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!

Sustained Reading

Hanging in my classroom is a poster board that says, "What Stuck With You Today?' I do an activity with my students using sticky notes and this board. The students take a sticky note and post something up on the board explaining what "stuck" with them for that day. After reading and researching independent reading (IR) and Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), what I would write on my sticky note that "stuck" with me is that silent reading should be implemented into the classroom to encourage motivation, find the right books for students, and for peer interaction. What I took away mostly is the peer interaction part. When we think of silent reading, we think that it is specifically done silently. Well, I was wrong. Silent Reading should actually be called Sustained Reading without the silent part. Teachers should be walking around the room observing, taking notes, and conferring with students. Students should be reading, discussing with a partner(s), and forming "book clubs". If sustained reading is done the right way and not how most schools are implementing it, then we can be improving our students scores and seeing academic success. Students should also use reading logs to record what they are reading and to reflect. I challenge you to take what you have read from this blog and research independent reading on your own time to see all of the best practices! Here are great websites to get you started.

Blogging- http://kidblog.org/home/
Reading Log- http://www.k12reader.com/printable-reading-logs/
Sustained Reading- http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reconsidering-silent-reading

Schema Theory & Diversity

Based off class discussions and reading from the text, I learned of many new ideas and strategies to create a community in my classroom and to also help with building background knowledge. What I learned most about scheme theory is that we all start out knowing nothing and over time we encounter different experiences and interactions both internally and externally. We grow as an individual and learn more and more as we grow older. If we are unsure of our students cultural backgrounds and ethnicities, this can affect our reading instruction. It is very important to create a diverse classroom by getting to know our students and learn about what they've been exposed to. Some of the main stratigies to do this is by:

1. Build a classroom community.
2. Throughout the school year, integrate thevchild's diversity within the classroom.
3. Make home visits.
4. Open houses/school fair
5. Activate background knowledge with a KWL chart & graphic organizers
6. Diverisy texts.
7. Share personal stories.
8. Book walks.
9. Have students create a writing list of topics they know of and could write about.
10. Visual images.

All of these strategies are helpful within the classroom which I want to try a few on my own. I really liked the one where students create a list of topics they are very familiar with and also making sure to do this throughout the year. I decided to pinterest schema theory and found an anchor chart that you could do with your students. The link is http://compassionate-teacher.blogspot.com/2012/12/sandy-hook-and-schema-anchor-chart.html. There are also several graphic organizes that you could use such as popplet! You don't realize how what you already know can affect your reading comprehension in so many ways!