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Beliefs and Practices Paper: A ReflectionAfter I graduated with my bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, I moved to Houston, Texas to teach fifth grade Language Arts and Social Studies in the Pasadena Independent School District. The school that I have taught at for the past three years is an inner-city, title one, predominantly Hispanic, school. However, I was not going to let anything get in the way of me creating an effective reading program for my students, for I believe that reading is the gateway to developing a strong imagination, a sense of inquiry, and possibility for the future.Change is a hallmark of teaching, and I believe that my definition of a reading program has changed and will continue to change with every year I am a classroom teacher. My current beliefs of a reading program mainly stem from Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell’s, “Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy”. I believe that a reading program should be set up into three sections: mini-lesson, IDR (Individualized Reading), and closing. The mini-lesson (10-15 minutes) focuses on a specific skill or strategy being taught to the students through explicit modeling (think alouds, read alouds, etc. using a gradual release model). The mini-lessons typically revolve around the teacher explicitly teaching metacognitive strategies/skills that show students how to think about their thinking while reading. Students then move into their individualized reading (45 minutes) where they practice the skill or strategy learned in the mini-lesson with their own self-selected text. During the IDR time, I then individually assess students, work with small groups on specific strategies/skills, hold reading conferences, or work with guided reading groups. After IDR, students then come back to the carpet for our closing (7-10 minutes) where students share how they used the strategy taught in the mini-lesson during the IDR task time. Typically I change my IDR task every two to three weeks. For example, I may teach a novel study with the entire class that is of high interest and on grade level for two weeks. As a class we dissect the text while applying strategies and skills learned in our mini-lessons. I may then have kids do a partner study for two weeks where I partner kids according to reading level and common interests; these pairs then select a text to read together, while setting up dates to meet to discuss the book. Another two weeks might be dedicated to literature circles, where kids are put into groups of four to five and read the same text. I also do guided reading with students during a two to three week period as well ,where I pull students back in small groups to work with leveled texts while focusing instruction on reading strategies/skills that students have not yet mastered. While students are doing their IDR task, I am continuously formally and informally assessing their progress. I try to pay close attention to the texts they select so that I can further recommend other texts with similar topics, or try to make suggestions for new topics or genres.This reading structure is a work in progress. Although it sounds great on paper, I have come to realize that putting it in action is a lot more difficult and time consuming. I have found it very difficult to dedicate 70 minutes to my reading program each day because I have so much other “stuff” to get through (as mandated by the state). However, I know that by the end of each year my number one goal is to help students see that reading is a gift that keeps on giving. I feel that with time and experience, this foundation will be able to grow into a true reading program that will benefit all my students. As for now, I think this is a pretty good start!Outgoing Beliefs and PracticesAffirmationsHow I approach teaching reading with the Gradual Release of Responsibility ModelAspect of your teaching of reading affirmed by course materialOne aspect of my teaching that was affirmed through course material was the importance of implementing the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model during instruction. Whenever a new concept is being presented, it is important to go through the four stages of the Model: Demonstration, Shared, Guided, and Independent. During the demonstration phase, the teacher models the strategy or skill being taught, typically through a read aloud/think aloud. The next stage would be the teacher moving into a shared reading/interactive reading where the students help the teacher practice the new skill or strategy. Then, the teacher would move towards the guided stage: guided reading, reading conferences, etc. where the students work on the strategy or skill while the teacher provides assistance. The last stage is the independent stage where students are independently reading while practicing the skill or strategy that has been taught. My reading block is structured into three parts: mini-lesson (10-15 min), Individualized Task (40-50 minute), and Closing (10 minutes). This structure has allowed me to gradually release responsibility to my students as learners as I present a new skill or strategy to them during our mini-lesson. When I teach a new strategy or skill to my students I always begin my mini-lesson with a read aloud where I model the skill or strategy being taught. Since I teach older students, I can often transition into a shared reading with the same text, depending on the skill or strategy being taught. After the mini-lesson model/shared reading, I then ask students to work in partners or small groups on the task that has been introduced during their IDR time as I walk around and guide their thinking. After a partner or small group activity, students then pick a comfy spot in the room to read their self-selected text while practicing the new strategy or skill taught, independently. There are days where I can get through the entire GRR model; however, it is more common that I complete the model throughout the span of a week. Course material that affirmed that aspect of your teaching of readingMany of the course materials emphasized the importance of utilizing the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. Duke et al (2011), say that this model is part of the essential elements of fostering and teaching reading comprehension. In this article, it lists ten essential elements for reading comprehension but that these elements must be taught through using the GRR model in order for them to be effective. Likewise, Shanahan et all, (2010) agree in that “Teachers should help students learn how to use comprehension strategies through the gradual release of responsibility.” However, they argue that as you release responsibility to your students, you must keep in mind that students differ in the extent of modeling or support they need from their teachers which is why you must continually informally assess their progress to form small groups for further instruction. When reflecting on the course videos, the teacher from Austin, Texas who taught her students to be word detectives, really affirmed for me that I am implementing the GRR model well. I was able to see how another teacher scaffold her students thinking as she began by modeling, moved into a shared reading, allowed students to work in partners as she guided instruction, and then moved into independent work as they took on the role as word detectives. Not only was my current instructional practice affirmed, but I was also able to get new ideas on how to perfect this model as well. Apart from the course materials, I also attended three Professional Developments that my district offered during the duration of the course. During each PD, they always began by emphasizing the importance of the GRR model. During one of the trainings I was able to create a foldable of the model where I cut out different activities that I would do in my classroom and sort them as to where they would be on the continuum. This was helpful because it enabled me to reflect on my teaching and place them in the correct categories on this model to make sure I am utilizing it in the best way possible. How I motivate and engage students in the reading processAspect of your teaching of reading affirmed by course materialThe first day of every year I pass out a reading interview sheet for the students as well as for the parents. The reading interview asks kids about their previous reading experiences, if they enjoy reading or not, what their favorite book is, the last book they read, etc. I find it very important to ask the students and their parents to fill out this form so that I can get a better understanding of not just the child’s view of reading, but the parent’s view of their child’s reading. Throughout the first week of school I then have students fill out a “reading interests” sheet where they record topics that interest them, author’s that interest them, and/or genres that interest them. After students record information on this sheet, I then hold a reading conference with each student to discuss their interests and learn about them as a reader so that I can suggest books to them to start with at the beginning of the year. This gives me a chance to listen to the students and their interests, and then allows me to point them to a few baskets in the classroom library that they can start to look in to get their reading started. Then throughout the year the students continue to add to this list when they learn something new that interests them. This is also a place where I will look throughout the year during our conference time so that I can continue to see what their interests are to further recommend text to them. Course material that affirmed that aspect of your teaching of readingThroughout the year I bring in different texts that I am reading and talk to the students about them. In doing so, I share how as an adult, I love to read and explain to them why. I discuss how I stayed up all night reading, or had a dream about the characters, or I swear I am living in Forks, Washington with Bella and Edward, or that I dreamed I was fighting for my district in the Hunger Games last night. When they see me gushing about the text I am reading, I explicitly show the students how I fell in love with reading, and in turn showing them that they could fall in love with it too. I also hold reading conferences to set reasonable, individual goals with my students that they practice on their own during IDR time, so that when we meet again we reflect back on how they accomplished their goal, while setting a new one. During these conferences, students are able to see themselves succeed which in turn raises their self-efficacy and gives them a positive self-perception. The library in my classroom is open at the beginning and end of each day for 15 minutes each. This gives student’s ample time to browse through the wide range of texts, untimely self-selecting one they are interested in reading. I also form “Buddy Reading” groups where kids can select a book with a partner who has similar reading interests. These partner groups go back to the “Partner Book” section of the library, browse, and select a book that is interesting to the two of them. They then hold meetings to socially interact with one another about the book. Apart from the “Buddy Reading” I also allow for much discussion about books that we read as a class through mini-lessons, novel studies, literature circles, etc. Course material that affirmed that aspect of your teaching of readingThe course material really affirmed that I was allowing students opportunity to be motivated and engaged in reading. While reading the PowerPoint on Engagement and Motivation, I found that reading motivation is multifaceted and that in order for students to be engaged in reading the following need to be emphasized: self-efficacy, goal setting, expectancy-value, access to material, opportunity for self-selection, social interactions about books, positive self-perceptions, and incentives/rewards that suit the task at hand. It seems to me that I give many chances for students to see themselves be successful as readers through differentiated instruction. It is important to me that students have positive encounters with reading at all times so that they can feel comfortable in taking risks in their learning. In Chapter 5 of “Inquiry Circles in Action,” by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels (2009), they stress the importance of setting up an engaging environment for students with great text and resources that provide for rich instruction while also differentiating instruction for everyone. This idea fits perfectly with my current philosophy on teaching all subjects- it is important for all students to feel successful and in order for this to happen, I must provide them with high interest, quality text that are on their level through differentiating. I also believe that through constant dialogue with classmates and the teacher, I am able to foster a sense of passion, curiosity, and fun with integrated units. Julianne Turner and Scott Paris (1995), argue that the tasks we choose influence students motivation for literacy. They believe it is important to choose open tasks for students that do not have one right answer, yet allow for open ended responses that encourage discussion. These open tasks allow students to make personal choice, take control of their learning, allow for collaboration, consequences promote feelings of efficacy, and allow for constructive comprehension. Through integrated units, such as my slavery unit, I believe that I am capable of creating such open tasks for my students that allow them to fall in love not only with reading, but with learning. Nell Duke, et all (2006/2007) also discuss the idea that reading and writing activities must replicate activities that occur in the lives of people outside of a classroom context. Through my teaching, students and I set goals with one another that have a “big picture”. Students are able to see where they are going and the end result is always one that matters to them because it is open ended and open for interpretation. With Linda Gambrell’s (1996) article, I found that we both share similar thoughts creating a classroom culture that fosters the love of reading where students need the skill and the will to succeed. She argues that the engaged reader is motivated and therefore, I focus my instruction on selecting texts that will engage readers so that they will in turn be motivated to continue to find texts that help them stay engaged. It is a cycle that I will continue to stress in my classroom because I want all of my students to find that one book that opens the doors for them to fall in love with reading. How I approach teaching reading fluencyAspect of your teaching of reading affirmed by course materialMy current instruction involves many opportunities for students to practice their fluency with our “Song of the Week”, Choral Reading, Shared Reading, Reader’s Theatre, Buddy Reading with Kindergarteners, Poetry Reading, and Books on Tape. Each week I select a new song to introduce to the class that range in genre. On Monday I introduce the song to the students and draw on their prior knowledge with the topic of the song. Then on Tuesday-Thursday students practice singing the song during a shared reading/singing while also completing a reading or writing activity that goes with a skill or strategy being taught. On Friday, students sing the song for the last time as a class and then take a test on the strategy or skill that was taught with the song. ). I also do choral reading and poetry reading where students will read aloud a text with me in unison. In turn, I also incorporate Reader’s Theatre into my instruction where students are partnered up, choose a play to rehearse for the duration of a week and a half, create props/backgrounds, and then perform for their peers and/or family members at the end of the second week. Each year I also partner my students up with a kindergarten class to do buddy reading where my students select an independent level text to read aloud to their kinder buddy. Students practice accurate word recognition, automatic word recognition, and prosody/inflection with each of these fluency activities that we do in the classroom. Course material that affirmed that aspect of your teaching of readingThe course readings stressed the importance of building vocabulary and fluency because they directly influence students reading comprehension, “Assessment for Reading Instruction” (2009). Timothy Rasinski (2006), discussed that kids must be capable to decode words, then put them together in meaningful phrases with appropriate expression to make sense of what they are reading. He also said that accuracy, automaticity and prosody should occur in unison and my current fluency instruction enables kids to do so. He says that good instruction allows for rereading’s that focus on the end result, or a performance and our Reader’s Theatre allows for just that as students read for expression and meaning, not speed. Joe Worthy and Karen Broaddus (2001) also agree with the importance of reading performance. They describe that a teacher needs to select text with the students, listen and give them feedback. While students are working on their Reader’s Theatre in partners, I have meetings with each group to give them feedback prior to their performance. In this article, they also say that a teacher should model fluency during read alouds which fits in perfectly with my mini-lessons during my reading instruction time. QuestionsHow I approach teaching vocabularyAspect of your teaching of reading drawn into question by course materialWhile reflecting on my approach to teaching vocabulary, I questioned my current practice and realized that I needed to fix it in order to better assist my students. My current vocabulary instruction focused on selecting vocabulary words from our weekly shared readings (typically from our “Song of the Week”). Monday was vocabulary day where students would be introduced to the song and five new vocabulary words that were in it. Students would get out five note cards, write the word on one side, turn it over and write the definition for the word, use it in a sentence, and draw a picture of its meaning. Students then added their cards onto a metal ring which held all of their vocabulary words from previous “Song of the Week’s”. Apart from our “Song of the Week” vocabulary, I also taught Social Studies vocabulary at the beginning of each unit. Typically I would introduce a vocabulary word using a PowerPoint which had the word, its definition, and a picture to go along with it; students usually created a foldable to help them organize their new vocabulary words and would then glue their foldable into their interactive spirals. After reading the course material, I began to question my approach to teaching vocabulary and realized that I have not been fostering word consciousness that gets kids to fall in love with words. Course material that drew into question that aspect of your teaching of readingStahl and Bravo (2010) argue that vocabulary knowledge is highly linked to reading comprehension and that word learning happens incrementally. They also say that learning the vocabulary of a discipline should be thought of as learning about the interconnectedness of ideas and concepts indexed by words. As I reflected on my ELA and Social Studies vocabulary instruction, I knew I had room for improvement because I need to start focusing on connecting ideas and concepts of vocabulary words taught. Michael Graves and Susan Watts-Taffe’s article on the love of words (2008) really spoke to me when it comes to vocabulary instruction in the classroom. They argue that the framework for fostering word consciousness is as follows: create a word-rich environment, recognize and promote adept diction, promote word play, foster word consciousness through writing, involve kids in original investigations, and to teach kids about words. They begin by asking teachers to reflect on what their classroom looks like in terms of promoting the love of words. It is here that I instantly began to question my vocabulary instruction. The say that it is important for teachers to model finding new words during a read aloud and/or repeated read alouds where they explain the meaning of a new word, give examples, and then have students make connections with their self and the new word learned. They suggest having students create a journal or word log to record new and interesting words that they find in and out of school to promote the love for vocabulary. After watching the course video of the teaching in Austin, Texas, I again found myself rethinking my vocabulary instruction. In the video, the teacher explained to students that they were word detectives while teaching them to be curious about words. She began by modeling what to do when you come across and interesting word and how you can go about figuring out what that word means while using graphic organizers to sort out their thinking. Throughout the video she celebrated learning new words and you can tell she explicitly taught the students how to form a true love for learning new words. How I approach authentic reading assessment and disaggregate dataAspect of your teaching of reading drawn into question by course materialWithin the first week of school one of our Peer Facilitators STARR tests each of my students (a computer based test which assesses students current reading level) in order to give them their Accelerated Reader “dot level” for the beginning of the year. Although I do not see this test serving as an authentic assessment for their reading level, it does however give me a good idea of where to start when I WRAP assess each of my students. I then disaggregate the data from the WRAP test in order to form small groups for further instruction. Throughout the year I WRAP test my students 3 times: in the beginning, middle, and end of the year, in order to show student growth.As the year progresses, I am constantly formally and informally assessing my students. Each of my students has a Readers Notebook in which they record all work during our reader’s workshop. The notebook is comprised of 3 sections: reading log, reading goals, and reader responses (IDR task sheet, sticky note tracker sheet, reader response topics). The reading log allows students to write down each book they read while deciding its genre and if it was easy, just right, or challenging. I use this because it allows students and the teacher to reflect on their reading and if they need to broaden their reading selections. The reading goals sheet is used during the student/teacher conference; it is here that the teacher and the student decide on goals the student needs to work on until our next meeting. After I listen to a student read aloud to me during our reading conference, the student and I decide upon reasonable goals to work on to help improve their reading. These goals may consist of word attack and fluency goals, genre goals, thinking goals, and/or reading behavior goals. Since each student has different needs, this conference really helps the reader and me to work one-on-one with specifics that will benefit them individually. Lastly, the reader response section is an area where students show their thinking as they are reading because I cannot meet with each student every day, therefore, this holds students accountable for their learning and for practicing the goals the teacher and student set during the conference. For example, I may ask the students to use sticky notes to show how they are practicing the strategy/skill taught in the mini-lesson while they read during IDR time, or maybe I pose an open ended question that they will write about on their IDR task sheet. On top of that, when a student finishes a book, they then are asked to write a formal letter to the teacher which follows the “letter format” (see reader’s response letter). I then use a rubric to assess the letters written. The letters help me to assess comprehension, as well as reading strategies and skills we have been working on, as they incorporate them in their letter (ex. making meaningful connections). Apart from the Readers Notebook, I also assess students through conversations, running records, reading partnerships, ongoing projects that are scored with rubrics, and open-ended questions. I use various types of assessments so that I can get a well-rounded idea of each student’s strengths and weaknesses and then use this information to form small groups to work on strategies/skills. Our school also encourages teachers to assess students through the Accelerated Reader Program. I do not necessarily encourage this assessment in my classroom simply because I do not fully agree with it. When a child finishes reading a book that they had a strong connection with, they do not want to take a test on it, they want to talk about it! This is where I find it important to have students partner up with other students to read the same book. This way, when they finish reading the book they can meet and talk about it. I will then sit in on their conversation to help guide their conversation, while asking open ended questions to further their thinking on the text. I find it very important to continually assess each student daily in order to then form further instruction that is tailored to each child’s unique learning needs.Course material that drew into question that aspect of your teaching of readingI always pictured assessment and evaluation as being interchangeable words. It wasn’t until after reading Chapter 12 Inquiry Circle Assessment (2009) that my idea of these two words changed. Assessment happens all day, every day as we listen to students thinking and understanding, whereas evaluation puts a grade on students work. In my classroom, I assess students by listening to kids, reading their work, conferencing with them, listening in on partnership conversations, and observing their behaviors and expressions. I evaluate students through post-it notes, think sheets, short and long summary responses, notes from discussions, thoughtful illustrations, and journal/notebook entries and are evaluated by using rubrics that directly correspond with and measure what I have taught during mini-lessons. After completing the course materials, I found that I am doing many things right when it comes to assessing my students, but it also changed my thinking about how I assess them as well. While analyzing my own reading assessment program, there are many things that I will continue to do the same. For example, I will continue to WRAP test my students at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. At the beginning of the year I WRAP test my students and I am listening for each of the 5 “Pillars” mentioned in the “Teaching Children to Read” video: comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and phonics. WRAP testing my students within the first two weeks of school enables to me get to know my students as readers so that I can further form guided reading groups for small group instruction to work on skills/strategies that kids are struggling with. It also helps me to see who my high readers are so that I can find more challenging texts for them. I will also continue to use a Reader’s Notebook for each of my students. The reader’s notebook is a great place to track students reading, their goals, and how they are applying skills/strategies learned in our mini-lessons to their individualized text for IDR time. Reading partnerships will also stay a part of my reading program. I find that when I partner students up with someone who is on their same reading level and has similar interests in texts, that they are capable of having in-depth conversations about books with proper scaffolding. This is a great way to informally assess my students on strategies/skills practiced in our mini-lessons as well as I listen in on their conversations. Conferencing with my students will also continue to serve as one of the most important parts of my assessment program because it allows me to collect data about each one of my students. It is during these conferences that I am able to hear students read aloud to me so that I can take notes on their strengths and weaknesses. However, after reading Paul Boyd-Bastone’s (2004) article on authentic assessment, I realize that I need to start having a focus for my conferences in order to benefit the studentsAfter collecting data, it is important to then analyze it. This part of the assessment process has always been one that I have had a hard time with. When I look at data I have gathered, I find it difficult to organize it in a meaningful way. After reading Rubin’s article on “Organizing and Evaluating Results from Multiple Reading Assessments” (2011), I was able to gather some valuable ideas that I can use in my own classroom. I really liked how he suggested using 3 other types of assessment apart from standardized tests: cloze tests, informal reading inventories, and running records. Although I have never used a cloze test, I have used informal reading inventories and running records to help me focus on analyzing comprehension and fluency. Yet, after I collected this data, it simply sat in the students file folder without serving a purpose which did not help me or my students this year in any way.As Boyd-Baststone suggests, there are three primary applications of focused ARA: formative assessment, summative assessment, and a combination of both. I believe that I am doing a pretty good job using formative assessments which help me to determine instruction that matches the strengths and needs of my students; however, I think I could do a better job with summative assessments. After thinking about how to collect, organize, and interpret data, as suggested by Boyd-Baststone and Rubin, I then began to think about how I could promote inquiry within my classroom and how I could assess that as well. After reading Chapter 12 Inquiry Circles Assessment (2009), I found many things to be interesting. Most importantly, I could relate to the idea that as a teacher, we always “teach with an end in mind”. However, this chapter argues that we should have valid instructional goals, but also leave space for authentic discovery. I really agree with the idea that if we want passion and inquiry, then we must allow the kids to enter into unchartered territory, yet, this inquiry type lesson seems to be very difficult to assess. How I approach teaching Literature CirclesAspect of your teaching of reading drawn into question by course materialEach year I structure my reading so that I alternate between guided reading, independent reading, and literature circles during two week periods. During a two week period of literature circles, I will start off by introducing “jobs” the week before we start to break into 4 or 5 groups. The jobs that I have students practice are a discussion director, summarizer, vocabulary enricher, illustrator, connector, and questioner. After spending a week practicing and going over each job, I then do a book talk about the 4 or 5 books that are of choice for literature circles. After listening to the book talk, students then use a notecard to write their top three choices that they would like to read. Students find out on Monday which book they will be reading and have an initial meeting with their group to make predictions about the book and to get acquainted with their group mates. Prior to Monday, I make a set schedule for students so that they know exactly how many pages to read each day and what their jobs will be. I then have each group meet on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s to discuss their book and their jobs. Course material that drew into question that aspect of your teaching of readingAfter reading “Inquiry Circles in Action” by Harvey and Harvey (2009), and watching the video of the teacher in Hawaii, I began to question my current literature circle instruction. In the video, the teacher does not assign jobs that students must talk about as they meet with their group. While observing her students discussions, I noticed that the flow of their conversation was very smooth and natural; it was like a book club for adults! I also realized that her students were able to hold this conversation because they didn’t have random “jobs” to discuss that were unnatural and disrupted their actual feelings and thinking about the texts. I also appreciated the fact that she chose books that had similar themes, so that she could have taught each group about that specific theme and have them compare and contrast their books based on the theme. It then dawned on me that this would be a great lead into an inquiry circles group, based on themes in the literature circle group.I had never head of inquiry circle groups until I was introduced to the text “Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action”, by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels (2009). After reading this book, I knew that I had to somehow incorporate these into my current practice because it hits on every aspect of being an effective teacher as suggested by other course materials such as, Timothy Blair, et all (2007) six key elements in a successful reading program and Richard Allington’s (2002) 6 T’s for effective reading instruction. I was reaffirmed that connecting literature circles to inquiry circles after reading chapter 10 of Harvey and Harvey (2009) titled, “Literature Circle Inquiries”. In this chapter, it is suggested that teachers de-emphasis job sheets, use more graphic responses, explicitly teach social skills, use various types of texts- not just novels, use more non-fiction texts, integrate other content areas, allow for discussion and written conversation, use themes to center your texts around, allow for more authentic assessments that are driven toward performance, and ultimately move from books to topics to form literature circles to broader inquiry circles. Plan of ActionAffirmations- based on each affirmation, what do I plan to do now and how will it help me move forward professionally? (Scheduled to host a professional development in our district in the fall, which focuses on shared reading through the music, poetry, art pieces, and non-fiction texts.)The three topics that were affirmed from our course material was how I approach teaching reading with the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, motivating and engaging students in the reading process, and fluency instruction. During my three years of teaching, I have created and continued to build upon this idea I had of the “Song of the Week”. Each week I select a new song to introduce to the class that range in genre. On Monday I introduce the song to the students and draw on their prior knowledge with the topic of the song. Then on Tuesday-Thursday students practice singing the song during a shared reading/singing while also completing a reading or writing activity that goes with a skill or strategy being taught. On Friday, students sing the song for the last time as a class and then take a test on the strategy or skill that was taught with the song. I have found that the “Song of the Week” hits each one of the affirmations I had in this course: it is structured by the GRR model, it is motivating and engaging, and it also works on student’s fluency while being geared towards performance. Prior to school being let out in June, I contacted our district Literacy Specialist, Traci Powell, and told her that I was interested in presenting a Professional Development for my “Song of the Week” idea. After presenting the idea to her and submitting an example, she liked it so much that she asked me to work on a curriculum writing team. On this team, I am responsible for developing a “Shared Reading” for each week for next year for second, third, and fourth grade for the entire Pasadena District to use! This “Shared Reading” takes my “Song of the Week” idea and I have combined it to alternate between songs, poetry, art pieces, and non-fiction texts. The “Shared Reading” follows our TEK’s and supports reading strategies and skills that the teachers are teaching throughout the school year. It is a very exciting, yet overwhelming task because I am developing these lesson plans all by myself. Even though my initial plan was to do a Professional Development on my “Song of the Week”, this opportunity has allowed me to bring in various medias that touch on the arts and are engaging and motivating for kids. It has made me rethink how I teach with only songs and has opened my mind up to teaching with poetry, music, art, and non-fiction texts. The literacy specialist and I will be presenting the “Shared Reading” at a district wide professional development in the fall of this coming school year. I am so excited to be moving towards my professional goals- to be a literacy specialist, to write curriculum, and to host professional developments’ for teacher growth based on current research. It is nice to know I am on the right track.Questions- what will I do to improve these areas of teaching, how I will do it, and when I will do it. How I will approach teaching vocabularyThe stages of word recognition helped me to see where students could be on a continuum of vocabulary development. Although I teach content area vocabulary in my classroom, I do not however help students fall in love with words. I really liked the “For Love of Words…” article and took a lot from it to use in my own vocabulary teaching. Although I have always been told that word walls are a great resource for kids, they always seem like a daunting task to keep up with. However, I really liked the idea of having the kids responsible for creating and maintaining the walls! Since I will have a writing, social studies, and science station in my classroom next year, I plan to have students create word walls for each station as the background. I also plan to keep a file cabinet next to my writing station where students help me to create word folders to draw out when they are working on writing in that station. These folders may include topics such as, exploring words, mystery genre, etc. I also like the idea of keeping a word log in their Writer’s Workshop journal that they can add to throughout the year. I will also stock up on words games too, so that when students have finished their work they can immerse themselves in world play games that build their love for learning. Yet, when it comes to explicitly teaching vocabulary, I found that I really needed to watch another teacher and how they tackled the idea. I really found the video on vocabulary development to be very useful because it showed me how to use the Gradual Release of Responsibility when teaching new vocabulary terms. I really like that she used the term “Word Detectives” when teaching kids about using context clues while also providing them with a graphic organizer to determine new word meanings. I plan to use the mind mapping graphic organizer myself and really think my students will benefit from this organizer. How I will approach authentic reading assessment and disaggregate dataStarting at the beginning of next school year I plan to implement what I have learned about authentic assessment. I am going to start structuring my conferences on establishing a focus for my observation based on content standards prior to listening to my students read. Typically I would listen to a student read aloud to me during a conference and I wouldn’t have a focus of what I was looking for. My notes seemed to be all over the place and I found that I had a difficult time analyzing my data after I had collected it. I also really liked the idea of recording observation notes on sticky labels. I now plan to get a large teacher binder where I have a pocket divider for each student. While holding conferences with my students, I plan to walk around with a clipboard and sticky labels. After preselecting 5 students to observe for the day (as suggested by Boyd-Batstone 2004), I will record my observations on a sticky label and then put them in my teacher binder behind the correct student pocket divider. This will help me to stay organized, but also allow me to be able to further analyze my data. On top of that, I truly liked how Boyd-Batstone suggested making your notes short and to the point. I plan to use meaningful verbs for writing anecdotal records that will stem from my TEK’s. Using specific, meaningful verbs will enable me to paint a picture of each reader to better help me understand their strengths and weaknesses. I also like his idea of using abbreviations; however, I think that I would need to develop my own system in order for this to benefit me.With Rubin’s advice (2011), I now plan to make an excel spreadsheet for each of my students which maps scores of reading assessment to reading ability level. I really like how he took each type of assessment and put it on one spreadsheet to compare the students reading ability using all types of assessments, rather than judging the students ability based on one assessment, such as the standardized test. Setting a spreadsheet up, such as the one Rubin suggests, is a good way to get a complete picture of each student as a reader while identifying their text-level reading ability: frustration, instructional, or independent. I also really like the idea of taking all of that information gathered from the assessments and making a scatter plot class profile sheet which represents class composite scores. This is a great visual of where your class stands when it comes to reading assessment. All in all, I really appreciated Rubin’s suggestions for organizing your data once you have collected it- which is something I have always struggled with. In order to have appropriate data of student progress to show parents and families during conferences, I think I would really like to try to do student portfolios this coming year. However, I would like to not only include pieces of formative assessments from my own observations, but also have students select their own work to put into their portfolio which they think shows their own growth in their learning throughout the year. This way, their portfolio will be comprised of actual data and authentic student work that they are proud of. After reading chapter 12 of “Inquiry Circles” (2009), I was given some ideas to use next year in my classroom with small inquiry groups. Although I already do small group work, I plan to restructure how I organize my small groups and their meetings. While students work in small groups there often tends to be a lack of individual accountability, therefore prior to implementing small group work, there is much that needs to be preplanned. I will keep my group size small (3-4 kids), use written work plans and checkpoints for individuals as well as the group, based on a set schedule; make crystal clear grading standards while co-creating a clear, simple, focused rubric with the students that evaluates immersion, investigation, coalescing, and going public; observe group meetings; have check-up conferences with individuals, and hold commitment ceremonies. I also think it is important to show good work samples so students know what “good work” looks like and what is expected from them.How I will approach teaching Literature Circles/ Inquiry CirclesAfter reflecting on course material, I plan to continue to rotate my reading instruction between guided reading, independent reading, literature circles, and inquiry circles. It is my plan that I will now start a literature circle group that can then transition into an inquiry circle group. Instead of allowing for a two week time frame for this group, I will extend it to a three of four week project. I plan to find novels that have similar themes, do a book talk about each one, and then let students select their top three choices. I will then form groups based on their choices. I have also learned that if a low student is desperate to read a book out of their reading level, I will try to get that book on tape for them if at all possible. After forming groups, I plan to get rid of the job sheets, and instead have students use sticky notes, bookmarks, text annotations, and journals to record their thinking about the text. I also plan to have students take more ownership in creating a schedule that works best for them as they decide how many pages they will read and when they will have their group meetings to discuss their book. At the end of reading their book, groups will meet to have a final discussion where they use a consensus board to write down an overarching theme or topic they wish to further discuss about their book.As students create an overarching question that they are interested in learning more about, that also relates to the novel they just read together, these groups will then form into inquiry circle groups where they research about their overarching question using various resources. For example, in the book “There’s a Boy in the Girls Bathroom” by Louis Sachar, a common theme found throughout is the idea of bullying. It is my hopes that students would form an overarching question about bullying and why there are bullies in schools or even in the real world. From there, students could begin to research, using various resources like the computer, non-fiction texts, Time for Kids, magazines, newspapers, etc., to help them research about their topic. I would then push students to further their thinking by asking them to relate this idea of bullying to something that has happened in history where a group of people may have been bullied (i.e. the Holocaust). This way I can begin to integrate other content areas as students are engaged and motivated in the task at hand while researching through various resources. I plan to start this in November or December. ReferencesAllington, R.L. (2002). What I’ve Learned About Effective Reading Instruction from a Decade of Studying Exemplary Classroom Teachers. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 740-747. Blair, T.R., Rupley, W.H., & Nichols, W.D. (2007). The Effective Teacher of Reading: Considering the “What” and “How” of Instruction. The Reading Teacher, 60(5), 432-438.Boyd-Batstone, P. (2004). Focused Anecdotal Records Assessment: A Tool for Standards-based Authentic Assessment. The Reading Teacher, 49(3), 182-190.Duke, N.K., Pearson, P.D., Strachan, S.L., & Billman, A.K. (2011). Essential Elements of Fostering and Teaching Reading Comprehension. In A.E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Duke, N.K., Purcell-Gates, V., Hall, L.A., & Tower, C. (2006-2007). Authentic Literacy Activities for Developing Comprehension and Writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 344-355.Gambrell, L.B. (1996). Creating Classroom Cultures that Foster Reading Motivation. The Reading Teacher, 50(1), 14-25.Graves, M.F. & Watts-Taffe, S. (2008). For the Love of Words: Fostering Word Consciousness in Young Readers. The Reading Teacher, 62(3), 185-193.Harvey, S., & Daniels, H. (2009). Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Rasinski, T. (2006). Reading Fluency Instruction: Moving Beyond Accuracy, Automaticity, and Prosody. The Reading Teaching, 59(7), 704-706.Rubin, J. (2011). Organizing and Evaluating Results from Multiple Reading Assessments. The Reading Teacher, 64(8), 606-611.Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N.K., Pearson, P.D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade: A Practice Guide (NCEE 2010-4038).Stahl, K.A., & Bravo, M.A. (2010). Contemporary Classroom Vocabulary Assessment for Content Areas. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 566-578.Stahl, K.A.D., & McKenna, M.C. (2009). Assessment for Reading Instruction (2nd Edition). New York, NY: Guilford. Turner, J., & Paris, S.G. (1995). How Literacy Tasks Influence Children’s Motivation for Literacy. The Reading Teacher, 48(8), 662-673.Worthy, J., & Broaddus, K. (2001). Fluency Beyond the Primary Grades: From Group Performance to Silent, Independent Reading. The Reading Teacher, 55(4), 334-343. ................
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