Scaffolding is a Must!

I found Frey and Fisher's article, Identifying Instructional Moves During Guided Learning, incredibly interesting to read. What stuck out the most to me was the idea that scaffolding allows the teacher to guide their students along, while allowing the students to do their own thinking. I have been in a couple of classrooms where the teacher did not always take the time to guide their students by probing with multiple types of questions, or by providing cues, etc. Instead (for time's sake) they would go straight to the direct explanation. I think it is vital to use scaffolds in order to promote developmental thinking and understanding for students. If we just give them all the answers, how will they learn to think for themselves??
Want some other strategies for scaffolding instruction? Click Here!

Assessment

What stuck out to me the most in Cunningham and Allington's chapter (10) about Assessment, was the importance of assessing and documenting your students' progress continuously throughout the year instead of just once or twice a year. I think that this is so important, because when you are more aware of each individual student's abilities, you as a teacher are better able to help them in the areas where they are lacking.

Need to know the reading level of a book? Or help a student find a book appropriate for their reading level? Check out this site! http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

Guided Reading

Student Accountability: Guided Reading Kidstations
By: E. Francine Guastello and Claire Lenz.

This is a wonderful article not only about what guided reading is, but also how to go about implementing a successful guided reading program. Guastello and Lenz assert that guided reading is "one major component of a balanced literacy program". They propose incorporating "Kidstation Model" of guided reading in which small groups of similar readers rotate through stations in between their group's guided reading lesson.  This allows the teacher to spend more time with each group while the other groups are engaging in independent group activities that reinforce their group's guided reading lesson. In my opinion, this is a great way to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of guided reading in general. This allows more time for the teacher to work with the individual smaller groups, allows the students to strengthen the skills learned in guided reading in their Kidstation groups, and also teaches them to be accountable for the work that must be completed within these Kidstations.
Click the following link, and then click "Full Text PDF" to read this article!

www.reading.org

Word Study

This week's readings focused on the use of Word Study in the classroom. From reading these articles and also from the research that I've done on Word Study, I have found that there are a variety of ways that one can do a word study. In Cunningham and Cunningham's article they discuss the invented words and discuss how a teacher can turn "Making Words" into a fun activity for students. Since Word Study was my real-life application project topic, I had the opportunity to conduct a Word Study with a first grade student. I gave her a spelling assessment in which I realized she was struggling with her short 'u' and short 'e' vowel sounds. This assessment allowed me to better cater the Word Study activity to her needs. Below is an example of the type of activities that I did with her to help her on these areas of weakness. To find more worksheets and activities like this to use as a Word Study, check out PhonicsWorld.com.

Comprehension and Think-Alouds

What stuck out to me the most in this weeks readings was Pardo's article. In his article he discusses strategies that teachers should use to help promote comprehension. Pardo mentions using the Book Club program approach to help to engage students in personal responses to the text. The Book Club approach which allows students to read their book, write a "personal, critical, and creative" response to the story and then share their responses with their classmates. I think this is a great idea for encouraging students to engage while assessing their comprehension of the text.

I wanted to find some more information about Book Clubs and I came across this great video. Check it out!

Vocabulary!

The importance of enhancing vocabulary and its vital role in reading comprehension was the primary discussion in this week's readings. What stuck out the most to me was the idea that the development of reading comprehension is as dependent on a strong base of oral language and concept development (a.k.a vocabulary), as a house is dependent on a strong foundation for structural support. As stated in the readings, vocabulary is an important factor that is often not focused on enough. I think as teachers we need to remember this idea that vocabulary plays an important part in laying the foundation for developing strong skills in reading comprehension

A "Word Wall" is a great way to identify and discuss new/unfamiliar vocabulary in the classroom!

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

This week's topic focused on phonemic awareness and phonics. I really loved Kathleen Clark's article about the use of the coaching technique to help the children develop their word recognition skills. The coaching method gives the students tools to use when they come to words that they do not know. Instead of telling the student to "sound it out", the teacher provides instructional cues. In my opinion, this method is not only a valuable tool for the students, but also for the teachers because it is effective and efficient. In the phonemic awareness article (by Yopp and Yopp), three important standards were put forth in regards to the instruction of phonemic awareness. The third standard stuck out to me the most. This stated that teachers must recognize that while the development of phonemic awareness is important and necessary, it is only one part of the literacy program and too much time spent on phonemic awareness is not beneficial when it is not put to use "in the context of comprehensive reading instruction".

Check out Phonologicalawareness.org. It is a great site for finding fun activities to use in your classroom to teach and practice phonemic awareness!