Module 8 - Video

Reading Recovery Video
       This video focused on the Reading Recovery program. It is a short-term program that is low cost and designed to produce outstanding results that last a long time. I agree that without early intervention, students can face a future of school failure and discouragement. It is difficult when I have a student in fourth grade who cannot read because their confidence levels are extremely low and they are close to hating reading and school. As an intermediate grade teacher, I allow my students to choose books they want to read and then I work with them to strengthen their weaknesses. Reading Recovery is a program where a student works one-on-one with and a highly trained teacher. The lessons only last for approximately 30 minutes, which surprised me. However, after a full series of lessons (12 – 24 weeks), children can achieve grade level and leave the program. The training for teachers includes weekly classes where they study with other reading researchers and trainers. Additionally, teachers can teach and observe lessons with students who already participate in the Reading Recovery program. I was really interested in the “behind the glass” observations. It was like an interrogation room because the mirror was actually a one-way window where teachers/trainers would sit on one side and observe the lesson being taught on the other side. This is a great way to observe a lesson and the child can be more at ease. I always find my students become tense and sometimes silly when we have “guests” in our room.  Overall, this program pushes their trainers to think about theory and practice. This program sounds successful for both students, parents of the students, and teachers.

Module 8 - PowerPoint

Factors Involved in Reading and Writing Difficulties PowerPoint
       I thought the very first bullet which stated “Elements of success include effort, drive, health, self-esteem, and parental support” is very true. A child’s success relies on all of those components especially when they are in elementary school. A lot of my students this year have a low self-esteem and/or confidence level, so I am making sure I build up those confidence levels by making them justify their answers and using positive discipline. I feel that it is important for the students to choose a topic they are interested in for their reading books because if they are not interested in the book that you give them, they oftentimes never finish it. The most common difficulties within our students relate to the cognitive, linguistic, psychological, social-emotional, physical and educational areas. Cognitive factors deal with students who have difficulties with retaining information and paying attention. I feel that a large amount of students struggle with this difficulty. Visual processing deficits relate to students who reverse the letters which is actually common in the pre-primer grades when the students are first developing their letters. Language factors correlate to articulation/speech and word-finding problems. A child who struggles with word-finding difficulties will also probably struggle with word recognition and comprehension. Social-emotional deficits affect students’ fight or flight mode and self-efficacy. Parental pressure also has a major impact in a child’s social-emotional area. It is important for parent to be involved with their child’s studies while remembering to not be overbearing. Parents need to remember to set positive role model behaviors for their children and provide a rich-learning environment at home. It is also important for teachers to provide a safe, stable, and inviting learning environment at school where she promotes independence and give student choices whenever possible. Physical causes such as neurological factors, hearing impairments, and vision impairments can also cause children to have difficulties with their academics. I think that it is great that my school requires every first and fourth grader to pass vision and hearing tests. Overall, as teachers, we should support all of our students and inspire them to become life-long learners who enjoy learning new knowledge and accepting challenges. Teachers must effectively instruct their students throughout the entire school day. Also, parents should read to their children or with their children while they are young. Finally, I agree that children should be verbally stimulated throughout the day with rich conversations, explanations, and interactions that will build their language and vocabulary.

Module 7 - Video

Analysis of a Video: Robert Slavin - Scaling Up Success for All
            Success for All is a package of professional development programs for mostly high poverty and Title 1 elementary schools. There is a facilitator located in the school that assists teachers with teaching skills. There is also a solutions team that deals with all of the problems outside of school and integrates with other sources in the community. I agree that you cannot solve just one problem in an education system because everything is interconnected. Success for All is located in 1,000 schools in approximately 47 states. I was surprised how he skipped over the slide on the “research behind Success for All”. I wonder why he did that. I feel that it is important to understand what type of research this program has completed thus far. I like the idea that there is a strong emphasis on coaching within the elementary school. I believe there should be plenty of professional development options, especially since education is continually changing and adding new topics or materials.

Module 7 - PowerPoints

Perspectives for Tutoring PowerPoint
            I agree that it is vital that we attain students’ opinions/views of their reading/writing when assessing them. It helps me understand a child better if I know their opinion on how they feel they are progressing with the different subjects. I love to converse with my students to gain an understanding about their abilities along with their dislikes/likes. I try my hardest to know my students personally since I am with them for 8 hours a day. I love getting to know my students and their families. I take time out of my weekends to visit my students during their extra-curricular activities and show my support for them both academically and socially. I socialize with the parents during the students’ extra-curricular activities which gives me additional insight into my students’ behaviors and overall interests. My students chose/read books that interest them and are on their independent/instructional levels. Reading something they are interested in helps them become stronger readers.

Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint

            I found it interesting that the three common causes for lower reading comprehension is unfamiliarity with the text features/demands, undeveloped attention strategies, and inadequate cognitive development/reading experiences. Many of my students have a wonderful oral reading rate and show great fluency. However, they struggle when they are tested on overall comprehension. Throughout this class I have come to the realization that “comprehension is the reason for reading” and I added more emphasis on this skill in my classroom. My students know that they should read as much as possible and to always read with a purpose so they can make connections with the text and build their schema. I use the “think aloud” strategy when I read any texts to my students to demonstrate the skills necessary to become a great reader. My students use sticky notes and their reading journals to record their thoughts, new ideas, questions, summaries, connections, etc. I pull small groups according to the students’ weaknesses and strengths in order to strengthen their reading skills (i.e., predicting, inferring, synthesizing, evaluating, etc.). I believe writing about their reading helps students think through difficult parts in the text and become stronger readers.

9 Best Practices PowerPoint

            Whenever I introduce a new topic, I always determine my students’ schema and background knowledge of that topic. I then can model and scaffold my students’ learning to best fit their needs. I often have my students take notes or summarize their readings. I agree that this task promotes greater comprehension because they have to write about what they’re reading in their own words and therefore, they are seeing it for a second time. In fourth grade, we take notes in our journals and use two-column notes, outlines, and an abundant amount of graphic organizers or flipbooks. I agree in providing effective praise as well as constant feedback to my students because they look forward to the personalized comments. Effective praise and personalized comments build students’ confidence levels and students in return will be more tenacious and dedicated to the tasks at hand. I like the slide about assigning homework and practicing skills because I believe students need to review notes and extend their learning outside of the classroom; however, I really enjoyed when it stated, “parent involvement should include facilitating the process but not solving problems for their children” (slide 28). I still find parents completing homework for their children in fourth grade and it is aggravating when the students “understand it at home” but then “crash and burn in class”. I stress that the importance of homework is to practice the skills they learn at school and to become more efficient and effective with these strategies and topics. Overall, I use several of these strategies because my main goal as an educator is to increase student achievement and success.