Exit Slips for READ 436

#1 Describe the assessments you will use for instructional level readers, define
the levels (independent, instructional, frustration), and explain the factors
that will influence your grouping for instruction.
The assessments that we talked about using in class include the IRI, WRI,
and WRC. The IRI is the informal reading inventory is an assessment that is used to
help determine the reading level of the student. It determines the instructional level
of the child as well as the supports a child might need. The WRI is words recognized
in isolation assessment, which is the best predictor of where children are reading. It
is a computerized assessment that calls out the words on the screen and the student
has to read the word in a timely manner. The last assessment is the WRC
assessments that assessed words in context. That is an assessment done by
completing running records of what the child is reading and marking off their errors
to determine a range of numbers to develop the level of reading.
After the assessments are done, the teacher determines which level of
reading the student will be in. With the three reading levels being independent,
instructional and frustration. In independent level, the student doesn’t need help
reading the book; it is an easy reader for them while they are not learning much. But
this level is good when building fluency in a child’s reading. The instructional level is
one where the student can read it but they need some help, and it makes them work
for the reading. This level works with zone of proximal development where they can
do it, but it pushed them and motivates them to continue reading. The last level is
frustration where the student isn’t making any progress because the reading is too
hard for them and they are losing motivation because it is hard.
There are many factors that influence the grouping of reading levels. The
first and most important is reading groups of peers at the same skill level, who are
reading the same or similar books. Another thing to consider is all their scores on
reading tests because that shows the similarity in reading levels between the
students. Students will benefit most when they are in groups with peers at the same
level as them because they can push each other to learn more while reading books
that are appropriate to their reading level and having peers to discuss the book
with.

#2 Define fluency and describe how you will teach it, including examples and
resources from class.
Fluency is really important for students to have when they are reading, and
is supposed to be 20% of daily instruction in a classroom. Fluency in reading means
that a student reads with automatic recognition of words, appropriate phrasing and
expression and allows the student to focus on the meaning of the passage or the
enjoyment of the activity. There are many different strategies that I would use to
help teach fluency. With fluency, a child needs to learn the appropriate expression
and speed in order to be a fluent reader. Through many of the activities below, they
work on expression and speed. With expression, the student needs to understand
what is being said in the passage, and needs to read the words as it is intended to be
read. For speed, the student needs to be able to read at an appropriate rate and
recognize the words automatically.
First I would begin with modeling how a book should be read with correct
expression and speed. Doing read alouds are a great way to model to your students
how to read that book, as well as letting them read poem books for multiple people.
 With the poem books, each student has lines in a poem and they work on reading
the poem over and over with the appropriate expression and speed. Similar to the
poem book is Readers Theatre, which is a fun activity that gets all students, involved
where they each have a part in a play and they continuously practice the play and
their lines learning the theme and the expression and speed of the lines. Then after
practice, the students can perform their play to others. Those are strategies that
would be helpful in building expression.
To work on speed, which is another necessity for fluency, there are many
ways to practice that as well. One good strategy is having students read independent
level text to younger students. Another good strategy is having students practice
tongue twisters, say knock knock jokes and create funny Madlibs. Those strategies
are good to practice with speed because they practice reading material that might
not make sense, but has the child still reading at an appropriate rate. The more you
practice those strategies and time yourself, the better you’ll get at reading them and
you’ll get faster as well. These strategies we learned about in class, are ideas I want
to carry into my future classroom because after learning about them and practicing
them I see how they really work and are fun for children.

#3 Compare word study to the method used when you learned to spell.
I remember in elementary school, to learn to spell we got a spelling list on
Mondays and the on Fridays we had a test. With the test the teacher would say the
word aloud, say the word in a sentence and we had to spell the word on a
worksheet. I don’t remember the words having any correlation to one another. They
were just words that at that grade level we had to know and be able to spell without
a problem. With word study, the words are groups of words that demonstrate a
spelling pattern and sequence of patterns to match the level of development of the
child. Examples of word patterns could be initial & final single consonants, short
vowels, R-controlled vowel patterns, long vowels, and complex consonants which
are just a few examples from the different stages of spelling development from the
DSA assessment. Depending on the stage of the child, they get words that are
appropriate to learn within that stage of development. There will be different
groups of students with different list of words depending on developmentally where
they are. The different word lists is something that I do remember from my
elementary school spelling experience. The groups not taking the test would be
doing other work while the teacher was giving the spelling tests.

#4 Why do we use before, during, and after activities for comprehension? Name
at least one comprehension activity for each (before, during, and after) with
resources from class.
To ensure that students are truly comprehending and thinking as they are
reading, we use the before, during, and after activities for comprehension. Teachers
do before reading activities for comprehension because it helps the students get an
idea of what the author might be trying to say, how the information is useful and
helps students prepare for how they should be thinking and storing the information
as they read. During activities for comprehension are important because these
strategies help students focus on how to determine what the author is saying and
match the information to what the student already knows. The after reading
activities help the student after they have finished reading the text. It helps them
reflect and think about the overall message of the text and recall the important parts
 of the book. They are used as a follow up and confirm what was learned and what
the teacher wanted the students to gain from reading the book or text.
There are many examples that we learned from each strategy to help a child
with comprehension. An example of a before reading activity that I liked was the
anticipation guide. I liked the anticipation guide because it informed students of the
topic discussed in the book, but it also allows the teacher to see what the students
already know about that topic or not by deciding if a statement is true or false. I also
like that after you read the book, the student can then go back and know if they
were right or wrong before they read and learned about the topic. A during reading
strategy that I liked was creating response logs, reading guides or outlines that
students complete as they are reading. These activities all allow for students to ask
and answer questions, summarize as they read and recall more detail later about the
book/text. I like this because if they students know they have to do an activity as
they read they are more likely to pay closer attention to detail and retain more
information about the topic. An after reading activity is important because that
keeps students continuing of thinking of what they just read, it is still engaging and a
review to wrap up. Ideas that we talked about and saw examples in class was a
foldable activity where the student had to write what happened in the beginning,
middle and end of the book. We also saw arts and crafts projects that focused on the
main idea of the book and the student had to write 3 different details on the book. I
liked the arts and craft activities, because they are fun for the students to complete
but still give a purpose and wrap up of the book. Other post reading strategies that
aren’t as timely as arts and craft projects could be learning logs, plot organizers or
timeline of events from the book, a Venn diagram, and framed character and plot
charts. There are so many activities that can be done before, during and after
reading to help students with better comprehension of the text!

#5 Compare our writing activities to what you see in practicum.

The main writing activity that we talked about in class was the importance
of writer’s conferences. Writer’s conferences have a purpose of being short, focused,
and about 2 minutes long. Within the two minutes, the teacher is supposed to work
with the students to change one problem within the writing. I like the idea of a
writer’s conference because it can help make the student feel like their work is
valued and that the teacher is making time to focus on that student and what they
had written about. In my practicum, I have never seen a writer’s conference in
action, and my CT has never mentioned before that they do them. Unfortunately in
my classroom, writing is the time block that gets cut out when other activities run
over time. The only main time I have seen whole class writing time is when the
students were writing a book about an animal that they did research on. After they
wrote the books and included facts and opinions about the animal, they then got to
present their books to the rest of the class. Some other days where there is time to
writing, the students got out their writing notebook and had to write a few
sentences answering a prompt or few questions the teacher asked. But when they
were finished, they just put their work away and didn’t revisit that writing. A
writer’s conference is something that I see great value in, and something I want to
incorporate in my future classroom. I like that it is student oriented and the
students can take control of the meeting and can ask for help and receive the help
they need to become better writers.
#6 In class exit slip – write your own information sheet for parents night (for
instructional level readers, grade of your choice). Use the handouts from
class as an example.
Hello Second Grade Families!

There are many phases involved in the reading process. At this time in
second grade, most students are beginning to read on their own and
practicing being able to better comprehend the material they are reading
and further explain the details of the text. They are also diving deeper into
writing and adding more detail to their writing pieces. Within the year, we
will be working on fluency, word study vocabulary, and comprehension.
With fluency, they are practicing reading with the appropriate speed and
with expression. They are learning to read the punctuation and express the
emotions associated with the punctuation marks to further get a sense of the
mood of the words. For word study, they will practice sorting words based
on their features and practicing the specific sounds of words. With
comprehension, they are practicing being able to recall and talk about what
just happened in the reading they just read. They will practice
comprehension by doing follow-up activities and answering questions about
the text.

It is important that families encourage their student to be reading everyday,

and have them read to themselves as well as to other family members. It is
important to read to your children, discuss the books, enjoy the read aloud
story with him and listen to your children practice reading as well. As the
student becomes an instructional level reader, they are not totally
independent readers, but they have enough background knowledge about
the topic to read and understand the book material. They are able to access
the text quickly with minimal errors, and throughout the book only need
small amount of assistant from the person they are reading with. It is
important that the books they are reading are not too hard but not too easy
so that they are still continuing to learn. The more practice students in the
instructional level have, the more fluent they will be. Fluency changes,
depending on what the student is reading, how familiar they are with the
words, and the amount of practice they have reading aloud. In the
instructional level they are practicing reading at an appropriate speed and
using the proper expression rather than decoding the words and focusing on
that. Students are spending a lot of time in school reading books that are at
their level, and when this is practiced at home as well it can only have them
succeed more. The more practice they get reading aloud, and discussing the
book the closer they will be to being independent readers. Spend that time
with them reading, it is only helping them!

Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or any advice on
appropriate books for your children!

Thanks,
Sarah Bridegum