickly able to answer simple questions and was eager to make comments.  They even connected the passage to a similar event in their own life.  In addition, they laughed as they were reading when humorous parts occurred which indicated to me that they were comprehending while reading.  The low-fluency student, however, was less able to answer questions or discuss the passage which made me question whether he understood what he had read.  By looking into their level of comprehension, I realized that it is an important factor in determining reading fluency and problems that might be hindering a student's ability to become a fluent reader.    

During my observations and interactions with these two students, I was able to better understand how to go about measuring reading fluency.  I realized that it is a complex concept that includes not only accuracy, but also rate, prosody, and comprehension.  While a one-minute assessment gave me a basic understanding of their fluency, I agree with Deeney and Rasinski that further observations provide even more useful information.  I see the benefits of measuring the multiple dimensions of fluency, because it identifies the specific areas students are either struggling or excelling in.  In turn, this information allows teachers to provide the proper instruction students need in order to improve and become more fluent readers.  As a future educator, I plan on implementing assessments that take into account all the dimensions of fluency in order to best evaluate and instruct my students.  

Be a Word-Conscious Teacher

As a child, I remember sitting on my mom's lap on a Sunday afternoon while she worked on the crossword puzzle (always in pen) in the local paper.  Anytime she got stuck on a word, she'd ask me to grab the dictionary and help her.  Not only did I learn how to use a dictionary, but I increased my vocabulary in a fun way.  Even to this day, I still enjoy doing crossword puzzles.  I was lucky to have been brought up in a family that encouraged vocabulary learning, however, I know that many of my future students will not have an extensive vocabulary due to different home environments.  So how can I provide vocabulary instruction and help close the gap between students? Blachowicz and Fisher (2004) suggest four ways to teach vocabulary.

1.) Develop word awareness and love of words through word play.
Modeling vocabulary is one of the best ways teachers can introduce vocabulary. Through this method, even students as young as kindergartners can become comfortable using words highly above their level (Lane & Allen, 2010).  Teachers should also use activities that motivate students and make learning new words fun.  Below is a rather lengthy video, but it provides an example of a really creative idea!  Have students put on a vocabulary parade!  They research words, create a costume, definition, and sentence using the word, and then put on a parade for the school.

2.) Deliver explicit, rich instruction to develop important vocabulary.
Teachers should select important words, teach definitional, contextual, and usage information about the words, connect them to their previous knowledge, have students use them, and revisit them through activities such as games and writing.

3.) Build strategies for independence.
Just as my mom taught me how to use a dictionary, I should teach my students how to do the same.  In the world of technology, Dalton & Grisham (2011) suggest using online dictionaries.  Many are made for use by kids like Enchanted Learning's picture dictionary.  I like that this site is easy enough for young students to be able to look up words all on their own, and I believe students will learn much more if they discover answers to their questions all on their own.  I wonder, though, what other strategies students can use independently?

4.) Engage students actively with a wide range of books.
The internet can be a great tool to use in addition to book clubs, independent reading, and library time. Teachers can provide their students with a range of informational texts through several websites suggested by Daltonn & Grisham (2011) such as Time for Kids and Science News for Kids.

Teaching Comprehension

When I was in elementary school, I remember having to read stories and then complete worksheets that included questions about the book.  Some questions would be simple facts, but others were more complex and difficult.  After listening to my teachers think aloud and explain their strategies for reading the text and answering the questions, it all made more sense to me.  I comprehended text better once they taught me ways to do so which actually makes perfect sense.  How can we test for comprehension without first teaching our students how to comprehend?  Gill (2008) stresses the importance of directly teaching comprehension strategies and suggests using the Comprehension Matrix when planning instruction, because it takes into consideration the reader, the text, and the situation during prereading, reading, and postreading activities.  Some strategies that should be taught include connecting, questioning, visualizing, inferring, predicting, and evaluating.  Gregory and Cahill (2010) even point out that students as young as kindergartners are capable of learning these.  

Check out this idea I found and can't wait to try!  Anytime students use one of the comprehension strategies, they can fill out a "Thinkmark".

For these free printables click here!

You can use a few or all of the strategies and come up with your own codes for them depending on grade levels and personal preference.  Then get a discussion going by having students share and compare their Thinkmarks after reading.

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Here's a question: Do you think Thinkmarks could also be beneficial when students are reading for social studies or science?


      

Reading Comprehension

In this week's readings, Pardo (2004) describes comprehension as a "complex process."  It is a product of the transaction between the text and the reader at a particular moment in time.  A readers' background knowledge, skills, culture, and cognitive development all influence their comprehension of text.  Teachers have a key role in supporting their students and improving their comprehension abilities, and there are several ways in which teachers can do this.  A few really stood out to me, though, because I remember my teachers doing these.

1.  Teach decoding skills.  

Students need to be able to decode words automatically in order to have leftover energy to put towards thinking about what they are reading.  Teachers can do this through teaching phonics, vocabulary, and high-frequency words.  One way to teach high-frequency words is to give each student a word booklet including words they are likely to see often.  Anytime they see a word or use it correctly, they get to put a sticker beside the word in their booklet.

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2.  Build and activate prior knowledge.

Help students build background knowledge by showing them how to make connections to the text.  They can make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.  This helps students think deeper about what they just read and aids in creating meaning if they can tie it to their own personal understandings.  After reading a story, you could have each student write down some sort of connection they made.  Sort their connections into one of the three categories and show the results like below.  This also makes me wonder if there are other types of connection that students could make? Text-to-media connections? 

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3. Provide explicit instruction of useful comprehension strategies.

Teachers should teach students strategies that will help them understand their readings like predicting, questioning, connecting, organizing, and summarizing.  A good way to show these strategies, especially to younger students, is through modeling.  Cunningham and Allington (2011) suggest using think-alouds as a way to do this.  I love this idea and think it's an easy way to add extra instruction into read-alouds which also aid in teaching fluency.  Check out this video showing how to do a think-aloud.

Reading Fluency

Fluency assessments are important because they can help teachers see which students are improving and

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which students are struggling with reading.  But what is fluency, and what should you observe while students are reading?  According to Deeny (2010) and The Literacy Dictionary (Harris & Hodges, 1995) there are four components of fluency to look at. They are accuracy, rate/speed, prosody, and comprehension.  Deeny suggests using one minute fluency tests, which measure the number of words read correctly in one minute, as a quick way to test for accuracy and speed.  Rasinski (2004) suggests using a rubric that offers a way to test expression/volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace.  However, both Deeny and Rasinski stress the importance of improving and measuring all four components of fluency through direct and interactive instruction.

I loved Rasinski's idea of having a readers' theater!  I remember doing readers' theater about the story of Thanksgiving when I was in elementary school.  We practiced our lines for a week and even made costumes.  At the time, I didn't realize I was learning while also having fun.  Not only did we practice fluency, but we learned a social studies lesson at the same time.  Readers' theater could be a great way to bridge the gap between reading education and other subjects.  I also love that it can be used across grade levels.  Text level simply needs to be increased or decreased depending on the students' abilities.  For very young emergent readers, having a read aloud could serve the same purpose.  Reading to students is a way for teachers to model fluency even before they can read independently.  Do you think read alouds should even be used with older students and more difficult books?  What other ways can teachers promote fluency in the classroom?

Check out the video below that shows how even a simple book can be used to teach reading fluency.  

Making Words

Cunningham and Cunningham (1992) stressed how important inventive spelling is to the reading and writing

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of young students.  Through the exploration of words and sound patterns, they not only learn proper spelling but how to read those words if they come across them.  They suggest using Making Words lessons to accompany other inventive spelling strategies.  I loved that the lessons can be modified for a wide range of learners.  Each student learns at a different pace, so you could simply divide the class into small groups and provide different sets of letters based on their current understanding.  It's also a fun way to transition into another subject by having the "big" word be from that day's lesson.

I don't remember my teachers doing Making Words lessons, but one of my teachers had us play Scrabble often.  I think it's a fairly similar concept to Making Words, except it allows the students to create words on their own and practice inventive spelling more.  I'm sure I played a lot of made-up words, but as long as they sounded close to the word I was trying to create it was fine with my teacher.  After playing, she would select some of our misspelled words and help us figure out their proper spellings.  This really helped me understand the connection between what I was hearing and the correct combination of letters.  I think using both Scrabble and Making Words lessons with my future students could create some great readers and writers!  Did your teachers use Making Words lessons or anything similar? Do you think it helped you learn to spell and read?  What are some other ways to encourage inventive spelling and word making?

Here's a link to a great blog that easily explains how to create a Making Words lesson. It also includes a free printable worksheet, so students can keep a list of all the new words they learn!

http://www.theschoolsupplyaddict.com/1/post/2012/02/making-words.html

    

Word Coaching & Spelling Patterns

Reading the article by Clark (2004) a year ago would have really helped me out.  At the time, I was working on reading skills with a fourth grader at Pond Gap Elementary.  She'd often get stuck on big compound words.  The only thing I knew to say, though, was sound it out because that's what I was always told to do when I was learning to read.  It was difficult to see her get frustrated and shut down whenever sounding the word out didn't work.  I'd ultimately have to sound it out for her, but I hated the fact she wasn't learning on her own.  The ideas in the article like covering up parts of the word or asking her to find chucks or patterns in the big word would've really helped her reading develop.  Even though I couldn't help her as much, I feel much more prepared now to assist other student when they get stuck.  

Growing up I never really had an issue sounding out words like this particular girl did.  The only reason, I think, I didn't was because I could recognize the smaller words hiding in the bigger words.  When I was in school, I always hated spelling. All I ever felt like we did was copy words over and over and over again.  However, after reading Cunningham and Allington's (2011) ideas in chapter 5 for teaching spelling, I realized that my spelling lists in school were teaching me more than just memorization.  They were often divided into groups of words that had similar patterns like 'oo' or 'ake.'  There were also bonus words that were usually just compound words using that week's pattern.  Knowing these words helped me the most when it came to sounding out words while reading.  Even though I obviously learned from copying spelling lists, I think I would've enjoyed learning more if my teachers had used some of the activities the book suggests.  I know that all students learn differently, though.  Are memorization and copying techniques still beneficial to an extent in spelling lessons?  Will memorization come from doing activities other than simply studying word lists?

Here's a fun idea I found! Make a "chunkapillar" each time your class learns a new chunk.  Put it somewhere visible, so students can refer to it during their reading or writing.

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Morning Message

This weeks readings explain how learning to read and write consists of learning and building on smaller concepts.  The NAEYC/IRA (1998) and Yopp & Yopp (2000) believe that literacy practices need to be developmentally appropriate.  In addition, Yopp & Yopp (2000) think that phonemic instruction is very important to literacy, but should be taught purposefully and only as part of a whole literacy program.  I really liked the idea of a morning message that was used by Donna Jarvis (2002).  I came across the video below that provides an excellent example of how a morning message can be used to practice reading, writing, and phonemic awareness all at the same time and in a way that exhibits practical uses of these skills.

She demonstrates many literacy-teaching ideas discussed in the readings.  I love how the activity incorporates chants and movements, and the students use sound associations from words they already know to determine unknown words. The teacher also helps guide their learning by leaving out parts of words and encouraging revising mistakes.  I would love to use this in my classroom because it teaches important literacy skills in a fun way and in a short amount of time.  Time management is very important in classrooms, as I've seen during my volunteer experiences, so this type of activity is ideal!  It makes me wonder how the concept of a morning message can also be used in subject areas like science or social studies?

           

Foundations for Literacy

The readings this week emphasize different ways to get children interested in and understanding how to

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read and write.  One way that Cunningham and Allington (2011) suggest is simply by encouraging reading and writing even before children can read or spell properly.  I greatly agree with their suggestion, because my parents pushed me to do the same.  In preschool I learned how to read short rhyming books, and just before kindergarten I started trying to write my own short stories.  My mom would staple a few sheets of paper together in book form and encourage me to fill it with my own words and ideas.  I remember being so proud of my books and reading them to my family and even to my kindergarten class with the support of my teacher.  I've saved those "books" over the years, and looking back at them it's difficult to decipher what I wrote.  Even though I couldn't spell or form sentences correctly, I was inspired to enjoy writing and reading which are traits still with me today.  I hope to share my "books" with my future students as a way to show them that I once started where they are.  Hopefully they'll be encouraged to write their own stories to share with the whole class as well.  It makes me wonder, though, what is the best way to encourage improvement of their writing or reading without discouraging their interest?      

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Johnson (2010) also suggests that children carry metaphorical backpacks with them into school that are formed by their family's culture of literacy.  Not every family encourages literacy in their day-to-day activities, but those that do better prepare their children for school.  I remember my family reading the newspaper often much like the Jones family.  Like Lola, the mini page for kids was my go-to section; I also loved the comics.  It helped me be more aware of different types of reading material and helped me associate reading with entertainment.  Johnson (2010) also advises teachers to use encounters with parents to get to know the families' literacy histories.  Just like being aware of my past helps me know how to move forward in the classroom, I believe knowing about my students' pasts aid in knowing how to approach teaching them.  However, I know that not every parent will be involved or attend school functions.  What are other ways to research students' family literacy histories or encourage parents to be more involved?

  

The Importance of Reading & Writing

One of my favorite quotes by Dr. Seuss is, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."  Both readings from this week really enforce this idea.  Research by Michael Knapp shows that teachers who provided many reading and discussion opportunities, emphasized higher-order skills, and integrated reading and writing into subjects like science and social studies had high achievement gains (Cunningham & Allington, 2011). However, Allington (2002) reports that many students are only reading and writing for about 10% of the day.  From this data, it is no wonder that many children are still reading below their preferred reading level.  If students are not encouraged to enjoy reading and discussing or writing about their reading, they will do it less.

It is highly apparent that teachers need to put more focus on encouraging reading since it benefits students in all aspects of their learning.  I loved the ideas Cunningham & Allington (2011) had about sharing book bins with other classrooms and reading different types of books aloud. I remember my teachers doing similar things, which made me wonder what other ways teachers could spark students' interests in reading? Many teachers make cozy corners for reading. Would making a home-like reading environment in the classroom encourage more reading outside of it? What are some ways to make reading more appealing to reluctant readers?

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