You have done quite a bit of reading, blogging, writing, and
discussing aspects related to emergent and beginning literacy, including
theory, practice, and assessment. You have put into practice through your assessment projects and application projects what you have learned. So as we come to the end of the semester, I'd like you to reflect about your learning over
the course of the last three plus months and respond to these questions:
What
are the three most important (to you) ideas that you learned about
emergent and beginning literacy this semester? Why are they important to
you? How will they inform your practice as a reading specialist, early
childhood educator, or elementary educator?
Revisit the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the semester. How have you met them? What would you like to keep learning about?
Finally, respond to the members of your blogging group and their key ideas. You might want to use one of these beginning sentence stems: This made me think about......., I was reminded that......., I can relate to this.......
I look forward to reading your application projects. I've enjoyed getting to know those of you I did not know and having those of you I did know in class. Have a great end to the school year (those of you who are teaching) and a great summer!
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Friday, April 21, 2017
Week 15 Spring 2017 Writing Part 2, New Literacies
This is the last week you all will be blogging on your own blogs. It is hard to believe that we only have 2 more weeks of classes! I'll be downloading case studies and Assessment Task 3 on Sunday evening when I return to Oklahoma from visiting my 91 year old mother. I'm looking forward to reading what you have. I have begun working on the new version of the iBook that your projects will be contributing to, and have begun to edit your cheat sheets for inclusion. Please make sure that your names are on all that you do so that you can get credit.
This week you will read a chapter on the challenges of early writing instruction as well as 3 articles about implementing New Literacies into your classroom literacy practices. Before reading, what do you think is a challenge for you related to early writing instruction? How would you define New Literacies? What do you think they encompass in terms of thinking about young children who are just learning about literacy?
As you read, think about these terms: participatory literacy, curricular integration vs. technology integration, features of e-texts, functions of writing. Blog about these ideas in your own blogs, and make connections across the readings. How is the writing chapter related to the New Literacies articles?
We will be meeting on April 29 from 1-3 in Rm. 334. Please bring a draft of your application project for peer review (part of class ). Be prepared to share about your project as well. Final versions of the project will be due on May 6 at 11:59 pm.
Let me know if you have any questions. Have a good week!
This week you will read a chapter on the challenges of early writing instruction as well as 3 articles about implementing New Literacies into your classroom literacy practices. Before reading, what do you think is a challenge for you related to early writing instruction? How would you define New Literacies? What do you think they encompass in terms of thinking about young children who are just learning about literacy?
As you read, think about these terms: participatory literacy, curricular integration vs. technology integration, features of e-texts, functions of writing. Blog about these ideas in your own blogs, and make connections across the readings. How is the writing chapter related to the New Literacies articles?
We will be meeting on April 29 from 1-3 in Rm. 334. Please bring a draft of your application project for peer review (part of class ). Be prepared to share about your project as well. Final versions of the project will be due on May 6 at 11:59 pm.
Let me know if you have any questions. Have a good week!
Friday, April 14, 2017
Week 14 Spring 2017 Writing Part 1
This week you will be focused on teaching writing to young children. You have already read about a couple of aspects of writing instruction: handwriting and spelling. This week you will be focusing on the aspect of composition, including genres of text and grammar and mechanics. So take a minute and think about how you learned to write in elementary school. What do you remember being the focus of the writing instruction? What kinds of texts did you write/dictate in PreK through grade 3 in your own education? How did that instruction (or did that instruction) help to make you an effective writer as you moved into the middle and secondary grades?
This week there are again quite a list of readings so you will need to share them out. Everyone should read the writing in PreK article as it demonstrates how children develop as writers and what that means for how teachers support them. Everyone should also read C&R 5 and 6. Chapter 5 discusses how to help children learn to write sentences beginning at the oral language level and moving through to editing, grammar and mechanics. Chapter 6 illustrates the phases of writing instruction that helps children recognize the characteristics of a particular genre, evaluate a text against those characteristics, and learn to write in that genre as well as what components of instruction should be included in each phase. The remainder of the chapters each focus on a different genre of text, with illustrations of how to model and support learning about that genre. Share those chapters out so you each get one. Blog about teaching writing from your chapters, including discussions about Standard English, mechanics of writing, types and kinds of sentences, genres, the writing process, instructional components, rubrics, and differentiation.
Remember, case studies or multimodal texts are due on Saturday, April 22 by 11:59 pm. Those of you doing multimodal texts, I'll be sharing with you the Dropbox folder with the iBook template begun by Monday morning. I'm working to get each section included with the literacy aspect labeled.
Have a good weekend, and happy Passover and/or Easter if you celebrate either holiday.
This week there are again quite a list of readings so you will need to share them out. Everyone should read the writing in PreK article as it demonstrates how children develop as writers and what that means for how teachers support them. Everyone should also read C&R 5 and 6. Chapter 5 discusses how to help children learn to write sentences beginning at the oral language level and moving through to editing, grammar and mechanics. Chapter 6 illustrates the phases of writing instruction that helps children recognize the characteristics of a particular genre, evaluate a text against those characteristics, and learn to write in that genre as well as what components of instruction should be included in each phase. The remainder of the chapters each focus on a different genre of text, with illustrations of how to model and support learning about that genre. Share those chapters out so you each get one. Blog about teaching writing from your chapters, including discussions about Standard English, mechanics of writing, types and kinds of sentences, genres, the writing process, instructional components, rubrics, and differentiation.
Remember, case studies or multimodal texts are due on Saturday, April 22 by 11:59 pm. Those of you doing multimodal texts, I'll be sharing with you the Dropbox folder with the iBook template begun by Monday morning. I'm working to get each section included with the literacy aspect labeled.
Have a good weekend, and happy Passover and/or Easter if you celebrate either holiday.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Week 13 Spring 2017 Word Recognition/Word Study Part 2
Thanks for your discussions about how word recognition and spelling develop through the emergent, beginning and transitional stages of learning to read and write. Now that you know what the milestones are that you need to be looking for, the readings for this coming week target the how you support children's learning about the code. So, before you begin reading the articles and chapters, think about either your own instructional strategies and activities or ones you have seen in classrooms or ones that you experienced. What did/do they look like? Which ones do you think were most effective? Why?
The reading for this week discuss word study, spelling instruction, reading and writing word, manipulating words, and transferring word knowledge. Everyone in your group should read the 2 articles. Then divide up the chapters in the Hayes and Flanigan book so each of you only read one of the chapters. Each is packed with instructional activities. In your blog, teach/tell each other about the different activities in your chapter for reading words, writing words, manipulating words, and transferring words. How do they change as children become more proficient? How are they related to SAIL in the Ganske article? How do the tips for implementing word study in K-2 classrooms compare to the ideas in the Hayes and Flanigan book?
Remember that you need to have small group virtual meetings this coming week. You can use Google hangouts or the conversation feature of Canvas. Please let me know when you are meeting and if you would like me to join you at all. You have two activities to complete in your group: First, review each other's case study (cert groups) or multimodal text (teacher group). I'll be sharing a link to the iBook I have begun if you want to put it in there. It will be on Canvas, and remember that you need a Mac to use iBooks author. The second activity is to construct cheat sheets of teaching strategies. Karen's Group: Your cheat sheet is in the writing book, the chapter you read last week about teaching spelling. Mykal's Group: your chapter is the teaching strategies for transitional readers/writers. Andie's group: Your chapter is the beginning readers/writers teaching strategies for word recognition. Lisa's Group: Yours is the teaching strategies for emergent readers/writers. Put your cheat sheets in the class activities folder on Google Drive. Each group needs to send me a summary of your meeting by the end of the week.
This week you also need to complete a virtual check in. use the link on Canvas. Please do so before Friday.
Let me know if you have questions, and remember to let me know when you are meeting and if you want me there. Have a great week!
The reading for this week discuss word study, spelling instruction, reading and writing word, manipulating words, and transferring word knowledge. Everyone in your group should read the 2 articles. Then divide up the chapters in the Hayes and Flanigan book so each of you only read one of the chapters. Each is packed with instructional activities. In your blog, teach/tell each other about the different activities in your chapter for reading words, writing words, manipulating words, and transferring words. How do they change as children become more proficient? How are they related to SAIL in the Ganske article? How do the tips for implementing word study in K-2 classrooms compare to the ideas in the Hayes and Flanigan book?
Remember that you need to have small group virtual meetings this coming week. You can use Google hangouts or the conversation feature of Canvas. Please let me know when you are meeting and if you would like me to join you at all. You have two activities to complete in your group: First, review each other's case study (cert groups) or multimodal text (teacher group). I'll be sharing a link to the iBook I have begun if you want to put it in there. It will be on Canvas, and remember that you need a Mac to use iBooks author. The second activity is to construct cheat sheets of teaching strategies. Karen's Group: Your cheat sheet is in the writing book, the chapter you read last week about teaching spelling. Mykal's Group: your chapter is the teaching strategies for transitional readers/writers. Andie's group: Your chapter is the beginning readers/writers teaching strategies for word recognition. Lisa's Group: Yours is the teaching strategies for emergent readers/writers. Put your cheat sheets in the class activities folder on Google Drive. Each group needs to send me a summary of your meeting by the end of the week.
This week you also need to complete a virtual check in. use the link on Canvas. Please do so before Friday.
Let me know if you have questions, and remember to let me know when you are meeting and if you want me there. Have a great week!
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Week 12 Spring 2017 Word recogntion/Word Study Part 1
When you read this post, we will have already met together for our face to face class. So reflect on what we did in class. What is the most important thing that you learned in class? Why is it important? What do you hope to learn about word recognition?
This coming week begins the topic of word recognition. Remember, that is not just about phonics but about learning grapheme-phoneme patterns for reading and spelling, building up a store of irregular and high frequency words that can be recognized by sight, using word parts, and learning a strategy for what to do when encountering an unknown word. You will be reading about spelling development as well as characteristics of emergent, beginning, and transitional readers and writers. In addition, the chapters in the H&F book help you to understand what children at these stages need to learn and how to organize instruction to meet their needs. They will allude to teaching strategies/activities but those come in the Week 13 chapters.
For your blogs this week, compare the three different stages of readers and writers. How are spelling instruction and word recognition instruction similar and different? If you are in a classroom, discuss how you now teach spelling and word recognition and evaluate your spelling curriculum. What is the key idea that you each take away from discussions on invented or developmental spelling? What key idea do you take away from each of the chapters? Finally, why and how are word recognition skills important to comprehension. Be sure to use the following terms in your discussions: transcription skills, literacy diet, irregular words, high frequency words, text types, controlled vocabulary, decodable text, phonological vs. phonemic awareness, syllable, onset and rime, word families, letter forms vs. letter names, repetitive sentence structures, predictable word changes, fluency.
Have a good week.
This coming week begins the topic of word recognition. Remember, that is not just about phonics but about learning grapheme-phoneme patterns for reading and spelling, building up a store of irregular and high frequency words that can be recognized by sight, using word parts, and learning a strategy for what to do when encountering an unknown word. You will be reading about spelling development as well as characteristics of emergent, beginning, and transitional readers and writers. In addition, the chapters in the H&F book help you to understand what children at these stages need to learn and how to organize instruction to meet their needs. They will allude to teaching strategies/activities but those come in the Week 13 chapters.
For your blogs this week, compare the three different stages of readers and writers. How are spelling instruction and word recognition instruction similar and different? If you are in a classroom, discuss how you now teach spelling and word recognition and evaluate your spelling curriculum. What is the key idea that you each take away from discussions on invented or developmental spelling? What key idea do you take away from each of the chapters? Finally, why and how are word recognition skills important to comprehension. Be sure to use the following terms in your discussions: transcription skills, literacy diet, irregular words, high frequency words, text types, controlled vocabulary, decodable text, phonological vs. phonemic awareness, syllable, onset and rime, word families, letter forms vs. letter names, repetitive sentence structures, predictable word changes, fluency.
Have a good week.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Week 11 Spring 2017 Comprehension Part 2
Happy Spring to everyone! I hope you all had a restful and/or productive Spring Break, which ever you were hoping for! My trip to Africa was busy and productive as we worked with teachers and students there. I was so busy that I did not take any pictures of what we did...but I did spend one afternoon teaching beginning reading to 8 limited or non-English speaking ladies (1 was a refugee from the Congo, 2 were natives of Northern Uganda, and the remainder were refugees from the South Sudan. It was a humbling experience for me!
This week is focusing again on comprehension, specifically high level discussions and written responses and projects, as well as informational texts and classroom inquiry (in the additional articles). What roles do you think discussion and writing play in supporting comprehension of a variety of texts? Why do you think that?
As you read, think about your own comprehension instruction when you were in school or the comprehension instruction that you provide now if you are teaching. If you are in one of the teacher groups, use Form 6.3 to evaluate your own implementation of high level discussions in your classroom and blog about that. All groups use Form 6.4 to self-assess your group's blogging discussions over the last 3 blog discussions. How are you doing? what do you need to improve? How is the written discussion (which is an overlap of the topics of Chapters 6 and 7 of DS&G) helpful to your comprehension of what you are reading? How are the ideas in the article(s) that your group read related to the DS&G chapters? What teaching strategies that you read about would you like to try out in your classroom, either now if you are teaching or when you have your own classroom? What are some key ideas that you learned about supporting comprehension of limited English speaking students?
We will be meeting face to face on Saturday, April 1 from 9-12 in Rm. 334 of Collings Hall. My blog for Week 12 will go live after that class. If you are in the Certification Group, please bring your data/assessments and notes that you have collected on your case study child for us to review and talk about before you begin writing your case study. If you are in the Teacher Group, I plan to have your Assessment Task 2 graded before you come (and remember that it is/was due on Saturday March 25 before midnight on Canvas. I"ll add to the rubric that I have already begun for you. I"ll have a rubric for your multimodal text that is Task 3, so bring your plans on what you will do for that piece.
We will be constructing some "cheat sheets" for my undergraduate students on comprehension and how to support it in class as well as working on the above projects and preparing to begin our conversation about word recognition.
Looking forward to our face to face time together!
This week is focusing again on comprehension, specifically high level discussions and written responses and projects, as well as informational texts and classroom inquiry (in the additional articles). What roles do you think discussion and writing play in supporting comprehension of a variety of texts? Why do you think that?
As you read, think about your own comprehension instruction when you were in school or the comprehension instruction that you provide now if you are teaching. If you are in one of the teacher groups, use Form 6.3 to evaluate your own implementation of high level discussions in your classroom and blog about that. All groups use Form 6.4 to self-assess your group's blogging discussions over the last 3 blog discussions. How are you doing? what do you need to improve? How is the written discussion (which is an overlap of the topics of Chapters 6 and 7 of DS&G) helpful to your comprehension of what you are reading? How are the ideas in the article(s) that your group read related to the DS&G chapters? What teaching strategies that you read about would you like to try out in your classroom, either now if you are teaching or when you have your own classroom? What are some key ideas that you learned about supporting comprehension of limited English speaking students?
We will be meeting face to face on Saturday, April 1 from 9-12 in Rm. 334 of Collings Hall. My blog for Week 12 will go live after that class. If you are in the Certification Group, please bring your data/assessments and notes that you have collected on your case study child for us to review and talk about before you begin writing your case study. If you are in the Teacher Group, I plan to have your Assessment Task 2 graded before you come (and remember that it is/was due on Saturday March 25 before midnight on Canvas. I"ll add to the rubric that I have already begun for you. I"ll have a rubric for your multimodal text that is Task 3, so bring your plans on what you will do for that piece.
We will be constructing some "cheat sheets" for my undergraduate students on comprehension and how to support it in class as well as working on the above projects and preparing to begin our conversation about word recognition.
Looking forward to our face to face time together!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Week 10 Spring 2017 Comprehension Part 1
I am having this blog go live on the Friday before Spring Break for anyone who wants to get a jump on the readings over the break. As you read this, I will have either just arrived in Uganda for a week of working with the school for women and its teachers OR be leaving Uganda after a hopefully productive week. I am taking printed copies of your Exploration projects with me and electronic versions of the rubric for each of you. I'll put comments on the rubrics and will email them to you as I have access to the internet and/or finish grading them. So you will know what it is like where I am, I'll drop a few pictures in here:
This blog begins the discussion about comprehension. So please tell me what you know about: the levels of comprehension, comprehension strategies that good readers use, factors that affect a reader's ability to comprehend a text, teaching strategies to support comprehension. I know that this is a lot to address, but it will help me for the next blog and determining what we will do on April 1 when we next meet fact to face.
The chapters that you are reading this week focus on teaching strategies to support comprehension and knowledge building. You will be reading about themed integrated units and comprehension strategy instruction as well as how to assess comprehension and strategy use. The McKee article demonstrated a particular strategy that children can learn to help them comprehend texts at higher levels. So in your blogs, all of you need to compare and contrast the different comprehension strategy instructional methods. How might they fit into themed units? What do you think are the strengths and challenges of using themed units to support the development of comprehension skills and strategies? Teacher groups: Evaluate your own comprehension strategy instruction. Which of the teaching methods have you used? what do you think you do well? What could you improve on? How does your comprehension instruction fit in with the Principles of Reading Comprehension from the reading comprehension article that you read?
Certification groups: Which of the strategy assessments in Chapter 5 will you use with your child for your case study? Why did you choose that one? How does handwriting development that you read about in C&R 3 fit in with our focus on comprehension?
Vocabulary/terms to use in your response: Please include and/or discuss the following concepts in your blog discussions. types of connections (text-text, text-self, text-world), prior knowledge, purpose for reading, situation model, hypertext, digital videos, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, responsive engagement, text features, genre, multiple texts, cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, self-regulation.
Hope you have/had a great break!
The chapters that you are reading this week focus on teaching strategies to support comprehension and knowledge building. You will be reading about themed integrated units and comprehension strategy instruction as well as how to assess comprehension and strategy use. The McKee article demonstrated a particular strategy that children can learn to help them comprehend texts at higher levels. So in your blogs, all of you need to compare and contrast the different comprehension strategy instructional methods. How might they fit into themed units? What do you think are the strengths and challenges of using themed units to support the development of comprehension skills and strategies? Teacher groups: Evaluate your own comprehension strategy instruction. Which of the teaching methods have you used? what do you think you do well? What could you improve on? How does your comprehension instruction fit in with the Principles of Reading Comprehension from the reading comprehension article that you read?
Certification groups: Which of the strategy assessments in Chapter 5 will you use with your child for your case study? Why did you choose that one? How does handwriting development that you read about in C&R 3 fit in with our focus on comprehension?
Vocabulary/terms to use in your response: Please include and/or discuss the following concepts in your blog discussions. types of connections (text-text, text-self, text-world), prior knowledge, purpose for reading, situation model, hypertext, digital videos, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, responsive engagement, text features, genre, multiple texts, cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, self-regulation.
Hope you have/had a great break!
Friday, March 3, 2017
Week 8 Spring 2017 Oral language and vocabulary Part 2
It looks like everyone is hard at work on your Exploration project. There were a couple of questions related to page numbers. For the annotated bibliography, no, there is no page number. Both groups should look at the rubric for specifics on what to include. You do need to tell the theoretical perspective of the article, and some may not explicitly say "the theoretical perspective is ......" so you will have to infer what it might be, such as constructivist, new literacies, behaviorist, sociocultural, etc. For the teacher group project of examining the instruction in your own classroom, I can't imagine describing and critiquing my classroom practice when I was teaching children in less than 10-12 pages. The thoughtfulness of that description and critique (and make sure you check the description in the syllabus as well as the rubric for exactly what needs to be included) will be key.
This week is the second week of thinking about how to support oral language and vocabulary. The key topics are language rich classrooms and word awareness. I know you have read an article about language rich classrooms but I think that this will provide lots of detail. So before reading, think about those two terms. How do you define word awareness? What do you think are the characteristics of a language rich classroom? Keep your responses in mind as you read the chapters.
You will be provided with a variety of instructional strategies, activities, and routines in these 3 chapters, including vignettes from classrooms from PreK through 2nd grade. Blog about how you think these activities/strategies/routines support language development. Think about how language development includes speaking and listening skills. What speaking and listening skills are in the new Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts? How might the suggestions in the chapters support learning those skills? Certification groups: Please also blog about the following questions: How are activities different from routines? How are teaching strategies different from activities? After reading the vignettes in Chapter 10, what is something key you learned about teaching vocabulary and supporting language learning across the early grades? Teacher Groups: You also read 2 articles for this week. Please also blog about how the content from the articles is related to the chapters that you read. Also complete the IVI in Chapter 10 and talk about your results.
The remaining 3 blog groups are meeting this upcoming week. Karen's group started a Google doc called Oral Language. Each group will have an assignment to complete related to one of the chapters for this week. Please use a different color font for your group than what is already there. Neka's Group: Please share your formative assessment projects with each other for peer feedback. Your assignment for the Google doc is to discuss Chapter 10 and for each age level (PreK, K, 1st, 2nd) summarize characteristics of oral language development that may be specific to that developmental level. Andie's Group: Share what you are finding out about your case study child to date. Then take Chapter 4 and summarize characteristics of language rich classrooms--bulleted descriptions and list and briefly describe (3-5 sentences each) whole group routines and strategies from that chapter and activities that could be placed in independent centers. Lisa's Group: Share about your case study child. Your chapter is Chapter 5. List and briefly describe activities and lessons to support word awareness and independent word learning.
I leave on March 9 for Uganda for spring break. I'll leave the blog for the week after spring break to go live on the Friday of Spring Break so you have a week off of my blog. I will be downloading your exploration projects on Sunday and plan on taking them with me to grade on airplanes or during downtime in Gulu. I will get the rubric and comments on the project back to you when I return on March 19.
Have a good week!
This week is the second week of thinking about how to support oral language and vocabulary. The key topics are language rich classrooms and word awareness. I know you have read an article about language rich classrooms but I think that this will provide lots of detail. So before reading, think about those two terms. How do you define word awareness? What do you think are the characteristics of a language rich classroom? Keep your responses in mind as you read the chapters.
You will be provided with a variety of instructional strategies, activities, and routines in these 3 chapters, including vignettes from classrooms from PreK through 2nd grade. Blog about how you think these activities/strategies/routines support language development. Think about how language development includes speaking and listening skills. What speaking and listening skills are in the new Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts? How might the suggestions in the chapters support learning those skills? Certification groups: Please also blog about the following questions: How are activities different from routines? How are teaching strategies different from activities? After reading the vignettes in Chapter 10, what is something key you learned about teaching vocabulary and supporting language learning across the early grades? Teacher Groups: You also read 2 articles for this week. Please also blog about how the content from the articles is related to the chapters that you read. Also complete the IVI in Chapter 10 and talk about your results.
The remaining 3 blog groups are meeting this upcoming week. Karen's group started a Google doc called Oral Language. Each group will have an assignment to complete related to one of the chapters for this week. Please use a different color font for your group than what is already there. Neka's Group: Please share your formative assessment projects with each other for peer feedback. Your assignment for the Google doc is to discuss Chapter 10 and for each age level (PreK, K, 1st, 2nd) summarize characteristics of oral language development that may be specific to that developmental level. Andie's Group: Share what you are finding out about your case study child to date. Then take Chapter 4 and summarize characteristics of language rich classrooms--bulleted descriptions and list and briefly describe (3-5 sentences each) whole group routines and strategies from that chapter and activities that could be placed in independent centers. Lisa's Group: Share about your case study child. Your chapter is Chapter 5. List and briefly describe activities and lessons to support word awareness and independent word learning.
I leave on March 9 for Uganda for spring break. I'll leave the blog for the week after spring break to go live on the Friday of Spring Break so you have a week off of my blog. I will be downloading your exploration projects on Sunday and plan on taking them with me to grade on airplanes or during downtime in Gulu. I will get the rubric and comments on the project back to you when I return on March 19.
Have a good week!
Friday, February 24, 2017
Week 7 Spring 2017 Oral Language and vocabulary, Part 1
As I write this blog on Thursday afternoon, I have just finished reviewing your blog entries so far. I appreciate those blogs which really took to heart the criteria for good discussions. I am seeing quite a bit more give and take in the discussions as opposed to serial monologues. I'll revisit the blogs tomorrow morning and add a comment or two at the end of this blog. Remember that unless the readings are jigsawed, you don't need to summarize what you read, but discuss the prompts that I include in this blog and key ideas that you are taking away from the readings related to the topic. I'll be more intentional in this blog about some questions for you to discuss as well as listing key terminology to include in your discussion. I'll also give directions for your small group discussions this week or in week 8.
This week you are beginning to read in depth about teaching and learning oral language and vocabulary. Before you read, respond to these questions: What kind of vocabulary instruction did you have as a learner growing up? Did that method help you increase your store of complex vocabulary? Why or Why not?
All of you will be reading 3 chapters in the S&H book that focus on effective vocabulary learning and teaching and offer a framework for teaching. In addition, the Certification groups will be reading about the systems of language while the Teacher groups will have another view of choosing vocabulary and an instructional sequence. All of you will need to use the following terms in your discussion: intentionality, implicit vs. explicit instruction, incidental exposure, extended instruction, language rich environment, clarify, revoice, affirm, low priority vs. high priority words, Tier1,2,and 3 words, taxinomically related words, word difficulty, word awareness, word learning strategies, analytic talk, Universal Design for Learning, Response to Intervention.
Certification Groups: Please discuss the following: Why is it important to support children's learning of all of the systems of language (pragmatic, syntactic, semantic, morphemic, orthographic, graphophonemic)? How might the principles of effective vocabulary instruction translate to other aspects of literacy? What do each of you think is key to thinking about planning for instruction for children to learn new words? What is important to each of you in thinking about supporting language and vocabulary? How does this relate to support children's speaking and listening skills?
Teacher Groups: Please discuss the following: Which of the principles of effective vocabulary instruction is a strong point for you? A weak point? How does your vocabulary instruction compare to the information in the 2 chapters and the article that you read? What advice from the readings would you give our certification seeking colleagues in class in terms of where to start first or what to prioritize related to what you read about? Why?
Remember, you need to complete the Virtual Check In (link in Canvas) this week again. Please complete it by Thursday evening so I can review it on Friday and respond to questions either in my blog or to each of you separately. You also need to upload your Exploration Project to
Canvas. It is due on Saturday, March 4 by 11:59 pm.
Small group discussions: You have a couple of tasks for this meeting: Teacher groups need to share their Assessment task 2 for peer review. As you read each others descriptions, think about being a novice teacher and make sure that they descriptions of what and how to do the activity and how to use it to let you know how children are progressing are clear and comprehensive. Certification groups should share progress and questions with each other on your case studies.
In addition, you have another task as well. We will begin to compile lists with short descriptions of teaching strategies and tips for novice teachers to include in the iBook. This week, Karen's group is meeting on Feb. 27 so their task is to 1)set up the google doc for oral language and vocabulary and 2) compile tips for choosing words to teach and tips for effective instruction. The rest of the groups: I'll have your assignments up in next week's blog.
As always, let me know if you have questions or want me to weigh in on your blog discussion. Also, let me know about joining your group discussion....Karen's group--I have set up the discussion in Canvas so you might want to see if you can get in and practice. I'll try to get a link to videos on how to participate in the Big Blue Button on Canvas on Sunday.
Have a good week.
This week you are beginning to read in depth about teaching and learning oral language and vocabulary. Before you read, respond to these questions: What kind of vocabulary instruction did you have as a learner growing up? Did that method help you increase your store of complex vocabulary? Why or Why not?
All of you will be reading 3 chapters in the S&H book that focus on effective vocabulary learning and teaching and offer a framework for teaching. In addition, the Certification groups will be reading about the systems of language while the Teacher groups will have another view of choosing vocabulary and an instructional sequence. All of you will need to use the following terms in your discussion: intentionality, implicit vs. explicit instruction, incidental exposure, extended instruction, language rich environment, clarify, revoice, affirm, low priority vs. high priority words, Tier1,2,and 3 words, taxinomically related words, word difficulty, word awareness, word learning strategies, analytic talk, Universal Design for Learning, Response to Intervention.
Certification Groups: Please discuss the following: Why is it important to support children's learning of all of the systems of language (pragmatic, syntactic, semantic, morphemic, orthographic, graphophonemic)? How might the principles of effective vocabulary instruction translate to other aspects of literacy? What do each of you think is key to thinking about planning for instruction for children to learn new words? What is important to each of you in thinking about supporting language and vocabulary? How does this relate to support children's speaking and listening skills?
Teacher Groups: Please discuss the following: Which of the principles of effective vocabulary instruction is a strong point for you? A weak point? How does your vocabulary instruction compare to the information in the 2 chapters and the article that you read? What advice from the readings would you give our certification seeking colleagues in class in terms of where to start first or what to prioritize related to what you read about? Why?
Remember, you need to complete the Virtual Check In (link in Canvas) this week again. Please complete it by Thursday evening so I can review it on Friday and respond to questions either in my blog or to each of you separately. You also need to upload your Exploration Project to
Canvas. It is due on Saturday, March 4 by 11:59 pm.
Small group discussions: You have a couple of tasks for this meeting: Teacher groups need to share their Assessment task 2 for peer review. As you read each others descriptions, think about being a novice teacher and make sure that they descriptions of what and how to do the activity and how to use it to let you know how children are progressing are clear and comprehensive. Certification groups should share progress and questions with each other on your case studies.
In addition, you have another task as well. We will begin to compile lists with short descriptions of teaching strategies and tips for novice teachers to include in the iBook. This week, Karen's group is meeting on Feb. 27 so their task is to 1)set up the google doc for oral language and vocabulary and 2) compile tips for choosing words to teach and tips for effective instruction. The rest of the groups: I'll have your assignments up in next week's blog.
As always, let me know if you have questions or want me to weigh in on your blog discussion. Also, let me know about joining your group discussion....Karen's group--I have set up the discussion in Canvas so you might want to see if you can get in and practice. I'll try to get a link to videos on how to participate in the Big Blue Button on Canvas on Sunday.
Have a good week.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Week 6 Spring 2017 Effective Teaching for Learning, Diversity, and Families
I'll be introducing the topics for this week's reading in class so no need to reiterate them here. If you are opening the blog before class on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 pm, you can close it up until after class as your responses really are more tied to what went on in class. The class notes will have how to break up the readings for this coming week as well as things to think and blog about.
We will spend class talking about text complexity and readability as well as working on assessments and planning for the next few weeks.
For this blog,
1) Identify 3 key ideas you learned in class on Feb. 18. Why are they key to you and how will they impact your practice (present or future)?
2) Tell me which jigsawed readings you are going to be reading and teaching your blog group about.
Thanks, and have a good week. I'm looking forward to "seeing" you in the blogoshpere and on the internet in your groups over the next few weeks before Spring Break.
We will spend class talking about text complexity and readability as well as working on assessments and planning for the next few weeks.
For this blog,
1) Identify 3 key ideas you learned in class on Feb. 18. Why are they key to you and how will they impact your practice (present or future)?
2) Tell me which jigsawed readings you are going to be reading and teaching your blog group about.
Thanks, and have a good week. I'm looking forward to "seeing" you in the blogoshpere and on the internet in your groups over the next few weeks before Spring Break.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Week 5 Spring 2017 Assessing for instruction
As you have all noted in your blogs, assessment is a key component in a classroom to determine what children know and what they still need to know. Note that I begin with discussing how assessments help you understand what a child knows instead of first targeting the deficits. I think that is key in thinking about the purpose of assessment. I do want to distinguish between assessment and evaluation, a question I asked you to address in my blog last week. Assessment is merely the data that you collect to find out what a learner knows or is struggling with. It could include formal tests, published instruments, informal observations, information from work completed as part of learning activities, checklists and anecdotal notes, to name but a few. Evaluation, on the other hand, is the quality judgement that a teacher makes about the learning. It is based on all of the data (or assessments). In your graduate classes, evaluation is the points that you receive on a project or the grade on a test or class while assessment data include your blog posts and responses, emails you send me with questions, drafts of projects, my observations of your discussions in the face to face classes, the class activities you complete on Google drive.
This week you will be reading about particular assessment activities you can do for oral language/vocabulary, comprehension, and word recognition as well a framework for writing instruction that includes assessment as a key component. You will also be reading about determining independent, instructional and frustration levels for children reading particular texts. What do YOU think makes a text hard or easy for a reader? Can a child be reading at independent level on one text and frustration level on another? What is readability?
Certification groups: As you read, begin to make lists of assessments that are described in the readings for this week and from this past week as well. Think about the age level of the child you might use them with. Blog about the pros and cons of the different assessments for different populations of children and which might work for which grade levels and why. Make connections with the levels article as well as with the readings you have done about developmental levels.
Teacher groups: I'd also like you to blog about the pros and cons of the different assessments that you read about. Think also about the issue of readability and the issues inherent in independent, instructional, and frustration levels and how they might impact or play into the ideas about differentiated reading interventions that you read about in the Jones et. al. article.
All Groups: Here are some key terms that I'd like you to use in your blog discussions: independent reading level, instructional reading level, frustration reading level, readability, text complexity, challenging text, reader-text match, receptive and expressive language, norm-referenced vs. criterion referenced assessment.
Finally, We will be on Saturday, Feb. 18 from 1-5 pm. I'll be working with both groups on their assessment projects in class as well as taking a look at what you have begun to collect for your exploration project so note that either a list of articles or a book or a plan for examining your own instruction should be with you in class. I'll conference with everyone individually. We will also be doing an activity to help you think about text complexity and readability. Let me know if you have questions.
Have a good week and I"ll see you on Feb. 18! 👧💻📓📕🕐
This week you will be reading about particular assessment activities you can do for oral language/vocabulary, comprehension, and word recognition as well a framework for writing instruction that includes assessment as a key component. You will also be reading about determining independent, instructional and frustration levels for children reading particular texts. What do YOU think makes a text hard or easy for a reader? Can a child be reading at independent level on one text and frustration level on another? What is readability?
Certification groups: As you read, begin to make lists of assessments that are described in the readings for this week and from this past week as well. Think about the age level of the child you might use them with. Blog about the pros and cons of the different assessments for different populations of children and which might work for which grade levels and why. Make connections with the levels article as well as with the readings you have done about developmental levels.
Teacher groups: I'd also like you to blog about the pros and cons of the different assessments that you read about. Think also about the issue of readability and the issues inherent in independent, instructional, and frustration levels and how they might impact or play into the ideas about differentiated reading interventions that you read about in the Jones et. al. article.
All Groups: Here are some key terms that I'd like you to use in your blog discussions: independent reading level, instructional reading level, frustration reading level, readability, text complexity, challenging text, reader-text match, receptive and expressive language, norm-referenced vs. criterion referenced assessment.
Finally, We will be on Saturday, Feb. 18 from 1-5 pm. I'll be working with both groups on their assessment projects in class as well as taking a look at what you have begun to collect for your exploration project so note that either a list of articles or a book or a plan for examining your own instruction should be with you in class. I'll conference with everyone individually. We will also be doing an activity to help you think about text complexity and readability. Let me know if you have questions.
Have a good week and I"ll see you on Feb. 18! 👧💻📓📕🕐
Friday, February 3, 2017
Week 4 Spring 2017 Literacy Development and Assessment, Intervention Decisions
I appreciate the thoughtful discussions on the blogs, and the use of the key concepts as well. Remember to respond to the questions of the blog leader, but also to hit reply to each other to comment and help each other to interpret what you are reading.
This week we are looking at the role of assessment in literacy development, what it is that needs to be assessed and what that means for understanding what children know or what they use and confuse. "Use and confuse" are skills and strategies, both constrained and unconstrained, that children are trying out as they are learning but over which they do not yet have mastery. Invented spellings demonstrate phonic elements and spelling patterns that children use but confuse with other patterns or elements, so they don't have them mastered to automaticity. You have read about key aspects of literacy skills and strategies that learners must develop on the way to proficiency, but there are others that are not considered part of the big 5 essential elements of reading nor part of writing. From your own experiences, either as a teacher or as a learner, what else do you think is important to consider and support in readers and writers that will help them become strong readers and writers? Why is assessment important to literacy development? What do you think assessment is and how is it different from evaluation? Use your background knowledge as you respond to these questions.
Certification Group: You will be reading an article about other aspects of learning that are key to becoming literate as well as articles about types of assessment, formative assessment and a specific early literacy assessment that can be used with preschool and kindergarten children to assess their emergent literacy skills. Here are some key concepts to look for and understand as you read: metacognition, engaged, motivation, epistemic beliefs, self-efficacy, formative feedback, assessment, outcome measures, screening measures, diagnostic measures,progress monitoring, formative and summative assessment, feedback loop, self assessment, goal setting, concept vs. skills vs. strategies, concept of word. Use these terms in your blog discussions about this week's topic. Be sure to address key ideas from the readings, including perhaps, discussing what each of you took away from each reading and what you think that means for supporting literacy development.
Teacher Group: You also will be reading about other aspects of learning that are key to becoming literate, but you will also be reading in Clay about the importance of children's attention to visual cues and what self corrections tell you about a child's literacy development. Your terms to use in your blog include: metacognition, engaged, motivation, epistemic beliefs, self-efficacy, formative feedback, visual perception, auditory perception, self-correction, concept of word, input/processing/output, units of the code, attention to print, executive control, problem-solving strategies. Use these terms in your blog. I'd also like you to think about and blog about what you think the readings mean for making decisions about choosing to intervene with a child and what an intervention might look like in terms of your teaching. What does assessment have to do with those decisions and what might assessment tell you about literacy development.
Finally, everyone needs to let me know if you would like for me to set up a small group meeting via Adobe Connect for your blog group to talk about concepts so far and how your blog group is working. You can do that in your response here or send me a separate email. You don't need to download anything to use Adobe connect, you just have to have the URL that I"ll send you for the meeting. I"ll also upload a short video to Canvas that shows how to log in once you have the meeting invitation with the URL. If you indicated that you would like to chat with me on the VCI, I'll be contacting you to set up a time to chat on Skype.
Have a good week!
This week we are looking at the role of assessment in literacy development, what it is that needs to be assessed and what that means for understanding what children know or what they use and confuse. "Use and confuse" are skills and strategies, both constrained and unconstrained, that children are trying out as they are learning but over which they do not yet have mastery. Invented spellings demonstrate phonic elements and spelling patterns that children use but confuse with other patterns or elements, so they don't have them mastered to automaticity. You have read about key aspects of literacy skills and strategies that learners must develop on the way to proficiency, but there are others that are not considered part of the big 5 essential elements of reading nor part of writing. From your own experiences, either as a teacher or as a learner, what else do you think is important to consider and support in readers and writers that will help them become strong readers and writers? Why is assessment important to literacy development? What do you think assessment is and how is it different from evaluation? Use your background knowledge as you respond to these questions.
Certification Group: You will be reading an article about other aspects of learning that are key to becoming literate as well as articles about types of assessment, formative assessment and a specific early literacy assessment that can be used with preschool and kindergarten children to assess their emergent literacy skills. Here are some key concepts to look for and understand as you read: metacognition, engaged, motivation, epistemic beliefs, self-efficacy, formative feedback, assessment, outcome measures, screening measures, diagnostic measures,progress monitoring, formative and summative assessment, feedback loop, self assessment, goal setting, concept vs. skills vs. strategies, concept of word. Use these terms in your blog discussions about this week's topic. Be sure to address key ideas from the readings, including perhaps, discussing what each of you took away from each reading and what you think that means for supporting literacy development.
Teacher Group: You also will be reading about other aspects of learning that are key to becoming literate, but you will also be reading in Clay about the importance of children's attention to visual cues and what self corrections tell you about a child's literacy development. Your terms to use in your blog include: metacognition, engaged, motivation, epistemic beliefs, self-efficacy, formative feedback, visual perception, auditory perception, self-correction, concept of word, input/processing/output, units of the code, attention to print, executive control, problem-solving strategies. Use these terms in your blog. I'd also like you to think about and blog about what you think the readings mean for making decisions about choosing to intervene with a child and what an intervention might look like in terms of your teaching. What does assessment have to do with those decisions and what might assessment tell you about literacy development.
Finally, everyone needs to let me know if you would like for me to set up a small group meeting via Adobe Connect for your blog group to talk about concepts so far and how your blog group is working. You can do that in your response here or send me a separate email. You don't need to download anything to use Adobe connect, you just have to have the URL that I"ll send you for the meeting. I"ll also upload a short video to Canvas that shows how to log in once you have the meeting invitation with the URL. If you indicated that you would like to chat with me on the VCI, I'll be contacting you to set up a time to chat on Skype.
Have a good week!
Friday, January 27, 2017
Week 3 2017 Models and theories of comprehension, oral language/vocabulary, word recognition, and writing
I'd first like to comment on the first week of your blogging. I can tell each group is working to extend and understand about early literacy in classrooms. I want to remind you all that the purpose of the blog is to examine the ideas in your readings, what they mean for literacy learning and how they relate to each other. I appreciate your making connections to your situations, but try not to go off on tangents that are NOT related to the topic of the week or the content of the chapters. I know those of you in the certification groups are really interested in classroom practice which is great. But you can't really talk about teaching until you know what you are teaching. So especially during this part that is focusing on theory and curriculum, focus on the what you are teaching and how children learn or develop literacy proficiency. We should read how YOU interpret what you read but support your ideas by going back to the text. Ask each other open-ended questions to extend your learning and understanding as well. I"ll provide a bit more guidance this week on what you should focus on but I still want you to ask each other critical thinking questions and collaborate to create an understanding across the readings. Use your close reading skills as well as your analysis and synthesis skills. 👩📚
This week you are going to read about theory and development of four different aspects of literacy learning and teaching. The National Reading Panel identified 5 essential elements of reading that children must master, but we identified many more in class last week that included important early literacy concepts for young children, writing and motivation. The elements identified by NRP are phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. You will be reading about word recognition, comprehension, oral language/vocabulary, and writing.
What is one important thing that you already know from your previous reading or experience about these four literacy aspects? How do you think phonological awareness and fluency fit in? Remembering that you are reading about models and theories of each of these, what is something you hope to find out in these chapters?
As you read each chapter, focus on the components of each of these aspects of learning to become conventionally literate as well as key components of an instructional framework to support growing proficiency in each and at what developmental level you might support each aspect. Include the following academic vocabulary in your discussion: decoding, encoding, phonology, morphology and morphemes, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, decontextualized language, word recognition, comprehension, word knowledge, constrained and unconstrained skills, scaffolding, Discourse, composition, automaticity. In addition, Certification groups, think about and discuss factors related to individual differences in each of those aspects that might impact learning in a classroom adn therefore your teaching and discuss those. Teacher groups, besides the academic vocabulary I have listed, what other terms or concepts from the readings do you all think are important for novice teachers to understand as they learn about literacy development and learning? Why?
Finally, this week everyone needs to complete the Virtual Check In as well as the the form telling me your project choices. Both forms have links identified in Canvas in the Handouts module. Please have both done by Thursday Feb. 2 so I can get back to you if needed.
Have a good week!
This week you are going to read about theory and development of four different aspects of literacy learning and teaching. The National Reading Panel identified 5 essential elements of reading that children must master, but we identified many more in class last week that included important early literacy concepts for young children, writing and motivation. The elements identified by NRP are phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. You will be reading about word recognition, comprehension, oral language/vocabulary, and writing.
What is one important thing that you already know from your previous reading or experience about these four literacy aspects? How do you think phonological awareness and fluency fit in? Remembering that you are reading about models and theories of each of these, what is something you hope to find out in these chapters?
As you read each chapter, focus on the components of each of these aspects of learning to become conventionally literate as well as key components of an instructional framework to support growing proficiency in each and at what developmental level you might support each aspect. Include the following academic vocabulary in your discussion: decoding, encoding, phonology, morphology and morphemes, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, decontextualized language, word recognition, comprehension, word knowledge, constrained and unconstrained skills, scaffolding, Discourse, composition, automaticity. In addition, Certification groups, think about and discuss factors related to individual differences in each of those aspects that might impact learning in a classroom adn therefore your teaching and discuss those. Teacher groups, besides the academic vocabulary I have listed, what other terms or concepts from the readings do you all think are important for novice teachers to understand as they learn about literacy development and learning? Why?
Finally, this week everyone needs to complete the Virtual Check In as well as the the form telling me your project choices. Both forms have links identified in Canvas in the Handouts module. Please have both done by Thursday Feb. 2 so I can get back to you if needed.
Have a good week!
Friday, January 20, 2017
Weeks 1 and 2 Spring 2017 Welcome to EDRG 5723
Welcome to EDRG 5723 and my blog on emergent and beginning reading! The purpose of my blog is to respond to what has happened in your blogs and discussions from the previous week and introduce the topic for the new week. I will also propose a question to activate your background knowledge and understandings about the topic that you will need to respond to as a comment on my blog. I will then provide you with goals for your reading and may propose some ways that you can respond or ideas to blog about as well as key terms for you to use in your blog discussions to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts.
I'd like to list a few of my expectations in this hybrid class related to your use of time. We won't be meeting each week for 2 hours and 40 minutes face to face but that means that you will have to include that time in with the time you spend working on assignments adn reading. So I will expect you to:
1. What are 3 key ideas you learned from class on Jan. 21? Why are they key to you?
2. The topic for Week 2 is Literacy Development--Change over time. What is one thing you think you know already about how literacy develops over time in young children? What is one thing you hope to learn this week?
I"ll be reading blog posts Monday late afternoon, Wednesdays and Friday afternoons. If you have a question you want me to respond to in your discussion include it and I'll respond when I read. Or email me and let me know you want me to weigh in earlier.
Have a good week! See you in the blogosphere.
I'd like to list a few of my expectations in this hybrid class related to your use of time. We won't be meeting each week for 2 hours and 40 minutes face to face but that means that you will have to include that time in with the time you spend working on assignments adn reading. So I will expect you to:
- Spend at least 2.5 hours per week online. This time could be spent responding to my blog, posting to your blog if you are the group leader for that week, responding to each other on your blog (that is, having an online discussion through your blog comments), or working with your small group online via Google Hangout or Skype or an Adobe Connect meeting that I set up
- Keep up with readings and assignments
- Have a true discussion on your blog. That means that you will need to comment on the leader's post and respond to each other at least 3 or 4 times during the week. That is a minimum requirement to get the points for this assignment.
- Respond to the Virtual Check In form --the link is already uploaded on Canvas and the weeks that you need to complete this form are in the syllabus. These responses will be included in your participation points
- Checking Canvas regularly for class updates, links etc.
1. What are 3 key ideas you learned from class on Jan. 21? Why are they key to you?
2. The topic for Week 2 is Literacy Development--Change over time. What is one thing you think you know already about how literacy develops over time in young children? What is one thing you hope to learn this week?
I"ll be reading blog posts Monday late afternoon, Wednesdays and Friday afternoons. If you have a question you want me to respond to in your discussion include it and I'll respond when I read. Or email me and let me know you want me to weigh in earlier.
Have a good week! See you in the blogosphere.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Last week of the semester: Reflecting on your learning
You have done quite a bit of reading, blogging, writing, and discussing aspects related to emergent and beginning literacy, including theory, practice, and assessment. We looked a how literacy develops, and the multiple dimensions of literacy. Each of those dimensions were explored, including the systems language (and the relationship of oral and written language as well as language diversity), the cognitive dimension (which included perception/word recognition, factors such as background knowledge and expectations that impact meaning making, reading and writing processes and strategies), and the sociocultural dimension (including how group membership, cultural backgrounds and identities, text purpose impact how language and literacy are used and valued in a context). I'd like you to reflect about your learning over the course of the semester and respond to these questions:
What are the three most important (to you) ideas that you learned about emergent and beginning literacy this semester? Why are they important to you? How will they inform your practice as a reading specialist, early childhood educator, or special educator?
Revisit the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the semester. How have you met them?
Remember that we are meeting on Adobe Connect on Wednesday, April 29 at 5:30 pm. I'm looking forward to your sharing of your projects at that time, and to receiving them on May 1.
What are the three most important (to you) ideas that you learned about emergent and beginning literacy this semester? Why are they important to you? How will they inform your practice as a reading specialist, early childhood educator, or special educator?
Revisit the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the semester. How have you met them?
Remember that we are meeting on Adobe Connect on Wednesday, April 29 at 5:30 pm. I'm looking forward to your sharing of your projects at that time, and to receiving them on May 1.
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