Week 11-Assignment 2

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After reading the article "Seven Literacy Strategies that Work" I decided to focus on the strategy of Cornell note taking. I found that note taking was extremely instrumental in my success as a student and later when I became a teacher I found that note taking skills were essential to my students' success. Above is a link to a scholarly journal article titled "The Effect of Note Taking on Ninth Grade Students' Comprehension".  This article discusses a study performed to explore if ninth graders are able to use note taking as not only an external recording method, but as a way to increase comprehension even in areas of low-interest reading. The results showed that the ninth grade students who used effective note taking skills for low-interest reading, their comprehension increased. In addition, the results proved that students failed to transfer their note taking skills to areas of high interest reading. The conclusion was that teachers need to incorporate effective note taking skills into their lessons. Note taking not only provides the students with reliable study sources for later use, but also helps students organize their thoughts and increase over all comprehension.

The strategy of Cornell note taking can implemented in the classroom initially through properly training students how to take notes effectively. Once sufficient guidance in this area is provided, teachers can expect students to utilize this skill during lectures, presentations, reading from text books, etc. Students will benefit greatly from their note taking ability for later use when they need to study for a test or if they need the information for another area. Furthermore, students who take notes effectively are also able to organize the information well and transfer the information deeper into their memories. Below is a link to a lesson plan teaching students how to take Cornell notes and the importance of this skill. http://www.randolph.k12.nc.us/Departments/6-8/AVID/Handouts%20-%20Student%20Video.pdf This skill of note taking is essential in increasing students' comprehension not only in lectures but in reading as well.

Week 10-Assignment 2

http://screencast.com/t/VRAc4bIIq

Week 10-Assignment 1

Segment 1: Where do I start?

How can teachers' expectations of ELLs affect students' learning and performance?

A teacher with high expectations will ensure the success of both her English language learners and her native speakers. Students who are expected to perform on the same high standards as the other students will achieve higher than having to be modified. At the same time, teachers need to understand that English language learners have added challenges that need to be addressed.

How can you use what you already know about literacy instruction and your English language learners to enhance their learning?

A teacher who is an expert at teaching English language will be able to transfer these skills to English learners. In addition, students should be encouraged to use their native language to build on their English knowledge. Students should not be told to forget about their first language. Students need to be able to use their first language as a spring board to learning English.

Segment 2: How can I build on what English language learners bring to the classroom?

Think about your ELLs. What ideas from the video might be useful in your classroom?

I feel that having the students make a personal dictionary would be very helpful in building their vocabulary. In addition, I feel that it is very important for teachers to chose material that is relatable to their students' backgrounds. This benefits all students because it expands their knowledge about other cultures.

How can you ensure that ELLs and their English-speaking peers have equal access to the curriculum?

Providing students with an equal amount of resources and literature in both languages will enable ELLs to succeed. Also using a bilingual dictionary can help students complete their assignments and increase their vocabulary.

How can you support students in maintaining their first language?

Encouraging students to work with other students with the same native language will help them maintain their first language. This will also help these students work in a more comfortable setting because they will be with people who understand their backgrounds. In addition, when teachers chose material that relates to students' backgrounds this builds on their native culture. Also, having bilingual books in the classroom encourages students to maintain their first language.

 How can the classroom context support ELLs?

When the classroom context encourages students to work with people like them, this provides a big support system for ELLs. It is important for ELLs to work with other students who they feel comfortable with and who they feel can relate to their struggle. This is a way where ELLs can work together to build on their native language and increase their English language skills.

How can you use multicultural literature to support ELLs in your curriculum?
Teachers can chose to read books that relate to multicultural backgrounds in order to support ELLs. When immigrating to a new culture, any familiar thing from your native country is comforting. It is important for students to be able to read about their native culture in their second language so that their understanding increases.

How does your classroom reflect the nature of the community itself as well as materials written by the students?

In my classroom the first language is Hebrew. The students come from orthodox Jewish communities of which I am a member. Therefore it is very easy for me to incorporate materials from their culture into the classroom. For instance, the Jewish holiday of Chanukah is coming up, we therefore did activities associated with the holiday for the students to be able to relate to .

How can you group students so that they use their native language to support their language and literacy development?

Grouping students in a way that they work with students who share the same background and struggles as them enables ELLs to use their native language and helps support their language and literacy development.

Segment 4: What are some strategies for teaching ELLs?

What aspects of reading development are most critical to address when instructing ELLs?
Building students vocabulary is an area that really increases ELLs reading development and comprehension. Creating a word wall with all of the vocabulary taken from books is very helpful in ingraining these new words into students' memories.

How can modeling oral reading support ELLs?

When ELL students hear reading they are relieved of the pressure that exists when they read themselves and they can allow themselves to focus just on the comprehension. In addition, hearing what is being read also teaches the students proper pronunciation.  

What strategies can you use to teach students how to figure out and remember unknown words?
Some strategies could be to have the students make their own dictionaries. This way students can collect vocabulary words and learn their definitions in a practical way. In addition, having a word wall with vocabulary words from the reading is also an effective tool to teach students new words.

What are some strategies you might use to encourage students' to maintain their native language as they develop literacy in English?

Some strategies that I might use is to ask students to share different things from their culture and explain it to the rest of the class in English. This benefits both the student and the rest of the class since the class can gain an understanding of other cultures.

Reader Case Study

Student Profile:

The student that I will be discussing is a nine year old boy who I will be referring to as Sam. Sam lives in Israel and goes to school in an all Israeli environment. He feels that his Hebrew is better than his English. Sam has one older sister and four younger siblings. He is quiet by nature and responds well to motivational prizes. He has a creative imagination and a sweet demeanor. Generally he needs limited choices to make decisions and is not one to do more than what is required.

 

Summary of activities:

I work closely with Sam once a week to review sight words and different rules in the English language. Some of the rules that we learn are “th”, “wa”, “ck’ etc. We also read together. Usually when I meet with him we begin with a sight word test. His sight words are work, word, world, girl, boy, brother, father, mother. These sight words were chosen by the director. After the sight word test we have a rules test with the following words: tooth, through, these, though, water, swan, wallet, brick, pick, back, etc. Next we play a game to review these words. I show Sam flashcards of the words in Hebrew and he tells me the word in English and how to spell it. Next we learn a new rule and do a writing activity having to do with that rule. For instance when we learned the “wa” rule we made a wallet and filled it with all of the “wa” words on the list. We then wrote a story about what would happen if someone lost his wallet. In this story the goal was to incorporate as many “wa” words as possible. After this activity we read a book called “The Marvelous Mixup”.

 

Assessment Analysis  and Recommendations for Future Instruction:

Sam has been involved in this program for the past eighteen months. Within that period he learned the ABC, phonetic blending, and common rules in the English language. Although he speaks English well, he has trouble remembering the rules. I feel that he did not fully grasp each rule before he learned a new one. As more rules were being taught the gap between the words that he was fluent in and the new words grew substantially. Now I feel that he is at the point where no new rules can be taught before he gains a handle on the old ones. When dealing with this type of situation it is difficult to regress without discouraging the student. Therefore, after discussing the matter with the assistant director, I decided that Sam should pick two words from every rule that we learned and compile a list. The words on this list were the only words that Sam was responsible for knowing. This method was meant to make the large amount of unknown material more attainable. Once Sam saw that he had a list of eight words instead of thirty words, he would feel that he was capable of learning these rules. Once Sam mastered this list more words can be added on. It is important that Sam feels invigorated throughout this process so that he does not lose his motivation to review the old words.  

 

Samples of student work and assessments should be included:

Sam’s list: water, with, true, want, they, rule, fruit, glue

 

Sam’s mistakes before he created the list:

Rule=rool

Fruit=froot

Glue=glew

 

The following is an article that Sam wrote about a cow jumping rope:

Who would teach a cow to jump rope? A farmer

Why would a cow jump rope? To lose weight

Where would a cow jump rope? On the farm

When would a cow jump rope? After eating

 

Reflection of this case study experience in comparison to the entire field experience in general:

This case study with Sam was unique compared to the other students that I work with. To start I believe that Sam is a middle to high beginner level according to the NYS limited English proficient level rubrics. Sam has been a part of this program for eighteen months. I would have presumed that Sam was well versed with the technicalities that were supposed to be taught in the past. The other older students that I work with catch on rather quickly and are enthusiastic to continue. I am obviously not a professional but I do not think that Sam has learning challenges that are preventing him from grasping the new rules. Rather I feel that Sam’s quiet nature probably misled his previous teachers into thinking that he understood what was being taught implying that he was ready to go on. I feel that Sam’s teacher needs to be aware of Sam’s quiet personality and be sure to perform proper assessments before moving on.

All of the students who I have seen work at their own individual pace. It seems that the same lesson plan format is encouraged to use for everyone. The director formulated a system to address the unique needs of Israeli children learning English. She adapted preexisting curricula to best fit her needs. The program consists of four different stages. The first stage teaches students the ABC. Students are expected to know the name, sound and formation of each letter. The next stage students learn phonetic blending and read stories from a reader. In the third stage students learn rules in the English language along with sight words. In the fourth stage students are able to write and read well and complete more sophisticated projects. This system has been implemented for the past fourteen years and has a positive reputation.

I feel that this program was based on solid research and has been tested and proven to be effective. At the same time I feel that teachers need to be flexible to adapt the program to the unique needs of their students. Furthermore, teachers need to incorporate their own innovative creativity to make learning exciting. English language learners, as well as any other students, need stimulating and motivating lessons in order to ensure growth.

SOLOM (STUDENT ORAL LANGUAGE OBSERVATION MATRIX)

Student’s Name: Sam  Robbins (pseudo name)			Grade: 5th	Examiner’s Signature: Aviva
Language Observed:English/Hebrew			Date:11/13
	A.  Comprehension	B.  Fluency	C.  Vocabulary	D.  Pronunciation	E.  Grammar
1	Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation.	Speech is so halting and fragmentary as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Pronunciation problems so severe as to make speech virtually impossible.	Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible.
2	Has great difficulty following what is said.  Can comprehend only “social conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetitions.	Usually hesitant; often forced into silence by language limitations.	Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary make comprehension quite difficult.	Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problems.  Must frequently repeat in order to make himself/herself understood.	Grammar and word order errors make comprehension difficult.  Must often rephrase and/or restrict himself/herself to basic patterns.
3	Understands most of what is said at slower-than normal speed with repetitions.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussion is frequently disrupted by the student’s search for the correct manner of expression.	Frequently uses the wrong words; conversation somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary.	Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of the listener and occasionally lead to misunderstanding.	Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order, which occasionally obscure meaning.
4	Understands nearly everything at normal speech, although occasional repetition may be necessary.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is generally fluent, with occasional lapses while the student searches for the correct manner of expression.	Occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies.	Always intelligible, though one is conscious of a definite accent and occasional inappropriate patterns.	Occasionally makes grammatical and/or word-order errors which do not obscure meaning.
5	Understands everyday conversation and normal classroom discussions without difficulty.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is fluent and effortless approximating that of a native speaker.	Use of vocabulary and idioms approximates that of a native speaker.	Pronunciation and intonation approximates that of a native speaker.	Grammatical usage and word order approximates that of a native speaker.

SOLOM (Student Oral Language Observation Matrix)

Teacher Observation Scale

Student’s Name: Sam Robbins (pseudo name)
Language Rated: English/Hebrew			Grade: 5th	Date(s):11/13, 11/6, 10/30
School: English Chug			Teacher: Sara Rochel Reinman	Total Score(s):21
	A.  Comprehension	B.  Fluency	C.  Vocabulary	D. Pronunciation	E.  Grammar
1	Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation.	Speech is so halting and fragmentary as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Pronunciation problems so severe as to make speech virtually impossible.	Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible.
2	Has great difficulty following what is said.  Can comprehend only “social conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetitions.	Usually hesitant; often forced into silence by language limitations.	Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary make comprehension quite difficult.	Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problems.  Must frequently repeat in order to make himself/herself understood.	Grammar and word order errors make comprehending difficult.  Must often rephrase and/or restrict himself/herself to basic patterns.
3	Understands most of what is said at slower-than normal speed with repetitions.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussion is frequently disrupted by the student’s search for the correct manner of expression.	Frequently uses the wrong words; conversation somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary.	Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of the listener and occasionally lead to misunderstanding.	Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order, which occasionally obscure meaning.
4	Understands nearly everything at normal speech, although occasional repetition may be necessary.	Speech in conversation and classroom discussions is generally fluent, with occasional lapses while the student searches for the correct manner of expression.	Occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies.	Always intelligible, though one is conscious of a definite accent and occasional inappropriate patterns.	Occasionally makes grammatical and/or word-order errors which do not obscure meaning.
5	Understands everyday conversation and normal classroom discussions without difficulty.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is approximating that of a native speaker.	Use of vocabulary and idioms approximates that of a native speaker.	Pronunciation and intonation approximates that of a native speaker.	Grammatical usage and word order approximates that of a native speaker.
Score	5	5	4	4	3

 

Week 9

Assignment 1:

How might small-group literature discussion groups fit into an overall literacy program, designed to help students experience the pleasures of becoming effective readers of literature?

Having small-group literature discussion groups is a great way to engage students in their reading. The positive atmosphere that is created in these groups ignites an enthusiasm for the story that is integral in becoming an effective reader. In these groups students are trained to analyze their reading on a whole new level. Through the questions asked and the topics discussed students' understanding becomes enriched with hearing what their teacher and classmates have to say.
These discussions are important to incorporate into a literacy program since it benefits both strong and struggling readers. If a student had a hard time understanding the story when reading it on his own, he will be able to compensate through participating in a discussion. Small group literature discussion groups can take place after the class was assigned to read on their own. Once students are read up and prepared to contribute their thoughts and logs to the discussion, the discussion will take place.

How does informal assessment such as that demonstrated by Mr. Thompson help a teacher design effective lessons?
Through Mr. Thompson's engaging questions during the small-group discussions, he was able to determine what each student gained and lacked from the story. In addition, the quality of the participation and the log entries were indicative of where the students were holding on their level of comprehension. Once Mr. Thompson, or any teacher for that matter, is made aware of the deficiencies, he can create lessons to fill in the holes.  For instance, lets say in the discussion it became clear that the students were unaware of the setting of  the story. The teacher can then guide the students to look for keywords that would tell them the setting.

What ideas from the video would you like to try in your own classroom? 
I feel that the small-group discussions  would be very beneficial in every classroom. As discussed above, these groups enhance all students' learning experiences immensely. Specifically I thought that the way that Mr. Thompson recorded the students' level of participation during the discussion with a point system was very smart. I could see how some students would take advantage of the free discussion setting by slacking off and not reading the material. Mr. Thompson prevented this behavior by creating a positive point system that motivated the students to cooperate fully.  

Assignment 2:

What are some ways this teacher helps students cope with the complexities of a new literary text?

Mr. Hoonan chose to adopt a post-it strategy where the students marked down their questions on post-it notes when they came across them while reading. This strategy was meant for students to move on with their reading and address their questions later.

As viewers, did you think the use of students to present mini-lessons to the class was an effective strategy? Why or why not?
I felt that the class did benefit by hearing mini-lessons given by other students. It is important for students to know that they are not the only ones with questions while reading. Furthermore, students can gain by hearing others' questions and see how they strategized to find a solution. People gain much more from those who speak from experience as opposed to hearing theoretical problem solving tips from a teacher.

Mr. Hoonan talks about the importance of considering context when assessing student performance, mentioning the example of allowing a normally quiet student an extended opportunity to share his views during the discussion. What examples of this can you share from your own classroom?
In general classroom discussions are safe places for shy students to express their opinion. In my experiences these students need to be prompted in order to perform. In these discussions when these students are given the opportunity to contribute they surpass everyone's expectations. I had a student who was extremely shy. She was shy both inside the classroom and out. To the common passerby this student would seem a bit unintelligent since she did not speak in public. As her teacher however, I knew that she had a lot of depth and many intelligent things to say. To get her to a comfortable place to express her ideas however was a challenge. I knew that her quiet and analytical nature enabled her to think deeply about literature. I desperately wanted her to share her thoughts with the class and therefore asked her to share during a class discussion. I was not sure what to expect her reaction to be. Much to my pleasure however, this student performed splendidly.

What ideas from the video would you like to try in your own classroom?

I thought that the group collaborating together to create a web  was a great way to organize the discussion. Everyone was able to contribute equally and follow the thought processes of their peers.  

 

Assignment 3:

 

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Grade: 2nd

Standards:

Common Core State Standards (June 2010)
Subject: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
Grade : Grade 2 students:
Content Area:  Literature K–5
Strand:  Reading
Domain:  Key Ideas and Details
Standard:  1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Standard:  2. Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
Standard:  3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Objectives: Students will know the characters, setting, and storyline of "Snow White" to meet the common core standards. Students will improve their literary and comprehension skills.  

 

Procedure: The teacher will begin by asking the class how they wake up in the morning as an introduction to the story "Snow White". During the discussion, the teacher will record the students' comments. Teacher will then ask students if they know the story about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The teacher will then read story out loud to the class with occasional pauses to ask pointed questions to the class. Questions will include, "How do you think Snow White felt about having a mean step-mother?" "What do you think it was like to live with seven dwarfs?", "Why do you think that Snow White woke up from the prince's kiss?" etc.
After reading the book the students will be asked to summarize the story in their reading logs. Students will then be broken into groups to have a small-group discussion with the teacher to go over the storyline and what they thought about it. During this discussion, the teacher will ask the students to draw a picture of the sky during different parts of the book. For instance at the beginning of the story when Snow White is singing with the animals, the students will be asked what they think the sky and nature looked like. Likewise students will be asked the same thing when the prince was fighting the wicked witch, when Snow White was sleeping, when Snow White woke up etc. The purpose of this is to draw the students' attention to the setting of the book and link the setting to what happened in the story. Next students will be told that they are going to make a puppet show about the story of Snow White. Students will be assigned to make a puppet to represent each character in the story. Then students will be asked to write up a script for the puppet show to present to the class. The purpose of the puppet show is to have students identify the characters in the story and understand how they interact and relate to each other.
Assessments: The teacher will see the level of comprehension the student had based on his writing log, participation during the discussion, and the accuracy and completeness of the puppet show.

 

Running Record

Text:

Whoever heard Reb Shalom singing felt his heart grow happier.

Most importantly, Reb Shalom knew how to lead the town. He made sure that the widows and orphans were taken care of, that the poor were fed, and that the laws of the Torah were kept. The town of Keppel respected and loved their rabbi.

Rebbetzin Malka was his wife. And what a rebbetzin! Her hands didn’t just work-they danced through the day while sweeping, washing or serving bowls of soup to her three daughters. She was known all through the town for making the most mouth-watering food and for her special way of helping the sick.

Most importantly, she knew how to look at people with a kind, loving eye and see what they really needed. The town loved their rebbetzin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Running Record Form – EDLI635

Student’s Name: Richard Smith (pseudo name)  Grade: 6^th (ESL student) Date:11/6/2013

Title:”The Marvelous Mix-Up” by Ruchama King Feuerman      

Difficulty Level of Text: for grades 2-4

Author: Ruchamaa King Feurman    

Running Words: 124   Accuracy Rate: 94%        Self Correction Rate: 1:5

                        Error Rate: 1:18

Comprehension: This student was able to retell what he read in his own words. He was able to identify the characters with a little bit of detail and their relationships with each other. He was also aware of the setting where the story took place. Since there are not a lot of details listed in the passage, his description is not very detailed. The student was able to recall in the correct order what he read. In the passage there was not a problem and a solution to identify. When retelling the student does use vocabulary from the text. Over all the student was able to retell the story in a complete fashion.

 
 

 

Miscue Analysis:

It is important to note that this student is an English Language learner. When he came across an unknown word he did tried his best to pronounce the word. Based on his pronunciation however, it was clear that he did not know what the real word meant. Therefore, when he said words that did not make sense it was because of his lack of familiarity with the language. This student did not appeal for help since he is confident in his reading abilities. With his great determination he would sound out the words sometimes repeating them. He did not use his own special cues to figure out the unknown words presumably because English is not his first language.

Since this student was an ESL learner, this leads me to believe that most of his mistakes were visual. I am not sure if he was familiar enough with the language for him to make a mistake based on the meaning of the words. This student was able to catch most of the word, pronouncing it closely to how it was meant to be said. This leads me to believe that those mistakes were structural since the basic skeleton of the body was there with the proper prefixes and suffixes, but the word itself was gone. Although grammatically speaking he got the word, he made a mistake because he was unaware of the meaning.

 

Lesson Plan:

Since the student’s mistakes were based on his lack of familiarity with the language, this lesson’s goal is to teach him the words that he fumbled with. The first step of the lesson is to ask the student to reread the passage and identify the words that are difficult to understand. When the student forms his list, the student will be asked to look up these words in a dictionary and copy down their definitions. The teacher will review these words and their definition with the student and come up with sentences that use these words. These sentences will be a part of the weekly vocabulary test that the student is responsible for. 

Word List: happier, importantly, widows, orphans, respected, bowls, daughters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection:

After learning about how to conduct a running record, I feel much more equipped to assess my students’ progress. In my experience as a teacher, the most professional and effective way to convey information about students is through concrete test results. These figures are indicative of the student’s skills which are integral for teachers to know in order to proceed. As a teacher it is important to have a feel for where each child is holding academically. This “feeling” however is not enough to ensure that each student is progressing. Teachers need to base their lessons on solid data that can help guide them to further the student’s learning.

While working with an English learner, it was interesting to note his mistakes. This student hardly made mistakes on words that he knew. I would assume this would also be the case with students who are not English learners. Students tend to be familiar with words that they commonly use and therefore have not trouble reading them. With words that are a bit challenging students sometimes have to put in more effort to decode them. I wonder if teachers find this more with ESL students than with other students. Presumably ESL students will not know as many words as the other students in the class and will therefore have a harder time reading without mistakes. I am sure that this reality effects ESL test scores and overall school performance level. It is important for teachers to keep their students’ backgrounds and challenges on the front burner so that these struggles can be properly addressed.

Overall this student was very enthusiastic about reading and about the overall story. He has been attending English classes for the past three years and has progressed immensely over that time. He was very proud to have reached the point of being able to read short chapter books. I feel that his excitement for reading was the key behind this student’s success. It is important for teachers to develop positive feelings towards reading and writing in all of their students in order to produce the best results. For this student especially his positivity was the key ingredient behind his achievements.

Retelling Form

Student’s Name: Richard Smith
Date: 11/6/2013
Book Title: The Marvelous Mix-up
Score: 18, skilled

Sequence: 3
Setting: 3
Characters: 3
Problem: 3
Resolution: 3
Level of Prompting: 3
Total: 18, skilled

Notes: It is important to keep in mind that this reading sample was a page at the beginning of a short chapter book. Based on what was read before and the passage itself, this student scored the highest possible. However, this student did not read the whole book yet and therefore we did not discuss the main problem in the whole story.