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Instructional Context
In language arts I teach twenty-one second grade students who are seven to eight years old. I
have nine students working below grade level expectations in reading and writing. Six of those
students come from single parent homes; therefore I seek to provide additional one-on-one
attention and guidance. There are five students at grade level and seven students above grade
level. My classroom has two students that speak English-as-a-second language. There are four
students who have ADD, three students receiving Title 1 help for reading, three students who
attend speech class, and one student who is LD in reading. I am able to teach in my own
classroom all day. My rural school has started a collection of group and class sets of books. The
school I teach at is so large that I am unable to schedule computer time to allow my class to work
on projects; therefore I utilize classroom computers and work with the computer teacher. I have
high expectation for all students in my classroom environment in which I create a safe, caring,
and positive climate. There is a wide variation of development with some students reading as
third graders while others struggle with decoding words. Some students lack the confidence to
try new skills. I believe it is important to expose them to multicultural literature since one third
of the class is minority.
Analysis of Two Children’s Literacy Development
Anthony
Anthony is a quiet, seven year old student who has many facets. At the beginning of the year he
resided in the home with his mother, father, and younger brother. After his father was removed
from the home, he, along with his mother and brother moved in with his paternal grandfather.
The move has impacted Anthony at school and in completing work at home in a positive way.
He is being exposed to regular interaction with his parent as they read together and play word
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games. I selected Anthony because he does not meet grade level expectation set by our state. I
have chosen to use Option B on both Anthony and Kayci. I used informal assessments such as
anecdotal notes during guided reading, self-selected reading and writing, and writer’s workshop
to identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses by observing them in literature circle and
during independent seat work, by collecting work samples, reading journal entries, and playing
word games. In addition within the first month of school I gave each student a running record
and sight word test. I wanted to find out where Anthony was achieving at the start of the school
year so I used The Literacy Map Baseline Benchmark Checklist.
When writing, Anthony spells words as he hears them. In his reading he will read word
by word with some pockets of fluency. He is a self-motivated reader, yet his comprehension is
not very strong. He has almost mastered phonemic awareness, however he has some confusion
with short vowel sounds. Anthony successfully writes about personal experiences. He writes
complete thought but does not correctly use punctuation and capitalization.
Upon entering second grade Anthony would write in a list form rather than in a story.
Work sample one is an unassisted piece that Anthony wrote the first week of school to provide a
baseline for his writing level. In work sample #1 he capitalizes words in the middle of the
sentence, used three periods, and began several of the sentences with “and I.” (Work sample #1)
He also wrote in a list form in his math journal by repeatedly writing “and then.” I learned that I
wanted to begin working on spacing and punctuation with Anthony. I wanted to learn more
about Anthony’s prior knowledge (schema) before, during, and after reading text as well as
seeing if he was able to determine the most important ideas and themes in a text.
I wanted to help Anthony, as well as other students, think about what he was reading.
After reading research and The Literacy Map, I realize I needed to teach the kids to be
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conscience of their thinking as they read. I modeled questioning before, during, and after
reading, in addition to inferencing using big books.
To gather information on what Anthony was thinking as he read I had him write down
questions he had during the read on post-it notes. In small groups students shared these
questions with each other. I had the students talk about the questions during the read for two
minutes and again after the read of two minutes according to P…. I discovered Anthony was not
making predictions of what would come next. This prompted me to gather information through
an informal assessment to learn if he truly comprehended what he read. Therefore during his
twenty minutes of guided reading I taught him to use comprehension strategies by modeling
connections I had, importance in text, and drawing inferences. To build his questioning I had his
literacy group only write down questions they had as they read by saying “I wonder…”. While
reading with Anthony one on one I noticed that he was thinking about the story in more detail
since he had utilized the post-it notes during comprehension activities.
I worked with Anthony during mini lessons and editing conferences on writing samples.
Anthony became conscious of his spacing in between words and at the end of the sentences when
I had him use his finger for spacing. I observed it was easier for Anthony to use his finger as a
tool for spacing rather than moving a pop cycle stick on and off the paper. In work sample #2
Anthony showed punctuation marks were added when he took a breath. I still observed Anthony
writing in lists and continuing to misuse capital letters. I created a song to help him correct
capitalization when editing his writing. My county has adopted “Write from the Beginning” as
our writing program. The program is a very structured process for teachers and students. I have
seen that the program is so structured that it limits the creativity for many students. I do not
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believe it is appropriate for all students, but I believe it will help Anthony become a stronger
writer.
In sample #2 he wrote about a time he lost something. In this sample he showed that he
had the ideas and experiences, however he continued to list them. I have noticed that Anthony
uses his mental images in his writing. Anthony sometimes discusses “how,” “who,” and “what
if” questions. Work sample #3 I used the flow map to help Anthony elaborate on his writing.
He was challenged to pick only three events that he did one time when he played in the snow.
The flow map indicated to me that Anthony can “tell me more” or provide details about events.
Once Anthony had finished the flow map he used it to share his story out loud with a peer. I had
him read his map in sentence form by starting at the opening sentence and follow the arrows to
the closing sentence. This allowed Anthony to talk about the ideas he had written on his flow
map, which gets language going in sentence form before he wrote his rough draft on primer
paper (with wide lines).
Each work sample indicated that Anthony continues to have difficulty with short vowel
sounds, for example, ugo for ago. I wanted to see if Anthony understood the vowel sounds and
word chunk rules. I observed him during word sorts. I began by giving him three words to use
as the “toppers” and then observing him as he moved the words from each column. I taught him
a matching game he played with his word sorts. This gave him practice of looking for words
with the same vowel sound and making connections to use in his writing. Word sorts were also
used to build his base of word chunk rules.
Anthony is self-motivated when reading fiction books. He confidently writes narrative
journal entries and stories and is more lukewarm about writing fictional stories and in his math
and science journals. He sits still and gives me eye contact while on the carpet, at his seat, or in
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literature circle; however, he has difficulty with following directional activities. He rarely
responds to other classmates’ strategies or ideas. Since Anthony appears to be paying attention I
wanted to administer a following direction activity on him.
Kayci
Kayci is an inquisitive, seven year old active learner who enjoys reading and writing
stories and books. She lives in a stable environment with her mother, father, and two younger
siblings. Kayci’s family’s value of literacy is reflected in her experiences she brings to her class
work. Kayci was selected because she is a model student, who writes stories in her free time, yet
has room for growth and improvement. Kayci has extensive knowledge; however, I wanted to
see Kayci write with more clarity in a concise manner. Kayci chooses to write independently for
enjoyment. She enjoys speaking in front of the class, writing, and reading. She enjoys listening
to information that I present to her, however she does not practice active listening in cooperative
groups. Kayci has the tendency to take charge in literature group as well as other cooperative
group activities; therefore I wanted to find ways to help her become a “team player.”
To help Kayci become a team player I rotated letting her pick the group of students she
worked with and assigning her to small groups. I assigned jobs, which rotated, to each member
in the group to help students become successful at working together. Kayci continue to take
charge of the group and is quick to tell another member of the group that their answer is not
correct before talking about it.
During the first month of school Kayci’s running record indicated that she has strong
intonation, fluency, and phrasing. She self corrects three words for a 97% accuracy rate on the
highest second grade tested running record level. Even though Kayci has an extremely high
running record and choose books on her level I wanted to see if she read a variety of text or
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genres. For two weeks I noted that she was reading fiction chapter books during independent
reading time. She was fluent and read with intonation when I listened to her read. I realized that
I needed to challenge her to read other genre so I could observe if she was reading with
intonation on those texts as well. I created a bingo board for Kayci to mark off when she read a
poem, non-fiction book, book about an animal, autobiography, biography, and fantasy.
I emphasize and integrate literacy across all content areas. Work sample #1 is taken from
our CGI (cognitively guided instruction) Math Journal. During CGI time students create two
math strategies, draw a picture of one, describe the other strategy using sentences, and then share
with a peer. It is evident that Kayci was able to successfully sequence her thoughts. She wrote
in detail expressing her ideas elaborately. However, I noted that punctuation and proofreading
are not practiced when writing in the math journal. I realize Kayci may not spend the time to
proofread her sentence because she enjoyed sharing her strategies in detail with a peer.
Kayci chooses to write stories during her free time. I have realized that Kayci would
prefer to write than interact with her peers and is definitely not motivated by materials
incentives. My school’s accelerated reading program awards student’s prizes for the number of
point they have. Despite Kayci’s reading level she has very few points. It is important for me to
realize that she is not motivated by prizes, rather she chose to read fiction and nonfiction books
she was interested in. Therefore I motivated her by highlighting interested facts about authors
like Mary Pope Osborne, Patricia Polacco, Chris Van Allsburg, and Mark Teague.
Supporting Literacy Development
Anthony
Anthony receives additional literacy development from a Title 1 teacher for thirty
minutes each day. He has equal opportunity in small-guided reading groups where he has access
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to me and to more individualized instruction. Guided reading allowed me to tailor Anthony’s
instruction to meet his comprehension needs and helped me to observe the strategies he
employed.
Anthony is motivated to read Accelerated Reading books. I have made sure Anthony
has access to selecting materials for reading when I allowed him to have free access to the
library. As soon as he took a test I encouraged him to go to the library right then to pick out a
new book. He has been responsible about picking out books on his reading level. The access
has been important for Anthony since he comes from a home with a modest library environment.
Throughout the day literacy development is entwined in everything we do. During math
I have use children’s books to introduce math objectives for example when teaching money I
used Pigs in a Blanket. Literacy is a vibrant part of CGI problem solving. Students listened as I
read the story problem to them followed by a coral reading. Then students learned new
strategies by listening to their classmates explain new strategies. They recorded in their math
journal diagrams and sentences explaining strategies they created. Literacy is also integrated
into science experiments through investigations and journal entries as I attempt to make the
experiments personally relevant and captivating to children. (Standard V)
As an early childhood teacher I make ample use of print in the classroom. Anthony has
visual access to strategies, signs, and labels posted, as well as student created books, a reading
and listen center. The listening center helped to support his development as he listens to stories
before they are read in small group.
In the upcoming weeks I will pair Anthony up with a book buddy, a peer from our
classroom, to provide him with opportunities to receive the benefits of exclusive attention,
interesting reading experiences, and personalized instruction.
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I have daily contact with Anthony’s mother because she walks him in. I use this time to
celebrate his accomplishments, answer questions she has, and share ideas that she can try at
home. After building a strong relationship with his mother I have learned through conversations
that she has a lot of responsibilities and is making the best of the situation. She is concerned
about Anthony’s self-esteem after his father was taken away. In the fall I offered to sign
Anthony up for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. She graciously accepted the idea. Within a
month a lady was paired with Anthony. She comes every Wednesday to eat lunch with Anthony
and play word games (word searches, crosswords, words in a word, concentration, and word
jumble) that I provide for her to use. She will bring books for them to read together and is able
to stay for thirty minutes after lunch. He looks forward to this day and loves to bring her back to
the room to show her work he has done. His mom has been gracious and open for all
suggestions. I am aware that it takes a community to provided support to children. I have sent
home centers in baggies for Anthony and his mother to play together. At the beginning of the
year when Anthony was read to at a minimal amount I sent home leveled readers on tape that he
listened to a week before he read it in class. At the first conference I gave his mother a sheet of
comprehension questions that I ask after running records. I encouraged her to ask him two of the
questions each night to help scaffold reading at home.
Kayci
I have modified Kayci’s instruction so she can succeed at her level. I assigned her an
author study to do when she finished assignments. The study allowed her to independently read
about the author on the internet, went to our library and checked out books on the author, did a
project for one of the books, solved math stories about the books, and wrote a letter to the author.
When Kayci asked to get on the computer to type a poem she has written during free write I
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excitedly said yes. She is comfortable using the computer and is now able to save her work if we
have to leave the room.
Kayci does not need encouragement to write when she is finished with assignments.
Although I am going to increase the support I give her for revision an editing. She does not
consistently self-correct her writing even though she self monitors when reading. I have
provided her with a checklist to assist her when revising and editing. In work sample #3 it is
evident that she is using the checklist in her writing folder when she caught capitalization errors
in the beginning of a word, missing punctuation marks at the end of a sentence, and repeated
transition words such as “after.”
Kayci’s love for chapter books has grown. With each months book order I purchased
new Magic Tree House books for her and other friends to read. I gave her home projects to
enhance the story read such as creating a menu for a restaurant, writing a letter to the character,
and creating a comic strip using the characters. Kayci has made the transition to reading to learn.
There is a public library adjacent to our school. Therefore, I gave her a library assignment to do
with her parents. She was very interested in caterpillars during our life cycle unit; as a result, I
created a project for her to find more information on caterpillars. I sent home a bookmark with
Kayci with higher-level questions for her parents to ask after reading. I had parents sign up to
read to our class before or after lunch on Wednesdays. Parents either brought in their favorite
book to read with the students or I had a book for them to read.
Reflection
During guided reading I differentiate students’ instruction to meet the unique learning
needs, which has allowed me to observe students as they problem solve new text. Throughout
this learning experience I taught mini lessons in writing that helped to develop and organize
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ideas. The writing samples indicate that the students used descriptive language, transition words,
sequenced sentences, and improved on capitalization, punctuation, and commas.
It is relevant that I need to build my students’ schema about topics because in writing and
reading the students hesitated to respond when talking about new topics they were not familiar
with due to their experiences. Instead of starting out new stories with open-ended questions I
now realize, like Anthony, students may not have enough background knowledge about the topic
to formulate a response. In contrast to my current practices I will read articles to the students,
show pictures, and excerpts of videos to build prereading strategies. I have read “helping
children to acquire a knowledge base is often a first step in the total process of comprehending
text.”
I have learned that I need to implement more time for peer conferences. My students
need more time to communicate and collaborate with one another about drafts to gain inspiration
and build communication skills with one another. I am going to create a folder and set up a
writing station (with thinking maps, lined paper) where students can choose their own topics,
work independently at their own pace, and pick a writing piece to publish.
If I were to teach this particular sequence again I would take the last few minutes of each
writing lesson to allow a few students to share their writing. During the time frame I collected
work students shared in front of the class once every other week. I have learned that sharing
drafts is invaluable because students get support from one another as well as ideas. Sharing in
front of peers has motivated three boys, which has increased the detail they incorporate in their
story.
If I could go back to the beginning of the year I would change the selection of some
fiction books that I used in literature circles. I would still select books that students are
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interested in reading. Book choice is important for developing literacy learners. I would have
picked fiction books that are filled with descriptive text. Before the read I would have pretaught
two to three words the students may not have seen before and allow them to use strategies to
sound out other words. In Anthony’s lower literacy group these texts may have had an impact on
his descriptive language in his writing. The adjective would help to build Anthony’s vocabulary.
I would also change the selection of texts for Kayci’s high literacy group. Rather than
doing continuous chapter book studies I would integrate more nonfiction and guided author
studies. Kayci is at the stage where she reads to learn.
I would use the author studies to have
the students recognize and compare patterns about the authors’ styles.
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