Module 6 Summary

In Module 6, we were given pointers for making effective PowerPoint Presentations and examples of things to avoid when creating a PPT presentation. This is a necessary component of the technologically sound classroom. Students must be able to work collaboratively and present their knowledge in varied formats, whether it is something like PPT or KidPix, or something interactive like creating a blog.

Today especially, students need to understand how to receive, present, and send information using technology. If their ideas aren’t presented in a clear format, their content will be lost. This is a new type of literacy, which will be of utmost importance to young students. This is why we have to introduce and instruct in technologically based activities. These types of activities in the classroom will promote collaboration and group problem solving. An easy way to integrate technology into the students’ activities is to use the classroom computers as a learning center. You can provide webquests, online activities, and software to supplement instruction and guide research. 

Module 5 Summary

In Learning Module 5, the emphasis was on classroom and instructional design to best facilitate literacy development and learning. Because I am a huge nerd, this is the portion of my job that I enjoy the most. I love developing classroom space, centers, and procedures that puts the focus on the content and not on procedural clarification due to unclear expectations.  This enjoyment of setting up classroom space and observing how others use their space to improve my own classroom is what is encouraging me to purchase the Spaces and Places book by Debbie Diller in the featured video. I’d like to see what I could do to improve my classroom layout and design.

When setting up your classroom, you have to keep in mind what the student expectations in each area will be. You will want to provide areas that encourage students to either work independently, in groups, or engage in teacher led instruction. The best way to do this, at least the best way that I’ve found because I have Kindergarten special needs students, is to incorporate centers in the classroom. My centers look a little different than in some rooms because the students are not expected to work collaboratively without an adult to model appropriate social and language skills and because we also work on things such as fine motor and self-help skills that are integrated into our centers. However, in any classroom the centers are where the students review, practice, and apply the skills they have been learning in whole and small group instruction. Because the students are expected to work independently, in pairs, or very small groups, the tasks need to be simple and relevant to minimize confusion. It is also helpful if the tasks involved are contributions toward a larger class project, the students are usually more motivated if they are working to produce something that they can reflect on and be proud of.

When designing instruction, not only is it important to use the classroom space wisely, you also have to select materials and design instruction so that everything that the students are doing is relevant to the learning objective. This may include adapting, supplementing, and extending the reading program used by your school. This is something that usually takes a while, you have to be familiar with the program to determine how and when necessary. In my classroom, we use a technology-based reading program that is on a first grade level. The program itself is tremendously motivating to my students because of the technological component. Because it is a multi-grade level classroom I have begun supplementing the program with skills-based activities to address appropriate grade and developmental-level instruction.

Module 4 Summary

The content of Module 4 is related to aligning a student’s needs with instructional literacy strategies and possible ways to integrate those strategies into the content areas. The best place to begin when assessing a student’s needs is within the RTI framework; if the particular student requires interventions above and beyond typical classroom differentiation, it is here that you will find the research-based interventions that are applicable to the individual student.

In my classroom, all of the students are receiving special education services so tasks are guided by their IEP goals and objectives. Each of my student has specific needs and modes of learning that are different than their peers so we implement different types of instruction within the classroom; some are more visual, some learn well with music, and some require technology supplemented learning.

The most complex part of assessing a student’s needs is not only identifying which of the 5 components of literacy require support, but also evaluating how deficits in each area impact the others. Ultimately the goal is comprehension, but the development of each component affects the others, which can have detrimental effects on literacy development. This is why it is extremely important that educators have an understanding of the stages of reading development as outlined by Ehri, and the assessments used are reflective of the component.

           

Because of the developmental nature of literacy development, it is crucial to think of the future and the tools that the student will need to become a fluent independent reader. Strategies to support word recognition and automaticity should be implemented as soon as developmentally appropriate to support the student as learning becomes more student-based with higher expectations as the child gets older. 

Module 3 Summary

After viewing the videos, presentations, articles, and research presented in Module 3, it is very evident to me that as a teacher you must use all means possible to connect children with literature in all content areas. This includes using technology, as presented in the video featuring the Smart Table, which is an extraordinary piece of technology I wish we had access to, in depth development of literacy strategies that allow students to access literature in the ways that best suit them, and accessing a wide variety of texts in the content areas, non-fiction as well as narrative texts.

Because meeting the needs of my students means that we work in shortened segments throughout the day and combining different kinds of instructional formats, I often present different types of texts and media related to the content, and then forget to tie them all together to assist the students to think critically about the information and how it is presented. I should be spending more time previewing the materials to note the focus and point of view from each resource to aid development of critical thinking. This is something I noted when watching the video Integrating Science and Literacy in Early Childhood; it emphasized the importance of the foundations of reading and writing being listening, speaking, and viewing. This concept is something that I experience in my classroom where the students have significant language delays. This video further explained just how deeply language and speech development affected literacy and if not developed at the normal rate, is considered an area of weakness (which is how it is addressed in the current functioning portion of the IEP). This is indicative of the deficit model which does not help us to use their strengths to stimulate growth.

This learning module further stressed the importance of accessing expository text as well as narrative and explained that although using non-fiction texts affects student progress in a positive way, it is used less frequently and with fewer strategies featured, than fiction texts. Ultimately, students need to know how to use a text, where to locate the information they need, and how to think critically about its content. This begins with accessing both types of text, examining the source, and being familiar with the format. This is why we model, practice, and repeat different strategies for each type of text; the students need to be able to implement them independently when they get to the upper grades.  

Module 2 Summary

The content of Module 2 concentrated on two topics, connections between reading and writing and differentiated instruction. Due to the nature of my students, I have much more practical experience in differentiation than writing instruction in the classroom. When watching the Story of Differentiation, I related to the classroom scenario that Tomlinson described; I have also had a class with students of highly varied cognitive skills and academic performance. I thought it was interesting how the concept of differentiation came about out of necessity and have also had to work to address the whole group with content, and then pull students individually to work on necessary skills.

            This differentiation can be accomplished through scaffolding, working within the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky) to gradually assist students to become independent in application. In regards to literacy instruction, this gradual release of control would be addressed in the planning and preparation stages. As you reflect on what the students can accomplish with assistance, you should notice that the strategies and approaches to reading that have been consistently modeled are gradually performed by the students independently. This is especially true in strategic reading lessons that are thoughtfully planned and implemented by purposefully grouping students with specific targeted reading strategies in mind to support fluency and comprehension. This kind of support will assist students to internalize relevant content and processes that will assist them with the necessary steps of problem solving.

             Chapter 11 of the Vacca text thoroughly explained how reading and writing are connected and skills develop simultaneously out of necessity. Because my students frequently demonstrate expressive language and fine motor delays, this is an area where we are behind their typically developed peers; it is only in the last couple of years that I have begun to experiment more with technology and different means for them to express themselves in writing. However, most of our writing still involves lots of modeling, shared writing, and sentence construction using a set of available words.

            The text offers many different ways to set up the classroom to encourage reading and writing, my favorite of which is the writing center. The writing center in my classroom stresses fine motor engagement over creative expression but as the students gain skills and develop independence, more avenues of creative expression are added. To develop writing skills socially, I loved the idea of the buddy journal; this type of communication gives a fun purpose to writing. Journals can also connect students to text instead of each other and different types of reader response journals are outlined in the chapter.

            Several strategies for motivating students to write were also outlined in the text; I particularly enjoyed “topics in my pocket” in which students place pictures, notes, or drawings in an envelope to use as inspiration for writing. This kind of thing would work well in my classroom where most of the students are visual learners. The most important portion of the chapter however, addresses the writing process and suggests strategies for classroom management of the writing portion of the day. It is supremely important to establish routine so the students will be prepared to write when they are expected to.   

Module 1 Summary

I have found that when using expository or information text during content area instruction, students complain about the difficulty level and the dryness of the text; this is consistent with what was stated in the text, slideshows, and video segments from Module 1. But now more than ever, thanks to the implementation of the Common Core standards, we are expected to integrate reading and language arts instruction into content areas using a variety of informational texts.

In chapter 14 of the Vacca text, the importance of selecting non-fiction text based on the factors that contribute to the difficulty level is stressed. These factors may be text-based, such as the vocabulary, text structure, and background knowledge provided, or they may be reader based, such as the linguistic capabilities and native language of the reader. For these reasons, it is necessary to assess a text’s readability using a formula such as Fry’s Readability graph, illustrated on p. 462, to obtain an estimate of the most appropriate reading level of the reader.

            Because I teach a kindergarten class of students with special needs, many of the materials we use are teacher adapted to include more visuals and interactive components for the students. Using the Fry Readability Test, I analyzed the reading level of an adapted book that I use when I read with my students about Groundhog Day. I found that due to the average length of sentences, 7.5 sentences for 100 words, and the average number of syllables, 110 per 100 words, the adapted text is on a second grade reading level. Because of the nature of the text being analyzed, and that it is a short, single text on a single topic, the portions of the Irwin-Davis Readability checklist related to text structure and teacher’s manual do not really apply. One area where the text could be improved is to add the verbal questions that are asked by the teacher to a section of the book and create space for summaries of the text. One specific area where the text is strong is the use of iconic aids such as illustrations and visuals.

However, the limitations of such readability assessments must be recognized, most of the assessments only take into account word length and sentence complexity. None of the reader-based factors such as motivation and culture that also contribute to text difficulty are accounted for. 

Because I understand the motivation to read fiction texts over non-fiction, I greatly enjoy integrating both types of text into content area learning; accessing both allows students to build schema and vocabulary, and motivates them to engage with the content. The models provided in the Vacca text provide a framework for implementing instruction using literature with non-fiction. Applying these frameworks and providing students with the appropriate strategies and tools for the specific type of text increases the chances for success with this model.