Leveling Students

Leveling students according to reading instruction is a topic that I knew has been debated upon for years. After reading and researching about leveling students, my thinking about this topic has been both affirmed and changed. It has been affirmed because I agree with the following statement, "Why would anyone stop a child from reading a book he really wanted to read just because it was not at his level?" (Glasswell & Ford, 2011, p. 208). In my own classroom library, I have books that are leveled; however, I do allow a child to read books outside their level if it's for their own personal pleasure. For Daily 5, they have to choose a book that's "just right" for them. They annotate and use a Thinkmark Bookmark for this activity. For leisure and down time reading, I will allow them to look in the other bins that are not in their level. I believe this gives them the opportunity to explore books that might look interesting to them or books that they will enjoy. 

My views have been changed because the article Let's Start Leveling About Leveling, puts an emphasis that leveling is okay only if it is used correctly. There are five key principles to remember about leveling:
1. Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple.
2. Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex.
3. Reading levels are not the same as reading needs.
4. Progress does not equal proficiency.
5. Readers have rights (as well as levels). 

These five principles make recommendations and suggest considerations when leveling. Besides using the appropriate level, other considerations teachers should consider are reader interest, vocabulary, or background knowledge. An interesting quote to support this claim is, "Research has demonstrated that children can have less than successful interactions with at-level texts and sometimes more successful interactions with more difficult texts" (Glasswell & Ford, p. 210). Being flexible with what kind of book a child needs is important in your reading instruction. When I did my instruction for my guided reading groups, I followed the level that my groups were tested in. I really didn't take into consideration their background knowledge, vocabulary, or interest. 

 

The way I will approach leveling students and texts in my class going forward is choosing texts that will be challenging and high interest for all my students no matter what level they are at. I want all my students to experience grade-level text and the opportunities that they could explore. When I think about my literacy instruction it has to be done across the board, not just during my guided reading groups. With that being said, I will consider the level of texts throughout content areas and other aspects of my reading instruction. We also do one author study for the year and I will make sure to choose an author that writes for multiple levels. Knowing that the amount of time reading is more important than leveling, I will make sure that I meet with my emerging readers more often throughout the week than just once. All of these components can make a big difference when it comes to literacy instruction and not worrying strictly about leveling. 



 

Literacy Assessments

Assessments I have learned so far in this class that I will be applying to my own teaching are the Qualitative Reading Inventory, the Names Test, and Words Their Way spelling inventory. Besides the several other assessments that I learned about in this course, I feel like these three will be the most beneficial in my third grade classroom. These three assessments will be useful to me because each assess components of literacy including comprehension, fluency, phonics, and spelling patterns.

The Qualitative Reading Inventory will be an assessment that I will use to identify which reading level my students are at which is a very important piece to my guided reading groups. Besides fluency it is also important to know which level a student is at for comprehension. Assessing comprehension was an area that I did not do as much of or as often, so I am very excited about this informal inventory. Some specific resources that are useful are from Reading Rockets which explains what a qualitative reading inventory is and gives materials to use for testing. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/informal-reading-inventory-qualitative-reading-inventory

A great book for the Qualitative Reading Inventory is Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 by Lauren Leslie and JoAnne Schudt Caldwell.

The Names Test is a test that will identify decoding skills in a student such as initial consonants, initial consonant blends, controlled vowels, long and short vowels, and final consonants. I currently don’t use a test that assesses these components of literacy so it will be very helpful to me. I envision using this test for my emerging readers and then taking the data and making a specific plan for our reading groups. This was an area that I struggled with last year and didn’t have many resources to assess phonics so I am very excited to use this assessment! A link to an example of the Names Test and what it is: http://www.academia.edu/5348510/Names_Test_Quick_Assessment_of_Decoding_Ability_The_Names_Test_Names_Test

Words Their Way spelling inventory is another assessment that will very useful to my literacy instruction. This past year I had a group of students who struggled with spelling patterns and I did my best to help them, but truly didn’t have an assessment like this to identify specific patterns. I was also unaware that there were spelling stages including emergent, letter name-alphabetic, within word pattern, and syllables and affixes. These stages will help me with my spelling instruction and give me direction as to where my students need help. There is a great book called, Words Their Way, which gives great resources for word studies, phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction.  Here is an example of a Words Their Way spelling inventory. 

Informal Reading Inventories (IRI) & Miscue Analysis

Using the the Fact, Question, Response (Havey & Goudvis, 2007) format after reading from Understanding, Assessing, and Teaching Reading: A Diagnostic Approach on Informal Reading Inventories and the Miscue Analysis:

Facts:

“An informal reading inventory is used to determine three reading levels and a listening capacity level” (Opitz, 59).

“It is done individually and usually consists of oral and silent reading passages from basal readers from PreK to eighth grade levels” (Opitz, 59).

“The questioning that is included in each passage are factual, inferential, and word meaning” (Opitz, 59).

“The purpose of an IRI is “to help the teacher determine the child’s functional reading levels: independent, instructional, and frustrational” (Opitz, 59). 

“It’s also to figure out a student’s strengths and needs as a reader so that the teacher can determine their instruction” (Opitz, 60).

“Another important quality of the IRI is to give the student feedback on how they did and where they need to improve” (Opitz, 60).

“The buffer zone of the IRI is the area that falls between the instructional and frustration levels. When a child’s score falls in the buffer zone, the teacher must decide whether to continue testing” (Opitz, 62).

Questions:

I've never done a miscue analysis, so my question would be how to implement it into my reading instruction, how to create an analysis grid, and plan my instruction accordingly. I guess I won't feel completely comfortable until I try it. I would want to make sure that I am analyzing the data correctly and assisting my students in the best way possible. 

Responses:

I really enjoyed reading about the miscue analysis and liked how Kenneth Goodman decided to use the term miscue instead of error “because he felt that nothing a reader does in reading is accidental and that the term error implied randomness” (Opitz, 65).  When we think of the word error, we automatically think that someone did something wrong. That’s not what reading is about.  We can gain so much from identifying a student’s miscues and acknowledge a meaning-making process. We are figuring out a student's thinking process and why they made the miscues they did. I never really thought to use the miscue analysis as an assessment tool, but now after reading this article I definitely will!

Positive Attitudes Towards Reading

The video that we watched was very personable to me. When I was a student in high school, I was just like all of those students who held up their signs saying they truly only read 1-3 required books for their class. I used Sparknotes, listened to class discussions, or quickly asked my friends what the book was about before entering the classroom. From watching the video, it was amazing to see the change in amount of books the students read by just letting them choose. Reflecting back on my own personal experience and being a teacher now, I couldn’t agree more to let a child pick which book they want to read. I would so rather have a child choose the book, then force them to read. This will only cause them to not want to read and push them away from being able to love reading. As soon as I was given the choice of what topics interest me and which books I would like to read, I couldn’t stop putting a book down. I absolutely love the quote at the end of the video from Nancie Atwell, “The job of adults who care about reading is to move heaven and earth to put that book into a child’s hand.” Our job as teachers, who love and care about reading, should be willing to do anything to help our students want to learn. All the research I have done on motivation for reading is giving a child time and choice. If we give them these two components, then we can create many more avid readers! 

Reading Assessment

The diagnostic approach was very informative for me and I learned some new strategies. I have a better understanding of what the diagnostic approach is. My understanding is that the diagnostic approach is a comprehensive way of using data that comes from the student, teacher, and context. It should be continuous throughout the year in order for it to be successful. Different assessment techniques should be used including student self-assessment, teacher self-assessment, and assessment of instructional materials. The main concern of the diagnostic approach is identifying the student’s strengths and needs. Below is a comprehensive emergent reading model used to lay out the aspects of reading and how some interact. 

A section of the reading that changed my approach for reading assessment are the three guiding questions that teachers should use to help them get results from their data collected. They are:

1. What do I want to know?

2. Why do I want to know?

3. How can I best discover this information?

The assessments that should be used to back these questions up are performance assessments, portfolio's, direct observation, and anecdotal records. I personally would like to use more anecdotal records to help myself remember all that I am observing in my classroom. The following website has great examples of different types of reading and writing assessments that I find very beneficial!

http://www2.billings.k12.mt.us/docs/pdf/report%20card/3rd%20Reading%20and%20Writing%20Assessments.pdf

Best Practices for Writing

Writing may be an area where it is not even taught at schools. From class discussions this week,  I realized how writing is taught so differently from school to school or not even taught at all. According to recent research, writing should be taught during a Writer's Workshop, across the curriculum, and differentiated. I have recently learned this and have implemented a Writer's Workshop in my classroom pulling from multiply sources. Our school does not have a set or scripted program; however, we do have the 6+1 Traits of Writing program. This program is taught using mini lessons of certain aspects of writing such as conventions, word choice, and fluency. We use picture books and authentic text to give students examples of what good writing looks like. Our kit was ordered right from Scholastic and is something to look into for your own school!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ruth-culham-writing-program/#.VThj9haRnww

I am going to take what I learned from this week and apply it to my workshop. There were five best practices that stuck out in my head.
1. teacher modeling/mini lessons
2. planning/prewriting
3. constructing a draft
4. revising and editing
5. publishing and sharing

These 5 strategies can each be used during my writing process. The other important thing to remember is that you don't always have to have your students create this glorious end product. It's okay if their writing is a short journal prompt focusing on "wow words" or conventions. If we start our students young with these best practices and correct way of implementing writing, then we can create some really great writers!

Age Appropriate Tools for New Literacies

Digital literacy tools are intended to enhance our students' understanding and reading comprehension skills. My biggest struggle is using all of the tools given and also using age appropriate ones. I want to be able to apply these tools given, but which ones? I decided to look into this more after reading on New Literacies. I came across this website:
http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/. This website has different teacher resources and tools that we can use that seem age appropriate for elementary students. Technology and the world around us is changing one day at a time, so we have to be willing to change with it. New Literacies are very important especially in the 21st century. I also really liked this image that includes all the New Literacies and what each one means. Hopefully this is a helpful guide for you. I will be using this in my classroom to remind myself of what they are and to challenge myself to be a New Literacy teacher!