Notes and Vocabulary

Source: Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Three tiers of words:   To help teachers know which words to study, researchers divide academic vocabulary into three levels (p.221).

• Tier 1- Basic words:  common words that are used in social context.
• Tier 2- Academic vocabulary:  words that are used more frequently in written in oral language. These can include terms that are more sophisticated.  Teachers should focus on Tier 2 words for instruction.
• Tier 3- Specialized terms:  Technical words that are often abstract.

Levels of word knowledge: students develop knowledge about a word gradually by the following process (p.222):

• Unknown word:  students do not recognize the word.
• Initial recognition:  Students have seen or heard the word or can pronounce it, but they don’t know the meaning.
• Partial word knowledge:  students know one meaning of the word and can use it in a sentence.
• Full word knowledge:  students know more than one meaning of the word and can use it in several ways.

Word consciousness (p.223-225):  The students interest in learning and using the words.  Characteristics of someone who has word consciousness include:  use words skillfully, understanding the nuances of word meanings, gain a deep appreciation of words and value to them, aware of differences between social and academic language, understand power of word choice, and motivated to learn the meaning of unfamiliar words.  Students can participate in word play to help them gain interest in learning words:

• Alliteration. Students repeat words with the same beginning consonant or vowel sound in words within a phrase or sentence. For example: now or never, do or die, and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 
• Alliterative sentences are often called tongue twisters. Eponyms. Students recognize that people’s names can become words. For example: teddy bear, sandwich, maverick, pasteurization, and Ferris Wheel. 
• Hyperbole. Students create exaggerated statements. For example: I almost died laughing, my feet are killing me, and I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. 
• Onomatopoeia. Students use words that imitate sounds. For example: tick-tock, kerplunk, and sizzling. 
• Oxymorons. Students combine two normally contradictory words to create a paradoxical image. For example: jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, and deafening silence. Oxymorons are usually inadvertent errors, but sometimes they’re used intentionally. 
• Palindromes. Students notice words and phrases that read the same forward and backward. For example: mom, civic, and a man, a plan, a canal—Panama.
• Personification. Students endow inanimate objects with human traits or abilities. For example: the old VW’s engine coughed, raindrops danced on my umbrella, and fear knocked on the door.
• Portmanteau. Students commonly use words that were created by fusing two words to combine the meaning of both words. For example: spork (spoon + fork), brunch (breakfast + lunch), and smog (smoke + fog). Sometimes they also create their own portmanteau words. This wordplay form was invented by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky. 
• Spoonerisms. Students switch sounds in words, often with a humorous effect. For example: butterfly–flutterby, take a shower–shake a tower, and save the whales–wave the sails. These “slips of the tongue,” named for Reverend William Spooner (1844– 1930), usually occur when a person is speaking quickly.

Multiple word meanings: Many words have more than one meaning. For some words, multiple meanings develop for the noun and verb forms, but sometimes additional meanings develop through wordplay and figurative language (p.225).

Synonyms:  Words with similar meanings.  For example fast and quick. 

Antonyms:  Words that mean opposites.  For example shiny and dull.

Homonyms: Two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings such as write and right.

Root words:  Teaching root words and affixes helps students understand how words work.  Root words are free morphemes when they are words.  They are the base of the word such as cent in bicentennial, cent, centennial…etc. 

Affixes are bound morphemes that are added to words.  

• Prefix:  placed at the beginning of a word such as “dis” in disrespect.
• Suffix:  located at the end of the word such as “ing” in running.

Etymologies: Understanding the history of words provides deeper meaning and knowledge about the word. If students can identify English, Latin and Greek root words, they can appreciate the relationship among words and their meanings (p.233).  

Vocabulary instruction: there are four components to vocabulary instruction.  “Immerse students in words through listening, talking, reading, and writing Teach specific words through active involvement and multiple encounters with words Teach word-learning strategies so students can figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words Develop students’ word consciousness, their awareness of and interest in words” (p.236).  Using a word wall may be a great way to provide vocabulary instruction.

Explicit instruction: Teachers provide multiple encounters with words, present a variety of information including definitions, contexts, examples, and related words, and involve students in word-study activities so that they have multiple opportunities to interact with words (p.238).

• Mini lessons: Teachers can use mini lessons during explicit instruction to provide specific information about a word they are learning about.  

Word-study activities (p.238):  Word study activities allows students to think more deeply about the words.  Activities include:  word posters, word maps, possible sentences, dramatizing words, word sorts, word chains, and semantic feature analysis. 

Semantic feature analysis (p.240):  students learn the meanings of conceptually related words by examining their characteristics.  Students review words and categorize them by various characteristics.   They mark up the chart according to various characteristics as well.  For example, circling words that are all plants or using a question mark for those that they are unsure about. 

Word-learning strategies (p. 241): when students see a word they don’t know, they may want to use context clues, analyze word parts, or check dictionary.   

A good procedure for learning unfamiliar words was listed by Graves (2006) on page 241:

1. Students reread the sentence containing the word.

2. Students use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word, and if that doesn’t work, they continue to the next step.

3. Students examine the word parts, looking for familiar root words and affixes to aid in figuring out the meaning. If they’re still not successful, they continue to the next step.

4. Students pronounce the word to see if they recognize it when they say it. If they still can’t figure it out, they continue to the next step.

5. Students check the word in a dictionary or ask the teacher for help.

Incidental word learning: This occurs without formal lessons and can happen during independent reading, interactive read-alouds, and think-alouds.

Oral language:  Verbal communication plays a key role in learning vocabulary.  Teachers should create an environment with numerous opportunities to hear and speak vocabulary as well.  Potential activities include:  grand conversation, reading logs, word sorts, and possible sentence activities. 

How to assess vocabulary knowledge steps:

1. Planning: consider current level, identify academic words they will teach, provide a preassessment.  
2. Monitor: teachers use informal assessment tools to monitor student progress such as observations or conferences.
3. Evaluate: Teachers may evaluate students using rubrics, quickwrites, visual representations or word sorts.  These are beneficial because it requires students to go beyond providing a definition or using the word in a sentence.
4. Reflect: make sure the lesson is effective. Allow students to reflect on their own work to gain insight on their own learning.

Classroom Application

Using the book list on page 225 to help me find books that relate to specific category I want to teach.  For example, if I want to teach figurative meanings, I may select the book listed by Terban, M.  Scholastic dictionary of idioms (p.224).

The word map on page 226 is helpful to recognize various aspects to word knowledge.  I like how it encompasses morphemic analysis, root word, suffix, word history, related words, and figurative use all in one chart.

Figure 7-4 on page 230 provides an excellent resource for root words, language, meaning, and sample words.  This will be helpful when discussing root words and affixes in the classroom.  Additionally, the Derivational Affixes table on page 231 will be useful for identifying common prefixes and suffixes.  

When students come across a word they are unfamiliar with, I will encourage them to use the procedure listed by Graves (2006):

1. Students reread the sentence containing the word. 2. Students use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word, and if that doesn’t work, they continue to the next step. 3. Students examine the word parts, looking for familiar root words and affixes to aid in figuring out the meaning. If they’re still not successful, they continue to the next step. 4. Students pronounce the word to see if they recognize it when they say it. If they still can’t figure it out, they continue to the next step. 5. Students check the word in a dictionary or ask the teacher for help.

Notes and vocabulary

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Reading fluency (p.186):  The ability to read and write effortlessly and efficiently.  Most reach fluency in second or third grade.  Fluent readers develop automaticity, speed, and prosody:

1. Automaticity:  Ability to recognize familiar and high frequency words without conscious thought and identify unfamiliar words almost as quickly.  Knowing at least 95-100% of the words.
   1. High frequency words:  The most common words that readers use.  There are 300 words that account for 72% of the words that beginning readers read.    Examples include:  a, am, an, and, at, can, do, go, he, I, in, is, it, like, me, my, no, see, she, so, the, to, up, we.
      1. Word Walls can be used for teaching high-frequency words.  Create at the beginning of the year and keep adding words as they are introduced during the year.

• Word identification strategies (p.190-191):  Strategies to decode unfamiliar words
  • Phonic analysis:  Students apply what they’ve learned about phoneme–grapheme correspondences and phonics rules to decode words using the phonic analysis strategy…  Students notice all the letters in a word and analyze the letter sequence (p.189).
  • Decoding by analogy:  Students use their knowledge of phonograms to deduce the pronunciation or spelling of an unfamiliar word.
  • Syllabic analysis: Students break a multisyllabic word into syllables and then apply their knowledge of phonics to decode the word, syllable by syllable.
  • Morphemic analysis: Students use their knowledge of root words and a­xes to read or write an unfamiliar word. Students use morphemic analysis to identify multisyllabic words. They locate the root word by peeling off prefixes and suffixes. A root word is a morpheme, the basic, most meaningful part of a word. Prefixes are added to the beginning of a root word, as in replay, and suffixes are added to the end, as in playing, playful, and player (p.193).

• Speed:  fluent readers can read 100 words per minute.  By eighth grade, most students should be able to read 150 words/minute.  Most adults can read 250 words/minute.  

1. Teachers provide daily practice opportunities to develop students’ reading speed and stamina. To increase reading volume, teachers offer a combination of teacher-guided and independent reading practice: 
   • Choral Reading. Students work in small groups or together as a class for choral reading. They experiment with different ways to read poems and other short texts aloud (Rasinski, 2010). More fluent classmates serve as models and set the reading speed. 
   • Readers Theatre. Students practice reading a story script to develop speed and expressiveness before performing it for classmates. Researchers have found that readers theatre significantly improves students’ reading fluency (Martinez, Roser, & Strecker, 1998/1999).
   • Listening Centers. Students read along in a book at their instructional reading level while listening to it being read aloud at a listening center (Kuhn & Stahl, 2004). 
   • Partner Reading. Classmates read or reread books together (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004). They choose a book that interests them and decide how they’ll read it; they may read aloud in unison or take turns reading aloud while the partner follows along. To develop fluency through these practice activities, books must be appropriate; that is, students must be interested in the topics and be able to read them with 98–99% accuracy (p.194).

Assessment:  Asses for speed by timing how many words a student can read per minute.  Use Figure 6-5 to assess.  

• Prosody:  Fluent readers read sentences expressible with rhythmic and melodic patterns.  This includes the following components:  expressions, phrasing, volume, smoothness, and pacing. 
  • Assessment:  Use rubrics that incorporate each component of prosody.  Listen to the student read and grade their prosody against the rubric. 

Assessing reading fluency:  Teachers are always monitoring reading during the class.  They may choose to use running records, informal reading inventories, and classroom tests to document student reading fluency.  

Writers Fluency:  Fluent writers spell words automatically and write quickly so they can focus on developing their ideas.  Reading and writing fluency components are similar:  Automaticity, speed, and writer’s voice.  

• Automaticity means that writers can write words automatically and accurately.  They apply spelling patterns and rules to spell words correctly and spelling becomes increasingly more conventional.  
• Speed: students write quickly, write easily, and develop keyboarding skills to word process quickly.
• Writer’s Voice: students use alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition, and other literary devices, students make their own writing distinctive. 

Writer Assessment:

Automaticity. Teachers assess students’ ability to spell the high-frequency words and use strategies to spell other words on spelling tests or by examining their writing samples. Fluent writers spell most words correctly, so it’s essential that students know how to spell high-frequency words automatically and efficiently figure out the spelling of most other words they want to write. 

Speed. Teachers time students as they write a paragraph or two to assess their writing speed. Students write for 1 to 5 minutes about a familiar topic, and then teachers count the number of words they’ve written and divide that number by the number of minutes to determine students’ writing rates. For example, second grade Amie writes 43 words in 5 minutes; her speed is nearly 9 words per minute, and she’s almost reached the threshold fluency rate of 10 words per minute. Teachers repeat this assessment several times a year using a different, but equally familiar, topic. Each topic must be accessible because the purpose of the assessment is to monitor students’ writing speed, not their knowledge about the topic. Teachers also carefully observe students as they write because their behavior may indicate handwriting problems. Writer’s 

Voice. Teachers reread several compositions students have written to evaluate their unique style. There aren’t standards to use in assessing voice, so teachers often compare one student’s writing to classmates’ to rate it as comparable or above or below average.

Dysfluent readers and writers:  Students infourth grade or over who are not fluent readers and writers are dysfluent. These are characteristics of dysfluent readers:

Obstacles to fluency:

• Lack of automaticity.  Teachers should involve students in these activities:
  • Students locate examples of the words in books they’re reading. 
  • Students practice reading flash cards with the words to partners. 
  • Students play games, such as Concentration, using the words. 
  • Students write the words and sentences they compose with them on whiteboards. 
  • Students spell the words with letter cards or magnetic letters. 
  • Students write the words during interactive writing activities.
• Unfamiliarity with Word Identification Strategies: Teachers should involve students in these activities:
  • Develop students’ background knowledge and introduce new vocabulary words before reading 
    Teach word-identification strategies 
  • Provide more time for reading and writing practice
• Slow reading speed: Students should be given extra time to read during the day.  Use Sustained Silent Reading, where students can pick their own books to read. Provide teacher-guided reading opportunities, choral reading, guided reading, readers theatre, listening centers, and partner reading.  
• Slow writing speed:  Increase writing opportunities in the classroom with quickwriting, reading logs, simulated journals, and learning logs.  Provide reference word walls with high-frequency words and vocabulary. Make sure students are holding their pencil correctly.  Practice keyboarding skills.
• Lack of Prosody:  Teachers can model prosody every time they read aloud and using think-aloud procedure to reflect on how they varied expression, chunked words into phrases, modulated the loudness of their voice or varied their pacing.  
• Voiceless writing:  Give ample time to read and write in class.  Examine examples of author’s voices.  Try writing from different points of view. 

Classroom Application

I intend to start a word wall at the beginning of the year and add high-frequency words throughout the year.  Using figure 6-2 will allow me to pick words that would be useful for the word wall.   I will also use the chant and clap procedure to practice reading and spelling the words being placed on the word wall:  see and hear the word, say the word, spell the word (clap hands for each letter), spell the word again, write the word, check the word, say the word again.  

I will incorporate choral reading, readers theatre, listening centers, and partner reading into the classroom as a means to help students practice reading skills.  

I would like to use the Assessment snapshot Prosody Rubric on page 196 to assess prosody.

Page 197 provides several useful oral reading fluency assessment tools that can be incorporated into the classroom.  I particularly like Fluency formula kits because of the way it appears to be organized.

To improve writer skills, I would like to incorporate some of the keyboarding programs listed on page 200.  The text says these are successful because they are fun and engaging:

• Ainsworth Keyboard Trainer 
• All the Right Type 
• Garfield’s Typing Pal 
• Type to Learn 
• Typing Instructor for Kids 
• Typing Quick & Easy 
• Ultra Key

To improve reading and writing skills, there is a common theme:  Increase reading and writing opportunities in the classroom.  I will keep this in mind when planning all other subjects to see if there are new ways to include reading and writing activities across all disciplines.  

Notes and Vocabulary from Text

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Phonemes:  The smallest units of speech, written as graphemes or letters of the alphabet. They are marked using diagonal lines such as:  /d/.  Graphemes are italicized.

Phonemic awareness:  A child’s basic understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual soundsand it provides the foundation for phonics and spelling (p.146).  Focus is on sounds of spoken words.  They are classified by either consonants or vowels.  

Example:  When children can choose a duck as the animal whose name begins with/d/ from a collection of toy animals, identify duck and luck as rhyming words in a song, and blend the sounds/d/ /ŭ/ /k/ to pronounce duck, they’re phonemically aware.

Phonemic awareness strategies (p.147)

1. Identify sounds in words:  children ID words that begins or ends with a particular sound.  For example, when shown a car, a cat, and a ball they can identify that the word car is the one that ends with the /r/.
2. Categorizing sound in words:  children recognize the odd word in a group such as ring, rabbit, andsun.  They recognize that sundoesn’t belong.  
3. Substituting Sounds to Make New Words: Children remove a sound from a word and substitute a different sound. Sometimes they substitute the beginning sound, changing bar to car, for example. Or, they change the middle sound, making tip from top, or substitute the ending sound, changing gate to game. 
4. Blending Sounds to Form Words. Children blend two, three, or four individual sounds to form a word; for example, the teacher says /b/ /ĭ/ /g/, and the children repeat the sounds, blending them to form the word big. 
5. Segmenting a Word Into Sounds. Children break a word into its beginning, middle, and ending sounds. For example, they segment the word feet into /f// ē/ /t/ and go into /g/ /ō/.

Teaching phonemic awareness (p.147)

Nurture children’s phonemic awareness through language-rich environments.  They may sing songs, read aloud, or play games. 

Criteria for phonemic instruction:

1. Appropriate for 5-6 year olds:  encourage playful activities such as rhymes and songs
2. Planned and purposeful.  Chose materials and plan activities that focus on sound and structure of language.
3. Phonics should be connected to oral and written language.  

Activities for teaching phonemic awareness (p149-152)

Sound Blending Activities: The children blend the sounds to pronounce the word frog. Then the teacher can move into phonics and spelling by setting out magnetic letters for children to arrange to spell frog. In this example, the teacher connects the game with a thematic unit, thereby making the game more meaningful for children. 

Sound-addition and -substitution activities. Children play with words and create nonsense words as they add or substitute sounds in words from songs they sing or from books read aloud to them. Teachers read wordplay books such as Pat Hutchins’s Don’t Forget the Bacon! (1989), in which a boy leaves for the store with a mental list of four items to buy. As he walks, he repeats his list, substituting words each time: “A cake for tea” changes to “a cape for me” and then to “a rake for leaves.” Children suggest other substitutions, such as “a game for a bee.” Students substitute sounds in refrains of songs (Yopp, 1992). 

Sound-segmentation activities. Children isolate the sounds in a spoken word (Yopp, 1988). An introductory segmentation activity is to draw out the beginning sound in words. Children enjoy exaggerating the initial sound in their own names and other familiar words. For example, a pet guinea pig named Popsicle lives in Mrs. Firpo’s classroom, and the children exaggerate the beginning sound of her name so that it’s pronounced as “P-P-P-Popsicle.” Children can also pick up objects or pictures of objects and identify the initial sound; a child who picks up a toy truck says, “This is a truck and it starts with /t/.”

Elkonin Boxescan be used to teach sound-segmentation.  A “teacher shows an object or a picture of an object and draws a row of boxes, with one box for each phoneme in the name of the object or picture. Then the teacher or a child moves a marker into each box as the sound is pronounced. Children can move small markers onto cards on their desks, or the teacher can draw the boxes on the chalkboard and use tape or small magnets to hold the larger markers in place” (p.152).

Phonics: Phonics is the set of relationships between sounds and spelling.  In other words, the relationship between phonology (sound) and orthography (spelling). The emphasis is onspelling patterns NOT individual letters(p.155).  There are 44 phonemes in English and they are represented by 26 letters.  There are more than 500 ways to represent the 44 phonemes using a single combination of letters (p.156).

Classification:

Consonants: The consonants are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z. Most consonants represent a single sound consistently, but there are some exceptions. C, for example, doesn’t represent a sound of its own: When it’s followed by a, o, or u, it’s pronounced /k/ (e.g., castle, coffee, cut), and when it’s followed by e, i, or y, it’s pronounced /s/ (e.g., cell, city, cycle) (p.156)

Blends:  Consonant blends occur when two or three consonants appear next to each other in words and their individual phonemes are “blended” together, as in grass, belt, and spring. 

Consonant digraphsare letter combinations representing single sounds that aren’t represented by either letter; the four most common are ch as in chair and each, sh as in shell and wish, th as in father and both, and wh as in whale. Another consonant digraph is ph, as in photo and graph.

Vowels:  The remaining five letters—a, e, i, o, and u—represent vowels, and w and y are vowels when used in the middle and at the end of syllables and words. Vowels often represent several sounds. The two most common are short (marked with the symbol called a breve) and long sounds (marked with the symbol ¯, called a macron). The short vowel sounds are /ă/ as in cat, /ĕ/ as in bed, /ĭ/ as in win, /ŏ/ as in hot, and /ŭ/ as in cup. The long vowel sounds—/ā/, /ē/, /ī/, /ō/, and /ū/—are essentially the same as the letter names, and they’re illustrated in the words make, feet, bike, coal, and rule.

            Vowel DipgraphWhen two vowels represent a single sound (nail, snow)

Dipthong:  When two vowels represent a glide from one sound to another (house, through)

R-controlled vowels:  when one or more vowels are followed by an r. The r influences the pronunctiation of the vowel sound.  For example: start, award, nerve, horse.  These words are more complicated to spell. Example:  bears, beard, cleared, early, earth, hear, heard, heart, learner, pear, pearls, spear, wearing, yearly, and yearn.  

            The most common pronunciation for ear is /ûr/, as in earth, learner, and pearls;

The next most common pronunciation is found in cleared and spear, where the vowel sounds like the word ear.

Blending into Words:  Readers combine phonemes to decode words.  For example, reading the word best, children identify each letter of the word and then combine the sounds to form the word.

Phonograms: A group of letters that make up a single sound.

Onset:  the consonant sound that precedes the vowel

Rime:  the vowel and any consonant sounds that follow.  For example, in show, sh is the onset and ow is the rime.

Phonics Rules: Made to clarify English spelling patterns such as q is followed by qu.  

A good example is this long-vowel rule: When there are two adjacent vowels, the long vowel sound of the first one is pronounced and the second is silent; teachers sometimes call this the “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking” rule. Examples of conforming words are meat, soap, and each. There are many more exceptions, however, including food, said, head, chief, bread, look, soup, does, too, and again.

Teaching phonics: 

Best technique is to teach in a predetermined sequence.  

1. Begin with consonants
2. Introduce short vowels so children can read and spell CVC words
3. Consonant blends, digraphs, long vowels so they can read and spell CVCe patterns (consonant-vowel-consonant-e) such as broke.
4. Consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant or CVVC patterns such as clean, wheel, and snail.
5. Less common vowel digraphs and dipthoings such as claw, brought, shook, and boil.  R-controlled vowels, including square, hard, four, and year.  

Children also learn strategies to use in identifying unfamiliar words (Mesmer & Griffith, 2005). Three of the most useful strategies are sounding out words, decoding by analogy, and applying phonics rules (p.161)

The second component of phonics instruction is daily opportunities for children to apply the phonics strategies and skills they’re learning in authentic reading and writing activities (National Reading Panel, 2000). Cunningham and Cunningham (2002) estimate that the ratio of time spent on real reading and writing to time spent on phonics instruction should be 3 to 1.

EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION. Teachers present minilessons on phonics concepts to the whole class or to small groups of students, depending on their instructional needs. They follow the minilesson format, explicitly presenting information about a phonics strategy or skill, demonstrating how to use it, and presenting words for students to use in guided practice (p.163).

Activities: Sort objects, pictures, and word cards according to a phonics concept Write letters or words on small whiteboards Arrange magnetic letters or letter cards to spell words Make class charts of words representing phonics concepts, such as the two sounds of g or the -ore phonogram Make a poster or book of words representing a phonics concept Locate other words exemplifying the spelling pattern in books students are reading (p.163).

Stages of spelling development:  Students move through five stages of spelling development.  Each stage uses different strategies and foucs on particular aspects of spelling. 

Teaching spelling (p.172):  Students need to move through eh spelling development stages to learn about English orthographic system.  A complete program should include:  

• Teaching spelling strategies Segmenting the word and spelling each sound, often called “sound it out” Spelling unknown words by analogy to familiar words Applying affixes to root words Proofreading to locate spelling errors in a rough draft Locating the spelling of unfamiliar words in a dictionary (p.172)
• matching instruction to stage of spelling development. 
• Providing daily reading and writing opportunities 
• Teaching students to spell high-frequency words

Helpful activitiesthat teach spelling include:  word walls, making words acitivity, word sorts, interactive writing, proofreading, and dictionary use.

Spelling tests:  They should be individualized.  Students choose the words they want to study, often times reflecting words they are using in their writing.  They study 5-10 words each week.  Strategy for study includes:

1. Say the word
2. Read the letters
3. Spell the word
4. Write the word
5. Write the word again

Spelling Games:

• Houghton Mifflin’s Spelling Games. Go to the website’s homepage, and click on the “Students” tab and then on the “Games” button to locate spelling games coordinated with Houghton Mifflin’s spelling program.
• Kids Spell. This website offers a variety of spelling games for K–8 students, including Spellasaurus, Cast a Spell, and Defender. 
• Puzzle Maker. Teachers and students can turn spelling lists into a variety of games at this free site. 
• Spelling City. This website allows teachers and students to type in spelling lists and use them to make spelling tests, flash cards, and word-search games. A variety of other spelling games are also available. 
• Spelling Wizard. At the Scholastic website, search for the Spelling Wizard at the Homework Hub. At this activity center, students type in their spelling words and the website turns them into spelling-scramble and word-search games.

Assessment tools: This is a helpful way to assess students spelling development:

Classroom Application:

The following is a list of possible classroom application for my future reference:

• Phonemic activities such as:  Sound Blending Activities, sound-addition and substitution activities, sound-segmentation activities and Elkonin Boxes. (See notes above)
• The reference table indicating Phonics Rules
• The reference table indicating Phonics Sequence
• I will try to keep in mind that research has found the most helpful ratio of time spent on real reading and writing to time spent on phonics instruction should be 3 to 1.
• Use the minilesson format:  explicitly presenting information about phonics strategy or skill, demonstrating how to use it, presenting words for students to use in guided practice.  Activities such as these will be helpful:  Sort objects, pictures, and word cards according to a phonics concept Write letters or words on small whiteboards, arrange magnetic letters or letter cards to spell words, make class charts of words representing phonics concepts, such as the two sounds of g or the -ore phonogram, make a poster or book of words representing a phonics concept Locate other words exemplifying the spelling pattern in books students are reading (p.163).
• Use the “think it out” (instead of the “sound it out”) approach to encourage students to think about spelling patterns, root words and affixes, and what the words look like, in addition to just the “sound” aspect.
• Daily reading and writing activities are stressed, this is an important piece to teaching students to spell.  
• I will use individualized testing for spelling so it helps students be more engaged and also helps with their writing activities.  
• The list of spelling games on page 177 will also be a good resource.  Games are a good way to keep students engaged and having fun.

Notes and vocabulary from Text

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Interactive read aloud:  Children listen to their teacher read.  As they listen they learn new vocabulary and acquire more sophisticated sentence structure (p.111).

Concepts of print:  This refers to the purpose of reading and writing as a means to communicate.  The purpose of print can be demonstrated by making a list of classroom rules, reading and writing stories, drawing and writing in journals.  Children recognize that text is read from left to right and top to bottom.  They note that text carries the message, not the illustration.  They also start to learn about punctuation (p.115).  

Concepts about words:  refers to the awareness of words, letters, sounds, and sentences.  There are four stages of word awareness.  First stage, children do not know the difference between items and words. The next stage, children label using words without classifying articles and prepositions as words.  The third level, children know that words mean something and stories are made from words.  Lastly, children understand that words have independent meanings and can look different. At this stage, they understand that words can be spoken, read, and heard (p115).  “A concept of word allows children to hold onto the printed word in their mind’s eye and scan it from left to right, noting every sound in the beginning, middle and end”(p.152)

• Shared reading– a teacher points to words in big books as students watch.  The students mimic the teacher, pointing to words as they reread familiar text.  As readers perform this activity, they become better at pointing to specific words and recognizing punctuation marks. 
• Environmental print:  In early reading, children recognize logos and their corresponding words.  For example, they know what McDonald’s arches stand for because they have been exposed to it in their environment.
• Literacy Play Centers:  Refers to how children learn about the purpose of reading and writing through play (p.116).

Concepts about the alphabet:  refers to how letters are used to represent phonemes (p.116).  Letter knowledge consists of:  letter’s name, formation of the letter in upper and lower case handwriting,  features of the letter that distinguish it from others, direction the letter must be turned to distinguish it from other letters, the use of the letter in known words, and the sounds of the letter (p.117).  “Research suggests that children don’t learn letter names in any particular order or by isolating letters from meaningful written language in skill-and-drill activities.

McGee and Richgels (2011) conclude that learning letters of the alphabet requires many, many experiences with meaningful written language and recommend that teachers take these steps to encourage children’s alphabet learning: 

• Capitalize on children’s interests.Teachers provide letter activities that children enjoy, and they talk about letters when children are interested in talking about them. Teachers know what features to comment on because they observe children during reading and writing activities to find out which letters or features of letters children are exploring. 
• Talk about the role of letters in reading and writing. Teachers talk about how letters represent sounds and combine to spell words and point out capital letters and lowercase letters. 
• Provide a variety of opportunities for alphabet learning. Teachers use children’s names and environmental print in literacy activities, do interactive writing, encourage children to use invented spelling, share alphabet books, and play letter games (p.118).   

Routines to teach the alphabet:  There are numerous ways to use routines to teach students the alphabet:  

Assessing concepts of written language:  

• Marie Clay’s Concepts about Print (CAP) Test:  Assesses children’s understanding of written language concepts.  Teachers also create their own versions of the CAP to assess their students.
• Observation of students reading and rereading books.  Teachers look for concepts that students understand and don’t understand during shared reading.  

Stages of Reading and Writing:

• Stage 1: Emergent reading and writing stage
  • At this stage students accomplish the following: Develop an interest in reading and writing, acquire concepts about print, develop book-handling skills, learn to identify the letters of the alphabet, develop handwriting skills, learn to read and write some high-frequency words (p.120).
  • Scribbles:  children start to “scribble” in a pattern of left to right and top to bottom with experience.  They also explain what the story on the page “reads”.
• Stage 2:  Beginning reading and writing stage
  • At this stage, students become aware of alphabetic principle.  They learn about phoneme-grapheme correspondences, phonics rules, and word families.Students can also do the following: recognize 100 high-frequency words, apply reading strategies, including cross-checking, predicting, and repairing, write five or more sentences, sometimes organized into a paragraph, spell phonetically, spell 50 high-frequency words, use capital letters to begin sentences, use punctuation marks to indicate the ends of sentences and reread their writing (p. 122).
  • Teachers may use interactive writing, choral reading, and guided readingduring this stage.  They scaffold children as they read and write and use minilessons to provide strategy and skill instruction (p.123).
• Stage 3: Fluent reading and writing stage
  • Fluent readers can accomplish the following:  Read fluently and with expression, recognize most one-syllable words automatically and can decode other words efficiently, use decoding and comprehension strategies effectively, write well-developed, multiparagraph compositions, use the writing process to draft and refine their writing, write stories, reports, letters, and other genres, and spell most high-frequency and other one-syllable words correctly, use capital letters and punctuation marks correctly most of the time (p. 123).
  • Fluent readers use the writing process to draft, revise and publish their writing.  They may also use revising groups.

Instructional Practices:

• Morning message:  A teacher writes a message on the board about activities for the day and reads it at the beginning of the day.  Students revisit the message later in the day, count the letters, words, and sentences in the message.  They may also identify phonics patterns, high-frequency words, or grammatical pieces.  The messages can also be sent home to parents so they are updated on what happened that day.
• Shared Reading:  read books aloud that are appropriate for interest level.  Here is how shared reading can fit in to the five stages of reading process:

Predictable books:

• Books that have repeating sentences, rhyme, or other patterns (p.134).  
  • Patterns include: 
    • Repetition:  Example isBarnyard Banter(Fleming, 1997).
    • Cumulative sequence: consists of repeated sentences that expand in each episode. Example: The Gingerbread Boy(Galdone, 2008)
    • Rhyme and rhythm:  poetic devices that author use to add a musical quality to writing.  Dr. Seuss uses rhyme rhyme.  
    • Sequential Patterns:  using a familiar sequence such as months in a year, numbers 1 to ten, days of the week or the alphabet to structure their book.  Example:  The Hungry Caterpillar(Carle, 2002)

Here are good ideas for books that have patterns:

Language-experience approach: Teachers do shared writing, where children say the story aloud as the teacher writes it.  The story they create is the reading material.  The text is normally easy to read because the students develop it themselves based off their own experiences.  Each child creates their own book.  They draw their own pictures on each page or cut out pictures in magazines. The students pick the words for each page.   

• Students can also work together to create a collaborative book.  Each student works on one page to make the book.   When doing this method, make sure to keep editing to a minimum so students feel confident in their expression of language.  

Interactive writing:  both teacher and student share writing task. All students create the message together and the teacher guides them as they  write the story word by word on chart paper.  students take turns writing familiar words and punctuations.  During this time, students are also writing the words on their own copy of paper or whiteboard.  After the story is written, they read and reread text together and on their own.  

• Word walls:  familiar words that are identified during activities are posted on the wall

Manuscript handwriting

“Handwriting instruction in kindergarten typically includes developing children’s ability to hold pencils, refining their fine-motor control, and focusing on letter formation” (p.137).The more they write, the greater their need becomes for instruction in handwriting. Instruction is necessary so that children don’t learn bad habits that later must be broken” (p.137).

            Suggestions:

• Worksheets on how to write are not useful (p.137)
• Have children watch you write and then practice the letters themselves.  
• Write circles counter clockwise
• Form most lines from top to bottom and left to right.

Writing Centers:  a special place with all writing materials available to students so they can comfortably write their story. Writing materials may include: reference alphabet letters, stapler, different writing paper, different writing tools like pens or pencils, crayons, and envelops.    

Video: Creating Learning Objectives

Goals are considered general statements of desired learning.

Objectives are specific statements of what students should know and understand by the end of a lesson.  Objectives are student-centered and standards-based.  

S.M.A.R.T.:  Use this formula to help develop effective objectives  

• Specific:  Objective should state exactly what students should be able to accomplish.
• Measurable:  The objective should define acceptable levels of learning and have concrete criteria. Students can be assessed in specific ways.
• Attainable:  Objective should be written at an appropriate developmental level.  It must be challenging but realistic for success.  
• Relevant/results-oriented:  The objective focuses on results of learning.  
• Time bound:  Must have a specific ending point. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy:  Verbs to help construct an effective objective that are specific and measurable. Using a Bloom wheel can help find measurable and specific verbs.  Be cautious with words that are not measurable or specific such as explore, imagine, and understand. 

Take note as to why these are not good objectives:

Not complete objectives: 

• Student will hear a lecture on graphing linear equations.  (Focus is the teacher because the lecture is given by teacher. It is passive).
• Student will take notes from a powerpoint lecture about stock market (not specific- taking notes is not learning).
• Student will discover diversity in a meadow by coming face to face with it. (not measurable).
• Students will be put in groups (not sufficiently challenging for the age group).

Complete Objectives:

• Student will be able to identify one main character of the book The Loraxby the end of the lesson.  (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3)
• Student will be able to describe two different settings in the book The Loraxby the end of the unit. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3)
• Student will be able to recall one major event of the story The Lorax by the end of the lesson.  (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3)

Video: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write a Learning Objective:

 Blooms Taxonomy is a multitiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive domains.  Each level have associated action verbs.  It is hierarchical: the bottom domains are lower-order thinking and the top domains are higher order thinking.  “Before you can understand a concept, you must remember it.  To apply a concept, you must first understand it. In order to evaluate a concept, you must have analyzed it.  To create an accurate conclusion, you must have completed a thorough evaluation” (Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write a Learning Objective).

Blooms wheel can be used to help develop a learning objective.

Follow these steps to write a good objective:  Provide a stem sentence, determine learning outcome, consult in Blooms wheel to select appropriate level of learning and appropriate verb that reflects what you want learner to do, write learning objective.  Learning objectives are measurable, observable statements of what students will be able to do after the lesson.  Do NOT use words such as:  understand, know, appreciate, become familiar with, learn, be aware of.  They are too vague and immeasurable.    

Classroom Application

Using the information about Bloom’s Taxonomy and the S.M.A.R.T formula will help me develop effective and targeted objectives for all my subject areas including: Science, math, English, and social studies.  Understanding how to write an objective will also allow me to focus my lesson plans.

Using the book list on page 112 will allow me to find books that will help my students develop oral language. I can use these books to help my students acquire talking and listening abilities.  I will also reference the activities listed on page 113 to help my students develop oral language.  

Alphabet Routines listed on page 117 will help me identify certain activities and objects that will be useful for teaching the alphabet in my classroom.  I particularly like the ideas of using whiteboards and magnetic letters.  I also found the letter containers to be an interesting routine.  

The table on page 125 provides a great tool for reading and writing activities teachers can use for each stage: emergent, beginning, and fluent.  Understanding what students are capable of at each stage in combination with this chart, will allow me to effectively plan appropriate lessons for the particular level of ability.  I like the idea of having children share their writing in the form of author’s chair as well as having children take books home to read with their parents.  

I really enjoyed the idea of the morning messages.  I think it is a good way to start the day and also keep parents informed.

Interactive writing was observed in one of my introductory classes and the students loved it!  They created tehri own story together as a group.  They were all engaged and having fun during the process. This is something I intend to use in my class.  Reference page 136 for details.

Notes and vocabulary

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Assessments are formative, ongoing, and provide immediate feedback to improve teaching and learning (p.74).  Assessment tools can help teachers collect information on student progress and determine effectiveness of instruction (p.75).  Assessments are a means of accountability for school, district, state, and federal agencies (p.74).  Evaluations are not the same thing and should not be used interchangeably. Evaluation is summative, final, and generally administered at the end of a unit or school year to judge quality (p.74). 

4 Steps of Assessment

1.  Plan for assessment (p.75):  Plan for assessment before beginning teaching.  Do students have adequate background knowledge and vocabulary?  Are students struggling to understand?  Are they completing assignments? Are they working with classmates?  Have they learned the concept they have been taught? 
2. Monitoring Students’ Progress (p.75):  By monitoring student progress, teachers can use results ot make instructional decisions.  
   1. Observations:  watching students as they do their work, focusing on literacy, not behavior.
   2. Anecdotal Notes:  Teachers write notes in their notebooks or self-stick notes as they observe students.  The notes are about questions student asks, strategies and skills they use fluently, and those they don’t understand.  Notes may focus on problem areas for future lessons (p. 75).
   3. Conferences:  Conferences are sued to help monitor students’ progress and help them solve problems and set goals.  Types of conferences include:  on-the-spot, planning, revising, book discussion, editing, and evaluation conferences (p. 77).
   4. Checklists:  Teachers create checklists to simplify assessment and enhance student learning.  Teachers use evaluation criteria to help create checklists.  
      1. Book talk:  a snapshot checklist of student progress. It includes student name, date, title of the book, author, and a checklist of things that should be completed during the activity.  Reference page 77 for the example.
3. Evaluating Students’ Learning (p.78):  Teachers document student learning to make judgement about their achievement.  This stage is summative.  Most teachers find it valuable to evaluate students’ actual reading and writing to make judgements about achievement, rather than using tests (p.78).  This can be done several ways:
   1. Students’ work samples:  these are evidences of students work such as:  voice recordings, written assignments, list of books they have read, logs, photos of projects…etc.  Students are able to select pieces they think are worthy of their final portfolio(p.78).  Portfolios are a compilation of student and teacher-selected work that showcases progress.  
   2. Rubrics:  Rubrics are scoring guides that evaluate student performance to specific criteria and levels of achievement (p. 78).  They are often used to help students understand what is expected of them as well.  Useful website to create rubrics are listed in the text:  Rubrics 4 teachers, Rubistar, Teach-nology, Common Core State Standards, and 6+1 Traits.
   3. Multimodal Assessments:  Teachers should use authentic assessments that address multiple components such as: literacy strategies, variety of print and digital texts, digital resources, ability collaborate with others, and oral, written and visual means of demonstrating learning (p.79).
4. Reflecting on Student Learning (p.79):  Improving teacher instruction is heavily based on reflecting on students’ learning.  Students develop awareness of their own learning through reflection process as well.  Questions to consider include: what was learned during this unit? How can the teacher improve your learning?  What are your strengths as a reader? How did you feel throughout the unit?

“Researchers recommend that teachers use a combination of assessment tools to improve the fairness and effectiveness of classroom literacy assessment (Kuhs, Johnson, Agruso, & Monrad, 2001). Figure 3–1 highlights the assessments teachers use during each step of assessment” (p.80).

Determining Students’ Reading Levels:  Students have varying degrees in their ability to read.  Teachers must pick reading material that is not too difficult but not to easy.  There are three levels that look at children’s ability to recognize words automatically, read fluently and comprehend message.  These levels include the following (taken directly from page 81):

• Independent Reading Level: Students read books at their independent reading level comfortably, on their own. They recognize almost all words; their accuracy rate is 95–100%. The reading is fluent, and they comprehend what they’re reading. Books at this level are only slightly easier than those at their instructional level, and they still engage students’ interest. 
• Instructional Reading Level:  Students read books at their instructional reading level with support, but not on their own. They recognize most words; their accuracy rate is 90–94%. Their reading may be fluent, but sometimes it isn’t. With support from the teacher or classmates, students comprehend what they’re reading, but if they’re reading independently, their understanding is limited. Guided reading may be helpful in this level.
• Frustration Reading Level:  Books at the frustration reading level are too difficult for students to read successfully, even with assistance. Students don’t recognize enough words automatically; their accuracy is less than 90%. Their reading is choppy and word by word, and it often doesn’t make sense. In addition, students show little understanding of what’s been read.

It is required by Common Core State Standards that students read at their grade-level. This means that teachers should use grade-level texts with all students, but also scaffold with students who may not be at the level they are expected to be at.  

Readability Formula:  The score represents a rough idea of text difficulty.  The score helps teachers identify books for specific grades.  A helpful readability formula is the Fry Readability Graph, which predicts grade-level score for first grade to college level texts (p.82).

Leveled Books:  Grade levels tend to be very broad.  The Fountas and Pinnell developed a new way to classify books for students in K-8. This includes 26 levels, based numerous variables:  genre and format, organization and use of text structures, familiarity and interest level of content, language and literary features, sentence length and complexity, complexity of ideas and themes, sophistication of vocabulary, word length and ease of decoding, relationship of illustrations to the text, length of book, its layout and other print features (p.82).

Lexile framework:  This approach measures both the reader’s level and the difficulty level of books.  This method looks at sentence complexity and word familiarity to determine level of books (p.83).  The score accounts for Common Core Standards.  Scores range from 100 to 1,300 are categorized by grade band. There are 80 million articles, 60,000 websites and 200,000 books that are included in this database.

Diagnosing Students’ Strengths and Weakness:  

1. Running records:  This is a way teachers keep continuous tabs on student progress.  This is used to review students ability to identify words and read fluently.  Notes are made on the copy of books that students read.  Checkmarks above words are used for words that are read correctly. Other symbols are used to indicate words that were mistaken.  
   1. Miscue analysishelps to identify strength and weakness.  This is a chart that involves the list of words a student has troubles with, an explanation of what the specific mistake was, if the student self-corrected.  It addresses meaning, visual, and syntax as well  (p.88).
2. Informal Reading Inventories:  Commercial reading tests that evaluate students’ abilities in first through eighth grade.  They can be used to identify students who struggle among various domains such as: word identification, oral reading fluency, and comprehension (p.88).  The test contains both word lists and passages to help evaluate students comprehension and word identification.

English Learners:

Student Oral Observation Matrix (SOLOM):  A rating scale that teachers use to assess students’ ability to use English language.  SOLOM addresses five areas of oral language (p.90):

1. Listening:  Scoring the range at which a student can comprehend conversations.
2. Fluency:  Scoring how well a student can speak. 
3. Vocabulary:  Scoring the range of words being used.
4. Pronunciation:  Scoring on the use of intonation and pronunciation.
5. Grammar:  Scoring on applying word order, grammar, and usage rules.

Reading Assessments:

K-W-L charts are used to help teachers identify background knowledge for Els.  Teachers learn what students already know about the topic.  The chart also helps teachers provide additional knowledge and introduce vocabulary.  Students complete the chart and teacher are able to identify what the student has learned (p.90).

High-stakes testing:  Tests are administered annually and designed to measure students’ knowledge against standards as well as holding teachers and schools accountable.  However, these tests do not help with improving daily instructional decisions.  Results are used to “make important educational decisions for students- to determine school placement and high school graduation, for example (p.92).  Most tests use the multiple choice format to include questions about decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, writing mechanics, and spelling” (p.92).  The tests begin in second grade and require multiple periods for testing.  High stakes testing are, in part, a result of a report called A Nation at Risk.  The report identified low test scores compared to other industrialized countries, resulting in a loss of our global superiority (p.92).  

There are many issues with high-stakes testing:

• Tests don’t inspire students to work harder
• Struggling students are discouraged and feel defeated
• Test pressure destroys motivation and harms achievement
• Dropout rates are rising
• Teachers shift focus on increasing test scores rather than instruction 
• Students often spend more time preparing for test than reading and writing
• Focus shifts and more attention is put towards students who score just below cutoff point

Preparing for Standardized Testing:  Students must learn how to take tests.  Teachers are challenged with teaching how to take standardized tests while maintaining a balanced approach to instruction that is aligned to state standards (P. 93).  Here are five ways to help prepare students for testing (list taken from page 93):

• Teachers check that their instructional program aligns with their state’s standards and make any needed adjustments to ensure that they’re teaching the concepts that the test addresses.
• Teachers set goals with students and use informal assessments to regularly monitor their progress. 
• Teachers actively engage students in authentic literacy activities so that they become capable readers and writers. 
• Teachers explain the purpose of the tests and how the results will be used, without making students anxious.
• Teachers stick with a balanced approach that combines explicit instruction and authentic application.

Teachers may also apply test-taking strategies to minilessonsas part of reading workshops.  Allow students to perform practice tests, teach them how to read and answer test items, teach students about question-answer-relationships, and review test-taking strategies(p.94):

1. Read the entire question
2. Look for key words in the question
3. Read all answer choices before choosing the correct answer
4. Answer easier questions first
5. Make smart guesses
6. Stick with your first answer
7. Pace yourself
8. Check your work carefully

Portfolio Assessment

Students compile evidence of their best work into a portfolio that helps evaluate progress and growth (p.96). Portfolios provide students with many benefits such as those listed on page 97:  “Students feel ownership of their work. Students become more responsible about their work. Students set goals and are motivated to work toward accomplishing them. Students make connections between learning and assessing” (p.97).  It is a good idea to have students write a review about their choices, including why they chose those pieces to reflect learning achievements.  Additionally, as students review the pieces they want to put into the portfolio, they are reflecting on their progress as a reader or writer. This allows them to conduct self-assessments and goal setting.  Teachers can use minilessons and conferences to explain what makes a good reader, allowing students to understand what to look for in their own work.  Teachers may also chose to showcase portfolios by a “Portfolio Share Day”.  This allows students to share their work with others in their community (p.99).T

Classroom Applications

I will probably be using a combination of the Readability Formula, leveled books, and the Lexile Framework to select reading material for my students. I observed a reading class that used leveled books so that may be the strategy Manitowoc School District has chosen.  I like the idea of Lexile framework because it appears to have several domains. Additionally, this framework is used for 80 million articles, 60,000 websites and 200,000 books, which is very appealing to me. Having that many resources at my disposal would be helpful.

I am also interested in using something like Book Talk to assess student progress. I think using something simple like this would be effective in my classroom.

I also took note of useful websites to create rubrics. The following were referenced in the text:  Rubrics 4 teachers, Rubistar, Teach-nology, Common Core State Standards, and 6+1 Traits. I am unsure which one I will be using, but these are resources that will probably be helpful to me as a practicing teacher.

I also took note of Book Wizard, a free book-search system at Scholastic’s website. Teachers search the 50,000 books in its database to locate books at a specific reading level or check the level of a particular book. Teachers also download the Book Wizard app for easy access to the Scholastic database. Knowing this exists will allow me to easily find books for my students.

Lastly, I definitely intend to use and apply the information I earned about portfolios and portfolio assessments. I remember having a portfolio in my childhood. I was proud of the work I put in there and looked forward to sharing it with my parents. I hope having portfolios in my classroom will allow students to feel a sense of pride and ownership in their learning.

Dr. Churchill’s Lesson Plan Video: Notes and Summary

The observation summary information is posted in content under field experiences. Watch the folllowing video on how to complete a lesson plan by Dr. Churchill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZVffbjx3U&feature=youtu.be add your notes to your blog. 

The video explains how to fill out the UW Superior Daily Lesson Plan Template.  The template helps plan lessons throughout the year.  It includes important lesson plan components such as:  preliminary information, goals for student learning and why they are appropriate at this time, and how students will meet their goals through teacher support.  Dr. Churchill explains each piece of the template in this informational video:

• Preliminary information includes a summary of lesson, unit, location of unit, structures, period, course, and date.
• The goals component includes the following:  Big idea, rationale/context, prior knowledge needed for lesson, student learning objectives, expectations, assessments, student feedback, standards, and academic language.  Academic language refers to vocabulary or language that students must know.
• The supporting goals segment includes: launch/hook, explore, closure, differentiation, extension, what ifs and resource/materials.  

Notes and vocabulary

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

The Reading Process

Reading process involves stages a reader goes through to understand what they are reading in text (p.39).  As students read, the goal is to comprehend the text.  The process involves the following components:

• Phonemic awareness and phonics:  Students use the knowledge they gain about phonemic awareness and phonics in primary grades to help them read.  This includes “how to manipulate sounds in spoken words and apply phoneme-grapheme correspondences and phonics rules, as they read” (p.40).
• Word identification: Students are able to recognize common words and decode unfamiliar words using their knowledge of phonics (p.40).
• Fluency:  Students are able to recognize most words and read with ease and expression.  Fluent readers are able to focus on understanding the material rather than reading the material (p.40).
• Vocabulary:  Students make sense of the words they are reading, relating them to their prior knowledge, to understand what they are reading (p.40).
• Comprehension: Creating meaning of what students are reading by predicting, connecting, monitoring, repairing or other strategies. They also use what they know about genres, organizational patterns, and literary devices (p.40).

Stages of Reading  

Teachers use the stages of reading to help improve literacy among their students.  A table on page 40 summarizes these stages nicely:

Stage 1: Prereading

In this stage, teachers want to build a knowledge base prior to reading the text. They can do this by “activating background knowledge, set purposes, and making plans for reading” (p.41).  Background knowledge refers to knowledge that students have gained throughout their life inside and outside of school.  General knowledge refers to basic knowledge about the world. Literary knowledge is what students need to read and understand text (p.41).  Stage 1 also involves setting purposes or motivation for reading. Then, students look at the book and plan for reading.  Students may plan for reading by making predictions based off the cover or illustrations, author, or genre.  

Stage 2: Reading

Students read the book a number of ways in the classroom:  aloud to students, shared reading, guided reading, partnered reading, or independent reading (p.42-43).

• Guided reading:  this is used for groups of four or five students who are all at the same reading level.  Books used are at their current level.  Students read independently, with the exception of younger students who may murmur words while the teacher keeps track.  The lessons are 25-30 minutes.  The teacher observes and takes notes while students read, making sure they are using good reading strategies. The teacher uses notes to help develop minilessonsto teach and books for students to read.
• Shared reading: Teachers read text that students can’t read independently.  The teacher models fluent readers.  Typically, the teacher uses a large book so everyone can see.  She uses it to teach phonics and commonly used words.  During shared reading, students seetext as the teacher reads. This process also allows students to read along when they know familiar pieces of the story.  This process can be used by older students as well. The teacher starts reading, and as the student feels comfortable, they start reading and the teacher stops. This us called “popcorn reading”.
• Interactive read-aloud: The teacher reads books that are written above students grade level.  The students play an active role during this process by asking questions, making predictions, making connections, repeating refrains and identifying key ideas. By reading to students, the teacher models good reading practice, introduces vocabulary, and increases students motivation.

Stage 3: Responding

This stage provides an opportunity for students to review their readings.  Students can review readings by using a reading log, in which they write about their readings in a log.  Students can use their creativity do design a cover.  The logs are to focus on ideas with limited attention to spelling (except for character names and common words).  Responding can also take the form of group discussions, or grand discussions.  With these discussions, students can talk about their personal thoughts, maybe the authors thoughts, and maybe making connections to their own lives (p.45).  

Stage 4: Exploring

Students can explore the text in a number of ways:  rereading selections, closed reading, examining writer’s craft, focus on words and sentences and minilessons.  Students review the text through teacher-led process of rereading selections and close reading.  These processes give students the opportunity to learn deeper meanings, themes, and/or relationships among big ideas.  Teachers help students address the author’s purpose, structural elements, viewpoints and so on (p.46).

Focusing on words and sentences:  

Word wall:  Teachers add vocabulary to a wall in the classroom so students can reference them during reading activities.  Word sortsallow students to categorizing important words and complete semantic feature analysis charts to examine relationships between words.  

Minilessons:

Procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills are presented by the teacher in minilessons. It is a way to introduce a topic and make connections between a topic and examples in text (p.47).

Stage 5: Applying

In this stage, students apply what they have learned to a final project.  The project could be a story, slide show, presentation, podcast, posters, readers theatre performance and more.  “Readers extend their comprehension, reflect on their understanding, and value the reading experience” (p.47).   The project can be done independently, in small groups, or as a class.   This is a great list of ideas found on page 48:

Readers theatreis a way for students to act out or perform written scripts.  It can be used both as a reading assignment and application project.

Reading Strategies

This segment was taken directly from text on pages 63-64

Comprehension strategies are probably the best known type, but readers use strategies throughout the reading process:

• Decoding Strategies. Students use strategies, such as using phonic and morphemic analysis, to identify unfamiliar words. 
• Word-Learning Strategies. Students apply strategies, such as analyzing word parts, to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. 
• Comprehension Strategies. Students use strategies, such as predicting, drawing inferences, and visualizing, to understand what they’re reading. 
• Study Strategies. Students apply strategies, such as taking notes and questioning, to learn information when they’re reading content area textbooks. These strategies highlight the kinds of thinking that students engage in while they’re reading.

Digital reading strategies: 

• Navigating. Students navigate the Internet to search for and locate information. 
• Coauthoring. Students coauthor online texts as they impose an organization on the information they’re reading. 
• Evaluating. Students evaluate the accuracy, relevance, and quality of information on webpages. 
• Synthesizing. Students synthesize information from multiple texts.

The Writing Process

Students gather and organize ideas, write rough drafts, edit their work and publish it during the writing process (p.39).   There are five stages in the writing process including:  prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing (p.49).  Figure 2-4 gives a good overview of these processes. Note that stages 1-3 focus mainly on content of the writing.  Stage 4 focuses on polishing the writing for final publication.

Stage 1: Prewriting

Prewriting refers to preparing to write by talking, reading, and brainstorming about what they will be writing.  70% of the writing assignment should be spent on prewriting (p.49).  There are several components to prewriting including:

• Choosing a topic: allow students to make this decision to encourage involvement and interest in the topic.  Teachers can suggest broad topics so students have flexibility to write something that interests them.
• Consider purpose and genre: Students need to think about why they are writing.  Picking a genre helps guide students in their writing.  Note:  it is important not to call writings “stories” because there are distinct differences between genres.  Genres include: argumentative, descriptive, expository, journals and letters, narrative, and poetry.  Figure 2-5 summarizes good purposes and activities for each genre (see below).
• Gather and organize ideas: Students can gather and organize ideas by drawing pictures, brainstorming lists of words, read books, do internet searches and talk about ideas (p.49).  They may use graphic organizers such as diagrams to help them.

Stage 2: Drafting

The drafting stage allows students to write with a free flow of ideas and thoughts. This draft is not meant to be neat. There may be misspelled words, scribbles, sloppy writing, and punctuation errors.  The goal is to get ideas down on paper rather than having a neat and orderly paper in this stage.  You may want to ask students to skip every other line so they have room to make corrections.  Students can also cut and rearrange the text if they wrote the draft on paper.  Sometimes drafts can be typed on a computer as well. Rough drafts should be labeled as such (p.51).

Stage 3: Revising

Students review and fine tune their work.  “they [experienced writers] must turn to others for reactions and revise on the basis of these comments. Revision isn’t polishing; it’s meeting the needs of readers by adding, substituting, deleting, and rearranging material. Revision means “seeing again,” and in this stage, writers see their compositions again with the help of classmates and the teacher” (p.51).  Revising includes:  rereading the rough draft, sharing in revising groups, making revisions, and revising centers.

Revising Centers:  various revising options students may use.  Centers may include: rereading, word choice, graphic organizers, highlighting, sentence combining.  Figure 2-6 provides a summary of revising and editing centers and corresponding activities:

Stage 4: Editing

Editing is putting a piece of writing into its final form (p.52).  Focus is on mechanics such as: capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, usage, and formatting.  It is suggested to allow time away from the piece of work prior to editing so they can see mistakes.  Editing consists of proofreading and correcting errors.  Proof reading refers to word-by-word review, looking for mistakes. Providing an editing checklist will help students know what to look for during the editing phase.  Correcting errors consists of fixing the mistakes.  

Stage 5: Publishing 

This stage allows students to present their work in one of many forms.  Teachers may have students make books out of their work. They may also request that students share their writing by: reading to parents, display at a school event, make a poster, read to students in class, submit it to a magazine…etc. (p.55).  Resources that may be useful to help students formally publish their work:

Literary magazines for student’s work (p.55):

• Stone Soup
• Skipping Stones
• Magin Dragon
• New Moon:  The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams 

Online publishing (p.66):

• Amazing Kids! Magazine. This website posts K–8 students’ stories and poems, but it’s geared primarily toward grades 4–8. In addition, the site has Writer’s Tips with useful information for student writers. 
• Cyberkids. This site publishes original writing by 7- to 12-year-olds, including multimodal stories. 
• KIdsWWwrite. Students’ stories and poems are published in this eZine that’s divided into areas for 5- to 8-year-olds, 9- to 12-year-olds, and 13- to 16-year-olds.

Writing Strategies 

This segment was taken directly from text on page 64

• Prewriting Strategies. Students use prewriting strategies, including organizing, to develop ideas before beginning to write. 
• Drafting Strategies. Students apply drafting strategies, including narrowing the topic and providing examples, to focus on ideas while writing the first draft. 
• Revising Strategies. Students use revising strategies, including detecting problems, elaborating ideas, and combining sentences, to communicate their ideas more effectively. 
• Editing Strategies. Students apply strategies, including proofreading, to identify and correct spelling and other mechanical errors. 
• Publishing Strategies. Students use strategies, including designing the layout, to prepare their final copies and share them with classmates and other authentic audiences.

Writer’s Craft

Writers craft refers to techniques writers can use to establish reader’s attention and convey meaning to their work.  It is suggested to teach writers about writer’s craft because it can energize their writing.  There are six important components, or traits, that help writers to this:  

• Ideas:  the message and its meaning.  The goal is to keep readers interested by having compelling ideas.
• Organization:  Knowing how to organize their writing in a clear way that is logical for readers,  “Students hook the reader in the beginning, identify the purpose, present ideas logically, provide transitions between ideas, and end with a satisfying conclusion so that the important questions are answered” (p.58).
• Voice:  Each writer has a distinct style known as their voice.  The authors personality shines through their work.  
• Word choice:  students use various vocabulary and descriptive words to develop a well-written piece.  Students should “paint a picture with words”.
• Sentence Fluency:  This refers to the “rhythm and flow of language” (p.59).
• Conventions:  Students make sure their piece is free from errors.
• Presentation:  “focusing on making the final piece look good” (p.60).

Classroom Application

I have copied and saved numerous tables presented in this chapter into my toolbox for future reference.  I appreciate the list of activities within each table. For example, Figure 2-6: Revising and Editing Centers provides examples for each specific type of center. Depending on the subject, I can reference this guide to help me decide what activity would be best-suited for my classroom goals.    

I also want to use Figure 2-5 to help me plan various lessons and activities based off of genre.  The activity list is extensive and creative!  I intend to allow students to pick their own activities from this list.  

Another figure that I will find useful in my future class is Figure 2-3, Application Projects.  I like how the author summarized various final projects into an easy-to-read figure.  This will be helpful for designing a lesson plan that contains an application project. Some of these suggestions can also be used in other subjects to incorporate a literary component.

Engaging students and getting them excited about their work: 

• I hope to help students get their work published in a formal magazine.  Doing this will allow them to feel a sense of pride in their work.  Several useful resources I can use were presented the text.  
• Lastly, I want to teach students about Writer’s Craft because I believe it will help them get engaged and excited about writing their own work.  

Notes and vocabulary for principles five through nine

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

Principle 5:  Effective teachers address standards

This principle refers to Common Core State Standards which “are a framework for teaching and learning, with clear and consistent academic benchmarks” (p.19). There are five strands for reading and writing in K-12:  reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, media and technology.  Each of the strands are addressed in more detail in proceeding chapters.  

Principle 6:  Effective teachers scaffold students’ reading and writing 

An effective teacher will understand and be able to use five levels of scaffolding to teach their students reading and writing skills.

Scaffolding: teachers demonstrate, guide, and teach reading and writing.  They vary the amount of support according to the students need and purpose (p.21). Teachers use five levels of support including: modeled, shared, interactive, guided, and independent.  Figure 1-5 provides a great summary on how scaffolding can be applied to reading and writing:

Shared reading: This strategy gets children participating in their learning, rather than just observing like they do with modeling. In shared reading, the teacher will use big books and do most of the reading.  Children will read aloud when they see familiar words (p.23).  They work as a group to read and or write.

Language Experience Approach:  This is a way teachers can do shared writing.  The teacher will write children’s dictation and brainstorm words on the whiteboard (p.23).

Interactive writing:  The next level in scaffolding where student responsibility increases.  Students active participation increases as they share reading and writing responsibilities among their classmates. In this case, the teacher helps when needed.  Two examples of interactive writing include choral reading and readers theater (p.23).

            Choral reading:  readers take turns reading a poem

            Readers theatre:  readers take turn reading a script

Principle 7:  Effective teachers organize for instruction

Teachers use school curriculum, standards, and student needs to create lessons that reflect the following: “teachers create a community of learners, incorporate components of a balanced approach, and scaffold students’’ reading and writing experiences” (p.24).  Programs include:  guided reading, basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading and writing workshops: 

Guided reading:  20-minute lessons with small groups of students who read at the same level. Teachers focus on word identification and comprehension strategies.  Other students are doing other literacy centers or activities.  Guided reading is often used for Kindergarten through third grade (p.25).  Minilessons are an example of guided reading.  Teachers provide instruction, activities, supervising and guiding students learning throughout minilessons (p.23). 

Basal reading programs:  “commercially produced reading programs that textbook of reading selections with workbooks, supplemental books, and related instructional material at each grade level” (p.25).  The program also includes testing material and teachers guide with procedures (25).

Literature circles:  groups of student read a book together.  The teacher introduces five or six different books to the class. Each student is given the option of which book they want to read.  The students sit in small groups to read and respond to the book (p. 25).  

Literature focus units:  books and novels are selected from a state-approved list of award wining books.  Everyone reads and responds to the same book.  The teacher provides reading and writing activities about the books. Focus is literary genres and authors.  This helps encourage interest in reading.

Reading and writing workshop:  students select books, read independently and then conference with the teacher about their reading (p. 25).

This table provides a good summary on how to incorporate technology in the classroom (p.27):

Nurturing English Learners:

The same instructional approach used in the mainstream environment can be used to teach those who are learning English as a second language.  Teachers can help these students by using explicit instruction, allow students to practice speaking English, providing small group work, reading aloud to students, promote background knowledge, and provide authentic literacy activities (p.28).

“Teachers’ attitudes about minority students and knowledge about how they learn a new language play a critical role in the effectiveness of instruction (Gay, 2010). It’s important that teachers understand that English learners have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and plan instructional programs accordingly” (p.28).

Principle 8:  Effective teachers differentiate instruction

Teachers are cognizant of, and able to manipulate instruction, according to the academic, developmental, and ability needs of each student.  Differentiation refers to Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development.  Students should be given the appropriate level of challenge.  Differentiation refers to “monitoring students’ learning and making adjustments.  It focusses on the content, process, and product (p.28).

Content:  what the student should learn.  Choose instructional materials at appropriate reading levels, consider developmental levels, use assessment tools to determine needs of students (p.29).

Process:  provide instruction to individuals, small groups, and the whole class.  Scaffold students who struggle with more explicit instruction.  Challenge advanced readers and writers, assess and adjust instruction as needed (p. 29).

Product:  this refers to students demonstrating what they have learned. Students may create projects individually, with partners or in small groups or they may use a combination o visual, oral and written formats (p.29).

This table provides a good example of ways to differentiate instruction (p.30):

Principle 9:  Effective teachers link instruction and assessment

Assessment refers to a teachers evaluation of their students.  Effective teachers are continuously assessing student achievement and learning needs to adjust and plan their lessons to meet the needs of each student.  Assessing students allows teachers to know learning levels, monitor progress, identify strengths and weaknesses, and track student progress.  There are four steps to linking instruction and assessment listed on page 31:

1. Planning:  knowing and understanding classes background and reading level  to plan and adjust instructions.
2. Monitoring:  progress of students is evaluated to measure effectiveness of instruction.
3. Evaluating:  Teachers review the students reading and writing work against rubrics and checklists.  
4. Reflecting:  teachers review progress of students by looking at their work. They determine if change is needed for their instruction to improve student success.

Assessment Tools (p.31):

• Observations while students participate in instructional activities
• Running records:  records to identify student ability to solve reading problems
• Examination of students’ work
• Conferences or discussions with students about their reading and writing
• Checklists to monitor student progress
• Rubrics:  assesses students’ performances, written produces, and multimedia projects 

Classroom Application:  

There is a lot of information in this chapter.  To help me in the classroom, I intend to use some key reference tables provided in the text.  I have been saving several tables into a specific file on my computer.  I believe they will be helpful when I begin teaching.  For example, Table 6-1 gives specific examples of how a teacher can implement various programs using technology to be effective.  The table references each program:  guided reading, basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading and writing workshops.  Looking at this table will help me gather ideas for my instruction.  Additionally, I will be using Table 1-7 to give me suggestions for differentiating instruction.  I believe differentiating instruction may be somewhat challenging as a first year teacher and this table will provide me with solid suggestions to aid my instruction.  

Outside resources: I also want to reference the Reading Rockets website for Reader’s Theater material: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/readers_theater This website provides examples of scripts that can be used in the classroom. These will be fun lessons!

Notes and vocabulary for the first four principles

Source:  Tompkins, Gail (2017). Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach

There are nine principles of literacy instruction that help students achieve academic success (p.6).

Principle one:  Effective teachers understand how students learn.  Four main theories explaining how children learn include: constructivism, sociolinguistics, behaviorism, and information processing.  

Principle two:  Effective teachers support students’ use of the cueing systems.  English has four cueing systems including:  phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic systems (p.11).  As stated in the text, “these systems make communication possible, children and adults use all four systems simultaneously as they read, write, listen and talk” (p.11).

Principle three: Effective teachers create a community of learners. A classroom community includes the following characteristics:  safety, respect, high expectations, risk taking, collaboration, choice, responsibility, and family and community involvement (p.15).  Creating a successful classroom culture is a necessary component of being an expert teacher.  Providing clear expectations and familiar routines allow students to feel comfortable and they are more willing to take risks (p.16). 

Principle four: Effective teachers adopt a balanced approach to instruction.  A balanced approach refers to the “comprehensive view of literacy that combines explicit instruction, guided practice, collaborative learning, and independent reading and writing (p.17).

Vocabulary:

Principle one:  Effective teachers understand how students learn. Four main theories explaining how children learn include: constructivism, sociolinguistics, behaviorism, and information processing.  

Behaviorism:  This is a theory that behaviors are a result of a child’s environmental context. Behaviorist teachers transmit knowledge to their students in a sequential order.  Teachers use rewards and punishments to modify student behavior in the classroom.  The class structure is mostly independent, with little interaction or group work among classmates (p.6).  Behaviorist teachers believe that their role is to provide information and supervise the classroom (p.7).  

Constructivism:  This is a theory that, unlike behaviorism, is student-centered.  It consists of schema theory, inquiry learning, and engagement theory.  Constructivist teachers believe children actively construct their knowledge based on experiences.  Constructivists understand and value students prior knowledge and how it influences their instruction.  They strive to engage students and promote working together in the classroom. 

Schema theory:  A theory developed by Jean Piaget, explaining how children acquire and store knowledge. Students learn by organizing information into structures called schemas.  When new information is learned, the child stores it in their “mental file or schema” (p. 7).

Inquiry learning:  This refers to children who are naturally curious and who “actively create their own knowledge” through inquiry and investigation (p. 8).  Focus is places on working together to solve problems, rather than competing against each other (p.8).

Engagement theory:  Students become engaged through authentic literacy activities.  They work together with classmates and their community. Theorists believe that engaged students have self-efficacy, resulting in academic success (p.8)

Sociolinguistics:  This theory, recognized by Lev Vygotsky, is student-centered.  It includes sociocultural theory, situated learning theory, and critical literacy.  Sociolinguistics focuses on the influence of language and social interactions. Students use language to “organize their thoughts: (p.8). Teachers who practice this theory engage students through authentic activities.  They practice sound cultural pedagogies and promote equality (p. 7).  Students are able to learn more when more knowledgably individuals help them with tasks they are unable to do on their own (p.8).   

Information processing:  This theory, like constructivism, is student-centered.  It consists of interactive models, transactional theory, and strategic behaviors.  The theory associates  information processing within the brain with a computer that processes information. Teachers who practice this theory often integrate reading and writing and believe it is how students make meaning. Teachers also believe interpretation is of one’s own (p.7)

This table is useful for summarizing learning theories (Figure 1-1):

Principle two:  Effective teachers support students’ use of the cueing systems.  English has four cueing systems including:  phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic systems (p.11).  As stated in the text, “these systems make communication possible, children and adults use all four systems simultaneously as they read, write, listen and talk” (p.11).

Phonological system (cueing system 1): This is the term used to describe the sound system of English.  The smallest unit of sound is called phenome.  When one writes out the sound of an English word by using letters, this is called grapheme. Understanding how sounds make up words is referred to as phonological awareness.  Verbally transforming phonemes is called phonemic awareness.  Lastly, phonics refers to the correlation and relationships of spelling phoneme and grapheme (p.12).  English is not a phonetic language because “there are 26 letters and 44 sounds and many ways to combine the letters to spell some sounds, especially vowels” (p.13)  This is why phonological system is so important when teaching English language. “Comprehension is the goal of reading instruction: (p.13).

Syntactic system (cueing system 2):  This refers to sentence structure and how words make up sentences, also known as syntax (p. 12).  Syntactic systems allow children to substitute words they don’t know by looking the words that make up the sentence.  Syntactic systems also make up a combination of morphemes,  free morphemes, bound morphemes and compound words (p.13).  

Semantic system (cueing system 3):  This system refers to the meaning of English.  An example given in the text includes the word “fire”.  There are more than a dozen meanings of the word and as children grow their vocabular, they begin to understand multiple meanings of the word (p.14).  

Pragmatic system (cueing system 4):  This system refers to the social implications of language.  Depending on culture, ethnicity, and region, language is utilized differently.  This variety is called dialect.  The dialect we use in schools is called Standard English.

This reference table is helpful for summarizing the cueing systems (p.12):

Common Core Standards:  Common Core State Standards provide clear, consistent goals for all students academic achievements, allowing schools to measure up against local, state, and international standards.  By implementing standards, teachers are able to provide the foundation and basic skills necessary for academic success. If students meet the designated standards, teachers can be confident their students are prepared for the next level. Further, teachers can be confident that incoming students are ready to learn materials applicable to their grade level.  Common Core Standards provide a sufficient set of guidelines and expectations that prime students for entering the next chapter in their academics.   In literacy, there are five strands including:  reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, and media and technology (p.21).

Principle four: Effective teachers adopt a balanced approach to instruction.  A balanced approach refers to the “comprehensive view of literacy that combines explicit instruction, guided practice, collaborative learning, and independent reading and writing (p.17).

Balanced literacy components:  A successful instructional program should consist of 10 basic components.  These components make up the Balanced Literacy Approach and include: comprehension, content area study, literacy strategies and skills, literature, oral language, phonemic awareness and phonics, reading, spelling vocabulary, and writing (p.18). 

This table provides a summary of the components and their descriptions (p.18)

This is just a trial