First Essay:



First Essay:

1. Upon arrival to first grade, each child would be administered an assessment to determine the child’s knowledge of the alphabet, concept of word in text, phonemic awareness, and word recognition.

The student and the teacher would work one-on-one for the assessment. A child would be shown each letter of the alphabet to determine if the student had knowledge of the name of the letter. A simple check sheet would be used to record the data. It is necessary for the child to be able to identify the letter for the reading instruction to begin. This will enable the child to develop automaticity when matching letters to sounds. After the child has produced the name of the letter, the teacher would follow a similar procedure to evaluate the first-grader’s ability to write the letter. As the teacher randomly dictates the letter name, the child will write either the upper- or lower-case form of the letter.

The concept of word in text assessment can be administered following the testing of alphabet knowledge. A short passage that limits the number of words and lines in a passage is recommended for this evaluation. In order to test the child’s concept of word, the teacher would employ an echo reading procedure. The teacher will read and finger point as a model for the child. After completing the echo-reading, the teacher will point to a word to see if the child is able to identify the word that was read. Encouraging the child to identify the word could be indicative of the child’s knowledge of the word or if the child was merely memorizing the sentence while “reading” it back or if the child truly understands the spoken word-written word match in reading.

In addition to the above assessments, the pupil would continue with a spelling test. The spelling test would allow the child to demonstrate his phonemic awareness. The test consisting of six words, allows the instructor to assess the child’s knowledge of twenty possible sounds. In addition to phonemic awareness, the evaluation allows the child to exhibit his understanding of sequencing sounds in spoken words.

Finally, the evaluator will note the child’s attempt to recognize words that are in a list. By letting the child read the list, the teacher can tell if the child is using the beginning sound, beginning and ending sound or making an effort to decode the word. This combined with the fore mentioned assessments allows the assessor to predict the reading readiness of the child.

2. Once the instructional level of the reader has been determined, it is essential to share quality trade books and basals as well as a word study with the child. The basal, that has controlled text and has been carefully graded in difficulty, would be beneficial to the child. This type of basal lends itself to being easily decodable for the child. The repetition of the controlled vocabulary aids in the student’s learning to read. In addition, to the basal, which can lack stories of interest because of the text, a trade book should be used. This book would offer interesting stories and challenging vocabulary, but may also be more engaging to the student because of the content. Since both books will have words that are unknown to the child, it is important to have a word study for the child’s encoding and decoding purposes. Once again, it is necessary to use the data that was obtained from the assessments that were administered to meet the child’s instructional level. Not only will this instruction benefit his spelling, but it will enable the reading to become more fluent because the child isn’t having to struggle with processing the print but can focus all of his efforts on the rate while reading and comprehension of what has been read. If all three of these pieces are utilized, a teacher is more likely to have a student that can improve the basic skills and his interest in all aspects of literacy.

3. When given a class that has multiple reading levels, the teacher must strive to meet the needs of each of these children. The most appropriate strategy is to have flexible ability-leveled groups, while allowing for some whole class activities. When children are able to interact has a whole class the struggling reader especially can benefit from the input and reading ability of his classmates. The morning circle time is a perfect opportunity to let the whole class share poems, big books, and dictated stories.

After completion of the morning circle time, students can return to their desk for a quiet writing time. This may be a topic the teacher has chosen or a journal time. According to the child’s writing ability, it may be a time of sequencing events in a story through illustrations to begin the writing process.

When approximately 30 minutes has passed, it is time for the children to circulate to various stations with their ability-groups to receive instruction at the appropriate level. One station that would be directed by the teacher would be the reading station. The teacher would have a basal or trade book for the children to read on their instructional level. The activities would emphasize fluency and comprehension at the first grade level.

Another station would be the word study station. The groups would remain the same since spelling and reading instructional level are very closely related. The students may find the teacher’s assistant working in this group. The children would work with words by actually manipulating the sounds by blending them and the words by sorting them by the pattern that was introduced for the week. In addition, the children may play games such as Go Fish, Concentration, and other games that enhance the understanding of the word patterns.

The last 30 minute station would be an opportunity to reinforce what the child has been taught within the previous stations. This will give the child a chance to work independently, which gives the teacher a quick daily assessment for planning for the following day to see if she will need to review or reteach the concept. By using the information, the teacher can pace the groups according to the needs of the students, not merely move ahead at a pace that may be too fast or too slow for her learners. A program such as this extends itself to being the most beneficial for all students, the slow learner and the accelerated learner.

Second Essay:

Inventive spelling should be promoted to children for multiple reasons. Children that are trying to spell words are showing an enhanced curiosity about the written word. They are attempting to use their knowledge of print and phonemes to share their own ideas in writing. When the two are combined, the students have to attempt to segment the sounds in order to identify the letter that corresponds to the sound in the word. Then, it has to be written in a manner that conveys the children’s thoughts. By trying inventive spelling, the students are not only acknowledging their phonemic awareness, but also the teacher is more aware as to whether the class has concept of word and reading direction.

When children are encouraged to manipulate the sounds in the words, they will methodically progress through stages that will eventually produce spellers that can spell many words because of their understanding of the phonemes. The teachers will also gain insight into this progression, especially if they are aware of the various stages and predictable mistakes that students should make. If a child consistently makes the same errors it assists the teacher in knowing that the child is associating the pattern intentionally not merely sounding out the word each time the child is spelling it.

The progressions that children encounter are predictable stages of spelling. Teachers should be aware that children that can correctly connect the beginning sounds of words to the correct letters and eventually the last letters of the word are in the semiphonetic phase. Once the students can identify the beginning and ending sounds, with normal progression, the next phase will include medial vowels, the alphabetic phase. Children will also demonstrate the concept of words that are written in the “reading direction.” The next phase, within-word pattern, will consist of word patterns and silent vowels to assist with the long vowel sound. By this phase, the ideas that are being written are easier for the readers to comprehend. Following this phase is the syllable juncture phase, where children are using polysyllabic words with conventional vowel patterns. Inventive spelling will continue to progress throughout the grades as children encounter more difficult words. This can be seen in the derivational constancy phase, where pupils no longer consider the phonemes, the vowel teams and the syllable, but the derivation of the word and the varying vowel alteration patterns to determine the spelling.

Assisting children from invented to increasingly correct patterns can be an engaging and productive task for the children if the teacher administers the assignment correctly. Children can learn how to sort words at any of the various phases. If the class is in kindergarten, the teacher can guide the group with a beginning consonant sort of three letters. This can be adapted to more advanced spellers by focusing on the vowel sounds. As children become more comfortable with the sorting of the patterns, the teacher may choose to give the words to the children and can play Guess My Category. A variety of games can also bring attention to the patterns that are being taught in the current word study. The child can play Go Fish, Word-o, Concentration, and Hangman. All of the previously mentioned games require the pupils to look for patterns in order to be successful at the game. The teacher should choose words that are slowly progressing in patterns (short vowels, long vowels and vowel teams) and syllables, while reviewing after every five lessons or so. This will enable students to learn to spell words that have not yet been taught. They are no longer relying on or limited to words that have been memorized for a test, but now have the background to encode and decode words that they may be unfamiliar with.

Therefore children should be encouraged to use the skills they have acquired to spell unknown words. Additionally, children are more likely to attempt to use a higher quality vocabulary if they aren’t afraid of misspelling the new word. The teacher also benefits because she is able to monitor the spelling instructional level of the children due to the errors that are made. Inventive spelling can truly be beneficial to all involved.

RE 5100 Midterm

Spring, 2004

Melanie Sharpe

March 23, 2004

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