Answer to Question 1: Crucial Literacy Understandings for ...



RE 5100

Teaching Beginning Readers and Writers

Mid-term Exam

Cheryl L. Gaines

Answer to Question 1: Crucial Literacy Understandings for Kindergarteners

The crucial literacy understandings children should develop in kindergarten to become successful readers fall into two categories: print awareness and appreciation (an attitude of literacy.)

First, children should acquire a sense of print awareness by learning to recognize the (1) structural elements and (2) organization of print. They accomplish this by gaining a basic phonemic and phonological understanding of the alphabet and learning how print works. Kindergarten children should be able to recognize and write most of the alphabet. They should understand that each alphabet “letter” represents a specific sound and each segment of sound can be put with others to form “words.” They should have an awareness of how words work to form sentences and stories. Children need to know that: words are separated by spaces, sentences are read from left to right, punctuation may designate the end of a sentence, but not necessarily a thought, a book is read from front to back, and written stories have a rhythm different from spoken language. Kindergarten children who understand these concepts about print have a strong foundation for future literacy development.

Children also need to develop a positive attitude toward print. A purpose for reading must be established which goes beyond the systematic drill of learning letters and words for children to acquire an appreciation for print and be motivated to read and write. Many children who live in a print-rich environment acquire this knowledge prior to starting school, but for those who do not, kindergarten is a crucial year in this development. These children must be exposed to a wide variety of print and given many opportunities to experience stories and writing.

A variety of teaching methods provide opportunities for the development of print awareness and appreciation. Using the language experience approach, the teacher offers students an experience, and then writes a few sentences (suggested by students) on the board about the experience. Through finger-point reading and beginning consonant identification students learn to recognize letter sounds, words with similar beginnings, frequent sight words, and the direction and method of reading. The words are meaningful and students look forward to writing about other experiences. Posting labels around the room is another meaningful way of teaching students to recognize and appreciate print.

With big books, students experience different aspects of a book through interesting reading like the concept of story from beginning to end, the rhythm of the written word, and new vocabulary by watching the teacher finger-point read. Children can experience practice with beginning consonant sounds and word recognition as they are actively engaged in reading. Predictable books can also be used to teach print concepts, phonemic awareness, and sight words. Re-reading stories help children learn frequently used words, as well as, increase comprehension.

Matching picture cards to alphabet letters by sounding out beginning sounds is a direct method of phonics instructions which helps children to develop phonemic awareness of letters and their sounds. Songs or rhymes can also be used to teach letter-sound knowledge and word parts.

Finally, inventive spelling encourages children to write even before they can fully read. It promotes letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, and allows children to connect writing to personal experiences, giving them a purpose for reading and writing.

By the end of kindergarten, children should be able to identify most of the alphabet, some sight words, and begin spelling words using sound knowledge. Their levels of proficiency can be assessed through several exercises administered individually to each student. To begin, ask a student to identify the upper, then lower case alphabet letter in random order. Have the student write lower case letters as they are called out. The student should be able to identify at least twenty-two of the lower case letters by the end of the year. Next, find out the how well the student understands words in text by having him read several sentences (after the teacher) while finger-pointing. Ask the student to identify a couple of target words in each sentence. A proficient student will be able to finger-point read the sentences and identify most of the target words. Next, have the student attempt to spell six dictated words by sounding out the letters. The student should be able to come up with correct beginning and some ending sounds. Vowel sounds are great, but not crucial at this point. Finally, have the student attempt to read five sight words and five decodable words. A success rate of 5 or more words means the child can probably read a little. These tests can be used at the beginning, middle and end of kindergarten to assess growth and are great predictors of 1st grade reading success.

Answer to Question 2: Reading Materials and Instruction Needed by Struggling Readers

Trends in reading for the past 50 years can shed light on materials and instructional methods needed by struggling readers today. In the 50’s and 60’s, school’s used Dick and Jane books which were leveled and used frequently occurring words. However, the language was unnatural and difficult to decode, as frequently used words are not easily decodable. Phonics was taught at such a gradual rate that students didn’t have the skills to decode very much, anyway. As a result, students with low visual memories couldn’t learn quickly enough and were not successful. Students with high visual memories, memorized words, but couldn’t transfer the knowledge to natural language books. The stories reflected the simple life of average white children, but did not reflect ALL cultures. Therefore, many students could not relate. The stories were not “politically correct” and did not offer the same level of success to all students. Struggling readers fell behind, so more direct phonics instruction was added resulting in higher levels of success for low readers. This shows the importance of direct, systematic phonics instruction. It didn’t last. Lessons were scripted for teachers and there was a huge emphasis on phonics instruction and unit tests. Teachers began looking for something better.

By the late 80’s and 90’s a new wave of reading instruction was taking over which empowered teachers and allowed them to choose more interesting literature. This was the whole language movement using predictable books. The literature was better and more meaningful to a wider variety of students, but there was no word control and phonics was only taught in context. Ability grouping was discouraged and all levels of readers were clumped together in whole groups to learn. By doing this, teachers were unable to deal with students’ needs at various levels. Whole language without systematic phonics instruction did not bring about the gains expected. In fact, in many cases, scores fell, especially among the struggling readers. Whole language had some good ideas like creating better literature for instruction and making it meaningful to every student. However, teaching students of differing abilities to read through whole class instruction couldn’t work, because it did not meet the needs of every child. Also, the de-emphasis on phonics was a huge step backwards. Children were not being given the tools necessary to decode words.

This became clear toward the end of the 90’s and by 2000 phonics was put back into basal readers. There was a re-emphasis on systematic phonics instruction. Decodable books are now used with beginning readers. A sound is taught. A decodable book with that sound is read. Then, a new sound is taught and the student is forced to move on. There is no repetition for struggling readers. Decodable books generally have unnatural, uninteresting language. When natural language books are introduced, struggling readers can’t make the transition and fall behind. Phonics is back, but the interesting, predictable books for beginning readers are lost. This makes it hard for struggling readers to transition into natural language books. Also, the phonics instructions is done in a way that assumes every reader will learn a concept at the same level, not allowing for slower learners.

After analyzing these trends, I believe we must find a balance which incorporates both phonics instruction and the meaningful literature of whole language to meet the needs of struggling readers in first grade. There should be a balance between small group and whole class instruction. The language experience approach and big books can be used with a whole class. All leveled students can learn from teacher modeling and input from other students. Then, break off into groups for more systematic phonics instruction, word study, and guided reading and writing. Students should be placed into reading groups by ability so teachers can meet the needs of each student. This can be accomplished as students rotate in small groups through various centers, or seatwork while the teacher works with one reading group. Students must be taught to read at their instructional levels to produce growth. Otherwise, struggling readers get left behind, while advanced readers become disinterested if they are not being challenged. Beginning readers, especially ones struggling, need interesting, meaningful reading materials which are natural and predictable, but contain some word control and repetition. Books should be leveled, so student can be taught at the proper instructional level and move at a suitable pace. Interesting books allow students to identify with the text and begin processing the print beyond word identification. This will not only raise levels of comprehension, but students will also begin to perceive reading as a worthwhile activity and be motivated to experience and learn more. Thus encouraging them to independently decode and learn more words.

Answer to Question 3: Analysis of Routman’s Reading Program

Routman’s reading program attempted to meld whole language with some traditional aspects of first grade by including small ability reading groups and teaching “some” phonics. Her program emphasized whole group instruction for reading which was called “shared book time.” Out of a 2 ½ hour period, one hour was spent in whole group instruction. During this time, the teacher shared big books and many other types of books, including ones written and illustrated by the students, for most of the period. While sharing these high-interest books, she utilized higher level questioning techniques to teach students to think beyond the text and integrated word attack skills within the context of the reading. There was also some collaborative writing done, but minimal isolated phonics instruction (4 minutes). It was used mainly as a transition time between reading and writing because the students enjoy the upbeat drills and activities used.

There was much strength to Routman’s program. First, it was a literature-rich program based upon the notion that children need to be saturated with interesting reading to develop not only the ability to read, but a love for reading. The shared book time helped to develop a sense of community in a non-threatening atmosphere where students felt supported and safe and were, therefore, willing to take chances. This generally transferred over into the small group instruction. Small groups were developed based on ability levels so the teachers could provide appropriate leveled reading materials for each group and the students were allowed to rotate into other groups as needed based on their growth. Routman’s program included an ample amount of repetition through re-reading of books to help students develop word recognition skills and learn new vocabulary. After a new book was introduced and read by the teacher, students were given opportunities to read within their groups, with partners, and with family members until even low-achieving students could eventually read the books on their own. While a student was reading, other students were not allowed to jump in and help. Only the teacher could guide the reading, helping the student over difficult vocabulary. This was good. It caused the student to have to work through the meaning instead of it being automatically given to him. Routman avoided the problem of low self-esteem from ability grouping by using interesting literature and predictable books for all groups, and making these books available to all students for check out. Since the books were available to all students, they were not seen as leveled readers, identifying some as low readers and others as advanced. Another strength of her program was the one-on-one conferencing during journaling time. I think this allows the teacher to easily assess the students’ understandings of the literature and skills covered during whole group instruction and it offers the students many opportunities to write.

The weakness of Routman’s program was the phonics instruction. She believed there had been an over emphasis on skill-based learning in the past and that NO skill should be taught in isolation. In fact, Routman states that she “believes this kind of teaching was no longer necessary,” even though she admitted that phonics instruction had positive effects on children’s writing. Other than the four minutes of phonics practice during the whole group instruction, phonics and other developmental reading skills were only taught in the context of literature. This is not enough time for phonics instruction, especially for the low-achieving reader. In her article, Routman admitted that low-achieving readers needed reinforcement of phonics and word attack skills in small groups. However, the entire small group time was spent reading predictable books (even low readers) so the reinforcement of phonics had to occur within the context of reading and not as direct instruction. This doesn’t work with low readers. They need a more systematic method of skill-based instruction along with the literature-rich environment. Routman stressed meaning over phonics and felt children should learn to read first and then be taught phonics because they could make more sense of it at that time. She believed low readers needed the added cues found in literature to learn new words. However, if students read prior to phonics instruction, every word they know would be sight words. It seemed to work in her program, but I worry that struggling readers were just memorizing the stories though the vast amount of repetition and were not really learning how to read. Low level readers need to be taught how to attack new words and begin to figure words out (decode) for themselves.

Overall, I think Routman’s program was a good one except for the lack of systematic phonics instruction. Small group time could be utilized better by including direct phonics instruction.

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