Guided Reading Assignment

1. In order to have a guided reading, the teacher should remind the group about the topic discussed. If the text is a picture book, the group should do a picture walk. After looking at all the pictures, the class should predict what will happen in the story. If possible, those predictions should be recorded for later use. The teacher can go over new vocabulary before and/or during reading. The second read should be the students reading independently with the teacher nearby. As students read independently, the teacher should walk over to each student to see how they are performing. Each student can be given one-on-one time. Once everyone is done, the teacher will bring up an activity relating to the reading.  
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3. I really enjoyed the teacher's enthusiasm but I believe it was too much at times.  The teacher can show excitement without sounding so fake. I am afraid that students can pick up on that and will result in them being less engaged. I was surprised to see some students looking so bored. I wonder if this was their teacher or if she was just a guest. I really liked how the teacher listened to every child and repeated what she heard. This shows students that she is paying attention to what they are saying and the rest of the group can hear the answer if they did not the first time.  I also enjoyed how she gave tips and recommendations through "secrets." It is a good method but I wonder if it really helped students. When the group was doing the activity, I noticed that the teacher never gave students the answer. She scaffolding and waited for student to answer. It was a great way to get students to critically think. Overall, this video was a great example of what a guided reading should look like. 

4. Reading A-Z is a really great resource that provides thousands of books for students in all reading levels. Since so many choices are available, it is easy for teachers to find appropriate books that meet student interest. Not only does Reading A-Z provide leveled readers, but it also includes poetry books and high frequency word books.  I like that these books are printable because it can help a teacher's library grow. I find it especially important that books are available in various languages.  I can see this site making a teacher's life much easier.  If I want to find books that are interesting to my students, I know where to go. 

Literacy Organization: Classrooms that Work

     Creating a classroom that fosters learning is a challenging task. After reading chapters 1, 2, and 12 of Classrooms That Work, I have learned that it is essential that a teacher plans carefully.  A teacher must begin with great classroom management. Since students spend most of their time in this space, it needs to be set up in a way that will help students learn. Teachers need to make adaptations based on student's needs, strengths and weaknesses. Teachers need to be flexible with their strategies. Sometimes it is more appropriate to divide the class into groups and have them create their own projects. The next day it might be the opposite, and the teacher needs to demonstrate something to the entire class. I like this image from Pinterest because it shows several ways to create a classroom that works.
     I believe a teacher can create a classroom that works by providing activities based on student interest. If a student is engaged and can relate to the topic, they will be more likely and willing to learn. Since the holidays are around the corner, I tried finding an activity that a class would find interesting. I found a great pin about a teacher using the Grinch in her class.  Even though Christmas was not allowed in the school, she brought in this stuffed Grinch and told the class he wanted to take away their fun celebrations.  For every successful activity the class would gain a point. If they accumulated more points than the Grinch, they would get to keep their celebration party before their winter break.  I can see how a teacher could revolve activities around the holidays using the Grinch. The class could read books about different holidays, write letters to loved ones, create books about their traditions.  There are several ways to incorporate reading and writing around the holidays.  I found other activities through Pinterest that incorporate reading and writing.
Questions: How would you incorporate reading in the classroom?
What makes a classroom work?

Holiday Activities

Reading Activities

Holiday Pen Pals Around the World

Guided Reading

This week we were assigned to find an article on guided reading. I found:
Modified Guided Reading: Gateway to English as a Second Language and Literacy Learning by Mary A. Avalos, Alina Plasencia, Celina Chavez, and Josefa Rascon.

Guided readings are extremely helpful to struggling readers as well as English-language learners (ELLs). The figure below shows the benefits of guided reading:

A few simple modifications should be made to help ELLs gain additional language-learning opportunities. Below are the differences between a guided reading and modified guided reading:

Steps to a successful modified guided reading:

1. Analyze the text: teachers should carefully read to text to see if it is appropriate for students. 
2. Set the scene or introduce the text: the introduction to the text is essential. teachers should make the introduction should be as long as necessary. Visual should be included if they will help ELLs understand. 
3. Shared reading: Students are given the opportunity to discuss to create understanding. Teachers can model fluent reading. 
4. Reading the text: Students read text on their own. The teacher takes notes and carefully observes. 
5. Returning to the text: Once the book is read, the teacher engages the group in a conversation. They must accept answers without giving criticism. 
6. Responding to the text: Engage in other activities that are related to reading. It further develops understand of the text. 
7. Word work: This helps students learn new words mentioned in the text. 

Through this article I learned that guided reading exercises take time and a lot of practice. Finding books that are appropriate for each reading level has to be difficult. I believe this is a one time process though. Once a teacher finds all the books they find appropriate, they can make simple modifications for each new group. Helping ELLs is a difficult task, but this article shows that you only need a few modifications to maximize learning.

Can you think of other modifications that can help ELLs? 

Real Life Reading Inquiry

Time Spent Reading in the Classroom

This year I am taking a child and family studies course that requires me to intern at a nearby elementary school. I will be there for at least nine hours a week until the end of the semester. I was assigned to a third grade classroom. I have been able to observe reading lessons almost every day that I have been there. This reflection will be over a reading lesson observed two weeks ago. I am focusing on time spent reading in the classroom. 

At 9:05 Mrs. W turns on the Smart Board and pulls up the FlipChart reading lesson. The objective for the day is read aloud by the class. The next slide contains a link to the story the class will be focusing on that week (The Metal Detective). Mrs. W hands out one book to every group of three children. She does this because there are 15 students in the class but only 5 physical copies of the book.  Mrs. W goes back to the FlipChart and has the computer read the story to the class.  She tells the class they can read along or just listen to the story.  Once the story is read, Mrs. W teaches about finding conclusions. She teaches a mini-lesson on onomatopoeia. Mrs. W divides the class into groups and gives each student a card with the name of an emotion such as sad, angry, or scared. The students have to act out that emotion and fellow classmates guess the emotion.  The class has about 10 minutes before they have to transition into the language arts lesson.

Observing this lesson was a bit frustrating to me.  I do not understand why the story was read aloud by the computer and not the teacher.  The teacher was fully capable of reading but instead she just sat back and read along. It was upsetting to see students looking so bored while reading. I believe they would have found the story more interesting if their teacher was reading aloud to them.  According to Classrooms that Work, teacher read aloud should be an everyday event because it motivates students to read.  If teachers are unwilling to read then students will most likely adopt that same attitude.

It is upsetting that the class was given 5 copies of a book. Most of the students at this school come from low-income households.  Luckily this school is able to provide great resources.  For example, they give students additional snacks to take home to assure they have something extra to eat. Each classroom has one Smart Board and at least 5 Mac computers. I find it hard to believe that the school cannot provide 10 additional copies of a 15-page book. Having to share a book with two other people is difficult.  I can see how not having your own copy and being read to by a computer can discourage you from reading.

I also did not like the story because it did not revolve around an experience that students could relate to.  The story was about a boy using his metal detector to find a missing ring from his neighbor’s garden.  I cannot see a third grader being able to relate to a time when they lost an important piece of jewelry.  I have learned that it is important to provide as much real experience as possible. If students can relate to the material, they are more likely to like it and understand it.  

Overall I was surprised to see so little reading during a reading lesson. During a 60-minute lesson, students read about 10-15 minutes. For some students it might be less because they had the option to listen to the story. With such a busy schedule, students do not even have time for independent reading.  Reading is only done if students finish assignments early.  This usually gives them about 3-5 minutes to read.  According to Classrooms that Work (2011), “The goal of every elementary teacher should be to have all children read for at least 20 minutes each day from materials they have chosen to read” (p. 18). Later on I learned that students read independently for at least 20 minutes but only for homework.  I think this is great, but students should be doing that reading in the classroom as well.  Students need a lot of practice to become excellent readers.  Reading in the classroom assures the teacher that students are actually reading. Through independent reading, teachers can see what materials students find interesting.  They can use these observations to modify lessons around student’s interests and needs.  

Building Vocabulary

If I am reading a passage and do not know the meaning of one word, my thoughts and comprehension of the passage scatter. I have to go back to try to figure out what that word means. I lose my train of thought and it takes time for me to get back on track. Teaching vocabulary to students is so essential because vocabulary comprehension leads to reading comprehension. If we want all students to succeed, we must close the gap between students from literacy-rich homes and those who’s families are less focused on education. To do this, all students must receive “rich oral language experiences.” One way to do this is to use new vocabulary and discuss it with students. This new knowledge is reinforced through speaking, writing and reading.  Teachers can also visuals throughout the classroom to help students build vocabulary. Below are some great ideas that can be extremely helpful in a classroom. 

This is an example of a poster that can be put in a classroom. When students are writing, you can ask them to replace one of the words they know with one on the list. This helps students learn the meaning of a new word and helps them practice spelling it as well. A list of adjectives can also be given to each individual student. They can reference back to the list when they are writing. 

Technology can be a helpful tool in helping students build vocabulary. The link below provides 21 digital tools that help build technology. It provides brief descriptions and direct links to all the tools. 

http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2013/02/20-digital-tools-for-vocabulary/

Questions: 

Do you think technology effectively builds vocabulary? 

Are other methods more effective?

Developing Comprehension

I never realized that reading comprehension is a process that has to be taught and especially modeled by teachers.  We want students to automatically use comprehension strategies while reading. But this isn't an automatic process, it has to be taught. Teachers gradually transfer the responsibility of thinking onto students. Eventually students are able to comprehend readings on their own as their teacher watches. This gradual process can take a week or a year. I especially liked the sequence provided by the book. I found a video that represents most of the steps in the sequence. 

1. I do, you watch
2. I do, you help
3. You do, I help
4. You do, I watch

Rick's Reading Workshop: Mini-Lesson

This is a great video showing a 5th grade teacher modeling thinking aloud during a focus lesson http://www.pinterest.com/pin/59813501274339560/

What steps did the video represent?
How would you model these steps?
What activities can you do while modeling these steps? 

Reading Fluency

Growing evidence shows that reading fluency greatly influences a student's reading success. One-minute fluency measures can get quick results and are valid and reliable. This type of assessment sounds great, but I believe quick assessments can be too stressful for some students thus affecting performance. We should be less concerned about assessments and start thinking about incorporating more fluency exercises throughout the school day. This is important because students need practice in order to improve.  Practice is the only method that is beneficial to both high and low achieving students. I found that Pinterest is a great site for ideas. The number of fluency activities alone are overwhelming. I have included some of my personal favorites below: 

Sight Words Candyland

Website

            
                    

        Cookie Thief Game                                        Sight Word Bingo    

Questions:
Would you use one-minute assessments in your classroom?
How would you incorporate fluency exercises throughout the school day?
How would you differentiate exercises for student's varying needs?