Module 2 Phonogical Awareness and Phonics

Quick-Writes was the first thing I used in my classroom from reading these chapters. The second thing I used in my classroom is when I teach phonics it should be directly usable in children's reading. I had students take home books that had the phonics words that we worked on that day to read to parents. Working on this activity at home will improve parent involvement. After students have written Quick-Writes, which is used as a before strategy. I had them pull out their journals and put words from the blooming verb list that Dr. Swanson put on an e-mail for us to use. I used this strategy to help students build their vocabulary and help them to learn new verbs.

Module 2 Phonogical Awareness and Phonics

One way to implement research in my classroom is through Quick-Writes. Students will write a paragraph describing what they liked best from the book they read at home. After students have written down their paragraphs, they will go back and underline the phoneme that we are working with. Another way I have used Quick-writes and changed how I teach in the classroom is, I have a sentence written on the board. While students are writing, I will be taking roll or lunch count. When I used Quick-Writes in my classroom it gave me the opportunity to take lunch count and attendance in a quiet atmosphere. It also allowed me to determine if students knew the phoneme that we were working with, when I had them underline them in the paragraph they wrote. It was a helpful tool to use in my classroom. The fourth thing I learned from the readings was from the article "Phonemic Awareness" (2006), it states that "rime-based instruction is used in a number of successful reading programs. "For example, when wheat is used in a sentence, such as The little red hen gathered the wheat; a student might be taught to compare it to meat and say, "If m-e-a-t is meat then this is wheat" (p.623). Then students would use wheat in the sentence to see if it made sense. In instruction worked well in my classroom to teach patterns of letters through sounding out words and showing similarities between words.

Module 2 Phonogical

Module 2 Phonogical Awareness and Phonics

One important thing I gained from chapter 6 is that phonemes monitor the changes that occur in your mouth as you pronounce words (p.111). For example gestures: your lips are closed for /p/, and then your tongue is tapping the roof of your mouth for /t/ also hissing of /s/ or buzzing of /z/ ( p. 111). I also learned from chapter 6 that Spanish and Chinese students' confusion will become apparent when they "segment "English words into phonemes and write letters into representing the phones" (p. 114). Therefore, I realize that these students will benefit from explicit phoneme instruction. Chapter 5 of our book states that "students who have about their ability to learn something are less likely to try to learn it and more likely to give up when they encounter difficulty" (p. 89). Chapter 5 of our book it also says "One of the most important aspects of motivation is self-confidence (also called self-efficacy) (p.89). With this information I know that as a teacher, I will need to have an encouraging atmosphere in my classroom so that students will want to learn.

More on Module # 4

One way that I plan to implement the research in my classroom is through questioning the author. I ask students what do you think this chapter will be about by reading the title of the chapter. Another way I implemented research in my classroom was that I had students read White Fang at home and then we read the story orally in class. The students came up with questions from the story and then they acted out the parts as they answered the questions. They loved this activity and said they wanted to do it again. I plan on having them act out another story in the future to build their motivation and love for reading. The changes I would make in a classroom is to allow more time for students to make up their questions. Another change would be give the students the opportunity to pick a story from their history book and generate questions they felt should have been answered from the text. One of the before stragies I used was before the students read I had them fill out a KWL chart. I had students write what they thought the story was going to be about in their journal, as I wrote the answers on the board. I also had them write what they wanted to learn. I told students that we would fill out the What they wanted to learn after we discussed the text in class. The effects of this strategy gave the students a chance to think about what they thought the story was going to be about. It also gave them an opportunity to here what other people thought the story was going to be about. An after stragy I used in my classroom was, After students read the text at home we reread the text in class. The effects of this strategy was to give students a chance to here fluent reading. It also helped some of the students gain word recognition through reading the text a second time.

Module # 4 Fluency

One important thing, I learned from chapter four was that fluency consisted of so many components. The components are word recognition, accessing word meaning, deciding on the correct meaning of the word, grouping words into grammatical units, generating inferences, and using reader knowledge to construct a coherent, understandable model of text. I knew some of the components; however, reading it in the chapter really made me think about the process of being a fluent reader. The second important thing, was when it described the decoding section was that Jewish children could read the Hebrew text in preparation for their confirmation. However, they could not speak or understand the Hebrew language, which means no comprehension was taking place. A student can be a fluent reader without constructing meaning of the materials that are read. The third important thing, was on page 178, it suggests that students should read a passage four times to gain reading speed, word recognition, error reduction, and expression in oral reading. Students reach these goals with their teacher or in groups. Page 179 says that " students who are often embarrassed by poor oral reading skills achieve confidence and accomplishment through rereading of a text."`

Sue Ann Marberry: Comments on Module 3

Sue Ann Marberry: Comments on Module 3: "Another strategy I used in my classroom was think clouds. Some of the questions are ' I thought __________ was important because....,' I mad..."

Comments on Module 3

Another strategy I used in my classroom was think clouds. Some of the questions are " I thought __________ was important because....," I made connection when ________, I wondered ________., " This was mostly about__________." Using think clouds in a classroom gave students a chance to think about the material they were reading. It also gave them a helpful tool to keep their mind focused on their readings. The second strategy I used in my classroom was Venn diagrams. Students read the title of the story that they were working on. They also read the first three pages, and made three circles that they were to pick information they felt related to the topic. The third strategy that Iused was the Verbatim Spit Page Procedure (VSPP). This system was designed to help students learn how to take notes. I had students divide their paper into a 60/40 fold. The left side of the paper represents 40% and the right side has 60% of the page. My students took notes from the board on the left side of their paper. Taking lecture notes on the left side of the paper gave them an opportunity to listen to the lesson that was being taught. Students were instructed to expand their notes on the 60% side of their paper so that they could fully understand them for later instruction. I helped students learn how to put them in an outlined format. Students learned how to put the notes in thier own words so that they could understand what they needed to know. I gave more information during this time when students did not know what material was important for them to know. This helpful tool will build the note taking skills that my students will use in my classroom as well as in future classrooms and in college.

More on module # 3

In chapter 7 I also learned that middle school students can learn adjectives by watching cartoon charters to build vocabulary skills. More advanced learners could work with smaller children and record their vocabulary in a natural setting for ten minutes to draw conclusion about the wide range of word usage in the child's speech. Journal writing is one the strategies that I use in my class. As class begins children get their journals out ,as I take role, and lunch count this helps students be quiet as well as lets them know what is expected of them as they enter class. From the article Building Academic Vocabulary it suggest Words and Terms that " school districts should systematically ensure that all students were to be exposed to specific academic terms and phrases across the grade levels, this would form a strong common foundation for all students" ( p. 2).

module # 3

One thing from reading chapter 7 made me more aware that children growing up in poverty have a limited amout of vocabulary, which influences their reading comprehension. The second thing I gleemed from the book was that the "lack of vocabulary can be crucial factor underling the school failure of disadvantage students" (p. 141) With this knowledge, I will have students write new words down, that they come across during their readings in the back of their journals, so that when they write they can use these new words in their daily writings. Doing this activity will build vocabulay as well as reading comprehension skills. One of the before strategies that I would use is sensory webs to enhance children's writing speaking, and comprehension skills "The lines leading from the words outward provide places for students to fill in what the words smells like, taste like, looks like, soundslike, and feels like" ( p. 147). The third thing I gleemed from this chapter was an example given in the text is "anger smells like hot burning coals, taste likes dry sand burning in the desert, looks like shattered glass on the pavement, sounds like fingernails screeching on the blackboard, and feels like a cold wind" (p. 147).

Module 5 Comprehension

Chapter 9 one concept I learned was that computers are changing the way people think about literacy. “A healthy resurgence of print media has resulted in the proliferation of fiction and nonfiction books for adolescents about ever topic imaginable” (p. 186). In every classroom that I have been in this year there are at least 3 or 4 computers that students use to read, take test, and play learning games on. From this chapter I gained that computers will be a tool that we can use in our classroom to construct reading skills.

Chapter 10 talked about, instruction is not enough for students to gain comprehension skills. Students need to read and use strategies through reading. Students need to experience reading real text for real reasons and experience reading the range of text geners that we wish students to comprehend” (p. 207). Students can use journal writing about text geners to gain understanding of the text. I also learned “during decoding instruction they recommended carful level and demand of text used in different phase of instruction especially during the early phases” (p. 211).

The second concept that I learned from the readings came from chapter 10 it gives six effective comprehension strategies that help students gain knowledge about the materials that they are reading. Prediction is the first strategy, it helps students use their background knowledge to “facilitate their understanding of new ideas encountered in the text” (p. 212). Another strategy they suggested using was think-alouds. They believe that comprehension is obtained because students “impulsiveness about jumping ahead of the text without fully understanding is diminished” (p.215). Think-alouds are used to make students ask themselves questions like does this sentence make since? and what is the text trying to tell me. I have used these strategies and will continue to use these strategies in my classroom and with my little girl because the book and I have seen that they work.

The third most important concept I gained from reading chapter 11 is that the way I teach comprehension is called the Transactional Strategy Instruction (TSI) approach. The book says, “TSI teachers do provide their students with explicit explanations of strategic mental processes used in reading, the emphasis is on the interactive exchange between learners in the classroom, hence the use of the term transactional” (p. 249). With this in mind, I understand that I am giving instruction to the students and letting them generate their own meaning from the materials that are being read.
Also in chapter 11 I found that it consider a metacognitive sophisticated reader to have predicting, questioning, imaging, clarifying, and summering skills” (p. 305). With these skills a reader will construct understanding of the text that is being taught. In the past, students in my class have used predicting, questioning, and summarizing skills to learn from the text. I will continue using these strategies to help my students to become better readers.

Chapter 13 stated that a “typical high school senior can only hold approximately seven pieces of information in mind at one time” (p. 292). If a student is continuously sounding words out he/she will not facilitate enough information to understand the text. Teaching students vocabulary words in early grades and throughout their high school years helps them understand the terms in their text that they are reading. Students can build their vocabulary by writing their own dictionary, anticipation guides, or possible sentences strategies. I also learned that a good reader does not simply read the chapter he/she skims it first while asking questions about important information he/she feels the chapter should cover. Skilled readers generally reread information that is important or is difficult to understand. Students also use background knowledge to gain meaning of the text.

My goal as a teacher is to help the students build vocabulary through strategies like the anticipation guides and have them write their own dictionary. I will read the important facts that are in the chapters before they read them and ask them questions, while I am reading. While questioning, I will think about students’ background knowledge and also ask questions relating to prior knowledge so that they can obtain understanding of what is being taught.

The article, Building Academic Vocabulary it states “ to build imagery form a student needs to create a graphic picture or pictographic form of new words that are being taught” (p.7). It also tells why it is important for students to keep an academic vocabulary notebook, “Over time students will develop an understanding of a set of terms and phrases that are important to the academic content in mathematics, science, language arts, and social studies” (p.7). Whether it is called it a dictionary or a vocabulary notebook with terms it is basically the same thing. I have used and will continue to use this concept in my classroom to help students learn new vocabulary terms to build comprehension while students read.

Strategies used during this module were read-alouds, creating anticipation guides, creating students own dictionary, journal writing to improve comprehension skills. I used journal writing in my class when I was taking lunch count and attendance. I had students write journal entries about what they did the night before they came to class. This activity helps them with hand writing and also gives them time to get settled down before we start the day’s lessons.

Another way I used journal writing is to have students pull out their own dictionary and use words from it. I have used both created dictionary and journal writing strategies in the past and will continue using them. The effects that journal writing has on students when they use their own created dictionary are that comprehension and vocabulary skills are obtained.