HERE I WILL POST ANY CLASS NOTES AND OVERHEADS THAT WE USE IN CLASS:

Class One:

  WHY READING IS IMPORTANT 
            Reading is the most essential skill required for success in school.
            Therefore, the biggest challenge for primary school teachers is to determine how best to teach their students to read.
            Our goal:  to identify appropriate methods of reading instruction for the different phases of development in students and learn how to implement this knowledge in daily lessons and unit plans.
 
 
READING WARS:  THE OPPOSING VIEWS
Two approaches to reading instruction: 
1)        Word identification (parts add up to a whole)
Teach the parts of words:  phonics (sounds), letter sound relationships, put parts together,  C (“K”) + a (ah) + t  =  Cat
Books use deliberate repetition of sounds, add variations, build towards whole
2)        Whole language approach (whole is broken down into parts)
Start with what students know, analysis of whole words, break down to sounds, put back together.
Variety of literature, work with the words in that particular book
 
 
A MORE RECENT VIEW:
BALANCED LITERARY INSTRUCTION 
DEVELOPING READING THROUGH EQUAL EMPHASIS ON:
-        AUTHENTIC LITERATURE (USEFUL FOR REAL PURPOSES, MEANINGFUL TO STUDENTS), AND,
-         DIRECT INSTRUCTION IN STRATEGIES AND SKILLS (WORD RECOGNITION, LETTER-SOUND RELATIONSHIPS, DECODING, ETC.)
 
 
TODAY’S VIEW 
You cannot teach all children in the same manner.
Your instructional method is only as good as the child you are working with.
 
 
Three Examples of Children Entering Kindergarten 
1)        Linda has about 100 hours of exposure to print:  she has been read to occasionally at bedtime, has watched educational TV like Sesame Street.  She doesn’t write or recognize the letters of her name.
2)        John has about 1200 hours of exposure:  From his toddler years, he was read to regularly; he can sort out sounds, connect them to words, and write his letters.  He already reads at the early Grade One level.  He keeps a journal with his mother.
3)        Mary is obviously gifted.  She has a huge knowledge of the world already, has a curious mind and her parents and grandparents read to her often.  She knows the alphabet but has difficulty hearing and identifying the letters in connection to sound.  She is not able to break down the words in a sentence.  Her family has told you her father and aunt had learning disabilities as children.
 
 
LUCY McCORMICK CAULKINS:
CLASSROOM TEACHERS HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT WE NEED PHONICS AND WE NEED COMPREHENSION.  WE NEED TO PUT THE BEST OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE HANDS OF KIDS, AND WE ALSO NEED TO TEACH THEM THE STRATEGIES OF PHONICS.
YOU CAN HAVE ALL THE PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD, BUT THE GOOD TEACHER IS WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE.
(Interview in Washington Post interview  -  Oct. 11, 2004)
 
 
-        Goals of teaching literacy:  Today many educators mark another shift in the main goal of teaching literacy from that of fluency, to comprehension.  But as far as I’m concerned, there is yet another higher goal.  Certainly, comprehension is second, but I feel the main priority in teaching reading is to foster a love of reading in students.  Knowing every method in the book, how to use reading strategies, building the best library in your school and classroom will not be worth a dime if your student is not excited, eager and feeling a sincere pleasure about reading.  It starts when you realize all the children in the class cannot wait to find out what happens next when you are reading a book together. 
-        Literature:  Literature allows us to move outside ourselves, into the world and learn about other people and other places and times.  We see ourselves in others and through reading literature we are permitted to become more intimate with people who are very different from ourselves.  The shock of recognition occurs when we identify strongly with a character in an experience very far from our own.  Reading goes a long way towards human understanding.
-        Technology:  There is a lot of talk today surrounding teaching technology and computer skills.  It is true that in the future students will all need this knowledge and the earlier they can be exposed to computers the better it will be.  But I am concerned about a shift in thinking that goes along with this and that is that we really can afford to give up time for telling stories and the feelings children need to work through.  One line of thinking goes that children will develop their emotions anyway through daily living.  I don’t think this is true for many students and I worry that taking from the feeling realm of school time in order to give time to more thinking-based skills will create more problems than solutions for their future lives.  The more we whittle away at “feeling” time and undervalue emotional development, the more we reduce our humanity.  That is why reading quality literature with the class, and more importantly, discussing how the students feel about the story, is critical to their concept of themselves and others as people.   In our busy modern lives, parents may have little time for reading and discussing at home.  If students don’t have this experience regularly in school, where else will they get it?  That said, I would also like to add that technology can be used for many valuable purposes and later in the semester we will take a look at some wonderful software for children.  But I feel it is important to mention that teachers need to carefully consider how to balance all the needs of their students, especially not sacrificing the time that ought to be devoted to self-development.
-        Being the teacher:  Sometimes it feels as though we are teaching a way of being, or a way of seeing the world, as much as we are teaching curriculum.  Your students are watching you very carefully and you are a strong role model.  This should be something that gives pleasure to the teacher.   The main reason is, as we have heard from Lucy McCormick Caulkins, is that a good teacher can make an enormous difference in a lot of children’s lives.

(Above drawings courtesy of   http://www.naturalchild.org/gallery)

Class Two:

VOCABULARY FOR READING INSTRUCTION 

1.        PHONICS:
 
-         A method of teaching reading that emphasizes letter-sound relationships.  (Linking a letter or letters of the alphabet with its sound.)
-          
2.        PHONEME:
 
-         The smallest unit of speech in words.  One letter or a combination of letters represent phonemes in words.  (For example:  b in bear.   “Flake” has three phonemes:  fl / a / k )
 
3.        PHONEMIC AWARENESS:
 
-         Grasping the idea that spoken language consists of chains of distinct phonemes.
 
4.        MORPHEMES:
 
-         The smallest unit of meaning in oral or written language.  (For example, the word “bear” has one morpheme; “bears” has two – there is the animal and the “s” tells us there is more than one bear.)
 
5.        ONSETS AND RIMES:
 
-         Onsets: part of the syllable that contains any consonants before the vowel.  (“C” in cat, “b” in bat.)
-         Rimes:  a “word family” or “phonogram”.  Part of the syllable that contains the vowel and any consonants that follow the vowel.   (E.g., in “cat”  the “at” is the rime.)  Words like bat, fat, mat, sat, pat, etc. have the same rimes.
-         Therefore, words like “shtick” have one syllable, and here “sht” is the onset, and “ick” is the rime.

THE NATURE OF READING (AND WRITING)
 
-     How children FEEL about reading in general will determine their willingness to try and think about HOW to read.
 
-     Reading and writing require complex thinking skills but children must have good feelings about themselves as readers/writers and their ability to improve.   If they believe they can make good progress, they will believe in themselves as becoming successful readers and writers.
 
-     In addition to feeling good about acquiring specific skills that allow them to read better, students must be able to feel pleasure in reading for its own sake.
 
-     Effective teachers find ways to enable all students to feel excited, confident and successful about their reading attempts.
 
 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING SKILLS USED IN READING 

1.         When students are reminded of what they already know about a subject, they will be able to cross-reference the new information.  Studies show that when people realize they are “extending their knowledge” rather than taking on a whole new subject, they are more receptive to learning new things.
 
2.        The reason for this is because it is easier to link up new information to old and organize this information into mental categories we already have.   A story about a strange new animal called a “platypus” can be grouped with what we know in the category of marsupials, Australia, beavers, ducks, rivers, etc.
 
3.        When students make connections, they find “pictures” in their mind that represent what they imagine the new topic is related to.  As they learn more, the picture becomes more defined.  Imaging also includes smell, touch, sound and taste. 
 
4.        Almost spontaneously we fill in the missing steps; we predict what will happen next.  This is especially true when a clear pattern takes shape or we have a lot of prior knowledge.  Prediction helps focus our concentration and adds to comprehension.


5.        At the same time new information is being received, there is a part of our brain reserved for verification.  We self-monitor for the truth and see if it makes sense.  When doubt pops into our heads, we break out of our concentration and start to question.
 
6.        Intuitive leaps occur when we have enough pieces of information to generalize and see the big picture.  We seem to skip a few intermediary steps and come to conclusions.
 
7.        When we can take the information, turn it around and apply it to new situations, then we can see how it works for ourselves and use it more practically.
 
8.        Lastly, when our thinking about a piece reaches a more complex level, we hold up the new information to our personal values and decide if we agree or disagree.  Can we identify with this character or this behavior or not?    By judging for ourselves, we move into an ethical or moral level of understanding.
 

TEACHING PHONICS IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST STAGES OF READING INSTRUCTION.
 
CONNECTING SYMBOLS TO SOUNDS PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT LANGUAGE. 
CHILDREN BECOME BETTER READERS AND WRITERS WHEN ALL THE LANGUAGE ARTS ARE DEVELOPED:  LEARNING TO SPEAK CLEARLY AND CORRECTLY, LISTENING WELL, READING TOGETHER AND INDIVIDUALLY AND MAKING ATTEMPTS AT WRITING.

 
DIFFERENCES IN THE CLASSROOM

-  All children enter school with different individual, cultural and language concepts. 
-  By the end of Grade 3, a child will have a vocabulary of 80,000 words (!)  
-  What vocabulary and language abilities in English children have coming into Kindergarten could vary significantly, especially if English is not spoken at home.   This will affect their understanding of letter-sound relationships and comprehension.  Moreover, if their first language does not use an alphabet system the same as English, (for example, Chinese and other Asian languages, Russian, Hebrew, etc.) there is more distance between themselves and English phonics. 
-  By teachers carefully observing their students, thinking about how to make them most comfortable in classroom routines, seeking help from parents and other experts, they will soon discover how to ease these students into a rightful sense of belonging in the classroom culture. 

 
WAYS TO LEARN HOW TO READ – LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
 
Emergent Literacy:  the period between birth and fluency with print
 
Before school:
 
Children come to school from anywhere between already reading to barely any exposure to print.
 
Most children have a sense of symbols on the page representing sounds and language.
 
They often imitate adults by doing “pretend” reading or by memorizing favorite lines from books they have heard often.  They can predict the next line.
 
Children may have heard audio recordings while looking at books.
 
Many recognize familiar logos or signs (STOP, McDonald’s, Superstore).  At first they look for colors, shapes or pictures and later see the letters.
 
Drawing pictures may include symbols.  Their first written words are usually their names.
 
Preschool provides numerable literacy experiences which benefit children in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

 
In the Primary Grades:
 
Early Kindergarten aims at recreating the “before school” experiences for those children who did not have exposure to print.  Students spend a large part of their time listening to stories, poems, nursery rhymes, tapes, songs, playing games, doing stories with puppets, drama, and so on.  Children look at books they select on their own, in a group, with a partner and talk about their reading, share their drawings and later their writing.   Students read both for pleasure and do guided reading. 
 
Some classes follow a leveled reading series and include genre literature as well as do workbooks, journal responses and may read in groups assigned according to ability.  In whole class activities, the teacher may start lessons by writing down student ideas, then ask a student to help her write, then chose students to write for her. 
 
Reading instruction is also done across the curriculum.  Much new vocabulary is found here.
 
Word walls begin with “high frequency words”, used for quick reference and as spelling prompts.  Visual aids such as webs, charts, timelines and tables can be used in all subjects.  Specific new vocabulary may appear on bulletin boards for science or social studies lessons. 
 
 
How Best to Support Emerging Readers
 
-         At a certain developmental phase, children begin to understand WHY we read and write.  They want to know what it says on the cereal box or magazine cover.  They begin to realize that reading can take them to different places and time periods.   A child can learn about the ocean floor even though she lives in the center of a continent.  Children also grasp certain ideas about print; that symbols on the page translate to language, that we read left to right and top to bottom.  Teachers need to talk about these conventions of print.
 
-         At another developmental phase, emergent readers acquire phonemic awareness, and that words are made up of sounds, syllables, and that words join to form sentences.  Teachers clap out syllables or beats in words:  din-o-saur.  Nursery rhymes, chants and Dr. Seuss books help.
 
-         Teachers work on a few concrete words, like children’s names, Mom, Dad, cat, etc.  At this stage they want to know and have accomplished the critical step of learning how to learn words.  Being able to manipulate letters like fridge magnets and using alphabet books are good aids.
 
-         When students can see how to learn to read, their even greater motivation will sustain them through the work and effort.  They will see themselves reading like “big people” can.  Teachers must encourage students with few print experiences and create an especially positive environment for them in the classroom.

-         Reading to children especially supports emerging readers.  Predictable “Big Books” build reading foundations through repeated patterns, refrains, picture prompts and rhymes which promote “pretend” reading.  Repetition of reading the same books allows them to notice different things each time; for example, letter-sound relationships, and students develop confidence in “knowing” a book.  
 
-         During the reading, the teacher might ask questions about what is happening, ask students to predict what will happen next.  After she might ask the student to evaluate the book or relate it to some personal experience.  Then she might move into a more guided approach; ask students to “echo read” parts with her, find certain letters, notice how they sound in words.  See the question marks at the ends of sentences.  The teacher may have sentence strips that she asks students to glue in order on a piece of paper.  Or maybe the class will act out a story.  Another time she may point out features of a book – what is a cover?  A title page?  The page numbers, and so on.
 
-         When students grasp that some words start with the same sound, they move from hearing the sound to distinguishing which ones on the page make the sound.  The teacher may establish example words for sounds, like house or hat to represent h sound beginnings.  Associative learning is easier, faster and longer lasting.  Students begin to feel the sounds in their mouth when they are made.  Teachers may want to put up a poster with key words associated with each letter.  Each week a few more letters appear with their representative word.
 
-         Concepts of rhyme go a long ways towards phonemic awareness.  Easy to hear, rhymes allow students to manipulate endings to make new rhyming words.  Charts that reinforce visual learning also help.
 
-         When the teacher and students write together, print conventions such as writing left to right, top to bottom, are reinforced.  When the teacher records student comments, she can also correct improper grammar or usage.   Students learn how to express ideas clearly and correctly in full sentences.  Watching the teacher write encourages them to try it themselves.


-         There is still some debate over whether children will develop “bad habits” if they are allowed to use “invented spelling”.  The research shows that students who are allowed to write without the pressure to spell correctly will actually learn how to spell sooner than those who are not.
 
-         Providing a variety of writing materials such as postcards, notepads, crayons, pastels, paint brushes etc. as well as a variety of formats, such as grocery lists, menus, recipes, newspapers and so on will encourage students to see different means and “real” purposes for writing.
 
Lastly but not exhaustively, teachers, parents, siblings, peers and others in the child’s life should be encouraged to accept the reading and writing the student does.  Attempts at reading above their level should be applauded and students should not be compared to those at different levels of literacy development.  In this way, the children who most need experience in reading and writing will not be afraid to try.