Chapter 4: Determining a School's Literacy Needs and Developing a Plan

What I learned:  When looking at a school’s literacy program it is important to make sure it’s effective.  The best way to do this is to create a needs assessment which by its name is easy to understand.  You are assessing what you need.  Since I’m a list person, I like focused on the headings of the needs assessment process.

1.  Create a demographic school profile

2.  Plan and Collect Descriptive, Quantitative, and Qualitative Date

3.  Analyze the Data

4.  Create a Needs Assessment survey for teachers and administration

5.  Analyze the Survey Data

“This information is used to acknowledge the strengths and identify the needs of the literacy program.” (Vogt and Shearer, p. 85)

Should I agree or disagree:  I agree that this process is a good collaborative process.  It allows for multiple people’s input and perspectives.  When thinking about what literacy program will work, it is crucial to take into consideration the experience of all of those involved.  I hope when I develop my own needs assessment I will be able to ask the right questions to render the results I’m looking for.

Connection to the Real World: When I was in my undergrad I spent 4 years working at an outdoor adventure center.  Each year was a new school year and we had to assess the programs and procedures we put in place.  As supervisors we went through the data and evaluations of our outdoor education trips.  Found commonalities and put it out to the whole staff what they would like to see kept the same or changed.  From there we made goals for our trip program and set up mandatory training for our staff to attend.  The hardest part was judging whether our goals had truly been met or not.

Vogt, MaryEllen, and Brenda A. Shearer. Reading specialists and literacy coaches in the real world. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.

Chapter 12 + Professional Development

“Coach initiated significant changes in literacy instruction. Both teachers and principals believed that these changes had made a difference for students.” (Steckel, p.16)

Coaches are the ones that have to initiate the change they wish to see.  If you don’t take a step out of your comfort zone, then no one will be successful and you won’t be achieving what you wish to as a reading coach.

“The most significant changes included

■ Increased use of formative assessments, such as running records, reading logs, and samples of student writing to supplement standardized assessments

■ Matching of materials to the instructional needs of individual students

■ Collection and organization of literacy materials in classroom libraries

■ Teacher-led, small-group guided reading and writing sessions

■ Conferences with individual students to document progress and provide feedback

■ More time allotted for independent reading and writing, with opportunities for students to self-select high-interest books and writing topics

■ Direct instruction, in the form of brief mini-lessons, designed to model skills and strategies specific to needs of students in the class” (Steckel, p.17)

For myself, I definitely started doing more running records when my coach suggested it.  I found a way to incorporate them into my guided reading rather than wait to do them as more of a summative assessment.

Steckel, B. (2009) Fulfilling the Promise of Literacy Coaches in Urban Schools: What Does It Take to Make an Impact? The Reading Teacher, 63(1), pp.14-23

Chapter 12: Supporting Effective Teaching with Professional Development

“Principals who are supportive and knowledgeable about instructional leadership may actively collaborate with literacy coaches, even taking the lead in building a school learning community that promotes effective professional development.” (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, p.394)

If the expectation is set high, professionals will continue to develop at your school.  If the principal wants to create a community of learning then there will be continuous professional development available.

“Professional development should be embedded within the school day and relate to what teachers are actually teaching.  It should be part of what is happening every day, rather than occur outside of the school day, with sessions weeks or months apart.” (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, p.401)

I think this is a powerful philosophy and more people should think this way.  Professional development within your own classroom is definitely more hands-on and applicable to you as a teacher.  I think this is why literacy coaches are so valuable because they can work with teachers within their own classrooms on what that specific teacher needs in order to grow.

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: literacy and learning across the curriculum (Eleventh ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Moody Learning Log April 6, 2014

Moody Learning Log April 6, 2014

Chapter 7

“The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity fosters critical awareness and thinking by engaging learners in a process that involves prediction, verification, interpretation and judgment.”  (p.225)

I think the most important part of this comprehension strategy is the judgment part.  Being able to judge whether you are right or wrong is a necessary life skill.  Also, being able to judge and accept everyone’s point of view is a critical reading strategy to have. 

“In think-alouds, teachers make their thinking explicit by verbalizing their thoughts while reading orally.”  (p.201)

Thinking out loud helps me to analyze what I’m reading, the same is good to model to students.  Sometimes they don’t know what to think or what questions to ask themselves when their reading, so if we model what we are thinking it will become more real to the students and they will begin to apply it on their own.

Chapter 8

“The oral interaction in team learning gives more students a change to use terms.  Students can exchange ideas, share insights, and justify responses in a nonthreatening situation.” (p. 259)

My students love to talk to each other, so giving opportunities to learn from each other is what I try to do every day.  You still have to guide them with what language to use and what they should talk about, but it allows them to share their thoughts and be heard.

“Demonstrating how to use context, word structure, and the dictionary provides students with several basic strategies for vocabulary learning that will last a lifetime.” (p.269)

The hardest thing for students to get past is not knowing what a word means.  It will throw off the whole idea of a story if they don’t know what a word means, so making sure we teach how to figure out the meaning of a word is very necessary in the classroom.

Chapter 9

“Before reading, Writing to Learn activities help students tap into prior knowledge and make connections between the “old” (what they already know) and the “new” (what they will be learning about).” (p. 285)

I use this in my classroom, because in order for students to become engaged in the learning they have to have something to connect it to.  The learning then becomes their responsibility because they are challenging what they already know in writing.

“Response journals create permanent records of what readers are feeling and thinking as they interact with texts.  A response journal allows students to record their thoughts about text and emotional reactions to them.” (p. 291)

Keeping a journal is a great reading comprehension tool because it brings your thoughts from your mind to the paper (or computer.)  The act of writing what you are thinking makes you actually think and reflect on what you are reading.

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: literacy and learning across the curriculum (Eleventh ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Article on Comprehension: Picture It!

“For younger readers or readers who find it difficult to organize their thoughts in a story map -  which is the sequential identification of each of the five story elements noted previously, from setting to resolution - the Picture It! strategy begins with a visual interpretation of story grammar - a pictorial of the five elements of a story.” (p. 65)

I think this is a great strategy because reading is often like watching a movie in your head, encouraging drawing pictures of what they see will help them remember the story as a visual and not just words on a page.

“In addition to providing a visual picture of a story's main idea, Picture It! can be used to teach new vocabulary. As students struggle to develop their art work, they'll find that certain emotions, motivations, and so forth are hard to depict. Students may wish to incorporate vocabulary into their pictures to exemplify these concepts.” (p. 67)

I big thing with the younger children is labeling what they are drawing.  They can use words to explain their drawing and feelings that might be hard since the point isn’t to be an artist.

Naughton, V. M. (2008) Picture It! The Reading Teacher, 66(1), pp.65-68.

Chapter 5 & 6

Moody Learning Log Mar 23

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: literacy and learning across the curriculum(Eleventh ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Chapter 5: Planning Instruction for Content Literacy

“Students use strategies to support learning only when they have the appropriate materials, the teacher  has created an instructional scenario that prompts and scaffolds proper use, and students are well-versed in both content and strategy expectations.” (p.135)

From my experience, if students don’t know what to do or what to use, they won’t perform what you expect them to.  You have to teach them and have a plan on how to get them to where they need to be.

“The purpose of a jigsaw group is for the kids to learn how to work together, take responsibility for the topic they are individually assigned, and learn more about their solar system through a way that’s fun for them.” (p.157)

I thought this grouping was a good idea, I do put students in groups together, but giving them a specific task to do and teach the other students is very powerful and engaging.  It gives students an extra purpose to learn if they can help others.

Chapter 6: Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest

“Unlike out-of-school reading experiences, in-school reading is often perceived to be uninteresting to many students.” (p.177)

I have heard this all the time, and experienced it myself in high school.  It seems that eventually there is a disconnect between the books that teachers are supposed to teach with and the books that students really want to read.

“The story impressions strategy uses clue words associated with the setting, characters, and events in the story to help readers write their own versions of the story prior to reading.” (p.181)

This seemed like a cool activating strategy where you give the students key words for a story and they have to write their own version before even reading the story.

Reading Motivation Article

Edmunds, K.M. & Bauserman, K.L., (2006) What Teachers Can Learn about Reading Motivation through Conversations with Children, The Reading Teacher, 59(5), pp. 414-424.

“Reading motivation: What did the children say? Why readers selected expository text: 1. Knowledge gained, 2. Choice, 3. Personal interests.  Why readers selected books in general: 1. Characteristics of books, 2. Knowledge gained.  Actions of others: 1. buying or giving books, 2. Reading to children, 3. Sharing books.  Sources of motivation: 1. Family members, 2. Teachers, 3. themselves. Sources of book referrals: 1. School library, 2. Teachers, 3. Family members, 4. Peers.  Why readers selected narrative text: 1. Personal interests, 2. Characteristics of books, 3. Choice.” (p.416)

Based on the observations collected from student responses I found that having a choice of book, the opportunity for knowledge gained, and other people being involved were the best factors in motivation.  If students are presented the opportunities to read, they will be motivated to spend more time doing it and become more confident readers.

“Another idea we suggest is a variation of Book Clubs or literature circles called Genre Gurus.  Students participate in groups based on the genre they have chosen to read.  For example, five students have each read a different fairy tale.  In their group, the discussion revolves around the genre, not the story line of the fairy tales: How did each book fit into the genre? How are the books alike? How are they different? What did we learn about fairy tales by reading these books? Students should create a visual to share their newfound knowledge about fairy tales with the rest of the class.” (p.422)

This seemed like a neat cooperative learning activity that could be done with many grade levels.  My first graders could do this as long as they had a specific focus introduced first.  It is a great way to use the compare and contrast reading comprehension strategy.

Chapter 2, 10, 11

Moody Learning Log 2/23/14

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: literacy and learning across the curriculum(Eleventh ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Chapter 2

p. 37 “The great thing about technology is that these will still be accessible long after the student has moved on.”

Students and parents love having copies of their work, it is something to be proud of.  The permanency of a file stored on the internet can follow you through the years.  This is great for student motivation.

p.44 “Although we live in a new media age, some educators are concerned that we will lose ‘book knowledge’ as a society; that today’s students are so tuned into their mobile phones, iPods, and laptops, they won’t know how to speak, write, or read anymore.”

I don’t think this will happen, reading, writing, and speaking are our ways of communication.  That’s why we started learning it in the first place.  Technology would be useless if we didn’t know how to read, speak, or write.

Chapter 10

p.337 “A study guide based on text patterns helps students perceive and use the major text relationships that predominate in the reading material.”

I think the headings within a text really help the reader know what the reading is about, most study guides I’ve seen follow these headings to help the reader find out what is most important.

p.318 “The research base for graphic organizers shows that when students learn how to use and construct graphic organizers, they are in control of a study strategy that allows them to identify what parts of a text are important, how the ideas and concepts encountered in the text are related, and where they can find specific information to support more important ideas (National Reading Panel, 2000).”

I encourage my students to use lots of graphic organizers because I think it does give a visual connection to the text and helps look for the important parts of a story.

Chapter 11

p.354  “By using nonfiction trade books in the classroom, teachers can bridge the gap between students’ in- and out-of-school reading, and capitalize on their interest in this genre.” 

Many students don’t have opportunities to read outside of school, so building more background knowledge with trade books should balance that lack.

p.371 “Reader response refers to the way a person reacts to hearing or reading a piece of literature.  It describes the unique interaction that occurs between a reader’s mind and heart and a particular literary text (Hancock, 2007).”

Allowing students to get their thoughts out in a reading response will certainly make the reading more meaningful and keep their interest alive.

Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match With Podcasting

Vasinda, S. & McLeod, J. (2011). Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match With Podcasting. The Reading Teacher. 64(7) p.486-497.

p.487 “Because Readers Theatre has an auditory product, the technology match would need to capitalize on the auditory nature. Podcasting, as a purely aural medium, is an ideal means to authentically integrate technology, widen the audience for student readings, and maintain the integrity of Readers Theatre goals.”

Podcasting a Readers Theatre is an excellent idea!  It allows you to keep the premise behind Readers Theatre and adds a broader audience which makes it more meaningful for the students.

p.490 “The students also monitored their volume by watching the sound waves produced by their voice on the computer display.”

I thought this was an interesting concept because you can technically “see” how your voice sounds.  This is great for students who aren’t good at listening, but are good at visualizing.

Below are some good Readers Theatre resources I didn’t want to lose from the article:

■ Aaron Shepard's RT Page: www.aaronshep.com/rt/index.html

■ Adrian Bruce's Free Educational Resources: www.adrainbruce. com/theatre/plays.htmI

■ Stories to Grow By: www.storiestogrowby.com/script.html

■ Teaching Heart: www.teachingheart.net/readerstheatre.html

■ Timeless Teacher: www.timelessteacherstuff.com

Chapter 1,3,4

• Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: literacy and learning across the curriculum(Eleventh ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
• Chapter 1 - Literacy Matters
• p.13 "Because they are the first generation to be immersed in information and communication technologies for their entire lives, they have at their fingertips more information than any generation in history (Considine, Horton, & Moorman, 2009)"
• Students now have so much information they can access, our job is to teach them how to comprehend it and navigate through it.
• p.21 "To use written texts strategically and effectively, you must first be aware of the powerful bond between reading and knowledge construction."
• Students need to learn how to learn with texts, in order for the learning to be meaningful and to comprehend the text which will lead to knowledge construction.
• Chapter 3 - Culturally Responsive Teaching in Diverse Classrooms
• p.66 "Teachers cannot assume, for example, that a modern Mexican American person child will be able to relate to a book about Mexico."
• When selecting text for a student or classroom, you can never assume that they will automatically relate to it, you need to consider their background.
• p.68 "It is crucially important to be aware that students from diverse cultural backgrounds bring different ways of knowing, different styles or questioning, and different patterns of interaction to school."
• Every student is different, as a teacher you need to be open to the fact that students might now have the same ideas and values that you do.
• Chapter 4 - Assessing Students and Texts
• p.99 "For students who struggle academically, high-stakes testing can diminish both their self-efficacy for learning and motivation."  
• When students don't succeed on this one high stakes test, they aren't motivated to want to keep doing well because there is so much pressure put on them, even though they might be making personal progress. 
• p.101 "NCLB unfairly penalized schools and actually lowered standards as states adjust their proficiency requirements downward to preserve federal funding, thus giving an illusion of progress when test scores increased."  
• Creating an illusion is not helping the teachers and administrator pinpoint what the students need to know in order to be successful in the working world.
• Dennis, D.V. (2009). "I'm not stupid!": How assessment drives (in)appropriate reading instruction. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 53(4), p. 283-290
• Standardized test scores tend to limit students into a broad category. They could then become labeled into exceeding proficiency, proficient, or below proficiency.  All this tells the teacher is that the students are below level and not specifically what that student needs help with.  As teachers we need to focus on these specifics when grouping students because they each have individual learning needs.  It doesn't make sense to waste time teaching and practicing something they already know.  Also, when teaching content it is important that we are giving the students opportunities to read text at their own level.  If they are reading something harder they are going to get frustrated and de-motivated to learn.