Literacy B, Blog 5

I am very encouraged by the Response to Intervention (RTI) article written by Mesmer and Mesmer. Over the years the increase in students diagnosed with a learning disability has been alarming; even more so the fact that once diagnosed, students seemed to never be able to shake the label. Mesmer and Mesmer explained the discrepancy model in which students were tested to determine if their achievement matched their ability. In order for help to be prescribed, it required that a "learning problem becomes . . . acute in terms of an IQ/achievement discrepancy." Critics have called this "waiting to fail," (pg. 280). In the attempt to diagnose a student with a learning disability, precious time was lost in which a helpful intervention could have been administered.

The fact that, through the RTI model, a student can be recognized as lagging behind peers and norms, and thereby receive much needed intervention, early in the school year, seems so much more beneficial. And to be able to help the child without labeling him/her, seems to offer real support for the child's future academic success.

I was especially encouraged by Mark's vignette that Mesmer and Mesmer described. The teacher was not on her own to help her student. There was a team of specialist in place. When the student did not respond adequately to the support he was given, the team changed their approach. Furthermore, the group brought different dynamics to the intervention. I appreciated the reading specialist who insisted that comprehension not be sacrificed for reading fluency. Chris Tovani spoke of this in her book I Read It But I Don't Get It. "Decoding is not comprehending," (pg. 17). In Marks' case, the reading specialist wanted to make sure that Mark didn't gain the ability to read words while losing the ability to understand them.

I am very encouraged by this growing trend for intervention in our schools.

Literacy B, Blog 4 - Fake Readers

As Cris Tovani, in I Can Read It, But I Don't Get It, began to descirbe a "fake reader," I realized that she was describing me in my school years. As we read texts aloud by turns in class, I would calculate which paragraph would be mine and begin to silently practice it. I was not searching for meaning but instead for pronunciation. In doing this I missed the passages read before me. After my turn I was so relieved to be done that I did not continue to follow as subsequent readers took their turn. I always had to reread the passage at home and never enjoyed it. By high school, my favorite subject was math; I realize now not just because I understood it, but because there was limited reading involved.

In chapter 2, Tovani describes learning how to read for meaning in her reading group. I think this must be what happened to me, although without my realizing it. When our new public library opened, an adult book group was offered and I joined, not knowing what to expect. It turned out to be a wonderful, social time of talking about what resonated with each of us and why. I realized that I did not need to understand every nook & cranny, every word & nuance of the book. I would read from beginning to end but then bring to the book group small passages that meant something to me. I often had to take notes as I read in order to remember, but this, too, helped me gain meaning. After our discusions, I always felt as if I walked away with a bigger picture of what the author was trying to say.

Now I turn my attention to today's young fakers. Steve Uhle, in his post Thoughts on Struggling Readers , talks about a 3rd grade student during informal reading conferences. When it was the student's turn, he still had not chosen a book. Steve helped by offering him a choice of three books; Steve knew that one was harder than the others, but he did not tell the student. The student chose the most difficult one. To interest the student, Steve told the student that Steve was interested in the book and wanted the student to search for his favorite parts and draw a picture about them. I am very impressed with this simple way to have a student read for meaning.

Literacy B, Blog 3 - Shared/Guided Readings

Regie Routman opens chapter 8 of Reading Essentials with "if we want kids to wind up with comprehension, we have to begin with comprehension." (pg. 117). I believe that this is the case with my main placement. I am in a Kindergarten class and from the first day, my master teacher has strove for authentic learning with comprehension as the goal, both in reading as well as writing. I've witnessed modeled, shared, and guided teaching across the curricula. And I'm amazed at what these students are doing in just five months of school.

I have taken over the daily message on the two days/week that I'm in the class. This is something that I enjoy but it is much harder than it looks. The message lets the students know which special they will have on that day; i.e. library, music, or P.E. The message was originally written with a black marker, but as the students learn new sight words, these new words show up in the message in color. Our message now has more words in color than in black. The teacher does some type of hand/body motion with each word. Each word is written on a small sticky note as well as a colored index card. A student is called up to the message board; that child takes a sticky note and attaches it to that word in the message. Then the child leads the class in the movement for that word. Finally, the student puts the corresponding index card on the word wall.

Journal writing, which usually follows, consists of using these words in a sentence. Much scaffolding is needed and many students will copy the teacher's sentence. However, more and more, some students are writing their own. They visit the message board as well as the word wall to write the words that they need help with. In all of this, the students are slowly learning to read and they are always excited to see what is written in the daily message. They are looking for meaning.

Literacy B, Blog 2 - Informal Reading Conferences

I am a bit nervous as I anticipate my first informal reading conference with my 5th Grade Buddy. My student is a very capable reader and writer, as evidenced by his writing that he read aloud to me last week, and a very good speller, judging by the informal spelling test that I administered last week. He is also a very sweet kid. There is no reason for me to be nervous. These feelings arise out of a lack of confidence on my part. I am usually uneasy about doing something for the first time.

Routman lists a Framework for an Informal Reading Conference on page 104-105. I have printed this form, Appendix H, (pg.A-9) and plan to follow it diligently. I have also printed her "Child-Friendly" Reading Goals from page 106-107. I know I will have to refer to them as I conference with my buddy, somewhat like following a new recipe to the tee. Fortunately, I really do feel assured that my buddy will be patient and agreeable. I just want to do justice by him; he deserves no less.

Follow-up: The Informal Reading Conference went well. As I expected, my buddy was very willing and cooperative to go through the steps of the conference with me. He is comfortable speaking to adults and enjoys talking about books, making a Reading Conference an easy thing to accomplish with him. Afterwards, as we walked back to his classroom, I told him that before the meeting with him, I had been nervous. He looked at me with expressive brown eyes and admitted that he had been nervous as well. I suggested that I thought, however, it went okay. His grin was the only response I needed.

Follow-up 2: After reading Athena's blog about her reflections on Informal Conferences and what Routman writes about them in Reading Essentials, chapter 7, I realize that I didn't focus on goals for my buddy. We definitely talked about his strengths but my buddy left the conference without any stated goals in mind. I can address this with him next week as we have our 2nd Informal Reading Conference with the just-right book that I bring in.

Literacy B, Blog 1, Cambourne and Templeton

It has been very interesting reading Brian Cambourne's article, An Alternate View of Learning, (1988) while student teaching at the Kindergarten level. In my main placement classroom I am witnessing reading abilities emerge in young students; something that is incredibly thrilling. Cambourne's article has given me a new perspective with which to view this. He correlates learning to read and write with learning to speak. I now envision a room full of young babies & toddlers, babbling away in their babyspeak, not really understaning what others are saying nor understanding themselves, what they wish to express nor the control that it takes to express it. Just happy to be in the moment. Are the Kindergartners happy to be in the moment or are they frustrated with this literacy skill they must learn in the allotted time that we have to teach them?

Templeton says that research suggests "some examination of words is necessary for most students," (Questions teachers ask about spelling, pg 108). Learning can't all be authentic; some word study is necessary. In this Kindergarten class a workable balance between authenticity and word story seems to have been struck.

I believe that my master teacher is an excellent teacher; she models what the students are supposed to be doing. Cambourne says, "I've come to believe that demonstrations are the raw material of nearly all learning," (pg. 34). This week during Centers my MT conducted the first small group guided reading. The students were given a book written with word-families that they had studied. She prepped them first by engaging the students in a review of these words and writing a list - grouped in families - on a white board. Then she opened her book along with the six students. She took some time to look at the illustrations on the first page and to wonder aloud what she thought the writing might be about. The teacher and the students then read the first page together, running their fingers under each word. She then looked at the illustrations again to see what she now understood about the drawings and asked questions of the students. This demonstration is just what I've been reading about in Regie Routman.

It had been four months since I had seen these students. On the first day of school I had witnessed their first entires in their writing journals; these were mostly drawings with some squiggly lines made by those who attempted to write. Now after just 4 months, these same students were able to read this book. (They are also writing a complete sentence in their journals.) I was truly amazed. The teacher was also very pleased. She and I are both anxious to see what the rest of the class will be able to do.

Literacy, Week 10, Routman, Chapter 7

Write: Routman chapters 7 and 8 are about teaching and organizing writing. Consider one or several ideas from these chapters in terms of writing process, traits, or genre, as well as in relation to your field placement.

Routman begins chapter 7 with the following quote from Mem Fox, "writers don't improve their craft unless they have a real purpose, a real audience, and a real investment in their writing" (pg. 141). Routman has been expressing these exact beliefs throughout her book. I've been thinking about this and wondering about ways to offer real audiences to my students. Routman says that "contrived writing stifles voice" (pg. 146), but how can teachers help make writing authentic? Through an authentic audience, of course, but who would be their audience for a narrative, a biography, expository writing? When a writing assignment needs to be introduced, where and how can a teacher locate an audience?

On page 148, Routman admonishes us not to assume that our students "got" the demonstration. Teachers need to think out loud and ask questions regarding the points that the students should transfer to their own writing. For example, "why is this lead better?' (pg. 149) identifies the quality the teacher is looking for.

One of the suggested guidelines for proven strategies mentioned on page 170 is to keep writing assignments short. The benefit to the student is that short assignments are easier to complete - less writing, revising, editing - and are, therefore, less overwhelming. There is one student in my Dyad who, during Writer's Workshop, is writing a novel. At first I was very impressed as this is a child who considers himself to be a poor reader. I was very pleased to see him delve so into writing a story. But now I see that this assignment is going to be a nightmare for him to revise and edit. I'm so afraid that he will give up before it is complete.

Literacy, Week 9, Can You Be a Teacher Without Grading?

As kids when we played School, everyone wanted to be the teacher, no one the student. Being the teacher meant you got to boss everyone and grade their work. Now I read that "eighty percent of students' writing needn't be graded" (Routman, pg. 252). And Peter Elbow tells us in Ranking, Evaluating, and Liking: Sorting Out Three Forms of Judgment that he as a teacher has a much better time reading his students' work when he is not evaluating it (pg. 199). I'm not sure that the kids on my block would have agreed so many years ago. However, both authors make strong valid points against grading every piece of student writing.

Elbow talks about having "evaluation-free zones." These are ten minute, nonstop freewrites. The essential components of freewriting are 1) that they be private and 2) that they be nonstop writing. The student is thus free to explore and take risks without the concern that this writing could affect their grade. This compares with Routman that "kids need lots of time to practice, experiment, and just plain mess around without worrying about a grade" (p. 252).

Elbow also talks about "uncoupling" students from the need to be graded, the need to know "how am I doing, did I do okay?" (pg. 197). I was the type of student who thrived on getting good grades. In fact recently, I couldn't wait to receive my grade for the ELP assignment. I had worked hard and wanted confirmation that the professor also thought that I had worked hard. Elbow speaks about getting students to focus on his comments, which leads to better writing, away from grades, which do not (pg. 196). In reflection, I now see that the professor's comments accurately expressed my success on the assignment, without the need for the grade.

Elbow also mentioned giving course grades based on overall performance in the class such as "ability to meet deadlines," "effort," "improvement," and "skill in giving feedback to others" (pg.195). I found that interesting as we have just completed a process in which we gave and received feedback on our Literacy Vignette. In reality, I do not believe that I was able to give constructive feedback to the members in my group. I think that in order to do so, one must be a confident writer. Furthermore, it is very difficult for me to offer what might be construed as critical or negative. So, I understand now, this is a skill I need to develop.