Coaching Young Minds

I noticed that for both readings this week, the common definition for reading was described, understanding meaning.  Although I enjoyed the book reading for different activities to use when teaching phonics and spelling patterns, I thought that the information presented by Clark was more beneficial.  I feel that coaching is more like scaffolding instead of making the student "sound it out".  Although the student may be able to effectively sound out a word, it does not necessarily mean that they understand what the definition of the word it.  Coaching seems to be a better way of going about teaching word recognition so that students understand words in various contexts.  I thought that this article did a wonderful job of reminding teachers the factors that needed to be considered when coaching.  These include:  vowels, the y sound when it is a vowel, consonant sounds, blends, silent letters, r-controlled vowels, context in which words appear, and known word parts.  There were also three stages of word recognition considered being:  selective-cue, spelling-sound, and automatic.  I think it is important for teachers to understand that when learning words, students must first pay conscious attention before mastering automatic recognition of words.  I think that is is also vital to break students up into coaching groups so that struggles in recognition and comprehension can be worked on.
Below is a video that shows ways for coaching context reading comprehension.

Reading Tutoring: Reading for Context

Sources:
 Clark, K. F.  (2004).  What can I say besides "sound it out?": Coaching word recognition in beginning reading.  The Reading Teacher, 57, 440-449.

Cunningham, P. M., & Allington, R. L.  (2010).  Teaching Decoding and Spelling Patterns.  (Chapter 5, Classrooms That Work.)

The Small Pieces of Language

This week the reading was about the components that make of language and how to successfully teach children how to understand the language in which they are learning.  One of the articles talked about steering away from teacher a new letter each week, but instead incorporating all letters into words that the children already familiar with.  Teachers often do not realize how much language children have already been presented with even if they are not in a text-rich environment.  Some examples given were that text is found on the microwave and fast-food boxes.  I think this is a simple way to get all children used to what letters look like and how they form words and sentences.  It is an easy way everyday to point out words and letters that the parent and teacher spot out to get the child used to seeing the letters of the alphabet and can practice on becoming a pro at language.  Open ended questions, I believe, would be an awesome way to ask children about language. I also think that "think-alouds" and interactive writing is a brilliant way for children to see that reading and writing is meaningful but can also be fun.  It is also important to make children understand that they can build upon the language that they already have knowledge of.  Some ways that the reading talked about doing this with is through chunking letters together.  Another important statement made in this reading was the just because the student can name letters does not mean that they can use them to read.  I believe this would be hard for teachers to understand when they are just trying to cover state standards.  I totally agree with what Donna Jarvis said in this reading that it is vital to make children understand that any type of writing they present in a form of written communication that can built upon.
Another reading, Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom, took more of a linguistic approach to how language work.  I thought it was smart to put these readings together to see how language is actually made up so that as I become a teacher I am able to understand how language is broken down.  With this knowledge, it should be easier to teach my students how to form language, and be able to understand the differences that there are within language. Metacognition was mentioned in this reading, as thinking about one's thinking.  This definition seems to be the same as any other class that has had this type of vocabulary.  I feel that it is very important to understand how to use the language.  This reading also did a great job about breaking down the parts of speech and providing ways to teach that particular part to children who are learning how to read and write.  Some ways to start this off would be through rhyming, syllables, onset, and phonemes.  I think this is a great video linked below that shows how to break down words that are being taught.

Phonological Awareness Activity

The Importance of Engaging in Early Literacy

The reading for this week focused on the importance of reading as soon as possible to children and finding ways to teach children how to read in all ways of everyday life.  The article spoke about the Jones' family who lives in a small rural community in the southeastern United States.  This family integrated literacy into all aspects of their lives.  Some of these are:

1. Instrumental (magazines decorating, crafts, sewing, and family recipes)
2. News-Related (newspaper readings about local, state, national, and international events)
3. Financial (recording numerals, budgets, expenditures, and loans)
4. Spiritual (Bible)
5. Recreational ("love novels", folk and fairy tales, "books to make sense of things")
6. Educational (storybooks, and tasks at school)

Johnson, A.S. (2010).  The Jones Family's culture of literacy.  The Reading Teacher, 64 (1), 33-44.

 It is not often thought about how much literacy is used every single day in different ways.  The one that I would most likely forgot about would be for financial means.  Of course as a college student, I have loans and a budget I must keep, but I have never really thought about reading over agreements and amounts for such things to be part of literacy.
 

Chapter 3 in Classrooms that Work, talked about building a literary foundation for young children, even before getting to kindergarten.  Allowing children to pretend read is a critical part of this.  I am sure that others like myself think that it is adorable when they see children pretending to read, but probably do not consider how important it is to allow the child to engage in this activity.  This helps create a background of knowledge and vocabulary when these children come to kindergarten.  This can be accomplished through those that can read teaching children how to print concepts work.  These include:  letters, punctuation, spaces between words, paragraphs that are formed, and jargon that is used such as words, letters, sentences, and sounds.  I feel that parents don't often realize how much of an impact they have on their children as they watch them write out recipes or bills, read magazine or books, or how they make grocery lists.  With children being able to observe these activities should also help them learn how to "invent-spell".  I am not sure that I agree with this concept as some children may build a weakness for using this and spelling words incorrectly.  I noticed that the reading also talked about allowing children to write with and on different utensils/materials.  I think this is a wonderful idea so that they do not get bored with writing or reading.  Some suggestions for this are using cereal boxes, ads for local stores, restaurant menus, making birthday cards, labeling pictures and name tags, and having a bulletin board in the classroom.

Cunningham, P.M., & Allington, R.L. (2010). Building the literary foundation. (Chapter 3, Classrooms That Work)

-----What other ideas do you have for bringing literacy into the classroom?

Effective Readers in the Classroom

To become a teacher with effective readers in the classroom, one needs to remember the six T's of daily elementary literary instruction.  These include:  

• Time (having students read and write 50% of the school day)
• Texts (having a rich supply of books for all levels of readers) 
• Teaching (selecting appropriate books and involving these in active instruction such as decoding, composing, and self-regulation)
• Talk (fostering student talks between peers and the teacher and posing  conversational open ended questions) 
• Tasks (small groups working on reading and writing in all content areas, as well as providing student choice)
• Testing (grading based on effort and improvement) 

Creating an Effective Learning Environment

• • Emphasize High-Order Meaning Construction
  • Maximize Opportunities to Read
  • Use Reading and Writing in ALL Subjects
  • Discuss Readings
  • Scaffold and Coach Students
  • Emphasize Self-Monitoring and Self-Regulation
  • Set High Expectations for Students
  • Read Aloud to Students of ALL Ages
  • Create Caring, Positive Learning Environment
  • Communicate with Parents
  • Independent Reading with Documentation
    

Discussion Questions

• Do you feel that the more you read, the better you read?
• Does active instruction benefit students when it comes to learning reading strategies?