In Depth Comprehension

We read a book about lightning.  We were talking about questioning yourself while reading.  What do you already know? What don't you understand? Why does that happen? and many others.  I would do a read aloud and they would have sticky notes.  After each page we would stop and I would choose 3 questions that they have.  We would discuss these questions and try to determine if we could answer them now, after reading, or would have to look up to find out.  We would keep reading and find out if we answered those questions and answer and discuss new questions.  It took us a week to get through the book but the questions and discussions that we had were very in depth and higher order thinking questions.  This helps them understand that when you are reading you don't just keep reading, sometimes in order to understand you have to stop and ask questions.  Writing them down helps and I always have sticky notes for reading time.  They have learned to stop and question throughout reading to help them better understand and dig deeper into the meaning of the book.  This is a great strategy and the students like it.

Data Sorts

Twice a year we have data sorts.  We have a reading intervention period four times a week for 30 minutes called PAWS.  We have 5 different groups and categorize the students according to their SIPPS assessment, reading ability, fluency, and classroom observations. I teach 4th grade and we have a handful of students still below 1st grade reading level.  A lot of them are between 2-3rd grade reading level so we have 3 levels for that working on phonemic awareness, phonics, and word recognition on different levels.  The last group is called the enhancement group and this is readers on or above grade level readers.  I work with this group and we talk about questioning the author, text features, and higher level thinking questioning.  We have done projects that take a book and pick a subject in that book and dig deeper to find out more about that subject. Then they present them to the class.  Halfway through the year we bring out the cards and reevaluate our groups and see if anyone has moved up or down.  This is tough because you don't want to have too big of a group, yet you need to think of what is best for the students achievement. What do you do when the lowest group is not showing improvement?  What happens then? They are already in RtI. 

I have Who has

I was introduced to a game called I have who has. This is a fun vocabulary or concepts game where you have a card that has Who has and a definition or examples, and another student has I have and the answer.  This is great for fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  They have to read it out loud and I have them read it 3 times to make sure they understand and can hear.  Then they have to think about what card they have and decide if that is the answer, so they have to comprehend what was read and connect that to their vocabulary knowledge to determine if they have the correct answer.  Then the student who has the answer stands up and reads I have .....  Then it circles again.  This is a great way to get the whole class involved. They love playing it a couple times in a row and timing themselves and trying to beat their time.  This is a fun and exciting way to work on fluency, vocabulary and comprehension and at the same time having fun with it.

vocabulary

My students have been struggling with vocabulary.  So I decided to add some music to it.  I found a science teacher that writes songs and posts them on all different science topics.  I have the students read the chapter and we write down the words. Then I print out the words to the song and have them listen first to the song.  Then we replay it a couple times and have them sing along with the video.  We repeat this everyday and they love it.  They are going home singing and teaching others the song.  This has helped them to add music to what they are learning and they don't realize that they are really learning it.  To see them during the test singing the song in their head, lets me know that it is working.  This is a fun way to learn vocabulary and the students love it.

Family Involvment

Involving the family in their students education is one of my top priorities. I have been struggling at my school with this.  I have tried to keep communications open and regular with the parents, but only a few choose to respond.  We have sent recommendations home about how to help students read and enjoy at home, but few return the logs.  I have personally made flash cards and vocabulary cards for them to read and have fun with at home, but many don't use them.  It is very frustrating when a child is struggling and you have no help at home.  When we have a book report that is due at the end of the nine weeks, many have to do it at school or don't do it because they get no help at home.  Homework is turned in by less that 50% of the students.  I try and call parents at home to give suggestions of how they can work with their child, but only a few are involved.  I think this is sad because so many of these students could learn so much more if their parents would be involved with their learning.  A lot of these parents think that learning is only done at school and they should do all work at school.  This is why we are struggling as teachers because there is lack of support.  Is there anything else we could do?  I am open to many other suggestions.

Fluency

Fluency is a very difficult thing for my students to do.  Most of them love to read aloud but they stumble on every other word.  Most of my students are below 3rd grade level, and I teach 4th grade.  I have been helping with fluency by having them repeat after me.  During math or science, I read the problem or sentence and have them read after me.  In math I have them reread throughout the word problem and go back and underline and circle what the information they need to know.  This way they are not just reading fluently, they are comprehending what they read and being able to explain why it is important.  In science, I read the sentence with the vocabulary word and it's definition and have them reread (several times) what I read.  Then I ask for someone to put it in their own words.  They have gotten a little bit better with fluency, but this is something that takes a lot of repetition and hard work for them to succeed.

comprehension

I have been working on comprehension with Science.  Teaching students to read non fiction and comprehend is very different than narrative or fiction.  We broke down how we can read it, by using text features that are used in non fiction.  Pointing out the pictures with captions, subtitles, and bold or highlighted words has helped them to understand better what they are reading.  I also have them do a vocabulary card, saying what that word means, how we use it, why we use it, and draw a picture.  This helps them understand better what we are learning.  I make sure that when we are having discussions that we are using those vocabulary words in our conversations.  I have them tell each other what they read and sometimes have them teach their subtopic to the class.  This has helped them understand more in depth of what they are learning and has helped with their comprehension of the subjects.

assessment

We have to do LBA testing on our students.  This is like benchmark testing throughout the year.  The hard part is that they are on the computers.  Most of my students don't have computers at home and only see or go on them at school.  I think that this might be an easier way to assess them, but for some of them it is very difficult.  They don't know how to click correctly, or just guess.  I watched some of them take their assessment and they were just clicking on all different things.  I don't feel that this is a great assessment for this type of demographics.  They are not used to computers and therefore I don't think that you can get the best assessment of their abilities by using computers. Now the FCAT is going computerized making it even harder for those that are not familiar with technology.  Is this really helping our students?

RtI

After reading the Response to Intervention I know that it is supposed to help students, but in my classroom I find it a way for my students to get out of the lesson time and just work on intervention.  I have a student who is struggling in math. Our only intervention is the FasttMath on the computer.  So, I have been instructed to put her on the computer everyday.  She also has a behavior RtI.  When it is time for math she wants to go on the computer as soon as I start the lesson.  If I don't let her, then she pitches a fit until I let her.  She is going on the computer during the lesson, which means she is not learning anything new.  According to the philosophy of RtI this intervention is supposed to help her better herself in math, yet because she disrupts class, talks and whines until she goes on the computer, she goes during lesson.  If I don't then it disrupts the others so they don't learn.  She was told by our Math Coach that she has to go on everyday, so she uses that to her advantage and "wants" to go on when the lesson starts getting hard.  I was told to let her because of the behavior issue.  I don't see how this is helping her out at all.  She is getting further and further behind, yet because of the "No Child Left Behind" they won't hold her back again because she was held back in 1st grade.  How is this helping the student at all? I thought that RtI was supposed to help them? This bothers me because I see more use in spending one on one time with her, not on the computer doing multiplication facts during the lesson. 

Starting Up

I am using this blog for my RED 6845 class for my Masters in Reading!  I am so excited this will be my last semester before my practicum.