EDUC 302 Final Paper

Final Paper Questions and Answers

1. Pretend you are a teacher in a diverse classroom. Explain what you would do to encourage students to learn English but still not abandon their own cultures.

There are many instruction techniques that should be used to help encourage students from culturally different backgrounds and languages. I want to them to understand the English language and know that learning in English does not mean they should give up their own language and culture.

First, I would learn as much as possible about their culture. It is important to understand and not bring any personal bias in to the classroom. Treating my students as individual with their own mines and personalities. I would have an open classroom invited the families to join us for lunch or come in to talk about their traditions. It would be important to understand the different traditions and roles of each family member. This will enable me to tailor lesson that fit the diverse students home environment. I would incorporate multicultural literature. Vacca, Vacca, Gove, Burkley, Lenhart and McKeon states, choosing books that reflect the insider’s perspective not only helps students from nonmainstream cultures read about and validate their own experiences, but also helps children understand diverse experiences of groups other than their own. (p. 70) The textbook also has several questions that we can ask our students to gain knowledge about family, traditions, gender roles, responsibilities and beliefs about education. Using these questions is the beginning of the relationship building.

Finally, seeking out bilingual helpers from the local university or other groups that would be willing to assist and translate. (Kessler) Developing a collaborative community having students work in pairs, peer tutoring and parent -student tutoring (if bilingual) I would use technology to learn more about the place the students are from. Google earth is a very useful tool; you can travel anywhere virtually.

2. You were asked to address the Young Parents Club in your community. The club members would like you to present information about parents reading aloud to their children. As part of your presentation, you were also asked to share a list of do’s and don’ts for reading aloud. What information will you share with the parents? Discuss the do’s and don’ts list. Be sure to explain why you generated the list.

I would begin the presentation by explaining how essential parents are to their child’s reading, writing and talking skills. Early readers learn to read by having many opportunities and interactions with words. There are several things parents should and should not do when conducting read alouds with their children. I would like to share a few do’s and don’ts of reading aloud that I find most important, as stated by Jim Trelease. If you desire a more extensive list you can visit http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/brochures.html

Do’s

1.Begin early

2.Read often

3.Encourage involvement

4.Use expression while reading

5.Read slowly

6.Involve all family members, especially male members

7.Make reading fun

This is my list there may be things you want to delete or add but I believe this are the most important. Studies have shown that the earlier we introduce text to children the more they will want to read and be more fun. The more we read to children, this will help the child become more familiar with reading and it will be normal, instead of being out of the ordinary. It does not matter what the text is about, to younger reader. Therefore, we as parents must encourage readers to interact. Reviewing the aspects of the text, showing them how text is read from left to right and letting them turn the pages. Introducing them to the author talking about the cover and pictures. Asking them what do they think. While reading the story be sure to use expression, and prosody.

Reading slowly is important give the child time to comprehend and envision the story. It is important that not only the parents and mother be involved with helping children to learn to read, but siblings, and grandparents, whether near or far. There are books that record voices, facetime, and so much other technology that make us feel that we are right there. “Because the vast majority of primary-school teachers are women, young boys often associate reading with women and schoolwork.” (Trelease) We should not feed this stereotype so the male family members should also read and engage as much as possible.

Don’ts

1.Compete with television

2.Start if you do not have time to finish

3.Be an interpreter

There are not many “don’ts” when it comes to reading aloud. It is important to allow reading to be its own entertainment. We should have a nice, quiet and comfortable place to read aloud. Speaking loud trying to gain the child’s attention over television is useless. Therefore, reading time should be reading time. If you do not have time to give this your full attention please wait until you do. Rushing through a story not having time to discuss and interact really defeats the purpose. Again interaction is the most important, do not give your opinion on the story, instead allow the younger reader to form their own opinion and to ask questions and explore the story there is not right or wrong for begging readers.

Remember the old saying “Reading is Fundamental”. How true that will always be, I wanted to share this information with you all because as a teacher it is my goal to help prepare our children for the future. If they have trouble interpreting text, they will have trouble succeeding and becoming critical thinkers.

3. Write a letter to parents explaining at least 4 ways (2 informal and 2 formal) of how you will assess your students. Justify your response.

Dear Parents,

At the beginning of the school year, I like to make my students and their parents aware of expectations, and requirements. You may be aware of the issue facing teachers and the assessment that are required to measure student literacies. During the course of the year there will regular reading assessments both formal and informal.

There will be two types of formal assessments, standardized tests, and criterion-referenced tests. Let me explain each how they will be given, how often and the purpose. One of the standardized test that will be used is the survey test. It will be given early in the year to screen the students and see where everyone is and to help me plan lesson to the specific need of my classroom instruction in reading. Depending on the classes progress this type of test may be given two more times over the course of the year. The other type of test that I think would be beneficial is the diagnostic test, this is designed to measure specific strengths and weakness of the individual student. Which will also help me to select strategies that might benefit our children. I will give this one twice throughout the year to make sure we are on track as a class.

On a weekly basis I will administer an individualized reading test for each student (one on one), called the running record. This will allow me to keep track of student’s progress. It is important that we know if they are developing and growing or if they need help or intervention. This is the most important type of assessment. This helps determine many instructional decisions “(1) evaluates material difficulty, (2) group students, (3) monitor individual progress of students, and (4) observe the particular difficulties of struggling readers”. (Vacca, et. al., p. 162) At least once a grading period I will conduct student interviews. Interview will help me to learn more about the student and understand their motivation and struggles. “Interviews may reveal information that will not be provided by other means of assessment.” (p.169)

My goal is to help our children to become well rounded in all subjects, especially reading. Reading is the basis of all knowledge. I know this may be a lot of information to decipher, so if you have any questions or concerns you may contact me. Remember we are a team if at any time you would like to review or discuss any of the assessments, I am willing to meet with you. Please just let me know.

With warm regards,

Alise D. Stokes

4. Name and explain 3 strategies you would use to help struggling readers develop vocabulary knowledge and concept development.

There are three learning strategies I would use to help my struggling readers develop their vocabulary knowledge and concept development. “Best practice in vocabulary instruction begins with the teacher’s commitment to teach words well.” (Vacca, et. al., p. 259). That is being dedicated to strengthen student’s skills. It is more beneficial for students to learn vocabulary within context. Therefore a few strategies that I would incorporate are as follows: I would have developed word meaning through definitional knowledge, use categorization and predictograms.

Teaching and using synonyms, antonyms, multiple-meanings words and other parts of speech help build definitional knowledge through relationships. This can be done during reading lesson but also during other lesson instruction. This will allow the student to be able to understand words in context which leads to better comprehension. Synonyms are useful in helping students use their knowledge of words to figure out unfamiliar words. Antonyms are useful in the same way because it explores the meaning and it opposite of words. Understanding and learning the parts of speech and its word associate will help with concept development as well. Multiple-meaning words helps students understand that context is important, that meaning is hard to know without the surrounding text.

Through categorization students can learn to think critically and understand context. “Vocabulary activities involving categorization help students form relationships among words in much the same manner as word sorts.” (Vacca, et. al., p. 264) Word relationships knowledge is strength with categorization activities. Also, these activities can be interactive which will help with student’s extrinsic motivation.

The predictogram strategy helps students understand different aspects of a story. It enhances problem solving skills along with word meaning. This method is taught by teachers picking unfamiliar or challenging words from the given text. After discussing meaning the student can work in groups or alone and try to predict the outcome of the story. This makes learning fun while building vocabulary knowledge and conceptual knowledge.

5.What is individualized instruction in reading? When should it be implemented? Explain how it can be carried out to meet diverse learners’ needs in a class of 25–30 students. Then give a specific example of a differentiated lesson plan that you will teach.

As stated in the textbook, “The term individualizing, more so than individualized, connotes the process of providing differentiated instruction to students.” (Vacca, et. al., p. 49) This term can many so many other things depending on who we speak to or ask. Basically it is teaching by customize instruction to meet your student or students’ needs. Individualized instruction should be implemented when you as a teacher feel it is needed. More than likely we, as teachers will have a need to help all types of diverse learners every year in our classrooms. Inclusion being the model in most classrooms across the United States we will have to implement the instruction strategies to help us to progress and learn to read. It does not matter what type of diverse learning that is present in the classroom at any given time, it is important to recognize the difference and form a plan.

In a classroom of thirty students, individualized instruction can be carried out with the use of multicultural books, inclusion of print in the student’s language throughout the classroom, nonverbal communication and facial cues can help with ELL’s, learning about and sharing the students culture with the class for culturally diverse students, and differentiated instruction especially for cognitively diverse students. These strategies will work within and benefit the classroom population as a whole.

One lesson plan that would work well is the vocabulary lesson plan with a power point. Selecting vocabulary words from reading text or textbooks on other subject matter. Power points assist the visual, audio and even the Kinesthetic learners. It also helps with conceptual knowledge.

References

Kessler, M., Instructional Strategies for Students Speaking Diverse Languages

Retrieved from https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_302941_1&content_id=_12420906_1

Trelease, J., (2009). Chapter 9: TV, Audio, & Technology-Hurting or Helping Literacy? The Read-Aloud Handbook. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20130430013456/http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah- ch9.html

Trelease, J., (2009). Thirty Do’s to Remember When Reading Aloud. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20130513145154/http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/30- read-aloud-DOs.pdf

Trelease, J., (2009). A Dozen DON’Ts to Remember When Reading Aloud. Retrieved from

http://web.archive.org/web/20130513144455/http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/12- read-aloud-DONTs.pdf

Vacca, J. L., Vacca, R. T., Gove, M. K., Burkey, L. C., Lenhart, L. A., & McKeon, C. A. (2015). Reading & Learning to Read (9th. ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.