Group+3-5772

= = Choose one case study to evaluate from these two examples: Home/school connections are important at all times but especially critical during the early years of schools. In both of these cases, the parents have already been active in the development of literacy. Now both sets of parents want more. What can you do to help them on the road to literacy.
 * =__ Case Study #1 __=

** CASE STUDY #1: Susie **
Susie is a happy middle-class first grade student. Since birth, her parents talked with her as if she were an adult and spent much time reading with her. Suzie developed a love of reading early and her parents continued supporting her love by purchasing books and giving them as gifts. She loves her personal library of well over 100 books. When Susie entered first grade she had highly developed skills, listened well and understood a great deal. She was confident and secure and anxious to learn. However, after just one week of school Suzie finishes early and does nothing after completion of school tasks. She states that she is bored.

What are the strengths? SG: Susie's strengths include the interest and love of reading due to the foundation built by her parents, the ability to understand more advanced information/content than most first graders, and her attentiveness toward her studies in school. Susie's parents helped her be more prepared for reading. DB: Susie's strengths are he solid foundation for reading that her parents helpe her create. She has extemely strong reading skills and supportive literacy home life. She has good listening skills.

What are the needs? SG: Due to Susie's advanced skills, she needs activities that challenge her to apply her vocabulary, listening, and comprehension skills. One thing to keep in mind when challenging a first grader, or any age child, be sure that the challenge is not frustrating. If Susie is challenged and the challenge is to difficult, she will become frustrated and her attitude toward the skills she has may change. DB: Because Susie came in with advanced reading skills, she will need activities that are appropriate for her skills level. The activities should include development of vocabulary and comprehension skills. It will be important to choose text that are interesting to her. Care wll need to be given that the activities are challenging enough without becoming frustrating to her.

What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the parents to do at home? Why? SG: The teacher could encourage the parents to keep challenging Susie with appropriate vocabulary and encouraging her to read and discuss what is read. As she progresses through comprehending what she is reading on grade level, her parents could continue building her library up to more advanced, still content appropriate, literature. DB: Encourage the parents to continue reading with Susie. Include listening to Susie read to them. This will help build fluency an improve comprehension. Starting a home reading journal where Susie could record her thoughts about the texts she is reading would help foster deeper understanding of what reading is to her. What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? SG: Along with what the teacher suggests to the parents to help encourage Susie's advancement, the teacher could do the same thing in the classroom. Susie's teacher, while talking to Susie, could use more advanced vocabulary to help Susie advance her skills. While discussing stories being read in the classroom, Susie's teacher can ask high order thinking questions to challenge her comprehension skills. DB: Susie will need to have in place things to do when she finishes early. Activities could include writing a perfomance version of the story for reader's theatre, selecting a portion of the story and writing what she liked or disliked about it. Pairing her with a child that has weaker skills and doing a buddy read. When finished early, allow Susie to read another book of her choice. ==  Additional thoughts:   == SG: Is a quiet free choice activity an option for a student that is more advanced than others in their class?

** CASE STUDY #1: Sam **
Sam is a first grader who will turn six this November. He comes from a middle-class English-speaking family, with two parents who read to him on a regular basis. His parents are very interested in the progress and activities he does in class.

He actively participates in class discussions, even though there are times when he will make an error in syntax with word forms, like talk-ed, for talked.

At independent time, he regularly chooses picture books and studies the pictures. He does not spend any time looking at the words. If he chooses a book with more words, the topics will be sharks or dinosaurs. He does know the basic letters but confuses b and d, I and j, x and z, p and ,i and l. He knows basically his concepts about print. He can figure out his initial and ending consonants but is slow and choppy. His writing can only be deciphered if Sam reads the text to the teacher.

What are the strengths? VN: Sam has a desire to learn and loves to look at books. Both of Sam's parents support his progress and activities he does in school. TP: Sam's parents are involved in his education, and are likely to work with him at home, being read aloud to regularly is a definite benefit. He's not afraid to participate, which implies he has confidence in his abilities and he's motivated to learn.

What are the needs? VN: Sam needs instruction in phonics and decoding. Sam also needs help with connecting text with pictures.Sam needs instruction with the letters that he is confusing. Sam also needs help with penmanship. TP: Sam need practice with identifying and pronouncing common suffixes. He need phonics instruction, especially with the letters that confuse him. Sam needs to learn to use the picture to help him identify words. He need penmanship practice.

What strategies/things could be recommended to parents and what is your rationale? VN: Sam needs a deeper understanding of words and how letters form to make words. Since he likes to look at pictures, his parents need to point out words to him while reading and relate them to the pictures in the books. Sam needs fun educational games that will keep him interested in reading. A fun game is to make up word cards and have sam label them to the picture it belongs to. His parents can also make up word cards before going to the grocery store and Sam can find matching words while shopping in the store. Any fun or creative way that sam can practice writing letters would benefit his writing skills. Kids like to write in mud, shaving cream, and finger paint. Sam can trace the letters he is struggling with using these items. To help Sam with the middle sounds he struggles to sound out, Sam should clap out the word. Having Sam sing words too will help him improve his ability to sound out words. TP: Create flashcards with common suffixes, have Sam read the suffix, tell his parents what it means and say a word using the suffix, then read a sentence using the word that contains the suffix. Instruct Sam's parents to use their fingers to point to the words they are reading. When Sam is reading and struggles with a word, and there is a picture for the word on the page, Sam's parents can tell him to think about the beginning sound and ask his which part of the picture starts with that sound, point to different parts of the picture, ask "what's that" or "what's the character doing" offering Sam clues until he can figure out the word. Have Sam practice reading environmental print when they are out of the house together. Play memory - On one card write the root word. On the other card write a word using the root, a simple picture of a word using the root or the definition. To work on penmanship Sam can do finger exercises, which often improve fine motor skills. Sam can also lay his hand on his parents as they are writing and vice-versa offer a sensory experience. Additionally he can practice writing in sand or shaving cream.

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? VN: Sam's teacher should give instruction and activites that focus on middle sounds. Word families with the same middle sound would benefit Sam. The teacher can break up a word and have Sam put the word back together. The teacher can have Sam make up a story to a pictureless book. She can also have him make up stories to picture he has drawn or someone else has drawn. The teacher should allow invented spelling and then go over the words with Sam after he has completed the story. To help Sam with the letters he confuses, the teacher should have activities that focus on those letters. Making sure that he correctly is holding the pencil, the teacher should have Sam retrace letters to help improve his penmanship. The fun activities listed for the parents to use to improve writing the teacher can use as well. TP: Create silly words- Coordinate this activity with studying prefixes and suffixes. Create a worksheet for students to write a prefix, root word, suffix and definition of the new word. Encourage students to create silly and nonsensical words. Pull it out of a hat- Throw several root words into a hat, basket or other container. Divide students into two or three teams. Students will draw a root, supply the definition, use the root with a word and in a sentence correctly. Matching game - Divide a sheet of white paper into squares – four squares wide by five squares in length. Create 20 squares by dividing the paper in this manner. On one side of the line write the root. Below the line write the meaning. Complete this process for all squares leaving the edges of the paper blank. Copy and laminate for repeated use in the classroom. Cut the squares apart using the lines you drew earlier. The object is for the students to match the root word with the definition. For handwriting provide him with a small pencil, have him trace letters and shapes, make sure he is gripping the pencil correctly.

Additional thoughts:
|| = = Choose from one of these case studies to elaborate on the topic of phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the foundation for phonics and must be acquired and used with ease before you start the reading and phonics processes.
 * =__Case Study #2 Phonemic Awareness__=

**__ CASE STUDY #2: __**
Mitch, a first grade student, was retained in kindergarten is now eight years old. After assessing him on concepts about print, word tests, phonemic awareness and phonics tests, and spelling inventories, he showed lack of process in most areas. In concepts about print, he stumbled on specific instructions on word and letter order and the name and use of punctuation He had difficulty in hearing words in speech, hearing syllables, beginning and final sounds and sound matching for phonemic awareness. He could correctly identify upper and lower case letters and sounds but could not note the digraphs, blends, short and long vowel patters and "vce" and vowel teams. In spelling he usually spelled the first and last consonant correctly and the short a and I but the other short vowels or other vowel patterns were guesses. His sight word vocabulary was low.

What are the strengths? VN: Mitch's strength is that he knows upper and lower case letters. He also can say beginning and end sounds. TP: Mitch can identify upper and lower case letters. He knows the sound individual consonants create. What are the needs? VN: Mitch needs a hearing test to assess if he has hearing loss. Mitch should also take the Burke Reading inventory as well as an interest reading inventory. Mitch also needs help with middle sounds. TP: Mitch needs to develop phonemic awareness. He also needs phonics instruction, decoding, practice blending letters, identifying long and short vowel sounds, identifying high frequency sight words. and identifying proper punctuation. Loss of hearing maybe his antagonist and should be assessed.

What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the parents to do at home? Why? VN: At home, Mitch's parents need to continue to read to him. When they go to the library, they need to continue to get books that interest Mitch. His parents need to continue to review with Mitch parts of a book. Make up games to catch middle sounds in words. They need to make it as much fun as possible so that Mitch does not get discouraged. With his age, it could be real easy to set him back about reading. TP: Mitch's parents can help with phonemic awareness by asking "Do these two words rhyme?" and having saying a word and having Mitch create a rhyme, they can even offer him choices and ask "Which one of these words rhymes with this word?" They can mix in clapping and snapping as part of the activity, //clap clap snap// "ball" //clap clap snap "//hall" //clap clap snap// "ball". Mitch's parents also need to real aloud to him regularly and have him highlight the word with his finger as they read. They need to let Mitch choose the book he would like to read (or like them to read to him).

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? VN: At school, the teacher needs to remain positive and allow many opportunities for success. Having Mitch read books that he does know will help. The teacher then needs to begin with on level book instruction. The teacher can pair Mitch with students who need help with letter recognition, and then be paired with students with strong skills in decoding. The teacher should have Mitch make words in a making word activity. Mitch should also be engaged in acivities with word families. Mitch should still be encouraged to read aloud in class, but the teacher can modify with smaller reading sections or wait when Mitch wants to read. TP: Rhyming word sit down - Students walk in a circle as the teacher says rhyming words, when the teacher says a word that doesn't rhyme, students sit down. Use rimes and rhyme charts around the classroom to create poems with the class. Read aloud to the class. Pairing noises - Without peeking, the children are to guess the two sounds in sequence saying, "There were two sounds. First we heard a, and then we heard a ." (bell, tip-toe, run, cough, laugh) Play I spy by sounding out the name of the object you are looking at. Children have to blend the sounds together to determine the object. I spy something that is round. I spy a /b/ /a/ /l/ (ball). Segmentation Cheer: "Listen to my cheer. Then shout the sounds you hear. //Sun! Sun! Sun!//Let’s take apart the word //sun.// Give me the beginning sound. (//Children respond with /s/.//) Give me the middle sound. (//Children respond with /u/.//) Give me the ending sound. (//Children respond with /n/.//) That’s right!/s/ /u/ /n/—Sun! Sun! Sun!" Making words activities, use high frequency sight words.

== Additional thoughts: Mitch should also be assessed to see if he may learning difficulties.Learning style assessment should be given as well. Running records should be kept and Mitch should be reassessed more to see if he is making progress. ==

||

Angel, a kindergartner, is behind most of her classmates in reading readiness. When she came to the school, she had no awareness of letters, letter sounds and names. She has learned to sing the ABC song but cannot place the letters in order without the song. She knows some concepts about print: the left-right order and the return sweep and the front/back/author of book. She can show the first part of the story, the first part of a word but cannot show the beginning of a sentence. She does not know her punctuation marks. She does not know the 1 to 1 correspondence of words and cannot follow along with the teacher reading the story. All in all she tries to learn and participates eagerly in class. She like the rote method and loves to do things kinesthetically.
 * ** CASE STUDY #2: Angel **

What are the strengths? DB: Angel has some knowledge of concepts of print.She is able to place alphabet letters in order when singing the alphabet song. Her biggest strength is her eagerness to learn and participate in class. SG: Angel has strength in knowing the ABC song and learning the alphabet that way, she also has the basic skills (Pre-K) in reading, such as the left to right, return sweep, front, back, and author. If she is learning to read or pretending to read, she knows how to read the book by herself. Her eagerness to learn is great and her flexible learning style is a great way to help learn what is needed. What are the needs? DB: Angel needs to learn letter sounds and names and practice using them. Angel needs to learn about sentence structure. She will need to learn to identify the beginnig, ending and punctuation in sentences. She will need to develop the skill of 1 to 1 correspondence of words. SG: It seems that Angel needs some individual instruction to help her go back and start over (in a sense). Focusing on teaching the beginning reading skills such as letter recognition, letter naming, and letter sounds. It seems as though doing these in random order seem to be more beneficial to the student. What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the parents to do at home? Why? DB: Parents should read to Angel and point to each word as they read. This will help develop the 1 to 1 correspondence of words. Angel is a good candidate to use flash cards because she likes the rote method. Parents can show the letters of the alphabet, one at a time on a flash card and have Angel say the name and or sound of the letter. Doing this will help Angel with her phonemic awareness skills. Parent could do an movement activity where Angel says the name of a letter, the sound it makes and try to make the shape of the letter with her body. SG: The teacher could encourage movement activities at home such as "Walking the ABC" to help her learn them and even help the writing ability to increase. The parents could "Create the ABC's" with the student - using the body, make each letter. This activity again helps with letter recognition. With sounds, the teacher could encourage a letter a week or even just randomly having the parent, when talking to a child, say, for example, "I am going to eat an apple. What is the first sound in apple?" Parents and teachers, especially if this is activities at home, need to be sure that the student does not feel as though they are learning, just playing a game. They seem to catch on better that way. What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? DB: Provide activities that help increase phonemic awareness. Do activities that incorporate Angel's kinesthetic learning style. Some suggestions include: Teaching the mouth movements for letters, jump rope and recite the name and sound of the alphabet, making letters using play dough, tracing lettes in shaving cream, gel bags, etc. Using the computer and have Angel do some of her reading using programs that highlight each word read and has different colored text for punctuation. Using the whisper phones either alone or with a partner when reciting names and sounds of letters. Walk around the room and find items that have the "sound" of the day in it. SG: One thing the teacher can do is to use the activities that were suggested to the parents and incorporate them in class. For reading, the teacher could have Angel be her helper during whole group reading to help her successfully follow along during reading. One thing to always keep in mind with the youngsters is to be repetitive. Once a student hears it over and over again, it seems to stick better.

Additional thoughts:
DB: This is a time when worksheets are appropriate given her enjoyment of rote learning. SG: Even though Angel is in Kindergarten, she still needs the individualized instruction that helps her with her struggles so that when she progresses to 1st Grade, she has a higher self-esteem knowing she CAN. ||


 * =__Case Study #3 Phonics__=

** CASE STUDY #3 **
The third grade class has a high percentage of Title I students with the vast majority as English speakers. Most of their parents work very hard at their jobs and do not have the time to read to their children or focus on skills which will improve literacy in the classroom. When the teacher reads to them, they enjoy their story time and respond readily within the discussions. They seem to enjoy independent reading of looking at books or reading to themselves. Four students in this class are especially in need; they are in the emergent level and they know some sight words. They read word by word and consider reading a laborious chore. From testing, the children shows that they know most initial consonant sounds and use them randomly to guess at word but they ignore the final consonants and medial sounds. The writing and spelling are on a lower developmental level of about beginning first grade.

What are the strengths? DB: Strengths include enjoyment of independent reading and active participation in discussions.They know some sight words and most initial consonant sounds. VN: The children like to be read to and they like to read and look at books. They know beginning sounds in words and the whole class is about on the same level. SG: The class has a high level of pride when reading. They are eager to learn and have the opportunity to read. The students that are in need show that they too are eager to learn to read, even though they struggle. They too enjoy the opportunity the teacher gives for them to read alone, but their reading is "looking" which at their level is okay. The class as a whole enjoy when the teacher reads and really try to participate as much as possible. TP: Enjoy being read to and reading independently. Know individual constant sounds and some sight words. The class is motivated to participate in discussions.

What are the needs? DB: Contiued instruction and practice on identifying initial consonant sounds. Identifyng and using final consonant and medial sounds. Building fluency skills. Systematic phonics instruction to increase decoding skills. VN: Phonics instruction with middle sounds and in fluency. ​ SG: The teacher needs to take an interest inventory with these students to determine what books the students enjoy reading so that they have a reason to pick up a book and try to learn to read. Instruction in middle and final sounds in words as well as beginning because they guess the word, it is necessary that they get the instruction to look and sound it out instead of guessing. Basically with all situtations like this, they need individualized instruction that focuses on their needs. TP:Phonics, root word, blending and decoding instruction, as well as fluency development.

What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the parents to do at home? Why? DB: Write out some items from the grocery list and glue a picture next to it. Have the child look for the item to put in the shopping cart. Before pacing in the cart, the child could identify intial or final sound. This would provide an opportunity for confidence building and seeing an activity as fun. Having a rhyme time at home gives children practice using patterns that will transfer to decoding and spelling words. Playing with word families encourages pattern idenification. VN: We know that parents do not have time to read, so the teacher needs to give strategies that do not take a lot of time. Anything that will be fun for the child should be encouraged and the teacher can send ready made games home with the child. Parents should take all opportunities to engaged learning in everday settings. An example of this is looking at a magazine in the checkout lane, reading a menu at a restaurant, and labels at the grocery store. The parents should be encouraged to read aloud to their child even if it is the same book every night. They should also listen to their child read. SG: Sending //Words Their Way// Word Sorts home with the struggling students can help with "seeing" how words are put together and how to create a word. Word Sorts can have the focus of beginning, middle, and ending parts of words. Students can begin by just sorting words by certain parts and then put parts together to create words of their own. These really focus on how a word is to be put together and spelling of words. The words or parts used can be focused around vocabulary from a weekly story or can be focused around the weekly spelling words. These do not take much time at all and are beneficial to the expansion of word knowledge. The word sorts can be put together and then written down to help practice spelling, or it could be reversed. The children could write the word how it sounds and then put it together with the sorts. Word tiles are a great way to help with spelling and writing. TP: See if the child's babysitter/caretaker will read aloud them, and listen to them read aloud. Provide the student with on-level texts to read at home. Have the child read to the parent while in the car. Study environmental print when they are out of the house together. Allow the children to pick a poem to practice repeated reading, and recite it for their parents.

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? DB: Working with onset and rimes. Using the making words activity mentioned on page 98 of our textbook. Working with rhyming words to look for patterns, focusing on rhyming words that have the same spelling pattern. Have reading games to play to maintain an interest in reading. VN: The teacher needs to continue to model good reading and offer students other books to read themselves written by the same author. Journaling should be encouraged after the teacher has read. Working with patterns and rhyming words and making word activities. Teacher should group students by strengths and weaknesses and differentiate instruction. SG: The teacher model to the students how words are put together and the importance of really looking at each letter before "guessing" the word. The letters need to be sounded out and then blended to create the word. I am all about the letter tiles, so using letter tiles for students to create or copy words that are already written for them is a good way to practice spelling. The teacher could expand on the activities given to take home and have the same activitiy to use in the classroom to see if the students are progressing or regressing. Sometimes it is important for teachers to use the same activities because different ones may show the teacher that the student is not completing the activity as assigned. TP: Further practice with high frequency words, using making words, so each word won't be such a struggle. Improve vocabulary with a word-wall. Have a "word of the day" to add to the word wall. Echo reading at their instructional level, highlighting the word with your finger as you read and as they read (a big book would be nice to have for this). Practice word families using rhyming words. Write a word with missing vowels and have students fill in the blanks. Word ladders- students start with a word like "in" then they can add a "P" to make the word "Pin" then change the "i" to an "e" for "pen" and they can keep going. Word searches. Readers Theater for repeated reading and fluency development.

Additional thoughts:
DB: I believe it is critical to gain parental involvement. Explaining why spending just few minutes working on activities with their child would go long way to bring about success for their children is imporant. SG: I agree with you Dawn. Parental involvement has a major impact on student achievement, but seems to be lacking. I know that parents work, but it seems as though some could take just a few minutes every evening to work on activities that will be of benefit to thier child. ||
 * =__Case Study #4: Vocabulary__=

My Two Favorite Books on Vocabulary state the following: The authors of Beck, McKeown, and Kucan’s Bringing Words to Life suggest that ?a robust approach to vocabulary involves directly explaining the meanings of words along with thought-provoking, playful, and interactive follow-up? (2). They add that ?vocabulary work in middle school and high school should allow deeper explorations of language?how language gives meaning and how words mean what they mean? (85). In their vision of best practices, vocabulary is ?more rooted to a text and dealt with in a way that both teaches the words and brings enriched understanding to the text? (85).

Marzano agrees”direct instruction in vocabulary works”(68), and even mentions the work of Beck and McKeown in explaining that “effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions” (70). Marzano’s approach for effectively teaching vocabulary consists of six steps that are very similar to the approach described in Bringing Words to Life. He encourages nonlinguistic representations to build vocabulary, and clarifies that he means ?not just mental pictures,? but also "associated sounds, smells, and sensations of touch or movement? (21). Marzano encourages the shaping of word meaning through multiple exposures including the process of creating metaphors. He states that, ?Research indicates that metaphor activities can help students better understand the abstract features of information. . . . In terms of vocabulary instruction, a teacher might present students with metaphors or ask them to create their own metaphors? (73).

However, Marzano writes that “Beck, McKeown, and Kucan’s focus on tier-two words as the appropriate target of vocabulary instruction” is a mistake (88). He stresses that “subject-specific terms are the best target for direct vocabulary instruction” and provides a list of 7,923 subject-specific terms in the appendix of his book.

The Opening Articles and the podcasts can help with the development of the vocabulary plan.

** CASE STUDY #4 **
Amy is a 11th grade student from a upper-middle class area in an affluent high school. She has twenty hours of community service hours that she has to complete and has decided to help tutor students at a near-by after school elementary program. She wants to come one hour every day for a month. The teacher in the program wants her to work on vocabulary development and make it fun. She has come to you for advice about how to help students with word conscientious. What are you going to tell her? (Oh, by the way, Jenks Middle School has set up a program like this on Saturday mornings to help with vocabulary development).

What can be the strengths and weaknesses of this plan? DB: Strengths of this plan include additional time for students to get to work with vocabulary development. Another strength is that the program is right after school. This will allow more students to participate. The program will include fun activities which will be a motivtor. Weaknesses of the plan is that it will be difficult to differentiate instruction given the time limit of one hour. Another weakness is that the program will last for only one month. SG: That is a great plan!!! I would like to do this at my school. Ok, for the strengths I would have to say first off, the idea to work more with vocabulary. It is so essential for students to have a great vocabulary to help with their reading. The only weakness I think would be that how many participate? Due to the day that it falls on, are there a lot of students that participate?

What strategies/programs would help with the students? What is your rationale? DB: The program should teach word learning strategies such as using context cluesto help increase vocabulary. Teach how to use word parts to help understand meanings of unknown words. Another strategy is to use the dictionary. This will allow students to use word meanings for themselves. SG: Vocabulary games such that work on the basics and that work on the meaning. One strategy that I know about that helps with vocabulary is related to spelling. There is a game, if you Google it, called SPARKLE. It helps with spelling and vocabulary. It can be modified for the different grade levels and ability levels. I have seen this used in a classroom and it has seemed to be beneficial when it comes to testing. Also, getting to know the students that you are working with and adapting strategies to help. I agree with Dawn, the use of a dictionary and coming up with activities that involve using one will show to be benficial too. Have students connect words to their reading or have a variety of vocabulary words that the students could use to create a story with. This interchanges vocabulary with reading.

What would the program look like? DB: The first few minute would be spent reviewing the previous "Word of the Day". Students would share how they use the word. Next, the new "Word of the Day" would be introduced. The remainder of the time would be spent in word play. Actvities may include playing with homophones,homographs, puns, idioms and cliches. SG: Any program that works toward vocabulary needs to be leveled for each student. Vocabulary needs to focus around the basics and go up from there. The program would have many strategies that would help benefit the students in the vocabulary area. Giving them a variety to choose from helps them learn at their level.

Additional thoughts:
SG: I like this idea!!! I would like to know how to get one started for the school I work in, I feel that it would be very beneficial!

** CASE STUDY #4 **
Your Title I school has low vocabulary scores on both Oklahoma assessments and national assessments. Your principal has challenged you and your colleagues to help students have more word conscientious and be able to use vocabulary more effectively. The population of your students is basically ½ Caucasian, ¼ Native American and ¼ ELL students.

What strategies/ideas can be given specifically for teachers? VN: The first thing that teachers need to focus on is getting to know students and how they view reading. Burke reading assessment and interest inventories should be given. The text book discusses a four part vocabulary program of wide reading, teaching individual words, teaching word learning strategies, and fostering word consciousness. Students should be allowed to read as much as possible while in school.Teachers can incourage this by reading silently with students and give them comfortable places to read. Themes of the week would be good to encourage reading. One theme would be to bring a stuff animal week or read in your sweats. To encourage individual word learning, posting a word of the day and using it in classroom language will help. Teaching students to break up words and use context clues will help them use strategies. Also have students look up words in dictionary with a book or online. Teachers should also use direct instruction to learning style and culture of student. TP: For ELL students and vocabulary development in general activating (and building) background knowledge is key to comprehending vocabulary. KWHL charts, anticipation guides, picture books and brain storming are all effective methods teachers may use to activate and build background knowledge while teaching vocabulary. Frayer model, semantic webbing, word sorts, word analogies, concept maps are some more strategies teachers may use to build vocabulary. Word walls and word of the day are additional tools that contribute to vocabulary development. Pre-teach vocab prior to reading.

What strategies/ideas can be given to the students? VN: Students should consider themseves word dectectives. They are on a mission to recognize unfamiliar words and what they can do to find the mystery of their meanings. Students should be encouraged to reword text in stories and play with words. Students should be encouraged to help each other and solve mysteries in groups. TP: Encourage students to use reading strategies, such as self-monitoring- think-aloud about confusing words and passages, pause recall and reflect while reading. Use context clues to identify the meaning of unknown words.

What can you share with your parents? VN: Parents can play word games at home. They can have words of the day or week and encourage use while at home. Just like with reading, parents should model as much as they can for the child. They may find they will learn something and that means the child and adult learn together. TP: As Vicky said playing word games at home is an excellent suggestion for parents. Hangman, Scrabble, Wordo, crossword puzzles are all useful games for learning words. An abundance of online word games are free to use as well, such as anagrams, boggle, word morph, words in a word, cryptic games, are all useful in building vocabulary. Parents should also be encouraged to read aloud to their kids at home.

Additional thoughts:
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 * =__Case Study #5: Fluency__=

CASE STUDY #5
Anne is a sixth grader who has fair word attack skills but lacks fluency because she reads without expression and ignores punctuation. This issue interferes with her comprehension; she does not monitor what she reads. She is unable to retell a passage or answer questions on the various levels of understanding. Anne?s word attack skills are around the fourth grade and her comprehension level to be near third grade level. On the other hand, her recognition and use of good vocabulary words is apparent in her speech.

Anne has stated that her love is to watch educational television and learn as much science and history that she can. In her textbook she says that she uses her picture cues, graphs, and charts as well as her knowledge about the topic to get her through the reading. She adds to the class discussion but her topics are not necessarily found in the textbooks. She loves her social studies and science classes and usually gets good grades in them.

Anne looks at the pictures and other visuals during her reading time and states that reading is not enjoyable.

What are the strengths? VN: Annie is strong in vocabulary word recognition and uses them in her speech. She wants to learn and partcipates in class discussions. SG: Anne has stengths in her knoweldge and use of vocabulary words. She is interested in content areas and tries hard to get through and also has the want to participate in discussions as whole group. These strengths show that she is willing to learn and be successful. DB: Annie uses strategies such as picture cues, charts, graphs and prior knowledge to aid understanding. She has strong word recogntion and uses it in speech. She enjoys learning and participating in discussions. TP: Anne can use vocabulary well in speech. She enjoys contributing to science and social studies discussions, and is able to make good grades in those courses. She is able to use picture cues, graphs, and charts, as well as activate prior knowledge about topics that interest her.

What are the needs? VN: Word attack skills, reading with expression and fluency skills focusing on paying attention to punctuation, retelling skills, and comprehension skills. SG: I feel that Anne's needs are to work with expression during reading. Also, it is important for her to choose books that are at her level so that she does not get frustrated. Comprehension strategies seem to be missing and needed for her success in comprehension. I feel that she needs more time with individual instruction or to be buddied up to someone that may help her to focus on the important parts of the reading process. DB: Word attack skills, improvement in fluency skills and reading with expression. Improve attention to punctuation, retelling and comprehension skills. TP: Anne needs to work on fluency, hone up on her word attack skills, and practice utilizing reading strategies.

What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the parents to do at home? Why? VN: Anne's parents need to focus on her interests and read books that enhance that subject. They need to have Anne retell stories that she has read. They could have her journal write or draw pictures. Since she uses visual aides, she can create her own picture book from photos she takes around the house. She can write captions or stories about the pictures she took. Anne may find reading not enjoyable because she has not found the types of books she likes to read. Even at this age, parents can read aloud as well as have their own little book club. SG: At home, because Anne likes to watch educational television, I think that immitating or acting out what she is watching on tv would be a good way to help her with her expression. Finding books that have dialogue that she is familiar with and having her act out or read aloud the way she thinks the character is acting would also be a good way. The parents need to be aware of what level Anne is on so that she is not reading too easy or too difficult of texts. Because she likes picture books and educational materials, letting her choose books that are content related will help with her knowledge of those areas and help her with inputting her part of the discussion with the group. Something that the parents could also do at home is to turn on the close captioning of the tv and the only way for her to watch is to read. This could boost her comprehension and maybe help her with fluency skills. DB: Parents could encourage reading at her independent level with the subjects that interest her. Annie could reread and then retell or act out the story for her parents. Create her own books with text and pictures because she is such avisual learner. Parents reading to her may stimulate reading interest. TP: Anne's parents can assist with her fluency development by reading aloud and having Anne match her voice to theirs. Having Anne practice reading the same list of words, phrase, or short passages several times. Reminding Anne to pause between sentences and phrases. Read aloud to Anne to provide an example of how fluent reading sounds. Give her books with predictable vocabulary and clear rhythmic patterns so the child can "hear" the sound of fluent reading as he or she reads the book aloud that she is interested in.Use books on tapes; have Anne follow along in the print copy.

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? VN: The teacher should use Anne's good knowledge of vocabulary and apply it to learning situations in the classroom. Since she is very visual, have Anne practice using those skills in using context clues. Activites in fluency like reader's theater. Since Anne likes History, have a reader's theater about a historical event or person. Have summarizing strategies to help Anne retell a story. Anne should be paired with students who love reading. She should help students to use visual clues to find unknown word meanings. After the teacher has used materials that interest Anne, he/she should have Anne practice the skills she learned with text that she may not want to read. Thisis a great time to explain purposes of reading. Having Anne re-read the same book many times will help with fluency. Allowing Anne to use her hands while reading will help with using expression while reading. SG: Readers Theatre is a good activity for not only Anne, but also the others in her class. It is good for the focus of expression during reading. Using scripts to practice expression helps with comprehension as well. Again, having books that interest her and that are on her actual reading level will boost her confidence in reading and lead her more to enjoying what is read. To be able to be a fluent reader, Anne needs all of the aspects, comprehension and vocabulary, to work together to help with fluency. Strategies that focus on all of the three aspects would help her to connect each one to what she will be reading. Picture books that have content area information could help her better relate to class discussions. DB: Annie would benefit from either small group or individual explicit instruction of reading skills. Pair Annie with a stronger reader that can model fluency, expression and attention to punctation. Listening to recorded stories while following along, using whisper phones and Reader's Theatre will provide her a chance to reread. Using reading journals for retelling and summarizing practice. TP: Offer Anne independent level texts that she can practice again and again. Time her and calculate words-correct-per-minute regularly, she can chart her improvement. Read a short passage and then have Anne immediately read it back to the teacher. Have Anne practice reading a passage with a certain emotion, such as sadness or excitement, to emphasize expression and intonation. Incorporate timed repeated readings, Readers Theatre activities would be usefule for this. Plan lessons that explicitly her how to pay attention to clues in the text (for example, punctuation marks) that provide information about how that text should be read. Offer direct instruction on reading strategies, especially self-monitoring strategies which encourage her question the text she is reading. Allow Anne to read about topics that interest her, to improve motivation.

Additional thoughts:
SG: Still having trouble on how it is possible to comprehend what is read if the reader is not fluent? ||
 * =__Case Study #6 Comprehension__=

CASE STUDY #6
Sydney, a 7th grade student at Lance Middle High School, is not at all confident about her reading. Daily, she seems to be on the verge of tears, when discussions and extensions take place. She confesses to you that she has faked her way through elementary school and now she knows she won?t be able to do the same thing at the middle school level. She asks you for help.

What are the strengths? VN: Sydney understands that she has a problem and wants to change it. She knows that asking for help will help her in this situation. SG: One of Sydney's strengths is that she asked for help, when most students would just go on. She has realized that "faking" her way through is not going to help her be successful when she reads. She is brave for asking for help. DB: Sydney realizes that she has a serious problem and is willing to ask for the help she needs. TP: Sydney understands that she is behind and willing to ask for help, she is upset that she is struggling so much, which shows she cares and she wants to be successful.

What are the needs? VN: Sydney needs confidence in her reading. First thing teacher should do is assess her reading level. Extra tutoring should be offered to Sydney. SG: One of the needs for Sydney is encouragement. She needs reassurance that she CAN do it. This may be lacking and maybe because of this she has no confidence. Also, the material may be too difficult for her to comprehend and it could be why she stresses when it comes to discussions. On the other hand she may be able to comprehend what she is reading, but does not have the boost of confidence that she needs to be involved with the discussions. She needs some one on one instruction to determine her specific needs, she may be lacking confidence, but may have all the skills that she needs. DB: Sydney needs confidence in her reading skills. It is critical to evaluate her reading strengths and weaknesses. If Sydney learns what she is already good at, that may increase her level of confidence and willingness to work toward improving the areas that need help. TP: She doesn't understand what she is reading in class. She needs a confidence boost, and reading assessment to better understand where she is at.

What strategies/things could the student do when they read? Why? VN: Pay attention to what she is doing while she reads, have her read into a recordable device and then playback. Student should read on level she is on and be instructed on grade level. Sydney needs to make up a plan of improvement and set a goal (realistic goals) and given many opportunities to succeed. Sydney needs to understand the strategies she uses while reading. All these things will help build her confidence and give Sydney control over her successes in reading. SG: Sydney could use her metacognition skills to help her think while reading. She could read sections at a time to help her stop and think or even write about what she read. This could benefit Sydney and she could have the chance to see if she is comprehending correctly. Doing this could boost her confidence in class discussions. Like Vicky said, setting goals that she can reach will also boost her confidence. Sydney could set daily reading goals that she can achieve on a daily basis. Being able to achieve goals in a short period of time is a great way to say, "I CAN!!!" DB: Do a "walk through" the material before reading. She should pay attention to any graphics and pictures. Before she reads, she could do a quick write. Read in chunks like Stephanie mentioned. This would be really useful with the content areas. Having a plan and a goal will help her have success and increase confidence. TP: Use outlines, maps, and notes as she reads. Make flash cards of key terms she might want to remember. Read stories or passages in short sections and make sure she knows what happened before continuing to read. Use self-monitoring strategies - Ask, "Does this make sense?" If it doesn't, reread the part that didn't make sense. Read with a partner practicing reading strategies, such as visualizing - Stop every page or so and take turns summarizing what she has read.Ask a teacher to preview a book with her before she reads it on her own. As she reads, try to form mental pictures or images that match the story.

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? VN: The teacher needs to do everything to help Sydney by giving positive feedback and pairing her with readers who will help Sydney and nt make fun of her. The teacher needs to assess Sydney and see what she likes and use those interests as book choices. The teacher can give special assignments fo sydney and work at home with parents. SG: The teacher in the classroom could use reading strategies that lean more toward motivation instead of the other areas. Motivating her and using positive comments will help her confidence. Until a teacher knows what skills Sydney is lacking, there are not many possibilites to choose from unless the teacher just selects random, but realted strategies. DB: Sydney would benefit from teacher and peer modeling. Providing time for Sydney to do reading before discussions. This could be accomplished at home, with a peer partner or small groups. Giving discussion questions prior to reading will help her focus while reading. Providing necessary vocabuary prior to reading will also help with comprehension. Teach her how to take notes she can use during discussions. TP: Teach her the structure of different types of reading material. For instance, narrative texts usually have a problem, a highpoint of action, and a resolution to the problem. Informational texts may describe, compare and contrast, or present a sequence of events. Discuss the meaning of words as she goes through the text. Target a few words for deeper teaching, really probing what those words mean and how they can be used. Use graphic organizers that help her break information down and keep tack of what they read. Teach her to monitor her own understanding. Show her how, for example, to ask themselves "What's unclear here?" or "What information am I missing?" and "What else should the author be telling me?".

Additional thoughts:
SG: It is difficult to be able to determine what is needed without having an idea of what she already knows or can do. DB: We do not know where the problem begins. How much of her nervousness is from performance anxiety and how much is lack of comprehension strategies. ||
 * =__Case Study #7 Comprehension__=

CASE STUDY # 7: Brandon
Brandon, a soon to be eighth grader, was a student in the summer reading program for struggling readers. He was assigned to this program because of his test scores and the Reading Sufficiency Plan. Also his mother wanted to have help for him before he went to high school. The teacher gave an informal reading inventory and the reading level was several levels lower than his grade placement. During the conference with Brandon, he shared that he felt that he was a good reader and was often called upon to read orally in class. His reading was rhythmic and generally true to text and his accuracy rate was about 89%. He had trouble retelling and his comprehension was minimal. Brandon was also very talkative and excited and saw no need for strategy instruction to help with his comprehension.

What are the strengths? SG: Brandon has confidence in his ability to read fluently. Although his scores were low, he kept his boost of confidence up. Brandon was sociable and excited about reading! VN: Brandon is confident about his reading and is excited to participate in class. DB: Brandon is confident about his fluency skills and believes he is a good reader. He has strong decoding skills. TP: Brandon is able to read with fluency, and feels confident in his reading ability.

What are the needs? SG: Brandon's needs include strategies to help boost comprehension. Brandon's teacher needs to explain to him that it is not a bad thing to have strategies to help reinforce his knowledge of a text. The teacher does not need to say, you cannot comprehend, so here are some strategies to help. Explain that they will help him boost his comprehension abilities. VN: Brandon needs to understand that strategies help with his comprehension. He needs to understand that reading is not just decoding words. DB: Brandon needs to learn how and why using strategies is helpful. How strategies will make reading more enjoyable for him. TP: He needs to practice summarizing, making sure he paraphrase the authors words before moving on, and practice implementing reading strategies, including self-monitoring.

What strategies/things could the student do when they read? Why? SG: Brandon could create a comprehension notebook that includes strategies that help him with comprehension of text. Depending on what content he is reading, catorgize the strategies for each area. If there are some strategies that are more beneficial for informational text, leisure text, or content area text. Brandon could think while reading. He could use his metacongition skills to help him think about what he is reading. During reading it would be beneficial to give him the option to write down a summary over a certain amount of sections in the reading. Asking him if he has any ideas to help would be a good way to help him be in control of his learning. DB: Activate prior knowledge before reading content area text. Look through the chapter prior to reading so that he will be able to use is metacognition skills and realize if what he is reading makes sense and if he is understanding what he is reading. Reading in chunks and making notes. VN: I like Stephanie's idea of a strategy notebook. Brandon can also use post-it notes and write down questions about what he is reading. He can also write "I wonder" questions. TP: Use strategies to activate prior knowledge prior to reading. Identify what he does not understand. Use appropriate strategies while reading. Identify or generate main ideas, connect the main or central ideas eliminate unnecessary information. Use graphic organizers, such as story maps. Learn to generate questions about the text and make text connections. What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? SG: The teacher could use comprehension strategies as a class so that Brandon does not feel singled out. Using them and modeling them on a daily or weekly basis is a good way to help all of the students. The teacher could also use metacognition strategies during whole group to model for all students what to do if they are struggling to remember. The teacher could read a story and have students draw a picture in their journals or write in their journals about what the story was about. This could be an informal assessment to help determine who is getting it and who is not. VN: The teacher could have Brandon teach younger students or struggling readers in his age group the strategies that he has learned. DB: Teacher could have Bradon create his own questions and then search for the answers while reading.Modling to struggling readers strategis such as the chunk and chew strategy to others in the class would benefit Brandon's comrehension and mainain his confidence level. TP: As Brandom reads, ask him open-ended questions such as "Why did things happen that way?" or "What is the author trying to do here?" and "Why is this somewhat confusing?".Teach note-taking skills and summarizing strategies.Use graphic organizers that help him break information down and keep tack of what he reads. Encourage him to use and revisit targeted vocabulary words. Teach him how to make predictions and how to summarize.

Additional thoughts:
SG: I really enjoy using the John's Word Lists and Informal Reading Inventories. I feel that it helps teacher to have a place to start with students reading levels. ||
 * =__Case Study #8: Metacognition__=

Metacognition is having the students think while they read. They are to think about if the text is making sense and what they can do to help the text make sense. They are to think about how their minds are processing the information into long term memory. They are to think about the television reading that should be taking place. Thus, these two case studies are typical about the lack of metacognition. Select one and make a plan.

** CASE STUDY #8 **
At Open House, a group of parents voiced their concerns that their children could read the words in their textbooks, yet they didn’t understand what they were reading. The parents said they can figure out the words (word attack skills) and can read fluently, but they don’t know the main ideas, analyzing text, or taking notes. They said that the kids had a hard time with homework that involved answering questions from their textbooks or looking up information from other sources. Further, they said that their kids don’t do their homework without lots of prodding; the parents say it’s a battle every night. The kids say that homework is boring.

What are the strengths? SG: The group of students have strengths such as, word attack skills, fluency, and can read words. VN: The group of students have strong parental involvement, word attack skills, and fluency. DB: Students have good decoding and word attack skills. The also read fluently. In addition,they have strong parental involvement and support. TP: The students have word attack skills, are able to read fluently, and their parents are involved in their education.

What are the needs? SG: The students need more instruction in how to read with metacognition. Strategies should be avaliable for students in the classroom as well as students at home. Modeling strategies to find ideas, analyze, or taking notes will help students feel more comfortable when they go home to do homework. The content needs to be interesting to the students so that they are more motivated to read and do their homework. If the content is interesting, students are more apt to want to learn more about the topic. In a situtation like this, I think that it is important for teachers to give students the opportunity to do work in the classroom especially if all the students are struggling. This gives the teacher more knowledge about how they feel about what the assignment is and gives students the opportunity to ask questions. VN: The students need to learn comprehension strategies. Strategies can be taught at school and practiced at home. The teacher could also model the strategy to parents so that they can use them at home. I like Stephanie's idea of allowing students to do homework in class. DB: Students need to learn comprehension strategies. Parents also need to know the strategies so that they can help their child at home. They also need motivation to keep interest up. TP: The students need to learn comprehension strategies, and be provided with homework assignments that interest them and encourage higher level thinking.

What types of activities and extensions could the teacher do in the classroom? SG: In the classroom, the teacher could do activities that focus around all of the students needs. Metacogntion, analyzing, and note taking strategies need to be modeled and avaliable for students in the classroom. The teacher could model how to take sections of the reading and break them up into pieces and think about what they read. If necessary, using a journal, summarize each section and then combine at the end of the reading. It takes times, but is beneficial. VN: All reading comprehension strategies taught to students needs. Teacher can have students keep a strategy notebook and also keep a portfolio of work for the year. DB: Teacher should model strategies that will best meet the needs of the students. The students could create a strategy notebook that could be used both in class and at home. Having partner or small group activities for homework completion would make the task more interesting. Instead of regular question and answer homework, have groups do presentations using power point program.Other suggestions include dramatic presentations, aristic representations of information learned. TP: The teacher should model self-monitoring comprehension strategies which teach students how to: Identify where the difficulty occurs, identify what the difficulty is, state the difficult sentence or passage in their own words, look back through the text, look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the difficulty. Having students make text connections can also improve their comprehension while encouraging high level thinking.

What strategies/things could the teacher encourage the students to do? SG: The teacher could encourage the students to think before, during, and reflect after the reading. Have the students connect to their prior knowledge of the topic, think or journal about what they think the reading is about while reading, and then reflect on what they have read. When reading, the students could use the journal to write down any thoughts they have that come to mind while reading. Helping them connect more to the text seems like it would be just as beneficial to the students as strategies are. Give students a variety of strategies to use and let them choose how they use it. VN: To reflect about their learning. Think about the world and their daily lives while reading text. Encourage note taking, creating questions, and re-write stories as songs. Be creative and make up raps, poems, and plays of their own stories. DB: Teacher could encourage students to walk through the text prior to reading. Students should also be encouraged to think about what they are reading. Do they understand what the author is trying to say? Do they agree or disagree? Did what they read create new questions? Opportunity for reflection and response to what they read should always be included. Provide opportunties for creative expression when they respond as often as possible. I like the idea of raps,songs and poems Vicky. TP: Good readers use meta-cognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they read.

Additional thoughts:
SG: I th nk that any type of homework really seems to hinder students learning. It is either done by the student themselves and quickly, or it is done by the parent to quiet the student. I think that if it is at all possible, lessons need to be timed where they can be completed before the hour is up so that all questions can be asked and nothing has to be taken home. VN: Homework should have a meaning and purpose. When students understand that the homework they do will benefit them, they will be more likely to do it. Homework should not be so hard that it discourages them, but enough of a challange to help students to continue to learn. The teacher should make homework fun at times to keep kids interested. DB: Homework should be presented in multiple ways. I agree with Vicky that it should have meaning and purpose. Students know when homework is assigned for little purpose other than it is what is expected and provides something that can be included in the grade book. When homework is interesting and the student is motivated,homework can offer a broader and deeper understanding of the subject. TP: Since so many students seem to be displeased with the homework given to them, the teacher may assign research projects that allow the students to choose their own topic study and practice comprehension strategies. ||