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!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about the milestones for each stage I realized I need to do some revamping of my spelling and word recognition instruction. Much of this instruction in my classroom takes place in flexible groups. As students progress through skills, they are often moved to new groups. I think that is a positive to my instruction as it is ensuring the instruction and practice is differentiated. I have my students complete sorts in these flex group centers, which seems to be effective, although after reading last week I feel that I need to do them even more. This is effective as it helps the students to compare words based on a specified aspect of the words. I also feel that having my students find spelling patterns in their words is effective as it turns their focus to chunks within words. During whole group writing, I have my students use the word walls, anchor charts, and their personal writing dictionaries that I have helped them add words to throughout the year to spell words they are unable to spell with automaticity. This is effective as they do not always have to resort to relying on me for help.
It is important to understand the milestones for each stage of reading and writing (emergent, beginner, transitional) in order to determine where instruction should be focused. My instruction for new concepts and skills is organized using--I do, we do, you do in small groups. We spend most time in the "we do" phase where I can scaffold instruction based on student needs.
ReplyDeleteI think every teacher should know the milestones of word recognition. You have to know the different phases of learning so you can plan your lessons accordingly. This is why teaching is such a challenging job. Not only do you have to plan lessons, handle student situations and grade mountains of work, but you also have to know every stage of learning for every single subject you teach. I guess after you have been teaching several years these phases of learning are just ingrained in what you know and you no longer have to think about them. I almost think that for a new teacher you may want to literally have a cheat sheet on the different phases of learning so you can refer to it when necessary. You're not given a guide book of tried and true methods that work. You have to find what works for you as far as teaching word recognition. Even the two ladies who posted before I did both have different ways of teaching spelling and word recognition in their classrooms. I think something that would be nice is if there was a beginning teacher in the building each veteran teacher could share one tip, strategy or favorite idea for the classroom. Think what that would mean to a first year teacher to have a whole slew of proven ideas and tips to draw from in their first year of teaching.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about the milestones that readers and writers experience, I realized that I do implement many of the activities and strategies in my classroom, but not in as much depth as I should be. For instance, word sorts used to be a common activity in my classroom, but we steered away and began to focus more on writing and using high frequency words or spelling words into our writing pieces. Now that I know that word sorts are beneficial for students as they manipulate the letters but keep a common sound, I will be bringing back our word sort activities.
ReplyDeleteA teaching strategy I do that works very well with sharing explicit instruction is modeling first, then engaging in shared work, and last allowing the students to work independently. This allows the teacher the ability to express her expectations and the students to know and see what is expected. Although it is a lengthy process, in the end, the students well understand the objective and performance well independently.
Many of the strategies that I am proud of for the effectiveness of teaching word knowledge occur during literacy stations. I do different types of word sorts, such as syllable sorts, initial sound sorts, and rhyming sorts. I also encourage invented spelling in our creative writing station. I provide a picture, and they can draw the picture on their page and either "write a story" or label the picture. The kids love combining picture cards to make silly stories or pictures, and they are highly motivated to write. One thing I want to work on is differentiating my word knowledge sorts because it is too difficult for some children in Pre-K.
ReplyDeleteOne of the strategies that worked well in a classroom where I worked as a TA was setting up stations. One of the stations had various flashcards, the other had iPads, and the third was a read aloud station. The flashcard station we also used dry erase boards so the students could practice writing the words that they became good at reading. I think these were effective because they were at each for only ten minutes so it kept them engaged and they were excited about the rotation. I always figured that each would just be excited to use the iPad, but they also really loved the flashcards and writing.
ReplyDeleteDuring small groups is where a lot of my explicit, tailored literacy instruction occurs. I have students in 5 different groups based on their literacy needs. I also assess them every 3 weeks and move groups around accordingly. All of my literacy are working on sight word recognition based on their needs. My lower groups are still working on letter ID, so I don't push this a lot with them. However, my higher groups are now working on word building. They have mats with magnet letters that they use during small group. Together, we work on building CVC words. I'll ask them to work together to spell cat. Then I'll say, "If you can spell cat, you can spell mat". I also have them 'tap out' the sounds on their tables so they are listening for the phonemes. I really think allowing students to use inventive spelling during this stage of literacy development is important. To build this skill, all students do bi weekly journals. I encourage them to write a word or two explaining their journal and facilitate them listening for phonemes to write down. Something my students have a hard time with is rhyming. Throughout the year, I've seen a lot of growth in my students, but some are just not there developmentally to hear the rhyming words. Exposure to this skill is important for all my students, so we will read poems, sing songs and read books that have rhyming words in them to identify.
ReplyDeleteIt was very beneficial and eye opening to read about the milestones last week. Although my job is not actually teaching literacy, the two disciplines have quite a bit in common. An instructional strategy that I actually use and have seen demonstrated in classrooms with success is through explicit instruction. Where you teach explicitly through modeling, then shared activities as a whole class (or small group in my case), and then finally independent work.
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ReplyDeleteI have used sorts a lot with our words. When I read about the Say-it move it activity it reminded me of our sped teacher and how she uses the letter tiles as a multisensory strategy for our struggling readers. The students usually do these during their word work literacy centers. I also have the students utilize various tools when writing to spell their words. They have access to a word wall, but after reading this week, I think I need to allow them to be able to add their own words. I also need to add words that match the topics we are discussing. This year, I’ve also gave each of my students their own personal word dictionary. It has common words, and also blank lines for them to write in their own words that they misspell in writing or would like to know how to spell. I also allow students to use reference tools both in print and online for spellings.
ReplyDeleteOne of the strategies for word recognition that I have seen in my classroom with our students is word segmenting. Breaking down words into phonemes like this is beneficial for our students who already have phonological awareness, because it aids them in being able to decode unfamiliar words. We are also working on a list of high-frequency words that our students can identify by sight, and we have a word wall for reference in the classroom. I think that both of these strategies have been beneficial for the level of word recognition in our classroom, as well as giving our students a resource to access when they are struggling. Spelling-wise, I have heard about several other teachers telling students to use the room as a resource for spelling as well, including not only word walls but also environmental print. These things can act as aids for students until they master spelling of certain words, at which point students should be encouraged to use other resources like student thesauruses and dictionaries.
ReplyDeleteAs I think through my student teaching experience, many of the instructional strategies have come through literacy activities during literacy centers. With my first graders, we have done syllables, hunk and chunks (different letter combinations, clusters, etc.), rhyming, compound words, etc. This has been beneficial for several reasons. First literacy centers last on hour, so they have time to explore and finish. Also, they have multiple activities working on one skill, which has been helpful in applying a skill in multiple ways. During this hour there is also one-on-one time to be able to differentiate certain strategies/skills.
ReplyDeleteI try to incorporate many activities into my classroom in hopes of engaging all my students. We do most of our word study during literacy centers where my students work with things such as word sorts, activities to use their spelling words creatively, and creative writing activities to name a few. I think that the activities that foster creativity with words are the most effective, especially for my current students as they really enjoy the freedom to create what they want, using the words I have provided.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most effective strategies I use is the I do, we do, you do form of modeling. I love that it provides me the opportunity to both teach the skill as well as set my expectations for my student’s quality of work. It is also an easy way to scaffold my teaching for my students to gradually take responsibility of their work as I release them to work on their own.
The teaching strategy that I have consistently seen and that we have learned about is the gradual release of responsibility. I think this is important and can apply in any context.
ReplyDeleteAs far as word recognition activities, the most experience I have is with Pre-K students. I have seen a lot of memorization, rhyming, and go fish style matching games. I've also seen teachers provide words, according to a theme, with missing letters. The teacher would point to these words and have the students come up and fill in the correct letters. Then as a class they would read through the words in unison. Most of the reading instruction has been whole class while the writing instruction has been individual.
While I do not have a classroom, nor do I observe classroom teachings, I am using my experience in this week's blog from my observations of my child's learning in kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others in that scaffolding instruction and then allowing children to work as a group and then independently assists children in furthering their learning. From my knowledge of my child's classroom, I have seen that his teacher models what she is teaching. She then allows the children to work in small groups. Finally, each day the children have a journal with literacy activities that they work through independently. These activities include finding the missing letter in a word, finishing a word, finding rhymes and pairs, as well as several math activities. As these journals are sent home each month, I am able to see the progress my son has made throughout the year in his literacy learning.