Week 5 - Assignment 3: Running Record

The Child that I did my Running Record on was a 7 year old boy in 1st grade.

His scores were:

Error Ratio: 1:12

Accuracy: 91%

Self Correction Ratio: 1:5

I was actually very impressed with my students reading. He read most of the words correctly, even words that I thought he wouldn't be able to read. 

One very apparent strength that I noticed he had was that once I told him what a certain word said, he recognized it the next time it came up and read it correctly without my help. For example, the word "found" is mentioned several times in the story. The first time he got to it he struggle for a while trying to sound at the word, I noticed he he didn't know what "ou" makes when it's put together so I told him, and he right away was able to figure out what the word was. Every time we got to the word "found" again he read it perfectly as he remembered that it was the word I had just taught him.

He also didn't ask for my help when struggling to read any of the words, a few times it happened  that he took a while to figure out what a word said but tried his best to sound out the word on his own and didn't give.

His reading comprehension was also perfect! I asked him several questions at the end like, what is the story about? What color balls did the dog find? What does the dog like to do with each of them? Etc... And to my surprise he answered them all perfectly!!! 

I think my students main (and pretty much only) weakness in reading this story was that he had a hard time sounding out longer words on his own. For example when he got to the word "another" he knew all the sounds separately, but couldn't put the word together without my intervention. 

The mini-lesson that I would do with him is give him a bunch of index cards with many different multi-syllabic words. I would then have the child underline for me on each card the beginning sound of the word in one color, the second, third, (etc...) and last all in a different colors. Then together with my student I would slowly practice reading each word by breaking it up by each of the colors  he underlined. I would do these types of activities with him for a few days, until I feel that he's getting the hang of it and can do them on his own. Once I feel that way, I would give him another story to read, to assess and see if he can sound out the longer words on his own.

Week 4 - Assignment 1 & 2

Running Record - Whales and Fish

After watching the video of the child reading Whale's and Fish I thought she probably wouldn't remember much of what she read, as a few times she seemed to be distracted and lost her place in the story. However I was very surprised to hear the child retelling what she read, as she repeated almost everything and answered all of the questions perfectly! The child definitely has a great memory, she also knows how to self correct and try again. She erred very few times, mainly by mixing up similar words or adding "ed" at the end of a word unnecessarily. 

I think that generally, the child did a great job reading the story!

Strengths: good memory, fluency in reading, repeats when not sure, motivated

Weaknesses, gets distracted, reads a bit unclear, 

Week 3 - Assignment 1

Shared Reading:

·         Ms. Perez calls the students together to one corner of the classroom and has them all read a poem out loud together. This helps engage students of all levels because each child according to their level tries to read the poem together with the class.

·          Ms. Perez always includes some sort of phonics lesson into the poem they read. After reading a poem about Hot Dogs, she focused on the letter “o” sound and had the children think of more words that end in “ot”.

Guided Reading:

• ·         Ms. Perez has a few students that are on similar reading levels read the same book together. She goes around to listen them read and pronounce each word out loud properly.
• ·          Students are encouraged to not give up when they aren’t sure what a word says, but to instead think about what each sound letter makes and break up the sounds until they can figure out what the word is.
• ·         When students verbalize their strategy in how they figured out what a word says, it helps the idea really go into their head so that they’ll hopefully remember to do the same next time they have a similar problem. (ie - sounding out letters in a word instead of giving up)
• ·         I also noticed that Ms. Perez doesn’t let her students get frustrated or give up by making sure to avoid situations that will be too difficult for her students to accomplish. For example she made sure to cover a hard word in each of the children’s book in advance, and then had them guess what the word would be. Once they each took a guess she let them take a peek at the first letter of the word to give them a hint and encourage them.

Differentiated Instruction:

•       Ms. Perez divides her classroom into different stations with different reading activities. Students have their name written by the station they are to work at, according to the child’s reading level.  Each station caters to the student’s level so that they can gain more in their reading skills.
• ·         Students that are on a much higher reading level than most first graders were given an activity according to their capabilities. Ms. Perez  gave them a high level book about spiders, and students were taught how to take short notes on what they read. Ms. Perez guided them and helped them make their own mini book from the notes they had written after reading the book. She also helped them divide their notes by sections of what it’s about.
• ·         After reading a poem about fish that the students really enjoyed, Ms. Perez gave them a chance to add a line to the poem and draw a picture about. This is how Ms. Perez connects both reading and writing in her classroom.

Assessment:

• ·         Ms. Perez has created her own very clear assessment chart to see what level of reading each child is on. On her chart she writes each child’s name, on the other side she lists many names of level reader books, in order of their level of difficulty. She uses this chart in the beginning of the year and several times throughout the year to see if the child can read the books that are on the normal grade 1 level, to assess their level, and see if they are progressing in their reading skills.
• ·         In my own classroom I think I would use a similar assessment chart as Ms. Perez uses because I feel it is extremely clear and can really give the teacher an understanding of the child’s reading skills and level.

I

 I really enjoyed watching Ms. Perez interact with her students. She has a expectation from them that they each become the best readers they can be, no matter what level. I really feel she wants whats best for her students and it's obvious that she will do anything in her capabilities to help them become great readers.

Assignment 3 - Critique on Lesson Plan

               Carolyn Wilhelm has prepared four outstanding lesson plans! Each objective is so clear and thought out, with a real purpose and goal. The sessions include many different important aspects of running an organized and productive classroom. The teacher clearly wants her students to gain from each lesson and learn new skills in reading, writing, and sharing what they learned, which all fall under ELA instruction. The sessions include working on their own, and also together as a class, which gets the students to learn how to work together, share what they have to say, and listen to others.

                This is the first time I heard the concept of “Found Poems,” and I find it to be extremely educational and creative at the same time. The idea of found poetry gets the students to use multiple skills all for one activity. Students need to listen to the carefully story that was read, and then use what they learned into creating a poem with words and phrases mentioned in the story they just read. The teacher slowly introduces the idea of found poems by giving them an already written one and reading it as a class. She then explains to them the difference between a poem and found poem so that the children can clearly understand what will be expected of them in the next few lessons. In session 2 and on the teacher takes a small step back to let the students try and come up with their own lines, which gives each child a chance to use their own creativity and skills help create their own found poem.

                The lessons are all designed in a way that the teacher can clearly monitor each individual student to see if they properly understood and followed the instruction. Students are also tested to use proper vocabulary and use of words when they create their line of the poem.  

Assignment 2 - Reflection on Video

                It was approximately 12 seconds into the video when Ms. Owen stated how every student in her class comes in as a reader and a writer.  Ms. Owen very obviously has very high expectations for her students and believes that each and every one of them can and will succeed, regardless of what academic level the child is on. This is something that I feel is so important and crucial in any classroom, whether its early childhood, like the one we saw in the video, or any older elementary or even high school class. When the teacher shows the child the she believes the child will succeed, that belief in itself many times gives the child the confidence and will to keep on trying. Ms. Owen also mentions that she has many students on very different levels, some have very high vocabulary and reading skills, while are much less advanced. Dealing with various levels in one classroom can be very difficult, yet Ms. Owen states “we build the classroom based on every ones needs.”

                Another crucial element that Ms. Owen implements in her classroom is consistency, the children seem to know exactly what he expects from her and what to do for each of the daily activities. For example, I noticed that based on her goal that each child should become an independent reader, Ms. Owen has a specific literacy routine where her students can each grow and learn in different reading fashions. The fact the she reads to them is a great way to get each child use their listening skills and hear new words they couldn’t have read on their own.  She next has shared reading where the children have to be more attentive and actually read words that they recognize along with her. Another routine she does with them is guided reading where the child gets a book on their level to read on their own, this gives them the motivation to continue practicing their reading skills. Last the class has independent reading where they gain more and more independence in reading without any help. This whole system has a one goal; that each child should become the best reader he or she can be. Ms. Owen makes sure to balance out helping the children and stepping back to let them work on their own.  

                    I have noticed from my experiences working with different teachers, that the educators that have a goal for their students are usually the first ones to see the improvement and success in their classroom, even from those children that take longer to grasp information. So it’s not surprising that Ms. Owens students come home with such great reading skills, because very obviously this is her goal and she will do everything to make sure she reaches it! 

Assignment 1 - ELA instruction

         ELA instruction is a guide for teaching to properly teach their students skills that are necessary in a English Language Art classroom. The outcome of these components, is a classroom full of successful readers and writers. There are five different parts to ELA instruction. First is reading, that is where the child learns to read and comprehend what he/she has read. Students learn to express what they have read and make connections.  Next come writing where the child practices their writing skills by sharing what they have learned. This component very much connects to the one before, reading, because students are challenged to channel what they have read onto a piece of paper and write what they learned. Students also learn how to do research and take note of the information they discovered. The next components in the ELA instruction is both Speaking and Listening. These two components give the students a chance to work together and share what they have learned with their classmates. In order for it to be done properly the students must learn to both speak up and express what they learned, and also be able to keep quiet and listen to what their classmates have to say. Students learn how to work together in groups, partners, or even a class as a whole. The last component is Language, where students learn the proper use of the English language, and learn correct vocabulary etc.

           I feel that the purpose of this whole system is to teach children how to express what they learned and apply it to their daily lives. Learning isn’t about doing workbooks and sitting in a desk all day, it’s about actually putting what was taught into practice, and understanding the purpose.