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Lesson Pres
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Lecture Notes and Transparencies for Class 1 (May 9) |
- History: The history of reading is tied to the
history of writing. When did it all begin?
The oldest fragments of actual writing (not pictures, but symbols that represented sounds)
are dated around 3500 BC. To have a look at two Sumerian cuneiform (script) clay
tablets, click here.
and here.
To find out more about ancient writing around the world, visit the Schoyen Collection.
- We
can trace the beginnings of Western education to ancient Greece, but of course things
started much earlier than that. From when we
began to stand on two legs and cooperate to get food, we needed to communicate with one
another. Then there was the desire to
remember information – the location of food, how to hunt and to pass down stories. The caves at Lascaux are truly amazing to us
today. Depending on your interests, they
could be a story of the hunt, how to find certain animals, inspiration for the hunters,
thanksgiving for the animals, the clan honoring the animals for the food they provide. Or it could be religious, social, or biological
records of early humans. Have a look at some of the
images from Lascaux
and one of the big cave
rooms.
- Ancient
Greece: In ancient Greece, stories were told
orally. It was a time of transition between
an oral culture and the development of a writing system.
How many people have seen Troy?
As you may know, it is adapted from the epic poem, The Iliad, by
Homer who lived around 700 BC. There were definitely no books or films around then. Here we have an oral educational method:
these well known stories (or myths) were also embedded with cultural information that
served as a way to unite the people and pass their collective knowledge from generation to
generation. These popular stories were preserved over time by professional poets who
would recite bodies of work to the public. Around
Plato’s time, 350 BC, writing systems began to take hold. Plato argued for getting
rid of the poets and recording all our knowledge in writing. Getting it down in one version would be more
accurate and uniform, as well as more clear and rational
There have been a lot of mixed feelings about this ever since. It is almost an echo of the debate on
standardization in schools – the same texts and education for all students – vs.
the individual interpretations of material, which is flavored by the personality and
unique qualities of the teacher who judges the needs of her/his students. There is a last irony here - strangely enough,
even Plato believed young children should begin their education by learning the great
(chaotic) myths of the Greek gods and goddesses - maybe to develop imagination?
- Middle
Ages: From Plato’s time right on through
the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and up to about 1800, only the sons of the aristocracy
could receive an education. It took
Napoleon’s Code to decree that all children should attend school. What a concept – even peasant children? Why do they need to read? Previously, it
was thought they only needed to learn how to use their backs. But we might pinpoint this shift in thinking as
the root cause of modern society’s massive and rapid development.
- Today: So where are we today? That is what we are going to be finding out. The general view is that in most developed
countries in the world today, most students attend school up to sixteen years, and a vast
majority continue up to eighteen. Also, in
more developed countries, about twenty to twenty-five percent go on to some type of higher
education and about ten percent earn Bachelor’s degrees.
- Statistics: In 2006 in The Vancouver Sun, there was an
article comparing the earning potential differences between levels of education. The article reported that over a lifetime, the
worker who had completed a Bachelor’s degree, on average, earned more than $900,000
more than someone with no degree. Also,
someone who had finished high school, on average, made about $200,000 more in his or her
lifetime than a drop out.
(Transparencies shown in class:)
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 à 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 a higher goal. Certainly,
comprehension is important, but I feel the main priority in teaching reading must be to
foster a love of reading. 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 students are not excited, eager and
feeling a sincere pleasure connected to reading. You
know it is happening when you experience that golden moment while you are reading a book
with your class: it's time to end the reading for the day and the children beg you
to keep reading; they cannot wait to find out what happens next or just want to
"stay in the story". What is key to
feeling pleasure in reading is that the emotional energy gained will carry them through
the more difficult stages of learning to read at the next higher level. The bottom
line is the students will keep reading.
- 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 a situation quite distant from our
own. Reading goes a long way towards
developing human understanding and compassion.
- Technology: There is a lot of talk today surrounding the
teaching of technology and computer skills. It
is true that in the future all students will 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
ought to give up time spent in reading literature in order to pursue technology more.
It is extremely important that children have time for hearing and telling stories,
discussing them, working out their thoughts and feelings related to their lives, something
that is not always possible through technology. 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 "analytic" and technical 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
and caregivers 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 and
understanding what it is to be human.
- 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. |
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| Class 2 (May 16) 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.
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| Class 3: May 23 READING LESSON TEMPLATE
BEFORE:
1) Activate Prior Knowledge
2) Introduce new Vocabulary, if
possible in context
3) Clearly state your Purpose for
this lesson
4) Prediction and Imaging
DURING:
5) Reading Formats and Comprehension
Strategies – How will they read?
AFTER:
6) Follow up on Purpose, making
sense of the whole |
| CLASS NINE: JULY 4 THE WRITING PROCESS
MAMCHUR'S FOUR TEACHABLE STEPS
Discovering
a Subject Demonstrates the
ability to clearly focus on one subject throughout the composition, avoiding the
temptation to include several related topics. Can see the relationships that are
meaningful.
n Sensing an Audience Demonstrates the
ability to write with clarity and affect, delivering what is promised.
n Searching for Specifics
Demonstrates
the ability to select concrete detail which enables the audience to accept the writer’s
voice of authority.
n Creating a Design Demonstrates the
ability to construct the composition with an appropriate introduction, middle(tension) and
conclusion.
WHY USE PEER-BASED
FEEDBACK?
Students learn and understand more when they read each
others' work
They are more actively engaged when asked to give feedback
They learn editing skills and how to respond to writing
They understand that readers bring different assumptions to
texts
It develops critical thinking skills which can be applied to
their own writing
It helps students recognize other conventions of writing
Guidelines for Peer Editing:
The teacher must
lead the process, giving specific direction.
n 1. Be specific: give feedback according to the criteria agreed
upon - this could be process, strategy, rubric.
n 2. Be respectful:
focus on content. Don't judge the writer as a person. Avoid hurtful comments.
n 3. Ask clarifying
questions: let the writer explain what they mean. There is no such thing as
"failure" in writing. There is always a way to improve. Writing is
always in process.
n 4. Look for
something that is positive, something that works first.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PEER-BASED FEEDBACK
Teacher demonstrates process
Be sure everyone has the same set of criteria
Instructors can evaluate the quality of the reviewers' comments as
part of grade
Peer-evaluation needs to be taught as part of the course
Quality examples of peer feedback can be used to teach aspects of
writing and editing
Different rubrics can be used at different periods
DEVELOPING A RUBRIC WITH THE STUDENTS:
When is the right time to introduce a rubric?
Does it encourage the students to reflect on
their work?
Does the rubric add to their knowledge of the
writing process?
Does it grow out of what has been taught in
class?
Can the student improve writing based on the
rubric?
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CHOICES
FOR ASSIGNMENT THREE
(Due Wed., July 11)
1. Rewrite your story,
using ideas and feedback from class.
2. Write about the writing
process: how your wrote your story and what you learned
3. Write about ways to
help your students enjoy writing
4. Write about ways to
link reading stories to creative writing in the classroom
5. Any combination of the
above
This assignments should be
approximately 2- 3 single spaced pages all together
For example, if your story is
about one and a half pages, you could add a short description of your writing process and
how you wrote your story |
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