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December 4th

Titles:

Hanford (2018), “Hard Words: Why Aren’t Kids Being Taught to Read?”

Wills Lloyd (2021), “Smoke signals in reading education: What is with the spate of articles about changes in reading instruction?”

Take Aways:

Students are not born with a natural ability to read, they must be explicitly taught how to do so.

unable to read, needed a subscription

Nuggets:

It amazes me that we were so content with low reading scores for so long. Most students were not really able to read, but everyone just accepted it to be that way.

unable to read, needed a subscription

Readerly Exploration:

I was able to connect this week’s reading to the field placement that I am currently in. The curriculum used does utilize much phonics instruction and many of the students in my class find themselves struggling to read. I wonder what changes or growth they could find if the students were to receive more explicit phonics instruction. I wish I would be around to see that tactic be brought into fruition.

I also thought of the song “Do Something” by Matthew West as I was reading this week’s pieces. In the song the lyrics discuss the importance of using our lives to “do something” for God. There is discussion that we often just blame God, asking why He doesn’t just fix the problems we see on earth, but he reminds us that he created us, with a purpose, to address the injustices that we see in the world. I realized that the same idea can be applied to the field of teaching. From the article, it seemed that at first, teachers just expected students to struggle with reading and for them to face that as a constant problem. They didn’t see themselves as change or difference makers. However, as the article progresses, just like the song teachers and administrators begin to realize that they have the power to change the instruction that students are receiving. Teachers are in the exact position to make a change, to serve their students, and if they don’t make the change… they will not see any improvement with their own students.

The above song "Do Something" by Matthew West is a strong reminder that we are the change we wish to see in the world, or the classroom.

[mdietzteach]

November 27th

Titles:

Rasinski (2012), “Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot!”

Applegate, Applegate & Modla (2011), “She's My Best Reader; She Just Can't Comprehend’: Studying the Relationship Between

Take Aways:

Fluency is a building block for effective reading curricula.

Fluency in reading does not always lead to comprehension.

Nuggets:

Fluency should not just be about reading quickly, but with inflection and understanding of the greater text.

Comprehension is the most critical part of learning to read, without it, there is no point in being able to read words.

Readerly Exploration:

I did not expect to see such varying perspectives in these two readings. Through my conversation with Grace, we both seemed to be surprised by the differences. It seemed like Rasinski viewed fluency as something that was so much deeper than that of just reading quickly. He saw it as something that stemmed from understanding what one is reading and adapting their inflection and read the text clearly. His perspective was something that I had never considered when I thought of the word “fluency”. When talking with Grace, it seemed she had also never considered fluency to be something other than reading quickly without error. We both recalled our thoughts on fluency as we were growing up. When the time came for a fluency assessment, I remember feeling stressed and hoping to prove that I was a fluent reader – one who did not commit any errors as I read through a decodable text with a paraprofessional in the hallway. If I messed something up, I remember thinking that I was a bit of a failure. There was so much value placed on being a fluent reader that I believe I sometimes did find myself losing sight of comprehending the text. Looking back, I realize that there must be more in teaching students how to read than just fluency. There is value and beauty in reading and it is so important to be able to convey that to the students, without facing them with stress alone.

My roommate, Grace, and I discussed our own perspectives on the importance of fluency to comprehension.

[mdietzteach]

November 6th

Title: Mesmer, H. (2019). Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work (The Research-informed Classroom). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Take Away: It is critical for students to have the chance to spell words over and over in order to remember the spellings and special rules. They will not learn from just hearing or seeing the word, they must have an opportunity to specifically practice the word themself.

Nugget: The TOTO (try one, try the other) was an interesting piece that I learned. I think that specific strategy to knowing spellings of words could be very helpful for some of the students I am working with in my field placement.

Readerly Exploration: Before reading my chapter in Mesmer’s book, I was able to watch her video presentation on phonics and phonological awareness for the International Literacy association. Mesmer was so passionate about her work and the value of phonics and phonological for young students. I have been working on high frequency words with my students in my field placement but have noticed that they struggle with the sounds and spellings of the words – therefore preventing them from being able to recognize the words or simple patterns within them. After watching her online seminar, I learned some new techniques that I felt could help me. I was especially impacted by the idea of having students get more practice on their own. I realized that in my interventions, we spend a lot of time in the “We do” phase of learning, but that may not be what would be the most helpful for them. Her seminar felt so applicable to what I have been doing and seeing in the classroom, which made me even more excited to read another part of her book. I hope to serve my students better in the classroom, so learning from someone who is clearly an expert was exciting and motivating.

[mdietzteach]

October 9th

Titles:

Fisher, et. al. (2020), Chapter 2, “Whole-Class Reading Instruction: High-Level Support for Learning”

Sipe (2002), “Talking Back & Talking Over: Young Children’s Expressive Engagement During Read-Aloud Storybooks”

Take Aways:

Students must engage with teachers to truly grow in their reading and comprehension skills. Feedback and teacher modeling are critical to use in various capacities to develop strong literacy skills.

Engaging with stories through talking back and taking over allows students to more deeply engage with the story. The connection developed builds a bridge between the story and the child's real life.

Nuggets:

I really did not know the difference between read-aloud and shared reading. It was interesting for me to note that difference. I also considered shared readings to be something that was only done in small groups, but it can be very valuable in large groups as well.

When students interrupt during a read-aloud, it is not always a rude response. Their interaction reveals that they are connecting with the story on more than just a surface level.

Readerly Exploration: As I reevaluated my highlights in my readings for the week, I was surprised by how much information I was able to grasp. Both Sipe and Fisher discussed the value of annotating a text while it was being read, something I had underestimated. I tend to be someone who does highlight and annotate when I am reading a longer piece of text. If I do not practice this strategy, I struggle to remember all of the information I just tried to absorb. However, I find a different ending when using a highlighting technique. I had started reading the Sipe article a few days before I actually ended up finishing it, when I re-pulled it up, I was having a hard time remembering all that I had read. I was feeling like I may have to reread the entire article, but luckily, I had begun highlighting at my initial reading time. By looking back at those highlights, I quickly refreshed my memory and recalled the information. It was honestly surprising to me how easily I was able to remember the bigger picture of the reading, after just a quick recap of the highlighted pieces that I considered to be important to the overall meaning of the passage. As I consider that valuable skill, I look to work with my students to help them find ways to best understand a text by engaging with it in a way that works for them. Highlighting is crucial for my understanding of informational texts, if that was taken away, I know I would not engage in the same way. Similarly, students who blurt out or talk out of turn when the class is doing a read aloud uses what they have found to be a valuable skill to increase their knowledge of a text. We all interact with texts in different ways, and it’s important to be given the space and opportunity to do that.

Above is a screen recording of my reading of Lawerence Sipe's "Talking back and taking over: Young children's expressive engagement during storybook read-alouds". The highlighting represents important concepts and ideas from the tex

[mdietzteach]

September 11th

Titles:

Wessel-Powell, Kargin & Wohlwend (2016), “Enriching and Assessing Young Children’s Multimodal Storytelling”

Leong & Bodrova (2018), “Why Children Need Play”

Scholastic (2018), “Building Language and Literacy Through Play”

Take Aways:

Using multimodal literacy programs can allow students to display their skills through various methods, that may not be observed through typical forms of literacy assessment.

Productive play is a valuable and critical aspect in developing a child's social and critical skills.

Play will need some direction. While children should be encouraged to play as they wish, they will need to receive subtle instruction on how to develop their play and move to a higher level.

Nuggets:

Literacy does not just fit in to one small box, children should be able to express and experience literacy in a variety of ways.

Playing with peers and partaking in role play allows for children to build an atmosphere in which they are able to develop both socially and cognitively.

Reading this article took me back to the reading I did of the Wessel-Powell article. Scholastic encourages role play, scenarios and props to best develop language and literacy, which was clearly used in Wessel-Powell's research. I found it interesting to see one article's info being used in another's!

Readerly Exploration:

The first step to this Readerly Exploration was choosing a fictional book that had themes that were associated with the importance in giving children the chance to develop and create whatever they wanted to help enhance their literacy instruction. I began to search through the library catalogs to try and find something that exactly fit with the main themes of the assigned readings. I was struggling to find a story that fit the theme of the articles, but I then realized that was kind of the whole point of the readings I had done. The articles encouraged creativity and making learning the child’s own. I decided upon the book The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires. Throughout the book, a young girl tries to develop her own creation of a “thing”, but continuously realizes it isn’t exactly turning out the way she wanted it to. However, by the end of the book, after a long creative process, “The pair take a good long look. It leans a little to the left and is a bit heavier than expected. The colors could use a little bit of work, too. But it’s just what she wanted!” (Spires, 2017). The final lines reveal that through letting kids create, there is so much that they are able to learn. Just like in literacy, children gain so much from multimodal approaches, the young girl was able to build skills during her creation of her most magnificent thing – a scooter. The growth that the young girl experienced throughout her work period was something I could envision young students doing which would build their knowledge and encourage them to engage even deeper with the content.

Above: The link above offers a read-aloud version of the book that I read in association with this weeks' Readerly Exploration.

Citation of Book: Spires, A. (2017). The most magnificent thing. Kids Can.

[mdietzteach]

August 21st

Titles:

Fisher, et. al. (2020), Chapter 9, “Assessment and Intervention in the Balanced Literacy Classroom: Noticing and Responding to Students’ Needs

Take Away:

Some students may not grasp content after the first time it is taught, so formative assessment allows the needs of the student to be noticed and met.

Nugget:

Baseline screenings are critical to make sure formative assessment is used properly!

Readerly Exploration:

My readerly exploration of chapter 9 of This is Balanced Literacy led me to make a concept map of the chapter. At first, I wasn’t sure what my plan was for developing my concept map. However, as I began to work on it, I found myself writing down the main points that I picked up on. I found myself using the map to dig deeper so that I could make the map most beneficial for my understanding. I sometimes hurry through academic readings, but creating the concept map made the process a bit more enjoyable. When I’m reading full chapters of a bigger/longer text, I struggle to follow along and often end up in a daze and out of focus. The concept map allowed me to keep my mind set on what I was reading about. Not only that, but I was then able to look back at what I had read earlier in the chapter and relate it to the current piece that I was reading. The map was specifically helpful when trying to shift from the “Assessments for learning in writing” then “Reading”, and finally “Oral Language”. I know if I had not been following along with the concept map, the different interventions would have run together in my mind.

Above: The above concept map helped me to better follow along in the reading and mentally process the content I was going through.

[mdietzteach]

August 28th

Titles:

Cambourne (1995), "Toward an Educationally Relevant Theory of Literacy and Learning"

Britsch and Meier (1999), "Building a Literacy Community: The Role of Literacy and Social Practice in Early Childhood Programs"

Take Away:

Students are most likely to learn when they engage with the material that they are encountering.

Taking ownership of the thinking process is the most effective way to develop learning.

Nugget:

I particularly appreciated the piece that encouraged educators that "learners are more likely to engage deeply with demonstrations if they believe that they are capable of ultimately learning or doing whatever is being demonstrated" (Cambourne, 1995). I found it helpful to be reminded that the educators attitude toward and their encouragement can make a huge difference in how a student performs.

Students need to be given the permission to attack problems and situations with the freedom of handling it in the way that works best for them. This is a piece of education that I feel strongly about. As I was growing up, I always felt that I learned the most and got the most out of an assignment when I had the opportunity to direct it for myself.

Readerly Exploration

For my Readerly Exploration, I decided that I would take a field trip to the Messiah University Teacher Maker Space. I first thought about the Maker Space when I was doing my readings for the week.

            When I first got to the Maker Space, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, or how I wanted to engage with the materials, but I quickly found myself just grabbing a few different things and giving them a try. I worked with some math manipulatives, then spent some time playing around with the Qomo board. I had to experiment to really figure out how to use the board and work with it in a way that would be of advantage to my students. I started to reflect on my own learning and realized that I would not have been able to understand how to use the board as well if I would have just watched someone else using it. I had to engage with the board on my own to really learn what to do. There were times where I would mess up and do something that I did not want to do, but it helped me to grow and change my approach for the next time. The use of the board was a strong reminder that without being able to make the learning ones’ own, they will not truly grasp the information.

            I wonder… if a Maker Space is provided to help teacher’s enhance their learning and school experience, how much more helpful could the opportunity to engage with learning materials be for young students?

Above: My trip to the Maker Space and a "before" of testing out the Qomo board.

Below: I engaged with some Math Manipulatives and worked on creating larger fractions from smaller parts.