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Underqualified teachers

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Best practice:Reading instruction

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Establishing a love/passion for reading is of upmost importance.

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Negative effects of limiting student book selections.

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Rationale

The common core state standards emphasize that children should spend large amounts of time reading informational text and literature. This first grade course focuses on first grade readers reading just right text at increasing difficulty on a variety of genres to become researchers of the world and to know that reading can be a source of information to grow knowledge about new subjects and on topics that are new to them.

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Overview

First grade classrooms generally have a wide array of readers. Many enter reading books proficiently while others may just be emerging with their reading skills and strategies. This course is designed in a way to help first grade readers' progress so that by the end of the year their reading moves towards the benchmarks designated for their grade level. This course supports the reading of both fiction and nonfiction throughout the course. In addition, this course focuses on ways first grade readers learn how to integrate sources of meaning, so that the children understand that reading is not merely reading the words but also understanding the text.

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In the article Nurturing Literacy, Not Test-Taking, Bystricky asks you to consider some of your favorite, most engaging activities.  He then asks the reader various questions, all relating to the main idea of, are you required to pass tests in order to participate or move forward in those activities, and if so, would you still find it enjoyable?  He goes on to discuss how high-stakes testing and preparation for the testing actually gets in the way of quality learning.

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In this post, Thoms (2016) digs into the true purpose and power of reading.  She expresses reading is a wonderful way to relate to past, present, and future real-word issues.  Reading can challenge, alter, or broaden points of view.  She also discusses how we strive to instill a love for reading in our students.  She compares this true purpose of reading to our classrooms where we stress how to read a passage and successfully answer questions on an assessment.

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The Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy document was specifically meant to increase Michigan’s capacity to improve children’s literacy based upon research supported instructional practices that could be taught to educators through various professional development.  The document shares ten research-based classroom practices that will have a positive impact on literacy development.  The list of practices include: deliberate, research-informed efforts to foster literacy motivation and engagement within and across lessons, read alouds of age-appropriate books and other materials, print or digital, small group and individual instruction, using a variety of grouping strategies, most often with flexible groups formed and instruction targeted to children’s observed and assessed needs in specific aspects of literacy development, activities that build phonological awareness, explicit instruction in lterr-sound relationships, research -and standards-aligned writing instruction, intentional and ambitious efforts to build vocabulary and content knowledge, abundant reading material and reading opportunities in the classroom, ongoing observation and assessment of children’s language and literacy development that informs their education, and collaboration with families in promoting literacy.

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Memorizing sight words is not the most beneficial way to learn high-frequency words.  Duke and Mesmer (2016) state, “The most powerful mechanism for eventually accessing words by sight is use of the graphophonemic structure, a process that amalgamates the word’s units into memory” (Ehri, 1978).  They discuss five principles to keep in mind when teaching high-frequency words.  First, phonemic awareness, individual letter-sound relationships, and concept of words should be taught alongside high-frequency words.  Second, teach students to use graphophonemic analysis to read high-frequency words.  Third, teach students high-frequency words in groups that have similar patterns.  Principle four, use previously taught high-frequency words to help children decode new ones.  Lastly, the fifth principle, use various books to practice reading high-frequency words.

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The Country that Stopped Reading by David Toscana is an article that discusses the Mexican educational system.  Toscana acknowledges that education is now provided to a much larger portion of the population, however, the quality of education seems to be decreasing.  Toscna states, “Even in baseline literacy, the ability to read a street sign or news bulletin, is rising, the practice of reading an actual book is not” (Toscana, 2013).  He feels that under qualified teachers in addition to a lack of time within the school day for students to read are contributors to downfall of literacy in Mexico.

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McIntyre discusses the correlation between students who fail state-mandated English tests, and students who are not able to regularly read about topics that interest them in the classroom.  She discusses that allowing students to self-select books that interest them and reading for at least ten minutes a day will build student vocabulary and encourage students to understand various sentence structures.

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Ripp discusses how leveling classroom libraries should not be done to limit students’ book selections.  Rather, a leveled library should act as a guide, to allow students’ to find books they can be successful with, and build confidence in their reading.  Ripp (2016) quotes Fountas and Pinnell when stating, “Reading levels are not meant to be a child’s label, but a teacher’s tool” (Fountas & Pinnell).  She expresses her concern that simply guiding students to select books based off of a provided level, when hinder their natural identity as a reader.  She states, “We must ensure that their reading identity does not hinge on an outside indicator, but instead on their own understanding of themselves as readers” (Ripp, 2016).  She also goes on to relate removing leveled libraries to removing training wheels from a bike when a child is old enough.

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The Power of Engaged Reading expresses the importance of reading fiction texts for pleasure.  The article explains a correlation between elementary literacy scores and future life success.  The article suggests that engaging in fiction reading is a predictor of who goes on to further their education at the university level, income level, career options, and even life-partner choices.  Researchers are also concluding that engaging in reading fiction plays a role in developing sympathy, gaining social skills, and encourages higher levels of self-esteem.  The article states, “Reading fiction, these researchers conclude, leads to self-understanding, a relevant key to improving ourselves known as the Self-Improvement Hypothesis”  (CEA, n.d.).

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This article highlights Nancy Atwell’s speech at the Clinton Global Initiative.  Atwell speaks of her exposure to literature of her choosing from a young age, and how her love for reading shaped her life.  She discusses current issues relating to student reading scores, and states,

“Policy makers have either bypassed or dismissed the conclusions of a wealth of evidence-based research about the power of voluminous, independent experiences with books.  Instead, politics, ideologies, and commercial interests have set the agenda for how teachers teach reading” (Atwell, 2015).

Relying on research, Atwell expresses that literacy is dependent upon students having access to books of their choosing within levels they can decode and comprehend, and independent time to delve into them.  She stresses the importance of surrounding students in the classroom with books that meet student’s interests and reading levels, and that from there, allowing students to make their selections.  She closes by stating, “ Nurturing that love is the rightful work of reading teachers everywhere.  It’s not just a nice-thing to do- it’s the essential thing to do if we’re ever to increase literacy achievement around the globe” (Atwell, 2015).

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Current reading instruction in classrooms is costly, ineffective, and should be removed.  Research-based reading strategies and lessons should be implemented instead.   The article expresses that workbooks, test prep, paraprofessionals providing title one services, and expenditures for computer-based reading programs need to be eliminated.  Allington (2013) expresses that we must rethink almost every aspect of reading instruction we currently have in place.  He states, “The instruction we currently provide struggling readers too often focuses on isolated lessons targeting specific skill deficits” (2013, pg. 9).  Research suggests the following interventions for struggling readers:  Struggling readers should read and write more every day than achieving readers.  Ensure that interventions are taught by expert teachers, not paraprofessionals.  Two-thirds of ever reading lesson should be spent egged in reading actual texts.  Every struggling reader should be provided at least one book to take home that they can read and that they want to read.