Eed 475- Benchmark Assignment Margaret Bush

EED 475- BENCHMARK ASSIGNMENT MARGARET BUSH

GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY

PROFESSOR RAUCH

EED-475

Strategies for teaching and Learning Reading Comprehension Skills and writing

Skills.

The development of literacy skills depends on the cognitive level of the student. When a young child is developing literacy skills if they are developing along a normal continuum they are learning how to read vocabulary words, sentences and they are developing the ability to comprehend what they read. The ability to read vocabulary words is not reading unless the words are comprehended by the reader. Some students develop sight vocabulary but they don’t understand the words that they are reading. How do parents and teachers read books to young children? We read a book to a child who is developing along a normal continuum by encouraging the child to read from left to right because that is how we read in English. We read story books with repetitive lines to help children develop memory and recognition skills when they are reading. Eric Carlyle is a writer of children’s books and one book that I remember that he wrote was titled Brown Bear Brown Bear What do yousee? The same repetitive lineswere seen throughout the book. Lines the respective line was I see. Lines such as I see a black sheep looking at me. I see a blue horse looking at me. I see a green frog looking at me. I see a see a goldfish looking at me. That respective line helped the child to remember the other vocabulary words in the story. Students also learned colors during the reading of this book because we know that horses are not blue but many fairy tales are not always based on real life but children learn vocabulary and comprehension skills from hearing them read or by reading. When children are young we students to read big books with a lot of visuals or picture stimuli. Students remember vocabulary when visual are used at a young age.We use pictures but we also use written print vocabulary so the child can learn how to read sight vocabulary words and eventually learn how to read with fluency. What we don’t want is for a child to memorize words we want the words to generalize into other reading situations.

One strategy that is very effective with young children or older children with reading difficulties is Interactive reading this is a strategy that is used for teaching children how to read also. This type of reading uses a multi-sensory approach such as visual, tactile and auditory modalities to help children learn how to read. Books on tape, books with pictures and tactile props are all ways to teach young children how to read. Tar Heel Reader is a website that is very interactive that website has thousands of books and themes for the beginning reader. The books have the ability to read aloud with the voice of a child, man or woman. The book can be read silently or the teacher can read the book. The child can turn the virtual pages of the book because there is an icon on the bottom of each page that voices turn the page. The child can turn the page with the computer mouse or a touch screen. In order for a child to develop fluency in the area of literacy they must develop vocabulary skills. If a child can hear the child has a good sensory ability to read they can hear the story, feel, smell and touch the story by using their imagination. If words are not familiar to the reader then they will be unable to read with fluency and understanding. A book like Goldilocks and the three little bears most children eyes open wide as that book is read and their senses ride as she enters the bear’shouse. She tries their chairs, eats their porridge finally finding that the little bears porridge is not to cold or hot but it is perfect. She goes upstairs and tries their beds and each bed is too hard or soft that she tries but the baby’s bear is just right. That is a story that you can feel, see, smell, touch, and taste. Props might help the young child but if the child has a good imagination props are not needed. Imagine if you did not have the vocabulary skills to read through this paper you would struggle greatly.

There are two basic ways to teach vocabulary one way is through explicit instruction. When vocabulary is taught by using explicit instruction the instructor tells the child how to pronounce the word and the word is defined for the child. The word can also be taught with a dictionary or any other resource guide that will teach the child the word. Contextual or context clues are another way to teach words to children. Hints in the text that help the child to know an unfamiliar word. It is not enough to know a lot of vocabulary the child needs to learn how to combine vocabulary, create sentences, paragraphs, short stories and books. When a child can comprehend what they are reading then they are truly literate.

Reading with fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy and expression. A good reader can read aloud or silently because they recognize the vocabulary and are able to combine the vocabulary to have meaning in sentences and paragraphs throughout the text that they are reading. In order to read with fluency the reader must understand or comprehend what they are reading. Comprehension is what makes reading flow. Some other strategiesare 1. Preview the text: the reader examines the structure of the text and any illustrations that are in the text (Mathieu). The reader also can developfamiliarity with any unfamiliar vocabulary word that is in the text before reading the text. The preview is a way of analyzing what the contents of the text before the actual text is read so that some level of familiarity is developed (Mathieu). If the book is Tar Beach which is more on a 4th grade level. This young girl dreams about flying as she lays on her roof top that is made of Tar. She eventually either imagines that she is flying or she is actually flying according to the book. She flies through the air and she experiences sky the stars and all of the buildings. She lives in a building in New York City’s Harlem community. Many children in that community don’t have the opportunity to leave their communities but this girl’s imagination allows her to fly and explore other parts of the city besides Harlem. A preview of the vocabulary could be Harlem, New York City, family, building, Tar, Tar beach, stars etc.

2. Listen to fluent reading: a teacher can read the book, a book on tape can be read or a website like Tar Heel Reader or Brain Pop which is another website that readsstories aloud. The text being read by another person before the child reads the book is a good strategy also for the child to listen to expression and pronunciation of the vocabulary (Mathieu). I feel that the teacher, parent or some other adult should be the reader because a human can pace the flow of the reading better.

3. Another strategy is to engage the student in the act of reading: ask questions the students can talk to the text and get a better understanding of the text. Discussions about the text should take place, making predictions, asking and answering questions is a wonderful strategy to develop comprehension skills (Mathieu). 4. Students should Practice Reading aloud: Is one of the best strategies for learning reading comprehension. Many children are very shy about reading aloud and when a child reads aloud they develop the ability to pay closer attention to your pronunciation and comprehension of what you are reading (Mathieu). Also reading aloud increases the ability to read silently with fluency in the future. 5. Answer and ask questions: If the text or book has been comprehended by the reader they should be able to answer questions about the text or book (Mathieu). The best questions to ask and answer are wh-questions i.e.” who,” “what,” “why,” “where,” and “when.” “How” questions could also be asked or answered. “Yes” and “no” questions can be asked but wh-questions allow more opportunities for discussion about the reading material and better assessment of comprehension skills. Students are frequently good at answering questions but they have difficulty asking questions. The strategies that were mentioned can be used with students who are part of the mainstream population and students with language deficits. Students with receptive language deficits have difficulties understanding receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. If a student is having difficulty comprehending vocabulary with regular literacy strategies that are being implemented in the classroom. If understanding vocabulary when classroom the teacher should make a referral to a speech/language evaluator because there could be an auditory comprehension or processing difficulty which is causing the student not to develop comprehension of vocabulary during literacy.

Writing skills is another skill that children develop while they are learning literacy skills. Like literacy coping and tracing words and letters is not writing. When vocabulary skills are developed and comprehended well then the writing of vocabulary, definitions, sentence sand paragraphs can be developed. Like literacy writing strategies can be used to help students to become better writers.

Graphic Organizer

The graphic organizer can help the writer with organization of thought and ideas. For example the book might be about a famous woman in history such as Rosa Parks. The graphic organizer can help the writer organize the characters in the book for example. A good graphic organizer is the use of shapes the student should write down the name of the character stating whether the character is protagonist (main or leading character or leading character) or an antagonist (a person who opposes or is hostile to something or an adversary. An example of a good story writing graphic organizer would look something like this. The students can also create another graphic organizer with characteristics of the main character or characters. The students can create fun graphic organizers also such as flowers, butterflies, trees, snowflakes, bushes etc.

Checklists and Rubrics

Another writing strategy is checklists and rubrics they can be very helpful to student on deciding which direction their writing is moving in and if their writing goals are being met. Some items that might be found on a writing rubrics are the paragraphs indented correctly, Sentence structure, is punctuation being used correctly or is it being used at all. The rubrics or checklist should also include correct spelling is there a summary that begins with a main idea or a topic. Sentence length i.e.; simple or compound sentences. If a narrative is being written the rubrics should include does the story have an interesting beginning that will hold the reader’s attention. In the narrative the setting and main characters should always be included. Is there conflict in the written narrative? Adjectives or descriptive words should be included. Correct spelling should also be looked for in the rubrics and checklist. Is there climax or resolution to the narrative are all very important in the writing of a narrative.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

A writing rubrics checklist can look something like this.

Peer Editing

Peer editing is a very good writing strategy for the young 4th grader. Students can work in pairs or groups the students can review peer writing by using the writing rubrics. This strategy is a wonderful way to include peers in teaching and learning each other. Children enjoy working together and group work that is student centered is a positive way of teaching. Students should be given papers of peers or an exchange of papers can be implemented the students should be given pens to circle words that have been spelled incorrectly. Students can also look for missing or incorrect use of punctuation. During their review of a peer’s writing they are learning and the peer is learning also.

Sensory Details

Is a strategy used to write a narrative? The narrative gives a description of the book that appeals to the senses. In some cases I might would want the student to use props or make their own props to increase the sensory presentation of the book. Using sensory details the writing should describe items, the setting, or a character in detail.

Let’s say the book was Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold the write could be very descriptive an appeal to the reader’s senses by describing the young girls in the book. She used her senses an imagination very well in the book. Tar beach was Cassie Louise Lightfoot’s rooftop. I the book she has a dream that she can be free to go any place by using he imagination. One night in the book her dream comes true she is lifted up by the stars from the rooftop of her family’s Harlem New York apartment building and she flies across the sky. This is a very delightful book that can be written using sensory details. Starting with Tar Beach is not really a beach it is a tar covered roof on top of an apartment building.

This reading lesson can be an English Language Arts or Social Studies reading lesson.

I have chosen to concentrate on four standards from the ELA Arizona grade 4 common core standards.
1. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (4.RL.1)
This standard supports the strategy of engaging the students in the act of reading: ask questions the students can talk to the text and get a better understanding of the text. Asking questions allows the student to have Discussions about the text. This strategy allows the student to make predictions, asking and answering questions is a wonderful strategy to develop comprehension skills (Mathieu).
2. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. (4.RL.2) this standard has to do with selection of materials to teach ELA lessons appropriately. In the paper American symbols, food prep, a trip to the beach and summer were topics that were discussed as possible lesson that can be done during a 4th grade ELA lesson. Tar Beach is a book that was mentioned as a wonderful choice to open up a child’s imagination.
3. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). Narratives is a wonderful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. Students should know that when they read a book there is always a setting like in the story of Tar Beach The setting was the black tar roof top which was referred to as Tar Beach, The characters was the girl and her family they all enjoyed sitting on the roof top. The thoughts and actions of this child was to imagine that she was flying across the sky beyond the sky and seeing things that she had never seen living in her Harlem apartment. She eventually did fly what an experience for a young reader.
4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean). (4.RL.4)
This standard supports the strategy referred to as explicit instruction the instructor tells the child how to pronounce the word and the word is defined for the child. The word can also be taught with a dictionary or any other resource guide that will teach the child the word. As mentioned earlier if a child doesn’t have good vocabulary comprehension skills the ability to use a dictionary or some other resource other than a human might be difficult. Contextual or context clues are another way to teach words to children. Hints in the text that help the child to know an unfamiliar word. Some children know a lot of vocabulary but knowing a lot of vocabulary is not enough the child needs to learn how to combine vocabulary, create sentences, paragraphs, short stories and books. When a child can comprehend what they are reading then they can be called literate.