Fluency

• What texts and materials do teachers have in their classrooms that support students' development of fluent reading?

            Textbooks, eBooks, and a small class library of fiction and non-fiction books support the development of fluent reading.

• How do they select vocabulary to teach in all areas of your curriculum?

            Vocabulary is often chosen based off of a book the class is currently reading. Vocabulary words for a Teddy Roosevelt book included democracy, candidate, and independent. Otherwise, vocabulary words are bunched together based on common spelling and pronunciations between words like fight, might, light, etc.

• How much time do they allocate to word study?

            If the word study is part of another lesson, like history for example, around 10 minutes is dedicated to word study. A lesson dedicated to vocabulary and word study is around 25 minutes.

• What word study routines do they teach and encourage their students to use?

            Students are encouraged to chunk words into pieces that they can understand and then slowly re-chunk the word.

• How do they differentiate instruction and tasks based on their students' needs?

            There are various levels of books available in the class for various levels of readers. Certain students can take quizzes and tests in different rooms and have longer time to take the test based on need. ELL students have para professionals available to speak in their language when they are struggling with a word or phrase. 

Fluency and Word Study > Before You Watch

Word Study and Fluency Chart

Reading Element	Instruction	Oportunities for Practice	Texts/materials
Fluency	• Teacher Read-aloud	•          Readerʼs Theater •          Whole class reading •          Small group reading •          Independent Reading	•          Plays,  scripts •          Classroom Library ·                   eBooks
Vocabulary	•Introduce vocab words from books and texts read in class Introduce vocab words with similar spellings and pronunciations (fight, flight, might. Etc.)	• Define words in class •Writing sentences using vocab words on homework	·                   Classroom Library ·                   Textbooks ·                   eBooks
Decoding	•Vocab words introduced in context of book or story •Vocab words often are grouped together with similarly spelled words	·                   In class and homework questions reference words used in books and stories	•Classroom Library ·                   Textbooks ·                   eBooks

© 2005 The Annenberg Foundation. All rights reserved.

Week 7 Assignment 2 and 3

Assignment 2 

1. How can you ensure that your struggling readers have access to texts they can easily read?

            Some schools have libraries of many different types and reading level books in each classroom. This provides all levels of readers something to read. If a 3^rd grader who reads at a 2^nd grade level has some 2^nd grade books to read, they will be able to read much more than they would be able to with 3^rd grade or higher books. 

2. How can you foster a learning environment in which students have many opportunities to practice reading?

            A good way to foster a learning environment with plenty of reading opportunities is by balancing the types of instruction offered in the class. A class where there is whole class instruction, small group  instruction, and side by side instruction will generally have higher achieving readers than classes that are dominated by whole group instruction. 

3. Describe ways in which you can model fluent reading in your classroom throughout the day. 

            Modeling fluent reading in the classroom starts with teachers simply reading with fluency.  As teachers read, it is important that they make a point to acknowledge good reading techniques like intonation and expression at appropriate moments. While students may hear a teacher reading with expression, they may not acknowledge it until it is pointed out to them.

Assignment 3

 

1. Explain the three levels of words and how you can use word levels to decide which words to teach.

Tier 1 words are words that students automatically know and do not need to be told like “bed” and “look”. Tier 2 words are words that are more complicate dlike “freeway” and “democracy”. Tier 3 are words that are specialized to a certain subject like biology and should be taught by a biology teacher and not by an English teacher.

2. How do you teach your students to "chunk" words as a strategy for decoding unfamiliar words? When do you provide this instruction?

          

           If a word is too complicated for a student, they can cover up the front and back of the word and focus on reading the middle of the word. Once they get the middle, they can focus on reading the front and back of the word. Once students can read all chunks of the word, they can then begin piecing the chunks together. This instruction is useful when students reach a word that they have the ability to read, but need a little extra help figuring out how to read it. 

3. Based on Professor Allington's comments and the classroom examples, what are some ways you might foster word study in your classroom?

           

          A great way to foster word study is by adding a small number of words each week to students’ vocabulary from the materials they are covering.  Instead of having separate vocabulary or spelling lessons, students can learn new words through a book or story they are reading.

Week 6: Assignment 3

Candidate’s Name: Damien Beckinger

Grade Level: 2

Title of the lesson: “A” Vowel Sounds

Length of the lesson: 45 minutes

Central focus of the lesson is to distinguish between the different types of sounds that the A vowel can make Recognition of different sounds of “A”

Knowledge of students to inform teaching (prior knowledge/prerequisite skills and personal/cultural/community assets) Key questions: Students know that sometimes the letter A is pronounced differently. Spanish speakers are more familiar with the short o sound that can sometimes be written as an A.

Common Core State Standards (List the number and text of the standard. If only a portion of a standard is being addressed, then only list the relevant part[s].) Common Core Learning Standards for ELA and Literacy) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.a Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.c Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

Support literacy development through language (academic language) Compare and contrast the various sounds of the letter A. Recognize and pronounce words using the correct sound for the letter A.

Learning objectives Sample: Will know the three sounds that the letter A can make. Will be able to pronounce most common words using the correct sound for the letter A.

Formal and informal assessment (including type[s] of assessment and what is being assessed) Apply sounds in context (Students will read sentences from story outloud using correct sound for Letter A)

Instructional procedure: Instructional strategies and learning tasks (including what you and the students will be doing) that support diverse student needs. Your design should be based on the following: Teacher will open by asking the students to give an example of the sounds that the letter A can make. Teacher will provide an example word for each sound (play, sat, car) Teacher will ask students to listen for these sounds in the Book “The Best Mariachi in the World” Teacher will ask students if they can give any examples of the different A sounds in the story. The sound will be turned off and the story will be played again. This time, each student will read a few sentences of the story out loud, taking note of the different A sounds they are reading. Teacher will repeat the three sounds when a student is struggling to determine which sound is used to pronounce the word. The lesson ends once every student has read out loud at least once and the book is finished.

Instructional resources and materials used to engage students in learning. Handouts of story and A sounds SMART Board Tumble Books “The Best Mariachi in the Worlds”

Reflection Allowing students to listen to the story first before reading out loud gives less advanced students the chance to hear the words pronounced properly. A possible change would be to pair more advanced students with less advanced students to read the story a second time. The less advanced students will have the chance to hear how the more advanced student reads the word. This change will help learning through scaffolding as students are learning from the tape, then from each other, then eventually reading on their own.