Module Four: Activity Two

Literacy is a combination of different areas, which include phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. All of these literacy areas are important in children’s success as a reader. In my opinion reading comprehension is one area that is vital for students to be successful in literacy. Throughout this course, I have been learning that reading is the act of understand the texts meaning. It’s the most important concept teachers can teach students. Comprehension is the key to becoming a successful reader, and isn’t that our ultimate goal as educators.

In regards to the missing pillars by Allington, I feel the most important topic is “access to interesting text and choice.” By allowing students choice it gives them ownership in their learning and engages them in the activity planned by the teacher. Choice is very powerful tool in education. It can give students confidence in what they are reading and provide a sense of accomplishment when a student has mastered reading a story independently. Choice is a topic I explore a lot in my classroom. My students choose books of their own interest and complete reading activities to show their understanding of their reading. I also utilize choice boards in literacy centers as a way give my student choice in the learning. By doing this, my students are more engaged, and they have a sense of pride over their literacy work.

Module Four: Activity One

What an inspirational video! It brought tears to my eyes and chills running up and down my spine as I sat and watch Robin begin his reading journey. As teachers, we are faced with students in our class who struggle with reading and often feel like a failures. It’s our job to encourage and motivate students to work through their insecurities and teach them what Robin has learned, If you believe…you can read.

While watching Robin’s journey to read I noticed many important strategies he utilized to help him with his reading. One strategy I notice him using was context clues to help find meaning in a sentence that wasn’t making sense to him as he read it. He was able to recognize “I’ll gave you” didn’t not sound grammatically correct in the sentence. He was able to reread to correct the sentence to “I’ll give you”.  This was an excellent strategy he was able to use to help him in his reading. Robin also used “chunking” to help him with words that were unfamiliar in the text. He looked for smaller parts of the words that were familiar to help identify the unknown word. This is a great strategy to use when reading. It was amazing to see Robin being able to identify the word “congratulations” just by know the word “rat” and con”.

Robin’s story is very inspirational, and inspire me to be the best reading teacher to “all” my students. In the words of Robin, “don’t forget about these kids, they are really, really worth saving.”

Module Four: Instructional Challenge

Based on the description of Marcus and his miscues it appears he is having difficulty in two areas of reading. It appears he doesn’t seem to know that reading should make sense, and he doesn’t seem to use prior knowledge and context to predict what’s coming next. According to Weaver,” this is an important reading strategy that makes even work identification easier” (Weaver, 2002). There are plenty of teaching strategies that will help Marcus overcome these areas of weakness in his reading. One strategy I feel Marcus will benefit from greatly is using Retrospective Miscue Analysis. This strategy will help Marcus hear his miscues and realize his word choice doesn’t make sense in context to the story. Once he realizes it doesn’t make sense, he will have the opportunity to reread with the teacher offer reading strategies as needed. This strategy will also help him to “think ahead” and learn to use prior knowledge to deal with problematic words in the text. Another strategy I fell Marcus would benefit from is relevant mini-lessons focusing on his areas of weakness. A teacher could create a cloze sentence and model how to determine the missing words by using the context of the sentence and prior knowledge all while modeling the thinking process that is used.  Other strategies that would be beneficial would include previewing the books prior to reading and making predictions on the stories, reading various books to the class with a thorough discussion, and providing plenty of time for sustained reading to practice the skills that were introduced in the daily mini-lesson.  

Module 4: Reading Reflection

My school had encountered many changes dealing with curriculum over the past few years. With the new leadership brought change and many people didn’t welcome it at school. I embraced it, and put the changes into action. Two years ago, my school’s main focus was on the implementation of writer’s workshop.  Teachers at my school were trained in the proper implementation of writer’s workshop, and were expected to use this approach to teach students. Through the use of mini-lesson, writing time, conferencing, and sharing time, I could see improvement in my students writing over the course of the school year. They loved their writing time and would ask regularly to continue writing even if the “writing music” had stopped. This made for a happy teacher! My student’s favorite time was sharing time. By sharing their stories/writings with the class it gave them a real purpose for writing, and taught students to learn how to give constructive feedback and positive comments.  

After getting Writer’s Workshop established in our school, our next big curriculum change was to implement guided reading throughout the school. This was not a big change for the younger grades, as we already had guided reading established. This allowed me to work with a small group of students at their instructional level in order to improve their reading skills. During guided reading, students were expected to work on literacy centers as their independent working activity when not meeting with the teacher. Literacy centers were a “must” at our school. Within literacy centers, students would be working on SR (sustained reading), buddy reading, word works, and other various learning activities that would enrich their learning.

Within my literacy block, I also do shared reading and read alouds to support my students’ literacy needs. Mini-lessons are a frequently used in my literacy block to teach comprehension skills. Students are expected to take the skill taught in the mini lesson and apply it to their reading during SR and their reading time in guided reading groups.

These are the components of the comprehensive literacy program that I have implemented and plan to continue to use next year.

Module Three Activity Two

When it comes to reading I do feel it is necessary for students to be exposed to phonological awareness activities just like the one in the video. I also agree, and believe that phonological awareness is very predictive of students’ reading ability. “Cracking the code” takes many different forms, but in my opinion I believe reading must start with some form of phonological awareness in order for students to have a good understanding of letter sound relationships. Reading can be complex, and even though I believe phonics/phonological awareness is very important to students’ reading ability, I also know it doesn’t provide the meaning behind the reading. When students read, it’s important for them to read to find meaning. Working on letter sound relationships of nonsense words is a waste of time, in my opinion. It’s important for students to practice with words that will make sense to them when they read in context. Providing one-on-one instruction allows for a struggling reader to receive individualized instruction which focuses on their specific needs. Like the video said, “the more systematic, the more direct, the more teacher guidance provided, the greater the degree of feedback results in much improved reading.” Starting with the basics of reading will ultimately improve reading ability in struggling readers. Before you can read for meaning, you have to have some foundations in letter sound relationships.

Prominent Theorist Research Paper

Shelley Harwayne

Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist

Dear Teacher,

                After reviewing your student’s portfolios, it appears most of your students are reading with a high fluency rate, but are lacking important comprehension skills. Being a fluent reader doesn’t guarantee comprehension. Reading is not just about automatic word recall. It goes deeper that just recalling words within a text. Due to the fact that your students are reading with a high fluency rate indicates to me there has been a strong phonics based instruction in previous years. This would explain their ability to decode and read fluently with given a reading passage. One thing to understand is phonics is not the main source of reading instruction, but a component of reading. Your students will not only have to read fluently, but be able to find meaning in their reading. This is an area to focus your reading instruction.

                It appears to me your students need to be taught comprehension strategies. One way to begin this process is by using “think-alouds” as a way to focus on finding meaning, develop effective reading strategies, and most importantly teach your students to reflect on their own reading. Another strategy your students could benefit from is the use to employ the “check for understand” strategy. This is a visual, usually on a check mark, that reminds students to ask the who, what, where, when, and why after each section or paragraph in a text. This allows students to reflect on their reading to determine if they actually understand what they read before reading on. It’s an effective strategy that your students will benefit from.  Please try these strategies out in your classroom, and inform me how your students reading comprehension was impacted.

                Prior to implementing these reading comprehension strategies, I also feel it would be necessary to reevaluate your student instructional reading level using the Fountas and Pinnell reading assessment. My main concern is your placement of students into reading groups based on their fluency scores. If students are able to read a text with over 95% accuracy, without evidence of comprehension, then they do not need to be grouped into a reading level that reflects their high fluency. Reading instruction needs to be taught at their level focusing on areas for growth. In this case, your students are reading texts that are too difficult to construct meaning.  

Thank You,

Danielle Collins
Reading Specialist

 

  

Module Three Reading Reflection

Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts. Why or why not?

I would have to disagree with Marilyn Adams’ statement.    I think that good readers rely on context to thoroughly process words, and not just the individual letters.  Reading is much more than just the identification of letters, especially with “skillful” readers. If readers are focusing on individual letters, than they are taking away from the overall meaning of the passage. The important thing to remember is reading is about constructing meaning, and not about identifying individual letters within the text.   

The activity on pg 92 and 93 proves readers don’t just look at the individual letters when reading. This activity provides a reading passage which required the reader to read when the individual letters were missing from a number of words within the passage. At first, I thought this would be a challenging activity, but quickly found this activity was quite easy to complete. I was able to read and construct meaning from the reading passage. During my reading, I didn’t process the individual letters, but could recognize familiar words or word parts from only part of the visual information available to me.  According to the text, readers process words in letter chunks, typically syllables and/or onsets and rimes. I felt this helped me in understand the reading passage, and I was able to find word meaning through the visual information even when the “word” itself wasn’t directly identified.

Another point I found interesting is phonics may play some role in reading instructions, however many of the rules that are taught do not apply a large percentage of the time. This was fascinating to me, as I feel schools tend to focus on phonics instruction for the younger grades. If we teach our students to only identify letters and use phonics rules to sound out words when reading, they are going to have a difficult time identifying many of the words they come across (2002, p. 101). However, by providing students with opportunities to read and practice skills students will become more proficient over time which will help to increase reading fluency. One thing I know as an educator, encouragement to read is a vital role in any reading instruction.

 

Module 2: Activity 1 and 2

 Activity 1:

Complete Exercise #3c on page 58 in the text: first write a definition of each word listed. Did you notice yourself using any fairly consistent principle for determining what the words might mean? Discuss. Then read the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange to find the meanings of at least six of the words: http://www.ebooktrove.com/top_ten/AClockworkOrange.pdf. In each case, how do you finally determine what the word means? Combine this assignment with Activity 2 in this module. Create a blog post.

Definitions: Prior to reading, I tried my best to determine the meaning of these unknown words, which was not an easy task. I used my knowledge of word ending, parts of speech, and relationship between other words. I thought maybe the words were misspelled initially. This first part of the activity was a challenge in just trying to determine meaning from words I was unfamiliar with. I can see how student feel when faced with challenging words in isolation.

Definitions prior to reading            

Creech-approach

Droogs-animal or dog

Glazzies-describing eyes

Goloss-to miss something

Malenky-little or small

Messel-sickness

Millicent-some sort of currency (money)

Poogly-describes the appearance

Razrez-

Skorry-apologize

Spatted-fighting

Zoobies-bugs 

Definitions after reading     

Creech-?

Droogs-friends

Glazzies- ?

Goloss- voice/music/noise

Malenky-little

Messel-

Millicent- officers of the law

Poogly- scared

Razrez-tear/destroy

Skorry- ?

Spatted-?

Zoobies-?

 After reading the selected chapter from A Clockwork Orange, I was able to find meaning in some of the words, but not all. This was a challenging task to complete. The words were used multiple times in the text and in different contexts. This allowed me to figure the words meaning. As I was reading, I would substitute the meaning I believed the word to mean, and the sentence seemed to make sense. I was able to use the context clues around the unknown words, which included the sentences prior and after to determining meaning. This helped define the words and allow me to understand it’s meaning in context to the text.

                         

 

Activity 2:

Read Exercise 7 on p. 85 and rather than showing it to an audience, complete the exercise yourself. Answer the questions, including the two at the top of p. 86.  

1.      Who tried to read the words letter-by-letter? Why not?

I did not try to sound the words out letter-by-letter because I teach my students that letter and sounds have relationship the letters within the word. Sounding words out letter-by-letter causes a problem when trying to blend the sound together. It’s important to chunk and break words down when sounding them out.

 

2.      Who tried to read the words mostly by chinking them into syllables?

I used the strategies of “chunking” to assist me in sounding the words out. I also used the pronunciation next to the word to assist me in the task of sounding the words out. I felt using the both strategies helped with sounding out and reading the words.

 

3.      Who tried to read the words by sampling the letters more or less all at once? My main strategiy was the use of the pronunciation key and “chunking”. I did not read the words by sampling the letters.

 

4.      What words do you know the meaning, or think you know the meaning of? To be honest, I don’t know the meaning of any of these words. However, I can make connections to words that are similar, but it doesn’t provide the actual meaning of the words in question. When looking at the word extravasate, I automatically think of extravagant, mostly due to the word beginning -“extra.” I do know the meaning of extra (added to or over and above) which might provide insight in determining the word meaning.

 

5.      Did pronouncing the words give you insight into their meaning?

The pronunciation key provided valuable insight in how to sound the words out. Although, it was a good strategy to determine the correct way to pronounce a word, it didn’t help me in determining the meaning of the words.

 

6.      How do you handle unknown words when you encounter them in normal reading?

As I’m reading, I use context clues in the reading selection to help determine the meaning of unknown words. I find it is helpful when determining unfamiliar words. As I’m reading I tend to use sentences before and after to help give clarity and meaning to the words. This strategy typically works for me when determining the meaning of words I may not understand. If this doesn’t work, I use my post-it notes to jot down the unknown words or question I might have in relation to the word. This allows me to remember words I need to look up to find meaning in order to understand the text successfully.

 

7.      What do you think are the implications of this experiment and discussion for how we should help students deal with unfamiliar print words?

This activity reinforced that reading is not about reading words in isolation. But it’s about reading words in context to understand a story. I can read a list of words and find no meaning behind them. If I was given a reading passage with those words, I would be able to use context clues to help determine word meaning. As teachers, our instruction should not just be on learning to read unfamiliar words, but how can I find meaning of unknown words when I’m reading.

Module 2: Instructional Challenge

Take a look at the following examples of children's dialect-based miscues while reading and the difference between the child's original response (OR) and expected response (ER). Then answer the questions that follow.

OR: It my little monkey here.	ER: Is my little monkey here?
OR: We got to tell.	ER: We've got to tell.
OR: Frog look at Toad calendar.	ER: Frog looked at Toad's calendar.
OR: A word what sounded good.	ER: A word that sounded good.
OR: hisself	ER: himself
OR: I can come to your party?	ER: Can I come to your party?

 
Are these children's miscues evidence of proficient or non-proficient reading? Explain. If you were teaching children who made these miscues, what, if any, assistance or teaching would you offer?  

  According to Weaver, good readers often miscue on simple words as they use context to construct meaning from the text.” (Weaver, 2012. p. 64) Proficient readers tend substitute pronouns or functional words as they are reading, mostly to due to their ability to construct meaning as they read and not focusing on identification of words. After examining the children’s miscues, I feel they are all proficient at reading expect for the first child’s response.  The proficient readers made miscues on pronouns and simple functional words but still maintained meaning from their reading. This shows their reading is at a proficient level because they are able to use strategies in their reading to find meaning and comprehend the text. However, in the first child’s response the miscue was on simple functional word which changed the meaning of the sentence from a statement to a question. I feel this child is a non-proficient reader due to the miscue leading to the change in meaning. I also feel it would be helpful to see the reading selection this child was reading as a way to see what was coming before and after this sentence. This might provide more clarity in the child’s reading ability and allow a teacher to plan meaning instruction for this student.

When looking at the examples above, I don’t feel it would be necessary to correct the miscues of the proficient readers, but I do feel it is necessary to correct the non-proficient reader as he/she changed meaning in the text. It’s important to correct a child’s reading when it results in the effectiveness to comprehend a reading selection. I feel it is important to address the miscues as soon as it occurs to encourage students to use strategies in their reading to find meaning instead of just reading words on a page.  

References:

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process & practice. (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Module 2: Reading Reflection

 The major folklore of reading instruction relates to the “theory” that reading is considered an exact process. In other words, the reader is expected to read everything exactly as printed on the page in order to understand the message of the author. In general the consuming public, legislatures, courts, and too many educators hold to this theory. It is like the theory of the world being flat during the time of Columbus.

--Robert Harper and Gary Kilarr

 The quote from Harper and Kilarr provides a very impactful statement to educators. As I read the quote, I visualize Harper and Kilarr disagreeing with ‘the “theory” that reading is considered an exact process.” (Weaver, 2012. p.41) I completely agree with Harper and Kilarr and that the purpose “of reading instruction should not be the accurate identification of every word, but rather the effective and efficient use of reading strategies in order to construct meaning.’’ (Weaver, 2002. p. 71)) As teachers, we need to focus more on the comprehension component of reading rather than being able to decode every word in a text. Reading involves using context, syntax, semantics, schemas, and graphic cues to gain understanding and meaning from a text.

In order to achieve comprehension in a reading selection, a reader does not need to read every word correctly. The text provided many running records to show how a reader can have a variety of miscues in their reading and still gain meaning from the text,  mostly due to the fact the a proficient reader use context-based strategies when they read. In other words, readers are thinking ahead to make predictions of what is coming next or what make sense to them and their prior knowledge.

  One particular example can be found on pg. 78 and 79. This example examines Danny’s reading ability, focusing on his miscues as well as his strategies used during reading to construct meaning. If reading was an “exact process”, then based on Danny’s 35 miscues, a teacher might consider him as being a struggling reader, which is not the case.  When taking a closer look at his miscues and the strategies he used during the reading, it is evident he is a “good reader” who applies strategies to comprehend.  According to the text, “these strategies, along with the many miscues that fit the context without needing correction, suggest that Danny is reading to construct meaning, and probably succeeding.” (Weaver, 2002. p. 79) It is important for teachers to take a closer look at our students reading and evaluate not just their miscues, but the strategies they are using to construct meaning from a text. This was an eye opener for me, and I plan to pay closer attention to my student's miscues, and the strategies they are using to find meaning when they read.

After reading the assigned chapters, I feel I have better understanding of what reading is. I will be honest; I have a different take on my reading instruction after reading the first 4 chapters. I now “recognize that reading is more a matter of constructing meaning than of identifying words.” (Weaver, 2012. p. 77) This example opened my eyes to my past students, and how I wish I could go back and examine their running records. I would love to see if their “miscues show good use of reading strategies.” (Weaver, 2012. p. 77)

Reference

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading Process & Practice (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Module 1 Instructional Challenge

Module 1 Instruction Challenge

 Hocked gems financing him, our hero defied the scornful laughter. Think of it as an egg, not a table, he said. Then three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging over vast calmness, and sometimes over turbulent peaks and valleys, until at last welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying monumental success.

 

Answer these questions about the passage:

 

1.      1. What are the hocked gems?

I picture hocked gems as being “something” valuable to a person that might have been taken and sold to supply money for the voyage of Christopher Columbus.

 2. What should we think of as an egg and not a table?

I read this short passage several times trying to gain more meaning with each additional reading. The first time I read this passage, I thought it had something to do with a voyage on the sea due to the line “forging over vast calmness, and sometimes over turbulent peaks and valleys.” To me this indicates a ship sailing over calm and rough seas to reach a destination. On my second reading, the line “Think of it as an egg, not a table” provided additional meaning to the passage. This line allowed me to make the connection to Columbus and his voyage. Columbus thought the world was round (egg) and not flat (table).

 3. Who are the three sturdy sisters?

 In my third reading, I realized the three sisters were the other ships Christopher Columbus took on his voyage. He took The Nina, The Pinta, and The Santa Maria.

 4. What kind of winged creatures appeared?

I believe the winged creatures that appeared were birds to help Columbus know land was ahead. He used the birds as evidence that the world was in fact round, not flat. The birds would need some place to land after flying.  

If you were to use this passage with students, what schema would you need to activate with them first?

 If I were to use this passage with my students, I would first have to activate the student’s prior knowledge or schema on Christopher Columbus’ voyage to set the reading stage on this particular passage.

 

How can you help teach children whose schema and the text’s content don’t match?

I can see how this passage could be difficult to understand if a student didn’t have the appropriate schema in placed prior to reading this passage. This would be a great passage to read as a ending activity to close up a unit on Christopher Columbus. This would allow all students to have background knowledge of his voyage to understand the text as a whole. If students are still having difficulty understanding the text at the end of the unit, I would read the passage line by line explaining how it relates back to Columbus. Another activity I would try is to take the passage and write in in context the students would understand as it relates to Christopher Columbus. Using the re-written passage, I would have students match each line to original passage. This would allow for students to make some connections on their own, before a whole group discussion takes place.  
 

How much time should children spend in texts that don’t match their interests or schema?

      It doesn’t make any sense for me as a teacher to have my students read something that they are having so much trouble comprehending. As a teacher, I teach reading at my students level in order to teach comprehension skills that won’t cause them frustration or tears. It’s important for students to read passages on their independent level, when reading on their own, and instructional level when reading in a small group with the teacher. If it’s an activity that is to be completed whole group, I would probably pair up students to read the passage and allow for students to converse on what they read. If students are still having issues, I would offer context clues to help them access their schema to understand the text. I would also break down the passage line by line if any students continue to show difficult with understanding the text.

Personal Model of the Theory of Reading

Personal Model of the Theory of Reading

What is the correct way to teach reading? That’s a difficult question to answers because so many teachers teach their students in different ways. I have to admit, I sometime feel as if my teaching changes from year to year. One thing I know for sure is reading is a learning process which takes time to achieve for students and teachers. Children should be exposed to a literacy-rich environment at an early age to help acquire background knowledge, which will help them advance in their ready ability later on. Learning to read involves first learning phonemic awareness, letter sounds, the blending of letter sounds, and sight words. But it’s not the whole approach to learning reading.  

Teaching reading should be a balanced approach.  Balanced Literacy is a framework designed to help all students learn to read and write effectively. Students should be exposed to phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, reading comprehension, and writing skills. These skills should not be taught in isolation, but instructions of these skills should be balanced to ensure learning is effective.   

In my classroom, I use a balanced literacy approach of teaching reading. This approach allows for a balance between the literacy components which include reading, writing, and word work.  In this approach to teaching literacy, I use three components which include a mini lesson, a work period, and a closing meeting for both Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s workshop.  The workshop approach allows for modeled reading and writing, shared reading and writing, and guided reading and writing.

Reader’s Workshop is a structure to "improve reading where students independently read, apply skills and strategies they were explicitly taught and record or share their thinking with others." (Balanced Literacy Approach, June 11, 2013)

Reader’s Workshop starts with a mini lesson where I introduce the skill and strategies students will be practicing independently.   While students are working independently, usually working word work, I’m instructing a small group instruction at their instructional reading level. During this time, I’m working with students on reading comprehension, phonics skills, vocabulary instructions, and fluency that was introduced in the daily mini lesson.  

Reader’s Workshop also allows for teacher student conferences where the student creates goals to work on to improve their reading ability. This gives students ownership over their independent work time.  The workshop also allows for a sharing time. This time is where students can share what they are learning, and what they accomplished in the day’s workshop.

At the beginning of the year, I assess students using the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Assessment to determine their independent and instructional reading level. After determining their reading level, I use the data to group students accordingly.  In small group reading, I usually spend about 20-25 minutes exploring the reading comprehension strategy taught in the mini lesson, but at the student’s instructional level. This allows students to practice the reading comprehension skill where they feel comfortable and safe to take chances.  Students are also exposed to words that may be unfamiliar or challenging in small group instruction. As a group, we spend time introducing word meanings and review the phonics skill for the week.   

After small group instruction, students are given a written task to complete with their story. This task can have multiple parts depending on the type of story. Students will have some sort of comprehension activity to complete to show understanding of the skill or skills taught in the day’s workshop.  

 Teaching reading is a learning process, and I’m sure my reading instruction will continue to change as I learn different approaches and strategies to increase student achievement in reading.

References

Balanced Literacy Approach . (n.d.). Minneapolis Public School . Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://ela.mpls.k12.mn.us/balanced_literacy

 

 

Module 1: Activity 2

Page 39 #5

a.       What is corandic?

·         Corandic is an emurient grof with many fribs

b.      What does corandic grank from?

·         It granks from corite.

c.       How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite?

·         Garkers excarp by glarcking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped strobs.

d.      What does slorp finally frast?

·         The slorp finally frast a pragety, blinkant crankle: coranda.

e.      What is coranda?

·         Coranda is a cargut, grinkling corandic and borigen.

f.        How is corandic nacerated from the borigen?

·         The corandic is nacerated from the borigen by means of loracity.

g.       What do the garkers finally thrap?

·         Thus garkers finally thrap a glick, bracht, glupous graoant, corandic, which granks in many starps.

To be honest, I read this short text multiple times trying to find some literal meaning in what seemed like a foreign language. After realizing I would not be able to make “literal” sense of this passage I began to look at the text in a different way. I went back and used a test taking strategy. I first read the question in order to know what answer I was looking for. Then, I went back to the passage and found the answer right there. Did it make any sense? Not at all, at least not to me. The questions that were asked were simply recall questions and can be found by simply going back to the text. This is often what we, as teachers, ask our students to do on a comprehension test.

 

One question that I have after completing this activity is, do students really comprehend what they are reading, or they just recalling the information by going back into the text? This activity was an eye opener for me because I could read and answer the questions from the text, but in no way did I comprehend the passage. Is this the type of assessment we are using in our classrooms? If it is, are we truly assessing students correctly? In my opinion, this is how many standardized tests and school based books compose questions for our students. As teachers, we need to create questions that truly assess student’s comprehension and not just recall.

Module 1: Activity 1

Module 1: Reading Reflection

What are some of the major differences between a skills approach to literacy and a comprehensive or sociopsycholinguistic approach?

  A comprehensive or sociopsycholinguistic approach to reading is just the opposite of the skills approach. This approach is partly a top-down or whole-to-part view of reading. Through this approach, the reader doesn’t  need to know the meaning of individual words or sounds in order to understand the general meaning of a text. This view also suggests most words will have multiple meanings, and will take on different meanings depending on the sentence structure or word order. Readers will find meaning in text by using their schema, which is very different from the skills approach.  

In the skills approach to literacy, one believes in a bottom up approach. The bottom up approach of reading starts with letters and letter-sound relationships, then moving on to the actual word or words.  This type of reading is often referred to as an “outside-in” process. With the skills approach, meaning or understanding of reading is thought more of as property of the text and not something that is mastered by the reader.  The context, meaning, and schema has no important part with helping to identify words in a text with the skills approach to reading. A diagram in the reading on pg. 34 shows the part-to whole “skills” model of reading. The diagram shows the different parts that lead to reading. The skills approach to literacy starts from the bottom and works up toward comprehension or meaning. (phonemic awareness, phonics, automatic, rapid word recognition, and meaning.) This approach looks at reading as decoding words or sounds as opposed to understanding text with context clues and schema.