Connie Henderson - Appalachian State University



Connie Henderson

Final Exam

RE 5100

Dr. Gill

Fall 2009

Connie Henderson RE 5100 Final Exam Dr. Gill Fall 2009

Emergent Readers

(To teach the alphabet the teacher needs to provide a strip to each child with the upper case letters written on it. It is used in teaching the alphabet, along with the ABC song, to use as a tool for the child to check his guesses as he is learning the alphabet.)

1. Children learning the alphabet need to compare and contrast:

a. The distinctive features of each letter in contrast to other letters. This can only be done while comparing letters to other letters. Children need to begin with A, B, C, and D. To learn a letter the child need to learn what, for example, makes an A an A by comparing it to other letters he is learning. This can be done sorting multiples of his letters under the letters he is working with. Given a chance to with work different letters, compare them, and chances to hypothesize, a child will build up a sense of “A ness.” He must learn what can change and what must stay the same for an A to be an A.

b. Part of his practice with letters should include showing him different fonts of each letter. This can be done once he has learned a set of letters like A, B, C, and D. Again by comparing his standard to new fonts of the letter he will learn and have reinforced what are the distinctive features of each letter, what has to be there to make it a particular letter that letter. This can be done in a sorting activity sorting the different fonts of a letter under the standard. In the example from class of a child seeing a cow, then a horse the child must see enough cows to know what makes a cow a cow.

c. The next step is having the child practice writing the letters he is learning and comparing his letter to the standard. The teacher can call out a letter and the child tries to write it without looking at the standard. This is another way the child hypothesizes about how a letter looks. He tries using what he knows. Then he checks to see if his guess is right. When he guesses he is using his prior knowledge and hypothesizes as he tries out what he thinks. This helps give the child the distinctive features of a letter and helps him begin to make those letters on his own.

B. To assess a classroom of kindergarteners to determine their alphabet knowledge I would give them a simple spelling test. I would use dividers so they could not see each other’s papers or copy. If I couldn’t manage that I would work with small groups to be sure they were not copying. The teacher should model how to spell a word on the board then tell the children she wants them to try spelling some words in their best kid spelling. Every Child Reading has a good list of 6 words to use for this test on page 32. Depending upon how a child does (if the test shows he is in the initial consonant stage or lower) the teacher tries to have the student say the alphabet in order and track it. The Alphabet Recognition Test on page 66 of The Howard Street Tutoring Manual can be used to assess alphabet knowledge. Start with the lower case letters because if he knows them he probably knows the upper case letters. Point to the letters and have him say the name of the letter. The teacher notes his answers on her copy. This same page can be used to call out the upper and lower case letters in random order and have him write them. The teacher may end up with 4 groups of K students: (1.) Students who can’t track the alphabet as they say it, (2.) Students who can track but don’t know all the upper case letters. (3.) Students who know all upper case but are working on learning all the lower case letters, and (4.) Students who know all the upper and lower case letters.

C. Describe how to teach and give rationale for teaching students:

a. To name the letters in order as the track them Children need to be able to sing the ABC song and track the letters along a strip with the upper case letters written on it because the first step in learning to read is to be able to know the letter names when they see letters in print. When a student knows the names of the letters he can begin letter name spelling.

b. To recognize letters in isolation they must be able to recognize letters in isolation because reading requires them to transfer the letter names into print where they will learn to attach sound to the letters. To teach letters the teacher writes a letter on the board. The students think about what that letter might be. The teacher has them call out the name of the letter and check their guess by using their individual alphabet strips to track to the letter and check their guess.

c. To produce letters in isolation They have to be able to produce letters isolation to show they know that letters so they can recognize them in print and use them to write. To teach letter production the teacher can call out a letter and have the students try to make that letter on paper. They use their alphabet strip to track to that letter and check their hypothesis to see if they wrote the letter the teacher called out.

d. To sort letters Children must be able to sort letters to show they know the distinctive features of that letter compared to other letters. They show they know what makes an A an A, what has to stay the same. Letter sorts can be used with 4 or 5 letters at first. When the students can sort 4or 5 different letters successfully the teacher can include different fonts of each letter to give more practice with the distinctive features of each letter and give students a chance to sure up his knowledge of these letters before going on to new letters.

e. To sort letters for speed They need to be able to sort letters for speed to show they can automatically recognize the letters. Knowing letters automatically is the foundation upon which their other reading skills will be built. Dr. Gill’s Emergent Readers Handbook points out on page 27, “In fact it is not just letter naming, but rapid letter naming that is a strong predictor of beginning reading (Adams,?). Ehri,? Walsh?).

To practice sorting for speed the students can do the coffee can sort with 4 or 5 letters. They practice sorting the letters as quickly (and correctly) as possible and can be trained to use a stopwatch to time themselves

2. A. a.To conduct a language experience story with a child in random letter stage I would read rich language books to him and or bring in something to discuss for the topic. This could begin with the group listening to a story and looking at an object related to the story. As they leave the group the teacher asks them to tell her one thing about what they have just heard. The teacher can quickly jot down some of what the child says as he leaves the group. Students go to their seats and write their sentence down on paper. The teacher goes around and slowly says and writes the child’s sentence correctly under the child’s writing, leaving plenty of space between words. There should be only 3-6 words on a page. As she does this children can read and teach each other their sentences.

2 A. b. The teacher can take all their sentences and make a big class book or multiple copies of this book for children in the class (or the teacher can take individual dictation from a child to be made into a personal book for that child). Each sentence of the class story starts with, Cruz said, “. .…” Mary said, “…..”. If students need help reading what Cruz said they can match his name to his picture posted in the room, and go ask him to read what he said. As the students try reading, they practice tracking the words as they match spoken words to print.

The teacher could also follow this same process with individual students as they record their own personal experiences. These stories could be made into books that the children could share and practice reading.

2. B. How would this differ with students who are beginning to spell with some logical or correct beginning consonants? In working with these students the teacher would still write under the child’s writing the correct spelling of each word. However, since this child knows some beginning consonants the teacher should ask as he starts to write some words, “What letter would this word start with?” This lets the child use what he knows, hypothesize about what letter makes that sound, and find out if his guess was right. He gets help where he is wrong and confirmation when he is right. As he is reading his story the teacher can point to the beginning consonant in words to help him self-correct if he gets off track as he reads the words. With these students the teacher can increase the words on each page to 8 to 10 words because he has some beginning consonant knowledge he can use to self-correct while trying to track words as he reads.

3. A. a. Children who are spelling with random letters point to words when shown a written version of a text they have already memorized because they are trying to mimic what they see us do when we point as we read. What are we pointing to as we say a word? They are trying to figure out what to say as they point. They know text is made of letters. Those units of letters somehow represent spoken language. But they don’t know how to segment language by spoken words. They experiment by pointing to words (as they say stressed units) as they try to read memorized text.

3. b.Children at the random letter stage practicing books with only a few words on each page realize when they point to each word as they try to read that they often have print left over when they finish reading a page. They hear the stressed units of the spoken words because the stressed units are the main dividing points in spoken language. So they point, but they have print left over. They are experimenting with how text is broken up, which unit of letters to point to, and what unit of language each unit represents. However, they don’t know consonants and they can’t track words correctly at this point.

3.B. a. Children who are spelling with beginning consonants don’t also spell with ending consonants at the same time. The beginning consonant is far more salient, it stands out much more than the ending consonant in spoken language. Reading is a developmental process of stages that all children go through. Research has shown after learning the alphabet children learn to attend to beginning consonants first and what they are learning is the feature they attend to. After they learn beginning consonants they can then attend to the ending consonants in words and ending consonants are the feature next to be noticed in the process of learning to read. A look at the process children go through as they learn to write words shows once they know some letters they produce the beginning sound, later the ending sound, and last the vowel – the middle sound: B, BP, BOP for the word bump showing the developmental process and the steps they move through learning to spell words.

3.B b.Children who are spelling with beginning consonants say one syllable each time they point to a written word in text. English is a very syllabary language. The experimenting reader hears the syllable breaks in language and points to a word each time he says a syllable. The syllable is the second most salient way to divide print. Many of the reading books at this level are written with one syllable words. Thus when they say the memorized text they can mistakenly think each syllable they hear is a word. However, when the text contains some poly-syllabic words his theory doesn’t work because he has print left over.

3. B.c. These children can be taught to self-correct when they get off track by attending to the first letter of the word they are pointing to.

For Sam Sam the baker man they might say:

Sam Sam the ba ker man then notice man does not start with k. So, they can use (be taught by the teacher to use) the first letter of each word to help them stay on track.

4. A. A child is ready to learn beginning consonants when he knows about 20 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. He needs to be able to recognize, name, and write them automatically.

4. B. Picture sorts are a better way to teach beginning consonants than teaching the sounds of the letters in isolation because you cannot make the sound of a beginning consonant without a vowel sound. Children must learn from practice with picture sorts that took, tall, and time all start with t. Begin with 2 clearly contrasting consonants like b and t that have a close relationship between the category of sound each represents and each letter name. The child has to decide which begin with a “b” or a “t” and also that table, tub, top, tip, and ten pictures go under the t header picture and letter; while bib, bat, bell, bottle, bug pictures go under the b header picture and letter.

4. C. A teacher should use picture sorts at this stage instead of word sorts because these children can’t really read, they have little or no sight vocabulary.

Beginning Readers

1. Children can learn to track accurately when they spell with beginning and ending consonants. These children know the letters and the sounds they can make in words. They can match spoken words to written text using the beginning and ending consonants to keep them on track as they read memorized text. They know how to divide language into written text using the beginning and ending consonant sounds.

2. Complete phonemic awareness usually is achieved only after the child can accurately track memorized text (has a concept of word). To have a concept of word the child must know beginning and ending consonants of words. He uses them to segment written language and keep himself on track while reading memorized text. The natural progression and the next step all children move to next is attending to the middle sound – the vowel(s) in spelling words. When a child writes the beginning sound, the vowel sound (even if incorrectly), and the ending consonant sound he has phonemic awareness.

3. Sight vocabulary develops only after the child can accurately track because he no longer has to concentrate on how to divide the text and match it to spoken words. He can now concentrate on individual words in the line of print. As he begins to pick up some patterns of letters, he will begin to acquire some sight vocabulary. Until a child has concept of word he can’t track print correctly so he can’t practice pointing to the right words. Also, he can’t learn the vowels until he can track correctly because tracking requires him to use beginning and ending consonants. Research has shown all children move through learning beginning, then ending consonants, then they learn to attend to the vowel(s) in the middle of the word. For sight vocabulary to fully develop the child must know vowels (to keep words like pit, put, and pat apart in his mind) and that comes only after concept of word which requires knowing beginning and ending consonants.

4.A. A beginning reader is called a support reader because even though they can accurately read and track (point) a text they have memorized, they cannot read a PP2 non-pattern book with 90% accuracy (or even pattern books with 95% accuracy) unless they have help – support.

4. B. The support from the material must include: repeated patterns of simple words and phrases, explicit picture clues, and practice with the student’s own language as in the student’s dictated stories.

4. C. The support from the teacher must include; echo reading – the teacher reads a part of text, then the student reads (echoes) that same part, and choral reading: The teacher reads a part of the text out loud with the child. The teacher can get quieter then drop out as the child can read on his own. With adequate support from the material and the teacher the child can read with 95% word recognition accuracy on rereadings. Support can also include a picture walk before reading the story and predicting what might happen next in a story.

5. If a beginning reader can gain sight vocabulary most readily through successful reading and rereading of text, why is it helpful to pull words out of those texts to create a word bank? Pulling words out causes the student to look deeply into the words to notice the vowels. Otherwise the child might rely too heavily on the pictures and the consonants. When words are carefully selected from their texts to use for a word bank the knowledge of these words can then be built upon to learn more words that have the same pattern. Drilling practice with word bank words isolates words from context. As the child practices, these words will be stored in automatic memory. This automatic recognition of a core set of sight words is necessary for growth in beginning reading. (Howard Street Tutoring Manual page 71).

6. Building a word bank might foster a better understanding of how letters work in words. A child might easily learn the first few words in his bank. As more words are added he will be forced to look more carefully at the vowels and patterns that make individual words. If he learns lake, back, and put he will have to observe carefully the letters and patterns that spell like, beach, and got (Howard Street Tutoring Manual page 71). Practice through drills and sorting will force him to attend to how letters work in words.

Building a sight vocabulary will force a child to sort and file words in his memory according to their characteristics, especially their vowels.

7. Using pattern books with beginning readers can follow a three day pattern.

DAY 1 The teacher introduces a new (A) pattern book by doing a picture walk through the book. (She can also take dictation from students if she is doing a language experience story.) She can clarify that a picture shows drawing if the word “drawing” will be in the story so the children will know the word will be drawing, not writing or coloring. She can choral (Read with them) and/or echo (She reads, they read the same part after her) read the story with them dropping off her support. She gives only as little help as they need, no more. Next, she has the children turn their chairs one in, one out and so on, to practice quietly reading the story. The teacher circulates and listens to their reading, again helping as little as they need. If they finish early she tells them to read it quietly again. The teacher can send this book home for the children to practice with a parent. Parents should be taught how to help and how much help to give. Depending upon the group, the teacher might be able to do more than one book with them in a day.

DAY 2 The teacher has the students reread yesterday’s pattern book (or dictation) independently and quietly listening for 95% word recognition accuracy. If they are successful, that book is not too hard; it’s at their instructional level. They should be instructed at their instructional level, not too easy, not too hard. (Teachers can ideally assess the next year’s students in May. Then, the classes can be divided so each teacher has 3 groups (levels of readers). [That means the teacher can see the struggling readers’ group every day. The middle group can be seen 4 days each week. The highest group can be seen Monday, Wednesday, and Friday because they can do more independent work and they do not need the teacher’s direct help as much as the low group. A whiz of a teacher that has teacher assistant and or volunteer help might see every group every day or the low group twice a day.] After rereading yesterday’s book successfully, the students close their books. The teacher gives the group a set of word cards to each child containing the words from the book they just read. Each child tries to read his word cards. He makes two plies, one pile of words he thinks he knows one pile of words he does not know. The words he knows go into a little box called a word bank. The ones he does not know can be thrown away or put into a “Magic Box” that can be drawn from later if the child learns that word. A new book (B) can be introduced just as on Day 1.

DAY 3 Have the children pull out their word cards, the words they know out of their banks. Teacher checks to see he still knows those words and puts one check on those cards. Once he has about 20 – 25 words he knows in his word bank, put a second check on those cards. The teacher keeps adding words to his bank from the newest story. Once he has 40-50 two check words, in his bank take them out to file or send home. The teacher has the students reread the books (A and B) from Day 1 and Day 2 quietly as she listens. She introduces a new pattern book. After the Day 1 story has been read successfully 3 times the book goes in a basket. The students can then read that book independently again away from the teacher. The process and steps continue in this pattern.

8. Word Sort a. with headers cat, sit and pan are more challenging than Word Sort b with headers cat, lip, and mad.

In Word Sort b each word has a different ending consonant. When a child is doing this sort he can visually determine which column a word goes in by the ending consonant. (Two pictures can be included without printed words to force attention on the rhyme although the child’s knowledge of ending consonants can also be used to determine where a word goes( p. 38 Emergent Readers).

In Word Sort a. the child cannot depend on the ending consonant, because cat and sit both end with t. He must attend to the vowel. Including pictures in the sorts insures that the child is not only attending to the visual pattern of the vowel and what follows but also is relating it to the sound patterns of the rhyme (p. 40 Emergent Readers).

Self-Reliant (aka) Independent Readers

Compare the Directed reading Activity in teacher’s manual’s of basal series with the Directed Reading/ Thinking Activity across the instructional issues:

Vocabulary The Teacher’s manual of basal series tells teachers to pre-teach vocabulary. Their rationale is that children will better understand the story if they understand the words (vocabulary) in the story. Also teaching the vocabulary, they think, will lead to a better understanding of the story. Research starting in the 40’s with Thorndike did factor analysis of comprehension. They found 2 factors affect comprehension: inference (predictions) and vocabulary. So the makers of the teacher’s manuals think if they pre- teach vocabulary they can improve comprehension. Pre-teaching vocabulary to a child who is in a book above his instructional level, where he is struggling, can make it look like he understands the story.

In Directed Reading/Thinking Activity the teacher does not pre-teach vocabulary. In class someone suggested pre-teaching the vocabulary might get a child to think about the vocabulary instead of on the story itself. A child placed at his instructional level will figure out vocabulary on his own using context. This is possible because instructional level is determined by 3 things: having 95% word recognition, an acceptable rate of words per minute for that level, and comprehension. At his instructional level the child can read and comprehend the story on his own. If he encounters a word he does not know he can use context to figure it out. This is a natural process for readers at their instructional level. All research has shown (Negy, McKeown, and Beck as examples) we learn vocabulary from context.

Background Knowledge The teacher’s manual says to give background knowledge to help children better understand what they read because they know the only way to understand anything is to make a connection between what you are reading and your prior/background knowledge. Text book makers know many students are placed in books where they don’t know the words, but they need to know the words to understand. So, they give the background and as they do they are giving part of the story to the child before they read. The teacher directed and the text book are doing part of the comprehension work for the child and making it appear that the child can understand the story.

In Directed Reading/Teaching Activity the teacher does not give the background. The teacher asks: What do you think will happen? Why? What part of the story made you think that? These questions activate the child’s prior knowledge. The only way any human understands anything is by using his prior knowledge. People can ask themselves these questions to activate prior knowledge and comprehension. Comprehension is guessing and checking to see if you were right. If you’re not guessing you’re not comprehending. If you’re interested you’ll guess-predict. Predicting is the most powerful motivator of prior knowledge – understanding- and comprehension.

Purpose setting Teacher’s manuals will direct teachers to have children read to find out if … Ivan crosses the cemetery. When humans understand they’re reading for a purpose. Teachers using text book manuals have students read for a purpose because they know if we’re interested we will read to find out.

However, when we’re interested we’re reading for our own purpose to find out if our guess was right or wrong or to decide if we want to change our minds. In DRTA the teacher gets the child to do what the mind does automatically when the mind is interested. Then the child activates prior knowledge, guesses, checks his guess, and comprehends what he is reading. In the content areas the teacher can ask: What do you think this will be about? How do you think that will happen? In PP2 and above reading text the teacher need to carefully plan questions for points of anticipation then let them guess to see what will happen.

Questioning Teacher’s manuals don’t ask comprehension questions. They ask recall questions, things that are stated in the text. It is their rule to never ask questions if you can’t find the answer in the book. These aren’t real thought questions.

In DRTA the Why do you think? and What made you think? questions cause the students to substantiate their guesses. In their answers the teacher hears the facts from the story. However, the teacher promotes comprehension as she carries on the conversation in which students confirm or change their guesses. DRTA (and placing students at their instructional levels) promotes and reveals true comprehension that takes places with students. Students activate prior knowledge, guess, check their guess, possibly change their guess, and continue. They are interested and engaged and they comprehend.

3. Word Sorts

Short Vowels Rhyming Stage A

|pet (P) |can (P) |mop (P) |

|net (P) |fan (P) |top (P) |

|met |man |hop |

|set |pan |pop |

|jet |van |cop |

|get |ran |stop |

Short Vowel Word Families Stage B

|man (P) |mop (P) |pen (P) |

|pan (P) |top (P) |hen (P) |

|can |hop |ten |

|fan |pop |men |

|van |cop |then |

|ran |stop |when |

Short Vowel Non-Rhyming

|man (P) |bell (P) |doll (P) | ? |

|hat (P) |bed (P) |top (P) |was |

|cap |pet |hot |won |

|dad |men |pop |make |

|tag |fed |got |see |

|and |yes |rob | |

Single Consonant vs..Blend/Digraphs

|tag (P) |trunk (P) | ? |

|top (P) |trap (P) |twin |

|ten |trade |twine |

|time |trick |that |

|tug |trim |there |

|tone |trip | |

Short vs. Long Vowel

|hat (P) |lake (P) | ? |

|man (P) |tail (P) |was |

|tap |lame |wall |

|sack |late |said |

|tag |gave |have |

|tab |rain | |

(I wasn’t sure if we were to include this one, so I did it just in case)

Short vs. 2 Long Vowel Patterns

|hat (P) |tape (P) |rain (P) | ? |

|flag (P) |wave (P) |wait |have |

|jack |bake |fail |fall |

|slap |made |stain |raw |

|stack |late |paint |said |

|glad |shake |claim | |

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