Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Echo Reading
Echo reading is an activity where a skilled reader reads a text, a sentence at a time, as the learner tracks. To track is to follow along, pointing to the words of a passage as it is being read. Tracking may be done with a finger or with a pointer. The learner then echoes or imitates the skilled reader. It is also known as imitative reading or modeled reading.
Echoing a skilled reader helps learners gain confidence in reading aloud, learn sight words, read material that might be too difficult for them to read alone, and
practice proper phrasing and expression.
Echo reading is especially useful for helping learners practice texts that they need to read out loud, such as reports or stories in front of a class, or Scriptures in church.
Here are the steps that a skilled reader should follow to use echo reading:
Read a sentence or phrase to the learner.
Read with fluency and expression.
Track while reading.
Have the learner read the same section after you finish.
Some alternatives ways to use echo reading:
Have the learner and teacher alternate sections.
Make a tape of what the skilled reader reads and leave blank spaces for the learner to repeat the utterances. Have the learner repeat the tape utterance in the time provided.
Echoing a skilled reader helps learners gain confidence in reading aloud, learn sight words, read material that might be too difficult for them to read alone, and
practice proper phrasing and expression.
Echo reading is especially useful for helping learners practice texts that they need to read out loud, such as reports or stories in front of a class, or Scriptures in church.
Here are the steps that a skilled reader should follow to use echo reading:
Read a sentence or phrase to the learner.
Read with fluency and expression.
Track while reading.
Have the learner read the same section after you finish.
Some alternatives ways to use echo reading:
Have the learner and teacher alternate sections.
Make a tape of what the skilled reader reads and leave blank spaces for the learner to repeat the utterances. Have the learner repeat the tape utterance in the time provided.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Roles of the Reading Specialist
By: International Reading Association (2000)
Teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction and that children who are struggling with reading receive additional instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach them. Teaching all children to read also requires reading specialists in every school because the range of student achievement in classrooms, with the inclusion of children who have various physical, emotional, and educational needs, requires different educational models from those of the past.
This is something that the Ministry of Education has to seriously consider especially when they send Remedial students and instructors to Secondary School. Students who score less than 30% in SEA require special instruction from specially trained teachers. There should be a specially designed curriculum for these students.
In order to provide these services, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Reading specialists are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading who have responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular.
The aim of this Masters is to produce teachers who can provide this service, not just in individual schools but to train teachers throughout the districts to become competent in teaching reading.
The International Reading Association's recommendations for the roles of the reading specialist in the three specific areas mentioned above include the following:
Instruction
The reading specialist supports, supplements and extends classroom teaching, and works collaboratively to implement a quality reading program that is research-based and meets the needs of students.
Assessment
The reading specialist has specialized knowledge of assessment and diagnosis that is vital for developing, implementing, and evaluating the literacy program in general, and in designing instruction for individual students. He or she can assess the reading strengths and needs of students and provide that information to classroom teachers, parents, and specialized personnel such as psychologists, special educators, or speech teachers, in order to provide an effective reading program.
Leadership
The reading specialist provides leadership as a resource to other educators, parents and the community.
These are the three basic role of any reading specialist.
Teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction and that children who are struggling with reading receive additional instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach them. Teaching all children to read also requires reading specialists in every school because the range of student achievement in classrooms, with the inclusion of children who have various physical, emotional, and educational needs, requires different educational models from those of the past.
This is something that the Ministry of Education has to seriously consider especially when they send Remedial students and instructors to Secondary School. Students who score less than 30% in SEA require special instruction from specially trained teachers. There should be a specially designed curriculum for these students.
In order to provide these services, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Reading specialists are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading who have responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular.
The aim of this Masters is to produce teachers who can provide this service, not just in individual schools but to train teachers throughout the districts to become competent in teaching reading.
The International Reading Association's recommendations for the roles of the reading specialist in the three specific areas mentioned above include the following:
Instruction
The reading specialist supports, supplements and extends classroom teaching, and works collaboratively to implement a quality reading program that is research-based and meets the needs of students.
Assessment
The reading specialist has specialized knowledge of assessment and diagnosis that is vital for developing, implementing, and evaluating the literacy program in general, and in designing instruction for individual students. He or she can assess the reading strengths and needs of students and provide that information to classroom teachers, parents, and specialized personnel such as psychologists, special educators, or speech teachers, in order to provide an effective reading program.
Leadership
The reading specialist provides leadership as a resource to other educators, parents and the community.
These are the three basic role of any reading specialist.
Reading is a complex process
When you think about it, learning to read involves many tasks. Listed below are 10 things that come to mind that a child must do in order to read.
1. The child must hear and be able to recognize the sounds that are spoken and determine
the differences between the sounds.
2. The child will need to recognize the different sizes, shapes, position and form of the
26 letters.
3. The child will need to have a sense of directionality and hold the book with the cover
first and the opening pages to the right. Directionality is also needed to read from
left to right and from top to bottom.
4. The child will need to remember the sequence of the sounds and the syllables in the
correct order.
5. The child will need to learn that letters and combinations of letters are all
associated with different sounds in speech. This entails knowing upper and lower case
letters, cursive writing, the 2 letters that make certain sounds 'th' for instance, or
that the two letters make 1 sounds and that certain sounds are made up of many letters
as in 'laughter'.
6. The child will need to learn that B and b are the same but P and b are different, this
will occur with many letters, likewise in script, the child must note the difference
between the e and the l.
7. On top of all of this decoding, the child must also derive 'meaning' from the words
read.
8. The child must use visual and auditory skills at the same time.
9. The child will need to simply remember the many rules of letters, the silent k in knife
or the silent e.
10. The child must also understand the symbolic nature and meaning of grammar (capital
letters, commas, exclamation marks, quotation marks etc.
We should never take reading for granted, for many, these skills come slowly and with a great deal of difficulty. It is important to use a multi-sensory approach whenever possible, some memory training, tap into previous knowledge before moving forward and make it meaningful.
Explore the use of technology to teach reading and developing the skills that make students fluent readers.
1. The child must hear and be able to recognize the sounds that are spoken and determine
the differences between the sounds.
2. The child will need to recognize the different sizes, shapes, position and form of the
26 letters.
3. The child will need to have a sense of directionality and hold the book with the cover
first and the opening pages to the right. Directionality is also needed to read from
left to right and from top to bottom.
4. The child will need to remember the sequence of the sounds and the syllables in the
correct order.
5. The child will need to learn that letters and combinations of letters are all
associated with different sounds in speech. This entails knowing upper and lower case
letters, cursive writing, the 2 letters that make certain sounds 'th' for instance, or
that the two letters make 1 sounds and that certain sounds are made up of many letters
as in 'laughter'.
6. The child will need to learn that B and b are the same but P and b are different, this
will occur with many letters, likewise in script, the child must note the difference
between the e and the l.
7. On top of all of this decoding, the child must also derive 'meaning' from the words
read.
8. The child must use visual and auditory skills at the same time.
9. The child will need to simply remember the many rules of letters, the silent k in knife
or the silent e.
10. The child must also understand the symbolic nature and meaning of grammar (capital
letters, commas, exclamation marks, quotation marks etc.
We should never take reading for granted, for many, these skills come slowly and with a great deal of difficulty. It is important to use a multi-sensory approach whenever possible, some memory training, tap into previous knowledge before moving forward and make it meaningful.
Explore the use of technology to teach reading and developing the skills that make students fluent readers.
Digital photostory
This class was very interesting. I wish I knew about this programme a few years ago. My father was 60 years old and I wanted to do a slide show of his life using pictures. It was a task finding pictures of his younger life and then it was a challenge to scan the photos and create the slide show. I had to click each slide to change and tell the story myself. It was fun though but it would have been greater if I had known about this technology before. I would have prepared a digital photo story of my father with background music, transition of the slides and narration as well as text and captions for each picture. I am sure my family would have hired me after to do digital photo stories for them.
Drop outs... a rising concern
At the school where I work we have realised a high drop out rate. One that is increasing and alarming. The intake is usually 100 students and at the end of the first year at least 25 of these students would have dropped out of school. This gives a 25% attrition rate. Most of the students who drop out are from the Special class. These students experience a myriad of problems. They are most of the times over 13 years of age and are definitely classified as struggling readers. At this stage in their development they are unable to read and have very basic problems of letter recognition, phonics, fluency etc.
Research has shown that learning to read is a challenge for almost 40 percent of kids. With early help, most reading problems can be prevented. Unfortunately, the older a child is, the more difficult it is to teach him or her to read. If a child can't read well by age eight or nine, odds are that he or she will have difficulty catching up and the effects of falling behind and feeling like a failure can be devastating.
It is my opinion that this is one of the major reasons why students drop out of school. They are just unable to cope with the work and they become frustrated. Most of them opt to do a trade or something that is hands on rather than learn to read and write. They in time acquire skills that are needed for survival and most of them remain illiterate.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/4528
Check this site for seven tips on how to help struggling readers.
Research has shown that learning to read is a challenge for almost 40 percent of kids. With early help, most reading problems can be prevented. Unfortunately, the older a child is, the more difficult it is to teach him or her to read. If a child can't read well by age eight or nine, odds are that he or she will have difficulty catching up and the effects of falling behind and feeling like a failure can be devastating.
It is my opinion that this is one of the major reasons why students drop out of school. They are just unable to cope with the work and they become frustrated. Most of them opt to do a trade or something that is hands on rather than learn to read and write. They in time acquire skills that are needed for survival and most of them remain illiterate.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/4528
Check this site for seven tips on how to help struggling readers.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Concept maps
When I was younger, after studying topics / chapters for cxc and A levels I would summarise and make notes using flow diagrams, bubbles with connecting lines etc. This helped me to capture the content in an organised form on one sheet of paper making revision much easier. Only recently I realised I was using the technique of concept mapping. This strategy was never taught to me but I am glad that I was able to discover it all on my own.
A lot of information is available on how to use concept maps accurately in instruction to obtain maximum benefit. It can be used as a pre-reading instrument, during reading and after reading to capture the essence of the content. It not only organises information but it helps the students to connect and link the known to the unknown. Webspiration is the perfect tool to aid with designing and creating concept maps. It is a programme that every teacher should become acquainted with.
A lot of information is available on how to use concept maps accurately in instruction to obtain maximum benefit. It can be used as a pre-reading instrument, during reading and after reading to capture the essence of the content. It not only organises information but it helps the students to connect and link the known to the unknown. Webspiration is the perfect tool to aid with designing and creating concept maps. It is a programme that every teacher should become acquainted with.
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