Coaching Word Recognition

In Chapter 5 of Classrooms that Work, Cunningham and Allington discuss methods of coaching word recognition. The text mentions, "English is not a one-sound, one-letter language, there are different ways to pronounce certain letter patterns"(Cunningham and Allington 66). Before I continued with the chapter, I paused and considered a conversation I had while I was in Botswana with Joonas and Pekka, two of my international peers from Finland. Our conversation initiated because we were learning Setswana and I was horrendous at it because it required exaggerated rolling of R's and certain click-like sounds were difficult for me to create. Some of these sounds were designated by  "tl" and "tsh", those combinations were unfamiliar to me, and so the corresponding sounds were hard to understand. The "tl" is found in dialects of more indigenous Spanish, so my boyfriend (who was also in Setswana with us) could generate the correct sounds, as well. Returning to Joonas and Pekka, we began discussing that Finnish words had some crazy sounds and strange letter combinations that I, as an English speaker, believed were weird and more difficult than English. They disagreed, however, claiming that English was more difficult because we have words like "tear" that have the same spelling and different meanings. I specially remember Joonas saying something to the effect of, "Why would you do that?".

After my flashback, the discussion in the chapter that followed was especially interesting. It describes the process of looking for patterns in unfamiliar words, searching mentally for knowledge of similar patterns. Once pronunciation is decided, the reader rereads the sentence to see if the pronunciation makes sense given the context of the surrounding words. They continue on in their reading if it works, but if it does not, they look at the letters again and think what else would "look like this and make sense". I kind of laughed to myself when I imagined Joonas coming to tear in a context meaning a ripped piece of paper or something of that effect and going through the process mentioned and being completely confused because "tear" in the context of watering eyes did not make sense at all, but that is the proper spelling. Because of confusions like this, the concept of "coaching" is of increasing importance for reading instruction and developing word recognition for both English speakers and especially those English language learners.

As of last week, I will be volunteering at the Hispanic Center in Knoxville helping children with supplemental reading and math lessons in the evenings to enhance their performance in their normal classroom settings. Of the lessons provided, I especially like the "Using Words You Know" lesson and could see myself using it in the near future. You begin by presenting a few words that students know, then pronounce and spell these words. Then you make a chart and list words that usually rhyme with the initial words and have the same spelling pattern. Underline the spelling patterns to emphasize the similarities. Then show them some new words which they will add to the corresponding lists.

This was a similar activity that I thought would be useful and would be good as an independent activity that would reinforce what the class had done with the lists.

An activity of that nature would help set the groundwork for the "coaching" described in Clark's article. She explains that coaching provides cues in two ways: general cues that promote thought and cues that prompt specific action. Cues begin broad and become more focused on specific actions as needed. One of the concepts that she mentions that I liked most about coaching was to encourage the entire class to engage in word recognition which helps strengthen all of their knowledge and ability because it makes them all think about the unfamiliar word. I thought this was also important because it could alleviate some of the anxiety or pressure to decode alone experienced by the students who initially prompt the cues. This strengthens classroom community with the concept of "How can we?", rather than individual student internalization of "me vs. them" or "I can't" mindsets at the fundamental and base levels of their educational experience.

What lessons did you find particularly interesting? Did any personal experiences with coaching or word recognition come to mind as you read? 

Phonemic Awareness and Literacy Strategies

The readings for this week focused on developing literacy skills in pre-k and kindergarten, and provided a strategies and notable supplements for reading and writing foundations. All three articles emphasized development of literacy skills in young children and sought to encourage children to identify similar letter sounds, syllables, and acknowledging those words that rhyme or maybe that sound the same but offer different spellings and meaning.

Yopp and Yopp's discussion of phonemic awareness provides that instruction must be deliberate for certain literacy skills, not incidental. According to the text, effective instructional instruments include songs, nursery rhymes, wordplay games, riddles; the more playful and engaging an activity, the more beneficial it will be. It is also crucial that the activities are social and allow for experimentation with language.

This discourse for literacy education seems simple when you think of all of the readily available resources for song, games, etc. However, the  social aspect of the activities is more important than you may initially realize, especially for special needs. My brother is almost 10 and attends an all autistic/special needs school in New Jersey where my dad lives. He is very smart; he can work any piece of technology, his memorization skills are incredible, and he can identify rhythms even with sounds that the average person fails to recognize (he plays the xylophone to the rhythm and note of the sound of the buzzing of the fluorescent lights at his therapy center). One our biggest struggles with him, however, is that he scripts from Sesame Street and some of his iPad games. He has literally gotten so good at it, that he can uses quotes in appropriate contexts and believes that counts as conversation.

He loves videos like this, and they have helped him recognize the process of reading and sounding out, but the only words he would write when we were first teaching him were the ones from these clips (Sesame Street videos are the first searches found one any phone, computer, or iPad he can find). Because he struggles with socializing, scripting in conversation and "silly talk" (scripting to himself completely out of any context) become his primary form of communication. For those who are going into special education, have you considered limited socialization skills and how certain tools could be counterproductive?

I preferred some of the points and suggestions that Bell and Jarvis posed in their piece because they offered observations and techniques that could empower students across a variety of backgrounds and circumstances. In the very beginning of their article, they mention that literacy is everywhere. Everywhere taking into consideration even less traditional literacy outlets, colored street lights, pictures and symbols on signs, cereal boxes, etc. I liked that taking things like this into consideration when introducing students to literacy allows them to feel empowered and have a sense of pride in having some prior literacy experience even if they are not from "bedtime story" homes. My little brother definitely loves bedtime stories, but his ability to read is still behind other children his age. However,  his love of Sesame Street and the fact that the majority of his collection is VHS has begun to improve his reading and writing skills.

He has begun to collect VHS's (from eBay--yes, he finds them on it himself and asks to order almost daily after school--and from yard sales) because he loves to carry the boxes around and read them. He also loves to write what the boxes say on the boards in his play area. This transition is a huge deal for his literacy, and it has encouraged him to read other things and attempt at writing other words. 

As for my future class, I liked the idea in Bell and Jarvis for a alphabet name chart. I even thought that to encourage those globalized minds, I could plan for teaching about the different regions or continents of the world and have an alphabet chart for the countries in the region. I also thought, addition to the journals from last week's post, to encourage creative writing and writing skills in general, Pen Pals would be a cool idea for my globally conscience classroom. 

This is just one source for something like that: http://kidworldcitizen.org/2011/11/11/pen-pal-programs/

I thought it would encourage curiosity for other cultures and allow them to be introduced to other places through the eyes of children their age around the world. I think it would also be great because it would emphasized how interconnected we are with the rest of the world.

How would you implement creative writing in your classes? 

What were some game ideas or activities that you thought would be effective in your classroom?

Foundations to Reading

Children who have encounters with literacy prior to beginning school tend to be more eager to learn to read, as well as, learn a little quicker than those who were not exposed as much to reading and writing. Cunningham focuses on the ways the young children experience literacy in their homes and how to set and build on reading and writing fundamentals in the classroom. At the beginning of Chapter 3, Cunningham explains that parents expose children to literacy in a number of ways, grocery lists, reading stories, reading signs, typing on computers, etc. They all show children how to follow written lines on a page, recognize the sounds of certain letters, learn sight words, and other reading fundamentals. Johnson's article on the Jones family expands this idea, emphasizing that the multiple generations incorporated literacy into the day to day lives. In doing so, they further supported one another and strengthened relationships, knew more about their communities, were able to complete everyday tasks, kept up with their finances, participated in spiritual activities, entertained themselves, and were able to pursue educations. They also provided that middle class, white families were not the only ones exposing their children to literacy; this is significant given the city they lived in. Cunningham continues on in the chapter to discuss the role of literacy development in classrooms.

I enjoyed that the discussion of how to teach reading, sight words, and phonemic awareness also included examples of actives and lesson plans. It made the read easier because I could visualize how the activity worked, how the students might react, and how it could help with mastery of whatever skill was being focused on. I was really keen about the "theme boards", some mentionable were the "Name Board" and an "Animal Board". I think that they are a cool concept because they allow the children to return to them throughout the day (wandering eyes and minds, you know how kids are) and think about what they may have discussed during the lesson and try to imagine or think of other words, sounds, etc. relative on their own. 

This was one board that I found and thought would be good to have, a world map would be even better. I also study Global Studies, so it is important to me that in my future classroom I create an environment that opens minds to what is happening in the rest of the world. This board was for students to pin where the book they were reading was set, but I think it could be good for funny current events or something like that.

I also like the ideas provided for stressing letter sounds and recognizing words with similar sounds, letters, etc. The alphabet song and books, I like because they encourage creativity and push students to think and review what they know and are learning.

This is a page from an "Alphabet Scrapbook", and I think this would be fun for students because they would have the freedom to fill the page with what they wanted for each letter. They also could use stickers, cutouts, etc. to decorate which I think would make the activity more excited and thought provoking on some levels. Different decorative mediums could also encourage them to write or attempt words, they can identify with the correct letter, but may not be able to illustrate with free-hand illustrating.

Lastly, with regard to writing development and encouragement, I liked that Cunningham emphasized that the focus should not initially be entirely on correctness, but rather on effort, curiosity, and creativity. I thought as I was reading that it could be cool to give each student a journal at the beginning of the year that was theirs to write and express themselves in throughout the day. That way if they were at their desks and done with whatever the assignment is, they can choose to write freely sometimes. 

One last example that I could see myself using is a "class directory" in a writing center. I know from my experience in classrooms that students enjoy writing notes and making up stories for their teacher and friends, so I think that something like this would encourage more writing and would reinforce "Name Game/Board" literacy activities done outside of "free time".

Effective Reading and Writing Instruction

In Cunningham's text, one of the concepts that stood out to me was the concept of cross-curricular connections and the integration of reading and writing into multiple subjects. One of my professors at UT actually mentioned that part of us knowing that we are receiving an education, versus simply regurgitating material only for through the extent of the course, is realizing the ways that our different courses relate to one another. I know that I did not really get as involved with making the connections completely on my own until the last few years when my Global Studies courses began to provide different perspectives of the same or similar concepts. It has made writing papers and research significantly easier. One of the questions that I found myself asking as I read was, "What are some examples I can think of that would be effective in making connections like the ones I find myself making now?", and I think that is a question that everyone should consider. One thing I thought of was Allington's "Tasks" portion of the six T's. He discusses self-regulation of work and readings and also the importance of small group discussion. As a future elementary school teacher, whose preference tends to be for 1st and 2nd grade levels, I have to consider what could be effective ways to teach younger students self-regulation. One example I found to guide students was this handout:

I like that a handout like this could help young students understand what that might want to consider as they read, in addition to making them more familiar with different components of the book (like inferring from book cover's and titles and things like that). I also like that it would be helpful to guide lower-achieving students who may not self-regulate well and provide some options that could potentially push high-achieving students to broaden their thinking. What are some other effective ways to help students self-regulate effectively?

Another aspect that I thought about from Allington's piece for was "Texts", and the emphasis on having variety. I immediately thought of all of the classrooms I have been in with a variety of book bins or designated shelves that divided up different types of books (picture, chapter, etc.) and different subjects or genres. However, one classroom I thought of, I thought had a really unique way of integrating new books while also encouraging excitement for reading from students. Mrs. Tina is the kindergarten teacher at Thackston school, and she chooses themes about every other week for her students. This theme guides them throughout their coursework and subjects for those couple of weeks. What is unique about her selection of "free reading" books is that the class will take trips every couple weeks to the library and the students choose some of the books that will be on the offered for the independent reading portions of their day. Mrs. Tina chooses some, too, and the books typically relate to whatever the class is studying in the upcoming weeks. I have personally seen this work well in the classroom because the students are thrilled to have some say in the texts, they really learn what the focus of those weeks are because of the different ways the content is integrated and the variation of stories that exemplify their new concepts, and the repetition over the course of a couple weeks helps the knowledge stay with them. 

Lastly, a notable concept that I liked was the idea of a "No Wandering" rule during independent reading mentioned by Cunningham. I have witnessed the wanderers in classrooms in the past, and they tend to distract other readers, as well as, hinder their own progress. In another effective classroom I spent time in, 2nd grade teacher, Miss Stacy, encouraged students to sit quietly and read by having a) an abundance comfortable seating/cushions for the students to choose from to enjoy during their reading time and b) a "caught in the act" door decor, in which students who were caught reading quietly might have their picture taken doing so and then displayed one the door. This incentive really encouraged students to sit quietly and read because to be the one who had their picture taken was very exciting and all of their classmates would congratulate them because they knew how good it felt to be the one caught, too. It was really sweet, and she made sure each student was photographed multiple times throughout the year.

This is just one idea I liked for a independent reading time. Especially because I know I have old shirts that I would love to keep, but never wear really. You just make pillows out of old shirts for your students to sit on. I also like that it would be easy to maintain, switch up occasionally, and clean if necessary.