Miss Mundy's Blog

Fluency is defined as freedom from word identification problems that might hinder comprehension.  Fluent readers are readers who do not spend time decoding words and instead can use that time comprehending what they are reading.  Like we discussed in class, if a student’s fluency is high, then their comprehension is going to be higher as well.  Many scholars believe that “gaining meaning from the reading is the ultimate goal in reading.”  I agree with this statement.  I believe that if students are not fluent in their reading, then this can cause a negative effect on comprehension.  I also believe that fluency is the basis for reading.  If a student is not fluent, then they are going to have problems comprehending the text as well as other problems related to reading.  Some effective instructional techniques for building reading fluency include modeled oral reading, supported oral reading, repeated reading, and performance reading.  Modeled oral reading is when teachers read aloud to their class.  Here students are gaining insight into what reading orally should sound like.  Students also are able to hear how the reader’s voice “brings alive” the written text.  Supported oral reading may be used as a scaffolding device to ease the transition from total teacher modeling to student independence.  Choral reading, echo reading, and “talking books” are examples of supported oral reading.  Here either the teacher or higher fluent student will read with the lower fluent student.  With choral reading, the student will read along with the teacher or other students at the same time.  Echo reading, either the teacher or higher fluent student will read the line and then the other student will copy or “echo” that same line.  ”Talking books” are books on tape in which the students will follow along in the book as they listen to the recording.  The goal here is to eventually get to where the student can read without the tape playing.  Repeated reading is where students read the same passage repeatedly.  The thought behind repeated reading is that if students read and reread the same section, their fluency will improve and eventually their comprehension will also improve.  Performance reading requires students to engage in understanding their text so they can get the entire audience engaged.  Performance reading is often used with poetry because it begs to be performed and offers the elements of repetition, rhythm, rhyme, and word phrases that may help in developing fluency.  An example of performance reading is also found in Reader’s Theatre.  During reader’s theatre, the dialogue is emphasized through the use of facial expressions and gestures.  As a teacher, I will use each of these strategies to help my students improve their fluency.

Reader’s Theatre would be a great activity to do with students when reading a novel.  During reader’s theatre, students read the dialogue out of the book and allows students to feel like the story is coming to life.  The main focus of reader’s theatre is to allow students to perform the reading “with fluency, appropriate prosody (phrasing and expression), and a complete and thorough understanding of the text.”  I feel like all of these things are important for students to have a concept of when reading a book.  It is very important for the students to understand what it is that they are reading.  

Sketch to Stretch would also be a great activity to use when reading particular scenes out of a book.  The purpose of sketch to stretch is to encourage the students to give a non-verbal response to what they are reading.  Students don’t sketch a picture of a character or what is happening in the story, but instead students will sketch something that symbolizes or represents the “feeling, emotion, or meaning related to a scene.”  Sketch to Stretch gives the students a chance to be creative and interpret their own meaning that they are gaining from reading the text.

I would use both of these activities in my classroom.  I think you could use these activities for any grade and for any book.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  It was neat getting to see where Peter Pan originated from.  It makes me want to go watch Peter Pan now!  The descriptions provided in this book was amazing!  There were several scenes that appealed to all five senses and really made me feel as if I were there in person.  Pages 10-11, are a perfect example of this.  Here we can see what kind of affect the trunk has on people who are touching it.  We learn about how the warmth passes through the body, what it felt like, what smells they smelled, the sounds they heard, and the light they saw swirling around the crewman’s head.  This book was hard to put down and I always felt that I wanted to keep reading and couldn’t just read the pages that were assigned.  I would definitely teach this book to a class of fifth graders.  I would even plan a whole unit around this novel.  I think it would be a great resource to show students how to be a descriptive writer and how to write to appeal to all five senses.  This could also be a great book to discuss the author’s word choice.  I personally enjoyed this book and would use it if I ever taught fifth grade.

I feel that modeling is one of the most effective ways of teaching students.  One of the most common forms of modeling, one that I remember in school, are the Big Books.  A Big Book is one of the “big books” that teachers read in front of their students.  Years ago, Big Books, use to be the main way that teachers modeled shared reading.  Now shared reading refers to a variety of ways that “teachers and students share a text” (pg 1).  Some of the ways that teachers can use shared reading is through “echo reading (students echoing the words aloud after the teacher reads), choral reading (students reading aloud while the teacher reads aloud), or cloze reading (teacher reads aloud and pauses periodically for students to fill in the missing word)” (pg 1).  I have never even really thought about shared reading, but have realized that this is a strong part of reading instruction.  In fact, four major areas of instruction are addressed in shared reading.  These areas of instruction include comprehension, vocabulary, text structures, and text features.  

Comprehension is the most common modeling used during shared reading.  One of the examples of comprehension that is given in the article is through using a document camera and showing students the text as you read it.  While reading the text, the teacher will stop occasionally and ask the students questions about the text they are reading.  Through use of the document camera, students are also encouraged to follow along in the text as the teacher reads aloud.  

Vocabulary is another common modeling tool used in shared reading.  Instead of teachers giving students the definitions of the vocabulary words, students are encouraged to use different techniques like context clues, word parts, and resources to figure out their own definition of what they think the vocabulary words mean.  Context clues are clues that students obtain by rereading passages or reading ahead.  If students can figure out what is going on in the sentence, then it is likely that students will be able to figure out what the unknown word means.  Word parts use “inside-the-word” strategies to figure out the definition of words.  Inside the word means that students will look at prefixes, suffixes, roots, bases, word families, etc. to see if they can use these things to figure out what the word means.  Resources is a tool that I have never actually heard of until I read this article.  Resources is the last strategy one should look to and that is only when the context clues and word parts fail.  The students’ resources can include asking classmates or finding answers on reliable internet websites.  

Text structures was another tool that I had never heard of until now.  This deals with the ways that different genres of text are set up.  For example, “informational texts are commonly organized into compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, chronological/sequence/temporal, and descriptive” (pg 6).  

Text features are something that we discussed the other day in class.  This refers to places in the text where words are in bold print or are italicized.  This can also apply to headings, captions, graphs, etc.  I remember that when I was a student in elementary school and up through middle school, that I often times would skip right over italicized words or bolded words.  Now though I realize that those text features are like that for a reason and that means they are important to stop and read.  It is important for us as future teachers to teach our students about these text features and why they look different than the other parts of the text.  

In conclusion, shared reading is something that I think is very important and definitely needs to be done in the classroom.  Through this shared reading, I feel like we can better develop our students as readers.

Integrating subjects in the classroom is a very important thing but I think a lot of times it is hard to do.  From this article, I learned that a big reason that teachers don’t integrate in their classroom is because it is hard to find books that deal with all these various subjects in social studies.  I’m glad that this article includes lists of books that can be used with the topics of the Middle Ages, Colonial America, Slavery and the Civil War, and World War II and the Holocaust.  

As teachers it is important to make sure that we have students reading on the right level, the “challenging level.”  A lot of times I think teachers make all the students read the same book which results in the struggling students becoming frustrated.  If a child is having to read something that is too hard for them, then 1) they are not enjoying reading and 2) they are falling farther behind in their reading.  Whenever students are reading books that are too hard for them they read a lot slower than their classmates which means they cant read and get through the books as fast as others.  It also presents a problem whenever students are asked to read aloud.  Students can become embarrassed whenever they can’t read as well as their classmates.  When students are placed on their instructional level, teachers can “increase students’ word recognition automaticity and comprehension, as well as improving their motivation for reading and academic self-esteems” (pg 7).  

When a teacher integrates language arts and social studies, students are not only learning about social studies topics, but they are also able to strengthen their comprehension as well as strengthen their writing skills when they have to write about these topics.  

The quote I liked best in this article was that “what a teacher should “see” is a group of individuals, unique unto themselves” (pg 15).  I feel like this is so important for teachers to keep in mind.  Not all students are the same which means that we cannot use the same teaching strategies to reach every student in our classroom.  We will have to make modifications based on our different students’ needs.

I knew that spelling was important, but I had no idea how important!  Spelling is the basis for reading and writing.  There is definitely a positive correlation between spelling and reading and writing.  If one is good at spelling then chances are that they will be good readers and writers and vice versa.  It is important that as primary teachers, we do not let students fall through the crack.   As primary teachers, we need to address the issue of spelling head on.

Students go through three different stages when they are learning to spell.  The first stage is known as the semi-phonetic stage where students have the initial and final consonant sounds but they do not have the medial vowel sound.  The second stage is the letter-name stage where students begin to hear the vowel sound but they may make substitutions for the vowel instead of using the correct vowel sound.  The third stage that many first graders and most second graders have is the within-word pattern stage.  This stage is where students to show the correct vowel sound and they are also inserting vowel markers but the markers may be putting the marker in the wrong place.

I remember when I was in school, my class did not have different spelling groups.  I remember having different reading groups though.  I remember feeling so bad for students who didn’t pass the spelling test on Fridays because they would have to write their words 5 or 10 times each.  As a future teacher, I know now that that is not the correct way to address this because the students aren’t going to learn anything by just writing the words over and over.  Chances are students will come to hate spelling.  These words were never revisited so there was no way of checking to see if the students eventually understood how to spell the words or not.  

I enjoyed reading this article because it gave me insight into how to set up spelling groups in my classroom.  A teacher can start out by giving the class an initial spelling assessment.  Through this assessment, students are given a list of below, on, and above grade level lists.  The teacher decides which level the student is on based on the percent correct on the list and then the teacher also looks at what kind of mistakes were made to decide if he/she thinks the student has an adequate grasp of that spelling list.  You then place your students in their spelling groups.  It is important that teachers factor in enough time to work with on spelling everyday.  The article gave an example of how to set up the weekly schedule.  On Mondays teachers can give a pretest and then self-correct the words they misspelled.  Teachers can post a list of the spelling words in the room and then have students to correct how they spelled their words.  I had never thought about having students to self-correct their words, but I feel that this would be a lot more beneficial to them than just giving them a paper back where I had written the correct spelling down for them.  On Tuesdays, students will sort, make, and write words in their notebook.  One would begin with a group and have them to do a word sort in a pocket chart sorting the words by their vowel sound.  After you have done this in a pocket chart, then have students to go back to their desks and write their words on a card.  After the words were written and then cut out, students would do their own word sort on their desk.  Then students will draw their word sort columns in their notebooks.  On Wednesdays, the students will play games with a partner like matching, racetrack, Bingo, or a speed sort.  On Thursdays, students will have a partner and one student will read the words one by one while their partner writes the word in the correct “pattern” column.  On Friday, students will take their weekly spelling test.

I had never actually heard of internet workshops before.  I feel that social studies is a great subject to integrate with language arts, however I wasn’t sure of how to do that until I read this article.  Technology is also becoming more and more of a big deal in our society today.  Children are already having access to computers and games and the internet before they even start school.  With this increase of technology, teachers need to step it up and really begin to incorporate technology into their lesson.  This is easily done with something like an internet workshop.  

Through this internet workshop, teachers create an activity where students will answer questions about certain topics from what they find on the websites.  After they have retrieved this information, completed their DRC, and written it in their notebooks, then the students will share their information they have learned with all their classmates.  One thing that teachers have to keep in mind when looking for websites is to keep it student-friendly.  Teachers should make sure that they review the whole website before having students to use it as a resource.  One should also make sure that the reading is age-appropriate for whatever grade they are doing.  When discussing the background knowledge with the class, it is important to not seek the “one correct” answer but to actually have students to explore the topic and allow the students to decide which information they want to share with others in their class.  

Classroom blogs are also a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom.  As a teacher, I could create a blog and have my students to post their DRC’s on their individual blogs.  Students could also post on the different readings that they do throughout the year.  The blog could also be used as a line of communication between the teachers and the parents.  This blog can also be a place for teachers to keep their assignments and other important information so the students and parents can know what their assignments are.  I also had never thought of using a blog for a discussion of current events.  I think this would be great to incorporate into the classroom because this way students would build their technology skills while also learning about what is going on in our world.

I feel like the “I Poem” would be a great idea to have students do.  With the “I” poem students will write the poem in first person with the person taking the role of the object in the poem.  I have never written an “I” poem but I think it would be a great way to help students build their comprehension skills.  

I am looking forward to completing this pirate unit so maybe I can use it some day in my own classroom.

So much depends upon 

my white and green “first puppy”

stuffed animal that my cousin

gave me when I was born.

One can see by the dirty spots

on the puppy’s foot,

it has been drug from place to place,

never leaving my side when I was a child.

To this day it is such a relief

to go home and see my 

white and green puppy 

sitting on my bed

just waiting for me to come home.

Double-Entry Diaries (DED) are something that I have done before.  I  actually did one in my world literature for children class.  These diary entries are written in their notebooks.  The students will make a two-column chart on a page in their notebook.  In the left column, students will write specific information from the text.  This can be a quote, a short passage, etc.  Then in the right column, students will write their reaction to what they wrote in the left column.  Handout 1 features an example of a DED.  It shows students how to separate their page out into two columns and then what goes on each side.  I also like how there is a list of piratical and nautical terms on the bottom of the sheet that the student may come across during the pirate unit.  

It is important for teachers to remember that they will have to provide scaffolding for their students.  This way teachers can guide their students in the way they want them to go.  They also learn what it is that the teacher wants them to learn.

Individual Research is another way for students to gain more information on pirates.  Handout 2 has a list of resources that students can use to find out this information.  A teacher could split the class up into several groups and assign each group a different resource to look at.  Then the teacher could have an expert panel where each group can tell the rest of the class what they found out from their resources.  

The last classroom activity that is listed here in this article is a data retrieval chart (DRC).  With a DRC, students are given a worksheet with a list of key questions that the students will answer based on what they find from books or websites.  After students have completed this worksheet, students have to make a Wanted poster displaying information about their pirate they chose to research.  

From reading these two articles I feel that a pirate unit would be a fun unit to incorporate in my classroom.  Not only would this be a social studies unit, but students would also work on their writing and their notebook keeping skills during this unit.

When I read the second paragraph I was amazed by how many social studies topics are covered in this lesson.  These lessons include: “a) economic impact pirates had on American colonies, b) the roles that pirates played in the wars between England and Spain, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812, c) the absolute and relative location of major landforms, bodies of water, and ports of call in the early Americas, and d) the emergence of some democratic practices among some pirates”  (pg. 15).  I thought it was a great idea to have pirate music playing as students come into the classroom.  This way students can begin to get excited about the new pirate unit.  I think a KWL is a great tool to use no matter what unit one is doing.  Through this KWL, the teacher can see what the students already know.  This way the teacher doesn’t have to spend a lot of time on things that the students already know.  Learning what the students want to know is also a great idea.  This way students are telling you what they want to know so you can make sure you cover all these things.  Through the KWL the students are beginning to get involved already in the lesson.  

Our writer’s notebook gives us a great way of writing about our thoughts or just writing whatever we want to write about.  The article talks of having students to do a separate notebook for their pirate unit.  The front of the notebook is suppose to be used for KWL responses and then to answer their questions as the unit progresses.  The last half of the notebook is meant to act as a dictionary for students to keep their piratical terms in.  Through this unit, students will also be able to look up various information concerning pirates.  Having the students look up their own information and share that with their classmates will allow for student-led instruction and not just solely focusing on what the teacher has to teach the students.  

I am excited to read The Journal of Jake Carpenter and What If You Met A Pirate?  because these two books are discussed in this article as twin texts.  I will be able to relate more with this part of the article after I read these books.