Module 6

Module 6

Closing the Gap Early: Implementing a Literacy Intervention for At-Risk Kindergartners in Urban Schools

By Colleen MacDonald, Lauren Figueredo

Assessing preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills in English and Spanish with the Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool

By JoAnn M. Farver, Jonathan, Nakamoto and Christopher J. Lonigan

Theme 1: The Importance of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy

Both articles discuss the importance of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy. When children have emergent literacy skills they usually read sooner and have an easier time learning how to read. Children who do not have emergent literacy skills usually have a hard time learning how to read. Research showed us that oral language is the foundation of literacy development and linked to this is development in phonemic awareness (Adams, 1990; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Stahl, 2001; Trehearne, 2000), a valid predictor of later reading by the end of kindergarten (Morris, Bloodgood, & Perney, 2003).

Evidence

1. Every year, we have students entering kindergarten who demonstrate a 405 deficit in the area of oral language and emergent literacy. Students are not coming to kindergarten with the skills and foundation in oral language necessary to be successful, literate learners (MacDonald and Figueredo 2010).  
2. Given that the kindergarten years are a critical period of growth for students’ emergent-literacy, oral language interventions placed during the course of the kindergarten school year give students an additional source of support at a critical time in their development (MacDonald et al., 2010).
3. Thus, some poor readers exhibit low levels of phonological processing skills but have cognitive abilities that are consistent with age expectations (the condition typically referred to as dyslexia), whereas other poor readers have inadequate phonological processing skills as well as poor oral language or low general cognitive abilities, often referred to as garden-variety poor reading (Castles & Coltheart, 1993). For both types of poor readers, these requisite skills can be identified and assessed early during the prereading stage (Farver;Nakamoto; Lonigsn, 2007).  

   Theme 2: The Effectiveness of Early Intervention

      Both articles show the effectiveness of early intervention in the classroom. The first article I read was about at risk kindergartners in an urban neighborhood. The article explained how there is a gap in literacy achievement for student in urban schools from disadvantage backgrounds. The school district created an intervention called the KELT Program. The students need to experience expressing opinions, interacting in discussions, questioning, seeking information, and sharing ideas. The students in the KELT program don’t have the necessary background knowledge and vocabulary to engage in these types of language learning experiences (MacDonald and Figueredo 2010). The KELT Program provides these students with the necessary background knowledge and vocabulary that they need to be able to engage in language experiences. Recognizing the need to develop background knowledge through firsthand experiences, a key part of the instruction included three off-site school field trips (e.g., library, museum, farm, apple orchard, pumpkin patch, pond) supplemented with on-site trips (e.g., seasonal walks in the neighborhood) (MacDonald et al., 2010). The second article I read compared literacy skills in English and Spanish with the get ready to read. That is, interventions that provide systematic, explicit, and intense instruction in phonological awareness, print awareness/letter knowledge, and vocabulary produce the most gains for monolingual English-speaking children who are at high risk of reading difficulties and disabilities (e.g., Hatcher et al., 2004; Mathes et al., 2005; National Reading Panel Report, 2000; Whitehurst et al., 1994).                                                                      

Evidence 

1. After reviewing successful intervention programs, we put forth a proposal to our school district’s director of education, James McCracken, who embraced the program, supporting the philosophy expressed by Rick Lavoie (n.d.) that “fairness means that everyone gets what he or she needs (MacDonald et al., 2010)
2. An intervention program must be specific and focused, not just more of the same thing over a longer period of time (MacDonald et al., 2010). 
3. We needed to provide extra time and specific, focused intervention for those students that required it (Farver;Nakamoto; Lonigsn, 2007).
4. Studies of the effectiveness of early interventions also support the importance of these key skills for helping struggling readers and preventing reading disabilities (Farver et al., 2007).                                                                                                                                                       

References 

Farver, J. M., Nakamoto, J., & Lonigan, C. J. (2007). Assessing preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills in English and Spanish with the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. Annals of Dyslexia Ann. of Dyslexia, 57(2), 161-178. doi:10.1007/s11881-007-0007-9

Macdonald, C., & Figueredo, L. (2010). Closing the Gap Early: Implementing a Literacy Intervention for At-Risk Kindergartners in Urban Schools. The Reading Teacher, 63(5), 404-419. doi:10.1598/rt.63.5.6

Orlando's Case Study

Orlando is a seven-year-old boy in the first grade who struggles with comprehension skills when reading independently. Due to his lack of progress, his teacher has set goals for him to achieve by the end of the school year. The school's reading specialist has suggested to implement specific reading strategies, repeated readings, and graphic organizers.

Comprehension Strategies

Comprehension strategies are techniques used to help children understand the material they read. These strategies are important because they provide students with a tool that is essential to their learning process. If you teach your students comprehension strategies most likely your students’ comprehension skills will increase because they will be able to retain meaning from the text. The case study states that Orlando enjoys group activities but is unable to answer simple comprehension questions. The comprehension strategies listed in the article are predicting, summarizing, retelling, rereading and questioning. 

•  Predicting is a strategy that is use before reading the story. Students are able to look at the title of the story and predict what the story is about. Students can also make predictions by looking at the pictures, characters and themes in the story. This strategy would be helpful for Orlando because it would allow him to predict the outcome of the story and be able to see if his predictions were accurate after his teacher reads the story. Depending on how close his predictions are to the actual story helps Orlando to judge how well he understood the story. “Predicting sets a purpose for learning and guides comprehension-“Hmm. That is not what I thought was going to happen. Did I read that correctly or do I need to read more to find out how this works out?” (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study).

• Summarizing is a strategy that enables students to focus on key words and phrases from the text that are worth remembering."As we read a text, we keep a summary in our heads, which helps us understand the rest of the story and discuss the whole story at the end." (Pinnell & Fountas, 2011). If Orlando summarizes the story, it will help him to understand the main idea of the story. He will be able to tell what happened in the story using his own words.

•  Retelling occurs after the story has been read. This gives students a chance to retell the story. This strategy will show if Orlando is able to remember the order the events took place in the story he read or listened to. As Orlando retells the story his teacher will be able to see if he know the main idea of the story. It will allow Orlando a chance to show if he remembers the characters and setting of the story.

• Rereading is a good strategy because it helps children to become familiar with the story. Students may not read a passage well the first time but after rereading it a few times it helps them with fluency. “Rereading and revisiting favorite text is very beneficial.” (Pinnell & Fountas, 2011). This strategy would be helpful for Orlando because it would give him a chance to become familiar with the story. It would help him read with fluency.

• Questioning readers should be able to answer the following questions of text who, what when, where and how (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study). This strategy would help with Orlando’s comprehension skills. If Orlando is able to answer the questions it shows that he understood who the story was about, when the story took place, where the story took place and how.

Graphic Organizer

Graphic Organizer helps children recall events, characters, problems, etc. in the story. A graphic organizer is a diagram used to help children identify different elements in the story. Graphic Organizers come in many different shapes and styles. They can be used for different grade levels. They can be used in independent or group activity. Graphic Organizers can help students remember the material they read. (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study)

 

The book that I chose was "The Three Bears" by Paul Galdone. I work at Elizabeth Public Schools, the school that I work at has a dual language program in which two languages (English and Spanish) are used for instruction, every two weeks students switch classrooms. For this reason, my graphic organizer is in Spanish. I would use different visual strategies to help Orlando with his reading comprehension. The following pictures were taken in my classroom during Read Aloud activity. These pictures demonstrate different ways to engage students in the story by predicting, summarizing, retelling, rereading, and questioning. Finally, Orlando should be able to name the characters, the setting, the problem, and solution by completing a story map and using his own words to communicate.

References 

Fountas, I.C., & Pinell, G.S., (2001). Literacy Beginnings: A Prekindergarten Handbook. Pourtsmouth, NH 

http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/Early reading Level A. Case 4

Welsh, Jodi G., (2008, October) Playing within and Beyond the Story: Encouraging book-related pretend play. The reading Teacher, 62(2) 138-148

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten

The article describes in detail a step-by-step interactive read aloud in pre-k and in kindergarten using complex storybooks. This technique of reading aloud three times in different ways allows children to use critical thinking, helps children to develop oral vocabulary and listening comprehension, also allows teachers to support children’s understanding of the book, and model strategies for making interpretations.  “Teachers prompt children to engage in analytical thinking by making comments that model such thinking and then asking thoughtful questions.” (McGee & Schickedanz, 2007). Children must be engaged in “analytic talk”. The greatest benefits are achieved when children get involved in making predictions, asking questions and making inferences. It is the teacher’s responsibility to engage students in analytical thinking by modeling this type of thinking through remarks, providing prompts to act out the story and then asking reflective questions.

Children learn more vocabulary when they are active participants in storytelling rather than unresponsive listeners. According to Dickinson (2001) “research has demonstrated that the most effective read-alouds are those in which children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening.” (as cited in McGee & Schickedanz, 2007).

The article suggests the story be read three times. 

The first read includes:

                   1.    Story problem Introduction

                   2.       Vocabulary Support

                   3.       Analytical Comments

                   4.       Ask "Why Questions"

The second read is usually completed two days after the initial read.

1. Enrich Comprehension
2. Define More Words
3. Ask More questions
4. Ask "Why Questions" 

The third read usually takes place two days after the second read.

1. Reconstruct the story
2. Recall information about the story
3. Ask if they remember what happens next
4. Ask "Why Questions"

In my opinion, this is the best way to teach children how to love reading! Having the children take part in the story makes it more meaningful. This also teaches students to recall sequence of events, retell the story, creativity, concept development and book knowledge.

In my school district, we use this technique but we add two more steps to it. Before the first reading, we show students a picture book and they make predictions about what the story is going to be about, the characters, the setting, the book title, the plot, and what is the problem and solution. The other step is at the end of the week we do a story map in which we summarize the information of the book using pictures and symbols. This is a great way to encourage discussion and build new vocabulary. Using pictorial symbols makes it easier for young children to learn the elements of a story.

 After reading this article, I came to the conclusion that interactive read aloud helps children increase engagement, understanding, and appreciation of literature in early childhood and I will implement this technique by prompting my students to help them think analytically by asking high quality questions. I will also buy the books that the article recommends such as: Henny Penny (Galdone, 1968), Oonga Boonga (Wishinsky 2001), and Owl Moon (Yolen 1987).

References

Mcgee, L. M., & Schickedanz, J. A. (2007). Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 60(8), 742-751. doi:10.1598/rt.60.8.4

My Literacy Development

I was born in Colombia in 1963 in a very small town named "La Victoria."  In my hometown there were only two schools, one was an all-girls catholic school and the other one was an all-boys catholic school. Kindergarten did not exist back in the day and you had to be 7 years-old in order to enter elementary school. When I turned 7 and my parents decided to sign me up for elementary school, they were notified that there were no more spots available and they had no option but to register me in the all-boys elementary school. I was the first girl to attend an all-boys' school. I remember that they made my mom cut my hair short and for the uniform I had to wear pants instead of a skirt. I used to cry every day for the first month but then I got used to it and I made a lot of friends.

I started learning to read when I was in first grade, with a method called the "generating word method". This method presents an illustrated word that the teacher reads aloud so that the students can repeat their reading. The word is then divided into syllables which in turn are used to construct new words. As new words are added, new letters appear and then new words are generated. The first book that I remember reading was called "Nacho Lee".

My name is Maritza Rojas Andrade. I studied in a vocational High School with an emphasis on the educational profession. Then, I graduated with a bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education. I also hold a degree in Industrial Engineering. I came to this country eight years ago, I studied ESL at Union County College and I completed my bachelors degree in Psychology from Kean University.  

My professional experience includes thirty years at the Pre-K, Kindergarten, Elementary and Middle school levels. At the present, I work as a Pre-k teacher at Elizabeth Board of Education. This position enables me to provide students with a “head start” in mastering basic skills. It is my goal to combine my range of experience with my ability to be a compassionate, enthusiastic, and intelligent teacher who will make a positive contribution in my school district. This is my first time taking a class at NJCU and I am currently enrolled in classes to obtain my 15 credits for the alternate route program. My expectations for this course are to learn more about literacy development, language acquisition and phonemic awareness.

I have a small family but I am very fortunate to have a beautiful daughter, her name is Marcela, she is  25 years old and she has a bachelors degree in Biology. She is my motivation and inspiration to succeed. My hobbies include jogging, hiking, watching movies, and spending time with my daughter.