Module 6-Assessment of Literacy Learning

Interactive Activities and early assessments help with early literacy skills and identifying students who may be at risk.

     I read article 1 about assessments and article 2 early assessments, both of these article were similar in the fact they both had to do with assessing students at a young age. When assessing preschool ages students we have to remember that most of the assessments are done informally. As stated in article 1, "traditional methods of determining the skills of preschool children often involve observations of children by the classroom teacher. Such informal assessments of children’s skills can be useful for teachers as they teach new skills because they can be used to scaffold instructional activities with a child (i.e., using a child’s responses to an instructional interaction to increase or decrease the difficulty level of the interaction)". (ALLAN, LERNER, LONIGAN, LERNER, 2011)

   

The results of the  informal assessments will give us the information we need to decide what kind  instruction we will use to  teach or enforce a specific skill. Both of these article also discuss the importance of using fun interactive activities to help the students learn. When students are having fun they don't know they are learning therefore the learning goes undetected and is easily accepted. Also, when students are in a group setting they can learn from each other. A pair and share is a form of assessment that can be used to see if students understand and comprehend a story that has been read to them. A teacher can read a story to the whole group and then the students can pair and share, what they liked about the story, what was their favorite part of the story is or what did they learn. This will give the teacher a chance to go around to each pair of students to see who understood what was read to them or who is having trouble with comprehension. At a later time the teacher can then help individual students who are having trouble with comprehension. This can help students who may be as risk, such as ELL students or students who are low academically. 

  

     In conclusion, both of these article focus on interactive and fun assessments. Having the students interact with the teacher and each other is one of the ways to assess students informally. These informal assessments gives the teacher a quick look to see who she may need to spend extra time on. Even though informal assessments are ways in which to see each students level, it is always good to follow up with a formal assessment to confirm your findings. 

Orlando's Case Study

Supporting Emergent Readers

     When reading a story to young students it is very important to make sure students comprehend what is being read to them. Reading a simple or even a picture book to emergent readers is one way to begin the process of teaching students how to comprehend a story. In Orlando's case study he has difficulty understanding and comprehending information that is being read to him. One strategy that could be effective in Orlando's case could be the strategy of repeat reading. Orlando is an interactive child who could benefit from the repeat reading of a story or picture book. If a story is reread to a student over and over again and the main idea of the story is repeated, Orlando should have an easier time comprehending and answering "Wh" questions.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perfect example of rereading and repeating a story in which the students can be interactive with the story to help them comprehend what is being read to them.

     Another strategy that could be to support emergent readers is the strategy of predicting what is going to happen next. When the students have the ability to tell you what they think is going to happen, it encourages them to listen to the story to whether or not they are right. In "I Went Walking, by Sue Williams, students love to hear this story and they can try to predict what animal will be coming next.  This is one of those stories that can not only be interactive for Orlando, but can help him with his ability to comprehend the story because it gives him the power to have a voice. If students feel like they are part of the solution, they are more likely to understand what is being read to them. 

     Have students summarize what was just read to them is another strategy that can be used to help support emergent readers. Small little parts of a paragraph can help the student feel like they understand what is being read to them. When there is too much information given to the child at one time, they are less likely to comprehend. One of the books that would be good for this strategy is "The Cat In The Hat". This story can be broken up into sections so that it's easier for the reader to comprehend what is being read to them. Reading the whole book at one time may just set students, like Orlando, up for failure. But if you read this book in sections, and have the students summarize what has gone on in the story section by section, the students will be able to comprehend what is happening in the story. 

     The retelling of a story to me is one of the most effective ways that I would help support Orlando in his comprehension difficulties. Orlando is an active, happy student and have him interact in a story would be the best way to support his comprehension. Student theater is one way to implement this and it is one way I encourage comprehension in my classroom. Many of the students in my preschool class have trouble comprehending the simplest stories I read to them, but I have notices if I get them involved in retelling the story or acting out the story, the story becomes real to them, which in turn helps with comprehension. A couple of the stories I would use for this would be either "Little Red Riding Hood" or "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". Which each of these stories you have the main characters which can all be used to act out the story. Based on the time and materials you can give the students props or you can just have them. act out the story. Making the props for the each story can also help with comprehension because not only are they acting out the story but they have props to go with them. 

     Using graphic organizers can help teach Orlando to organize his thoughts so that he can comprehend the story that is being read to him. By putting the title of the story in the center he can center his thoughts around that. We can right down the characters in the story which will help him with either retelling or acting out the story. The setting of the story will help him visualize where it the story takes place and having the problem spelled out for him and putting the solution down on paper will help with reading comprehension. 

     As educators, we have to remember that no all students learn the same and it is our job to differentiate our instruction so that we can reach as many students as we can. Using different strategies to create one outcome is what should be effective in teaching young students. All students learn differently and we have to find out what works in our classroom each year based on students learning styles. 

Home Group 1-Interactive Read-Aloud

Blog 2: Home Group 1-Interactive Read-Aloud

     Interactive read-aloud are very important when it comes to preschool aged children. Early childhood interactive read-aloud are very important to the way young students look at books. When reading a book it is very important that the teacher reading the book is filled with excitement and expression when reading the story.

     This gist of this article is there are many ways in which reading read aloud can be helpful in educating our preschoolers. When reading read aloud, asking the right questions to encourage higher order of thinking is very important. The answers the students give don’t need to be complicated, but just enough to know they understand the story. The simplest questions can be asked such as “What did you like?” “Can you make a connection in your life?” Or, “Can you predict what is going to happen in the story?” Reading is very important, but having the students interact with the read aloud is what makes it successful. Reading a story over and over is not a negative practice, but can be seen as a positive practice. The students will take something different away from the story each time it is read to them.

     The reason why all of these elements are important is because you want to encourage reading comprehension at a young age. If we can teach our students that reading is fun and can be imaginative, then they are more likely to enjoy and comprehend stories that is either read to them or that they read themselves. When I read a book to my preschoolers, I encourage them to tell me what they think about what happen in the story. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn out answer, but if I am reading a book the book, “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and there is a fire truck in the story, and I ask the students “What did you like about the story and if they tell me they like the water coming out of the fire hose,  I would accept that. It tells me that the student was listening and comprehending what I was reading to them.

      The curriculum I use in my classroom is called "Tools of the Mind". This curriculum encourages students to think about specific questions while I am reading the book. It also encourages me to read the book through to let them absorb the story I am reading to them. At the end is when I will ask the students a question and that is when they will pair and share their answers, this is done so that all students have an opportunity to share their answer. As an early literacy educator, it is my job to engage students in the stories I read to them on a daily basis. It is also my job to make sure they learn and understand new vocabulary in the book. I want to make reading fun and make sure the students learn and are having fun without them knowing it. The more I read to my student the more likely they will embrace the love of learning.

Literacy: Then and Now

     Ever since I can remember reading was always difficult for me. But even though school was a struggle for me, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I can vividly remember during my elementary years, always being one of  last one done with my classroom reading assignments. This was sometimes discouraging and was something I needed to over come. It wasn't until much later in my life when I started to begin to enjoy reading for pleasure. It wasn't until I started my journey to finish my degree online when I realized that I liked to read. It was never that I didn't like to read, but my comprehension of what I was reading was an obstacle. Even today, I have difficulty comprehending what I read, but now that I am older and have life experience under my belt, I don't get discouraged and more, I just take it slower until I understand what it is I am supposed to be reading.
    As I look through my elementary school years, I have to say there really wasn't anyone who had an influence on my reading habits. Back when I was growing up, labels like ADD or ADHD didn't exist and if you had some kind of reading deficiency they didn't really detect it unless your parents pushed for it to be found. With that being said, my mother today is 88 years old and had my brother and I when she was 40. She went to school until the 8th grade and then she had to drop out of school and stay home and help raise her family because her mother died at a young age. My father went to high school and that was it. He was in WWII and then proceeded  to work for a company who constructed airplane equipment. My parents were simple people and had the opportunity to give me a good life, but they were not going to take the extra time to find out whether or not I had a learning disability. It was just the way it was and I am ok with that. For me, I had to figure out how important reading and writing was before I could get better at it. If you ask me today, I would say I am an average reader with average comprehension and writing skills, but what I do have going for myself is my life experiences. With these life experiences comes the maturity a person needs to know to get them to reach their goals.
     Learning to read was very different then the way I am teaching reading today to my preschoolers. The way I was taught how to read was by learning name of  letters and the letter sounds. When you we were done learning letters and letter sounds, the teachers  would then have you  put them together to make words. In my preschool room that I am teaching in today,  we use the curriculum "Tools of the Mind" which is based on Vygotsky beliefs that "just as physical tools extend our physical abilities, mental tools extend our mental abilities, enabling us to solve problems and create solutions in the modern world. When applied to children, this means that to successfully function in school and beyond, children need to learn more than a set of facts and skills. They need to master a set of mental tools—tools of the mind" (Tools of the Mind Website: History). I sometimes wished I was taught under this curriculum because it teaches the students how to read and comprehend using hands on activities to engage them. It's not just sitting down at a desk and learning, but rather the teacher getting the students up and jumping around and learning as they play.
     Even though learning was a struggle for me growing up,  it has not deterred me from doing what I wanted to do and that was to become a teacher. I enjoy going to work every day and I tell people who ask me how work was today,  is that I have the best job in the whole entire world.