Week Eight Assignment One

• How did the kindergarten teachers, Sheila Owens and John Sinnett, incorporate elements of emergent literacy in their lessons? Which elements were the primary focus of the lessons? 

            The two kindergarten teachers in the video both made excellent use of a Word Wall. The Word Wall was designed as a wall full of letters from the alphabet with words attached underneath specific letters. These words were challenging for the students to remember or understand and would get replaced with new words once the students have mastered the word on the Word Wall.

            Sheila Owens had her students make sentences using the Word Wall. It was great to see her students forming sentences and having the students recite the sentence one student would try to make. This enabled full class participation on the students part and helped ensure that the sentences that the student was forming made sense. John Sinnett on the other hand used his Word Wall indirectly. He had his students read off of a poster that he created with missing word and letters. This is a great idea towards having students learn from contextual clues on missing words or the meaning of difficult words that they might not understand. The students were encouraged to go up to the poster to write the correct answer. This type of activity encouraged the use of all the students.

• What part did oral language play in both classrooms? 

            Oral language plays a huge part in reading development. If a child cannot verbally express what they are reading we cannot accurately test their reading skills. The English language is a very complex language to learn and we need to ensure that our students comprehend each word. Sometimes the words on paper look nothing like how they are pronounced. It is therefore necessary for students to verbally express the language to ensure they are learning the tricks and complicated words properly.

• How did each teacher use the Word Wall to support word study? 

            The Word Wall was used to have students reflect upon words they are currently learning. Students can look at the Word Wall during any activity, if need be, and can remember what letter the word begins with. In John Sinnett’s class, he holds a small ceremony for taking a word off of the Word Wall once his students have mastered that word.

• What were examples of planned, explicit instruction in these excerpts? What were examples of opportunistic instruction? 

            In Sheila Owen’s class she was able to have her students form sentences using the Word Wall. One student would grab the “pointer” and make his or her own sentence on using the Word Wall. The other students were encouraged to read this child’s sentence to ensure that it was accurate and followed all of the guidelines of the English language.

            Sheila Owen’s also encouraged her students to create sentences during independent reading time. It would be a great way for her students to practice on how to form mature sentences and it is great use of the Word Wall while they have it right there in front of them.

• Both kindergarten teachers used whole-class instruction for their word study lessons. How did it meet the needs of all students? 

            All of the students in both of the kindergarten teachers’ classrooms participated I the activities. In order to ensure that everyone was participating the teachers’ would ask their students to please say out loud the sentences being read or the word that is used in the text. In order to meet the needs of all students I think the teachers observed the students participation and guided those who did not know the correct answer into a way that encourages them to try again and reward them when they succeed.