SP 08 EDUC 330 Reading in EL 1

SP 08 EDUC 330 Reading in EL 1

I was a bit nervous about taking a reading class, because I know that reading is so very important, and that it takes quite a bit of work, especially when teaching very young children. I learned though, and left feeling much more confident in teaching reading.

Maybe the most important thing that I will take away from this class is that there are five important aspects to teaching reading affectively. They are Guided reading, Independent Reading, Read Aloud, Writing, and Word Work. Each of these should be used daily to help students learn to read. Guided Reading is done with the teacher and a small group of students who are at the same reading ability. It is an opportunity for the teacher to do a running record of the students to assess their needs, and then to spend direct time helping students with those individual needs. Independent reading is reading that students do by themselves. The students each get to choose their own reading material and read on their own. A Read Aloud is when the teacher reads material aloud to the students, which helps expose students to vocabulary and genres that are above their current reading abilities. Read Alouds are also a great way to model reading for students. Word Work includes spelling, letter sounds and combinations, vocabulary, and word groups. And finally, writing, it is a very important aspect of learning to read. Students should be given many opportunities to write including creating their own literature.

I wish that there had been more instruction about specific programs that are used in schools, but perhaps I will receive that training when I begin teaching and are given a program to use.

An example of my work...

Guided Reading Lesson Plan (about average 3^rd grade level)

Text: The Sun by Allison Lassieur, nonfiction (will use for several lessons because of length) this is a good

book for introducing science specific vocabulary; it is a nonfiction book that the students may use in a future science unit.

Cover discussion: Discuss the Title, Author

What things do you think it will tell us about the sun? Look at the table of contents, how many chapters are there? Today we will be reading only the first two chapters.

Vocab. watch:

Worshiped (pg5), ancient(6), Stonehenge(7), Claudius Ptolemaeus(11), Nicolaus Copernicus(11), Galileo Galilei(11)

Focus Question: As we read I would like for you to look for something that you don’t already know about the sun; something new that you would like to share with your parents.

Reading: the students in the group will take turns reading a page at a time. I will look for their reading strategies and what the students need help in.

Word Study: Ask the students what words they had a hard time with, why do they think so. Review the vocabulary words that they were to be on the lookout for.

Comprehension: Ask the students to share what they each learned about the sun, that they didn’t already know. Each student will write the information in a log book, using correct spelling, and punctuation.

Follow up Activity: The students will return to their seats, and illustrate what they learned and intend to share with their families, and write the sentences again to go with the illustrations.

Assessment: I will have made notes about their actual reading in a running log. I will also assess their comprehension in their journal writings and illustrations. I may also ask them to take the illustrations home and have the parents initial the illustration that the student has shown them, and read to them, then return the illustration to be displayed.

Accommodations: For students who read well and wanted to continue the book, they would be allowed to after they had journaled and illustrated.

Class Observation...

3^rd Grade

1. Desks were spread out for testing purposes, the children wanted them to stay that way, I think they are crowded the other way.

2. Teacher read Fortunately, Unfortunately yesterday, then today she read to them a version of the same story that a previous 3^rd grade class had written.

3. Teacher then used the methods of Fortunately, Unfortunately, to review what they had been reading in The Whipping Boy.

4. The students then went to their desks, while Teacher read aloud to the students as they followed along , the students have been directed to write at least one question that they have about the story as they read, most students come up with several.

5. The students are disappointed to only be reading 3 pages, they want more.

6. She paused to allow them to write questions, and made a point of whispering possible questions to low level readers.

7. They all returned to the circle to share their questions, they didn’t answer the questions only asked them.

8. Spelling: pre test, “I say, you say, you write.” The students found great pleasure in making connections between their own world and the spelling words, such as the word “trial”, one student said “like in video games, a free trial oh! I know how to spell that!”

9. The students became rather rowdy at one point and so Teacher gave them one minute of talking time, and then at the end of the minute, she was able to bring them back to the lesson.

10. Handwriting was next. They worked on the cursive, uppercase letter “ G.” Teacher demonstrated the letter on the whiteboard, the students practiced in the air, and then on their page. The students then took turns choosing words that began with the letter g, and Teacher wrote them on the board, the children copied them onto paper.