In Language Arts they have been heavily focused on the writing test which they will take next Tuesday.  They will either have to write a personal narrative or an imaginative narrative.  Another teacher, possibly a writing specialist, came in again and worked with the students.  They were identifying whether prompts were set up to write a personal or imaginative narrative.  In reading they have been focusing on the authors purpose.  They just started reading the book Fourth Grade Rat.  Today they used a strategy.  I can’t remember the name of it (it starts with an L).  But each student sits in a chair, one facing one way and one the other, and they partner read.  Once one person finishes reading a page, the other person has to ask them a question.  When the answer is given the other person says prove it.  This seemed to work well.  The students had to pay attention to what they read and be able to prove their answer.  Again today the teacher read aloud to the students.

Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

There was an odd number of students, so I partnered up with a boy and did the reading strategy mentioned above.  It was interesting to hear him read out loud.  He did not really have any rhythm when reading and paused in weird places, so the story did not really flow. It was also interesting to see what questions he asked me.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

Since today was the last day, it was sad saying goodbye.  The 4th grade is taking a field trip to Raleigh on Thursday and all the students kept asking if I was going to go with them.  Some asked me if I was going to come back next year.  They all gave me hugs and the teacher gave me a class picture and all the students signed their name.  This was very special and it is a way for me to always remember this experience and those children!

I have noticed that after lunch, they have a short time where the teacher reads aloud.  If he reads a word that he thinks most of his students won’t understand, he will point it out and tell the definition which will help them remember the meaning of the word.  They are still working on personal and imaginative narratives and distinguishing the differences between the two.

Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

I have not done any teaching in my internship.  Today I was going to have the opportunity to take students individually out of the classroom and administer an activity that is very similar to our WRI assignment.  They get a minute to read a list of words, a story, and spell a selected list of words.  The only time I have worked with a group of students was during Math.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

I noticed that because of the preparation for the EOG’s they do not spend much time on Social Studies, Science, Writing, or Health.  They spend a little bit of time doing some of them each day.  But, compared to the time spent towards Math and Reading they don’t spend hardly any time on anything else.

I am in Mr. Graham’s 4th grade classroom and they have been working on testing and preparing for the EOG’s.  They have talked about plot and characters.  They have taken several pre-tests to help them get prepared for the EOG’s.  They have been focusing on eliminating answers that don’t work to help them get the right answers.

I went with the reading specialist, Mr. Eihrhart and they have been focusing on learning about inference.  They did several activities where they had to determine whether the statement was a fact, non-fact, or inference.  He was teaching them how to use the knowledge from their brains about past experiences in order to answer the questions.  He said that a lot of the EOG questions are based on inferences in the story, so they have been focusing on it.  He also played a riddle game, which the children love.  They are on teams and must decide what word the riddle describes.  They must use inference to figure out the word.

2.  What have you taught in your internship?

On Tuesday, we did our spelling test with the whole class.  We have not really gotten to teach anything.  We did get to help Mr. Graham go around and check their math worksheet answers.  But, we have mainly just been observing.

3.   Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

I really like how the school is set up in a circle and how the media center is in the middle and very open.  Although the media center is very open, it does not feel like a library.  There were not as many books as I am used to seeing in a school library.  As far as my classroom, I like how my teacher has a magnetic board with the classroom role.  Each student has a circle magnet by his or her name.  When the leave the classroom, whether it is to go to the bathroom or go to the media center or to go home, they move their magnet to the location they are going and when they get back, they move it back to my classroom.  I thought that was a very creative way of keeping up with the children.  I also like how during Math class, the students are given individual white boards and they can do their work and show their answers on the white boards.  The children really like using them too.

1. Accuracy in word decoding: be able to sound out words in text with minimal errors.

• Calculate the percentage of words a reader can accurately decode on grade-level material.

2. Automatic processing: readers need to expend minimal effort in decoding text, so that they can use their finite cognitive resources for meaning making.

• Teachers can look at the students’ reading rate by having students orally read a grade-level passage for sixty seconds and then calculate the number of words read correctly.

3. Prosodic reading: reader must parse the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units.

• Listen to a student read a grade-level passage and judge the quality of reading using a rubric scoring expression, volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace.

2. Rasinski refers to fluency as a “bridge” between decoding and comprehension. What does he mean by the “bridge” metaphor?

Students must be able to have control over surface level processing so that they can focus on having a deeper understanding of the text.  If the student has one, but not the other, they will not become fluent readers.

3. What instructional methods does Rasinski suggest for students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading?

Rasinski suggests assisted readings and repeated readings which research has shown to improve reading fluency.  Students need to hear what fluent reading sounds like and how they interpret the text.  Assisted reading helps with this aspect.  Repeated readings are repeated practices of reading a text.

4. Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS) is used to measure prosodic quality of oral reading. List components of the MFS and describe briefly what each refers to (p. 49).

• Expression and volume: this focuses on how the student reads passages and whether they make the text sound natural or whether they just say the words to get them out.

• Phrasing: this focuses on if the student just reads word by word or if they put pauses and stress certain parts of the text.

• Smoothness: this refers to whether the student has hesitation with sounding out the words or whether everything comes out smooth and flows.

• Pace: the focuses on if the student reads slow or at a consistent rate.

The scores range from 4-16 with a score of 8 being an average score.  Those below 8, fluency may be a concern.

After reading the title and looking at the pictures, what do you think this story is about?
What do you think Frog or Toad is making a list about?

Let’s read and find out about the list.

STOP (page 3)

Who makes the list?
Were your predictions correct about what the list was about?
Do you think Toad is going to forget to write something on his list?

STOP (page 7)

According to Toad’s list, they will go for a walk.  What do you think will happen on the walk?  Where will they go?

STOP (page 12)

Were your predictions correct about what would happen on their walk?  Do you want to change your predictions?
What do you think Toad is going to do without his list?

STOP (end of the story)

Were any of your predictions correct?
Why do you think Toad includes things like wake up or eat lunch on his list?  Aren’t those things you just remember to do automatically?
Do you think Toad really needed a list to remember everything he had to do?

3rd grade

2. What was the flash score for words at: first-grade level? second-grade level? third-grade level?

• 1st grade: 75%
• 2nd grade: 50%
• 3rd grade: 20%

3. What was the accuracy score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

• 1-2: 97%
• 2-1: 90%
• 2-2: 84%

4. What was the rate score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

• 1-2: 65%
• 2-1: 44%
• 2-2: 36%

5. What was the percentage correct score for: 1st grade words? second grade words?

• 1st: 75%
• 2nd: 50%

6. Which grade flash score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

His flash score for 1st grade is the best choice in order to be on Instruction Level.

7. Which grade level accuracy score is the best choice for the Instruction Level?

Again 1st grade is the best choice for Instruction Level based on accuracy.

8. What do Curt’s rate scores indicate about his grade-level reading? Where is he instructional according to rate?

He is at a first grade level.  His 1st grade words per minute are in the middle of the scale. His second grade and third grade words per minute are below low according to the scale.

9. What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instructional Level?

He is above 1st grade Instructional Level.  He is average Instructional Level for second grade.

10. Put all of these scores together, and what do they indicate Curt’s reading level to be?

Curt’s best choice for Instructional Level is 1st grade.  His spelling scores are the only scores that indicate that his Instructional Level is second grade.

During the comprehension of informational texts, these reading processes take place: accessing accurate, relevant knowledge, managing mental processes during reading within the confines of a limited working memory, and constructing a coherent mental representation through organizational processes.

2. Specify the effect that background knowledge may have on constructing mental representations from informational text. Why should teachers be concerned about activating prior knowledge?

Young children rely heavily on background knowledge with their interaction and understanding of a text.  Meditation is an important support that activates relevant background information.  But, teachers need to be sensitive to dialogue that indicates that they are activating irrelevant or inaccurate prior knowledge.

3. What are the three instructional approaches that can be used to help primary-grade students comprehend informational text?

Picture Walk (PW): a few vocabulary words are introduced as the teacher and student previews the first couple of pages of a new book.  This allows the student to make predictions before reading.
Know-Want to Know-Learn (KWL): This process allows teachers to access prior knowledge and opens the door for a discussion with more breadth and depth of a certain topic.
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA): The teacher divides the text into meaningful sections, facilitating a discussion during each section.  Students generate, verify, and revises predictions based on the discussion and evaluation of information.

4. What is the purpose of the experimental study reported?
The purpose was to explore how the three methods mentioned above would influence developmental reading abilities and content understanding when used with informational text.

5. Who were the subjects?
The subjects were 31 struggling second graders in two demographically similar schools.  There were eight groups of four students and four groups in each of the two cycles.

6. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.
Informational texts were used that contained topics familiar to second graders such as spiders, the moon, and insects.  Each week, three different informational books were used that contain common information about the topic.  A total of twelve texts were used and all the texts were on the student’s instructional reading level.

7. How long did the experiment last?
The experiment was conducted during two four-week cycles.

8. What were the experimental conditions?
A pre-experimental screening was conducted to insure that a common instructional level existed.  A 45 minutes orientation session was conducted with each group.  There were twelve days of intervention in each cycle.  Each group received each treatment for three days and data was only collected on the third day.  The day after the conclusion, the students were interviewed about the comprehension strategies they used.

9. Describe the procedures specific to the Picture Walk, KWL, DRTA, and the Control Group conditions.

Picture Walk: A brief overview of the text was presented.  An interactive discussion was held as they worked through the book page-by-page looking at the pictures.  This was the only method that introduced new vocabulary before reading the text.  After reading, predictions were verified and a summary of information was discussed.

KWL: A topic was introduced and input was written in the Know column of the chart.  The children categorized the information and generated questions about the topic that they wanted to know the answer to.  After reading the text, there was a discussion as to whether the text had answered their questions.

DRTA: Before reading, children formulate and justify predictions based on the cover page and prior knowledge.  Each child mumble reads a section, verifying predictions and summarizing information.

Non-instructional Control Condition: These children had the same opportunity to read the same book as the other students.  The same brief overview was presented to all the groups.  A drawing or writing topic to share with the group followed Independent reading.

10. What measures were used to determine the relative effectiveness of the treatments? Describe the measures briefly.

Vocabulary Recognition Tasks: This task evaluated whether there were vocabulary gains and which treatment provided the most help to establish these gains.
Maze: The original text was reprinted with the deletion of ten content words.  This was a timed task.
Free Recall: Students responded to the prompt, “Please tell me everything you can remember about the book. Also tell me anything the book made you think of.” The answers were written on the code sheet and scored.
Cued Recall: After the free recall, each child was asked to answer three explicit and three implicit questions based on that day’s test.
Post-Intervention Interview: At the conclusion of each research cycle, individual interviews, with the students in that cycle, were conducted. The question surveyed three types of strategy knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge.

11. Which treatment(s) were found to be more effective in increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge and maze performance?

Both the PW and the DRTA were  effective in the maze performance.  A slightly larger proportion of variance is explained by PW than DRTA. It seems that a conversational social interaction around the text with the introduction of difficult vocabulary and text structure does facilitate fluent, accurate reading.   No gains were observed across the conditions in vocabulary knowledge.

12. Students’ comprehension of the texts was greater under the DRTA condition than KWL and the control conditions. What do you think explains DRTA’s advantage over the KWL condition?

Teacher guidance during the DRTA tended to direct the children’s attention to the important ideas and assist with difficult text concepts in a way that was not provided for in the other interventions. The scaffolded interactions during reading, actively justifying and verifying predictions, integrating text-based information with prior knowledge, and having an immediate opportunity to discuss new concepts seemed to help these novice readers when they were called on to respond to questions about the text.

13. It was found that the treatments did not differ in the quality and quantity of students’ retellings. In other words, students were not differentially affected by the treatments in the way they integrated textual information with prior knowledge. What does this finding mean in terms of the different emphases employed by experience-based (KWL) vs. text-based (DRTA) treatments?
KWL would yield retellings that included more content or broader content than a text-based intervention such as the DRTA or the PW. This need to develop a system of organization is one of the major differences between learning from experiences and learning from most informational texts.

14. In light of the findings from this study, what conclusions can you draw about the role of teacher support in children’s construction of mental representations from informational text?

Novice readers rely on intentional discussions and inquiry.  The ability to apply prior knowledge seems to require teacher mediation in direct relationship with the text.  Organizing information is important for retrieval to be possible.  More instruction and guided reading may be needed as an aid to organize information.

• Scribbles letters and numbers

• Pretends to read and write

• Do not have a letter to sound understanding/ alphabetic understanding

• Do not have a concept of word understanding

• “read” familiar books from memory using pictures

2. How does a Letter Name-Alphabetic speller read and write?

• Understand beginning and ending sounds

• Use letter names to invent spellings

• Reads word by word

• Limited knowledge of letter sounds

• Include but confuse vowels when they read and write

3. How does a Within Word Pattern speller read and write?

• Stops finger pointing and reads silently

• Reads and writes with more fluency

• Spells single syllables with short vowels correctly

• Spells most digraphs and blends correctly

• Confuse long vowel patterns

4. How does a Syllable and Affixes speller read and write?

• Makes errors at syllable junctures and unaccented syllables

• Reads with fluency and expression

• Reads faster silently than orally

• Writes critical and sophisticated responses

5. How does a Derivational Relations speller read and write?

• Mastered high frequency words

• Makes errors on words derived from Latin and Greek

• Reads with fluency and expression

• Writes critical and sophisticated responses

• Reads faster silently than orally

6. What is the existing research evidence on the relationship between spelling and reading? Briefly describe research findings discussed on page 20.

• Six correlational studies: students at various ages were asked to read and spell words.

• Correlation between spelling and word recognition and decoding has been reported.

• Intervention studies exploring the value of supplemental spelling instruction found that those who received additional spelling instruction performed better on reading tasks.

• Perfetti observed that practice at spelling helps reading more than practice at reading helps spelling.

• Many researchers reported that spelling was the most consistent predictor of reading achievement.

Curt would fall under the letter name stage.  He is having trouble with preconsonantal nasal for example: plat (plant).  He hasn’t mastered the silent e pattern for example: chas (chase), driv (drive), and wiss (wise).  He hasn’t mastered short vowels either for example: clod (cloud) and stof (stuff).

Key Characteristics:

• They spell words like they sound

• Long vowels are correct

• Preconsonantal nasals are wrong

• Short vowels are wrong

2. Describe partner reading.

Partner reading is a form of guided reading and it often begins with a preview.  This is where the teacher or tutor, before reading the selection, goes through the first five or six pages looking at the pictures and predicting what will happen.  The child and the teacher or tutor alternate reading one page each aloud.  The tutor usually reads the first page.  The tutor also asks comprehensive questions occasionally.

3. Which is harder for a student, partner reading or DRTA?

I think that DRTA is much more challenging for a student.  In DRTA, the student must be able to really pay attention to the story and make predictions about what is going to happen next based on what had been acknowledged so far.  It allows the student to make a hypothesis and then find out if it was right or wrong and then go back and make more hypotheses until the end of the story.  I think there is a place for partner reading, but DRTA seems to be a more efficient way to analyze if a student has comprehended the story line.

4. In planning a DRTA, what is important about selecting places to stop?

The tutor must consider three or four stopping points in the story that lend themselves to questions about what has happened thus far and what might happen next.  While reading, the tutor must simply ask, At what point in the story am I able to anticipate an important upcoming event or plot turn? Why am I able to do so? What information have I read that is triggering the anticipation?

5. In planning a DRTA, what is important about deciding questions to ask? What kind of questions? How many?

The stopping places, where questions are asked, must be based not only on logical prediction points within the story, but also on the story’s length.  When planning the number of questions, the tutor must take into consideration the child’s motivation and concentration and how it can be best maintained.  Different stories will have a different number of stopping points.  At the stopping points, the tutor will ask prediction questions and/or questions that check the child’s comprehension of important information in the section just read.  There is no formula, but the tutor should preplan questions that will engage the student in the story.