Next year,
you will be teaching in a school where the vast majority of students did not
meet standard on your state's criterion-referenced test and where more than 75%
of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. What are some
specific universal literacy strategies you may implement to ensure students
success? Include both in-class examples and things you could do outside the
classroom. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module
6:Instructional Challenge."
I found it interesting to
read about the economically disadvantage school studied and discussed on page
372 showed greater gains when teaching in context, rather than out of context
and meaning was not emphasized. This shows you the importance of context clues
and allowing students to use those clues to understand and determine what they
are reading.
I believe guided reading is a
very important literacy approach to support all students. First, professional
development is needed to educate all teachers and staff about guided reading
and running records. Running Records are an assessment tool that allow you to
place students in leveled guided reading groups. Also, I believe teaching a
common language throughout a school is very important. It is important to teach
students the same terms so they can apply those terms in different classrooms
year after year.
Outside of the home, I think
the most important thing a family could do is to supply age appropriate books
and encourage reading. Like discussed on page 375, poor neighborhoods tend to
have less age appropriate books in the home, and even in the library. If the school
can allow students to “check out” books throughout the year to take home, it
would only lead to more students reading and progressing to become fluent
readers.
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I think that guided reading is one of the best reading strategies to assist with reading. In a school that is described above, small grouping and differentiation are HUGE and vital to student achievement. Guided reading allows for these two factors (small groups and differentiation) to take place as constant grouping and regrouping occurs for particular skills the students need.
As you mentioned, books are limited if not absent in homes of our young readers. At my school (very low-income), we allow students to check out 2 books at a time. It is amazing at how this privilege impacts the lives of these students. They love going to the media center!
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that guided reading is essential to student literacy growth because they will be grouped and regrouped according to their ability and different struggles. Differentiation is essential in order to meet students specific needs. However, read-alouds are also vital because it exposes the students more and more vocabulary and experiences they may not have had on their own. This will also teach them various reading strategies as well as an example of fluency.
I also mentioned allowing students to bring books home along with a few activities that may go along with the book, so that it can also get the parents involved.
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteI also found it very important that students, especially those of a lower SES, are given opportunities to check out and take age appropriate books home. The students at my old school were very similar to the students described in the situation posed for this instructional challenge. My teammates and I wanted to get the students reasonably priced, meaningful gifts for the holidays. We found that Scholastic sold $1 books. We gave each student a book that was appropriate for their reading levels and we believed would be of interest to them. It was amazing to see how excited and grateful the students were to receive these books! I would recommend this to any teacher. It is so important that children are given the opportunity to read at home from age-appropriate and books of interest. I whole-heartedly believe that the more children read, the better readers they will become.
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteGuided reading is definitely important for all students and was extremely helpful for the students I worked with during my student teaching. I spent my student teaching experience in a school similar to the example provided for us. The students were all eager to learn, but many of them were below grade level and did not have access to a lot of books outside of the classroom. My CT had a leveled library in her classroom and allowed students to "check out" books from there and take home to read silently or aloud to a family member. They had the opportunity to choose a book that interested them as long as it was on their level. The students LOVED it and were very responsible with the books they took home! The parents even mentioned how great it was and how proud they were of their children during parent teacher conferences.
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteI too found it important for students to have the opportunity to read at home. Allowing students to check out books is a great idea inside the classroom. Some students may not have the proper resources to be able to read at home. I feel as though it is very important to provide students with the opportunity to read at home. Realizing that not every student in your class may be provided the opportunity to read at home is very important to recognize. Giving students the opportunity to take home a book in order to read is a great way for a student to become a fluent reader!