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From this Ted Talk I was able to better understand the importance of Oral Language and the importance it has in early developmental stages in students and in babies. Oral language refers to the words that we commonly speak and the way we interact with others whether this is socially or academically. It is important for teachers to "bridge" students language from socially (casual language) to academic language (content specific language). It is found that oral language development is crucial in these early ages. It is found that comprehension stems from oral language first because of the interactions we have with others rather than comprehending written language, and this could be observed in this ted talk with babies being aware of sounds and words rather than reading.

Oral language applies in a classroom because it is the first mode of comprehension the students have to the teacher (Sea of Talk, 2025). The teachers oral language is important and is extremely influential to the students in the classroom as the teacher is the main source of oral language and should be aware of the importance oral language has in a specific content area setting such as science where oral language will build upon the basics for example how biology continuously builds on itself and vocabulary overlaps between subjects.

Some ways I can include Oral language in the classroom is by allowing students to give presentations on different science topics such as photosynthesis or the evolution of a specific species. This will allow students to present in front of their peers and give rise to improvements on oral language. Other ways would be assigning reading roles to students based on specific articles read in class, this would also allow for students to collaborate in groups and develop these skills together.

Citations:

By: Douglas Fisher, & About the Author Dr. Nancy Frey is a professor of literacy in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. (n.d.). Speaking and listening in content area learning. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/comprehension/articles/speaking-and-listening-content-area-learning

Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness

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Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and “taking statistics” on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.

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Phonological Awareness is based on sentence's that the teacher and student speak which is interpreted and broken down to form meaning of a sentence. Teachers have to have Phonological awareness and be critical when speaking in front of students because it is the students responsibility to break down the sentences you are expressing and interpret these sentences. Lots of information can be lost in this transitions that is why it is important teachers are clear as possible with the way they are expressing information.

Phonological awareness is important for all teachers because oral language is a major role in student learning. If this was overlooked, information could be communicated in the wrong manner leading to students being confused about the subject and performing poorly in class and being unable to communicate in an academic language.

It is also important that we emphasize to our students that being aware of phonological awareness in themselves will also help their academic oral language and build on their effective language development. Science education has difficult sentences and vocabulary terminology, however if we shine light on these difficulties and break down these sentences as a class, while going step by step through these tough challenging sentences, students will begin to develop these strategies thus allowing them to work through these same challenges independently when they struggle instead of giving up.

References:

Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of individual speech sounds, or phonemes. A child's skill in phonological and phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

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What is Fluency?

Fluency is relating to reading, especially relating to the pattern of reading. The ability to understand and accommodate the needs of sentence structure, including periods and all punctuations in the sentence. However this isn't silent reading, this is outloud reading, auditory reading that influences fluency. This is calculated by the rate in which a student reads off of a page of text.

Why is Fluency Important?

Fluency is important because this mechanism or strategy when reading allows the reader to connect deeper into the reading while emphasizing the connection between their emotions and the words on the page. Some experts say fluency impacts connection to text, vocabulary, academic success and comprehension. This is why it is important inside the classroom because it is our goal as future educators to build engagement and connections between materials and students.

It is important to focus on fluency in the classroom to help build that support with vocabulary, and allow for the students to make connections with the content. It is also important that students know we care by offering help if they get stuck on a word, this will help foster positive classroom environment's and will allow for students to make mistakes without the judgement of others.

References:

Harnly, A. (2024, October 24). The importance of reading fluency in effective literacy instruction. Amplify. https://amplify.com/blog/science-of-reading/the-importance-of-reading-fluency-in-effective-literary-instruction/

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Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression.Fluent reading builds stamina for reading lengthy or complex texts. Reading fluency serves as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

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What is Phonics and Print Awareness?

Phonics is the construction of the written language and the connection between the structure of written language and the ability to effectively sound out each word. This is something that will take time to adapt to the specific sounds that letters paired together make. For example "F" makes a "ffff" sound but "Ph" also can make a "ffff" sound, such as in Phone, a student could get confused and think the word "Phone" could be spelled "Fone" which would be incorrect. Allowing for these mistakes inside the classroom can help build a positive classroom environment and allow for positive reinforcements from student to student and teacher to student. This example aso touches in on Print awareness and to be aware of how certain words are spelled in a sentence which will help us recognize the word if appeared later in readings.

Why is this important?

This is important because these are the build of basic reading strategies that our students are going to be expected to learn and be able to perform by the time they reach high school. These skills will build on themselves as they reach college and continue throughout their life when they read every text.

Some ways this can be important in the classroom is by allowing the students to mark up readings and allow the students to work in groups to decode specific words and phrases. This will deepen the students understanding of words and how they are supposed to look while also building a strong collaborative classroom.

References:

Basics: Print awareness. Reading Rockets. (n.d.-b). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/print-awareness

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Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. To read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle - the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language. Decoding is when we use letter-sound relationships to translate a printed word into speech.

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What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand, interpret, and analyze written text. It involves more than just recognizing words; it requires readers to make sense of the information, connect it to prior knowledge, and draw conclusions based on the text. Some steps in reading comprehension is decoding, Vocabulary knowledge, fluency, critical thinking and summarizing. These all can impact how well a students ability to comprehend what they read.

Why is Reading Comprehension important?

Reading comprehension is essential because it enables individuals to understand, analyze, and apply information effectively. It is a fundamental skill that supports academic success, professional growth, and everyday life. It can be applied through many different disciplines and is very important in each discipline because it effects how well a student can understand and internalize a text that they just read. This also affects how well students are able to communicate through writing and the ability for a student to advocate for what they believe in. Comprehension is crucial for drawing connectections in the texts to real world examples. Reading comprehension is more than just understanding words—it is the foundation for learning, communication, and personal growth.

It can be important to teach the Jigsaw strategy for reading comprehension. This can benefit collaboration and the formation of ideas through communicating with each other (This can be applied through many different disciplines). However, Jigsaw requires a lot of organization and advanced planning, which can be difficult for high level courses.

I plan to incorporate the jigsaw method in my 8th grade science class relating to species interactions. I will have to plan accordingly but this topic, I believe would have the best outcome. My main goal is for my students to be able to form mental images of the articles they read or the multimodal texts they analyze, allowing them to make connections to the content and better relate to science as a topic of discussion. I believe this will revolve around the students beginning to improve their reading comprehension skills and apply them in my classroom.

References:

Basics: Reading comprehension. Reading Rockets. (n.d.-c). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/reading-comprehension#featured-video

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Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand or connect to what they are reading, they are not really reading. Good readers are both purposeful and active, and have the skills to absorb what they read, analyze it, make sense of it, and make it their own.

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What is vocabulary?

"Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the reading process and is critical to reading comprehension." - ReadingRockets.org

I also agree that vocabulary plays a critical fundamental role in the reading process and comprehension, due to the students understanding of the vocabulary terms associated with specific disciplinaries. For example, if a student doesn't understand some of the vocabulary terms in science, they can form misconceptions which can be detrimental to the students understanding and learning of subjects that build on prior knowledge.

There are 4 types of vocabulary: Listening vocabulary: refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear. Speaking vocabulary: consists of the words we use when we speak.Reading Vocabulary: refers to the words we need to know to understand what we read.Writing vocabulary: consists of the words we use in writing.

These four types of vocabulary play an important role in students comprehension. If students are unable to comprehend what they read due to vocabulary, it is difficult for teachers to be able to teach vocabulary directly. However, students learn more indirectly rather than directly. This indirect learning is through everyday experience's that students take part of based on family and friends interactions with oral and written language.

I plan to provide a student led approach for students to learn vocabulary in my classroom such as vocabulary pictionary, and or vocabulary concept maps which students will take part in small groups and share their images and real world examples with their peers and explore their definitions as a group maximizing peer interactions, collaborations and learn via the indirect learning style.

References:

Basics: Vocabulary. Reading Rockets. (n.d.-d). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/vocabulary

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Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the reading process and is critical to reading comprehension. Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language. Other words are learned through carefully designed instruction.

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Writing is a complex practice that requires a wide range of skills and dedication to refining these skills. These skills include but are not limited to being strong in vocabulary, understanding/comprehension of a topic, sentence structure, and communication in a written form as well as higher order thinking.

It is important that students have a variety of skills to better help them communicate though written literacy such as fundamental vocabulary, writing processes, writing knowledge, and proper communicative skills. This is important in academic writing because it allows students to have a fundamental basic concept of how writing is supposed to be formatted thus allowing for educators in each discipline to build off of this prior knowledge and scaffold academic writing into the curriculum. It is important that students understand the different types of writing and when they can be used effectively and in the proper setting. These types of writing can be Narrative,Discriptive, Expository, or Argumentative (opinion based).

It is important that educators teach about writing and the different types because its essential for their academic success, communication skills, and ability to adapt to various real-world situations. Writing is not a one-size-fits-all skill; different contexts require different approaches.

Teaching different writing styles equips students with the skills they need to succeed academically, professionally, and personally. It enhances their ability to communicate effectively, think critically, and adapt to different writing tasks. By mastering various styles, students become more confident and versatile writers, preparing them for a lifetime of effective expression and communication.

Writing is a critical skill in science, helping students communicate observations, explain concepts, and analyze data effectively. I plan to integrate writing into lessons through structured activities that develop students' scientific writing abilities while reinforcing content knowledge. By integrating writing into science instruction, middle and high school students develop the ability to communicate scientific ideas effectively. Through lab reports, journals, argumentative essays, and research projects, they learn to think critically, analyze data, and express their understanding in a structured way through scientific writing.

References:

Types and purposes of writing. Reading Rockets. (n.d.-e). https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/looking-writing/types-and-purposes-writing

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Writing is a complex process that requires a wide range of skills — a strong vocabulary; an understanding of genre, text structure, and voice; basic mechanical skills (grammar and punctuation); organizational skills; and higher order thinking.