Overview

Children learn about phonemes as they notice rhyming words, segment words into individual sounds and invent silly words by playing with sounds.  They learn about letters while singing ABC song, they learn graphophonemic relationships as they match letters and letter combinations to sounds.

• Phonemes-a sound; its represented in print with slashes (/s/ and /th/) which is the smallest units of speech
• Graphemes-a written representation of a sound using one or more letters
• Graphophonemic-sound; symbol relationships

This is not all phonics, but children actually develop three separate but related types of alphabetic code knowledge…

• Phonemic Awareness-children learn to notice and manipulate the sounds of oral language, they understand that spoken words are made up of sounds and can segment and blend sounds in spoken words
• Phonics-children learn to convert letters into sounds and blend them to recognize words, they apply phonics concepts to understand that there are predictable…
  • Phoneme-grapheme correspondences-relationship between a sound and the letters representing it
• Spelling-children learn to segment spoken words into sounds and convert the sounds into letters to spell words, they can use spelling strategies to spell unfamiliar words

Phonemic Awareness

• Is children’s basic understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds and it provides the foundation for phonics and spelling-they are able to take words apart and put them back together again
  • (Ex.  when children can choose a duck as the animal whose name begins with /d/ from a collection of toy animals, identify duck and luck as rhyming words in a song and blend the sounds /d/ /u/ /k/ they are phonemically aware)

Phonemic Awareness Strategies

• Identifying sounds in words-children identify a word that begins or ends with a particular sound (Ex. when shown a doll, they identify doll as the word and it ends with /l/)
• Categorizing sounds in words-children recognize the ‘odd’ word in a set of three words (Ex. when teacher says ring, rabbit and sun, they recognize that sun doesn’t belong)
• Substituting sounds to make new words-children remove a sound from a word and substitute a different sound, can be either beginning sound, middle sound or ending sound
• Blending sounds to form words-children blend two, three or four individual sounds to form a word (Ex. teacher says /b/ /i/ /g/ and children repeat the sounds blending them to form the word big)
• Segmenting a word into sounds-children break a word into its beginning, middle and ending sounds (Ex. segment the word feet into /f/ /e/ /t/)

Teaching Phonemic Awareness

• Sound-matching activities-children choose one of several words beginning with a particular phoneme or say a word that begins with a particular sound.  Use familiar objects and can play a sound-matching game.  Also identify rhyming words.
• Sound-isolation activities-teachers say a word and then children identify the sounds at the beginning, middle or end of the word.
• Sound-blending activities-children blend sounds in order to combine them to form a word (ex. teacher sounds out the word /d/ /u/ /k/ and children say duck)
• Sound-addition and -substitution activities-children play with words and create nonsense words as they add or substitute sounds in words form songs they sing or books read aloud to them
• Sound-segmentation activities-one of the more difficult phonemic awareness activities is segmentation, where children isolate the sounds in a spoken word (ex. truck starts with /t/)
  • Teachers also use Elkonin boxes to teach students to segment words (comes from the work of Russian psychologist D.B. Elkonin).  Where students draw a box to represent each sound when segmenting sounds (see figure 5-1)

Phonics

• Is the set of relationships between phonology, the sounds in speech and orthograph (the spelling patterns of written language).  The emphasis is on spelling patterns, not individual letters because there isn’t a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes in English.  Phonemes are spelled in different ways, and words sound differently according to their location (es. go-got) and adjacent letters often influence how letters are pronounced (ex. bed-bead) and vowel markers (ex. bit-bite)
• Etymology-or language origin, of words also influence their pronunciations (ex. ch is pronounced in several ways chain, chauffeur and chaos)

Phonics Concepts

• Phonics explains the relationships between phonemes and graphemes.  There are 44 phonemes in English and are represented by 26 letters.  The alphabetic principle suggests that there should be a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, but it doesn’t (Ex. day-you only have two phonemes /d/ /a/)
• Consonants-there are 21 letters (NOT a,e,i,o,u) and most represent a single sound, but there are some exceptions (some letters sound different when followed by vowels).  Two kinds of combination consonants are blends and digraphs.  Consonant blends-occur when two or three consonants appear next to each other in words and their individual phonemes are ‘blended’ together (Ex. grass, belt and spring).  Consonant diagraphs-are letter combinations representing single sounds that aren’t represented by either letter; four most common are (ch, sh, th and wh).
• Vowels-remaining 5 letters (a,e,i,o,u) and w,y are vowels when used in the middle and at the end of syllables and words.  Often represent several sounds, but usually short (breve) and long (macron) sounds.  Short vowel sounds don’t say the vowel names (ex. cat, bed, win, hot, cup).  Long vowel sounds say the name it is (ex. make, feet, bike, coal, rule).  Most vowel combinations are vowel digraphs or diphthongs.  Vowel digraph-when two vowels represent a single sound, the combination is a vowel digraph (Ex. nail, snow).  Vowel diphthong-when two vowels represent a glide from one sound to another it is a vowel diphthong (Ex. oi and oy, house, ow, now).  When one or more vowels in a word are followed by an r, it’s called an r-controlled vowel (or bossy r because the r influences the pronunciation of the vowel sound (Ex. star, word, pearl, cheer, here, cure)
• Blending into words-readers blend or combine phonemes to decode words (short vowel sound ex. the word best   /b/ /e/ /s/ /t/ and combine the sounds to form the word (long vowel sound ex. the word pancake   /p/ /a/ /n/ /k/ /a/ /k/)
• Phonograms-one-syllable words and syllables in longer words can be divided into two parts the onset and the rime.  Onset-is the consonant sound, if any, that precedes the vowel and the rime- is the vowel and any consonant sounds that follow it (Ex. show, sh is the onset and ow is the rime—-ball, b is the onset, and all is the rime) for up and at there is no onset just the rime
• Phonics rule-one rule is the q is followed by u and pronounced /kw/ (Ex. queen, quick).  Another rule that has few exceptions relates to r-controlled vowels; r influences the preceding vowels so that they’re neither long nor short (Ex. car, wear, four)   *many rules aren’t’ very useful because there are more exceptions that words that conform (see figure 5-4)

Teaching Phonics

• The best way to teach phonics is through a combination of explicit instruction and authentic application activities.  Most useful phonics skills are taught in a predetermined sequence.  Teachers begin with consonants and then introduce the short vowels (known as CVC-pattern words, ex. dig cup).  Then children learn about consonant blends and digraphs and long vowels (known as CVCe-pattern words, ex. broke, white) and then CVVC-patterns words (such as clean, wheel and snail).  Finally, students learn about less common vowel digraphs and diphthongs (ex. claw, shook and boil) and r-controlled words (ex. square, four and year). (see figure 5-5)
• Teachers use minilessons on phonic concepts to the whole class or small groups depending on instructional needs.  Teachers use activities to provide guided practice opportunities for students to manipulate sounds and read and write words. 
• Children apply phonic concepts they are learning as they read and write in interactive writing where children segment words into sounds and take turns writing letters.

Spelling

• As children learn about phonics, they apply what they’re learning through both reading and writing.  Early spellings reflect what they know about phoneme-grapheme relationships.  As their knowledge grows their spelling increasingly approximates conventional spelling.
• Stages of Spelling Development (see figure 5-6)-young children begin to write they create unique spelling, called invented spelling which is based on their knowledge of phonology

Teaching Spelling

• Best known way to teach spelling is through weekly spelling tests, but tests should never be considered a complete spelling program.  Students need to learn about the English orthographic system and move through the stages of spelling development. They develop strategies to use in spelling unknown words.  A complete spelling program should include…
  • Teaching spelling strategies
  • Matching instruction to students’ stage of spelling development
  • Providing daily reading and writing opportunities
  • Teaching students to spell high-frequency words
• Important spelling strategies include…
  • Segmenting the word and spelling each sound, often called ‘sound it out’
  • Spelling unknown words by analogy to familiar words
  • Applying affixes to root words
  • Proofreading to locate spelling errors in a rough draft
  • Locating the spelling of unfamiliar words in a dictionary
• Word Walls-use word walls to feature important words from books/units being worked on and/or high-frequency words.  This is a good resource for students to look at when writing
• Making Words-teachers use a five to eight-letter word and prepare sets of letter cards for a making words activity
• Word Sorts-students use to explore, compare and contrast word features in a pack of word cards.  They sort into two or more categories based on their spelling patterns or other criteria
• Interactive Writing-teachers use to teach spelling concepts along with written language.
• Proofreading-is a special kind of reading that students use to locate misspelled words and other mechanical errors.
• Dictionary Use-students need to learn to locate the spelling of unfamiliar words in the dictionary

Weekly Spelling Tests

• Use an individualized approach to spelling instruction and use this procedure for studying spelling words…
  • Say the word-students look at the first word on their spelling list and say it to themselves
  • Read the letters-students pronounce each letter int eh word to spell it aloud
  • Spell the word-students close their eyes, visualize the word and spell it aloud
  • Write the word– students write the word and check that it is spelled correctly, if it’s misspelled they repeat this step
  • Write the word again-students write the word again and check that it is spelled correctly, if it’s misspelled they repeat the procedure with the same word again

(some helpful/useful spelling programs—Kids Spell, Puzzle Maker, Spelling City and Spelling Wizard)

Classroom Application: This chapter allows me to better understand the alphabetic code and how children develop their phonological awareness by manipulating sounds in word, by matching letters and sounds to decode words and by representing sounds using letters as they spell words.  Doing this will require that I use different teaching techniques with the students.  Having different techniques gives students time to practice and work on a combination of oral and written activities is important because they are developing phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling knowledge (the three components of phonological awareness).  It is my job as an effective educator to teach my students to use phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling to decode and spell words.  In my future classroom, I will specifically use phonemic awareness by teaching students to manipulate words, I will teach high-utility phonics concepts, rules, phonograms and spelling patterns, and lastly, I will make sure that students follow a series of developmental stages as they learn to spell words conventionally.

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

• Learning objectives is an important responsibility of teachers
• Learning objectives-specific statements of what students should know be able to do and understand at the end of a lesson
  • They describe outcomes NOT activities
  • Written in a specific and purposeful way
  • SMART
    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Attainable
    • Relevant and result-oriented
    • Time-bound
  • Should be specific-description of what should be learned
• Use ‘bloom’ words to create learning objectives
  • Make sure you use specific words that are effective (action verbs)

More Notes

• Created in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom (educational Psychologist)
• Multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive domains are used to create learning objectives
  • Remembering-retrieving, recognizing and recalling knowledge (ex. define, identify, label, list)
  • Understanding-construct information from oral, written and graphic messages (ex. compare, discuss, explain, summarize)
  • Applying-involves carrying out or using a procedure through executing or implementing (ex. calculate, compute, manipulate, solve)
  • Analyzing-deals with breaking material into constituent parts or relate to one another (ex. distinguish, analyze, differentiate, investigate)
  • Evaluating-has the learner making judgements based on criteria and standards (ex. argue, concluded, critique, test)
  • Creating-or putting elements together to form a functional whole (ex. construct, design, invent, produce)
• It begins with lower order thinking skills and they need prerequisite knowledge before moving up a level
• Lower level is usually in the remembering/understanding stage where higher level is usually in the evaluating/creating stage (but all courses should have a variety in each stage)
• How to write a learning objective?
  • Step 1-start with the stem sentence (After this module, you will be able to:)
  • Step 2-determine the learning outcome
  • Step 3-consult the Bloom’s Wheel to select the appropriate level and verb
  • Step 4-write the verb and learning outcome into a statement that, when combined with the stem, forms a complete sentence (Classify learning objectives within the six cognitive domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy)
• Learning objectives are measurable, observable statements of what students will be able to do at the end of a unit of learning
• Bloom’s taxonomy is a powerful tool to help develop learning objectives because it explains the process of learning:
  • Before you can understand a concept, you must remember it.
  • To apply a concept you must first understand it.
  • In order to evaluate a process, you must have analyzed it.
  • To create an accurate conclusion, you must have completed a thorough evaluation.
• DO NOT use verbs like (understand, know, appreciate, become familiar with, learn or be aware of) because they are too vague

Types of Instructional Strategies

• Shared Reading– teachers use shared reading to read aloud books and other texts that students can’t read independently, modeling what fluent readers do as they involve students in enjoyable reading activities (ex. teacher reads big books and poems written on charts, this activity often serves as a lead-in to the minilesson)
• Choral Reading-is an interpretive reading of text, often poetry or songs, by a group of voices. Students may read individual lines or stanzas alone, in pairs, or in unison. Choral reading, sometimes called “unison reading,” requires repeated readings of a passage and it gives practice in oral reading.
• Guided Reading– teachers use guided reading to work with groups of 4-5 students who read at the same level for around 15-20 minutes and rotate groups (they work on reading, comprehension and other
• Word Wall-is filled with high-frequency words up on the wall/board and it is divided into sections for each letter of the alphabet (good resource for kids when writing)
• Minilessons-teacher teaches lessons about strategies and skills, provide practice activities and supervise as students apply what they are learning (ex. teacher teaches minilesson on literacy procedures, concepts, strategies and skills)
• Interactive Read-Aloud-teacher involves children the book as she reads aloud (as children listen they are learning new vocabulary and acquire more sophisticated sentence structures) and afterward they all talk about it in a grand conversation

Nurturing Children’s Oral Language Development

• Young children develop oral language through everyday experiences and interaction with parents and others and through these experiences they develop expertise in all 4 language modes
  • Phonology-learn to produce the sounds of English and to manipulate language in playful ways
  • Syntax-learn to combine words into different types of sentences and use irregular verb forms, pronouns and plural markers and other inflectional endings
  • Semantics-acquire knowledge about the meaning of words and add several thousand words to their vocabularies
  • Pragmatics-learn to use language socially to carry on a conversation, tell stories and use social conversations (like please and thank you)
• Oral Language Activities-most valuable activity is the instructional procedure teachers use to read stories and other books aloud (interactive read-aloud).  Children listen and learn new vocab and better sentence structures.  After reading children use words and phrases from the text when participating in grand conversations, story retelling and story boards to sequence events.
• Assessing Children’s Oral Language-teachers use informal assessments to check that children demonstrate skills like speaking clearly, respond to questions, initiate conversations, take turns, ask questions, participate in discussions, and tell about experiences

Fostering an Interest in Literacy

• Concepts About Print– young children learn that print carries meaning and that reading, and writing are used for a variety of purposes through experiences.  Children also observe parents and teachers using written language for many reasons.  Preschool and Kindergarten teachers demonstrate the purpose of written language and provide opportunities for children to experiment with reading and writing by…
  • Posting signs in the classroom
  • Making a list of classroom rules
  • Using reading and writing materials in literacy play centers
  • Exchanging messages with classmates
  • Reading and writing stories
  • Labeling classroom items
  • Drawing and writing in journals
  • Writing notes to parents
• Concepts About Words-young children have only a vague notion of literacy terms (like word, letter, sound and sentence).  But they develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of these terms.  There are 4 stages of word consciousness…
  • 1^st-young children don’t differentiate between words and things
  • 2^nd– they describe words as labels for things, consider words that stand for objects as words by don’t classify articles and prepositions
  • 3^rd-children understand that words carry meaning and that stories are built from words
  • 4^th-more fluent readers and writers describe words as autonomous elements having meanings of their own with definite semantic and syntactic relationships
  • Children develop concepts about words through active participation in literacy activities.  They watch teachers point to words in big books, mimic their teacher and children notice that word boundaries are marked with spaces.
  • They notice specific words in text, words at the beginning of the sentence have capital letters and words at the end are followed by a punctuation mark.
  • Environmental Print-young children begin reading by recognizing logos on fast-foods restaurants, department stores, stores and household items (ex. know McDonalds sign, but written out they don’t recognize the word)
  • Writing-children experiment with writing by using scribbles and letter like forms to represent words.  They then learn about letter names and phoneme they use one, two or three letters to stand for words.  Then add spaces between words, capitalizing words and adding ending marks
  • Literacy play centers-learn about purpose of reading and writing as they use written language in their play. Teachers add literacy materials to play centers to enhance the value for literacy learning.
• Concepts About the Alphabet-young children develop concepts about the alphabet and how letters are used to represent phonemes.  These components of letter knowledge are…
  • Letter’s name
  • Formation of the letter in upper and lowercase handwriting
  • Features of letter that distinguish it from other letters
  • Direction the letter must be turned to distinguish it from other letters (ex. b and d)
  • Use of the letter is known words (ex. names and common words)
  • Sound the letter represents in isolation
  • Sound the letter represents in combination with others (ex. ch or sh)
  • Sound the letter represents in the context of a word (ex. the c sound sin cat, city and chair are different)
  • Routines to Teach the Alphabet…

• Capitalize on children’s interests-teachers provide letter activities that children enjoy, they talk about letters when children are interested in talking about them
  • Talk about the role of letters in reading and writing-teachers talk about how letters represent sounds and combine to spell words and point out capital letter and lowercase letters
  • Provide a variety of opportunities for alphabet learning-teachers use children’s names and print in literacy activities do to interactive writing because it encourages children to use invented spelling, share alphabet books and play letter games
• Assessing Children’s Concept About Written Language-teachers regularly observe children as they look at books and reread familiar ones to monitor their developing knowledge about written language concepts.  Also watch as children do pretend writing and writing their names.  They see which concepts understand and which ones they need to continue to talk about.  Use CAP (Concepts About Print) test to assess young children’s understanding of written language concepts

How Children Develop as Readers and Writers

• Stage 1-Emergent Reading and Writing (kindergarteners maybe 4Kers)
  • Children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print and develop an interest in reading and writing.  They notice environmental print in the world around them.  During this stage, children accomplish….
    • Develop and interest in reading and writing
    • Acquire concepts about print
    • Develop book-handling skills
    • Learn to identify the letters of the alphabet
    • Develop handwriting skills
    • Learn to read and write some high-frequency words
• Stage 2-Beginning Reading and Writing (1^st-2^nd graders)
  • Children’s growing awareness of the alphabetic principle, they learn about phoneme-grapheme correspondences, phonics rules (ex. word families, fill, bill, will).  They also apply their developing phonics knowledge to spell words (ex. spell night as NIT).  During this stage, children accomplish…
    • Learn phonics skills
    • Recognize 100 high-frequency words
    • Apply reading strategies, including cross-checking, predicting and repairing
    • Write five or more sentences, sometimes organized into a paragraph
    • Spell phonetically
    • Spell 50 high-frequency words
    • Use capital letters to begin sentences
    • Use punctuation marks to indicate the ends of sentences
    • Reread their writing
  • Teachers plan activities for children that range from modeled to independent.  Through interactive writing, choral reading and guided reading teachers scaffold children as they read and write and use minilessons to provide strategy and skill instruction
• Stage 3-Fluent Reading and Writing (some 2^nd grade but for sure 3^rd graders)
  • Marks children’s move into fluent reading and writing.  They recognize hundreds and hundreds of words automatically and have the tools to identify unfamiliar words when reading.  They use the writing process to draft, revise and publish their writing in revising groups.  During this stage, children accomplish…
    • Read fluently and with expression
    • Recognize most one-syllable words automatically and can decode other words efficiently
    • Use decoding and comprehension strategies effectively
    • Write well-developed, multi-paragraph compositions
    • Use the writing process to draft and refine their writing
    • Write stores, reports, letters and other genres
    • Spell most high-frequency and other one-syllable words correctly
    • Use capital letters and punctuation marks correctly most of the time

(outline of instructional recommendations for each stage is pictured below)

More Instructional Practices/Strategies

• Morning Message-is a daily literacy routine that teachers use to teach literacy concepts, strategies and skills.  Teachers write a brief message on chart paper (friendly letter that what will happen that day) the message is read at the beginning of the day.  Children reread it and count letters, words and sentences in the message.  They can also pick out familiar letters, words, phonics patterns, high-frequency words, capital letter and punctuation marks
• Predictable Books-stories and other books that teachers use for shared reading often have repeated sentences, rhyme or other patterns.  There are four types of common patterns
  • Repetition-authors repeat sentences to create a predictable pattern (ex. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?)
  • Cumulative Sequence-sentences are repeated and expanded in each episode (ex.  The Gingerbread Man)
  • Rhyme and Rhythm-two poetic devices that authors use to add a musical quality to their writing (ex. Dr. Seuss books)
  • Sequential Patterns-some authors use familiar sequences, like months of the year, days of the week, numbers 1-10 or letters of the alphabet (ex. The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
• Language Experience Approach-(LEA) is based on children’s language and experiences.  Teachers do shared writing from children’s experiences, they write down what children say, which develops the reading material.  Because the language come from the children, they are usually able to red the text easily.  Children create individual booklets and they draw pictures to illustrate the pages.  (DON’T change the child’s language!!!!)
• Interactive Writing-is when the teacher and students create a text together as they write the text on chart paper (ex. children take turns to compose a message together).  Through this, children learn concepts about print, letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns, handwriting concepts and capitalization and punctuation skills.  Teachers can teach high-frequency words, segmenting sounds and syllables. 
• Manuscript Handwriting-handwriting instruction in Kindergarten typically includes developing children’s ability to hold pencils, refining their fine-motor control and focusing on letter formation.  They write letters and words on labels, draw and write stories and the more they write the greater their need becomes for instruction in handwriting.  Research indicates that moving models are more effective than still models (worksheets no!)  Children should watch the teachers write and practice them themselves. 

Classroom Application: This chapter is important for me to understand because it teaches me how children in kindergarten through third graded learn to read and write.  Students move through 3 developmental levels (emergent, beginning and fluent) as they become literate in reading and writing.  In my future classroom I must use differentiating instruction because it is key to effectively teach children reading and writing.  Some different examples that are useful is using big books, guided reading groups and literacy centers to address instructional needs.  How children become literate is how they learn to read and write (known as emergent literacy).  Teaching students literacy development should also incorporate cultural and social aspects of language learning, along with children’s experiences with and understandings about written language.  Overall, this chapter has given me the tools that I will need in my future classroom, so I will be able to organize my instruction according to my student’s level of development.  I want to nurture their oral language, foster their interest in literacy, guide them through the stages of literacy development and match instructional activities to the children’s stage of reading and writing development.

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

(use this template in all core content courses)

First portion-gives an overview of the lesson

• Lessons=indicate where you are in the unit
• Unit=ex. Romeo and Juliet

Next portion-focused on appropriate goals for students at this time

• Big Idea=same response if lessons are in the same unit (can include learning target or an essential question, what will students be able to answer or be able to do at the end of the lesson)
• Rational/Context=where you want to connect, what happened before the lesson and what happens after the lesson (learning wise)
• Prior Knowledge=what do students need to know to complete this lesson—be specific!!
• Student Learning Objectives=start with Students will be able to… (ex. student will be able to identify five adjectives within a paragraph)
• Communicate Learning Objectives to Students=put them on the board, noted on the handout or verbally
• Expectations for Students Learning=what are your expectations for students that exceed expectations, meets expectations or below expectations and suggested to include a rubric for each specific area (does not address behavior!!!!) and look at student learning objectives above!
  • Remember you’re not measuring learning objectives, behavior or participation
  • Example (NO MENTION OF WORKSHEET!)
    • meet-identify 5 adjectives within a paragraph
    • above-identifying more than 5 within a paragraph
    • below-identify fewer than 5 within a paragraph
• Evidence/Assessment of Student Learning=how will I know students are meeting the student goals (assess ALL students)
• Student Feedback=feedback is the information that you provide to the students, so the students can take that feedback and enhance the learning opportunity
  • Not necessarily grading but it can be (ex. walking around the room we might see one is struggling, we talk with the student and strategies where now the student can identify some adjectives)
  • Feedback isn’t necessarily a grade, it is another piece of scaffolding to help your students meet learning objectives
• Standards=Identify what type of standards you are using!!!!
• Academic Language=what academic language must students know! (ex. students must know what an adjective is, paragraph, and identify)

Final section-focused on how you will support students to meet learning goals

• Launch/Hook=first part of lesson=engage students, grab their attention, bridge material from previous lessons and transition to material they will learn today (usually around 60 seconds, short and sweet!)
• Explore=what activities that will help students meet learning objectives (read like a cookbook!!!)
• Closure=how will you end this specific lesson and learning objectives, don’t say release students to next class!! (ex. exit slip, give students reading check quiz, give them preview to tomorrows lesson)
• Differentiation=how will you provide successful access to the key concepts by all students at their ability levels
• Extension=what are you doing to do once you get the results (ex. 15 students can do it, 10 are exceeding and 5 are below)
• What Ifs=be proactive, anticipate what might not go as planned and what you will do about it (both in your control (time limits) or out of your control (technology not working))
• Resources and Materials=identify resources and materials used for the lesson, if using personally created materials attach them to your lesson plan, if classroom text books use APA citation

Assessing Literacy Development Overview

• Assessment and evaluation are often considered interchangeable, but they’re not!
• Assessment is formative, it is ongoing and provides immediate feedback to improve teaching and learning (authentic, based on literacy activities)
• Evaluation is summative,it is final, generally administered at the end of a unit or schoolyear to judge quality (ex. tests)
• Running records-listen to children reread familiar books to monitor their ability to recognize high-frequency words, decode unfamiliar wards and use reading strategies
• Minilessons- teacher teaches lessons about strategies and skills, provide practice activities and supervise as students apply what they are learning

Classroom Assessment Steps

• Step 1: Planning for Assessment-Teachers plan for assessment at the same time that they are planning for instruction, they ask themselves questions (are any students struggling to understand? Or have students learned the concepts that they have been taught?)
• Step 2: Monitoring Student’s’ Progress-Teachers monitor students’ learning everyday and use the results to make instructional decisions
  • Observations-teachers are ‘kid watchers’, where they focus on what students do as they read or write
  • Anecdotal notes-teachers write brief notes as they observe students (write down specific events, or strategies and skills students use fluently)
  • Conferences-teachers talk with students to try and solve problems (on-the-spot, planning, revising, book discussion, editing and evaluation conferences)
  • Checklist-simplify assessment and enhance students’ learning.  Teachers identify evaluation in advance, so students understand what’s expected of them before working.  Book talk= to introduce the books. Students choose book to read and form a group to read and respond (more independent).
• Step 3: Evaluating Students’ Learning-teachers document students’ learning to make judgments about their achievements
  • Students’ work samples-collection of students’ work, list of books they read, reading logs, etc. to document students’ progress towards meeting grade-level standards
  • Rubrics-or scoring guides, to evaluate student performance according to specific criteria and levels of achievement (students can use this to self-assess their writing)

• Step 4: Reflecting on Students’ Learning-teachers reflect on their instruction to improve their teaching effectiveness.  Ask themselves questions (what was successful and not), how to adapt instruction and analyze students’ achievement

Diagnostic Tests

• Teachers use commercial diagnostic tests to inform their instruction and these tests are used to determine students’ reading levels and identify struggling readers strengths and weaknesses
• Teachers match students with books at appropriate levels of difficulty because students are more successful when they’re reading books that are just right
  • Independent reading level– read books on their own, they recognize almost all words, accuracy is around 95-100%, reading is fluent, comprehend what the have read and still engage students’ interests
  • Instructional reading level-read with support, recognize most words, accuracy is 90-94%, reading may be fluent, with support from teacher or classmates they comprehend what they have read, but wouldn’t be able to independently.
  • Frustration reading level-too difficult for students to read successfully, even with assistance.  They don’t’ recognize enough words automatically, accuracy is less than 90%, reading is choppy (word by word) and doesn’t make sense.
• Teachers teach guided reading groups while conducting literature focus units; so, everyone is exposed to grade-level tests, but at the same time, they are reading at their instructional level.
• Readability formulas-used to estimate the ease with which students can read trade books and textbooks (reading level scores)
• Leveled books-basal readers have been leveled according to grade level, but now there is a classification system that arranges books along a 26-level system from easiest to hardest (uses the alphabet A-Z, A is easiest Z is hardest…picture below).

• Lexile framework-used to measure both students’ reading levels and the difficulty level of books.  These scores range from 100 to 1300, representing Kindergarten to 12^th grade.  Allows teachers to more closely match students and books (picture below).

Diagnosing Students’ Strengths and Weaknesses

• Teachers use diagnostic assessments to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, examine areas of difficulty and decide how to modify instruction to meet students’ needs
  • Running records­-are authentic assessment tools because students demonstrate how they read using their regular reading materials as teachers make a detailed account of their ability to read a book
    • Taken orally of them reading to assess their word identification and reading fluency
  • Teachers place checkmarks above the words that the student reads correctly and use other marks to indicate words that the students substitutes, repeats, mispronounces or doesn’t’ know-the student’s miscues are classified and charted (picture below in miscue analysis)

• Informal reading inventories (IRIs)-to evaluate students reading performance (useful for 1^st-8^th grade), often used as a screening instrument to determine whether students are reading at grade level, but also diagnostic tool (consists of 2 parts-graded word lists and passages)

Nurturing English Learners

• How do teachers assess literacy development?  By assessing Englisher learners’ developing langue proficiency as well as progress in learning to read and write (more challenging to assess them)
  • Oral language assessment-assess students who speak a language other than English, typically use commercial oral language tests
  • Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM)-authentic assessment tool that many teachers use (developed by San Jose Area Bilingual Consortium) it is a rating scale that teachers use to assess students’ command of English as they observe them talking and listening in real, day-to-day activities
    • Addresses 5 components
      • Listening-score students from unable to comprehend simple statements to understanding everyday conversations
      • Fluency-score students from halting, fragmentary speech to fluent speech, approximating that of native speakers
      • Vocabulary-score students from extremely limited word knowledge to using words and idioms skillfully
      • Pronunciation-score students from virtually unintelligible speech to using pronunciation and intonation proficiently, similar to native speakers
      • Grammar-score students from excessive errors that make speech unintelligible to applying word order, grammar and usage rules effectively
  • Reading Assessment-face 2 challenges-learning to speak English and at the same time they are learning to read. 
    • Use KWL charts-teachers learn what students know about a topic and build additional background knowledge and introduce related vocabulary.  When students complete the chart, teachers get clear picture of what they have learned and which vocab words they can use.
  • Writing Assessment-students writing develops as their oral language grows and become more fluent readers
    • Use rubrics-to assess EL’s writing that address the writing process and the 6 traits that teacher have taught
    • Use revising groups-teachers observe them as they write, noticing how they move through the writing process, interact in revising groups and share their writing from the author’s chair.
  • Alternative assessments-use varied types of assessment that involve different language and literacy tasks and ways of demonstrating proficiency

High-Stake Testing

• These tests are designed to objectively measure students’ knowledge according to grade-level standards. High-stake testing is different than classroom assessment, the scores are used to make important educational decisions for students (determine school placement and high school graduation)
• PROBLEMS-students feel pressure, students don’t try harder, they get discouraged and feel defeated, teachers are taking valuable instructional time to testing and students are spending more time practicing for the test than doing authentic reading and writing

Test-Taking Strategies

• Read the entire question first
• Look for key words in the question
• Read all answer choices before choosing the correct answer
• Answer easier questions first
• Make smart guesses
• Stick with your first answer
• Pace yourself
• Check your work carefully
  • Teaching students about Question-Answer-Relationship helps them to understand that sometimes answers to test questions can be found in a passage they have just read, or they may have to use their own knowledge

Portfolio Assessment

• Students collect their work in portfolios and use them to evaluate their progress and showcase their best work.  They help students, teachers and parents see patterns of growth from one literacy milestone to another.  Students feel ownership of their work, become more responsible about their work, set goals and motivated to work toward accomplishing them and make connections between learning and assessing.
• Teachers use minilessons and conferences to teach about the characteristics of good readers and writers, then students can evaluate their own reading and writing

Classroom Application: Assessing Literacy Development taught me how to determine students’ reading levels and their literacy learning.  In the classroom I must use the four-step cycle of classroom assessment of planning, monitoring, evaluating and reflecting and integrating it within my instruction. I can use a variety of types of assessments in my future classroom, both formal and informal assessments.  Formal assessments are those that have scores that are considered and compared and has overall data that supports the conclusions made from the test which include standardized tests, state mandated tests, end of the unit tests, graded homework, checklists, grades projects (use rubrics) and exit slips.  Informal assessments are not data driven, they are more spontaneous, they usually occur during instruction and there are no scores involved which include walking around monitoring students, observing students during instruction, taking anecdotal notes, conferences/meetings with students, running records, leveling students reading and discussions.  Understanding the different types of assessments is important because assessments drive instruction, they ensure students are making adequate progress, I can see if my instructions are effective (if not I will be able to make it more effective) and they document students’ achievements.  Lastly, it is important that I teach my future students how they can prepare themselves (strategies) for standardized tests or tests in general.  This will give them more confidence them when taking tests. 

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Reading Process

• Involves a series of stages during which readers comprehend the text (stories, maps, textbooks, newspapers, etc.)
• Is a constructive process of creating meaning that involves the reader, the text and the purpose within social and cultural contexts
• Goal=comprehension (understanding the text)
  • Phonemic Awareness and Phonics-students use their knowledge about the phonological system, including how to manipulate sounds in spoken words and apply phoneme and phonics rules
  • Word Identification-students recognize common or high-frequency words automatically and use their knowledge of phonics and word parts to decode unfamiliar words
  • Fluency-students become fluent readers once they recognize most words automatically and read quickly with expression
  • Vocabulary-students think about the meaning of words they’re reading, choosing appropriate meanings, recognizing figurative uses and relating them to their background knowledge
  • Comprehension-students use a combination of reader and text factors to understand what they are reading (they predict, connect, monitor, repair and use other comprehension strategies)

Stage 1-Prereading (occurs as reader prepare to read)

• Activating Background Knowledge-a student’s knowledge or previous experiences about a topic   
  • Introduce key academic vocabulary words
  • Think about the genre
• Set Purposes-guides students’ reading by motivation and direction for reading
• Planning for Reading-once students activate their background knowledge and identify their purpose for reading, they take their first look at the text and plan for reading
  • Preview the text
  • Make predictions-either orally or they write prediction in their reading logs

Stage 2-Reading

• Reading aloud to students-teachers use the interactive read-aloud procedure to read aloud books that are developmentally appropriate
• Shared reading-teachers use shared reading to read aloud books and other texts that students can’t read independently, modeling what fluent readers do as they involve students in enjoyable reading activities
• Guided reading-teachers use guided reading to work with groups of 4-5 students who read at the same level
• Partner reading-students read or reread a selection with a classmate or sometimes with older student.  Good alternative to independent reading, often able to figure out unfamiliar words and talk out comprehension problems
• Independent reading-they read silently by themselves, for their own purposes and at their own pace (books should be at appropriate reading level)

Stage 3: Responding

• Writing in reading logs-students write and draw their thoughts and feelings about the books they’re reading in reading logs (write about what they read and elaborate on, unravel their thinking, clarify their responses).  Sometimes they make notes of important information or draw charts or diagrams in learning logs
• Participating in discussions-students also talk about the text with classmates in grand conversations about stories and poems.  Teachers often share their ideas, but they act as interested participants

Stage 4: Exploring

• Rereading the selection-as students reread the text, they think again about what they’ve read, and they benefit in specific ways (deepen comprehension)
• Close reading-teachers use close reading to guide students in rereading passages from a text to uncover deeper layers of meaning.  Teachers ask text-based questions to direct students (author’s purpose, ideas, structural elements, word choice, sentence structure and viewpoints)
• Examining the writer’s craft-teachers plan exploring activities to focus student’s attention on the genres, text structures, and literary devices that author use.  Student use story boards made from illustrations cut form picture books to sequence the events in the story (graphic organizers highlight the plot, characters, and other elements)
• Focusing on words and sentences-teachers and students add “important” words to the word wall posted in the classroom.  Students refer to it when they write and use the words for word-study activities, including drawing word cluster and poster to highlight particular words, doing word sorts to categorize words and completing semantic feature analysis charts to examine relationships between words
• Teaching mini lessons-teachers present minilessons on procedures, concepts, strategies and skills.  They introduce the topic and make connections between the topic and examples in selections students have read

Stage 5: Applying

•  Readers extend their comprehension, reflect on their understanding, and value the reading experience in this final stage.  Most times they create projects to apply what they’ve learned (stories, slide shows, posters, readers theatre, performances, essays and podcast presentations)

Writing Process

• Is a series of 5 stages that describe what students think about and do as they write.  The writing process involves recurring cycles and numbering is simply an aid to identify writing activities.

Stage 1: Prewriting (getting ready to write)

• Choose a topic-students should choose their own topic for writing (they are interested in and know about) because they will be more engaged in
• Consider the purpose and identify the genre-students prepare to write, they think about their purpose for writing (writing to entertain, to inform to persuade).  It influences decision students make about genre (argumentative, descriptive, expository, journals/letter, narrative or poetry)
• Gathering and organizing ideas-students engage in activities to gather and organize ideas for writing during the prewriting stage.  To gather ideas, they draw pictures, brainstorm lists of words, read books and do online research to make graphic organizers to visually display their ideas.

Stage 2: Drafting

• Students get their ideas down on paper and write a first draft of their compositions.  Students begin tentatively with ideas they’ve developed through prewriting activities.  Drafts are usually messy, reflecting with ideas with lines and arrows as they think.  Students skip every other line to leave space for revisions and write rough draft on the top.

Stage 3: Revising (seeing again)

• They refine ideas, break the writing process cycle and think they are done.  Students must turn to others for reactions and revise on the comments.  Meeting needs of readers by adding, deleting and rearranging material.
• Rereading the rough draft-distance for a day or two and reread it from a fresh perspective.  Students make changes and place question marks by things that need work
• Sharing in revising groups-meet in revising groups to share their compositions with classmates, and they respond to rough drafts.  They provide a scaffold in which teacher and classmates talk about plans and strategies for writing and revising
• Making revisions-students make 4 types of changes to their rough drafts (additions, substitutions, deletion and moves).  Often use a blue or red pen to make revisions
• Revising center-many teachers set up centers to give students revision options (talk with classmates, examine organization of writing, consider word choice).  Students develop revising strategies and personalize their writing process

Stage 4: Editing

• Putting the piece of writing into its final form.  Students polish their writing by correcting spelling mistakes and other errors. 
  • Proofreading-students proofread their compositions to locate and mark possible errors, it is a unique type of reading in which students read word by word, hunting for errors rather than reading for meaning
  • Correcting Errors-after proofreading rough drafts, they use red pens to correct the errors independently

Stage 5: Publishing

• Students bring their compositions to life by writing final copies and sharing them orally with others.  Publication is powerful: students are motivated not only to continue writing but also to improve quality of writing
  • Making books-popular way for students to publish their writing (simple booklet)
  • Sharing writing-sit in a special chair and read their writing aloud to classmates (classmates can ask questions, compliment) or students can read to parents, place it in the class library, read it to other classes, etc.
  • Online publishing-online publication sites allow them to display their wring and share it with global audience (publication sites=Amazing Kids! Magazine, Cyberkids, Poetry Zone, etc.)

The Writer’s Craft

• Specific techniques that writers use to capture readers’ attention and convey meaning are referred to as the writer’s craft. There are 6 writer’s craft techniques…
  • Ideas-are the heart of a composition-the message and its meaning (Choose a topic, focusing the topic, identify the genre and develop the topic)
  • Organization-is the skeleton of the composition, they hook the reader in the beginning, identify the purpose, present ideas, provide transitions and end with satisfying conclusion
  • Voice-writer’s distinctive style is known as voice (it breathes life into a piece of writing) incudes choosing personally meaningful topics, writing with knowledge and passion and adopting a tone
  • Word Choice-makes the meaning clear and more interesting to read.  Students learn to choose lively verbs, specific nouns, adjectives and adverbs (paint a picture with words, energize with verbs and playing with words)
  • Sentence Fluency-is the rhythm and flow of language.  Students vary length and structure of writing, so it has natural cadence and easy to read aloud (rhythmic flow, effective sentences, varying sentence patterns and breaking the rules)
  • Conventions-are spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar (spelling words conventionally, paragraphing accurately, punctuating effectively, capitalizing correctly and grammar and usage rules)
  • Presentation­-focuses on making the final copy look good (use titles, headings, arrange words and illustrations on the page, use legible handwriting and use word processing effectively

Reading and Writing are Reciprocal Process

• They are both constructive, meaning-making process and reading leads to better writing and vice-versa.  Integrating instruction improves both reading and writing.   They involve concurrent, complex transactions between writers as readers and readers as writers.
• Many classroom activities integrate reading and writing, so making connections between the two is natural part of classroom life

Literacy Strategies

• Strategies=deliberate, goal-directed actions and Skills=automatic actions that occur without deliberate control or conscious awareness

Reading Strategies

• Decoding-using phonic and morphemic analysis to identify unfamiliar words
• Word-Learning– such as analyzing word parts to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words
• Comprehension– such as predicting, drawing inferences and visualizing to understand what they are reading
• Study– such as taking notes and questioning to learn information when they’re reading content area textbooks

Writing Strategies

• Prewriting– including organizing to develop ideas before beginning to write
• Drafting– including narrowing the topic and providing examples to focus on ideas while writing the first draft
• Revising– including detecting problems, elaborating ideas and combining sentences to communicate their ideas more effectively
• Editing-including proofreading to identify and correct spelling and other mechanical errors
• Publishing-including designing the layout to prepare their final copies and share them with classmates and other authentic audiences

Classroom Application: The Reading and Writing Processes are important for educators to understand.  Reading is a constructive process (consisting of 5 stages) of creating meaning that involves the reader, the text and the purpose within social and cultural contexts.  The overall goal of reading is for students to understand comprehension, word identification, fluency and vocabulary.  There are many different aspects/types of reading that can benefit students, so using a variety of ways is important so students stay excited to read or be read too.  Having discussions and conversations about what the students are reading is key for them to fully understand what was read and if they have questions, those can be shared then.  When it comes to the writing process, students get to write about what they are thinking about (in 5 different stages).  Allowing students, a variety of genres to write about will get them learning about things they haven’t before, and they become knowledgeable in different areas.  When students are creating a writing, it is important for them to allow themselves and others to make suggestions to make their writing that much better.  In the end, students love the opportunity to share what they wrote about with others, so sharing with other students, or younger students or even their family is an important aspect of the writing process.  Both the reading and writing process can be connected in the classroom, and it is natural to do so.  I have learned that in my future classroom I need to set clear purposes for reading and writing and do it in an authentic way to engage my future students.

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Principle 5-Effective teachers address standards

• Common Core State Standards (CCSS) identifies the knowledge students are expected to learn at each grade level, K-12.  Standards are not one-size-fits all checklist.  Shows teachers what should be taught but leaves how they want to teach it.
  • Reading strand-when children learn to read, they develop foundation skills-print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition and fluency
  • Writing strand-when students learn to use the writing process to compose texts representing a variety of genres (informative and narratives)
  • Speaking and listening strand-students gain mastery of oral language skills
  • Language strand-students apply vocabulary, grammar and Standard English to increase oral and written presentations
  • Media and technology strand-creation of multimedia projects with other strands

6-Effective teachers scaffold students’ reading and writing

• Scaffolding-the support a teacher provides to students as they read and write
  • Sometimes teachers model how experienced readers read or record children’s dictation when the writing’s too difficult
  • Sometimes they guide students to read a leveled book or proofread their writing
• 5 Levels of Scaffolding
• 1-Modeled-provide greatest amount of support when they model how expert readers read and expert writer write
  • Word Sort­
  • Think-aloud-a procedure in which teachers or students verbalize their thoughts while reading or writing to describe their strategy use
• 2-Shared-teachers use to read big books wit young children, teacher does most of the reading, but children join in to read familiar and predictable words
  • Language Experience Approach-write children’s dictation on paintings and brainstorm lists of words on the whiteboard (w/ other students KWL charts)
• 3-Interactive-student have increasingly important role, they support their classmates by sharing the reading and writing responsibilities and their teacher provides assistance
  • Choral reading-students take turns reading lines of a poem
  • Reader Theater-students assume the role of characters and read lines in a script
  • Interactive writing-students and the teacher create a text and write a message
• 4-Guided-teachers continue to provide support, but students do the reading and writing themselves.  Small groups of students meet with the teacher to read a book and their level, the teacher introduces the book and guides students as they read it
  • Minilessons-teacher teach lessons about strategies and skills, provide practice activities and supervise as students apply what they are learning
  • Collaborative book-the teacher structures the activity and supervises students as they work, teachers provide guidance as they conference with student about their writing
• 5-Independent-students do the reading and writing themselves at the independent level, they apply strategies and skills necessary.  They choose their own books and topics, work at their own pace and refine their writing.  Teachers monitor students but provide much less guidance

7-Effective teachers organize for instruction

• Teachers organize for instruction by creating their own program that fits their students’ needs and their school’s standards and curricular guidelines
  • Guided Reading-teachers are able to personalize instruction and meet students’ individual needs.  They meet with small group of students that are around same level for teacher-directed lesson (20 min.).  Work on word-identification and comprehension (strategies) usually used with K-3
  • Basal Reading-feature a textbook of reading selections with accompanying workbooks, supplemental books and related instructional materials.  Phonic, vocab., comprehension, grammar and spelling is coordinated. Instruction is usually as a whole class, but reteaching to struggling students
  • Literature Focus Units­-teachers create literature focus units featuring high-quality picture book stories and novels.  Use books that students are expected to read at a particular grade level.  Everyone reads and responds to the same book, teacher supports students through instruction and reading and writing activities
  • Literature Circles-small groups of students get together to read a story.  Teacher selects 5-6 books at different reading levels, and they are often related.  Use book talk to introduce the books. Students choose book to read and form a group to read and respond (more independent).
  • Reading and Writing Workshop-students select books, read independently, and conference with the teacher about their reading and writing.

• Incorporating technology into instruction
  • Use digital software, the Internet and computer technology for many purposes (presenting info. to students, scaffold students’ reading and writing, involve students in activities and projects, respond to students’ work, assess students’ achievement)

• Nurturing English Learners
  • EL benefit from participating in the same instructional programs and other students
    • Teachers scaffold students’ oral language acquisition and literacy develop by giving—Explicit instruction, added Oral Language, Small Group Work, Reading Aloud to Students, Background Knowledge and Authentic Literacy Activities

8-Effective teachers differentiate instruction

• Effective teachers adjust their instruction because students vary in their levels of development, academic achievement and ability
• Differentiation is based on Vygotsky’s idea of a zone of proximal development (providing instruction that meets students’ instructional needs)
  • They choose different instructional materials at students’ reading levels, modify assignments, monitor student’s learning and assess learning in multiple ways.  They also consider students’ background knowledge-students knowledge or previous experiences about a topic

9-Effective teachers link instruction and assessment

• Assessment-an ongoing process to monitor growth, diagnose problems, and improve learning
• Teachers collect and analyze data from observations, conferences and classroom tests, which they then use the results to make decisions about students’ academic achievement and plan interventions
  • Determine Instructional Levels-so they plan appropriate instruction
  • Monitoring Progress-ensure they students are understanding instruction and making expected progress, if not they take action to get them back on track
  • Diagnosing Strengths and Weaknesses-really important when students are struggling
  • Documenting Learning-use different collections of students work to provide evidence of students’ academic achievement or lack there of
• Instruction-Assessment Cycle-step 1-planning, step 2-moinitoring, step 3-evaluating and step 4-reflecting
• Classroom Assessment Tools
  • Observations of students
  • Running records-students oral reading to analyze their ability to solve reading problems
  • Examining student’s work
  • Conferences with students
  • Checklists to monitor students’ progress
  • Rubrics-to assess students’ performances and written products
• High Stake-Tests-provide evidence of students’ literacy achievement against grade-specific Common Core State Standards

Classroom Application-These last five principles are important for me to understand as a future educator.  It gives me a balanced way for literacy instruction and what I need to do to become an effective teacher.  This is the start of the foundation that I need to provide students with well-rounded literacy instruction.  I must understand the Common Core State Standards, so I can identify the knowledge students are expected to learn at each specific grade level.  It tells me what I should be teaching, but it is up to me to determine the most effective way to do so with my specific students. Next, when teachers scaffold their students’, they are providing support to students’ reading and writing.  It can range from demonstrations, guidance, and teaching, in which the amount of support they offer during their instruction depends on the students’ needs.  There are 5 levels of support that teacher use, they are; modeled, shared, interactive, guided and independent (Tompkins p. 22).  When working in the first level, teachers are supporting and modeling for the students to get a better understanding.  When they keep moving through the levels, students start becoming more independent and responsible for their reading and writing.  When teachers model or demonstrate how to solve a problem or complete an activity, students get a better understand what is expected of them.  Once the modeling/demonstration is done, the teacher takes a step back and allows students to be more self-regulating, but they still offer support as needed.  Being an organized for my specific instruction is important so I know what I am going to be teaching to my students, but it is also beneficial for my future students as well.  This can be done in a variety of ways from guided reading to reading and writing workshops, so using a variety of teaching instructions is important to keep kids engaged in learning. Lastly, as an educator, you must determine each students’ instructional level, monitor their progress, identify their strengths and weaknesses and document their learning.  Assessments, as the book states, “is an integral and ongoing part of both learning and teaching” (Thompkins. P.29).  As a teacher, you always want to be assessing each of your student’s to aide in their learning and modify your lessons to meet each individuals student’s academic needs.

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Principle 1- Effective teachers understand how students learn

• Behaviorism (B.F. Skinner) is focused on what we can observe and measure of students’ behaviors.  Behaviors can be learned or unlearned.  Considered a teacher centered approach because the teacher is using explicit instruction to teach skills in a planned, sequential order.  Information is given in small steps and the next step builds off the previous step.  Students most times work as individuals, not so much in groups or partners.  Teachers control and motivate students through rewards and/or punishments (behavior modification.
• Constructivism is when students are active and engaged learners who construct their own knowledge.  Students integrate new information within their existing knowledge and the teacher allows students with experiences so they can build their own knowledge.
  • Schema Theory (Piaget) describes how students learn.  Schemas is knowledge that is organized into cognitive structures. The brain files new information in an organized way to correspond with existing knowledge, which is called assimilation. When students are learning new information, in which they must create a new file, this is more difficult and called accommodation. 
  • Inquiry Learning (Dewey) is that learners are naturally curious and actively create their own knowledge and conclude that collaboration is more conducive to learning than competition.  When we collaborate, we ask others questions, seek information from others and create new knowledge to solve problems.
  • Engagement Theory students are more engaged when they are participating in authentic literacy activities and when they collaborate with classmates in a nurturing classroom environment/community.  Self-efficacy is the confidence that they will succeed to reach their goals.  These students are more self-efficient, resistant and persistent, despite obstacles and challenges.
• Sociolinguistics (Vygotsky) learners use language to organize their thoughts and teachers should incorporate opportunities in their instruction for students to discuss what they were learning, with a partner or small groups. Students learn more when collaborating with adults and other students than individually.  Instruction should be in the student’s zone of proximal development, level between their actual development and their potential development.
• Information Processing compares the mid to a computer and describes how information moves through a series of processing units (sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory).  It is complicated and found that reading and writing are related.

Principle 2- Effective teachers support students’ use of the cueing systems

• Phonological System is the sound system of English with approximately 44 sounds and more than 500 ways to spell them.
  • Phoneme-smallest unit of sound
  • Grapheme-the written representation of a phoneme using one or more letters
  • Phonological awareness­-knowledge about the sound structure of words, at the phoneme, onset-rime and syllable levels
  • Phonemic awareness­-ability to orally manipulate phonemes in words
  • Phonics-instruction about phoneme-grapheme correspondences and spelling rules
• Syntactic System (or grammar) is the structural system of English that governs how words are combined into sentences
  • Syntax-the structure or grammar of a sentence
  • Morpheme-the smallest meaningful unit of language
  • Free morpheme-a morpheme that can stand alone as a word
  • Bound morpheme­-a morpheme that must be attached to a free morpheme
• Semantic System is the meaning system of English that focuses on vocabulary
  • Semantics-is the actual meaning
  • Synonyms-words that mean the same or nearly the same thing
  • Antonyms-words that mean the opposite
  • Homonyms-words that sound alike but are spelled differently
• Pragmatic System is the system of English that offers language choices according to social and cultural uses
  • Function– is the purpose for which a person uses language
  • Standard English-the form on English used in textbooks and by television newscasters
  • Nonstandard English-other forms of English

Principle 3- Effective teachers create a community of learners

• Successful classrooms have identifiable characteristics that are conducive to learning
  • Safety, Respect, High Expectations, Risk Taking (challenging students to explore new topics/unfamiliarity), Collaboration, Choice, Responsibility, and Family and Community involvement
• How to create the classroom culture-teachers are classroom managers, set expectations and clearly explain them, rules are specific and consistent, reinforce classroom routines and behaviors and model classroom rules.

Principle 4-Effective teachers adopt a balanced approach to instruction

• Literacy-ability to use reading and writing for a variety of tasks at school and outside of school
• Reading-complex process of understanding written text
  • Dynamic-readers and writers are actively involved in reading and writing
  • Strategic-readers and writer consciously monitor their learning and take action when problems arise
  • Goal-oriented-reading and writing are purposeful; they have a plan in mind
• Balanced approach-is based on a comprehensive view of literacy that combines explicit instruction, guided practice, collaborative learning and independent reading and writing

Classroom Application-These first four principles are important for me to understand as a future educator.  It gives me a balanced way for literacy instruction and what I need to do to become an effective teacher.  This is the start of the foundation that I need to provide students with well-rounded literacy instruction.  Understanding how students learn will influence how I teach them, so to balance between the teacher-centered and student-centered theories are important.  This also relates to creating a community of learners, where I create a safe and respectful environment, so students are motivated and encouraged to learn.  Everyone in the classroom will honor and support each other’s learning. When it comes to the cueing systems, these are very important and crucial for me to understand fully so I can teach these skills to my future students. As the book states, “together, these cueing systems make communication possible and we use ALL four systems together as we read, write, listen and talk” (Tompkins, 2017, p.11).  In my future classroom, I need to teach from a balanced approach to literacy by using a variety of developmentally appropriate strategies. 

Source: Tompkins, Gail E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton