EDLI635 Theory and Practice of Literacy Instruction

The reader is a generally strong reader so I gave her a bit of a more challenging text that was within her ability. Most of her mistakes seemed to come from the speed with which she is used to reading, and she made mistakes with words she probably could have sounded out if she had paused and taken the time to, instead of trying to breeze through it. Because she was very focused on the speed, her comprehension of the text was weak.  ELA CC Standard:  By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Objective: Have the reader reading with fewer mistakes and with greater comprehension by allowing her to focus on the words she is reading, as opposed to her speed.  Learning Activities: Give the student a new text and tell her that every time she makes a mistake, a funny sound is going to go off (this will enga...

   According to this running record and assessment, the child is an overall strong reader. He has great fluency, does a good job self-correcting, and seemed to remember and understand most of what he read from the last two paragraphs. He is weak with his "though" words. He made mistakes reading "though" and "through" and can use help decoding those words.  He also tends to make some careless errors, like changing words to past tense or making them plural, and occasionally inserting his own words, probably because of his understanding of the context. He should be encouraged to slow down a little perhaps, to help him avoid those types of errors. He also tends to lose the place, which leads to some frustration, but he did a good job getting back on track. Encouraging him to point while he reads can help him avoid that in the future.

During the shared reading activity, Hildi Perez addresses several essential components of literacy development including phonological awareness, word identification and phonics, and oral language. This activity engages students on all literacy levels because they can all join in the shared reading without fear of missing words or making a mistake that would be heard by everyone. Ms. Perez herself pronounces each word very clearly and points to it as she reads, making it very easy to follow along. She supports the students' problem-solving skills by calling on them individually and giving each student time to work out the word, encouraging them when they make a mistake, and giving them time to correct themselves. Shared Reading is a great way to give the students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the words they are reading in a pressure-free way, to become more familiar with commonly used words and sight words, and to get used to the flow and tone of reading.  ...

I really enjoyed reading through this lesson plan and thought it did a great job of engaging the students through having them write the found poem as a class. I thought adding the element of performing the poem in front of family brilliantly created an excitement in the students that they will likely always associate with poetry. In addition, I thought this lesson plan did a great job slowly scaffolding the students' knowledge, beginning with guided reading and the modeling of found poetry, then slowly getting the children involved, and eventually enabling them to work independently.  The one tweak I would make to this lesson is to have the children vote on the books they would use. This will give them an added sense of ownership and pride in their work, leading them to be even more engaged in the lesson.

B"H  The video about Sheila Owen ’s kindergarten class in Beaumont, California taught me a tremendous amount about literacy instruction. I really appreciated how she planned the lesson in a way that gave the children the confidence and tools to engage in literacy activities independently. In the “Read Aloud” session with the children, I noticed the way she turned the children’s attention to all the details of the book, starting with the title, author, and illustrator, and continuing with the title page. She didn’t take for granted that her students understood these elements and pointing them out illustrated to her students that they are important, and ensured that her students would pay attention to them when they read independently. I also noted the way she asked them to predict what would happen and checked for their understanding of certain words. Through watching the video I also gained a greater understanding of the value of a word wall as I watched the children co...

B"H ELA instruction is comprised of five different components: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. Each of these components is vital, and are not just addressed in English Language Arts, but across disciplines as well.  The complexity and the breadth of the standards expected in each of these areas increase with the grade level. For example, the sophistication of vocabulary expected rises with the age level, and as the children grow older they are required to understand the type of language to use depending on who they are interacting with and how they are interacting. The standards for ELA instruction ultimately aim to help educate children to become effective communicators and discerning consumers of knowledge and information.