ELL Developmental Language Levels

 Level 1: Learners are beginners. They try to grasp the meanings of words and connect them to ideas. They begin to communicate in sentences but may answer questions with only one word.
Level 2: Learners can understand simple, concrete sentences. They begin to decode words and develop the ability to read high-utility words. Following a structured framework, the learners can write simple sentences and narratives.
Level 3: Learners have a good grasp on basic communications skills, although grammar and syntax may be incorrect. They are progressing as readers but need extensive content vocabulary to enhance subject training.
Level 4: Learners have increased in fluency and can read most class assignments. They still need help with abstract concepts and writing skills.

 Response Protocol: A framework for teacher responses to English language learners when they respond to teacher questions.

Contribution Approach: A multicultural approach that typically includes culturally specific celebrations and holidays.

Additive Approach: A thematic approach that addresses multicultural issues.

Transformative Approach: A multicultural approach that provides students with opportunities to read about cultural concepts and events that are different from their own, make judgments about them, think critically, and generate conclusions.

Decision-Making & Social-Action Approach: A multicultural approach that provides students with opportunities to undertake activities and projects related to cultural issues.

Academic and Cognitive Diversity: The situation that results when children learn faster than, slower than, or differently from what is expected in school.

Exceptional children: Students who learn and develop differently from most others or students 

Public Law 94-142: Passed in 1975, this law guaranteed a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability.

IDEA 2004: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 is a United States law that mandates equity, accountability and excellence in education for children with disabilities.

Inclusion: Incorporating the diverse needs and abilities of all students into classroom instruction.

Literacy Coaches: An individual who provides professional development opportunities and resources. In-class coaching and support provide a variety of professional development activities while in a non-evaluative role.

Differentiated Instruction: Adapting teaching for all learners to meet individual needs.

CHAPTER 4

Environmental Print: Print that surrounds children in their everyday lives, such as traffic signs, restaurant signs, charts, and labels.

Invented Spelling: Spellings children use early in their reading and writing development as they begin to associate letters to sounds.

Language-Experience Activities: Activities using the natural language of children and their background experiences to share and discuss events; listen to and tell stories; dictate words, sentences, and stories, and write independently.

Literacy Development: The stages of language experience.

Phase 1: Awareness and Exploration

Phase 2: Experimental Reading and Writing

Phase 3: Early Reading and Writing

Phase 4: Transitional Reading and Writing

Phase 5: Independent and Productive Reading and Writing

Literacy Play Center: Designated classroom area designed around familiar contexts or places and furnished with props to provide an environment in which children may play with print on their own terms.

Literate Environment: An environment that fosters and nurtures interest in and curiosity about written language and supports children’s efforts to become readers and writers.

 How writing develops: Scribbling is one of the primary forms of written expression for very young children.

• Early scribbling – random
• Controlled scribbling – repeated marks
• Scribble drawing – pictographic
• Name scribbling – scribble writing, they mean something

How reading develops: Reading sells itself to children because written language is everywhere in the limelight

• Children learn about reading and writing at an early age by observing and interactive with adults and others as they use literature every day
• Children construct their own concepts about the function and structure of print through these interactions

Literate environment:An environment that fosters interest in and curiosity about written language Supports children’s efforts to become readers and writers

 Core language and literacy skills: essential set of skills children must have to become successful readers- how print and language work together

Shared reading:using a book with enlarged pictures and texts that the students can see and sharing the book with the whole class or group of students. Teachers can model many skills doing this.

How to promote oral language development:Make conversations with students during every available opportunity. Use physical proximity and eye contact when listening. Acknowledge the things children say by continuing the topic with your own comments.

Design of classroom environment:literacy is grounded in all the ways that children learn- physically, socially emotionally and cognitively. Make sure to have purposeful uses of print through out the room. There should be these supportive areas in the environment: a book area, listening area, computer area and writing area

Oral language comprehension:speak and listening with understanding. Includes grammar word meaning and comprehension. Listen with purpose. Quickly recognize words they hear and connect new information with what they already know. Use activities such as shared book reading, singing songs, fingerplays, story telling and dramatic play in preschool to help children learn

Vocabulary: words the individual knows and can use. Expressive is usually bigger than receptive. Evidence says that children who have been exposed to larger vocab do better in school

Phonological awareness: sounds of language apart from meaning, consciously aware of the structure of language rather than just simply using language to communicate. Syllables, rhyming,

Alphabet knowledge:ability to name and write all 26 letters. Lot of options like Alphabet books, magnetic letters, alphabet songs, allow drawing them in finger paint or sand.

Developmental writing:first attempt at spelling words and composing texts. Children start with scribbling move to more inventive spelling. Developmental writing is important because it develops understanding of how words work to communicate meaning. Writing material avalabl in all parts of the room

Print knowledge:recognize print and understand that it works in certain ways. Knowledge of reading terms, rules and procedures, like distinction between words, direction of print. Motivates learn-to-read process ands it’s a marker of literacy experience. Shared writing most important strategy that can be used to develop this. Collecting pictures and labeling them, writing text under kids drawing, have them identify words in the environment are all ways to connect words to print

Developing early literacy skills:Will get more info in chapter five. The book says for now look at the routines and practices that support the fundamentals. Remember the activities are designed so that language and literacy learning occurs in fun meaningful ways.

Language-experience stories: an account of a story that is told out loud by a student and printed by a teacher or another person. No more appropriate way to help children understand what reading is all about than to show them how language is transcribed into print

Classroom Application: Understanding that IDEA 2004 and public law94-142 guarantees a free public education to all students with disabilities allows the teacher to make lessons that are inclusive to all students. Using the information in all of the videos will truly allow for inclusion of the classroom. Get to know the whole story and allow students to make mistakes and help them to find solutions. Understanding that to engage students is to make reading and writing fun. By using shared reading and invented spelling this will work for all students.

 Videos- Invented Spelling- A first grade teacher uses invented spelling to help coax her students in to correct spelling. It is beneficial for young students to sound out words that they do not know.  Inventive spelling helps readers to become better spellers and better readers.

Video Shared Reading- The teacher read a story of a Baboon and an eagle to the class. The book had lots of sounds and rhyming phrases when doing shared reading a typical schedule would be to

 Day 1 – Read the whole story out loud and really make it come alive for the students. Engage them in the “meat” of the story – the setting, characters, problem, etc.
Day 2 –  Pin point key vocabulary for students.
Day 3 – Focus on punctuation: quotations, commas, question marks, exclamation points,
Day 4 – Reread full text and focus on students’ phonemic awareness.
Day 5 – Engage students in oral, written, and visual projects surrounding the story.

The Video on a single story-This was a very powerful video that showed how people generally only know one side of a cultural or story. How we should learn to look beyond what we think we know.

Scope and sequence– General plan in basal reading programs for the introduction of skills in sequential or vertical arrangement. Determines what will be taught in a course, usually with a list, that helps identify the level required for students.

Basal reading approach- Provide everything a teacher needs to complete a reading program with options to supplement with their own literature. It can be considered a bottom- up approach, presenting skills to be taught in a sequence, or an interactive program, featuring unedited children’s literature selections, strategy instruction, and writing opportunities.

Language-experience approach- Teachers often use language-experience activities in combination with other approaches to reading instruction. Language Experience Approach (LEA) is especially prevalent in preK and Kindergarten classrooms. Often associated with story dictation, recording the language of children on chart paper, or newsprint and using what they say as the basis for reading instruction.

Integrated language arts approach,- Extends the concept of language experience throughout the grades by immersing students in reading, writing, talking, listening, and viewing activities. Teachers that use this approach believe the topics should support each other not be taught separately.

Literature-based approach- Accommodate individual student differences in reading abilities at the same time focus on meaning, interest, and enjoyment. Teachers encourage students to make their own literature selections.

Technology-based approach- Schools today can make a dramatic difference in children’s literacy development. One example is talking books, a digital story. Web based applications allow students to access and retrieve information immediately, construct their own texts, and interact with others, using desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices.  The web is having a tremendous impact on classroom learning. Students have email, wikis and blogs that allow them to have ongoing written correspondence with students from around the world. Teachers are using social media tools as well.

Technology-based instruction- An instructional approach that utilizes computers and their many capabilities as listed above.

Instructional scaffolding- Providing enough instructional guidance and support for students so that they will be successful in their use of reading strategies. Giving students a better chance to be successful with reading and writing. Teachers provide literacy scaffolds through the use of well-timed questions, explanations, demonstrations, practice and application. These scaffolds provide instructional support for children in two ways:

 1. The application of skills and strategies at the point of actual use during reading

2. Explicit instruction in the development of skills and strategies through mini-lessons.

Explicit strategy instruction- Instruction that makes clear the what, why, when and how of skill and strategy use. Helps students by providing an alternative to what we have called direct instruction in a skill based curriculum. A direct instruction model as we noted earlier is rooted in behavioral principles of learning. When teachers make instruction explicit however students construct knowledge about the use of skills and strategies. Explicit instruction involves strategic learning, not habit formation.

Videos

The first video is of a Kindergarten boy age 6. He reads while the teacher has a list of words that are on each page and puts a check mark above the word if the student knows the word. When the student says a word wrong the teacher writes the word the student said along with a T that is circled. If the student doesn’t know the word at all a T that is circled is written above the word. If the student says the wrong word then says the correct word the teacher writes above the word what was first said and the SC. During the running record the teacher provides the student with positive feedback. The teacher then asks questions about the book and records their answers. The teacher gives clues again so the student can remember the correct names.

The second running record-The teacher read the title and explained to the student what instinct meant. The teacher in this record used the same check marks above the words. The student then read some of the book silently after which the teacher asked him questions to see what his comprehension was. The teacher also asked questions about the glossary, what was in it and if any of the words looked familiar. She then had the student read the words. She asked the student about instincts beyond the text, then asked questions about certain pages in the book.

Systematic instructional approach:

Explicit- Based on stated information

Implicit, Based on unstated assumptions in conjunction with given information.

Autobiographical narrative-An instructional strategy to help students and teachers reflect upon personal knowledge.

Professional knowledge- Knowledge acquired from an ongoing study of the practice of teaching.

 Literacy coach- An individual who provides professional development opportunities and resources.

 Alphabetic principle, – Principle suggesting that letters in the alphabet map to phonemes, the minimal sound units represented in written language.

Orthographic knowledge- Knowledge of common letter patterns that skilled readers use rapidly and accurately to associate with sounds.

 Schemata-Mental frameworks that humans use to organize and construct reading.

Schema theory and reading comprehension:  Schemata reflect the prior knowledge, experiences, conceptual understandings, attitudes, values, skills, and procedures a reader brings to a reading situation

 Metacognition-Awareness of ones own learning, including task knowledge and self-monitoring of activity.

Piaget-Theory of cognitive development, children interpret and give meaning tothe events they experience and explore in the environment around them.

 Vygotsky-Theorist that viewed children as active participants in their own learning.

Graphophonemic system-Letter-sound information that readers process during reading.

Syntactic system- Grammatical information in a text that readers process, along with graphophonemic and semantic information, to construct meaning.

semantic system- The prior knowledge and experience that readers bring to a reading situation.

 4 steps of literacy development:

Text intent-Children’s encounters with text support the expectation that they will be able to re-create and construct an author’s message

Negotiability-Children use whatever knowledge and resources they possess to negotiate meaning. Reading is a give and take process between reader and author.

Risk-taking-Children take risks by experimenting with how written language word, this allows them to grow as language users.

Fine-tuning-Any encounter with written language is stored as a resource for future literacy situations, the more children interact with texts the better they get at constructing meaning.

3 models of reading :

Bottom-up- A type of reading model that assumes that the process of translating print to meaning begins with the printed word and is initiated by decoding graphic symbols into sound.

Top-down- A type of reading model that assumes that the construction of textual meaning depends on the reader’s prior knowledge and experience.

Interactive- A type of reading model that assumes that translating print to meaning involves using both prior knowledge and print and that the process is initiated by the reader making predictions about meaning and/or decoding graphic symbols.

RTI and the three tiers- systemic approaches to identification and instruction of struggling readers The identification process for learning disabilities shifts from a focus on the discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability to the emphasis of early support and intervention

Tier 1 All students are provided research-based instruction differentiated to meet each student’s needs Considered preventative and proactive (General Education)

Tier 2 More intensive work is provided to learners who have not been successful in traditional classroom learning situations, focused on small group interventions with frequent monitoring to measure progress(Gen. ED teachers receive support from special educators and literacy coaches)

Tier 3 Learners receive intensive, individualized intervention targeting specific deficits and problem areas (Special educators and literacy specialists are responsible for the intervention and assessment processes)

Application- Understanding that it is important to teach students graphophonemic, syntax, and semantic systems when decoding their readings. Students need to be taught these things otherwise they will have a hard time learning to read. The videos on preforming the running records is very helpful I have a better understanding on how these work. With more practice it should become second nature. It is nice to see that all of our courses are flowing into one another.

Trade Books– a wide variety of high-quality picture books and chapter books that are available for teachers to use in teaching thematic units.

Text Sets are Sets of books and other reading materials used in teaching thematic units. Materials are carefully chosen to include different genres, a range of reading levels, and multimedia resources. Ex. Atlases and maps, encyclopedias, films and videos, newspaper articles, nonfiction books, reference books.

Mentor texts-Teachers use stories, nonfiction books, and poems that students are familiar with to model the writers craft. Teachers use mentor texts to point out a specific feature such as adding punch with strong verbs.

Learning logs– Students record and react to what they’re learning in social studies, science, or other content areas.

Double-entry journals– Students decide their journal pages into two parts and write different types of information in each one.

Quick writing– Students write on a topic for 5 to 10 minutes, letting thought flow from their minds to their pens without focusing on mechanics or revisions.

Essays– Students write to explain, analyze, and persuade.

Collaborative books– A book written together by a group of students. Sometimes students each write one page for the report, or they can work together in small groups to write chapters.

KWL charts– activity to activate background knowledge and set purposes for reading an informational text and bring to closure after reading. The letters stand for What I Know, What I Want to know, and What I Learned.

Anticipation guides– teachers introduce a set of statements on the topic of the chapter, students agree or disagree with each statement, and then they read the assignment to see if they were right.

Pre-reading plan– introduces the big ideas in a chapter to the class. Present and idea discussed in the chapter then have students brainstorm words and ideas related to it.

Question–Answer relationships: students turn the main headings into questions and prepare to read to find the answers to the questions or check the questions at they end of the chapter.

Stages of reading process:

1. Pre-reading-K-W-L Charts, text set of books, websites, videos, and DVD’s, Anticipation guides, exclusion brainstorming.
2. Reading- Interactive read-aloud, partner reading, small-group read and share
3. Responding-Discussions, think-pair-square-share
4. Exploring-Word walls, word sorts, data charts
5. Applying-web quests, power point presentation, essays

Semantic feature analysis-students make data charts to record information according to the big ideas used to classify information.

Word sorts-word-study activity in which students group words into categories.

SQ4R study strategy-six-step technique in which students us as they study a content-area reading assignment. Used in seventh and eighth grade. The techniques are:

• Survey
•  Question
• Read
• Recite
• Relate
• Review

How to plan a thematic unit:

1. Determine the focus for the unit
2. Collect a text set of books
3. Coordinate Content-Area Textbook Readings.
4. Locate online, digital and multimedia materials
5. Plan instructional activities
6. Identify topics for mini-lessons
7. Devise ways to differentiate instruction
8. Brainstorm possible projects
9. Plan for assessment

Alternative assessments: teachers create alternative assignments to learn more about English learners’ achievement when they have difficulty on regular evaluations. For example drawing a picture of what they learned instead of an essay.

Classroom application- Writing can be integrated in to all areas. I can use word walls along with word sorts to help students break things down and categorize things into meaningful groups. I plan on having students write in journals and keep learning logs. These can be useful tools for preparing students for assessments.

How to Address Struggling Readers Problems

Reading Recovery is the most widely known intervention program for the lowest-achieving first graders. It involves 30-minute daily one-on-one tutoring by specifically trained and supervised teachers for 12 to 30 weeks. Reading Recovery lessons involve these components: Rereading familiar books Independently reading the book introduced in the previous lesson Learning decoding and comprehension strategies Writing sentences Reading a new book with teacher support Once students reach grade-level standards and demonstrate that they can work independently in their classroom, they leave the program.

How to address struggling writers problems:

have the student spend more time writing, see where their problem area is grammar, sentence , ideas, organizing, punctuation then give them instruction that is in-depth about the area of weakness in their writing. 

Differentiating The Content:

The content is the what of teaching, the literacy knowledge, strategies, and skills that students are expected to learn at each grade level. The content reflects Common Core grade-level Standards. Teachers concentrate on teaching the essential content, and to meet students’ needs, they provide more instruction and practice for some students and less for others. For those who are already familiar with the content, they increase the complexity of instructional activities. Teachers decide how they’ll differentiate the content by assessing students’ knowledge before they begin teaching, and then they match students with appropriate activities.

Differentiating The Process:

The process is the how of teaching, the instruction that teachers provide, the materials they use, and the activities students are involved in to ensure that they’re successful. Teachers group students for instruction and choose reading materials at appropriate levels of difficulty. They also make decisions about involving students in activities that allow them to apply what they’re learning through oral, written, or visual means.

Differentiating The Product:

The product is the result of learning; it demonstrates what students understand and how well they can apply what they’ve learned. Students usually create projects, such as posters, multimodal reports, board games, puppet shows, and new versions of stories. Teachers often vary the complexity of the projects they ask students to create by changing the level of thinking that’s required to complete the project. Teachers create a classroom culture that promotes acceptance of individual differences and is conducive to matching instruction to individual students. Having a classroom community where students respect their classmates and can work collaboratively is vital. They learn that stude nts don’t always do the same activity or read the same book, and they focus on their own work rather than on what their classmates are doing. Students become more responsible for their own learning and develop more confidence in their ability to learn.

High-Quality Classroom Instruction:

Struggling students have significant difficulty learning to read and write. Some students are at risk for reading and writing problems in kindergarten and first grade, but others develop difficulties in fourth or fifth grade or even later. The best way to help these students is to prevent their difficulties in the first place by providing high-quality classroom instruction and adding an intervention, if it’s needed

Grouping For Instruction:

Teachers use three grouping patterns: Sometimes students work together as a whole class, and at other times, they work in small groups or individually.

Teachers use a combination of the three grouping patterns in each instructional program: Basal reading programs and literature focus units use primarily whole-class groups, literature circles and guided reading are predominantly small-group programs, and reading and writing workshop feature mostly individual literacy activities. Nonetheless, each instructional program incorporates all three grouping patterns.

Tiered Activities:

To match students’ needs, teachers create several tiered or related activities that focus on the same essential knowledge but vary in complexity. These activities are alternative ways of reaching the same goal because “one-size-fits-all” activities can’t benefit on-grade-level students, support struggling readers, and challenge advanced students. Creating tiered lessons, according to Tomlinson (2014), increases the likelihood that all students will be successful. Even though the activities are different, they should be interesting and engaging and require the same amount of effort from students.

Teachers vary activities in several ways. First, they vary them by complexity of thinking. In recall-level activities, students identify, retell, or summarize; in analysis-level activities, they compare and categorize; and in synthesis-level activities, students evaluate, draw conclusions, and invent. Second, teachers vary activities according to the level of reading materials. They use books and other print and online materials written at students’ reading level, or they vary the way they share the materials with students. Third, teachers vary activities by the form of expression. Students are involved in visual, oral, and written expression as they complete an activity: Examples of visual expression are charts, posters, and dioramas; examples of oral expression are dramatizations, oral reports, and choral readings; and examples of written expression are stories, poems, and reports. Some activities require a combination of forms of expression; for example, students might write a poem from the viewpoint of a book character (written) and dress up as the character (visual) to read the poem aloud to the

Literacy Centers:

Literacy centers contain meaningful, purposeful literacy activities that students can work at in small groups. Students practice phonics skills at the phonics center, sort word cards at the vocabulary center, or listen to books related to a book they’re reading at the listening center.

Although literacy centers are generally associated with primary classrooms, they can be used effectively to differentiate instruction at all grade levels, even in seventh and eighth grades. In most classrooms, the teacher works with a small group of students while the others work at centers, but sometimes all students work at centers at the same time.

Characteristics Of a Struggling Reader and Writer:

Difficulty developing concepts about written language, phonemic awareness, letter names, and phoneme–grapheme correspondences Slower to respond than classmates when asked to identify words Behavior that deviates from school norms

Many students struggle with writing. It’s easy to notice some of their problems when you examine their compositions: Some students have difficulty developing and organizing ideas, some struggle with word choice and writing complete sentences and ­effective transitions, and others have problems with spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar skills. Other students struggle with the writing process and using writing strategies effectively; they may be unsure about what writers do as they develop and refine their compositions or the thinking that goes on during writing

Interventions:

They’re used to build on effective classroom instruction, not as a replacement for it. The classroom teacher or a specially trained reading teacher meets daily with struggling students. Using paraprofessionals is a widespread practice but not recommended because they aren’t as effective as certified teachers

During interventions, teachers diagnose, provide intensive, expert instruction, and scaffold individuals or very small groups of students. Interventions take various forms: They can be provided by adding a second lesson during the regular school day, offering extra instruction in an after-school program, or holding extended-school-year programs during the summer.

Preventive programs to create more effective early-childhood programs Family-focused programs to develop young children’s awareness of literacy, ­parents’ literacy, and parenting skills Early interventions to resolve reading and writing problems and accelerate literacy development for low-achieving K–3 students Intervention programs still exist, of course, for older low-achieving students, but teachers believe that earlier and more intensive intervention will solve many of the difficulties that older students exhibit today.

RTI: Response to Intervention

Tier 1: Screening and Prevention Teachers provide high-quality instruction that’s supported by scientifically based research, screen students to identify those at risk for academic failure, and monitor their progress. If students don’t make adequate progress toward meeting grade-level standards, they move to Tier 2.

Tier 2: Early Intervention Trained reading teachers provide enhanced, individualized instruction targeting students’ specific areas of difficulty. If the intervention is successful and students’ reading problems are resolved, they return to Tier 1; if they make some progress but need additional instruction, they remain in Tier 2; and if they don’t show improvement, they move to Tier 3, where the intensity of intervention increases.

Tier 3: Intensive Intervention Special education teachers provide more intensive intervention to individual students and small groups and more frequent progress monitoring. They focus on remedying students’ problem areas and teaching compensatory strategies. School wide instruction and assessment program incorporates data-driven decision making, and special education teachers are optimistic that it will be a better way to diagnose learning-disabled students.

Reading Recovery:

Reading Recovery is the most widely known intervention program for the lowest-achieving first graders. It involves 30-minute daily one-on-one tutoring by specifically trained and supervised teachers for 12 to 30 weeks. Reading Recovery lessons involve these components:Rereading familiar book, Independently reading the book introduced in the previous lesson, Learning decoding and comprehension strategies, Writing sentences, Reading a new book with teacher support.

Once students reach grade-level standards and demonstrate that they can work independently in their classroom, they leave the program. The results of the intervention are impressive: 75% of students who complete the Reading Recovery program meet grade-level literacy standards and continue to be successful.

Interventions For Older Students:

High-Quality Instruction Teachers provide high-quality, appropriate literacy instruction that’s tailored to students’ needs. Even though many intervention programs emphasize phonics, researchers have found that decoding is a strength for most struggling readers, and instructional time is better spent on vocabulary and comprehension.

Instructional-Level Reading Materials Teachers teach reading using books at students’ instructional level that are also appropriate for their age. Selecting appropriate reading materials is especially important for students who read three or four levels below their grade placement.

More Time for Reading- Teachers increase the amount of time students spend reading independent level books each day, and they ensure that students choose interesting books to read. In some schools, teachers design their own programs using these components, while other schools administrators purchase intervention programs.

Application To The Classroom 

Understanding exactly where students are at with their reading and writing will ensure they receive the correct amount of help. Giving ample practice with reading both in class and outside of class will build students’ reading abilities. This will increase skill level activities that are appropriate to their knowledge and learning abilities.

VOCAB WORDS FOR FINAL ENG-ED

Accuracy- reading words in text without errors

Alphabetic Principle– The understanding that spelling represents words by relating written letters to spoken phonemes.

Antonym- A word opposite in meaning to another word.  sad and happy

Automaticity-Reading without conscious effort or attention to decoding

Background knowledge– what the reader has learned from the world around them that helps them to make sense of what they are reading.

Base Word- A unit of meaning that can stand alone as a whole word (e.g. friend pig).  Also called a free morpheme.

Blending- The task of combining sounds rapidly;, to accurately represent the word.

Choral Reading-the whole class reads the same text aloud at the same time.

Chunking-A decoding strategy for breaking words into manageable parts (e.g., yes/ter/day).  Chunking also refers to the process of dividing a sentence into smaller phrases where pauses might occur naturally,

Comprehension- Process in which the reader constructs meaning interacting with a text.

Concepts About Print-An understanding of the layout of books, the relative roles of print and pictures, reading left to right, spaces between words, punctuation..

Consonant Blend-two or three consonants grouped together. Each sound is retained

Consonant Digraph- two or more consonants grouped together in which the consonants produce one sound.

Context Cues- Using words or sentences around an unfamiliar word to help clarify its meaning.

Cueing System- Semantic: The study of the meaning in language; the analysis of the meanings of words, phrases, sentences. Does it make sense? Syntactic: The pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases; the grammatical rules that govern sentences, Sentences have to follow certain structural rules in order to make sense. Cueing question: Does it sound right? Visual:  Does it look right?

Decodable- Text in which a high proportion of words (80%-90%) comprise sound-symbol relationships that have been taught.

Decoding-  The ability to translate a word form print to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences; also the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out.

Diagnostic- tests can be used to measure a variety of read, language or cognitive skills. They provide a more precise and detailed picture of the full range of a child’s knowledge and skills so that instruction can be more precisely planned.

Digraphs- two consonant letters that together make a new sound

Diphthong- two vowels in one syllable where the two sounds are heard. As in the word house where both the O and the U are heard.

Direct Instruction- teacher defines and teaches a concept, guides students through its application , and arranges for extended guided practice until mastery is achieved

Echo Reading- when a skilled reader reads a portion of test while the less skilled reader tracks the less skilled reader then imitates or echos the skilled reader

Elkonin Boxes- A framework used during phonemic awareness instruction.  Elkonin boxes are sometimes referred to as sound boxes.  When working with words, the teacher can draw one box per sound for a target word.  Students push a marker into one box to segment each sound in the word.

Explicit Teaching- teacher models and explains, teacher provides guided practice, teacher provides supported application, independent practice

Expository- non-fiction providing information or facts; newspapers, science, math text.

Fluency- Being able to decode words automatically, group them meaningfully, read with expression and understand what is read.

Frustration- the level at which a reader reads at less than a 90% accuracy. The level text is difficult text for the reader.

Grapheme- A letter or letter combination that spells a phoneme; can be one, two, three or four letters in English (e.g., e, ei, igh, eigh).

Graphic Organizers- visual display that demonstrates relationships between facts, concepts or ideas guides the learner’s thinking as they fill in and build upon a visual map or diagram

High Frequency- frequently used words appear many more times than do other words in ordinary reading material. As, in of and the.

Homograph- Words that are spelled the same but have different origins and meanings.  They may or may not be pronounced the same (e.g. can as in a metal container/can as in able to)

Implicit instruction- occurs in instructional tasks that do not provide specific guidance on what is to be learned from the task.

Independent- The readability or grade level of material that is easy to read fluently with few word attack problems and high comprehension. This is the level at which the child can read without support.

Inference- drawing meaning from a combination of clues in the text without explicit reference to the text.

Informal- does not follow prescribed rules for administration  and scoring and has not undergone technical scrutiny for reliability and validity.

Informational- relating to or characterized by facts about something; providing information.

Literal Comprehension- students ability to state sequence of events, characters, setting stated directly in the text.

Metacognition- thinking about thinking, the reader becomes more aware of their own reading process

Miscue Analysis- an examination of reading errors or substitutions as the basis for determining the strengths and weaknesses of students’ reading skills.

Miscue- Any substitution of a word in a text that a reader makes. Miscue Analysis:  An examination of reading errors or substitutions (miscues) as the basis for determining the strengths and weaknesses of students’ reading skills.

Modeling- teacher overtly demonstrates a strategy, skill or concept that students will be learning.

Multisyllabic- words with more then one syllable.

Narrative- text that tells a story about fictional or real events

Onset- in a syllable it is the initial consonant or consonants. S is onset in Sat

Orthography- A writing system for representing language.

Phoneme Manipulation- adding, deleting, and substituting sounds in words

Phoneme- The smallest part of spoken language that makes a difference in spoken words.  English has about 44 sounds or phonemes represented by consonant and vowel sounds.

Phonemic Awareness- The ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.

Phonics- The study of the relationships between letters and the sounds they represent; also used to describe reading instruction that teaches sound-symbol correspondences.

Phonological Awareness- A broad term that includes phonemic awareness. In addition to phonemes, phonological awareness activities an involve work with rhymes, words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.

Prefix- comes before

Print Conventions- the understanding an individual has about the rules or accepted practices that govern the use of print in the use of written language.

Prior Knowledge- refers to schema, the knowledge and experiences that readers bring to the text

Prosody- reading with expression, proper intonation, and phrasing, helps readers to sound as if they are speaking the part they are reading.

Rate- The speed at which a person reads

Retelling- recalling the content of what was read or heard

Rhyming- words that have the same ending sound

Rime- the constants that come at the end of a word in sAT AT is the rime

Schema- An active process of constructing meaning by connecting old knowledge with new information encountered in text.

Screening- tests that provide the teacher a beginning assessment of the student’s preparation for grade level reading instruction.

Segmenting- separating the individual phonemes, or sounds, of a word into discrete units

Self-Monitoring- paying attention to one’s own reading process while reading, and taking steps to reread or make corrections as needed to make sense of the text.

Semantics- the branch of linguistics studies meaning language.

Shared Reading- teacher reads story while the student look at the text being read and following along.

Sight Words- A bank of words that are stored in our memory and are instantly recognized with having to decode them.

Spelling Patterns- refers to digraphs, vowel pairs, word families, and vowel variant spellings

Story Elements- characters, problems, solutions, themes, settings and plot

Story Grammar- the general structure of stories that includes story elements

Story Maps- a strategy used to unlock the plot and important elements of a story.

Story Structure- a set of conventions that govern different kinds of texts such as characters, plot, settings, or in an informational text, comparison and contrast.

Structural Analysis- A procedure for teaching students to read words formed with prefixes, suffixes, or other meaningful word parts.

Suffix- a group of letters added to the end of a word to form a new word.

Summarizing- reducing large selections of text to their bare essentials

Syllable- A segment of a word that contains one vowel sound.  The vowel may or may not be preceded and/or followed by a consonant.

Synonym- Words that have similar meanings such as sadness and grief.

Syntax- the word order pattern in sentences, phrases, etc

Trade- intended for general reading that is not a textbook

Vowel Digraph- a group of two vowels in which only once sound is heard

Word Analysis- identification and /or decoding or a word the reader does not immediately recognize.

Phoneme Isolation- recognizing individual sounds in a word.

Basal- Commercial reading programs

Components of a basal-Selections in grade-level textbooks, instruction about decoding and comprehension strategies and skills, workbook assignments, independent reading opportunities

Materials in basal reading programs- Textbook, big books, supplemental books, workbooks, kits, teacher’s guide, home-school connections, assessment system, multimedia resources, lesson planner

Literature focus units- Pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, applying

Steps in developing a literature focus unit- Step 1-Select the Literature, Step 2-Set Goals, Step 3-Develop a Unit Plan, Step 4-Coordinate Grouping Patterns With Activities, Step 5- Create a Time Schedule, Step 6-Assess Students

Literature circles, Small student-led book discussion groups that meet regularly in the classroom

Key features of a literature circle, Choice-students choose the books they’ll be reading.  Literature-Studentschoose books that are interesting and at students reading level. Response-Students meet several times to discuss the book.

Types of talk during literature circle discussions, Talk about the book, talk about connections, talk about the reading process, talk about group processes and social issues

Roles students play in literature circles, Discussion director, passage master, word wizard, connector, summarizer, illustrator, and investigator

Reading and writing workshop, Reading, responding, sharing, teaching mini-lessons, and reading aloud to students.

Word walls, area of the classroom on which a collection of words are displayed.

Think-aloud, Used during read aloud, teachers reveal their thinking processes by verbalizing: connections, questions, inferences, and predictions.

Grand conversations, is an authentic student led conversation about a story where students ask the questions, discuss their thoughts and feelings, and make meaning as they talk about the story. 

Shared reading, when children are involved in reading a text with an adult in such a way that the adult models strategies and concepts such as predicting and noticing letter patterns. This is helpful with very early readers in developing concepts about print such as word and directionality.

Series of activities in literature circles, Step 1-Select book, Step 2-Form literature circles, Step 3-Read the book, Step 4-Participate in a discussion, Step 5-Teach mini-lesson, Step 6-Share with the class, Step 7-Assess learning

Mini-lessons, The teacher teachers a short lesson teaching a specific skill or presenting specific information

Goldilocks strategy, Choosing a book that is “just right”-the book is interesting, can decode most of the words, teacher has read the book aloud, you have read other books by this author, there is someone to help you if needed, you know something about this topic

Responses in reading workshop, Immersion response-understanding, character inspection, predicting, questioning; involvement responses-character identification, character assessment, story involvement; literacy connection-connections, literary evaluation

SSR, Sustained Silent Reading-an independent reading time set aside during the school day for students in one class or the entire school to silently read self-selected books

Management of the workshops At the beginning of the year establish a workshop environment and a routine

Classroom application I will be able to use the guided reading in the classroom with students in order to get them going. Reading workshops in the classroom will allow students to engage in SSR that will take place for 30 minutes a day. The goldilocks strategy is something that we use I just did not know the name of it. I plan on using the literature circle to get students to fully engage in the books and get more out of the reading experience.

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Genres- a category of literature

text structures- Organizational patterns or genre.

 text features,- Literacy devices and display conventions that authors use to achieve particular effects in their writing, such as point of view, metaphors, rhyme and headings

Narratives genres:

Folklore:

Fables- Brief tales told to point out a moral.

Folktales-Stories where heros demonstrate virtue to triumph over adversity.

Myths-Stories created by ancient people to explain natural phenomena.

Legends-Stories, including hero tales and tall tales, that recount the couragesdeeds of people who struggled against each other or monsters and Gods.

Fantasy:

Modern literacy tales-Stories written by modern authors that are similar to folk-tales.

Fantastic stories-Imaginative stories that explore alternate realities and contain elements not found in the natural world.

Science fiction-Stories that explore scientific possibilities.

High fantasy-Stories that focs on the conflict between good and evil and often involve guests.

Realistic Fiction:

Contemporary stories-Stories that portray today’s society.

 Historical stories-Realistic stories set in the past.

Elements of story structure:

Plot- the sequence of events involving characters in conflict situations

Characters- people or personified animals in the story

Setting- the location where the story takes place, but also includes weather, time, and time period

Point of view- The perspective in which the story is written

Theme- the underlying meaning of the story

Narrative devices:

Dialogue-Written conversation where characters speak to each other.

Flashback-An interruption, often taking readers back to the beginning of the story.

Foreshadowing-Hinting at events to come later in the story to build readers’ expectations.

 Imagery-Descriptive words and phrases used to create a picture in the readers minds.

Suspense-An excited uncertainty about the outcome of conflict in a story.

Symbolism-A person, place, or thing used to represent something else.

Tone-overall feeling or mood in a story, ranging from humorous to serious and sad

Text factors of nonfiction books,

Expository text structures:

Description-The author describes a topic by listing characteristics and examples.

Sequence-The author lists items or events in numerical order chronological order.

Comparison-The author explains how two or more things are alike and/or how they’re different.

Cause-effect-The author lists one or more causes and the resulting effect or effects.

Problem-solution-The author states a problem and lists one or more solutions.

Text factors of poetry-Formats of poetry books, poetic devices, and poetic forms –

Formats of poetry- can either be a book of several different poems or like with verse novels the poems come together to tell a story

Poetic forms:

Rhymed verse-Each verse or every other verse will rhyme depending on the structure.

Narrative poems-Poems that tell a story

Haiku- Japanese poems containing only 17 syllables arranged in lines of 5, 7, and 5

Free verse-poems that don’t really have a structure to them

Odes- celebrate everyday objects, especially things not normally appreciated

Concrete poems– words and lines of the poem are arranged on the page to help construct meaning

Mini lessons– lesson apart from the main lesson that is designed for a specific topic

Comprehension strategies– one they apply for comprehending text factors is called “noticing text factors” and it involves considering the genre, recognizing text structure, and attending to literary devices.

Assessing knowledge of text factors:

Planning-Teachers plan for instruction while they determine which text factors they’ll teach and how they’ll monitor student’s progress and assess students’ learning.

Monitoring-Teachers monitor students’ progress as they observe and conference with them about their reading and writing activities.

Evaluating-Teachers encourage students to apply their knowledge of genres, structural elements, and literary devices as they respond to literature, develop projects, and write stories and other compositions.

Reflecting-Teachers ask students during conferences to reflect on how they’re growing in their ability to use text factors to comprehend complex texts, and students also write reading log entries, letters and essays to reflect on their learning.

I will be able to use the text factors in this chapter in a few different lessons. Teaching fiction helps students to relate to things that they can understand. As students become better writers understanding the different parts of text genres will make their stories more interesting. Assessing students knowledge of the text factors is important and following the steps, planning, monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting will ensure that they fully understand and if they do not I will readdress the area that need help.

Comprehension– the understanding and interpretation of what is read.

Text complexity- A way to determine the comprehension demands of a book or other text using reader and text

What readers think about when reading- Activate prior knowledge, examine the text to uncover its organization, make predictions, connect to their own experiences, create mental images, draw inferences, notice symbols and other literary devices, monitor their understanding.

Comprehension factors and roles in comprehension:
Background knowledge-A students knowledge or previous experiences about a topic.
Students activate their world and literary knowledge to link what they know to what they’re reading.
Vocabulary-Students recognize the meaning of familiar words and apply word-learning strategies to understand what they’re reading.
Fluency-Reading smoothly, quickly, and with expression. Students have adequate-cognitive resources available to understand what they’re reading when they read fluently.
Strategies-Students actively direct their reading, monitor their understanding, and troubleshoot problems when they occur.
Skills- Students automatically note details that support main ideas, sequence ideas, and use other skills.
Motivation-Motivated students are more engaged in reading, more confident, and more likely to comprehend successfully.

The comprehension strategies and what readers do:
Activating background knowledge-Readers think about what they already know about the topic.
Connecting– Readers make text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text links.
Determining importance-Readers identify the big ideas in the text and notice the relationships among them.
Drawing inferences-Readers use background knowledge and clues in the text to read between the lines.
Evaluating-Readers evaluate both the text itself and their reading experiences.
Monitoring-Readers supervise their reading experience, checking that they’re understanding the text.
Predicting-Readers make thoughtful’ guesses about what will happen and then read to confirm their predictions.
Questioning-Readers ask themselves literal and inferential questions about the text.
Repairing-Readers identify a problem interfering with comprehension and then solve it.
Setting a purpose-Readers identify a broad focus to direct their reading through the text.
Summarizing-Readers paraphrase the big ideas to create a concise statement.
Visualizing-Readers create mental images of what they’re reading.

Inferences– a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.

Comprehension skills, Focus on main ideas and details. Recognizing details, noticing similarities and differences, identifying topic sentences, comparing and contrasting main ideas and details, matching causes with effects, sequencing details, paraphrasing ideas, choosing a good title for a text.

How comprehension strategies fit into the reading process:
Pre-reading-Students prepare to read by setting purposes thinking about the topic and genre of the text, and planning for the reading experience.
Reading-Students read the text silently or orally, thinking about it as they read, monitoring their understanding, and solving problems as they arise
Responding-Students share their reactions, making tentative and exploratory comments, asking questions, and clarifying confusions, by talking with classmates and the teacher and writing in reading logs.
Exploring-Students reread parts of the text, examine it more analytically, and study the genre and writer’s craft.
Applying-Students create projects to deepen their understanding of the text they’ve read and reflect on their reading experience.

How to create an expectation of comprehension:
• Involving students in authentic reading activities every day
• Providing access to well-stocked classroom libraries
• Teaching students to use comprehension strategies
• Ensuring that students are fluent readers
• Providing opportunities for students to talk about the books they’re reading

Ways to teach comprehension- There are 12 different strategies for teaching comprehension strategies:
• Activating Background Knowledge
• Connecting
• Determining Importance
• Drawing Inferences
• Evaluating
• Monitoring
• Predicting
• Questioning
• Repairing
• Setting a Purpose
• Summarizing
• Visualizing

Reciprocal teaching– An instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions.

Assessing comprehension– comprehension thinking strategies assessment examines students ability to use these strategies to think about fiction and nonfictions texts they are reading.
Developmental reading assessment that assess students strengths and weaknesses in word identification, fluency, and comprehension and make instructional decisions.
Informal reading inventories teachers use individually administered iris to assess students; comprehension of narrative and informational texts. Comprehension is measured by students’ ability to retell what they’ve read and to answer questions about the passage.
Cloze procedures– students supply the missing words in a passage taken from a text they’ve read.
Story retelling-retell a story that they read or listened to read aloud to assess their literal comprehension.

Factors affecting student motivation:
Teachers-
• Attitude,
• Community,
• Instruction,
• Rewards.
Students-
• Expectations,
• Collaboration,
• Reading and Writing competence,
• Choices.

Comprehension is such a crucial part of becoming a successful reader. Teaching comprehension strategies in my classroom is an important step in achieving this goal. I will be able to do this by keeping students engaged through different activities like cloze procedures and story retelling.

Academic vocabulary– Words that are frequently used in language areas, social studies, science and math.

Three tiers of words:

Tier 1- Basic words– common words that are used socially, in informal conversation at home or on the playground.

Tier 2- Academic vocabulary– tier 2- words that are used in school and are used more frequently in written than in oral language.

Tier 3-Specialized terms- these are content-specific and often abstract, they are not used frequently enough to devote time to teaching them when they come up in content areas (osmosis, suffrage)

Levels of word knowledge- Developing knowledge about a word gradually through written and oral exposure to it.  The levels include, unknown word, initial recognition, partial word knowledge, and full word knowledge.

Word consciousness-Interest in learning and using words.

Multiple word meanings-Words that have more then one meaning, noun and verb form add to different meanings.

Synonyms-Words that have similar meanings

Antonyms- Words that have opposite meanings.

Homonyms-Words that have different meanings but are either pronounced or spelled the same as other words.

Root words– A root word has no prefix or suffix — it’s the most basic part of a word holds the most basic meaning of any word.

Affixes- an additional element placed at the beginning or end of a root, stem, or word, or in the body of a word, to modify its meaning.

Etymologies- The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed.

Vocabulary instruction- Addressing all of the components when teaching vocabulary.

Explicit instruction– is skill based, but students are active participants in the learning process. 

Word-study activities-Activities to teach new academic vocabulary such as word maps, and word posters.

Semantic feature analysis- Students learn the meanings of conceptually related words by examining their characteristics.

Word-learning strategies-Students do a variety of things to figure out words that are unfamiliar to them.

How to figure out unfamiliar words-reread sentences, analyze root words and affixes in the word, check a dictionary, sound out the word, look for context clues in the sentence, skip the word and keep reading, or ask the teacher or a classmate for help.

How to assess vocabulary knowledge:

Planning-teachers consider student’s current level of vocabulary knowledge, identify the academic words they’ll teach, and plan mini-lessons and word-study activities.

Monitoring– Informal assessment tools to monitor students’ progress: observation or conferences.

Evaluating-Teachers evaluate students’ vocabulary knowledge through rubrics, quick-writes, word sorts or visual representations.

Reflecting-Teachers take time at the end of the lesson to reflect on the effectiveness of their instructions.

When introducing academic vocabulary to students it would be helpful to use explicit instruction. Word study activities such as word maps will aid in the learning process. Word walls that display Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms and root words will make good study aids. Playing games such as Scrabble and Pictionary or writing stories in books will allow students to put spelling and vocabulary words into action. I plan on utilizing these strategies in my classroom.