June 28th Reading

Before reading the Running Records book by Marie M. Clay I was unaware of what Running Records actually are; now after reading, I have gained a better understanding. I feel that I will not be fully comfortable with this task though until I actually get in a classroom and practice. However, Running Records do seem to be a vital tool in helping teachers understand the progress of beginning readers. I also think that it is useful that teachers can use Running Records on both simple texts and more advanced texts. It was beneficial that the book advised to seek help from colleagues as well as taking some training sessions; this book was helpful as a beginning tool to learn because of all the information and examples that it provided. I certainly do not feel 100% comfortable with Running Records, but I feel that this reading has provided me with some basic knowledge of the task that will help me in the future.

I feel that the article, Matching texts and readers: Leveling early reading materials for assessment and instruction by Rog and Burton was interesting because I feel that it definitely built upon existing knowledge for me. It is helpful because it provides the reader with what types of texts are actually appropriate for students as they reach various stages during reading development and the authors also provide a criteria for determining the reading levels; this information will certainly be useful to me in my future classroom. I feel that the 10-step leveling system for beginning reading instruction, using these five considerations: vocabulary, size and layout of print, predictability, illustration support, and complexity of concepts is very beneficial. Vocabulary is very important to consider for the level of difficulty, for example teachers should determine the number of words on a page. It is also important for teachers to consider the appearance of the text and how readable it actually is when determining a book's level. Teachers should next determine how predictable a book is based on all literary patterns. It is also important to consider how well the illustrations support the text when evaluating a children's book. The final aspect to consider is how well the story line can relate to the reader. I feel that I will use these five considerations when evaluating books for my classroom. The ten levels also provided by the authors of this article will be helpful when determining what type of books I will use in my future classroom. The article then elaborated on reading strategies for each of these reading levels, which I feel will be beneficial with future reading instruction.

I also enjoyed reading the article, Looking inside classrooms: Reflecting on the "how" as well as the "what" in effective reading instruction. The article mentions the importance of small-group instruction, however the majority of teachers use whole-group of instruction for the majority of the time. The article begins however by clearly stating, "more accomplished primary-grade teachers provided more small-group than whole-group instruction, elicited high levels of pupil engagement, preferred coaching over telling in interacting with students, and engaged students in more higher level thinking related to reading" (Taylor, et al., 2002, p.270). However, based on the study that the authors conducted, they learned several different lessons about effective teaching practices. I had never considered the importance of small-group instruction over whole-group. I feel that often teachers conduct whole-group instruction because it is easier, however teachers should educate themselves first on which type is more beneficial. I feel that after reading this article I will implement small-group instruction into my classroom as much as possible. This article is helpful because it informs the reader of how important it actually is to have knowledge of the proper teaching techniques to ensure that every child can reach his or her full potential.

I enjoyed reading Allington's article The schools we have. The schools we need. because of the comparisons that the author makes; I found them to be quite interesting and surprising. I enjoyed learning about these comparisons because I feel that these are topics that teachers actually confuse. However, I feel that if teachers first assess their students and get to know them then there might not be confusion between these topics. I thought one of the comparisons that was most interesting was the relationship between understanding vs. remembering. "In our classes and on our tests we have focused children's attention primarily on remembering what they have read and routinely underemphasized facilitating or evaluating their understanding" (Allington, 1994, p.23). Students are more likely to be asked a simple question and to be assigned work that requires copying than they are to be asked to summarize and to be assigned a type of activity that asks them to synthesize information. Instead of focusing on comprehension we are using question-answering types of strategies, which is not effective. Children do not need to be asked questions all of the time; instead teachers should provide opportunities for children to engage with books and stories that they have previously read. It is important for teachers to educate themselves on how to make these improvements in order to help their students reach their full potential.