Week Thirteen Assignment Two

How can you build assessment into your instruction? 

         Teachers are actively assessing their students throughout all of their lessons. When teachers ask students questions to ensure comprehension, they are gaining feedback from the students to determine if they understand the material or if need for further instruction or explanation is necessary. We can take anecdotal notes throughout the school day, maybe by observing 3-5 students per day, to see progress in these students.

How can you document ongoing classroom assessment? 

         By taking anecdotal notes we are constantly checking our students for understanding. It is important to observe our students on a daily or weekly basis to ensure that they do not fall behind and is able to keep up with the material. If a child shows signs that they are falling behind a teacher can be sure to notice this at an early stage and begin to intervene. There are a variety of different documents used to take anecdotal notes. In all of these types of documentation there should be content standards present in each note taken. Teachers will be looking for signs that content-related material is understood and the students are able to meet these standards.

What is the difference between standards and benchmarks, and how do they impact your teaching? 

         Standards are classified as global statements. These statements are what our students should be able to perform or comprehend. Benchmarks, on the other hand, are what teachers expect their students to be able to perform or comprehend by their specific grade level. The benchmarks are brought down from standards that say what a specific grade-level student should be able to do by the end of that school year.

How do end-of-the-year benchmarks influence daily assessment? 

We need to ensure that our students are making progress daily for a larger goal that teachers have in mind. Teachers should be working together with the other grades to help student reach the expectations that we have of our students by the end of the year. The idea is describes as a staircase effect. Our kindergarten teacher has the students take the first step. The first grade teacher helps the students reach the second step and so on. We need to be seeking this evidence of comprehension as we are teaching. That is, we are constantly using different types of assessments such as having our students answer questions or writing a short piece to demonstrate progress.

How can you make anecdotal records useful and manageable? 

Our anecdotal records need to be neat and organized. We also want to ensure that there is no unnecessary language in the anecdotal records. That is, our notes should be quick and to the point. It is also important that teachers are observing approximately 3-5 students per school day. This will ensure that the teacher is able to write down significant events rather than losing their notes because they are simply trying to remember too much information. It is also important that the teacher observes a few students at a time to ensure that the information will not be lost due to short term memory confusion.

Discuss your experience using rubrics. What changes might you make after watching the video? 

                  I enjoy using rubrics because it provides students with information that tells them my expectations. If students have no idea what is expected of them than we really cannot grade them accurately or fairly. Every child should have an equal opportunity to do well. By using a rubric I am telling my students, “This is the assignment and what I expect of you. In order to receive a good grade follow the key points I outlined and you will do well.” After watching the video, I will provide my students with a rubric of every assignment that is given to them. If I am asking my students to perform at a certain level than they should be equipped with all the necessary material to ensure that they have an equal opportunity to do so.

How can students use rubrics to guide learning? 

                  Students can guide their assessment by following the rubric exactly. If the rubric says, “Provide three examples from the text” and the student only provides one they can assume they will not receive a good grade. Rubrics also motivate and inspire students to perform well. If a child knows what is expected than they are more likely to complete everything they can to the best of their ability to do well.

Describe how portfolios are developed and how they can be used as an assessment tool. 

Portfolios are a collection of material that the student has produced throughout the school year. The selection of material that goes into the portfolio should show progress and not just “good graded assignments”. Students can reflect back on what they learned and how they understand it better later. For example, teachers can show students their writing at the beginning of the year in comparison to the end of the year. Students will be able to see the improvements they have made and learn more about themselves. Teacher can see if the students are making progress throughout the year. It is a guided tool that tells the teacher if the students need to relearn something or if they are on the correct path towards achieving their long-term goal. 

Why are high-stakes tests not always accurate measures of student learning? 

                  High-stakes tests are assessments taken one time. This does not show progression of student learning and is not designed to address higher-level skills. A student taking a high-stakes test could be having a bad day on the day of the test or could not feel well prior to taking the test. Students are not generally motivated to taking high-stakes tests and often do not care about the scores they receive on these tests.

What are the best ways to prepare students for high-stakes assessments? 

                  The best way to prepare students for high-stakes assessments is to ensure that they have a rich curriculum prior to taking the test. We can also teach our students how to bubble in an answer and write about a specific topic in a certain time period. Our students need to have a solid foundation of learning prior to taking the high-stakes test. We need to have our students take away from this learning experience. In order for our students to perform well on thee high-stakes test we need to offer the assessment as just another challenge for our students.

How does assessment help differentiate instruction? 

                  Assessments show the teacher a point at which all of the students are. If teachers need to reteach material to a small group of students, they can have the other students work on a different assignment while they give small-group instruction. Sometimes teacher receive assessment scores that state a handful of students are having trouble transitioning paragraphs. If the entire class does not need to relearn this material than the teacher can take a few students aside to work on this material. There are, however, some moments that the teacher needs to use whole-group instruction to learn a new idea. This is beneficial when introducing a new topic or of it is something that all of the students are required to know.

How can you use assessment results to create small, flexible groupings in your classroom? 

                  The results of an assessment tell the teacher how the students are performing. We can group students by ability due to their performance on an assessment or we can group students based on high/low performance on an assessment. The ideas of grouping students based on assessment results are endless. As I have already stated, teachers can take a small group of students that did not perform well on an assessment and reteach the lesson that the rest of the class was able to comprehend. The other student can then work on another assignment that might ask of higher level thinking skills.

Based on what you learned in the video, what changes might you make in your assessment practices? 

                   I would definitely want to use anecdotal records to measure student progress. This is also an extremely useful tool when having a parent-teacher conference. We can bring up specific dates that the student demonstrates a specific behavior and measure progress with the material. For example, the standards of a third grader might be to read for comprehension. One ESL student might not even be able to recognize the English language on paper. If by the end of the year that same student is able to read a few paragraphs of English material but not able to understand it, we as the teacher have made progress with the student. It does not matter that he or she is not meeting third grade standards but that he or she learned something and made tremendous strides throughout the school year.

Week Thirteen Assignment One

            The Anecdotal Records Assessment, ARA, allows teachers to monitor student progress over a long period of time. This type of assessment is authentic and meaningful as it explores various content standards and demonstration of understanding to these standards. In the bigger picture, standard-based assessments use quantitative measurements. On the smaller scale, using rubrics, student profiles and anecdotal records use qualitative measurements. While using anecdotal records we might record an unintended outcome of a learning activity. Anecdotal records also prove to be a useful tool when approaching parents or administrators about a student with specific needs. The idea of ARA is to observe the children in their natural instructional settings. This requires planning and preparation on the teachers’ part. The only issue teachers’ run into is the idea of a limited time frame. As long as the teachers write observable data, use abbreviations, write records in the past tense and avoid redundancy this type of measured assessment will help gain perspective on how much the student has progressed or regressed. I will be able to see insight as to how much a student has grown in a short period of time and also be able to look out for intervention that might be necessary.

Week Twelve Assignment Two

My Prezi Presentation is linked below. Enjoy!

http://prezi.com/94a4qfbugb29/present/?auth_key=p7i33ot&follow=t_glrufnxued&kw=present-94a4qfbugb29&rc=ref-38788147

Week Twelve Assignment One

After viewing all of the different links on the website provided, I learned a lot of new things about literacy instruction.  One of the tools I enjoyed the most was the Story Spine. This is a structured outline that takes a story from beginning to end. There are unfinished sentences such as, “Once upon a time… Everyday… But one day… Because of that… Until finally… Ever since then… and the moral of the story…” The author also suggests having the students’ “improv” a story where each student adds a new line to create a truly unique story.

It is also important to have students create a story using paper first. This will allow students to write a authentic story before adding all of the animation with the use of a computer. Beranjean Porter state, “A story should be remembered for its soul and not the bells and whistles.” Porter’s statement is important because it reminds teachers and students that the most important part of a story is the moral or the creative writing within it. Some students mistake the idea that the teacher wants to hear all of the animation going on in the story rather than listening to the moral of the story or learning something new about the story.

One of the authors of the articles that I viewed suggested that when students are struggling with writing should record their oral story using a microphone. I really like this idea because for some students writing does not come natural to them. Instead students that struggle with the written language might find it easier to tell their story verbally. When the students record their stories using a microphone they can playback the soundtrack and write their story from there.

Teachers need to be careful when they are planning lessons that involve a key piece of technology. Some questions that the teachers need to ask themselves are, “How ill I teach with technology? What technology centers will I have this week? How will I manage the center? What will my students write about this week? How will my students illustrate their stories? What stage of writing are my students at this week?” All of these questions need to be answered prior to the production of the lesson. If the lesson involves the use of a computer or a SmartBoard, the teacher should ensure that they have an alternative lesson plan in case technical difficulties occur.

In today’s society, our children need to be computer literate. It becomes difficult to participate in this technologically advanced world if students are unable to efficiently use Microsoft Word or even Goggle Doc’s. Google Doc’s allows students to collaborate with one another from distant locations. In one of my other classes I am using Google Doc’s to work with two other students on one collaborative project. The demand for higher technology is asking our students to learn the latest material and the latest programs. Our students will lead the new generation with the tools necessary to improve our world.

Week Eleven Assignment Three

Mini Lesson One

(The Three Little Pigs)

Description of Lesson:

Students will listen to the story, The Three Little Pigs. After listening to the story, students will work together in groups of three or four to complete a Cause and Effect chart using specific details from the story. Each group will receive their own copy of the book for comprehension purposes. Once each group had finished their Cause and Effect chart we will work as a class to create a class Cause and Effect chart using the SmartBoard. Students will discuss briefly about what they learned when creating their chart and ways to improve their comprehension using the chart.

Standards Addressed:

ü      Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

ü      Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

ü      Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1)      Students will join the teacher on the reading carpet to listen to the story of The Three Little Pigs.

2)      Students will get together into groups of 3-4 and complete their own Cause and Effect chart.

3)      Students will briefly discuss what they learned in their group and what details they used to determine what the causes of the story were and the effect occurred.

4)      Students will work together to create a class Cause and Effect chart.

5)      Students will choose from a list of three stories including, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Boy who cried Wolf, and Jack and the Beanstalk.

6)      Students will read the book that they have chose for homework and complete their own Cause and Effect Chart that will be collected the following day.

Adaptations:

            Larger print text will be available to students who have visual impairments. Audio recording will also be provided for students with disabilities.

Homework/Extended Learning:

Students will choose from a list of three stories including, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Boy who cried Wolf, and Jack and the Beanstalk. They will read the book that they have chose for homework and complete their own Cause and Effect Chart that will be collected the following day.

Mini Lesson Two

(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Description of Lesson:

            Students will listen to the story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After listening to the story, students will work together on the reading carpet to successfully complete an Idea Web. Students will decide on a specific idea that they can all agree would be the main point of the story. With the use of open-ended questions and guided questions, students will slowly branch out different ideas for their idea web. After the Idea Web is complete, students will return to their seats and write approximately one to two paragraphs about how the Idea Web helped them understand the story and how they came up with the ideas for the class Idea Web. Students will share their reflections with the class. As a homework assignment, students will create their own Idea Web by putting their name in the middle and branching out different things about themselves that the class might not have known.

Standards Addressed:

ü      Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

ü      Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

ü      Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1)      Students will get together on the reading carpet in order to listen to the story, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

2)      Students will participate in a class discussion about what the main idea or main point of the story was.

3)      Students will continue to discuss various ideas that branch off of the main idea that they came up with earlier.

4)      Students will support their answers with specific details from the story.

5)      Students will return to their desks and write approximately one to two paragraphs about how the Idea Web that the class created helped them understand the story and how they came up with their ideas for the different branches.

6)      Students will write their name in the Idea Web and complete their own Idea Web for homework about what the class may or may not have known about them.

7)      Students will share their Idea Web the following day.

Adaptations:

            An example of an Idea Web will be shown to students who are having difficulty coming up with their own different branches of ideas. They will be able to use the guided Idea Web to show their parents at home so that the parents will know what is to be expected for homework.

Homework/Extended Learning:

            Students will create their own Idea Web with their name and fill in different things about themselves that others may or may not have known. They will share their Idea Web the following day with the class.

Mini Lesson Three

(Frederick Douglass)

Description of Lesson:

            Students will have just finished learning about Frederick Douglass and his influence on the Civil Rights Movement in their history lesson. Students will be grouped into pairs based on their ability level in history-related content area and will be given a short biography about Frederick Douglass. A short preview of what a Timeline chart would be expected to look like when finished will be shown. This preview will include a timeline of how the students spend their normal day in my classroom. (Students enter class, students take out homework, students copy down notes on the board…etc) With the use of a Timeline, students will work together to try and piece the different parts of Frederick Douglass’ life in chronological order. After each pair has finished their Timeline chart we will share our ideas about the important events that occurred in Frederick Douglass’ life.

           

Standards Addressed:\

ü      Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

ü      Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

ü      Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1)      Students will be grouped into pairs based on history-content level ability.

2)      Students will follow a demonstration about how to use a Timeline chart.

3)      Students will read together a short biography on Frederick Douglass and his influence on the Civil Rights Movement.

4)      Students will work together to complete a Timeline chart about the important events that occurred in Frederick Douglass’ life.

5)      Students will participate in a class discussion about which events they believed were significant in Frederick Douglass’s life.

6)      Students will write in their history journals for homework about their experience with using a Timeline chart and how it can be useful for different types of projects.

Adaptations:

             Students with visual impairments will be given larger print text to read. Students with disabilities will also be given an alternative worksheet that will specifically outline how the Timeline chart should look when finished.

Homework/Extended Learning:

             Students will write in their history journals about their experience with the Timeline chart and how it can be useful for different types of projects. Their journals will be checked the following day.

Week Eleven Assignment Two

            The video narrated by Professor Duke and outlined comprehension taught me a variety of different things. Teaching comes naturally to those who are destined to do so. It is in our nature to understand how to help students and to be enthusiastic about students’ progress. Educators go to school to fine tune these skills and to practically apply it to practice. The video that was provided demonstrated a variety of different strategies I could use to ensure that my students comprehend the material that is introduced to them.

            I am not currently teaching at this point in time. However, every strategy that is outlined in the video would be a prime example of what I would do in my classroom. It is clear to me on how to help students’ comprehension in their reading.. The video was useful because it confirmed what I had already believed and also helped me see that I was on the correct path towards comprehension strategies. I would like to implement many of these strategies in my classroom. One of my favorite things to do is to model what I want the students to be able to do. It is important for my students to be able to look up to someone for an example of how to behave. When I am reading a story to my students I would love to stop and ponder different thoughts as I am reading and include my students on the discussion I am having with myself.

            One of my other favorite things to do is to have group discussions. I enjoy when students can toss their ideas back and forth in an environment that they feel safe to do so. The classroom should be an environment of which students feel safe to try new things and new ideas in front of their peers. Class discussions help students learn from each other and have an opportunity to ask a fellow classmate his or her opinion on the same topic. When I enter a classroom I am eager to try all of these new ideas and to help as many students become good readers as I can. I will ensure that my students have plenty of independent reading time where I can work with small groups or individual students. I want my students to have the love for reading that I had as a student. The students that are able to read frequently will typically be able to exercise the most comprehension.

Week Eleven Assignment One

What do good readers do?

            The video describes various strategies that students can use to ensure that they comprehend the text. One strategy that stuck with me was the think aloud strategy. This is when a student is reading and actively thinking aloud about what they are reading. It may suggest that after a student reads a paragraph or a main idea that he or she is able to talk out loud about what it is that he or she just read. The video also discussed that good readers are able to react to the text. If a child is reading a book about a young student who feels left out because she is new at school, a good reader would being to express the emotions that he or she is feeling while they are reading about this young student. It is possible that the reader could know a young student just like the one in the book and that he or she can relate or understand how the young student in the book is feeling based on prior life experience.

            Another strategy that I really enjoyed is that good readers ask themselves questions. If a child is able to ask a question out loud than he or she is actively thinking about the situation of which that question is applied. This will also help students make meaning of the material as they read along. It is also important for students to preview the text and see what type of style it is written in. A good reader may want to skim through the book prior to reading it to determine how the book is structured and why the author might have used the illustrations that they used.

What can teachers do to develop comprehension?

            The video provided a long list of ideas that teachers can do to help improve comprehension in their students. These suggestions are teaching strategies, building vocabulary, building background knowledge, providing opportunities to comprehend, teaching about the text, enabling discussions, encouraging writing, and ensuring authenticity. Each of these suggestions is important towards improving students reading comprehension. It is great when a teacher can sit with a small group of students or individual students to monitor progress and go over different comprehension strategies. It is also important for teachers to be able to model the different comprehension strategies. For example when students are participating in a shared reading activity in which the teacher is reading to the students, it would be beneficial for the teacher to demonstrating thinking aloud while he or she is reading and asking questions as the text continues.

            Another important suggestion that the video provided was asking open-ended questions. A child can gain a wider knowledge span if the teacher is able to ask question that do not have a simple yes or no answer. The open-ended questions encourage the students to think about the text and to make connections with their own life that they would have had trouble doing on their own. Teachers should also make as many opportunities for students to read as possible. Anytime that a child can get his or her hands on a piece of text along with a worksheet or a handout to help boost comprehension is helpful. One of the research projects that Professor Duke was working on showed that teachers that had their students write a lot proved to be more effective in comprehension. Students that are writing in other content areas are increasing their knowledge on different topics and are also learning to read to understand.

What can teachers do to help struggling readers?                                         

            In the video Professor Duke suggests that students who are identified as struggling readers need a more intense coaching experience. The teacher should meet with the struggling readers at least twice a week for a one-on-one or a small group experience to go over the comprehension strategies and to ensure that they are not falling behind but instead that they are making progress. These small group learning experiences also help the teacher monitor the students both with reading and with text structure.

Teachers should be teaching their students to make adjustments while they are reading. A child should be aware if they do not understand what they are reading. If they do not understand the text than the teacher should be teaching them different strategies towards adjusting their reading to ensure comprehension is taking place. One of the adjustment strategies suggests that students reread what it is they did not comprehend. Another type of strategy would be the use of graphic organizers or alternative material provided by the teacher to help boost comprehension.

Week Ten Assignment Three

What are the benefits of the assessment strategies Professor Ruiz proposes? 

            A writing portfolio helps students see progression over a period of time. Students are able to locate mistakes made in previous assignments and are able to make corrections so that they do not make the same mistake again. It also shows students that they are actively learning each day. When students see mistakes in assignments at the beginning of a year and look at a piece of work from the middle of the year they can compare how much they have progressed. I also like that students are given a choice about what they choose to write about. This allows students to experiment with the different styles of writing.

What benefits and challenges do portfolios present? 

            This question was answered in the response to the question above.

Describe your experience with more formal assessments such as the monthly writing assessment Professor Ruiz describes. What are the challenges of incorporating formal assessments into your curriculum? How might you address them? 

            I am not currently teaching yet so this question is difficult to answer. I would break my formal writing assignments into different parts so that my students can focus on the smaller ideas without being overwhelmed by the whole idea. As with any writing assignment I believe that the teacher is left up to judgment with word choice and syntax. One child can write a piece for one teacher that sounds flawless and another teacher might change a few words or rearrange some sentences. The ideas of grading written assignments become more of a personal preference at times in my opinion. In order to eliminate this type of bias judgment the teacher might show the student work to another colleague for their opinion.

Week Ten Assignment Two

What factors support student growth in writing? 

      The video describes three stages of writing that teachers use to help their students become proficient writers. These stages of writing are called: writing to children, writing with children, and writing done by children. The first stage implies that teachers should be doing 75%-100% of all of the writing. Students during this stage are either too young to read or are just learning how to read. The second stage implies that students should be doing about 25%-75%. The teacher should be modeling how to write properly for the children and the children should be doing their best to try and imitate the teachers writing. The final stage is writing done by children which imply that students should be doing 75%-100% of the writing. In the final stage of the writing process, students are most likely handing in assignments that are going to be checked and/or graded by the teacher.

      In order for students to grow in the writing process they need to practice writing as much as possible. It helps students to grow as writers by providing them with a choice about what to write about. Students need to learn how to express the ideas in their heads with the written word. In order for students to be able to express their ideas they need to be given a chance to do so. Teachers should also set aside a specific time in class where the students can use the freedom of choice to write about anything that they choose to write about.

How does a personalized response encourage students in writing? What changes might you consider based on Professor Ruiz's comments and the classroom examples? 

      A personalized response helps students see that writing is important. It also encourages students to see a perfect example of “good” writing. When students are learning how to write it is important that they are given model pieces of writing to observe and analyze. It is also helpful for teachers to read their personalized responses out loud to the children so that they can also hear what a good sample of writing sounds like.

      I appreciated the idea of students having writing portfolios. It is important for the teacher, the parents and the students to see examples of the child’s progression over a period of time. This enables the students to see mistakes they have made and help improve on their writing skills. I also enjoyed the idea of having both the teacher and the student select pieces to place in the portfolio. This idea gives the students ownership of their work and allows for the teacher to select work in which he or she feels is important to the writing process.

Consider the opportunities you provide for student discussion before writing. How could you increase those opportunities? What kinds of writing exercises lend themselves to discussion? 

      I am not currently teaching so this question would be difficult for me to answer. In an ideal classroom I would choose to have my students complete an independent writing task every day for approximately 15-20 minutes. This writing task would instruct that my students write about a personal experience, a short story they are thinking of writing, a future event that they are excited for, their mood of the day and why and other which means they can write about anything that they feel is important to share. It would also be ideal to have my students share their writing pieces with the class at the end of independent writing time. This type of activity would allow my students to be proud of their writing and will \provide them with an opportunity to share their ideas with the class.

How can you provide models of writing for your students? 

      My students will have models of writing in almost everything that they do. They will read the instructions from an assignment as well as short poems for literacy projects. It is important to provide my students with a wide variety of different writing styles such as emotional writing, storytelling writing, expository writing, essay writing and so on. Students need to be aware that the writing that they choose needs to be appropriate for the assignment of which they are asked to complete. With every writing assignment I will provide a model that my students should look to so that they are equipped with the tools they need to be proficient writers.

How can you enhance the use of oral language to promote students' writing skills? 

            I believe that my students should read, out loud, everything that they write. I tell some of the children I work with “Say it out loud. If it sounds funny or if it doesn’t make sense you should probably reword it.” If students are reading a book they expect it to sound flawless. I encourage students that the same idea goes for their writing. When students are writing their own pieces of work they should read what they wrote out loud and listen to how it sounds.

Ween Ten Assignment One

Discuss the components of an effective writing program and why they are important. 

            An effective writing program enables students to perform well with and without a prompt from the teacher. Students learn to take ownership of their writing skills and to utilize these skills in their everyday writing experiences. There are three different components that make up an effective writing program. The three categories are personal connections, writing conventions and inventions. It is important that students are able to make personal connections with their writing, with their content area, and with their daily learning materials. Students should be given an opportunity to express their personal experiences in their writing. This personal connection can be done by providing the students with choices about what they want to write about.

            The next important component of an effective writing program is writing conventions. Students, of any age, need to remember the important parts of writing such as punctuation, grammar, spelling, syntax, sentence structure and vocabulary. Teachers are encouraged to work on no more than two writing conventions at one time. Students in grades 3-5 are unable to focus properly when introduced to three or more writing conventions at the same time. The final component of an effective writing program is invention. Students should be given a chance to invent a piece of writing that is entirely their own. It provides students with the opportunity to express something that they had created in their own mind and give them an opportunity to be creative. Teachers are encouraged to publish student work around the classroom so that students can be proud of what they had created. This also shows students that there is an authentic purpose for writing.

How might you rearrange your schedule to create more time for students to write in general and, in particular, for students to write about their personal experiences? 

            I would like to provide my students with independent writing time. This time would allow my students to write about anything that they want to write about such as a daily journal, a creative story, an essay for another class and so on. I have entertained the idea of allowing my students to write about personal experiences at the very beginning of class. This would allow my students to recall experience from either the weekend or from the night before while it was fresh in their mind.

How can you create ways for students to make personal connections in different subject areas through writing? 

            I would like to model writing for my students in order to show them how personal connections can be made through different subject areas. Some students might not see a connection right away but with the given examples of how it is possible I believe my students will find it easier to make a connection with the other subject areas. This, in my opinion, is an extremely hard skill to accomplish. If we have our students try to work on this at a young age I believe it will come naturally to them in their middle school and high school years. 

How can student work help you decide which conventions to teach? 

            If I take a collection of student work from the entire class and they all have the same conventional error it would make my decision on which writing convention to work with first. For example, if 18 out of 24 of my students have trouble with grammar I would be more likely to work on a lesson that addressing the proper and improper use of grammar. I would also like to show my students an example of the same error in a piece I had created and show them exactly how to fix it. This will enable my students to be able to edit their own pieces of work without being prompted by the teacher. 

When can you promote student inventions and experimentation with different formats in writing? 

            I believe as a teacher we can promote student inventions in writing at any point in time. It is only beneficial for our students to be able to experiment with different pieces of writing when they feel that they are ready. I do not believe the teacher can say when a student is ready to write a narrative piece or an expository piece unless the student feels comfortable when writing in their independent writing period.

Week Nine Assignment Three

            The QRI-5 reading inventory and the DIBELS reading assessments are both useful tools towards analyzing students’ progress in basic early literacy skills. These assessments are used by trained professionals who try to locate any problems are flaws in a child’s basic reading skills. Once these problems are labeled, these professionals are now find appropriate instructional tools to help students progress to the next level and feel confident as readers.

            Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 is very similar to a running record. The student first reads a word list that is two grades below their grade level. If the student is able to complete the list at an independent level then the student will proceed to the next grade word list. Once a child is able to reach an instructional level with the world list then they will begin an expository or a narrative text reading assessment. The examiner will ask the student questions relating to the text in order to determine how much prior knowledge the student has on the subject matter. The student will then proceed towards reading the passage to the best of his or her ability. After the reading of the passage is complete, the examiner will ask the student questions about what he or she has just read.

            The QRI-5 is able to determine what level the students reading ability is on and how much comprehension the student have after reading the passages provided. This assessment is scored like a running record in terms of fluency, miscue analysis and comprehension after reading any type of text. The examiners will be able to determine if the student has word identification trouble, comprehension difficulty and how fast, slow or on target their reading fluency is.

            DIBELS reading assessment is comprised of seven different measures. These different measures include phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Each of these different parts plays an important role in a child’s basic early literacy skills. There are different types of assessments that are used to measure the different parts of a child’s reading ability. Without the proper function of each of these subcategories a child will have great difficulty moving forward in reading and increasing the grade level of which he or she is able to read at. The examiner usually demonstrates the behavior they are seeking prior to the child being assessed. If a child needs to be prompted for an answer the examiner will ask the student one time of what they are looking for. These assessments are also timed and require a great deal of attention for a short period of time for each student.

            The QRI-5 and the DIBELS reading assessments are similar in many different ways. These two reading assessments are seeking for behaviors of good readers. They are observing if a child is able to read fluently without much prompt from the teacher or examiner. These assessments also test for a students’ comprehension on the text of which they were asked to read. Fluency and comprehension are two of the most important parts of reading. There are, however, many more parts of a child’s reading ability that can be tested but the idea of fluency and comprehension is what the QRI-5 and DIBELS have in common.

            Although the QRI-5 and DIBELS are very similar they are different in a few ways. The QRI-5 assessments take a much longer period of time for completion. The DIBELS reading assessments are usually 2-3 minutes long for the student to take the assessment and for the examiner to score the child’s progress. DIBELS reading assessment has a lot of different parts of reading skills and is extremely specific about which type of skill the examiner will be testing for. QRI-5 reading assessment is broader in determining how a child’s reading skills are and for which grade level they are reading form.

            These assessments can be used on a daily or weekly basis in the classroom. Teachers should be testing students’ literacy progress at a very young age to ensure that the students’ do not fall behind and that they are able to keep up with the age-appropriate material. While the teacher has the other students working on a group assignment or on an independent task, he or she can grab one other student to complete a QRI-5 or one of the DIBELS reading assessments and test the child at the same time.

It is necessary for a teacher to test students with reading difficulties on each of the different parts of the DIBELS reading assessments. These assessments are extremely specific and will pinpoint the exact location of the students reading struggles. Once a teacher is able to determine which part of reading skill the student is having difficulty with, he or she can set up alternate instruction or send material home for the parents to work on with their child. By determining the level at which the teachers students are at, the teacher can then being to plan his or her instruction properly and be able to group students based on reading abilities.

Week Nine Assignment Two

            These different links were extremely helpful towards understanding the different test administered under DIBELS. Each component of DIBELS adheres to a specific part of basic literacy skills. With the help of each link provided to us, I was able to learn more about Initial Sound Fluency, Phonemic Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, Oral Reading Fluency, and Retell Fluency. Initial Sound Fluency, ISF, and Phonemic Segmentation Fluency, PSF, both assess a child’s phonemic awareness. On the other hand Nonsense Word Fluency, NWF, assesses a child’s alphabetic principle. Oral Reading Fluency and Retell Fluency assess a child’s ability of accuracy and fluency.

            The Initial Sound Fluency test assesses a child’s ability to recognize and produce the initial sound in an orally presented word. In this test the examiner presents the student with four different pictures. He or she will verbally communicate to the child what each picture is and then asks the child to identify the picture that begins with the sound produced orally by the examiner. This test also asks students to try and produce the beginning sound of a word in the enclosed pictures. This test takes about three minutes to administer and score and also has 20 alternate forms to monitor progress.

            The Phonemic Segmentation Fluency test assesses a student’s ability to segment three and four phoneme words into their original phonemes fluently. This test is very good at predicting where a students reading level would be at a later point in time. The examiner would orally present words of three to four phonemes and asks the student to produce the individual phonemes of this given word. This test takes about two minutes to administer and score and has 20 alternate forms for monitoring progress.

            The Nonsense Word Fluency tests the alphabetic principle. The examiner would present the student with randomly VC and CVC nonsense words and will ask the student to produce either the individual sound of each letter in the nonsense word, produce the sound of the nonsense word or produce the sounds of both the individual letters and the entire nonsense word. The student is given one minute to produce as many letter-sounds as he or she can. The final score is the number of phonemes correct and is administered and calculated in two minutes. It also has over 20 alternate forms for monitoring progress.

            The Oral Reading Fluency and Retell Fluency test assesses the child’s accuracy and fluency with the connected tests. There are two parts to this test which include the first part of Oral Reading Fluency and the second part which is Retell Fluency. The Oral Reading Fluency asks the student to read a set of passages and calculates the number of correct words per minute from the passage. Words that are omitted, substitute, and hesitations that last for more than three seconds are scored as errors. If a child is able to self-correct within three seconds are scored as accurate. There are 20 alternate forms for monitoring progress. The Retell Fluency calculates the number of words used to retell the passage written. A child will be given thirty seconds to tell what he or she has just read. In the retell aspect of this exam, repeated words or phrases do not count as words given and personal experiences that connect with the text are not counted as well.

            These types of assessments of DIBELS are helpful towards understanding specific parts of students’ basic literacy skills. It was helpful to observe a video about administering these types of tests and seeing different examples of scoring these tests. I would be eager to try these types of assessments on my students.

Week Nine Assignment One

            After reviewing each of the different links on DIBELS, I was still a little unsure about what exactly these so called tests were about. I decided to Google the work “DIBELS” and clicked on the second link labeled: http://dibels.org/dibels.html. The information provided by this website was really helpful to understand the breakdown of what exactly the DIBELS tests were for and how they would help teachers assess their students on basic early literacy skills. I learned that DIBELS are comprised of seven different measures of early literacy skills. These tests are used to accurately determine a child’s phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. If students are falling behind at a certain level these tests will help teachers provide early intervention to prevent future literacy problems. Through this website I viewed I was also able to see the history of DIBELS and how it came about. I learned that DIBELS were developed based on Curriculum-Based Measurement, or CBM, measurements and was originally researched at the University of Oregon during 1980’s.

            Once I had gained a little more knowledge on what DIBELS were and how they were administered the websites gave me direct access to scores of students. These scores were helpful towards understanding where the students should be at during the school year and where their literacy skills actually were. I was curious as to why some students were tested at the beginning of the year and why some students were not tested at the beginning of the year. It would also be helpful to know how these tests were administered and how the scores were submitted. The scores of the entire school district were also helpful to see how the different students geographically were similar or different.

QRI-5 with Third Grade Student

            I assessed a third grade student with exceptional reading skills. While I was assessing the students using the given word lists, she passed the 2^nd-5^th grade word lists with amazing results. She was also reading the sixth grade words at an instructional level and reading the seventh grade words at a frustration level. I was only able to extract material up until fifth grade to use for her and she still did extremely well.

            This child was able to read all of the words and self correct herself on all but two words in the Martin Luther King Jr. passage. The only prior knowledge that she had of Martin Luther King Jr. was that he was shot. This child read with such ease and was never prompted to being to reread a word throughout the entire passage. While I asked her questions afterwards about the passage she read she was able to tell me almost specific details from the beginning of the passage but began to have trouble answering the questions from the fourth question on. When she was encouraged to look back in the passage she was able to get six out of eight questions correct on the questions I asked her. This tells me that she is able to understand the material she reads with a chance to look back and reread the passage.

            As a third grade student reading fifth grade material I was extremely proud of her. I would love to assess this child with narrative text and work with her on expression with quotations so that she can be even more successful in her reading. She reads every night with her father for twenty to twenty five minutes to keep her fluency rate high.