Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003

1. What would you tell an administrator that questioned the value of reading aloud to students? What would you say to this same administrator when he says, “I really think we need to move our students away from reading stories and have them read more content information, because that is what they get tested on”? So in your response, you need to wrestle with the idea of reading aloud and of reading stories. Is each of these a valuable activity? What are the arguments for it? Draw on Wells (Meaning Makers) and Trelease (Why Read Aloud) as well as other texts and our class discussions.

I feel reading aloud to students is a very valuable activity. It increases the number of words they are exposed to and is a great predictor of future success in reading and writing. If they don’t get it at home, they need to get that spark for reading in school. In Trelease’s article, Why Read

Aloud, he quotes from the Commission of Reading’s report Becoming a Nation of Readers 1985, that the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. The commission found that this practice should continue throughout the grades. It is the single most important activity—saying reading aloud was more important than worksheets, homework, assessments, book reports, and flashcards.

Reading to children conditions the child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure. It also provides a reading role model for them (Trelease). Reading aloud serves as a commercial for the pleasures of reading (Trelease). If a child associates reading as a pleasurable thing, they will read more. Human beings are pleasure-centered and will voluntarily do over and over that which brings them pleasure. I love the two quotes by Trelease: The more you read, the better you get at it; the better you get at it, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it.

The more you read, the more you know; and the more you know, the smarter you grow. Reading is an accrued skill and in order to get better at it you must do it (Trelease). The reading skills acquired through pleasure reading can then be used to understand content information.

Reading aloud provides a reading foundation by nurturing the child’s listening comprehension. “The listening vocabulary is the reservoir of words that feeds the speaking

1 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 vocabulary, the reading vocabulary and the writing vocabulary—all at the same time” (Trelease).

It exposes children to abstract meaning. When they read a book, the language is symbolic.

There is nothing concrete in front of them. Researchers suggest that the most valuable aspect of the read-aloud activity is that it gives children experience with decontextualized language, requiring them to make sense of ideas that are about something beyond the here and now (Beck).

Children begin to gain experience with written language and its characteristic rhythms and structures when they are read to as preschoolers. It conditions the child’s mind to rhythm and flow of texts, fluency and intonation. When these children begin to read, they will find the language familiar (Wells). Without this ability, children become progressively less able to meet the demands of an academic curriculum. (Wells)

Children need to have exposure to conceptually challenging texts in order to develop language and comprehension abilities (Beck). Young children can handle challenging content, but the books they read on their own do not provide this challenging content. Because young children’s oral comprehension level is above their word recognition abilities, young children can be exposed to challenging content from book selections that are read aloud to them (Beck).

Because all the attention has been put on test scores, we are forgetting that the purpose of literature is to provide meaning in our lives. Of the two forms of literature, fiction and non- fiction, the one that brings us closest and presents the meaning of life most clearly to the child is fiction (Trelease). So, fiction needs to be a big part of their reading.

Background knowledge can be attained by being read to and by reading stories for pleasure.

Through stories, children vicariously extend the range of their experience far beyond the limits of their immediate surroundings (Wells). As the content of the curriculum expands beyond what can be experienced firsthand in the classroom, children who have been read to will have an

2 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 advantage (Wells). Trelease says this background knowledge can then be applied to content stories. Background knowledge is one reason why children who read the most…. bring the largest amount of information to the table and thus understand more of what the teacher or the textbook is teaching. The less you know about a subject, the harder the reading will be for you.

Since educators know that the children from the lower income levels come to school disadvantaged in background knowledge, reading aloud to them and allowing them frequent time for pleasure reading, will help to increase their missing background knowledge.

The frequency of SSR (sustained silent reading/pleasure reading in school) was found to be common to the best student readers around the world. Children who had daily SSR scored much higher that those who had it only once a week. The National Assessment of Educational

Progress (NAER) found the highest scorers were those taught with trade books (as opposed to basal textbooks) and those who did the most pleasure reading (Trelease). This shows that reading for pleasure does improve reading skills.

Wells emphasizes that students will need to be able to bring all the skills learned in reading stories to all the subject matter of the curriculum. They will need to follow and construct narrative and expository sequences, recognize causes, anticipate consequences, and consider the motives and emotions in human endeavors. These are all skills that are taught by reading trade books, but can be carried over to reading content material. As children encounter more and more curriculum content that can only be brought into the classroom symbolically, they will need to be able to go beyond their own thinking to handle more abstract ideas (Wells).

2. Mike Rose, in his book Lives on the Boundary, discusses the “real stuff of literacy.” What is the kind of literacy he is advocating and how does it compare to what Richard Allington (What Really Matters for Struggling Readers) is advocating?

3 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003

Rose feels literacy involves the ability to analyze, to break something down so as to better

understand its nature. This analytic investigation needs to be carried out with a set of

assumptions that determine how you proceed and what you find in your analysis. He would

teach this by modeling it for the class, questioning them on their reading and role-playing

different points of view.

He wanted to find a way to get his students to think about thinking. He wanted them to

use the intellectual strategies “that were as old as Aristotle and would be needed in

undergraduate studies”- summarizing, classifying, comparing, and analyzing. He feels that

liberal studies had sharpened his abilities to find the central notion in an argument or the core

of a piece of fiction. He feels the skill of summarizing helps us manage information, make

connections, and rebut arguments.

Rose feels literacy goes beyond summarizing the events in a story or writing a personal

response to a play or a movie or recalling what a teacher said in a lecture. He believes in

“critical literacy: framing an argument or taking someone else’s argument apart,

systematically inspecting a document, an issue, or an event, synthesizing different points of

view, applying a theory to disparate phenomena, and so on.” In our society these skills have

just been developed in an elite, such as priests, scholars, or a leisure class, not in general

society. Most undergraduate students would be considered competently literate, yet when

they attend Universities, they fail to meet the literate demands of their classes. When I began

the process for getting my National Board Certification I noticed that classes were being

offered to teachers on analytical writing. Most teachers would do exactly as Rose mentioned

- just summarize and recall facts and they would not be able to pass the process. Rose would

be happy to hear that teachers are now leaving college with more training in analytical

writing.

He feels that as writers move away from familiar ways of expressing themselves, they will

increase the strain on their cognitive and linguistic resources, and they will make more

mechanical and grammatical errors. But, he feels we should welcome certain kinds of errors

and plan for them in our curriculum. We should analyze them instead of criticizing them.

“Error marks the place where education begins” (Rose).

Rose doesn’t want students to just exchange one body of facts for another year after year.

He feels they need to use this information. John Dewey said, “Only in education, never in

the life of the farmer, sailor, merchant, physician, or laboratory experimenter, does

knowledge mean primarily a store of information aloof from doing.” Especially in the lower-

division courses, they will have limited experience in applying knowledge, puzzling over

solutions, and solving problems. Rose would like to see educators thinking of every

student’s needs and goals in light of the comprehensive programs that are usually reserved

for the elite.

I feel that Allington’s thoughtful literacy is very similar to Rose’s critical literacy.

Thoughtful literacy can be demonstrated when the reader is able to talk in certain ways that

go beyond simply making connections. Literate talk about texts also involves summarizing,

synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating the ideas in the text. A thoughtfully literate

conversation about topics would involve understanding. He feels that we have confused

remembering with understanding. We have focused on recitation of texts, not thoughtful

consideration and discussion of texts. He also feels that this emphasis on remembering

actually impedes children’s development of thoughtful literacy proficiencies. We can

demonstrate our thinking through discussions and this discussion will demonstrate our

understanding. Thoughtful literacy goes beyond the ability to read, remember, and recite on

demand.

Allington is worried that children will confuse recall with understanding. He feels we

need to provide students with models and demonstrations of thoughtful literacy and lessons

on how to develop those proficiencies. If not, we will have students that don’t even know

that thoughtful literacy is the reason for reading. Some recall of a text is required for

thoughtful literacy, but not the ability to recite all of the details.

He feels even Kindergarten teachers can engage in “literate conversation” with their

students. This is the sort of talk that literate adults would have about texts. You engage the

ideas in texts, challenging these ideas, and reflect on them. By engaging children in a richer

talk environment during and after a story read-aloud you will see growth in vocabulary and

language knowledge and also shape children’s understandings of what it means to be literate.

They both feel that classroom talk about texts is critical to becoming literate. They also

feel that struggling students have the greatest needs for lessons that foster this kind of

literacy. They are discouraged by the types of lessons where teachers just assign and assess.

They feel that literacy strategies must be taught and that students must engage in literate talk.

3. What are the key issues (theoretical and practical) in teaching vocabulary to improve reading comprehension? Explain how you would approach vocabulary instruction in your classroom. Draw on the vocabulary articles and National Reading Panel Report as well as other relevant reading and class discussion.

The NRP found that vocabulary should be taught both directly and indirectly and that this instruction should be incorporated into reading instruction. Vocabulary instruction will improve comprehension (NRP). If vocabulary instruction is to be effective, there needs to be a variety of

6 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 direct and indirect methods that include multimedia aspects of learning, richness of context in which words are to be learned, active student participation, and many exposures to the words that are being learned. (NRP)

Vocabulary can be learned incidentally in the context of storybook reading or from listening to the reading of others (NRP). Anderson feels that incidental learning from context during free reading is “the major mode of vocabulary acquisition during the school years, and the volume of experience with written language, interacting with reading comprehension ability, is the major determinant of vocabulary growth.” He feels that this massive vocabulary growth seems to occur without much help from teachers. Anderson mentions that the complete learning of a word’s meaning is a gradual process, and will extend over many years of repeated encounters.

He feels that the number of words to be learned is too enormous to rely on word-by-word instruction and that students must become independent word learners and have lots of opportunities to read (Anderson).

There is a need for direct instruction of vocabulary items required for a specific text (NRP)

(Beck). Pre-instruction of vocabulary words prior to reading can facilitate both vocabulary acquisition and comprehension (NRP). It guarantees that there will be fewer unfamiliar concepts in the material to be read. You want to make sure that the vocabulary items are in the oral language of the reader. I usually begin reading a read aloud text and get the students’ interest before I introduce a new word. I make such a big deal about a new word being a “grown-up” word and the students will really want to remember it. When my students are reading, I will introduce new words before they begin. I agree that this will help with their vocabulary and comprehension of the story.

Repeated exposure to vocabulary items in authentic contexts is important for learning gains.

My students are surrounded with books and printed words and have many opportunities throughout the day to read. My books are leveled by readability and others are displayed by themes and content. Content words are listed around the room with pictures to explain their meaning. This gives my students repeated exposures to science words such as dormant and hibernate. First graders feel so big when they use big words. Even my weaker readers enjoy using these new words.

I approach vocabulary in my first grade classroom by not assuming they know the meaning of a lot of words. I throw out sophisticated words frequently followed by a simpler meaning to the words. I try to expose their oral vocabulary to lots of tier two words. I encourage my students to stop me if I say something they don’t understand and find out what it means. By providing a safe environment to ask questions with no chance of feeling ridiculed, my students help me know when there is a teachable moment throughout the day.

Learning in rich contexts is valuable for vocabulary learning. Students should be given vocabulary that will appear and be useful in many contexts. Vocabulary learning needs to be connected to reading (NRP). Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement in learning tasks (NRP). I engage the children in “literate conversations” (Allington) about read- aloud books when we do text talks with rich literature picture books. Through our discussions the children are exposed to new vocabulary. I also pick out tier two words to concentrate on and continue to work on all year. I read the words in context and discuss the meaning with the students. After I finish the book, I go back and do more discussion and vocabulary activities with 3 words that I feel are a little beyond them, but they can understand what they mean and begin to use them. We call these words Wizard Words (words for wise people).

I have a wall in my room for Wizard Words. Anytime a tier two word comes up, that the students would be able to understand its meaning and be able to use, I add it to the wall. Once a word is on the wall, students are rewarded by being given a ticket (classroom reward system) every time they use a Wizard Word in a sensible sentence during the regular school day. I have a wizard cape, hat, and wand that encourages the students to want to be a Word Wizard. They take turns being the Wizard and picking a word out of a can. They can choose anyone in the room to tell what the word means and to use it in a sentence. We make vocabulary cards with each of our

Wizard Words, drawing a picture and writing a very simple definition on the back of the card. I also do a lot of Vocabulary Expansion activities with these Wizard Words. Idea completions are great to write on the board and use as part of the morning work. True False Questions are easy to add to the back of the Spelling Test. I use these activities as an assessment to show me if the children are “getting it.” It lets me know if I need to do more activities with certain words.

Because this is first grade, my purpose is not to take grades. I am trying to increase their oral and listening vocabulary.

As we add new words weekly, I continue to use the same words over and over again throughout the year. The children learn to lookout for words that they feel would make good wizard words for the class in library books or conversations. A student suggested elder after a visit from his grandparents and he heard them use that word. He taught the word to his classmates and now has ownership of that word.

I list our Wizard Words on my weekly newsletter so that the parents can carry through at home. Children need to hear many repetitions of these words before they will become part of their vocabulary and their parents can help with this.

4. Define fluency (as we discussed in class and described in readings) and summarize why it is so important for successful reading. Describe and give support for the teaching strategies you would use to develop reading fluency in your students. Draw from National Reading Panel Report and Allington, as well as class discussion.

Fluency is the freedom from word identification problems that might hinder comprehension.

It involves speed, accuracy, and proper expression. A fluent reader no longer reads word by word, but in phrases and will also self-correct. Children must have automaticity with words in order to be a fluent reader.

In Dr. Trathen’s handout he states that fluency is important because it bridges the gap between word recognition skills and comprehension. Fluent readers can concentrate on comprehension because they are not spending a lot of time and resources decoding words. The

NRP states that fluency is important to improve reading achievement and reading comprehension. Allington feels that fluent reading is important for fostering more thoughtful literacy performances.

Allington feels that fluency can be developed through activities that involve rereading texts. I have used the following activities with my students: I have my students reread texts as a group, with peer partners, or with their 4th grade book buddies. I will use echo reading especially if I’m trying to teach intonation or phrase reading. As my first grade students reading abilities improve

I try to model fluent reading to break them away from word by word reading. I will also model the first pages of a story. This helps introduce the characters and other key words that might be difficult for them. This allows them to read more fluently because they have already been exposed to the new vocabulary. I do not believe in doing a lot of echo reading in first grade because I believe first graders need lots of experience in attacking words, to become independent readers. I think Allington was referring more to the upper grades using this technique to teach

10 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 fluency. I would rather have my students attack words as they read the first time and then use repeated readings to work on fluency. I also use choral reading with my whole group. I assign parts to small groups and we take turns reading. Near the end of the year, I will use timed readings with my top students who are able to read accurately above grade level, but do not have the speed to be considered on that level.

I also use the Shared Book Experience in my classroom. Allington mentions that this technique has been successful especially on the reading performances of average and struggling readers in fluency, accuracy, vocabulary acquisition, and comprehension. I use mostly big books for this type of lesson. First we discuss the title and predict the story line. Then I will model reading to my students by reading the book aloud. They are not to read along with me the first time. I model “thinking aloud” as I read. I “think aloud” the processes for attacking unknown words, predicting what might come next, how it makes me feel, inflections, etc. Then the text is read and reread many times as a group or with partners and individuals using smaller versions of the book.

Allington said dysfluent readers spend less time reading than their better reading peers. And reading practice is thought to be a powerful contributor to the development of accurate, fluent reading (Allington). By practicing reading, a child will become more automatic in word recognition skills. In my classroom, my “baggie books” (books I send home in a baggie) are leveled and placed in colored tubs. Each child knows what tub has books that they will be successful reading. They choose these books anytime during the day and a book is sent home every night for the child to read to a parent. My goal is for every child to be a fluent reader in the book they choose so that he/she will continue to enjoy reading. I never send home a book that will make a child feel like a failure. I will periodically send home an easier book to let the

11 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 students get use to reading with automaticity and not develop that habit of always reading slowly and choppy.

In 1998 the National Research Council Report recommended that because comprehension depends so strongly on the development of word recognition accuracy and reading fluency, both should be regularly assessed in the classroom. Since I teach first grade, word recognition strategies are my first concern. I feel that I must first teach phonemic awareness, context clues, etc. so that my students can attack any unknown word. Then we consistently play games that drill sight vocabulary. I try to make sure my students have a huge sight vocabulary so that their reading can become automatic.

The NRP states that competent reading requires skills that extend beyond the single-word level to contextual reading, and this skill can best be acquired by practicing reading in which the words are in a meaningful context. They feel that children need to read a lot because reading is learned through reading. We need to stimulate students to read more. Round robin reading does not expose students to as much reading. The NRP encourages silent reading as a way to get students to practice reading and read a lot. The SSR, DEAR, AR, and Pizza Hut’s Book It are all programs that I have used. My students are also encouraged to read when they have any extra time. I encourage them to use their time wisely by reading a great book.

5. Respond to recent statements in the media. Draw from Rose and Allington as well as other relevant sources and class discussion. American children’s reading scores have fallen behind those of the past and of other nations

In Allington’s book he states that when compared to children in other nations, American elementary school children read as well or better than children of the same ages around the world. So, if American elementary schools are failing, then the schools across the globe must be failing also. In an international comparison in 1992, American fourth graders were ranked

12 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 second in the world behind the children in Finland. Even the most economically disadvantaged

American students still performed at about the international average for grades four and nine

(Allington).

When comparing test scores to the past, there is much improvement. On the Iowa Test of

Basic Skills, the average fifth grader’s achievement in 1990 roughly equaled the average sixth- grader’s achievement in 1975, and the average third grader’s achievement in 1990 equaled the achievement of the average fourth-grader in 1955. From 1955-1990, elementary school student achievement rose quite dramatically while average middle school achievement improved only modestly. Allington noted that two of the readability formulas were renormed in the 1980s because they no longer accurately reflected the grade difficulty of texts. In both cases, they were overestimating their difficulty. When I began teaching second grade in 1978, a lot of my students were on pre-primer and primer levels of reading. I am still using some of these same books in first grade and my students are out of them by Christmas. Some of the older books from the fifties, sixties and seventies that I still use are labeled as second or third grade books, but they are the same level of difficulty as first grades books today. I totally agree that the educational standard in the primary grades have risen dramatically. I am amazed at what first graders are expected to learn while middle school achievement has improved only modestly.

Rose feels that statistics are often used to demonstrate educational decay for political reasons.

In reality, more American are graduating high school then ever before and more Americans are attending college then in the past. Over 75 percent of Americans complete high school, but in

Sweden only 45-50 percent complete 11th and 12th grade.

Rose feels that our schools have always had students who don’t meet some academic standard. But, we think that things were once different and so we look to the past for the

13 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 effective pedagogy that we assume the past must have had, but it really didn’t. There’s nothing to go back to. We are no better and no worse off. But, then we create a curriculum that is suppose to be better, but in reality it keeps us from seeing the true difficulties and inequities in the ways we educate our children. He says that there is knowledge that our assignments to the students don’t let us see. We need to look at the errors and failures and learn for them and then teach from that. “Error is a place kids can learn.”

Allington feels that much of the educational research available fails to meet rigorous quality criteria. “You can prove anything with research.” He says you cannot trust the research when you are looking into new programs or materials. He feels that proponents of a particular method, material, or program will selectively review the available research and only report on studies supporting their programs. If you researched further you would find conflicting conclusions.

These new methods or programs will say, “Hundreds of studies show…”, but it is impossible to locate 100 studies showing the same effect for any one method or program. Most studies list their method as the best, but these same methods were usually found to be less effective in other studies. This led researchers to conclude in the book First Grade Studies (Bond & Dykstra,

1967) that: “Children learn to read by a variety of materials and methods…No one approach is so distinctly better in all situations and respects than the others that it should be considered the one best method…”

Allington states that the majority of published studies are authored by the developers and marketers of the materials and programs. There are few independent evaluations for most of the materials and programs available. “…Virtually every proponent of any method, material, or program can find some sort of evidence what they have to offer that works somewhere, some of the time. By selectively reviewing the evidence, by creating magazines to publish your own

14 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 supportive data (because no peer-reviewed journal would accept it as unbiased), and by controlling the design of the evaluation and the implementation of your favorite method, material, or program, almost anyone can create the impression that “research shows” positive effects for their product or pedagogy” (Allington).

Rose feels that we waste time on these methods, materials, and programs that don’t let you get close enough to the students’ failures to find knowledge that the assignment didn’t tap, ineffective rules and strategies that have a logic of their own. We need to look for clues, as well, as to the complex ties between literacy and culture, and to the tremendous difficulties our children face as they attempt to find their places in the American educational system.

I think Rose believes that the success of schools is more about the teacher than the programs.

He feels students need teachers that love what they are doing and show the students that they want them to love it too. He feels teaching is personal and teachers need to have dialogue with their students. He also feels the best programs should be offered to every student and not saved for the elite.

6. When you think about teaching comprehension, what is it that you teach? Discuss how one should go about teaching comprehension—give an example.

Children need to be at the automatic word level processing before they are fully able to deal with comprehension. We have limited resources available in our mind. If you can decode effortlessly, you don’t use many resources for recognizing words and you have room for comprehension. If students are spending cognitive resources to decode words, they are taking away resources for comprehension. This greatly hinders comprehension. Automaticity with words is needed to allow cognitive resources to be used on comprehension. Allington said

15 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 decoding is important to get automatic and to help comprehension, but it’s not enough, we must go further.

NRP mentions that reading comprehension is a cognitive process that integrates complex skills, and vocabulary learning and instruction have a critical role in its development. As I discussed in question three, vocabulary instruction is very important to improve comprehension.

NRP also mentions that active interactive strategic processes are critical to comprehension.

Students need to be engaged and active. Reading comprehension is “intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader” (Durkin,1993,

NRP). The meaning a reader gets from a story is influenced by the text and by the reader’s prior knowledge and experience that he/she brings to it. Activating prior knowledge can be linked to developing predictions about the text before reading. Children also need to be taught to change their schema when they realize it doesn’t make sense. If they are unable to do this and stick to an incorrect schema, they will lose the meaning of the story. This skill also involves predicting and then verifying. If their prediction can’t be verified, they need to make a new prediction.

Students, that read a lot and are read to, will have more background knowledge to bring to a story and be able to comprehend more types of stories. Students therefore, need to have lots of experiences with different kinds of texts.

Lessons have to be constructed that help make the comprehension processes visible. Reading comprehension can be improved when students are provided explicit demonstrations of the strategies that literate people use when they read. Modeling will help them apply this type of thinking while they are reading. Thinking aloud demonstrates the thinking strategies (internal dialogue) good readers use. You make connections to other things you’ve read and to your own experiences. They need to be shown how they can control their understanding of their own

16 Dr. Trathen - RE5730 Cathy Marlow December 3, 2003 thinking. Comprehension monitoring shows the reader how to be aware or conscious of his or her understanding during reading. This involves metacognition. You know when you don’t know what’s going on and you fix it by rereading.

Comprehension instruction can effectively motivate and teach readers to learn and to use comprehension strategies that benefit the reader (NRP). The skill of summarizing helps them learn how to ignore certain features and how to pull out the important information. Having story grammar lessons teaches setting, characters, problems, attempts at problem resolution, and resolution. Graphic organizers allow the reader to represent graphically the meanings and relationships of the ideas that underlie the words in the text. Story grammar lessons help children develop summaries of narrative texts. Teaching imagery or visualization helps students create a visual image of the characters or a visual image of something personal that relates to the story. Questioning the author (TextTalk- Beck) is a great method to get children thinking and answering higher level thinking questions. This activity can bring out all of the comprehension strategies that need to be modeled for the students.

I agree with Rose and Allington about going beyond remembering and moving students to understanding what they read. These lessons need larger blocks of uninterrupted time. But, more thoughtful lessons will produce more thoughtful readers. (Allington) Students who were more often asked to explain, discuss, or write about the texts they had read were also more likely to demonstrate the higher-order, thoughtful literacy proficiencies than students who had fewer such opportunities. Therefore, we need to gear our classrooms to this kind of teaching.