RDLA257.32 Feed

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.1 Teaching Phonemic Awareness: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

"Teachers should recognize that acquiring phonemic awareness is a means rather than an end. PA is not acquired for its own sake but rather for its value in helping learners understand and use the alphabetic system to read and write. This is why it is important to include letters when teaching children to manipulate phonemes and why it is important to be explicit about how children are to use the PA skills in reading and writing tasks."

— National Reading Panel, 2000, p. 2-43

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S2.1 Establish a Baseline	30 minutes
Read the classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S2.2 Build Background Knowledge	55 minutes
View: What is Phonemic Awareness and Why is it Important?	15 minutes
Read: Phonological Awareness is Child’s Play!	10 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S2.3 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	115 minutes
View: How Should I Teach Phonemic Awareness? Ten Questions and Answers to Guide Teaching Actions	25 minutes
Read: Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness	15 minutes 15 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S2.4 Step into a Classroom	55 minutes
View: Two classroom videos.	10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S2.5 Explore Multimodal Resources	65 minutes
Add texts to support development of phonemic awareness to multimodal resource set.
Act on the Evidence	60 minutes
Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions.
On Your Own: Additional Resources
Total Session Time (estimated)	6 ½ hours

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.1 Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

“Phonics may be likened to a key to how oral language is translated into print; without the key, beginning readers cannot gain access to all of the wonderful texts and useful print information on the other side of the doorway.”

(Helman, 2016, p. 164)

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S3.1 Establish a Baseline	30 minutes
Read the classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S3.2 Build Background Knowledge	95 minutes
View: Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know?	15 minutes
Read: Everything You Wanted to Know about Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask)	60 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S3.3 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	155 minutes
View: What Does Evidence-Based Phonics Instruction Look Like? Read: Opening doors to texts: Planning effective phonics instruction with English learners What can I say besides sound it out? Coaching word recognition in beginning reading	35 minutes 30 minutes 30 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S3.4 Step into a Classroom	55 minutes
View: Two classroom videos.	10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S3.5 Explore Multimodal Resources	65 minutes
Review and add texts to resource set to support phonics development.
S3.6 Act on the Evidence	60 minutes
Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions.
On Your Own: Additional Resources
Total Session Time (estimated)	6 ½ hours

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.1 Assess Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.

(Albert Einstein, cited in Teale, 2008, p. 359)

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S5.1 Establish a Baseline	30 minutes
Read the classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S5.2 Build Background Knowledge	50 minutes
View: Assessing to Monitor and Improve Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know?	15 minutes
Read: Assessment in RTI: What teachers and specialists need to know.	15 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S5.3 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	165 minutes
View: Assessing to Monitor and Improve Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Do? Read: Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient in RTI Accountability for Reading and Readers: What Numbers Don’t Tell One-minute Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction	25 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 30 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S5.4 Step into a Classroom	70 minutes
View: A classroom video.	25 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S5.5 Explore Multimodal Resources	65 minutes
Review and select texts to support assessment.
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.
S5.6 Act on the Evidence	60 minutes
Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions.
On Your Own: Additional Resources
Total Session Time (estimated)	7½ hours

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.1 Engage Children in Reading Right from the Start

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

“When students are eager to pursue the topic of a text, and keen to follow the next steps of a narrative literary work, they are likely not only to read more effectively but also to develop additional motivation for subsequent reading.”

(Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M., 2004, p. 333)

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S6.1 Establish a Baseline	30 minutes
Read the classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S6.2 Build Background Knowledge	85 minutes
View: What Do We Know About Engaging Children in Reading and Writing From the Start?	20 minutes
Read: Motivating Children to Read: Evidence for Classroom Practices that Increase Reading Motivation and Achievement	45 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S6.3 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	145 minutes
View: What Teaching Actions Provide a Foundation for Engaged Reading Read: The Tough Part: Getting First Graders Engaged in Reading Expanding the Range of Text Types used in the Primary Grades If They Don’t Read Much, How They Ever Gonna Get Good?	20 minutes 30 minutes 25 minutes 10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S6.4 Step into a Classroom	55 minutes
View: Two classroom videos.	10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S6.5 Explore Multimodal Resources	65 minutes
Review and evaluate resources to support engaging all readers.
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.
S6.6 Act on the Evidence	60 minutes
Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions.
S6.7 Final Project	60 minutes
Assignment: Applying Understandings to My Own Teaching
On Your Own: Additional Resources
Total Session Time (estimated)	8½ hours

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Facilitation Guide - Online Journal Developing Phonemic Awareness - Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonemic awareness and literacy development. In your journal:

Explain why phonemic awareness is important to literacy development.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

Helpful Information:

In advance of this online journal task, students viewed Lecture 2.1, What is Phonemic Awareness and Why is it Important? They also read Phonological Awareness is Child’s Play, by Hallie Kay Yopp and Ruth Helen Yopp.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

All three of these central ideas:

● Awareness that PA is the ability to segment and blend individual sounds in words and is one component of the broad concept of phonological awareness (which includes ability to detect rhyme, to segment words in sentences, and to segment syllables in words).

● Understanding of a causal relationship between phonemic awareness and reading ability, that is, that teaching PA foundational in preparing children for success in word solving.

● Understanding that PA development relates to higher achievement in both word recognition and comprehension.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name strengths in their response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the teacher is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. For example,

● You demonstrated clear understanding that development of phonemic awareness is one component of a broad concept of phonological awareness; that it provides a strong and necessary foundation for success in learning to read; and that teaching phonemic awareness is directly related to achievement in both word recognition and comprehension.

● Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

▪ Novice teachers have sometimes not developed a full understanding of the full range of phonological abilities and of the connection between PA and early reading success. What might you do to help a colleague new to kindergarten or first-grade teaching to understanding these important ideas?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote a clear definition of phonemic awareness but did not fully explain how it relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read you might say:

● Your response conveys understanding of the components of phonological awareness and the specific definition of phonemic awareness. But you omitted an explanation of how this ability influences reading achievement. It might be helpful to return to lecture 1.1 and the article by Hallie Yopp with specific attention to the consequences of having (and not having) fully developed phonological awareness.

● In response to an “emerging” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider asking questions that draw the participant’s attention to missing elements. Use the preceding example to guide the formulation of your questions.

● In a response to an “no entry" rating, remind a participant who did not post of the importance of completion of each task to achieving course goals and encourage completion of all tasks in remaining sessions. Encourage a participant who posted a response that did not adequately address specified criteria to review the rubric again with closer attention to the criteria, and suggest that the participant contact you if s/he has a particular question or concern.

Criterion #2: Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of at least one aspect of the relationship between phonological awareness and oral language development with specific evidence from the previous. For example:

● As children learn more words, they learn to attend to individual sounds focus on how they are alike and different (e.g., pit vs. pet) so that they can use the words correctly. So “growing” children’s vocabulary also helps to “grow” phonemic awareness. This finding prompted me to recall the article by Dickinson and Tabors from the first session and their emphasis on the importance of using interesting and varied vocabulary. I used to think about these as separate activities--vocabulary helped kids talk and express themselves and phonemic awareness helps kids read. Now I understand that it’s not quite so distinct or separated--these aspects of language and reading interconnect.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the teacher is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice.

o Your response provides clear evidence of your understanding of the relationship between vocabulary growth and children’s development of phonemic awareness and also demonstrates your thoughtful attention to how ideas from our earlier session connect to this week’s readings.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might say:

o Maintaining a disposition toward understanding how various aspects of language and reading development interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading. Work to continue this focus!

o The relationship you described is accurate and important and indicates you are on your way to developing high levels of teaching expertise. But your response lacks a clear connection to ideas and understandings from the earlier session on language development. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to think back on evidence and instructional principles from earlier sessions and try to connect these earlier ideas to new information in each session of the course. Paying attention to how various aspects of language and reading development interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading.

● In response to an “emerging” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider making comments or asking questions that draw their attention to the missing elements. Use preceding examples to guide the formulation of your questions.

● In a response to an “inadequate” rating, remind a participant who did not post of the importance of completion of each task to achieving course goals and encourage completion of all tasks in remaining sessions. Encourage a participant who posted a response that did not adequately address specified criteria to review the rubric again with closer attention to the criteria, and suggest that the participant contact you if s/he has a particular question or concern.

Criterion #3: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description at least 2 evidence-based teaching routines to try out in the classroom supported by a sound rationale. For example:

● States the importance of syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme awareness and identifies specific teaching activities from the article by Yopp and Yopp to try in own classroom.

● Describes teaching activities already used in own classroom and explains how they align with evidence-based teaching of phonemic awareness.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The practices you describe are consistent with evidence-based teaching principles and clearly indicate your understanding of different types and “levels” of phonological awareness and of the types of activities a teacher needs to implement to help children develop the full range of abilities. You have also specified supporting evidence making it clear that your instructional decisions are informed by credible evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you reflect on your instructional practices, how might you build on these practices to involve parents or other caregivers in supporting children’s phonological awareness? Are their particular songs or games families and children can play together to support PA development?

o The practices you describe care clearly aligned with evidence-based practice and this is, of course, a really good thing! But, if you reread your response, you’ll see that you did not connect the ideas to the evidence. As a result, it’s hard for me to know if you generated these ideas because of good teaching “intuition” or if your ideas emerged from a solid understanding of the evidence. Although we all rely on intuition from time to time, absent a solid evidentiary base, it can sometimes lead us astray. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to connect your teaching practices to the underlying evidence as this will be helpful both in keeping you “grounded” and also in helping you explain and justify your practices to parents, administrators, and even you children!

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2 - Scenario Analysis: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Developing Phonemic Awareness

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Baseline Scenario Analysis

Would the teacher’s instructional actions be sufficient to develop children’s phonemic awareness? If you were faced with this problem of practice (that is, developing children’s phonemic awareness--the ability to hear, segment, and blend sounds in words) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

Reconsider the instruction in phonemic awareness in the classroom scenario you focused on at the beginning of this session. To what extent are the teacher’s instructional actions aligned with effective teaching of phonemic awareness? Does the analysis you completed at the beginning of this session align with what you have learned about phonemic awareness and its development? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting. She first invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. Then she asks them to recall some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

Next, as other children work in learning centers, Ms. Cox works with a small group of children who are having difficulty solving unknown words. Ms. Cox has observed that they cannot yet fully segment words into their individual sounds. To get started, Ms. Cox displays the first page of Prickly Pear Party by Holly Hartman. She points to the prickly pear and explains to children that a prickly pear is a cactus plant and that all parts of it are edible--that means they can be eaten. She tells them that in the poem and the illustrations, the author will tell about animals that like the prickly pear. After she reads the text aloud, Ms Cox asks children to name some of the animals and describe why the prickly pear is important to them. She also asks them if they have ever had prickly pear candy and if not, if they think it is something they would like to try someday! Ms. Cox affirms children’s responses and explains that next they will read the text--which is a poem--together.

After they chorally read, she explains that they will practice breaking apart and making words from the text. To do so, she models segmenting hot into its 3 sounds, by enunciating each sound slowly “/h/ /o/ /t/”. Using Elkonin boxes, she writes one sound in each box (). To model blending, she points to the first letter, and sweeps her finger across the bottom of the boxes as she says, “hot.” Next, she distributes a worksheet with Elkonin boxes and she guides children to segment and blend the word ‘lot’. She writes the word on a whiteboard and prompts children to say it with her. Then she instructs children to break it apart and make the word the Elkonin boxes on their worksheet. She watches as some children complete this task with ease while other children struggle. For example, Ameera, writes and Sam writes . She is not sure what she could do differently to scaffold all children’s ability to segment and blend the individual phonemes in words.

Step 2: Reflect and Respond

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Scenario Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the scenario and includes supporting evidence. For example:

○ Ms. Johnson (or Ms. Cox) provides the same instruction to all children even though it was clear that some children needed extra help. Although evidence suggests that whole-class instruction might be an efficient starting point, follow-up instruction with more explicit scaffolding for children who need more help has been found to support children’s PA development.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

○ Your awareness of the importance of small-group instruction with emphasis on more explicit scaffolding for children who experience difficulty demonstrates your understanding of the evidence-based principles that were the focus of this session and your ability to relate them to teaching actions.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Suppose you were in a position to share what you have learned with your grade-level colleagues. How would you explain your understanding of when to use whole-class or small group for teaching phonemic awareness?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

● Your response demonstrates your awareness of teaching actions that align with good practice, but you omitted an evidence-based justification for your analysis. It might be helpful to take another look at the lecture slides and readings to help you explain why this “missed opportunity” likely diminished some children’s opportunities to learn.

● In a response to an “no entry” rating, remind a participant who did not post of the importance of completion of each task to achieving course goals and encourage completion of all tasks in remaining sessions. Encourage a participant who posted a response that did not adequately address specified criteria to review the rubric again with closer attention to the criteria, and suggest that the participant contact you if s/he has a particular question or concern.

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of appropriate teaching actions using evidence. For example:

● Identify children who had difficulty and provide small group instruction.

● Consider the difficulty level of phonemic awareness tasks and sequence tasks according to difficulty level and children’s ability to respond.

● Vary the types of scaffolding provided to children based on observations as children complete various phonemic awareness tasks.

● Increase children’s opportunities to practice phonemic awareness by providing more “turns” for responding.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your suggestion that the teacher assemble a small group in which she provides a bit more modeling and many opportunities for guided practice indicate your understanding of some very important ideas from this course and your ability to apply the evidence you read about to instructional practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Recall a recent lesson you taught on phonemic awareness. Did it align with the principles you have learned about effective teaching of PA? If so, what are the points of alignment and if not, how would you modify it for future implementation?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support developing phonemic awareness, and as such, they are likely to provide your students a sound foundation for becoming competent word solvers. But missing from your response is an explanation of how these practices align with the principles for evidence-based teaching of PA. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan your teaching of PA. Becoming especially “facile” at sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources to support literacy development.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1 - Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Language as a Foundation

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Assignment: Using the questions on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet: Session 1, examine each of the four resources in the set and consider how each will support children’s development of key concepts related to habitats and also support the key language learning principles explored in this course session. Then, based on your review, decide if you would have selected this particular text to include in your resource set, and explain why or why not.

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Game

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning.
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Opportunities to Learn about Habitats

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats. For example:

● The book The Salamander Room supports learning about the type of habitat a salamander needs to survive. Visually appealing and accurate illustrations supports children’s understanding of what makes up an animal’s habitat.

● The video Plum Landing: Forest in the City is a video of real children exploring an urban forest habitat and how it supports different plants and animals. The children’s observations and an urban park ranger’s facilitation supports children’s understanding of how a city can support forest habitats and the idea of being stewards of the land.

● The game Wild Kratts: Aardvark Town illustrates through game play the different habitats of African creatures through clues about where each creature likes to live. Also supports reading map coordinates.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In each resource, you specified clear examples of important and accurate science content that support children’s understanding of habitats and the ways they support animals’ survival.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Part of assembling a rich set of resources is making certain that when the texts are combined, they provide both repetition of important ideas and also a fair amount of expansion--that is, that they provide students opportunities to deepen concept understanding. Look again at the resources you selected. When used together, will they provide both repetition and expansion? If not, think about adding an additional text to “round out” your set.

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant’s choices did not address features that might distract children from thinking about important content you might say:

● In each resource, you specified clear examples of important and accurate science content and interesting and complex vocabulary that support children’s understanding of habitats and the ways they support animals’ survival. But the third focuses on engaging aspects of a video (e.g., “the characters are fun and children will love them”) without attention to the unit learning goals. Revisit this video and think a bit more about the content. What opportunities does it provide for children to extend and deepen their knowledge about habitats?

Criterion #2: Opportunities to Develop Oral Language

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource has sophisticated and interesting vocabulary with complex and engaging syntax. For example:

● The book The Salamander Room describe a salamander bed that has, “leaves that are fresh and green” and “moss that looks like little stars to be a pillow for his head.” The book’s language is interesting and engaging, accompanied by beautiful illustrations, and provides many opportunities to learn new vocabulary words in context.

● The video Plum Landing: Forest in the City uses vocabulary such as urban, habitat, and steward during conversations between the park ranger and children to support learning new vocabulary in a natural, conversational way.

● The game Wild Kratts: Aardvark Town provides both readable text and audio for each clue about where an animal lives so both readers and non-readers have access to vocabulary such as habitat, woodlands, and savannah as well as animal names such as porcupine and python.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You specified clear examples of interesting vocabulary and language to support children’s language development. As such, the resources you chose are likely to contribute to your students’ language growth.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Not every resource is appropriate for whole class instruction. Think about those that you selected and the classroom context each is especially well-suited for. Will you use these with the whole class, small group, or individuals working on their own or with a teacher or aide?

o You specified clear examples of interesting vocabulary and language to support children’s language development for two of the three resources, but focused only on the “entertainment” aspects of Nature Cat. Re-view this video and consider opportunities for vocabulary and language growth. In what ways does it align with principles for language development?

Criterion #3: Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● A thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts, for example:

○ The book The Salamander Room accurately describes, with text and illustrations, the requirements for a salamander habitat as the boy builds one in his room.

○ The video Plum Landing: Forest in the City shows real children and a real park ranger exploring an urban habitat and accurately describing and discussing what they find.

○ The game Wild Kratts: Aardvark Town conveys accurate information about African animals and the habitats they live in with text, background illustrations, and animated animals.

● An appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection. For example:

○ The book The Salamander Room is fiction and although the science content is accurate, the transformation of the boy’s room could not really happen.

○ The video Plum Landing: Forest in the City has one distracting moment when the animated Plum swoops in to make a comment. Video is fairly short with a lot of information packed into it.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You did a thorough job of analysing the scientific accuracy of the resources as well as distracting features of each resource.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Suppose children were to view play the game at home? How might you help a parent or caregiver become aware of distracting features of digital games so that you can expand opportunities to learn out of school?

o You did a thorough analysis of the accuracy of each text’s science content which will support the disciplinary learning of your students. However, you didn’t analyze how these resources contain features that can distract or confuse children’s scientific understanding. Re-view each resource again and consider each text’s limitations so you can be prepared to mediate its use to best support access to science content.

Criterion #4: Instructional Mediation

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Effective and complete instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features. For example, a participant might say:

○ The book The Salamander Room is a fictional account that is grounded in accurate information about animals and their needs for survival. I would help children understand the differences between fiction and non-fiction in a discussion before reading the book by doing a picture walk with the book and with a non-fiction book about woodland habitats and discussing the similarities and differences.

○ The video Plum Landing: Forest in the City is fairly short with a lot of information packed into it. After watching it once, I would play it a second time prompting children to look for references to different animals and plants that we could add to a list on the board with notes about the information we learned.

○ The game Wild Kratts: Aardvark Town has distracting music, and can be repetitive featuring the same animals and clues several times during game play. Illustrations of habitats don’t always easily match their descriptions in the animal clues. I would mute the music when there is no game dialogue, use repeating animals and clues to reinforce specific vocabulary and reading fluency, and preteach some vocabulary such as “shrubs” or “rocky areas” to help children notice essential differences in the habitat choices to find the correct answers.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You created appropriate strategies to mediate your chosen resources which will allow you to maximize the educational potential of each text.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Suppose children also use these resources at home with a parent or caregiver? How might you help them mediate distracting features to provide children similar opportunities to learn outside of school?

o You created some excellent strategies to mediate these resources which will support all your students in learning the scientific content. However, you did not mention the distracting music during the play of the game you chose. Go back and play the game and consider how you can minimize the distracting music.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.4 Deepen Your Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

In this part of the course, Deepen Your Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice, you will view another brief lecture and read three articles about putting the ideas you are learning about into practice. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will join your thoughts and ideas with those of other participants as you consider implications for promoting reading engagement in your own classroom. You will also complete a brief quiz to check your understanding of key ideas.

View

In the lecture, What Teaching Actions Provide a Foundation for Engaged Reading?, Dr. Paratore describes evidence-based teaching actions that foster children’s engagement in reading. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

Read

With these teaching actions in mind, next you will read three articles. In the first, The tough part: Getting First Graders Engaged in Reading, Jabari Mahiri and Helen Miniates, describe teaching perspectives and strategies for preparing and engaging young children as they make a transition to the reading and writing demands of first-grade classrooms. In the second article, Expanding the Range of Text Types used in the Primary Grades, Stephanie Strachan explains four approaches for increasing the range of text types young children read. In the third, If They Don’t Read Much, How They Ever Gonna Get Good?, Patricia Cunningham discusses approaches for engaging readers who are often disengaged, particularly children who find reading challenging. As you read each article, think about how their ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to reading engagement. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 6.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

As you reflect on the ideas presented by these authors, recall the evidence presented by John Guthrie and Nicole Humenick related to fostering engaged reading. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to the prompt below:

In the readings, the authors present various strategies for engaging young children in reading and writing right from the start. Select at least one idea from each article that you intend to implement in your classroom. Explain why this particular idea stands out as important, and also describe how you will weave it into your literacy routines. Be sure to draw from the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Post your thoughts in response to each question on the Session 6 Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. Access the Session 6 Discussion Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.7 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Using the Multimodal Resource Set to Support Children Who Are Struggling to Solve Words

In this segment, you will revisit the collection of texts you have assembled as a multimodal resource set and consider how you can use particular texts with children who need extra support becoming efficient word solvers.

Online Journal 4.2: Identify Texts on the Habitat Resource Set to Support Children Who Struggle with Word Solving

Then, in your online journal, name the resources and describe how you would use these to provide extra support to children who are experiencing difficulty with word solving. Also explain why these particular resources and the teaching actions you specify are likely to be helpful in advancing children’s word-solving abilities.

Access the Session 4 Online Journal Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

To build background knowledge of the importance of systematic phonics instruction to literacy development, read an article, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know?, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes what phonics knowledge is and how it develops and contributes to literacy development. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After this brief introduction, you will read an article that elaborates and extends the information provided in the lecture.

Read

To further develop your understanding of these ideas, read the article, Everything You Wanted to Know about Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Steven Stahl, Ann Duffy-Hester, and Katherine Dougherty-Stahl. As you read, you will notice that these authors provide a very comprehensive description of what we know about teaching and learning phonics. (To guide your understanding of information central to this session of the course, it may be helpful to pay the closest attention to the information on pages 126-135.) It may also be helpful to review the Online Journal Prompts before you begin to read, so that you can use them to focus your attention on the most relevant information.

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonics instruction and literacy development. Then answer these questions in your journal:

What is systematic phonics instruction and why is it important to literacy development?
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl describe seven principles of effective phonics instruction. If you already address these principles in your classroom routines, provide an example of how your teaching aligns with the principles. If you do not, provide examples of how you will modify instruction to align with the principles.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. Access the Session 3 Journal Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.9 Look Ahead to Session 3

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Review Resources for the Development of Phonemic Awareness (and Knowledge about Habitats)

To prepare for Multimodal Resource Set assignment in Session 2, gather the resources that comprise the resource set for the grade level you chose. The titles below include the “traditional texts” included on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheets that are completed in Session 1. You do not need to purchase these books. Instead, you may access these via a school or local library.

Kindergarten Resource Set

Online Book: The Forest by Bill Bremer <http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/earthandsky/book?BookId=224>
Online Book: Big and Little <http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/animals/book?BookId=94>
Video: Between the Lions: Bear Snores On <https://lsintspl3.wgbh.org/en-us/lesson/Snoring1-1/12>
Video: Between the Lions: If You Were: Cat <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/arct14.ela.early.cat/if-you-were-cat/>
Interactive: Pigs <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/0e27b9ff-6990-427a-ae3b-f3129e0928d3/pigs/>
Interactive: Mrs. McNosh <https://pbslearningmedia.org/resource/2a5ebf24-75ea-4343-819d-6cf7ea387653/mrs-mcnosh/>

Second Grade Resource Set: Books to Review

This is the Sea that Feeds Us, by Robert Baldwin
Online Book: Great Green Giants by Holly Hartman <https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/plantsandfood/book?BookId=1252>
Video (Book Reading): Between the Lions: An Egg is Quiet <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/btl10.ela.early.aneggisquiet/an-egg-is-quiet/>
Video (Book Reading): Between the Lions: Are You a Snail <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/btlc10.ela.early.snail/are-you-a-snail/>
Video Game: Sound Hunter -S- <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/074c0bd7-f886-4831-8559-25e08b6448e2/sound-hunter-s-/>

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

In this part of the course, Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice, you will view another brief lecture and read two articles about putting the ideas you are learning about into practice. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will join your thoughts and ideas with those of other participants as you consider implications of the relationships between language and literacy development for your own teaching actions. You will also complete a brief quiz to check your understanding of key ideas.

View

In the lecture, How Should I Teach Phonemic Awareness? Ten Questions and Answers to Guide Teaching Actions, Dr. Paratore describes how the evidence related to importance of phonemic awareness in literacy development is translated into guiding questions and teaching actions. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file)

Read

Keeping these guiding principles and teaching actions in mind, next you will read two articles. In the first, Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten, Lea McGee and Teresa Ukrainetz discuss how to effectively scaffold young children’s phonemic awareness development through strategic implementation of three levels of scaffolding. In the second, Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness, Patricia McCarthy outlines a step-by-step approach to using sound boxes to develop phonemic awareness culminating in a transition to sound-letter matching. As you read these articles, think about how the ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to effectively supporting phonemic awareness. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 2.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

As you reflect on the ideas presented in each article, recall the teaching routines that support development of phonemic awareness. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to this question:

Will you incorporate the use of the strategy of sound boxes in your own teaching? If so, explain how you will use it (e.g., how often, as a whole class, or small group). Be sure to explain why you view it as an important practice and how you will decide whether to use it with all or some of your students. If you choose not to incorporate this particular practice, explain why not--what underlies your decision not to use this practice and what will you do instead? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Post your thoughts in response to each question on the Session 2 Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. Access the Session 2 Discussion Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.8 Look Ahead to Session 2

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Review Resources to Develop Phonemic Awareness (and Knowledge about Habitats)

In the Small Small Pond by Denise Fleming
Poem Book: Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Sidman
Song: Over in the Meadow <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ljGXMMB>
Video: Sesame Street: B is for Butterfly
Game: Sesame Street: Words Are Everywhere
Video: Between the Lions Poem: Four Seasons

Second Grade Resource Set: Books to Review

Book: Whose House is This? by Elizabeth Gregoire
Online Book: Prickly Pear Party by Holly Hartman <https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/animals/book?BookId=25>
Video: Plum Landing: Mangrove Mystery <http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/educators/context/105_mangrove_mystery.html>
Video: Wild Kratts: Family on the African Savanna <http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1e5eff7a-6606-4889-9ffd-40626ade7c9c/1e5eff7a-6606-4889-9ffd-40626ade7c9c/>
App: PBSKids Scratch Jr. <http://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-scratchjr.html>

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Course Design and Elements

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Course Design

The design and structure of PBS TeacherLine courses are based on best practices and current research that highlights the importance of online learning communities. This is not a self-paced course for a learner to complete in isolation. In fact, most new ideas are formed through collaboration with other participants. Some key course design features include:

Collaboration: Group interaction among learners and the facilitator is crucial to a successful online learning experience. The discussion board area allows you and your fellow learners to create a supportive community which fosters learning.
Scheduled Online Discussions: Discussions are initiated by your facilitator at scheduled intervals throughout the course. This allows you and your colleagues to focus on the same topic at the same time and engage in high-quality group discussions.
Asynchronous Communication: You and your fellow learners may not always log in to the course at the same time, but you will still have meaningful interactions. Discussion boards allow you to communicate, but at times that fit your varying schedules.
Purposeful Virtual Spaces: Some online communication is more appropriate than others, depending on the situation. In this course you will have academic, technical, and course-related discussions in the discussion board. You should share more personal information with your facilitator and other learners through e-mail.

Course Elements

The following list highlights the core elements in a PBS TeacherLine course. Having a solid understanding of how they work together, will help you to successfully complete your coursework.

Syllabus: An outline that lists course requirements, assessment criteria, course content, expectations, and other relevant information.
Assessment Rubrics: Your facilitator will evaluate your coursework and performance using rubrics found in the Assessment Criteria area. Familiarize yourself with the rubrics and refer to them often throughout the course.
Sessions: The course is divided into 6 sessions, each taking about seven-eight hours to complete.
Assignments: Within each session, you will be required to complete assignments that support the overall goals and objectives of the course.
Session Resources: This area provides a compilation of readings, interactives, video, and Web sites used throughout the course.
Assignment Checklist: A tool to help you manage your assignments.
Discussion Board: A tool used to support online collaboration.
Online Journal: A tool used to support self-assessment, reflection and professional growth.
Surveys: An area where you access online surveys for the course.

Course Icons

Resources from PBS television programs, pbskids.org and pbsparents.org -

Interactive - Discussion - Journal - Video -

Audio - Reading - Survey - Paper -

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Roles and Responsibilities

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

The following paragraphs describe the role of the online community, the role of a course facilitator, and your role and responsibilities as a learner. Please read this information carefully.

Role of the Online Learning Community

An online learning community is one that is created around an electronic
learning environment like the one for this course. Members (facilitator
and learner cohort) of this special community are expected to explore
and reflect on various topics, socially construct knowledge through
collaboration, openly share ideas with others, and provide support
to each other.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Learner

As a member of this learning community you are expected to support the learning and professional development of your fellow learners. Specifically, you must:

Participate and actively engage in discussions with your fellow learners while contributing to the social construction of knowledge. The sooner you post your ideas and questions, the more time others have to respond and deepen the discussion.
Reflect on newly acquired knowledge and assess your own progress.
Create a time management structure that works for you and complete all assignments accordingly.
Be self-directed and self-motivated.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Facilitator

With the emergence of online learning communities, the roles of learners and instructors have changed from those found in traditional educational settings. Most significantly, in learning communities, facilitators help guide the group toward collaborative group learning, rather than providing traditional "teacher-led" instruction. Therefore, you can expect that your facilitator will:

Guide and support your learning of the subject matter.
Share his/her knowledge and experience, but also participate as a learner when he/she is not an "expert" on a certain topic.
Provide additional resources when appropriate.
Facilitate productive and collaborative discussions.
Establish a comfortable learning environment and help you with any problems or questions.
Provide feedback and assess your work:
- For the online journal activities and final project within 7 days of submission.
- For participation in discussion forums.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4 - Discussion Forum 4.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles for evidence-based intervention and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose this particular action.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed two classroom videos described as follows:

In the first video, Hildi Perez provides her first graders whole-group phonics instruction. In the second video, she meets with small group of children who find word solving difficult. Please note that that you also viewed the second video in session 3, but in this “re-viewing” you will observe with a particular focus on the ways Hildi scaffolds the reading of students who are experiencing difficulty. As you view, think about best practices for teaching children who struggle to decode and search for ways you see these practices “in action.”

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by Hildi to enact principles of effective intervention. For example:

○ Provides all children scaffolded instruction during the literacy block and provides small group instruction to children who struggle that coheres with classroom instruction and provides more time to read with guidance.

○ Connects phonics instruction to meaningful text during small group instruction by noticing and naming a child’s decoding strategy--segmenting “sh” and “op” and then blending, “shop.”

○ Checks for understanding by asking children to recall the text.

○ Monitors children’s progress as they read the text.

● Cites credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you explicitly describe several examples of how Hildi enacted the successful intervention; and you specified the ways these practices align with evidence-based intervention.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Something I also noticed is that in these videos, Hildi used a CLOZE activity to help her children use their phonics knowledge and also to think about what makes sense. What do you think of using CLOZE during small group instruction in this way? Would you try this out in your classroom and if so, how?

o You described two examples of the teaching actions Hildi takes to support children who find word-solving difficult, but did not give any evidence to support her actions as evidence-based. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit the principles for evidence-based intervention. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support children’s literacy development.

● In response to an “emerging” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider asking questions that draw their attention to the missing elements. Use the preceding examples to guide the formulation of your questions.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● A specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective intervention.

● Includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, begin by noticing one or two things s/he did well. To support even greater expertise, prompt the participant to consider other strategies they could use to support oral language. For example, you might say:

o You identified an appropriate, evidence-based teaching action you could use in your own classroom to support children who find word-solving difficult; and you provide an excellent explanation why these practices are likely to be effective. As you work toward routinely incorporating these important teaching actions in all of your lessons, be sure to set aside time to critically self-reflect, and revise or tweak your lessons as necessary to maintain high levels of teaching expertise.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As teachers, we each bring some uniqueness to our approach to teaching, and that makes it unlikely that we would teach an idea or a concept exactly as we observe in someone else’s lesson. As you consider your own teaching style, how might you modify the actions your observed in Hildi’s classroom in ways that are a good match for your own teaching style and maintain alignment with principles of effective phonics instruction?

● In response to a “developing” rating, begin by noticing something the participant did well. Then, draw attention to the missing criterion and encourage further thinking. For example, you might say:

o You described a teaching actions that you could use in your classroom, but you did not connect these practices to evidence you read and learned about in this session. It might be useful to return to one or more of the articles or lectures for this session and revisit evidence. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support literacy development.

● In a response to an emerging rating, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider asking questions that draw their attention to the missing elements. Use the preceding examples to guide the formulation of your questions.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

● (a) Agreeing with and building on the comments of others, (b) respectfully disagreeing and offering another point of view, or (c) posin questions to prompt clarification and elaboration (e.g., “What do you mean by…”)

AND

● Explaining response to the ideas of others (e.g., I was thinking the same thing as [participant] because….; I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on children’s strengths; I disagree with Alex’s idea because...).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in their response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the teacher is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. For example, you might say:

o I noticed that you commented on both the areas of agreement and disagreement in your ideas and those of some of your peers. By identifying both you set the stage for a conversation that was both respectful and challenging, and that likely contributed to deeper understanding for all participants--an excellent strategy for collaborative learning!

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a response to another participant is, “I agree”, you might ask:

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

To build background knowledge of the characteristics of trustworthy assessment, read an article, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, Assessing to Monitor and Improve Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know?, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes essential characteristics of trustworthy classroom literacy assessment. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After this brief introduction, you will read an article that elaborates and extends the information provided in the lecture.

Read

In the article, Assessment in RTI: What Teachers and Specialists Need to Know, Karen Wixson and Sheila Valencia describe the purpose of different forms of assessment to help teachers effectively and strategically use assessment to inform instruction, and the conclude with a statement of what teachers and specialists must know and be able to do. After reading, you will be prompted to consider how the assessment practices in your district, school, or classroom align with the assessment principles outlined in Dr. Paratore’s lecture and in this article.

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on your understanding of the various forms and purposes of assessment and of the implications for your assessment practices. Use these questions to guide your reflection in your journal:

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
Describe the literacy assessments mandated by your district or school and also those you choose to implement on your own. In your view, are these assessments aligned with the characteristics of trustworthy assessment? If so, explain how they align; if not, explain how they are misaligned. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. Access the Session 5 online journal rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Games

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Multimodal, topically-related sets of resources--collections of books, images, videos, or games--provide students a solid foundation for building deep knowledge and conceptual understanding. As you examine informational and narrative texts, videos, images, and games, ask yourself questions like these:

Does the resource (e.g., book, image, video, game) convey important information about the big idea?
- As you browse through resources, keep in mind that many texts (e.g., book, image, video, game) have lots of good information about a topic, but the information might not be important in grasping understanding of the particular knowledge goal for the focal lesson. As you assemble the resources you will use for a unit of study, be certain that the information conveyed relates specifically to the knowledge goal you have selected.
Is the resource (e.g., book, image, video, game) likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
- Make certain that the information is accurate. For example, in a unit on bats, a text that depicts bats as attacking humans is not helpful because it conveys inaccurate information.
- Evaluate the information “around” the text. For example, does a website or game have pop-ups, links, sound, or other features that might distract the child?
Does the resource (e.g., book, image, video, game) require your mediation to support the big idea? If so, how? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
- Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
- Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
- Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
- Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
- Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning
- Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

_{Source: TeacherlineCourse: Guided Practice Using Inquiry and Connected Learning to Develop Young Children’s Science Knowledge about Animal Adaptations}

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

In this part of the course, Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice, you will view another brief lecture and read one article about putting these ideas into practice. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will join your thoughts and ideas with those of other participants as you consider implications of the relationships between language and literacy development for your own teaching actions. You will also complete a brief quiz to check your understanding of key ideas.

View

In the lecture, How Do Expert Teachers Connected Language Learning Principles to Classroom Practice?, Dr. Paratore describes how the evidence related to language as the foundation for literacy learning in both early and later years of schooling is translated into language learning principles and teaching actions. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

Read

Keeping these language learning principles in mind, next you will read Fostering Language and Literacy in Classrooms and Home. In this article, David Dickinson and Patton Tabors report what they learned as they followed children across several grades (from preschool through seventh grade) and explored their foundations for language and literacy development. As you read, think about how their ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to the connections between language and literacy learning. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 1.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

As they conclude their article, Dickinson and Tabors make the following claim:

Everyday activities can develop varied vocabulary, engage children in complex uses of language that go beyond the here and now, and surround children with environments that support language and literacy development. For this to happen, we must help all preschool teachers understand the major role they play in supporting children’s long-term development. These teachers much deepen the knowhow required to constantly extend children’s oral language while they also encourage phonemic awareness and writing skills (p. 18).

As you reflect on their ideas, recall the Principles for Language Learning. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to this question:

In their discussion of the need for surrounding children with lots of books, Dickinson and Tabors comment that “Of course, having the books is only the first step in the process. It is also necessary to have willing readers who use the books for enjoyment and to expand the children's knowledge of the world” (p. 16). Based on your reading and on your own classroom experiences, share at least two specific actions that teachers can take– either in their own classrooms or in their work with parents and other caregivers– to help children and adults have fun as they read and learn about language and their world? Draw from the principles to explain why these actions are likely to make a difference.

Post your thoughts in response to each question on the Session 1 Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. The Session 1 Discussion Rubric outlines the expectations your facilitator will look for as you discuss this topic with your peers.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

To build background knowledge of the importance of phonemic awareness to literacy development, read an article, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, What is Phonemic Awareness and Why is it Important?, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes phonological awareness, in general, and phonemic awareness, in particular, and how these abilities develop and contribute to literacy development. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After this brief introduction, you will read an article that elaborates and extends the information provided in the lecture.

Read

To further develop your understanding of these ideas, read pages 4 - 9 of the article, Phonological Awareness is Child’s Play!, by Hallie Kay Yopp and Ruth Helen Yopp. After you read, you will be prompted to derive a few instructional principles to guide the ways you act on these ideas in your own classroom.

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonemic awareness and literacy development. Open your journal:

Explain why phonemic awareness is important to literacy development.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. Use the Session 2 Online Journal Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6 - Online Journal 6.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Engaging Children in Reading & Writing

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Assignment: Identify Texts to Support Engaged Reading

Examine the texts on each of your Resource Set Worksheets (Sessions 1, 2, and 3) and consider the likelihood that this particular collection will be sufficient to engage each of the children in your classroom in reading. As you review your list, remember to consider not only your students’ reading abilities, but also their “ways of being” (as discussed by Catherine Compton-Lilly in session 3). Identify at least three additional texts that will support children as they develop knowledge about animals and their habitats while also providing them sufficient choice. Remember that you can choose from any of the various types (e.g., traditional texts, e-books, videos, or digital games); and you can also choose resources that are not on the worksheet. In your Online Journal, list the texts you chose, explain your reasoning, and describe how you would use them to meet the needs of children in your classroom.

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Game

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning.
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Quality of Texts

An expert response (3 points):

Identifies 3 resources to use for assessment with a strong rationale. For example:

● The book I See a Kookaburra is a book with colorful and accurate illustrations of animals hiding in their habitats; various pages provide a bit of information about the animal, conveyed using interesting words and grammatical structures (e.g., “a trapdoor spider waiting patiently in its tunnel.”). This book choice is supported by information in Lecture 6.1 about reading visually appealing text that appears easy to comprehend and extends science knowledge on a familiar topic.

● To play the game, Plum Landing: Creature Connector, children must solve puzzles to help plants and animals get the food that they need to survive. The game supports children’s awareness that in an ecosystem, as one thing changes, other things do also. Animated illustrations are accurate and high-quality allowing children to easily recognize the featured plants and animals. This game also supports children’s understanding of predator/prey relationships in habitats and is fun to play. Print is displayed on the screen and also read aloud making it suitable to both able readers and those who struggle with word solving. This choice is supported by information in Lecture 6.1 about reading visually appealing text that appears easy to comprehend and extends science knowledge on a familiar topic.

● The app Plum Landing: Creaturizer provides children the opportunity to create their own creature, find a habitat for it to live in, and decide what food it eats and ways it adapts. This game choice is aligned with information in Lecture 6.1 about giving students choice and finding content that extends children’s concept knowledge.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● For each resource, you clearly specified text features that support concept development, engaged reading, and accessibility for children who find word solving difficult. The range in the types of resources also provide a nice range of choices for children. As such, the resources you chose are likely to support children’s concept development and reading engagement.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● As you continue to add texts to this resource set or develop resource sets on new topics, maintaining similar attention to both the quality of the text and a range of text types will ensure your students have excellent opportunities to learn and develop as engaged readers.

● For two resources, you clearly specified why this text is suitable to use for engaging readers. Is there a third resource from your list or the worksheets from earlier sessions that you can use to continue your children’s engagement in learning about animals and the ways they meet their needs and survive?

Criterion #2: Quality of Teaching Actions

An expert response (3 points):

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings. For example:

● I would use the book I See a Kookaburra as a group read-aloud initially to familiarize the children with the animals and some of the interesting language, preteaching vocabulary words such as “burrow” and “nectar.” After the read-aloud, the book will be available at a learning station where small groups of children use books with information about various habitats to create their own illustrations and stories about one habitat. Children will present their illustrations and stories to the class. This activity with this text supports student choice and social learning as mentioned in Lecture 6.2.

● I would use the game Plum Landing: Creature Connector with pairs of students as a learning station where they can collaborate in figuring out the solution to each puzzle and help the creatures survive. This learning station would occur after children have already been immersed in the topic of habitats to keep them engaged and add to their knowledge. Playing the game in pairs promotes social learning and extending what they know about habitats, important to keeping children engaged as mentioned in Lecture 6.2.

● I would support children using the app Plum Landing: Creaturizer first outside on the school grounds, and then during a field trip to a forest habitat where they can take pictures of their constructed creature in a specific spot and decide how it is going to survive. I would also encourage parents to download this free app to extend learning about how creatures can adapt and survive in their habitats outside of school. Students will then present a slideshow about their creature to a partner, then publish their slideshow to a school website to share with other students. Using this app and presenting their creations to each other promotes student choice and social learning as mentioned in Lecture 6.2.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The contexts you describe effectively align with factors that support engaged reading: your students will be engaged with others, supportings learning as a social activity; children will share new information with peers aligning with the importance of seeking knowledge as a motivational factor; and children are provided various ways to make choices. These teaching decisions demonstrate your awareness and ability to act on evidence related to creating contexts that engage readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Your selections suggest that you have a strong understanding of ways to create contexts that are likely to engage children in reading and sharing information. Given the likelihood that children will gain a lot of new information, how might you expand the community with whom they share--might they prepare a class newspaper, an online blog or newsletter, or perhaps present their information to other classrooms? Work this good should be shared as widely as possible!

o You specified opportunities to use these texts for engaging readers, but did not include a thorough rationale to support your choices. It might be helpful to return to the guidelines for selecting high-quality texts and also to the information in this session about factors that contribute to engaged reading. Try to remember that specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices helps you sustain high-quality teaching practices and may also be helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5 - Scenario Analysis: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Baseline Scenario Analysis

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions accurately assess and effectively support support children’s decoding knowledge? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--i.e., despite diligent attention to district-wide assessments and instructional curriculum some children are not making appropriate progress--what would you do to gather more information about the children’s reading abilities and how might you modify instruction? Explain what you would do and why.

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. What do you notice about the teacher’s assessment practices? Do they align with what you have learned about assessment in this session, and, in turn, do the suggestions you made at the outset align with current understandings about trustworthy assessment? If not, revise your analysis and related suggestions. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the assessment actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

In her kindergarten classroom, Ms. Johnson is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting; and in the meeting, she helps children recall and connect what they have learned so far. As they respond, she smiles and nods.

After morning meeting, Ms. Johnson turns to her daily literacy routines. In one segment of her literacy block, Ms. Johnson meets with children who demonstrated similar performance on screening measures. Her school district relies on DIBELS and she pays particular attention to subtests on phonemic awareness, letter name knowledge, sound/letter associations. Based on the test results, she created three groups: children who scored in the upper third, children who scored in the middle third, and children who scored in the lower third.

As she does each day, Ms. Johnson first meets with children in the lowest-performing group while other children are assigned to literacy centers. During this time, she provides instruction in phonemic awareness and letter names and sounds. To guide her instruction, she diligently follows the district’s reading curriculum. This curriculum provides an explicit scope and sequence as well as a script for teachers to adhere to. Despite her diligence, she notices that this group of children increasingly struggle as they progress in the curriculum. She is very concerned about this group of children, but is not sure why they are not responding well to her efforts or how to better focus her instruction.

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting; and in the meeting, she helps children recall and connect what they have learned so far. As they respond, she smiles and nods.

After morning meeting, Ms. Cox turns to her daily literacy routines. In one segment of her literacy block, she meets with children who demonstrated similar performance on a district-wide screening measure (i.e., one-minute oral reading). Based on the results, she created three groups: children who scored in the upper third, children who scored in the middle third, and children who scored in the lower third.

Daily, Ms. Cox first meets with children in the lowest-performing group while other children are assigned to literacy centers. During this time, she provides instruction in phonics and decoding and has children engage in repeated readings of text to build fluency. To guide her instruction, she diligently follows the district’s reading curriculum. This curriculum provides an explicit scope and sequence as well as a script for teachers to adhere to, and it is leveled so that children are “matched” to text that is considered “just right” for them. Despite her diligence, she notices that this group of children continue to struggle. Based on the one-minute reading measures, she knows that their reading is slow and filled with many word reading errors. She is very concerned about this group of children, but she is not sure why they are not responding well to her efforts or how to better focus her instruction.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Scenario Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to assessment. For example:

○ Although Ms. Johnson (or Ms. Cox) used assessment data to guide her grouping practices and provided all children access to the district curriculum, the screening measures do not provide data that will help children form groups based on children’s strengths and needs. As such, her instruction does not address the specific children’s strengths and needs.

● Provides critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain rstanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name strengths in their response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the teacher is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. For example,

○ Your awareness of the importance of monitoring children’s progress and providing intensive intervention if current instruction is not successful in helping children develop their decoding ability demonstrates your understanding of the evidence-based principles that were the focus of this session and your ability to relate them to teaching actions. And you provide an excellent rationale citing evidence from course readings and lectures. Being able to articulate your rationale will help you communicate with other teachers, administrators, and parents.

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

● Your response demonstrates your awareness of trustworthy assessment, but you omitted an evidence-based justification for your analysis. It might be helpful to take another look at the lecture slides and readings to help you explain why this “missed opportunity” likely diminished some children’s opportunities to learn.

● In response to an “emerging” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider asking questions that draw the participant’s attention to missing elements. Use the preceding example to guide the formulation of your questions.

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

Specific opportunities to gather assessment data during the course of on-going instruction, describes appropriate ways to do so, and relates ideas to lectures or readings. For example:

● To help the teacher gather data to better inform instructional decisions, she could use the DIBELs scores to identify who did not perform well and engage in follow-up assessment (e.g., Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) to gather additional data and search for patterns. Meanwhile, as children engage in different aspects of the literacy block (e.g., phonemic awareness instruction), the course could observe how children engage in these tasks to help me capture the complexity of the act of reading. For example, after whole group demonstration, children work with partners on a brief phonemic awareness activity (i.e., sorting pictures by their first sound), she could observe children’s work with their partner to learn more about their strengths and challenges and also scaffold the activity. That is, how do children approach sorting? Are they hearing the first sound? What are they confusing? As the teacher scaffolds the activity she should also take note of how much scaffolding children need to deepen her understanding of children's phonemic awareness.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● Your suggestion to use both the PALs and closely observe children as they work with partners is excellent. Your lesson modification indicates your understanding of some very important ideas from this course and your ability to apply the evidence you read about to instructional practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Recall a recent phonemic awareness lesson you taught. What opportunities for ongoing assessment were there during the lesson? How might you incorporate ongoing assessment into all your lessons?

● The assessment practices you describe are excellent because they are very likely to provide meaningful data that you can use to inform your instructional decision making, and as such, they are likely to help your children become successful and capable readers. But missing from your response is a clear explanation of how these assessment practices align with the principles for evidence-based assessment. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan your ongoing assessment practices and routines. Becoming especially facile at sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources to support literacy development.

● In response to an “emerging” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider making comments or asking questions that draw their attention to the missing elements. Use preceding examples to guide the formulation of your questions.

● In a response to an “inadequate” rating, remind a participant who did not post of the importance of completion of each task to achieving course goals and encourage completion of all tasks in remaining sessions. Encourage a participant who posted a response that did not adequately address specified criteria to review the rubric again with closer attention to the criteria, and suggest that the participant contact you if s/he has a particular question or concern.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3 - Discussion Forum 3.1 - Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:19-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

As you reflect on the authors’ ideas, recall the teaching routines that support effective phonics instruction. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to these two questions:

Select at least two of the guiding principles described by Helman. How will you integrate these in your own teaching and why? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.
What does Clark (2004) mean by “coaching” word recognition and how does this teaching action support children’s independent word solving?

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed Lecture 3.2, What Does Evidence-Based Phonics Instruction Look Like?
Read two articles: Opening Doors to Texts: Planning Effective Phonics Instruction with English Learners by Lori Helman and What Can I Say Besides Sound it Out? Coaching Word Recognition in Beginning Reading by Kathleen Clark.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear and evidence-based justification for incorporating at least two principles in own classroom.

● Provides a clear and accurate explanation of coaching word recognition and how it supports children’s development as independent word solving.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o You clearly describe evidence-based examples of appropriate active word solving activities and you note the importance of providing ample opportunities to apply phonics knowledge when reading meaningful connected text. You also effectively describe coaching word recognition and explain how this teaching action helps children apply their phonics knowledge when reading text and become independent word-solvers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you continue to think about support children’s decoding abilities, think about ways that you might encourage and extend your children’s active word-solving beyond your direct instruction. What might you do to prompt children’s self-monitoring and independent word solving or to help parents support their children’s word-solving during shared book reading at home?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided only a partial justification for incorporating at least two principles in their own classroom, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how to help children actively solve words but you do not explain why the strategy is aligned with evidence-based phonics instruction. As you continue to explore practices to support phonics and decoding development, be sure to focus on the logic or evidence that underlies suggested practices.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Fully describes how at least two principles will be implemented and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, notice and name the strengths in the response. For example, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your awareness that active word solving and reading meaningful connected text with coaching from you is an evidence-based teaching practice. Your intent to use word sorts to guide children in actively learning phonics patterns is also a logical and thoughtful decision; and coaching children’s word recognition with high-quality is notable as most children benefit from coaching word recognition during reading and this is an underutilized, yet important teaching practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Your response indicates such a high level of expertise--it makes me think that you would be a valuable resource to your grade-level colleagues. If you were to recommend one of the readings from this session to help them improve their teaching of decoding, which one would you choose and why?

o You explain that you will have children sort words with similar patterns to support active word solving but you do not describe how you will do so. Sorting words can be a terrific way to promote active word solving depending on how the activity is framed. Without sufficient guidance, children may treat this activity as a worksheet without actively thinking about which words go together and why. I’d encourage you to revisit this idea and the readings and consider what you might do to minimize the possibility this possibility. Reread the article with an eye toward teaching actions that might prevent such behavior: might increased teacher demonstration be helpful? Or, perhaps, working with students in smaller groups? Given the potential benefits, it seems it might be helpful to try to “work around” the potential shortcomings.

o In a response to an emerging rating, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, consider asking questions that draw their attention to the missing elements. Use the preceding examples to guide the formulation of your questions.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

● (a) Agreeing with and building on the comments of others, (b) respectfully disagreeing and offering another point of view, or (c) posing questions to prompt clarification and elaboration (e.g., “What do you mean by…”)

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Teaching Initial Consonants Lesson Plan

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

ELA Standard 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

ELA Standard 6: Students apply knowledge of language structure, language convention (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

ELA Standard 11: Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

ELA Standard 12: Students use the spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

First Grade Students

Goals

To reinforce the concept that oral language can be represented by written language
To guide students in identifying words which have similar beginning sounds
To strengthen students’ knowledge of the alphabetic principle
To help students associate words which begin with a single grapheme

Objectives

Students will choose words that begin with the sound the letter “h” represents from the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”
Students will be able to say the beginning sounds of the words “hands” and “happy” and state that the words sound the same at the beginning.
Students will be able to state that the beginning sound in the words “hands” and “happy” are represented by the letter “h”.

Prerequisites

The students should be familiar with Language Experience Approach and be able to interact comfortably with the teacher throughout the construction of a story. In the first section of the lesson, which we are not viewing, the students have learned the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” The teacher has recorded it on chart paper with the students watching. They have listened to her think aloud about the spelling of the words, and they have used the chart for Shared Reading, singing the song many times while attending to the words in a one-to-one match (teacher or student pointing to each word as it is sung). When the students are able to track the words while they sing, by pointing to each word as it is sung, then the phonics portion or second section of the “whole-to-part” lesson can begin. This lesson plan pertains to the second section of the lesson, such as the one illustrated in the Moustafa article, “Whole to Part Phonics Instruction: Building on What Children Know to Help Them Know More.”

Materials

Pointer
Colored markers, including black
A white board
Chart printed with the words and gestures for the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know it, shown below

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it,
Then you’re not afraid to show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)

If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet. (stomp, stomp)
If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet. (stomp, stomp)
If you’re happy and you know it,
Then you’re not afraid to show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet. (stomp, stomp)

Lesson Description

A teacher and a group of students engaged in the phonics segment of a whole-to-part lesson. The teacher stands beside a chart on which the words to the song have been printed.

Lesson Procedure

Refer to the song on the chart and point out to students that they all stayed together when they sang it! Ask students, “Why do you suppose we were able to do that?”
Allow 10–15 seconds for most of the students to think and raise their hands. The response you want is, “Because we had the words right there for us and (Student’s Name) was pointing to them as we sang.” This important observation illustrates the oral/written language connection and prepares for the phonics work you will do in Step 5.
Tell students, “That’s right, (Student’s Name)! We had the words right here for us as we sang. Every word we sang in the song is right here on our chart. That’s a really important thing to remember, isn’t it? Every word we say can be written down on paper. Now, let’s think about some of those words. What were some of your favorites?”
Wait 10–15 seconds for students to raise their hands, then begin calling on them to give their favorite words. As they do, write them in black marker on a white board.
Guide the students to investigate the words by directing them to look at the beginnings of the words. Take a red marker and color over the first letter of the words “hands, hearts, feet, and face,” so that the letter stands out from the rest of the word.
Ask students to say the word slowly and listen to the very first sound in the word. Wait for response. Have the students repeat the sound at the beginning of the words.
Remind the students that everything they can say, they can put down in writing. Guide them to understand the correspondences between letters and sounds.
Continue with other words that have the same beginning letters and sounds.

Closure/Conclusion

Tell the students that they did a lot of work with words today. Ask them to try and remember everything they learned. Lead them to recall the following:

They talked about two words in the song that begin with the same sound, (hands, happy). They knew that the words began with the same sound because they listened carefully and heard that both words have the little airy sound “hhhhh” at the beginning. They talked about what letter both words begin with, (h).
They also talked about two more words in that song that begin with the same sound, (face, feet). They knew that the words began with the same sound because they listened carefully and heard that both words have the “fffff” sound at the beginning. They talked about what letter both words begin with, (f).
Statement of generalization. Say to the students, “If these sets of words sounded alike at the beginning AND they had the same letter at the beginning. Could we make a rule that might help us as we work with more words this year?” (Words that begin with the same sound often begin with the same letter).

Session 5: Lesson Plan: Teaching Phonograms

ELA Standard 11: Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

ELA Standard 12: Students use the spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

First Grade Students

Goals

To reinforce the concept that oral language can be represented by written language
To practice identifying words that end with similar rhyme sounds
To strengthen students’ knowledge of the alphabetic principle
To help students associate words that end similarly with a single spelling pattern

Objectives

Students will say the middle vowel(s) and ending consonants of words and state that some of the words have like spelling patterns.
Students will match unknown words with known words, according to their spelling patterns.

Prerequisites

The students should be familiar with Language Experience charts and be able to interact comfortably with the teacher throughout the construction of a story. They should have participated in the previous lesson, in which they identified similar beginning sounds in the words hands and happy and associated the sound with the letter “h” at the beginning of those words.

Materials

Chart printed with the words and gestures for the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It"
Pocket chart
Word cards

Lesson Description

A teacher and a group of students are engaged in the phonics segment of a whole-to-part lesson. This is the second section of a “whole-to-part” lesson, such as the one illustrated in “Whole-to-Part Phonics Instruction: Building on What Students Know to Help Them Know More.” Instead of focusing upon initial sounds, as in the previous lesson, this one focuses upon rhyme patterns, or phonograms.

Lesson Procedure

The teacher stands beside a song chart and a pocket chart with the following words from the song written on cards and inserted in the pockets. The spelling patterns are written in blue and underlined. These words will be used for the lesson on phonograms.

Point to the words as the class reads:

Confirm their reading of the words and extend their knowledge by adding more words with the same spelling pattern. Provide more words on cards. Explain that the words belong to the same family.
Model a thought process by saying aloud: “If I’m looking for the right family for this word, the family that sounds the same as this word at the end-and that’s the same thing as rhyming-I think I’d better say the word to myself first: map, map. Have the students repeat the word with you. Then ask students to identify which words have the same sound at the end as the word map.
Continue the lesson using other word family cards.

Closure/Conclusion

Tell the students that they did a lot of work with words today. Ask them to try and remember everything they learned. Lead them to recall the following:

They determined that words that end in the same spelling pattern have to sound the same at the end in order to rhyme.
They tested the rule by saying the words out loud to see if they sounded the same at the end.
Statement of generalization. Say to the students, “So when we find words that end with the same spelling pattern AND they sound the same at the end, can we say that they rhyme? Yes, we can. That can be another rule to help us as we work with more words this year.”

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3 - Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Assignment: Use the worksheet to evaluate and choose a collection of at least three resources (e.g., books, videos, games) to teach about the concept of habitats while supporting phonics instruction. These resources will be added to the list you developed in Sessions 1 and 2.

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Game

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Opportunities to Learn about Habitats

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats. For example:

● The online book Great Green Giants supports learning about the giant saguaro cactus in a desert habitat and how they provide food and shelter for many animals. The book has appealing photos of cacti in the desert to illustrate the fairly simple text.

● The video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, includes a reading of the book about a bear hibernating in a cave during the winter. The story includes fairly accurate animated illustrations of wild animals living in a woodland habitat that arrive one by one in the bear’s cave.

● The game Electric Company: Jungle Jumble is a word blending game with a stylized rainforest background. Although the bots in the game are traveling on leaves connected to jungle vines, there is no information about rainforest habitats. But since children are reading so many other texts that will support concept developed, I reasoned that including one text like this, focused predominantly on word blending, would be a useful addition.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In each resource, you specified clear examples of important and accurate science content that support children’s understanding of habitats and the ways they support animals’ survival.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant’s didn’t connect all three texts to learning about habitats you might say:

● In each resource, you specified clear examples of important and accurate science content that support children’s understanding of habitats and the ways they support animals’ survival. But the third focuses on engaging aspects of a game (e.g., “the characters are colorful and animated during game play and children will love them”) without attention to the unit learning goals. Revisit this game and think a bit more about the content. What opportunities does it provide for children to extend and deepen their knowledge about habitats?

Criterion #2: Opportunities to Develop Phonemic Awareness

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource contains multiple opportunities to support children’s developing phonics abilities.

For example:

● The online book Great Green Giants has simple enough language for a second grader to read while incorporating interesting vocabulary in sentences such as, “The flowers open at night for bats that come to sip the nectar.” There are multiple two-syllable words and words with both long and short vowels, and the books has two sentences per page opposite a picture so children can use clues to help decode unfamiliar words. The nine pages of text are challenging but not overwhelming for a young reader.

● The video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, has multiple sections, with a phonics lesson focused on long vowel sounds. In the picture book read aloud section, there are many opportunities beyond long vowel sounds for phonics development. Children can read along as each word is spoken and highlighted in the video, words are fairly simple but with varied and interesting language with both long and short vowel sounds such as, “So he lights wee twigs with a small hot spark” and the text rhymes as well to reinforce phonemic awareness.

● The game Electric Company: Jungle Jumble is a game for beginning readers to blend onsets and rimes together to make words, beginning with CVC words and at later levels, CVCe words and words beginning with blends. Correct words are read aloud with a celebratory animation, incorrect words drop to the bottom of the screen. At the end of game play, the words that were correctly blended appear on the screen for extra reading practice.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You specified multiple opportunities to use these resources to support children’s phonics development. As such, the resources you chose are likely to contribute to your students’ building a foundation for successful reading.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o You specified opportunities to support children’s phonics development for two of the three resources, but focused only on the “entertainment” aspects of Sesame Street: Letters to Big Bird. Re-view this game and consider opportunities for developing phonemic awareness.

Criterion #3: Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Includes a variety of multimodal resources.

● Includes thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts, for example:

○ The online book Great Green Giants accurately describes the life cycle of the suguaro cactus and how it provides food and shelter to numerous animals in the desert. Real photos enhance the book’s information.

○ The read-aloud section of the video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, shows the text with animated illustrations of animals entering the bear’s cave during winter. The illustrations are fairly accurate for creatures in a woodland habitat, and there is a little information about the bear hibernating during the winter.

○ The game Electric Company: Jungle Jumble has cartoon bots riding leaves of jungle vines across a stylized rainforest background. There is no real information about habitats in the game.

● Includes appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection. For example:

○ The online book Great Green Giants is view of a desert habitat from the point of one plant, the saguaro cactus which provides only a limited view of this habitat.

○ The video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, has many sections beyond the read-aloud that include phonics activities and videos of long vowel pronunciations. These are aimed at parents of young readers and are not all suitable for classroom use. The book is also fiction, animals don’t always engage in appropriate behavior, and information about woodland habitats is limited.

○ The game Electric Company: Jungle Jumble has distracting background music, and children can just randomly try to connect onsets and rimes together to see which make words without much thought. There is no information about rainforest habitats.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You did a thorough job of analysing the scientific accuracy of the resources as well as distracting features of each resource.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Suppose children were to play the game at home? How might you help a parent or caregiver become aware of distracting features of digital games so that you can expand opportunities to learn out of school?

Criterion #4: Instructional Mediation

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Effective and complete instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features. For example, a participant might say:

○ The online book Great Green Giants can be combined with other fiction and non-fiction books about desert habitats to give children a more complete idea about the animals and plants in the desert and how they survive. Recording information from different books on a concept map can help children get a more complete picture of a desert habitat.

○ The read-aloud section of the video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On can be combined with a picture book with accurate photos or illustrations of a woodland habitat and the lives of bears and other animals that live there to augment the book’s limited information about animals living in a forest. I would read the book aloud first to the whole class and discuss whether the animals are doing actions that real animals would do or that people would do, and contrast the book with an informational text about forest animals and their behavior. To promote fluency and decoding practice, children could work alone or in pairs after the whole group reading to view the read-aloud portion of the video to read along with the highlighted text.

○ The game Electric Company: Jungle Jumble would be used to practice blending onset and rime into words, and could be supplemented with both fiction and non-fiction texts with accurate information about the rainforest and how animals and plants survive there. Children can work alone or in pairs playing the game using headphones to avoid distracting others with the music and game sounds. Students who would be distracted by the music can be assigned other tasks to practice blending words.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You created appropriate strategies to mediate your chosen resources which will allow you to maximize the educational potential of each text.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Conduct an Assessment Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Assignment or Criteria	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Exemplary
Is able to correctly determine each students linguistic development in the graphic organizer	Learner does not correctly place Student 1 in Lack of Insight; Students 2 and 3 in Developing Insight; and Student 4 in Secure Insight. Learner does not provide an instructional plan for the students.	Learner correctly places the students in the categories on the chart and provides an appropriate next-best-step instructional plan for each student.	Learner correctly places the students in categories on the chart, giving examples of the students' responses. Learner provides more than one suitable next-best-step instructional plans for each student.
Provides a written assessment for each student with suggestions for instruction	Learner either fails to complete a written assessment of each student or completes a rudimentary assessment but fails to include suggestions for instruction.	Learner completes an assessment for each student. Learner includes one lesson appropriate for the stage for each student (e.g., Student 1 needs instruction that includes emphasis on oral language development and exposure to activities that include rhyming; Students 2 and 3 need instruction on hearing initial sounds and segmenting them; and Student 4 needs instruction that extends knowledge about connecting sounds and letters).	Learner completes an assessment for each student. Learner provides two or more lessons appropriate for the stage of each student. Learner cites research readings in Sessions 1 and 2 that support the learners written assessments and inclusion of instructional lessons for each student.
Completion of assignment and timeliness	The learner does not complete assignment or does not submit assignment on time.	N/A	The learner completes assignment and submits on time.
Completes a written report for each student	Learner either fails to provide a written report for each student that answers the three questions outlined in the assignment or provides a written report that includes answers to only one or two of the questions. Learner gives an overly general and brief description of the information that should be shared with the parents and does not sufficiently address the unique learning stages of the individual students.	Learner provides a written report that includes answers to the three questions outlined in the assignment. Learner gives a detailed description of the information that should be shared with the parents of each student including a statement about his/her developmental stage and individual instructional plans.	Learner provides a well-written and insightful report that includes detailed answers to the three questions outlined in the assignment. Learner gives a detailed description of the information that should be shared with the parents of each student including a statement about his/her developmental stage, individual instructional plans, and advice about activities parents can do at home to help their child.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Peer Review Guidelines

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Use these guidelines in reviewing a peer's submission.

Reference the rubric when making suggestions.
Share at least one, preferably two aspects of the submission that reflect "satisfactory" criteria from the assignment rubric.
Share at least one, preferably two aspects of the submission that could be improved. Again, reference criteria in the rubric, identify specific areas in the assignment, and make recommendations to improve the areas that are highlighted.
Your choice of words should be objective, professional, and used to improve your peer's learning experience and possible future implementation. Short phrases such as "good job" or "needs improvement" are not sufficient. Your review should be clear and identify specific areas of the submission that are being addressed.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Online Journal 6.3 - Facilitator Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Final Project: Putting It All Together

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Assignment: Think back on all of the lectures, readings, journal entries, discussion forum conversations, and resource set analyses. When you put all of this information together, what guiding principles will you use to frame your instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics.

In your online journal, record 6-10 “principles” to use to frame your instructional planning and day-to-day instruction. As you compose your principles, be sure to address each of the 6 major domains in this course: Oral Language, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Supporting Children Who Struggle to Solve Words, Assessment, and Engaging Readers. In framing your ideas, be sure to consider the quality of the instructional resources your use as you address each of the target domains. As you state each principle, be sure to cite credible evidence from course lectures, readings, and conversations to explain the importance of the principle. Also list a few examples of the kinds of activities or tasks you will implement that align with the principle.

Helpful Information:

Participants may draw on all or any lectures, readings, journal entries, discussion forum conversations, or resource set worksheets and feedback to frame their guiding principles, related tasks and activities, and justification.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Guiding Principles

An expert response (3 points):

● Generates at least one appropriate, evidence-based guiding principle for each of the six target domains.

● Principles address both the domain (i.e., oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, teaching children who find word solving difficult, assessment, engaged readers) and also the quality of instructional resources used to teach each of these domains.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● Each of your principles is clearly related to one of the target domains and each addresses an important aspect of that domain. Each also clearly aligns with evidence related to teaching and learning in the domain. In addition, you included a principle that clearly aligns with the evidence on the nature and importance of high-quality instructional resources.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Your work provides clear evidence of a very high level of teaching expertise. I encourage you to seek ways to share your knowledge with others, either through coaching, speaking, or writing! As you do so, continue to maintain attention to evidence-based principles and actions and you will make a difference in the lives of many young children!

● Your generated appropriate, evidence-based principles for four of the domains, but in the other two, you drifted a bit--your principles lack the explicitness and specificity necessary to guide your decision making. Review your principles and also the lectures and readings related to these ideas. How might you revise them to give them enough specificity to guide your instructional decisions?

Criterion #2: Related Tasks and Activities

An expert response (3 points):

Related to each principle, identifies at least two tasks or activities, each of which aligns with evidence-based practice. Examples are drawn from lectures, readings, videos, and discussion forum conversations, and they may also suggest evidence of the participant’s rethinking and modification of own teaching routines to better align them with evidence-based teaching.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● The tasks and activities you listed are well-aligned with the research on best practice, and it is also evident that you attended closely to ideas presented in various articles and videos, drawing from excellent examples of good practice while also adding a few “tweaks” to connect the work to your own teaching style. In addition, I noticed that you are mindful of your grade level (second grade) and considered the scope and sequence for the grade level as well as for children who are finding word solving difficult. Your principles are notable for the focus on needs of individuals as well as the general population.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o It is quite evident that children in your classroom are likely to receive very high quality instruction. But for some children have far fewer opportunities to learn outside of school. How might you partner with the parents of these children in ways that allow you to build on what children are doing at home and allows parents to build on what you are doing in school?

o Although you specified at least one appropriate task or activity for each practice, you stopped a bit short. Given the wealth of information provided through course readings, lectures, videos, and discussion board conversations, I am confident you could elaborate on this a bit. So that you are prepared to enter your classroom well-equipped with evidence-based teaching ideas, return to your resources and add a few more ideas to enact each of the principles you have outlined.

Criterion #3: Evidentiary Support

An expert response (3 points):

Cites credible research to support each principle and each identified task or activity.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● Your response includes strong research-based support for each principle and for each related tasks and activities. Moreover, I noticed that you drew not only from lectures and required readings, but you also went above and beyond, citing evidence from a few of the articles listed in the sections on additional resources. This is an indication of your clear pursuit of information that will help you act on the evidence we have to support young readers.

o You cited appropriate and credible research to support the guiding principles you composed, and I noticed that you drew the evidence from an array of lectures and readings from this course. This part is exceptionally well done. But in justifying your tasks and activities, you are bit less consistent. In some cases you identified appropriate and credible evidence; but when one of your suggested practices did not align with evidence, you left it unaddressed (i.e., using phonics worksheets as practice). As you continue to reflect on what you have learned and work to align your teaching with evidence-based practices, be sure to take on the “harder” issues too--those that might cause us to “throw away” a familiar practice in favor of one that is likely to increase our students reading success.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6 - Discussion Forum 6.1: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Engaging Children in Reading

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed Lecture 6.2, What Teaching Actions Provide a Foundation for Engaged Reading?
Read three articles:
- The tough part: Getting First Graders Engaged in Reading by Jabari Mahiri and Helen Miniates
- Expanding the Range of Text Types used in the Primary Grades by Stephanie Strachan
- If They Don’t Read Much, How They Ever Gonna Get Good? by Patricia Cunningham

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

Describes at least 3 ideas, one from each article, for engaging young children in reading and writing. For example:

● Ensure teacher read-alouds encompass both fiction and informational texts that capture student interest. (Cunningham)

● Teach students how to participate, sustain focus, and build stamina in rigorous literacy activities. (Mahiri & Maniates)

● Connect classroom reading to authentic literacy practices. (Strachen)

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response demonstrates your awareness of the importance of being strategic about the texts we select to read aloud; as well as the importance of creating contexts that support not only children’s reading accuracy but also their reading stamina; and you tied each of these important ideas to appropriate supporting evidence.

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided only a partial justification, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your awareness of important practices to support engaged reading but you did not tie these ideas to supporting evidence. Remember that articulating your rationale for various practices is likely to contribute to your ongoing attention to these important ideas and help you to sustain high levels of effective practice.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Fully describes how the ideas for engaging young children in reading and writing will be implemented in own classroom with a rationale that supports the implementation details. For example:

○ To promote more engaged readers in my classroom, I will focus on implementing three ideas from the readings. First, I will develop multimodal text sets around different topics with both fiction and informational texts to tap into interests of all my children as suggested in Cunningham, and Lecture 6.2, slides 2&3. Second, I will increase active participation during whole group literacy lessons by employing thumbs-up gestures, call and response, and more choral reading to build in more structure for participation into my lessons, better engage all students, and use them as formative assessments to gauge understanding as mentioned in Mahiri and Maniates. Lastly, I will connect classroom reading to authentic literacy practices as mentioned in Strachan by creating interdisciplinary projects, such as a report on a specific animal in a wetlands habitat, that will require children to use texts to discover information, then share it with others in a meaningful way.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, notice and name the strengths in the response. For example, you might say:

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support effective instructional decision making and demonstrates your ability to apply the evidence you read about to instructional practice. In addition, your description of HOW you will implement these ideas is logical and “doable”--represents a true “interweaving” of these ideas with your existing routines.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o You have masterfully connected these ideas to your classroom practices. You might also consider how to connect these ideas to children’s out-of-school literacy experiences. How might you help family and other community members build on what you have learned about engaged reading?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support effective instructional decision making. But missing from your response is a clear explanation of how implementation of these practices align with the factors of engaging students in reading. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan for how to engage all your students in reading.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

● Explaining response to the ideas of others (e.g., I was thinking the same thing as [participant] because….; I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me that there are many different ways to engage children in reading; I disagree with Alex’s idea because...).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6 - Discussion Forum 6.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Engaging Children in Reading

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the factors that contribute to children’s reading engagement, the ideas and practices that foster children’s engagement in reading, writing, and learning from the lectures and readings, and your observations of these classrooms.

What evidence do you see that children are engaged in the various jobs and learning center activities?
What actions did each teacher take to promote children’s engagement in reading, writing, and learning?
Will you adapt any of these teaching actions into your own teaching routines? If so, explain which actions and why.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed two classroom videos described as follows:

In these classroom visits, you will see two examples of teachers engaged in practices that support reading engagement among young students. In the first video, Cindy Wilson’s kindergartners use reading and writing to complete their morning jobs. In the second video, Alicia Poulin’s first graders participate in a variety of learning centers to deepen their understanding of energy and motion. As you view, think about best practices for engaging children in reading and writing and search for ways you see these practices “in action.”

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Clearly and accurately describes how children are engaged in both videos and the actions each teacher takes to promote engagement with supporting evidence. For example:

○ During morning jobs, Cindy’s students develop their reading and writing skills in authentic activities connected to their literacy block. One pair of students, with small groups of children in turn, reads the question of the day and this question connects to a text the teacher will read aloud later in the school day. Each child responds to the question by writing his/her name in the appropriate column. Another pair records the titles, authors, and illustrators of read-alouds and shared reading books and posts them in the hallway outside the classroom to share with the greater school community. These authentic literacy activities align well with the evidence that engaging in literacy for authentic purposes is likely to increase youngsters motivation and engagement in reading (presented by Strachen and also by Guthrie and Humenick. Independent reading incorporates student choice and this practice aligns with the evidence on the contribution choice makes to engagement (e.g., Lecture 6.2, slide 4).

○ Alicia’s students are engaged in several activities to promote engagement with the topic of energy. One group of students is sharing their project on an app, PBSKids Scratch Jr. and other students are working in pairs to play a game about energy; these learning centers support social learning as outlined in Lecture 6.2, slide 5. Another group of children is revisiting a classroom investigation, an authentic activity that extends children’s knowledge of energy and is consistent with the evidence that engagement is greater when children are completing tasks and activities that help them achieve learning goals (e.g., Guthrie and Humenick) and also that engagement is higher when children view the tasks as purposeful and authentic (as described in the article by Strachen). The last group is reading texts on the topic, taking notes, and posting them on the concept map. I assume that this center is using multiple, connected texts to engage children in reading, writing, and then sharing with the class as mentioned in Lecture 6.2 in the first four slides about supporting high-interest reading and putting knowledge first, as well as supporting social learning which I mentioned earlier.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you explicitly describe several examples of how both teachers promote reading engagement practices, and you specified the ways these practices align with the evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o What do you think about Cindy’s practice of having children read and answer a question of the day each morning? Is this a practice you might add to your classroom routine? If so, what guidelines would you use to shape each question?

o You clearly described ways in which both teachers engage readers, but did not give any evidence to support their actions as evidence-based. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit the factors that promote engaged reading. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your literacy practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular assessment routines and how they support children’s literacy development.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a teaching action to implement in own classroom during routine instruction.

○ In my classroom, I am going to implement an idea that Cindy uses with students independently working to read and answer a question of the day that connects to that day’s instruction. I will have a pair of students prepare an answer chart each morning and bring small groups of students to answer the question during our morning jobs as was depicted in the video with Cindy. This will help develop engagement in all my children with a topic that will be further explored later in the day and support their reading and writing skills.

● Relates ideas to lectures or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You identified a teaching action for engaging readers you could implement in your own classroom, and you backed it up with evidence from the readings and lectures.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you work toward routinely incorporating practices to engage readers in your classroom, be sure to set aside time to critically self-reflect, and revise or tweak your literacy practices as necessary to maintain high levels of teaching expertise.

o You identified a teaching action for engaging readers, but you did not connect this practice to evidence you read and learned about in this session. It might be useful to return to one or more of the articles or lectures for this session and revisit evidence. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your literacy practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support literacy development.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

● Explains response to the ideas of others (e.g., I was thinking the same thing as [participant] because….; I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on children’s strengths; I disagree with Alex’s idea because...).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Discussion Forum Participation Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Participation in the discussion forums is critical for maximizing your learning experiences in this course. You are required to be part of an online community who interact, through discussion, to enhance and support the professional development of the group. Part of the assessment criteria for the course includes assessing the quality and quantity of your participation in the discussion forum.

Some characteristics we consider to be part of excellent discussion contributions are outlined below. Your facilitator will consider these characteristics when assessing the quality and level of your participation.

You should submit your initial post(s) early in the session, and your subsequent responses to the posts of other learners at timely intervals within the duration of the session. Keep in mind the goal is to have a dynamic discussion that lasts throughout the entire session.
Your posts and responses should be thorough and thoughtful. Just posting an "I agree" or "Good ideas" will not be considered adequate. Support your statements with examples, experiences, or references. You are, however, encouraged to be brief — keep each post and response to one or two short paragraphs. Keep in mind that your fellow learners will be reading and responding to you, too.
Make certain to address the discussion prompt(s). This does not mean you should not extend the topic, but do not stray from the topic.
Discussions occur when there is dialogue. So, build upon the posts and responses of other learners to create discussion threads. Make sure you revisit the discussion forum and respond (if necessary) to what other learners have posted to your initial responses.
When relevant, add to the discussion by including prior knowledge, work experiences, references, Web sites, resources, etc. (giving credit when appropriate).
Your contributions to the discussions (posts and responses) should be complete and free of grammatical or structural errors.

This rubric point scale will be used to assess your work based on a 100 point scale that is cumulative throughout each session.

	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Exemplary
	20/50 points	35/50 points	50/50 points
1st Visit: Initial Post (1 post)	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Does not create an initial post. And/or does not submit early in the session.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Creates an initial post.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Creates an initial post. Submits early in the session.
	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Post does not demonstrate evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Post demonstrates some evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Post demonstrates clear evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.
	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Post is not applicable to professional practice.	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Post is applicable to professional practice.	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Post is applicable to professional practice.
	5/15 points	10/15 points	15/15 points
Note: A reply is made in visits 2, 3, or 4 by using the 'reply' or 'add a new discussion topic' functions. Learners may earn the extra five points described in the Exemplary column of 3rd & 4th Visit in any message submitted after the Initial Post (1st Visit).
2nd Visit: Reply to Other Learner(s) (1 post early in the session)	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Does not reply to another learner. And/or does not submit the reply early in the session.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Replies to another learner.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Replies to another learner. Submits early in the session.
	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response does not demonstrate evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response demonstrates some evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response demonstrates clear evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.
	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is not applicable to professional practice.	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is applicable to professional practice.	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is applicable to professional practice. Response elicits responses and reflection for others.
	5/15 points	10/15 points	15/15 points
3rd and 4th Visit: Reply to Other Learner(s) (2 posts later in the session)	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Does not reply to a second learner. And/or does not submit the reply before the end of the session.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Replies to a second learner.	Criteria: Quantity and timeliness Replies to a second learner. Continues to participate in discussion threads until the end of the session.
	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response does not demonstrate evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response demonstrates some evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.	Criteria: Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of content and applicability to professional practice Response demonstrates clear evidence of knowledge and understanding of course materials and content.
	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is not applicable to professional practice.	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is applicable to professional practice	Criteria: Generates learning within the community Response is applicable to professional practice. Response elicits responses and reflection for others. Response integrates multiple views or provides outside resources from others to take the discussion deeper. (+5 pts- once per discussion which will be added to the 3rd or 4th visit score)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4: Online Journal 4.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:Teaching Children Who Struggle

Total Point Value: 6

Using Instructional Resources to Support Children Who Struggle to Solve Words:

Choose three texts from your list that you could use with children in your classroom who are experiencing difficulty solving words. Then, in your online journal, describe how you would use these texts. Also explain why these particular texts and the teaching actions you specify are likely to be helpful in advancing children’s word-solving abilities.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Quality of Texts

● Identifies 3 resources to use for decoding practice.

● Supports the choices with a sound rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least 2 resources to use for decoding practice.

● Supports the choices with a partial rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least 1 resource to use for decoding practice but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Quality of Teaching Actions

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Discussion Forum 5.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the the characteristics of trustworthy and meaningful assessment practices and your observations of this classroom.

In this classroom episode, we were given a “glimpse” of a classroom routine to administer one type of assessment (i.e., taking a running record to assess children’s at-home reading). Respond to this routine. In your view, does it align with principles for trustworthy assessment? Why or why not?
This classroom episode also presents multiple opportunities for assessing children’s word-solving behaviors in the context of routine instruction. Re-view the video and pay specific attention to the teacher’s opportunities to observe children’s word-solving behaviors. Make a list of the opportunities you notice and share a few of them. If you were the classroom teacher, what might you notice and “jot down” as you observe the children’s word-solving behaviors and actions? Assuming that these observations are part of a pattern of behavior, how might you follow up with these children? That is, what instructional steps or actions might you take to reinforce or advance their word-solving behaviors?

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Provides a clear and thorough evidence-based analysis of Valerie’s routine.

● Provides an analysis of Valerie’s routine without connecting observations to supporting evidence.

● Provides partial analysis of Valerie’s routine without supporting evidence.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Identifies specific opportunities to gather assessment data during the course of on-going instruction and describes appropriate ways to do so.

● Relates ideas to lectures or readings.

● Identifies specific opportunities to gather assessment data during the course of on-going instruction and describes appropriate ways to do so.

● Does not relate ideas to lectures or readings.

● Describes a few general ideas to gather assessment data in the course of on-going instruction.

● Does not includes evidence to support the ideas.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

AND

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., "I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective intervention within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., "I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective intervention within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4: Discussion Forum 4.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children Who Struggle

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles for evidence-based intervention and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose this particular action.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by Hildi to enact principles of effective intervention.

● Cites credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by Hildi to enact principles of effective intervention.

● Does not cite credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

● Identifies one teaching action taken by Hildi to enact principles of effective intervention.

● May or may not provide an accurate description of credible evidence to support the practice.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Identifies a specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective intervention.

● Includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

● Identifies a specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective intervention.

● Does not includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

● Describes a general idea to incorporate intervention in own classroom.

● Does not includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

AND

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective intervention within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective intervention within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6 - Online Journal 6.1: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessment of Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about the importance of engagement in literacy development and about factors that contribute to children’s engagement in reading and writing. Use these questions to guide your thinking:

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to literacy development?
Recall the four factors that contribute to reading engagement; then, consider your classroom routines and practices and your children’s engagement in reading. Do your routines and practices align with the evidence on engaged reading? If so, describe your routines and practices and relate them to the evidence presented in the lecture and article. If not, describe at least two ways you will modify your instructional practices so that they are more aligned with the evidence related to engaged reading. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Helpful Information:

In advance of this online journal task, students viewed Lecture 6.1, What Do We Know About Engaging Children in Reading and Writing From the Start? They also read Motivating Children to Read: Evidence for Classroom Practices that Increase Reading Motivation and Achievement by John Guthrie and Nicole Humenick.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, accurate explanation of reading engagement and how it contributes to literacy development with strong rationale from lectures and readings. For example:

○ Engaged reading involves text that are knowledge building.

○ Engaged reading involves texts that are interesting.

○ Engaged reading involves student choice.

○ Engaged reading involves student collaboration.

● Includes evidence from lectures and readings in Session 6.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● You clearly and fully describe the factors of engaged reading; this understanding is likely to help you encourage and support all your students in becoming capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Often when I talk with teachers, they tell me that they work with children who are simply not motivated. Yet, each time I read and reflect on the evidence we read together for this session, I am struck by the fact that each one of these factors is within a teacher’s “control”--and it strongly reinforces my understanding that motivation or engagement in reading is something that teachers can promote and support by thoughtful decision-making. Suppose you find yourself talking with a teacher or group of teachers who are lamenting children’s lack of motivation. How might you use what you learned through these readings to help them to think differently about supporting engaged readers?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about some of the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word-solving difficult, you might say:

● Your response conveys understanding of the factors of engaged reading, but it lacks clear connections to the readings or lectures. Take a look back at the readings--what particular evidence convinced you that the claims the author made about engaged readers are valid and trustworthy? Noting this sort of evidence is likely to help you sustain your commitment to teaching in ways that support engaged reading.

Criterion #2: Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● An accurate description of at least two examples of how particular instructional decisions or actions contribute to reading engagement (or disengagement), supporting both examples by referring to readings and lectures from Sessions 1-5. For example:

○ One way to engage readers more effectively is to provide more student choice in texts and literacy tasks as suggested in Lecture 4.2, slide 5 and the article by Guthrie & Humenick. Finding interesting texts across a topic allows students to chose from a number of texts to find one that seems interesting. Choice in literacy tasks might mean choosing how to respond to a text such as drawing a picture, recording a verbal response using an ipad, or discussing the text with other students in a small group as mentioned in Lecture 6.1 slide 7.

○ Another way to engage readers is to weave social collaboration into literacy tasks as mentioned in Lecture 6.1, slide 8, which can also give readers who need it more support (Lecture 4.2, slide 5). According to Guthrie and Humenick, this can result in increasing interest and time spent on tasks, and promote greater comprehension and reading achievement. This might mean children reading to each other in pairs, children working together on a reader’s theater project, or presenting oral reports on a topic to a small group or the entire class.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your ideas about keeping readers engaged are excellent and well-grounded. These practices are important because the more kids are engaged in reading, the more they read--and the more they read the more practice they get at reading words--and practice at reading words improves word-solving abilities! And this is what we have been working toward throughout this course!

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might say:

o Maintaining a disposition toward understanding how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and phonics instruction interrelate and connect in your work to keep readers engaged is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading. As we move toward the completion of this course, I hope you will find ways to maintain this important focus.

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how engaged reading can be used to support children’s learning in supporting readers who find word-solving challenging, but you do not thoroughly explain why. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to think back on evidence and instructional principles from earlier sessions and try to connect these earlier ideas to new information in each session of the course. Paying attention to how various aspects of literacy interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading.

Criterion #3: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A clear, thorough analysis of how practices in own classroom align with evidence on engaged reading, backed by evidence from lectures or readings. For example:

● In my classroom, I give students a fair amount of choice during independent reading and what books they choose to borrow to read at home. However, when I examine the texts I routinely use for shared reading and read alouds, I realize that I concentrate on fictional picture books and I almost never read informational texts with the entire class. I know that many of my students like to read these types of books, so I will revisit and expand my choices in consideration of the interests of all my students. I will also develop knowledge goals for each unit that I communicate with students so they know the purposes for reading particular texts at particular times. I also will work on more student collaboration having students read more often in pairs to each other and talk about books they have read in small discussion groups as opposed to discussing texts with the entire classroom all the time. These modifications were inspired by Lecture 6.1 and by the evidence about the important of “knowledge seeking presented by Guthrie and Humenick.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your analysis of how you can modify your literacy practices to support more students becoming engaged readers is excellent and clearly demonstrates your understanding of the factors affecting reading engagement. You have also specified supporting evidence making it clear that your instructional decisions are informed by credible evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Your awareness of practices to support engaged reading in your classroom is praiseworthy. But if the only reading children do is in school they are unlikely to develop a disposition toward lifelong reading. How might you build on these ideas to encourage children to read outside of school?

o The practice you describe is clearly aligned with supporting engaged reading and this is, of course, a really good thing! But, if you reread your response, you’ll see that you didn’t consider all the factors of engaged reading in your analysis; each is very important to engage students in reading. You may want to “revisit” the readings and lectures and then return to your analysis.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Reflection Paper Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Criteria	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Exemplary
Lesson Implementation reflection	The learner does not discuss 1-2 things that worked, and did not work during the implementation of the lesson plan and what the learner would change in the plan or setup in the future.	The learner discusses 1-2 things that worked, and did not work during the implementation of the lesson plan and what the learner would change in the plan or setup in the future.	The learner discusses 3 or more things that worked, and did not work during the implementation of the lesson plan. The learner discusses what he/she would change in the plan or setup in the future.
Remediation or Extension	The learner does not include at least one remediation or extension activity in their lesson plan.	The learner provides one remediation or extension activity in their lesson plan.	The learner provides one remediation and one extension activity in their lesson plan, with detail and a brief explanation as to why this was chosen.
Use of technology	The learner does not discuss what technology was used and how it was selected for the lesson.	The learner mentions what technology was used and how it was selected the lesson.	The learner explains in detail what technology was used and how it was selected and used in the lesson.
Observation of student learning	The learner does not discuss what was observed about student learning during the lesson.	The learner discusses what was observed about student learning during the lesson.	The learner explains in detail what was observed about student learning during the lesson.
Completion of assignment and timeliness	Learner does not complete assignment and/or does not submit assignment on time.	N/A	Learner completes assignment and submits it on time.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Online Journal Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

The PBS TeacherLine online journal is used to facilitate the documentation of knowledge you are constructing throughout the course. It will help you take control of and direct your own learning experience, identify what you have learned, what questions you have, and what you would like to know more about. You should not only reflect on knowledge gained through materials and discussion, but also new ideas to explore, feedback from others, and the impact and possible change in professional practice.

In the sessions that have journal items, you will be prompted to write reflections in response to one or two specific questions. These questions will encourage you to use the course content, your prior knowledge, and your experience to craft your responses. Bring your current classroom responsibilities into your reflections when appropriate. Your facilitator will review your reflections and provide feedback based on the rubric presented below.

Reflection is an opportunity to construct knowledge and meaning from your work. It is one of the most valuable activities you will perform in this course. Consider the following suggestions when you are crafting your responses in the online journal. Your facilitator will be looking for evidence of these suggestions to assess the quality of your reflections.

Your reflections should be written during the session in which they are being addressed. Keep in mind that the main purpose of this exercise is to help you construct meaning and self-assess your progress.
Your reflections should be thorough and thoughtful. Support your ideas by using examples, readings, experiences from your own professional practice, other course work, etc.
Your reflections should be within a range of 2-5 paragraphs.
Your reflections should address the question or problem. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to think about your thinking and your learning. Make sure your reflections have depth and reflect critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis.
Your reflections should be complete and free of grammatical or structural errors.
The "Getting Started" and "Look Back" entries are not assessed.

	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Exemplary
Demonstrates content knowledge, understanding and application gained from assignments	Reflections show very little evidence of understanding course content knowledge, or application of content in professional practice.	Reflections demonstrate understanding of course content knowledge and application of content in professional practice using prior knowledge when applicable. Reflections include critical thinking and synthesis.	Reflections demonstrate understanding of course content knowledge and application of course content in professional practice using prior knowledge and other resources when applicable. Reflections include critical thinking and synthesis. Reflections connect course concepts with other concepts in the subject matter area.
Completion of reflections and timeliness	The learner does not complete reflections and/or does not submit reflections on time.	N/A	The learner completes reflections and submits them on time.

Unsatisfactory

Satisfactory

Exemplary

Demonstrates content knowledge, understanding and application gained from assignments

Reflections show very little evidence of understanding course content knowledge, or application of content in professional practice.

Reflections demonstrate understanding of course content knowledge and application of content in professional practice using prior knowledge when applicable.

Reflections include critical thinking and synthesis.

Reflections demonstrate understanding of course content knowledge and application of course content in professional practice using prior knowledge and other resources when applicable.

Reflections include critical thinking and synthesis.

Reflections connect course concepts with other concepts in the subject matter area.

Completion of reflections and timeliness

The learner does not complete reflections and/or does not submit reflections on time.

N/A

The learner completes reflections and submits them on time.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Discussion Forum 1.1: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

As they conclude their article, Dickinson and Tabors make the following claim:

Everyday activities can develop varied vocabulary, engage children in complex uses of language that go beyond the here and now, and surround children with environments that support language and literacy development. For this to happen, we must help all preschool teachers understand the major role they play in supporting children’s long-term development. These teachers must deepen the knowhow required to constantly extend children’s oral language while they also encourage phonemic awareness and writing skills (p. 18).

In their discussion of the need for surrounding children with lots of books, Dickinson and Tabors comment that “Of course, having the books is only the first step in the process. It is also necessary to have willing readers who use the books for enjoyment and to expand the children's knowledge of the world” (p. 16). Based on your reading and on your own classroom experiences, share at least two specific actions that teachers can take--either in their own classrooms or in their work with parents and other caregivers--to help children and adults have fun as they read and learn about language and their world? Draw from the principles to explain why these actions are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Two broad principles guide teachers’ actions related to language development:

When adults use complex, interesting language and prompt children to do the same, children learn language faster.
- ○ The more words children hear, the faster their vocabularies develop.
- ○ The more complex adult syntax, the greater the growth in children’s vocabulary and syntax.
- ○ The more adult talk prompts children to elaborate and clarify, to answer cognitive-challenging questions, or to think about language and the child’s world, the greater its effects on vocabulary and comprehension.

When children are engaged in shared book reading of interesting, language-rich texts, they learn language faster.

○ Informational texts expose children to more rare and sophisticated words than narrative texts, and this exposure contributes to greater vocabulary growth by age 5.
○ When children take an active role in shared reading and teachers provide feedback through expansions, modeling, corrections, and praise, children learn substantially more words.
○ Single readings of books may increase children’s receptive vocabulary, but not expressive. Repeated readings (at least 3) and questions support greater receptive and expressive word learning.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

Describes at least two specific teaching actions teachers can take to help promote oral language development and reading enjoyment, based on the three principles in Dickinson & Tabors (2002). For example:

● Reading a variety of texts aloud provides exposure to varied vocabulary. Greater vocabulary knowledge supports both phonemic awareness when young and reading comprehension as children get older. Teachers can read texts several times to help children learn new vocabulary, and texts can be available for children to revisit and read on their own.

● Engaging children in extended conversations using open-ended questions during shared reading helps them develop oral language, which in turn aids communication and text comprehension as children develop. Children can learn to actively listen to peers and how to take turns talking to encourage more conversation.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you described specific teaching actions to develop oral language during reading and supported the actions with specific principles for promoting oral language, providing a strong rationale for your choices.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o How might you use the information you gained to support children’s opportunities to learn outside of school--that is, how might you share this information so that parents, too, could enrich children’s opportunities or language growth?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided only one or two teaching actions that could create a context for strong oral language development without a sound rationale, you might say:

o You defined one or two teaching actions to create a context to support oral language development, but did not give a sound rationale for your choices. It might be helpful for you to read the articles for this session to find more ideas for supporting kid talk and why it is important for language development.

Criterion #2: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points):

● Describes at least two specific teaching actions to try in own classroom, or with caregivers, to support reading enjoyment, language development, and children’s knowledge about their world. For example:

○ I am motivated to do more read-alouds with a greater variety of texts, especially informational texts about science topics, as these can provide excellent opportunities for developing background knowledge, promoting academic science vocabulary, and engaging my students in different text genres. I will develop a month-long literacy unit on a topic such as animal habitats, and use both fiction and informational texts as read-alouds each day at the beginning of our literacy block. Texts I have read to the whole class will be available to children during free reading time and in literacy centers for them to re-read which will reinforce science vocabulary and concepts.

○ In my classroom, I am going to create open-ended questions on sticky notes to add to the pages of shared reading texts that will engage children in more extended conversations during shared reading discussions. This will help them engage more with the text, co-develop background knowledge with other students, and support oral language development.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You gave a thorough and detailed description of two teaching actions you could take to support language development, reading enjoyment, and knowledge development.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

○ As you implement these ideas for oral language development, you might find that some children are especially shy or quiet. Can you think of ways that you might scaffold the activity so that they, too, join in a classroom discussion?

o You described two teaching actions you could take to support language development and reading enjoyment; however, your description did not address how the actions would support knowledge development. Moving forward, try to be more explicit about your purposes for implementing specific teaching strategies. This will not only be helpful to you in sustaining best practice; it may also be useful as you share your teaching actions with colleagues, administrators, and the parents of the children you teach.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

● (a) Agrees with and builds on the comments of others, (b) respectfully disagrees and offers another point of view, or (c) poses questions to prompt clarification and elaboration (e.g., “What do you mean by…”)

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4 - Discussion Forum 4.1 - Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Both Spear-Swerling and Compton-Lilly advocate for approaches to intervention that are responsive to children, but through different, yet overlapping perspectives (i.e., literacy needs as well as children’s “ways of being”).

Comment on how the approaches are alike and different.
Describe at least two ways you will integrate these into your own teaching and tell why you chose these as especially pertinent to your own teaching. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed Lecture 4.2, Evidence-Based Interventions for Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult: What Should Teachers Do?
Read two articles: Common Types of Reading Problems and How to Help Children Who Have Them, by Louise Spear-Swerling and Teaching Struggling Readers: Capitalizing on Diversity for Effective Learning, by Catherine Compton-Lilly

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, accurate, and thorough analysis of the commonalities and differences in the two approaches, providing specific examples to support analysis. For example:

o Both Spear-Swirling and Compton Lilly discuss the importances of differentiating instruction that is responsive to children’s particular reading needs such as decoding or fluency. However, Spear-Swirling focuses on using assessment to identify patterns in children’s reading abilities and then providing targeted instruction. Although Compton-Lilly notes the importance of instruction that addresses specific needs related to children's reading abilities, she also stresses attending to the cultural and social dimensions that influence reading development. For example, she describes how a teacher incorporated her student’s interest in rap to help develop his reading fluency.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o You clearly and accurately compare and contrast how the approaches to intervention described in each reading are alike and different; this understanding is likely to help you prepare your students to be capable and successful decoders and in turn, readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you continue to think about how to support children who find word-solving difficulty, think about ways that you can deepen understanding of your students’ “ways of being.” How can you find about more about children’s “ways of being?” And what might you do to integrate this understanding into your instruction?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant does not provide examples to support their analysis, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how the approaches in each article are alike and different but your response was lacking examples that support your analysis. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit how the authors put bring important practices to life. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at noticing such examples of practice. This may be especially helpful as you think about how to integrate these ideas into your own classroom.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Fully describes at least two ways responsive intervention will be implemented in own classroom and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, notice and name the strengths in the response. For example, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your awareness that effective intervention address children's reading needs and integrates their “ways of being.” Your intent to help children develop letter sound knowledge using areas of interest to them is notable (e.g., S as in Sofia the First) as in doing so, you help children connect what they are learning at school to their lives outside of school. This helps make learning meaningful and worthwhile for children.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o You explain that how you will implement intervention to help your children develop their decoding ability. Missing however, is an explanation of why your ideas are important and likely to be effective. As you continue to explore intervention practices to accelerate children’s decoding development, be sure to focus on the logic or evidence that underlies suggested practices.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

● (a) Agreeing with and building on the comments of others, (b) respectfully disagreeing and offers another point of view, or (c) posing questions to prompt clarification and elaboration (e.g., “What do you mean by…”)

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.8 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 2): Revisit and Revise

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. What do you notice about children’s ability to decode unfamiliar words when reading text and the teacher’s actions in response to their needs? Do the suggestions you made at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on supporting readers who struggle to solve words? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the teaching actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Revisit and Revise Your Analysis

Revisit your analysis of either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario from Establish a Baseline.

Open your saved local version your previous response.
Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.
Access the Session 4 Scenario Analysis Rubric.

Looking Ahead

In the next session we will learn about trustworthy assessment practices for phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding. Through a combination of lectures, readings, classroom video visits, online journal responses and discussion forum conversations, we will work together to answer four essential questions:

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
What is the purpose of different types of assessment?
What particular literacy behaviors influence word-solving abilities?
How can teachers use assessment to monitor and improve their children’s word-solving abilities ?

If you have specific questions about trustworthy assessment practices for phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding, be sure to jot them down now. If you find that these questions are not answered as you progress through the various session activities, be sure to post them on the Discussion Forum so that you get the answers you need!

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

Allington, R. L. (2013). What really matters when working with struggling readers. The Reading Teacher, 66(7), 520-530.

*Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M. (2004). Motivating students to read: Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation. In P. McCardle, & V. Chhabra (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 329-354). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

*Rasinski, T. (2017). Readers who struggle: Why many struggle and a modest proposal for improving their reading. The Reading Teacher, 70(5), 519-524.

*Cited in session content.

Required Readings

Compton-Lilly, C. (2008) Teaching struggling readers: Capitalizing on diversity for effective learning. The Reading Teacher, 61(8), 668-672.

Enriquez, G., Jones, S., & Clarke, L. W. (2010). Turning around our perceptions and practices, then our readers. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 73-76.

Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. K. (2012). To what interventions are students responding? The Reading Teacher, 66(2), 111-115.

Spear-Swerling, L. (2015). Common types of reading problems and how to help children who have them. The Reading Teacher, 69(5), 513-522.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Assignment Checklist

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Session 1

Course Introduction Discussion Forum: Introduce yourself!
Establish a Baseline Read a classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond	S1 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View: What Do We Know About Oral Language and Learning to Read? Read: Theory and Research into Practice: Paying Attention to Language. Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	S1 Online Journal Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View: How Do Expert Teachers Connect Language Learning Principles to Classroom Practice? Read: Fostering Language and Literacy in Classrooms and Home Discussion Forum: Reflect, respond, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 1.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View a classroom video. Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 1.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Complete Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet	Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S1 Scenario Analysis Rubric

Session 2

Establish a Baseline Read the classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Reflect and respond.	S2 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View:What is Phonemic Awareness and Why is it Important? Read: Phonological Awareness is Child’s Play! Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	S2 Online Journal Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View: How Should I Teach Phonemic Awareness? Ten Questions and Answers to Guide Teaching Actions Read: Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness Discussion Forum: Reflect, Respond, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 2.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View: A classroom video Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 2.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Complete S2 Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet	S2 Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S2 Scenario Analysis Rubric

Session 3

Establish a Baseline Read the classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	S3 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View:Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know? Read: Everything You Wanted to Know about Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask) Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Session 3 Online Journal Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View: What Does Evidence-Based Phonics Instruction Look Like? Read: Opening doors to texts: Planning effective phonics instruction with English learners What can I say besides sound it out? Coaching word recognition in beginning reading Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 3.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View: Two classroom videos. Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 3.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Complete S3 Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet	S3 Assembling a Mulitmodal Resource Set Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S3 Classroom Scenario Analysis Rubric

Session 4

Establish a Baseline Read the classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	S4 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View:Supporting Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult Read: To What Interventions Are Students Responding? Turning Around Our Perceptions and Practices,Then Our Readers Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Online Journal 4.1 Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View: Evidence-Based Interventions for Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult: What Should Teachers Do? Read: Common Types of Reading Problems and How to HelpChildren Who Have Them Teaching Struggling Readers: Capitalizing on Diversityfor Effective Learning Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 4.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View: Classroom videos. Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 4.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Identify texts appropriate for use with children who find word solving difficult. Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Online Journal 4.2 Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S4 Scenario Analysis Rubric

Session 5

Establish a Baseline Read the classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	S5 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View: Assessing to Monitor and Improve Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know? Read: Assessment in RTI: What teachers and specialists need to know. Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Online Journal 5.1 Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View: Assessing to Monitor and Improve Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Do? Read: Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient in RTI Accountability for Reading and Readers: What Numbers Don’t Tell One-minute Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 5.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View: A classroom video. Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 5.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Review and select texts to support assessment. Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Online Journal 5.2 Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S5 Scenario Analysis Rubric

Session 6

Establish a Baseline Read the classroom scenario. Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	S6 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Build Background Knowledge View: What Do We Know About Engaging Children in Reading and Writing From the Start? Read: Motivating Children to Read: Evidence for Classroom Practices that Increase Reading Motivation and Achievement Online Journal: Reflect and Respond	Online Journal 6.1 Rubric
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice View:What Teaching Actions Provide a Foundation for Engaged Reading Read: The Tough Part: Getting First Graders Engaged in Reading Expanding the Range of Text Types used in the Primary Grades If They Don’t Read Much, How They Ever Gonna Get Good? Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss. Quiz: Check your understanding.	Discussion Forum 6.1 Rubric
Step into a Classroom View: Two classroom videos. Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	Discussion Forum 6.2 Rubric
Explore Multimodal Resources Review and evaluate resources to support engaging all readers. Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	Online Journal 6.2 Rubric
Act on the Evidence Solve a Problem of Practice: Revisit and revise your suggested teaching actions.	S6 Scenario Analysis Rubric
Final Project Assignment: Applying Understandings to My Own Teaching	Online Journal 6.2: Final Project Rubric

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1 - Discussion Forum 1.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Cindy Wilson, a Kindergarten teacher in the Boston Public Schools, is guiding her diverse group of children in an exploration of celebrations. In this part of their unit, they are discussing Chinese New Year, an upcoming holiday in this largely Chinese-American community. As we step into her classroom, the children are beginning their morning meeting time. As you view, think about the instructional principles for promoting oral language and search for ways you see these principles “in action.”

Recall the principles for developing oral language as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

What specific teaching actions did Cindy Wilson take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain your rationale.

Helpful Information:

Two broad principles guide teachers’ actions related to language development:

When adults use complex, interesting language and prompt children to do the same, children learn language faster.
- The more words children hear, the faster their vocabularies develop.
- The more complex adult syntax, the greater the growth in children’s vocabulary and syntax.
- The more adult talk prompts children to elaborate and clarify, to answer cognitive-challenging questions, or to think about language and the child’s world, the greater its effects on vocabulary and comprehension.

When children are engaged in shared book reading of interesting, language-rich texts, they learn language faster.

Informational texts expose children to more rare and sophisticated words than narrative texts, and this exposure contributes to greater vocabulary growth by age 5.
When children take an active role in shared reading and teachers provide feedback through expansions, modeling, corrections, and praise, children learn substantially more words.
Single readings of books may increase children’s receptive vocabulary, but not expressive. Repeated readings (at least 3) and questions support greater receptive and expressive word learning.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

At least two explicit examples of how Cindy promotes oral language and how these examples connect to three principles of promoting oral language. For example:

● Cindy uses morning meeting time to introduce students to new vocabulary. She repeats one target word, “tart” many times, the children choral read a poem about tarts, she has her assistant clarify the meaning of the word in Chinese using and children also give her some definitions. Repeating this new word within meaningful contexts multiple time supports using and comprehending the new word.

● Cindy reads a storybook about a rice cake and Chinese New Year. Many of her students are Chinese and this makes a connection between home and school language with both English and a few Chinese words.

● The curriculum is centered around a theme of Chinese New Year which will promote word repetition across lessons and provide more opportunities for children to use new vocabulary.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you gave three explicit and appropriate examples of how Cindy promotes oral language in her classroom, and you connected these to appropriate language learning principles.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Many of Cindy’s students are English learners. As you reflect on her practices, in what ways are her teaching actions especially helpful to children who are acquiring English as an additional language?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided two examples of Cindy’s teaching actions but did not mention how she used a theme to support oral language, you might say:

o You described two explicit and appropriate examples of the teaching actions Cindy takes to support oral language in her classroom, but you did not connect them to language learning principles. It might be helpful to review the lectures with a specific focus on the language learning principles. In what specific ways did Cindy’s teaching align with these principles?

Criterion #2: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of at least 1 explicit teaching action to incorporate in own teaching. For example:

● Cindy uses the theme of Chinese New Year to connect to her Chinese-American students’ home culture and share common language between home and school. I have many students from Mexico in my class and I can use a holiday such as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) as a theme in my class to explore new vocabulary, including some Spanish words, and build a language bridge between home and school. Children who are bilingual could be the teachers of some Spanish words to the rest of the class.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You gave a thoughtful description of one action that you could use in your own classroom to support oral language and you tied it directly to one of the language learning principles.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Is there a current classroom routine you could modify to build on these ideas?

o You described a teaching action that you could use in your own classroom, but you did not use clear evidence to explain why this action is likely to support children’s oral language development. It might be helpful to return to the course readings and lectures to revisit the language learning principles and contexts for oral language development. Moving forward, work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines, helping to inform them of the benefit of engaging children in oral language development to support literacy development.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1 - Online Journal: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about oral language and literacy development. In your journal:

Explain why oral language development is important to literacy development in both the early and later years of schooling.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of the full array of language knowledge necessary for successful literacy learning.

Helpful Information:

Two broad principles guide teachers’ actions related to language development:

When adults use complex, interesting language and prompt children to do the same, children learn language faster.
- ○ The more words children hear, the faster their vocabularies develop.
- ○ The more complex adult syntax, the greater the growth in children’s vocabulary and syntax.
- ○ The more adult talk prompts children to elaborate and clarify, to answer cognitive-challenging questions, or to think about language and the child’s world, the greater its effects on vocabulary and comprehension.

When children are engaged in shared book reading of interesting, language-rich texts, they learn language faster.

○ Informational texts expose children to more rare and sophisticated words than narrative texts, and this exposure contributes to greater vocabulary growth by age 5.
○ When children take an active role in shared reading and teachers provide feedback through expansions, modeling, corrections, and praise, children learn substantially more words.
○ Single readings of books may increase children’s receptive vocabulary, but not expressive. Repeated readings (at least 3) and questions support greater receptive and expressive word learning.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Describes a connection between oral language and literacy development in both early and later years of schooling. For example: Oral language supports children in developing phonological awareness, an essential skill they need to begin to read. The greater a child’s vocabulary, the greater the phonological awareness. Developing oral language also helps children communicate with others and understand what others are saying or writing, which is important to comprehension of text as they become readers, especially from third grade on.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● You made a strong connection between oral language development and both phonemic awareness and vocabulary development to support learning to read; this understanding is likely to prepare your students to be capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● How can you encourage and extend your children’s oral language development outside of school (e.g. at home with parents)?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about how oral language supports literacy in the early grades but not the higher grades, you might say:

● Your response conveys deep understanding of how oral language development in young children contributes to their development of phonemic awareness and as such, provides a strong foundation for success in the early years of schooling. But you did not address the relationship between oral language development in young children and their school success in the later years. Why is it that children’s oral language development in kindergarten and grade one has an enduring effect on their reading achievement in grades 3 and beyond?

Criterion #2: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of at least two explicit teaching actions connected to the principles of oral language development for use in own teaching and includes a sound rationale for the choices. For example:

● To introduce new vocabulary, I will create curriculum around themes and provide frequent opportunities for children to use the new words throughout the school day while reading together, sitting together at morning meeting, and at learning stations in small groups. Repetitive opportunities to hear and use words in meaningful contexts has been found to be an important contributor to children’s acquisition and use of new vocabulary.

● In choosing books to read aloud, I will intentionally choose selections that have sophisticated syntax and vocabulary and I’ll create meaningful contexts for reading the books more than once. This is because evidence suggests that the language children develop and use is influenced by the language they hear--kids who hear more complex language use more complex language. Sharing books more than once is important because evidence suggests that children are more likely to acquire vocabulary from books if they hear or read them more than once.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support oral language and literacy development, and as such, they are likely to prepare your students to be capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you reflect on your instructional practices, how might you build on these practices in involve parents and families in their children’s learning?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support oral language development, and as such, they are likely to prepare your students to be capable and successful learners. But you didn’t give a sound rationale as to how these practices support literacy development. I suggest you revisit lecture 1.1 and the reading, and think about how oral language development in youngsters can support literacy development as children get older. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources, helping to inform them of the benefit of engaging children in oral language development to support literacy development.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3 - Discussion Forum 3.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles for effective phonics instruction and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Shari and Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you either already incorporate or will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why this particular action is important.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed two classroom videos described as follows:

In the first classroom visit, Shari Frost is helping her first and second graders use what they know about familiar word families to generate and read a list of words. In the second classroom, Hildi Perez, is guiding a small group of children to use decoding strategies as they read a text. As you visit each classroom, think about best practices for teaching phonics and search for ways you see these practices “in action.”

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by both Shari and Hildi to enact principles of effective phonics instruction. For example:

○ Shari focuses on the phonic pattern ‘ug’ instead of teaching a rule.

○ Shari encourages active word solving by asking children to think of ‘ug’ words they know.

○ Hildi connects phonics instruction to meaningful text during small group instruction by noticing and naming a child’s decoding strategy--segmenting “sh” and “op” and then blending, “shop.”.

○ Hildi checks for understanding by asking children to recall the text.

● Cites credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you explicitly describe several examples of how Shari and Hildi enacted the principles of effective phonics instruction; and you specified the ways these practices align with evidence-based phonics instruction.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Something I also noticed is that in these videos, Shari wrapped her phonics instruction around examples in everyday print and drew on words children know, while Hildi provided examples of words with the focal patterns for children. What do you think of these different approaches and why? Would you try either of these (or both) out in your classroom and if so, how?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided two examples of John’s teaching actions but did provide evidence that the actions are effective, you might say:

o You described two examples of the teaching actions John takes to support phonemic awareness in his classroom, but did not give any evidence to support his actions as evidence-based. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit the principles for the teaching phonemic awareness. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support children’s literacy development.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● A specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective practice.

● Includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You identified an appropriate, evidence-based teaching action you could use in your own classroom to support children’s development of phonics knowledge and decoding; and you provide an excellent explanation why these practices are likely to be effective. As you work toward routinely incorporating these important teaching actions in all of your lessons, be sure to set aside time to critically self-reflect, and revise or tweak your lessons as necessary to maintain high levels of teaching expertise.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2 - Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Developing Phonemic Awareness

2020-05-07T08:41:20-04:00

Assignment: Use the worksheet to evaluate and choose a collection of at least 3 resources (e.g., books, songs, games) to teach about the concept of habitats while developing phonemic awareness. These resources will be added to the list you developed in Session 1.

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Games

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Opportunities to Learn about Habitats

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats. For example:

● The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems supports learning about the different animals in a pond habitat and how they survive. Visually appealing and accurate illustrations accompany each poem along with a paragraph explaining the natural history behind the poem helping children to better comprehend the poem’s information about living in a pond habitat.

● The song Over in the Meadow, presented in a video showing animated illustrations of a book by the same name from Barefoot Books with animals living in a meadow habitat. Most of the animals depicted are wild animals engaging in appropriate behaviors.

● The game Sesame Street: Abby’s Adventure Game illustrates through game play some of the animals that live in different habitats and their beginning sounds. After three turns in each habitat, players are urged to pick another habitat, including a park and a farm in addition to natural habitats.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In each resource, you specified clear examples of important and accurate science content that support children’s understanding of habitats and the ways they support animals’ survival.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant’s choices did not address features that might distract children from thinking about important content you might say:

Criterion #2: Opportunities to Develop Phonemic Awareness

An expert response (3 points):

Explains how each resource contains multiple opportunities to develop phonemic awareness. For example:

● The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems has engaging rhythms with repeating and rhyming words that can be read aloud, chorally read aloud, or read independently to support phonemic awareness.

● The song Over in the Meadow presented as a video has words appear on the screen as they are being sung, touched by a bouncing ball as they are heard. Each verse has words that repeat and words that rhyme with the number of animals in that verse. The song can be sung with the video or independently, noticing the rhyming words and the beginning sounds of animal names to support phonemic awareness.

● The game Sesame Street: Abby’s Adventure Game has five habitat choices, and once inside a habitat, players must touch any of the pictures of animals or other objects that begin with a specific letter. A child can click on the picture to hear the name of the animal or object. Abby begins by summoning a letter and pronouncing the sound it makes, then the child must find something that begins with the sound of that letter.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You specified multiple opportunities to use these resources to support children’s phonemic awareness development. As such, the resources you chose are likely to contribute to your students’ building a foundation for successful reading.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o You specified opportunities to support children’s phonemic awareness development for two of the three resources, but focused only on the “entertainment” aspects of Sesame Street:The Nick of Rhyme. Re-view this game and consider opportunities for developing phonemic awareness.

Criterion #3: Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Includes a variety of multimodal resources.

● Includes thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts, for example:

○ The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems accurately describes, with poetic, rhyming text and illustrations, the types of animals and plants that live in the pond and how they survive. Extra natural history notes explain the science behind each poem.

○ The song Over in the Meadow, has rather simple illustrations of animals in a meadow, all except the sheep are wild animals, and they are accurately shown living in a meadow habitat and engaging in appropriate behaviors.

○ The game Sesame Street: Abby’s Adventure Game has a few specific animals and other objects in each of the habitats which, although cartoon-like, are fairly accurate. They are not moving.

● Includes appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection. For example:

○ The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems has rather simple language in the poems but the natural history notes accompanying each poem are more difficult to read.

○ The song Over in the Meadow, has simple, colorful illustrations that are somewhat stylized. Many animals have inaccurate coloring and the meadow habitat is simply drawn with some bright, unnatural colors. A sheep is included in the song along with wild animals.

○ The game Sesame Street: Abby’s Adventure Game has very simple backgrounds for each habitat and cartoon-like animals. The park and city habitats include inanimate objects such as a basketball. The animals do not move at all. Abby’s voice can be distracting.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You did a thorough job of analysing the scientific accuracy of the resources as well as distracting features of each resource.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

Criterion #4: Instructional Mediation

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Effective and complete instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features. For example, a participant might say:

○ The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems has poems with simple language that could be used as a choral reading or reading in pairs, while the field notes, which are more difficult to read, can be read aloud by the teacher to provide all children with more background knowledge about each organism.

○ The song Over in the Meadow, can be combined with a picture book with accurate photos or illustrations of a meadow habitat and the animals and plants that live there to counteract the stylized illustrations in the song video. Before viewing the video, I would preteach the idea that some animals are wild and some are domestic, and talk about how both can live in a meadow but that a sheep would live in a meadow on a farm.

○ The game Sesame Street: Abby’s Adventure Game with its simple illustrations for each habitat could be combined with picture books showing accurate photos or illustrations of the different habitats and the animals that live there to counteract the simple drawings in the game. A short lesson on the difference between live plants and animals and inanimate objects in the game will help children build accurate knowledge of what lives and survives in those habitats. I would also mute Abby’s voice if necessary.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You created appropriate strategies to mediate your chosen resources which will allow you to maximize the educational potential of each text.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5 - Discussion Forum 5.1 - Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Assessment of Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt: As you reflect on the lectures and readings, consider the basic tenets of trustworthy assessment. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your response to these questions:

Given what you have read about trustworthy assessment, what assessment routines would you put in place to monitor the word-solving abilities of the children in your classroom? What assessments or assessment practices would you use, with what “types” of readers, and how often would you administer them? Then, what would you do with the results--how would you use them to inform instruction? Be sure to share evidence from your readings to justify your ideas.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed Lecture 5.2, Assessing to Monitor and Improve Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Do?
Read three articles:
- Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient by Marjorie Lipson, Pam Chomsky-Higgens, and Jane Kanfer
- Accountability for Reading and Readers: What Numbers Don’t Tell by Pat Wilson, Prisca Martens, and Poonam Arya
- One-minute Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction by Theresa Deeney

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

Includes a clear and evidence-based justification for integrating assessment routines in own classroom. For example:

● Use of screening assessment to all children to see who might need further assessment

● Use of diagnostic assessments for children identified by screening assessment to determine strengths and needs and targeted instruction

● Formative assessments of all children on an ongoing basis such as observation and examination of work products to refine instruction in an ongoing basis

● Benchmark assessment of all children 3 times a year to monitor progress and potentially make substantial changes to instruction

● Summative assessment of all children to track progress

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o You provide an excellent explanation of assessment routines and practices that you will integrate into your classroom and how these can be used to monitor student learning and inform instructional decision making with connections to readings and lectures. Your facility with sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular assessment practices to support literacy development.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Suppose you were in a position to explain your assessment practices and routines with your grade-level colleagues. How would you explain these to your colleagues?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided only a partial justification, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of trustworthy assessment practices. But missing from your response is a clear explanation of how these practices align with the principles for evidence-based assessment. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan assessment routines and practices. Becoming especially “facile” at sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular assessment practices to support literacy development.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Fully describes how assessment routines will be implemented, how they will inform instruction, and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details. For example:

○ To get a general sense of my children’s decoding ability, I will administer the San Diego Quick Assessment as suggested in lecture 5.2. I will us these data to help me know where to start my phonics and decoding instruction. For children who struggle with this assessment, I will implement the word list and passage reading of an informal inventory and provided targeted small instruction based on their strengths and needs. For all children, I will also observe how they develop phonics knowledge and apply this to reading during instruction and independent tasks and reading to search for patterns on an ongoing basis. Based on this information, I will adjust my instruction to best meet students’ needs and promote independent reading.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, notice and name the strengths in the response. For example, you might say:

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Recall a recent phonics lesson you taught. What opportunities were there for assessment and what might you learn? How could use this information to inform future instruction?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support effective instructional decision making. But missing from your response is a clear explanation of how implementation of these practices align with the principles for trustworthy assessment. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan literacy assessments for your classroom.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5 - Online Journal 5.1: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessment of Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on your understanding of the various forms and purposes of assessment and of the implications for your assessment practices. Use these questions to guide your reflection:

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
Describe the literacy assessments mandated by your district or school and also those you choose to implement on your own. In your view, are these assessments aligned with the characteristics of trustworthy assessment? If so, explain how they align; if not, explain how they are misaligned. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Helpful Information:

In advance of this online journal task, students viewed Lecture 5.1, Assessing to Monitor and Improve Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know? They also read Assessment in RTI: What Teachers and Specialists Need to Know by Karen Wixson and Sheila Valencia

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, accurate explanation of the characteristics of trustworthy assessment with strong rationale from lectures and readings. For example:

○ Trustworthy assessment is situated in an authentic learning context.

○ Trustworthy assessment is based on multiple episodes or images of performance.

○ Trustworthy assessment examines learning processes as well as products.

○ Trustworthy assessment examines children’s reading across different texts and contexts.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● You clearly and fully describe the characteristics of trustworthy assessment; this understanding is likely to help you effectively monitor and understand children’s progress and make effective instructional decisions--this will then, help you support all your students in becoming capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● In addition to monitoring progress and informing instructional decision making, trustworthy assessment helps you fully capture how children go about reading--their strengths and challenges. How might you use this information to help families understand their child’s phonics and decoding development?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about some of the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word-solving difficult, you might say:

● Your response conveys understanding of the characteristics of trustworthy assessment, but your response lacks clear connections to the readings or lectures. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit the characteristics of trustworthy assessment. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your assessment practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support children’s literacy development.

Criterion #2: Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● An accurate description of at least two examples of the relationship between trustworthy assessment and children’s opportunities to develop foundational reading abilities (i.e., oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics). For example:

○ Trustworthy assessment can help teachers provide very targeted instruction in all the foundational skills that underlie successful decoding. For example, a teacher can learn what phonics knowledge children hold and if they need also need to embed explicit instruction in segmenting and blending words into smaller parts such as phonemes or onset and rime (Paratore, Lecture 2.1, slide 2). Then a teacher can help children apply their phonics knowledge of read text and refine instructional cues based on how a child responds as Kathleen Clark (2004, from Session 3) suggests. Assessment can at the same time, help teachers get to know their children’s “ways of being” which can be used to integrate children’s cultural and social practices into instruction (Compton-Lilly, 2008, session 4).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your ideas about trustworthy assessment and children’s opportunities to develop foundational knowledge are excellent and well-grounded. Integrating these practices is likely to accelerate your students children’s word reading development and in turn, become capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might say:

o Maintaining a disposition toward understanding how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and phonics instruction interrelate and connect in your work with children who find word-solving difficult is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading. Work to continue this focus!

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how trustworthy assessment can be used to support children’s learning in oral language, phonemic awareness, and phonics, but you do not explain why. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to think back on evidence and instructional principles from earlier sessions and try to connect these earlier ideas to new information in each session of the course. Paying attention to how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and systematic phonics instruction interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading.

Criterion #3: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A clear, thorough analysis of literacy assessments in own classroom and district/school in comparison to the characteristics of trustworthy assessment, backed by evidence from lectures or readings. For example:

● My district requires that we determine what to teach children based on their DIBELS phonemic awareness scores and letter sound knowledge. Although these scores can be used as a screening measure they do not reflect an authentic assessment of phonemic awareness knowledge as would observing children’s invented spelling or attempts at reading connected text. Moreover, this is just one assessment and as such does not allow a teacher to search for patterns across contexts and task, and in turn, fully understand a child’s strengths, challenges, or “ways of being”.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your analysis of DIBELS is excellent and clearly demonstrates your understanding of trustworthy assessment. You have also specified supporting evidence making it clear that your instructional decisions are informed by credible evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o To apply your analysis to your assessment practices, what assessment practices could you incorporate along with DIBELS to fully capture what your children know and can do and how can you implement these?

o The practice you describe is clearly aligned with evidence-based practice and this is, of course, a really good thing! But, if you reread your response, you’ll see that you didn’t consider all the characteristics of trustworthy assessment in your analysis; each is very important to effective assessment practices. You may want to “revisit” the readings and lectures and then return to your analysis.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.8 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. What do you notice about the teacher’s assessment practices? Do they align with what you have learned about assessment in this session, and, in turn, do the suggestions you made at the outset align with your current understandings about trustworthy assessment? If not, revise your analysis and related suggestions. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the assessment actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Open your saved local version your previous response.
Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.
Access the Session 5 Scenario Analysis Rubric.

Looking Ahead

In the next session we will learn about engaging young children in reading and writing. Through a combination of lectures, readings, classroom video visits, online journal responses and discussion forum conversations, we will work together to answer three essential questions:

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to reading development?
What do we know about engaging children in reading and writing from the start?
What teaching actions provide a foundation for engaged reading?

If you have specific questions about engaging young children in reading and writing, be sure to jot them down now. If you find that these questions are not answered as you progress through the various session activities, be sure to post them on the Discussion Forum so that you get the answers you need!

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

Dougherty-Stahl, K. (2011). Applying new visions of reading development in today’s classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 66(1), 52-56.

Kervin, L., & Mantei, J. (2016). Assessing emergent readers’ knowledge about online reading. The Reading Teacher, 69(6) 647-651.

Lenski, S. D., Ehlers-Zavala, F., Daniel, M. C., & Sun-Irminger, X. (2006). Assessing English language learners in mainstream classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 60(1), 24-34.

*Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. K. (2013). Assessment of Reading and Writing Difficulties: An Interactive Approach. Boston: Pearson.

Opitz, M., & Ford, M. (2006). Assessment can be friendly! The Reading Teacher, 59(8), 814-816.

*Teale, W. H. (2008). What counts? Literacy assessment in urban schools. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 358-361.

Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. (2006). The role of informal reading inventories in assessing word recognition. The Reading Teacher, 59(6), 592-594.

Wiggins, G. (1993). Assessing student performance: Exploring the purpose and limits of testing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

*cited in session content

Required Readings

Deeney, T. A. (2010). One-minute fluency measures: Mixed messages in assessment and instruction. The Reading Teacher, 63(6), 440-450.

Lipson, M. Y., Chomsky-Higgins, P., & Kanfer, J. (2011). The missing ingredients in RTI assessment. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 204-208.

Wilson, P., Martens, P., & Arya, P. (2005). Accountability for reading and readers: What the numbers don’t tell. The Reading Teacher, 58(7), 622-631.

Wixson, K. K., & Valencia, S. W. (2011). Assessment in RTI: What teachers and specialists need to know. The Reading Teacher, 64(6), 466-469.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4 - Scenario Analysis: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Baseline Scenario Analysis

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children who find word-solving difficult? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--i.e., children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text--how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. What do you notice about children’s ability to decode unfamiliar words when reading text and the teacher’s actions in response to their needs? Do the suggestions you made at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on supporting readers who struggle to solve words? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the teaching actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

In her kindergarten classroom, Ms. Johnson is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting. She first invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. Then she asks them to recall some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

After morning meeting, Ms. Johnson immerses children in reading and inquiry through read-alouds, whole- and small-group reading instruction, and independent reading. At times, small groups are heterogeneous, comprising children who have varied reading abilities. At other times, small groups are homogeneous, comprising children who have similar reading abilities, with one group of children reading above grade level, one reading on grade level, and one reading below grade level.

During whole-class reading instruction, Ms. Johnson displays the text, Baby Animals, for all children to see and reads it aloud. As she reads, she guides children to notice the different animals and where they are—can they guess their habitat? (e.g., the duck is in water, the dog is on a couch!). After reading, she returns to page 1, rereads the page, and draws children’s attention to the word “cat.” Then, she writes “cat” on the whiteboard, models identifying the individual sounds “/c/ /a/ /t/,” and invites children to chorally segment and blend the sounds in the word cat. Next, to develop children’s ability to decode CVC words, she tells children they will play Making Words! To do so, she provides children with 7 letter tiles (e.g., p, l, t, s, g, i, e), and models and guides them in making words with the letter tiles. For example, she tells children to use 2 letter tiles to make the word ‘it’ and provides a sentence using the word (It is a rainy day). Then, she slowly says, “/i/ /t/” and selects the letters that make each sound, while also explaining her thinking as she sorts through the tiles (e.g., “I don’t need p because it makes the sound /p/ and not /i/ or /t/”). Finally, she places the letter tiles “i” and “t” together to form the word “it” and reads the words and tells children to do the same. Then, she invites children to help her make the word “pit”. She says: “Add one letter to make the word pit. I saw a snake in a deep pit.” She repeats this procedure with several other words using the letter tiles (e.g, pet, get, let, pig).

After the phonics lesson, some children are assigned to learning centers while Ms. Johnson provides differentiated instruction to small groups. On this particular day, she first meets with a small group who have been struggling with decoding. Before rereading Baby Animals, she reminds children to use what they know about letter sounds to sound out unfamiliar words; and she reminds them that after solving a difficult word they should reread the sentence to see if it makes sense. Next, she tells children to whisper read the text, during which she monitors children’s reading. She notices that most of the children in this group are still struggling to attend to letter/sound associations and meaning as they read; sometimes their word-solving attempts make sense (e.g., one child read “doggy” for “puppy”; another child said “The cat is in the grass for “here is a cat.”). She is very concerned about this group of children because they seem to follow along during whole group instruction, but then they often struggle to apply the target decoding skills when reading connected text, even when she thought the text was “just right.” She is not sure how to help them.

Second-Grade Classroom Scenario

After morning meeting, Ms. Cox immerses children in reading and inquiry through read-alouds, whole- and small-group reading instruction, and independent reading. At times, small groups are heterogeneous, comprising children who have varied reading abilities. At other times, small groups are homogeneous, comprising children who have similar reading abilities, with one group of children reading above grade level, one reading on grade level, and one reading below grade level.

During whole-class reading instruction, Ms. Cox displays the text Whose House Is This? By Elizabeth Gregoire for all children to see and reads it aloud. As she reads, she guides children in noticing what makes a good habitat for different animals. After reading, she returns to page 6, rereads the page, and draws children’s attention to the word “forest.” Then, she writes “forest” on the whiteboard, and invites children to look for “chunks” or patterns in the word they know to help them read the word. She reminds children that when children see r-controlled vowels, the vowel sound is “controlled” by the r while also pointing to the “or” pattern in “forest.” Next, to develop children’s ability to decode one and two-syllable words with r-controlled vowels, she tells children they will play Making Words! To do so, she provides children with 8 letter tiles (e.g., d, p, r, r, t, a, e, o), and models and guides them in making words with the letter tiles. For example, she tells children to use 2 letter tiles to make the word at and provides a sentence using the word (e.g., My mother is at the store). Then, she slowly says, “/a/ /t/” and selects the letters that make each sound, while also explaining her thinking as she sorts through the tiles (e.g., “I don’t need d because it makes the sound /d/ and not /a/ or /t/”). Finally, she places the letter tiles “a” and “t” together to form the word “at” and reads the words and tells children to do the same. Then she invites children to help her make the word “rat”. She says: “Add one letter to make the word rat. I saw an dirty rat in the alley.” She repeats this procedure with several other words using the letter tiles (e.g, pat, part, dart, rod, road, roar, trade, trader). The last word children make is an important word from the text (i.e., predator).

After the phonics lesson, some children are assigned to learning centers while Ms. Cox provides differentiated instruction to small groups. On this particular day, she first meets with a small group who have been struggling with decoding. Before reading Whose House Is This? she reminds children to use what they know about r-controlled vowels to decode words and to reread to see if the text makes sense text. She notices that most of the children in this group are still struggling to decode unfamiliar words; sometimes their word-solving attempts make sense (e.g., one child read “A bird s- s- sm- smells crushed insects around the opening.” for “A bird smears crushed insects around the opening.”) and sometimes they do not (e.g., one child says “A b- b- beach family lives here.” for “A beaver family lives here.”). She is very concerned about this group of children because they seem to follow along during whole group instruction, but then they often struggle to apply the target decoding skills when reading connected text, even when it is text that she thought was “just right.” She is not sure how to help them.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Scenario Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a specific instance or a teaching practice that does not align with evidence-based instruction, OR identifies an instance in which the teacher might have intervened and did not. For example:

○ Although Ms. Johnson (or Ms. Cox) provides all children opportunities to learn about phonics this was not sufficient for all children. Given that some of her children are unable to accurately decode words during small group instruction, they need more intensive instruction.

● Connects analysis to lecture or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Suppose you were in a position to share what you have learned with your grade-level colleagues. How would you explain your understanding of intensive intervention when teaching children who find word-solving difficult?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of appropriate teaching actions. For example:

● Provides instruction to access complex text.

● Supports children in reading “easy to read” text to develop decoding and automaticity.

● Uses routines that engage children such as establishing knowledge goals, building background knowledge, supports peer collaboration, and encourages children to share new knowledge.

● Supports children’s ability to read texts independently through systematic phonics instruction, preteaching of vocabulary and concepts, and lots of practice reading connected text.

● Provides more time and instructional intensity.

Provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your suggestion to provide daily intervention in which you guide children in developing the phonics knowledge and decoding ability when reading topically-coherent text is excellent. Your lesson modification indicates your understanding of some very important ideas from this course and your ability to apply the evidence you read about to instructional practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Recall a recent phonics lesson you taught to children who find word-solving difficult. Did it align with the principles you have learned about successful intervention? If so, what are the points of alignment and if not, how would you modify it for future implementation?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support developing children who struggle phonics knowledge and and decoding, and as such, they are likely to help your children become competent word solvers. Missing from your response, however, is a clear explanation of how these practices align with the principles for evidence-based intervention. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to the lectures and readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan intervention for children who have challenges. Becoming especially “facile” at sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources to support literacy development.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3: Classroom Scenario Analysis: Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:Teaching Children to Decode

Total Point Value: 6

This assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to this rubric.

Part 1: Scenario Analysis
Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children’s development as active word solvers? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (i.e., some children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis: In their discussion of how children actively construct knowledge of words Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl comment:

“Our observations of children show them very actively trying to make sense of words, in both their writing and their reading. A child who makes two or three attempts at a word in a text before coming up with one that makes sense and accommodates the letter–sound relationships that he or she knows is actively constructing word knowledge, as is the child who stretches out the letters in the word camel and produces caml." (p. 145)

Reconsider the phonics instruction in the classroom scenario you focused on (the second paragraph of the scenario) at the beginning of this session. To what extent is the teacher supporting children in actively constructing word knowledge?
Do the actions you suggested at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on active construction of word knowledge. If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to teaching children to decode.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to teaching children to decode, but does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

● Makes a general, accurate statement related to teaching children to decode, but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the weakness and does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate teaching actions related to teaching decoding and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions related to teaching decoding along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions related to teaching decoding but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

As in prior sessions, you will begin by recalling and applying related knowledge to solve a problem of practice. This session will focus on helping children who struggle with decoding. You may choose to focus on either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario.

Step 1: Read the classroom scenario for kindergarten or second grade.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second-Grade Classroom Scenario

After morning meeting, Ms. Cox immerses children in reading and inquiry through a read-aloud, whole- and small-group reading instruction, and independent reading. At times, small groups are heterogeneous, comprised of children who have varied reading abilities. At other times, small groups are homogeneous, comprised of children who have similar reading abilities, with one group of children reading above grade level, one reading on grade level, and one reading below grade level.

During whole-class reading instruction, Ms. Cox displays the text Whose House Is This? by Elizabeth Gregoire for all children to see and reads it aloud. As she reads, she prompts children to notice what makes a good habitat for different animals. After reading, she returns to page 6, rereads the page, and draws children’s attention to the word “forest.” Then, she writes “forest” on the whiteboard, and invites children to look for “chunks” or patterns in the word they know to help them read the word. She reminds children that when children see r-controlled vowels, the vowel sound is “controlled” by the r while also pointing to the “or” pattern in “forest.” Next, to develop children’s ability to decode one and two-syllable words with r-controlled vowels, she tells children they will play Making Words! To do so, she provides children with 8 letter tiles (e.g., d, p, r, r, t, a, e, o), and models and guides them in making words with the letter tiles. For example, she tells children to use 2 letter tiles to make the word 'at' and provides a sentence using the word (e.g., My mother is at the store). Then, she slowly says, “/a/ /t/” and selects the letters that make each sound, while also explaining her thinking as she sorts through the tiles (e.g., “I don’t need d because it makes the sound /d/ and not /a/ or /t/”). Finally, she places the letter tiles “a” and “t” together to form the word “at” and reads the words and tells children to do the same. Then she invites children to help her make the word “rat”. She says: “Add one letter to make the word rat. I saw a dirty rat in the alley.” She repeats this procedure with several other words using the letter tiles (e.g, pat, part, dart, rod, road, roar, trade, trader). The last word children make is an important word from the text (i.e., predator).

After the phonics lesson, some children are assigned to learning centers while Ms. Cox provides differentiated instruction to small groups. On this particular day, she first meets with a small group who have been struggling with decoding. Before reading Whose House Is This? she reminds children to use what they know about r-controlled vowels to decode words and to reread to see if the text makes sense. She notices that most of the children in this group are still struggling to decode unfamiliar words; sometimes their word-solving attempts make sense (e.g., one child read “A bird s- s- sm- smells crushed insects around the opening.” for “A bird smears crushed insects around the opening.”) and sometimes they do not (e.g., one child says “A b- b- beach family lives here.” for “A beaver family lives here.”). She is very concerned about this group of children because they seem to follow along during whole group instruction, but then they often struggle to apply the target decoding skills when reading connected text, even when it is text that she thought was “just right.” She is not sure how to help them.

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children who find word-solving difficult? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (i.e., children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Write your response on a word document and upload upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to Session 4 Scenario Analysis rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

As in prior sessions, you will begin by recalling and applying related knowledge to solve a problem of practice. This session will focus on assessment with particular emphasis on using it to both monitor and improve children’s word-solving abilities. You may choose to focus on either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario.

Step 1: Read the classroom scenario for kindergarten or second grade.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Write your response on a Word document and upload upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to Session 5 Scenario Analysis rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

As in prior sessions, you will begin by recalling and applying related knowledge to solve a problem of practice. This session will focus on helping children who seem to be disengaged in reading. You may choose to focus on either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario.

Step 1: Read the classroom scenario for kindergarten or second grade.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

In her kindergarten classroom, Ms. Johnson is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she first invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. Then she asks them to recall some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

On this particular day, Ms Johnson has just completed a whole-class read-aloud of Here is the African Savanna, by Madeleine Dunphy & Tom Leonard in which she guides children in learning about why the savanna provides a good habitat for some animals and not others. As she reads, she pauses periodically to ask children to recall text details. Some children respond–the same children that always seem to respond to her questions–while other children look away. After reading, she distributes a phonics worksheet in which children’s task is to read each word and connect it to a corresponding picture.

Next, Ms. Johnson meets with small groups to guide them in reading “just right” leveled texts. When not meeting with Ms. Johnson, children are assigned to different learning centers (e.g., a phonics center with a vowel matching activity, a reading center with “just right” book bins holding texts selected by Ms. Johnson, a science center with different miniature animals that children refer to as they draw and label pictures of animals and the habitats in which each lives). After Ms. Johnson meets with the first small group, she rotates through the literacy centers to monitor children’s progress. She first visits the reading center and notices that children have closed books in their laps and are quietly chatting with each other. Ms. Johnson asks children why they are not reading and children explain that they have already finished reading a book in their assigned bin. As she visits other centers, she notices similar behaviors–children have completed the assigned tasks and are chatting with each other. Each time, Ms. Johnson redirects children, but she starts to wonder why they aren’t more engaged in the learning center activities.

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she first invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. Then she asks them to recall some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

On this particular day, Ms Cox has just completed a whole-class read-aloud of Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City, by Barbara Bash in which she guides children in learning about the ways urban areas provide a good habitat for some animals and not others. As she does so, she pauses periodically to ask children to recall text details. Some children respond–the same children that always seem to respond to her questions–while others look away. Then, she distributes a phonics worksheet intended to teach children to read compound words. Independently, children must choose words (e.g., up, pan, set, cake) from the list which, when joined together, form a compound word.

Next, Ms. Cox meets with small groups to guide them in reading “just right” leveled texts. When not meeting with Ms. Cox, children at are assigned to different learning centers (e.g., a phonics center with a compound word activity, a reading center with “just right” book bins filled with texts selected by Ms. Cox, a science center with different miniature animals that children refer to as they illustrate the animals in their habitats and write a sentence describing where each lives). After Ms. Cox meets with the first small group, she rotates through the literacy centers to monitor children’s progress. She first visits the reading center and notices that children have closed books in their laps and are quietly chatting with each other. Ms. Cox asks children why the are no longer reading and children explain that they have finished reading a book from their assigned bins. As she visits other centers, she notices similar behaviors–many children have completed the assigned task and are chatting quietly with each other. Each time, Ms. Cox redirects children, but she also wonders starts why her children aren’t more engaged in the literacy activities or their learning.

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children’s engagement in literacy tasks? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--i.e., children seem uninterested or disengaged in assigned activities and tasks--how might you modify instruction or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Write your response on a Word document and upload upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to Session 6 Scenario Analysis rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

View

In the lecture, What Does Evidence-Based Phonics Instruction Look Like?, Dr. Paratore describes how the evidence related to effective phonics instruction in literacy development is translated into guiding principles and teaching actions. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

Read

Keeping these guiding principles and teaching actions in mind, next you will read two articles. In the first, Opening Doors to Texts: Planning Effective Phonics Instruction with English Learners, Lori Helman outlines eight instructional guidelines to help teacher support English learners (and other students) integrate decoding instruction “in tandem” with vocabulary development. In the second article, What Can I Say Besides Sound it Out? Coaching Word Recognition in Beginning Reading, Kathleen Clark describes instructional cues teachers can use to help children apply phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words when reading text. As you read each article, think about how the authors’ ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to effective phonics instruction. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 3.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Select at least two of the guiding principles described by Helman. How will you integrate these in your own teaching and why? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.
What does Clark (2004) mean by “coaching” word recognition and how does this teaching action support children’s independent word solving?

Post your thoughts in response to each question on the Session 3 Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. Access the Session 3 Discussion Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

To build background knowledge of how to support children who struggle to solve words, you will view a lecture, read two articles, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes what effective early intervention looks like. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After this brief introduction, you will read two articles that elaborate and extend the information provided in the lecture.

Read

To further develop your understanding of these ideas, you will read two articles. In the first article, To What Interventions Are Students Responding? Marjorie Lipson and Karen Wixson describe guidelines for successful intervention for children who struggle. In the second article, Turning Around Our Perceptions and Practices, Then Our Readers, Grace Enriquez, Stephanie Jones, and Lane Clark discuss the importance of resisting "labels,” such as “struggling readers”. As you read each article, think about how their ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to effective early intervention. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching in the Online Journal.

Online Journal 4.1: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the articles, reflect on what you know about effective early intervention, and in your online journal, respond to these questions:

What are the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word solving difficult? As you identify characteristics ideas, be sure to consider and comment on the ideas of both Lipson and Wixson and also those of Enrique and her colleagues.
Comment on the position taken by Enrique and her colleagues that the use of the label, “struggling readers” has the potential to disrupt and diminish children’s reading development. Will you make any adjustments or changes to your teaching (and talk of students who have difficulty) based on this point of view? Explain why or why not.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. Access the Session 4 Online Journal Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

In this part of the course, Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice, you will view another brief lecture and read two articles about putting the ideas you are learning about into practice. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will join your thoughts and ideas with those of other participants as you consider implications for teaching children who find word solving difficult. You will also complete a brief quiz to check your understanding of key ideas.

View

In the lecture, Evidence-Based Interventions for Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult: What Should Teachers Do?, Dr. Paratore describes how the evidence related to effective phonics instruction in literacy development is translated into guiding principles and teaching actions for children who struggle. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

Read

With these guiding principles and teaching actions in mind, next you will read two articles. In the first, Common Types of Reading Problems and How to Help Children Who Have Them, Louise Spear-Swerling describes approaches for differentiating instruction for children with different patterns of reading difficulties. In the second article, Teaching Struggling Readers: Capitalizing on Diversity for Effective Learning, Catherine Compton-Lilly discusses how teachers can support children who struggle by connecting their “ways of being” with the literacy processes children are learning. As you read each article, think about how their ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to effective phonics instruction. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 4.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

As you reflect on their ideas, recall the teaching routines that support effective phonics instruction. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to this prompt:

Comment on how the approaches are alike and different.
Describe at least two ways you will integrate these in your own teaching and tell why you chose these as especially pertinent to your own teaching. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Access the Session 4 Discussion Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

In this part of the course, Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice, you will view another brief lecture and read three articles about putting the ideas you are learning about into practice. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will join your thoughts and ideas with those of other participants as you consider implications for assessing the literacy abilities of the children in your classroom. You will also complete a brief quiz to check your understanding of key ideas.

View

In the next lecture, Assessing to Monitor and Improve Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Do?, Dr. Paratore reviews the various types and purposes of assessment, identifies particular literacy behaviors that influence word solving abilities, and identifies a few measures that can be used to assess these abilities and behaviors. She also reviews some “cautions” about a frequently used measure, the “one-minute” read. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After viewing, you will read three articles that elaborate on these ideas.

Read

With Dr. Paratore’s ideas as a backdrop, next you will read three articles. In the first, Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient, Marjorie Lipson, Pam Chomsky-Higgens, and Jane Kanfer describe assessment systems that support effective instructional decision making. In the second article, Accountability for Reading and Readers: What Numbers Don’t Tell, Pat Wilson, Prisca Martens, and Poonam Arya describe types of assessment practices that effectively capture the complexity of the act of reading. In the third, One-minute Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction, Theresa Deeney emphasizes the importance of “moving beyond” superficial measures of fluency to assessment practices that provide a more complete picture of children’s reading fluency. As you read each article, think about how the ideas “fit” with the evidence you have reviewed related to trustworthy assessment. After reading, you will be prompted to post your reflections and ideas for your own teaching on the Discussion Forum.

Discussion Forum 5.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

As you reflect on the lectures and readings, consider the basic tenets of trustworthy assessment. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your response to these questions:

Access the Session 5 Discussion Rubric to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.8 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 2): Revisit and Revise

Open your saved local version your previous response.
Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.

Looking Ahead

In Session 3 we will learn about teaching phonics. Through a combination of lectures, readings, classroom video visits, online journal responses and discussion forum conversations, we will work together to answer these four questions:

What is it and why does it matter?
What is the content and learning progression of phonics knowledge?
What are different approaches to phonics instruction?
What does evidence-based phonics instruction look like?

If you have specific questions about teaching phonics be sure to jot them down now. If you find that these questions are not answered as you progress through the various session activities, post them on the Discussion Forum so that you get the answers you need!

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

MacDonald, C. & Figueredo, L. (2010). Closing the gap early: Implementing a literacy intervention for at-risk kindergartners in urban schools. The Reading Teacher, 63(5), 404-419.

*National Reading Panel (US), National Institute of Child Health, & Human Development (US). (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Accessed on September 6, 2017 at: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

Phillips, B. M., Clancy-Menchetti, J., & Lonigan, C. J. (2008). Successful phonological awareness instruction with preschool children: Lessons from the classroom. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 28(1), 3-17.

*Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates/North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

*Yopp, H. K. (1992). Developing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading Teacher, 45(9), 696-703.

Yopp, H. K. & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 54(2), 130-143.

*Cited in session content.

Required Readings

McCarthy, P. (2008). Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness. The Reading Teacher 62(4), 346-349.

McGee, L. M. & Ukraintz, T. A. (2009). Using scaffolding to teach phonemic awareness in preschool

and kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 62(7), 599-603.

Yopp, H. K. & Yopp, R. H. (2009). Phonological awareness is child’s play! YC Young Children, 64(1), 15-21.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

To build background knowledge of factors that influence young children’s engagement in reading and writing, you will listen to a lecture, read an article, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, What Do We Know About Engaging Children in Reading and Writing From the Start?, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes the factors that contribute to engaged reading. After this brief introduction, you will read an article that elaborates and extends the information provided in the lecture. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

Read

In their article, Motivating Children to Read: Evidence for Classroom Practices that Increase Reading Motivation and Achievement, John Guthrie and Nicole Humenick explain and elaborate on the ideas Dr. Paratore outlined in the introductory lecture. After you read, you will be prompted to derive a few instructional principles to guide the ways you act on these ideas in your own classroom.

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about the importance of engagement in literacy development and about factors that contribute to children’s engagement in reading and writing. Use these questions to guide your thinking as you respond in your online journal:

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to literacy development?
Recall the four factors that contribute to reading engagement; then, consider your classroom routines and practices and your children’s engagement in reading. Do your routines and practices align with the evidence on engaged reading? If so, describe your routines and practices and relate them to the evidence presented in the lecture and article. If not, describe at least two ways you will modify your instructional practices so that they are more aligned with the evidence related to engaged reading. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. Use the Session 2 online journal rubric to guide your response.

Sources

Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M. (2004) Motivating students to read: Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation and achievement. In P. McCardle & V. Chhabra (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 329-354).Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Co.

© Brooks Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Used by permission and made availalble soley to students and facilitators of the PBS TeacherLine course RDLA257. Material may not be further distributed to any person outside the course by transmitting electronically or in paper form.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session Summary and Schedule

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Session Summary

This course is divided into six sessions:

Session 1: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?
Session 2: What IS Phonemic Awareness? Why Is It Important, and How Do I Teach It?
Session 3: Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?
Session 4: Supporting Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult
Session 5: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities
Session 6: Engaging Children in Reading Right from the Start

Each course session has the following components:

Course Component	Purpose	Activities	Tasks	Estimated Time
Establish a Baseline	Document understanding and expertise at the outset and provide a context for critical self-reflection.	Read and analyze a classroom scenario and suggest an instructional plan.	On-Line Journal	30-60 minutes
Build Background Knowledge	Develop background knowledge regarding the focal topic.	Complete assigned readings. Share own understandings and questions, reflect on and discuss ideas posted by others, draw conclusions, implications for classroom practice.	Discussion forum	60 minutes
Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	Extend knowledge of focal topic and examine key instructional principles and a framework for teaching.	View lecture video focused on key instructional principles and teaching practices. Reflect and respond to an on-line journal prompt.	On-Line Journal	45-60 minutes
Observe Theory and Research in Practice	Watch classroom videos to explore examples of evidence-based practice in action.	Step into a classroom through a virtual classroom visit. View a video to get tips from expert teachers (interviews with teachers). Share own understandings and questions, reflect on and discuss ideas posted by others, draw conclusions, implications for classroom practice. Assess understanding.	Discussion forum Quiz (3-4 questions)	60 minutes
Explore Resources	Identify and evaluate teaching resources.	Critically review, analyze, and discuss resources.	Discussion forum	60 minutes
Act on the Evidence	Apply theory and research to the decisions about curricular resources and teaching practices.	Reread classroom scenario. Reread baseline instructional plan, reflect, and revise. Self-evaluate.	Course Project Self-evaluation survey	90-120 minutes

Schedule

Overall, the course is designed to comply with requirements for an accredited, graduate level, 3-credit course. Each of the six sessions is expected to require approximately 7.5 hours to complete (45 hours total). Participants are expected to complete one session per week over a six-week period.

If you find yourself spending several hours more than this in any given session, please contact your facilitator to make sure this is necessary to complete the given assignments.

Please Note:

Your facilitator will notify you of any schedule changes in the Announcements section.
Your facilitator can adjust the schedule if a special circumstance arises.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

This opening activity serves three purposes: first, it will prompt you to recall and consider what you know and understand about language and literacy development and to apply what you know to solve a problem of practice. (This is important because we know that recalling background knowledge is an effective first step as we encounter and try to make sense of new information.) Second, by documenting what you currently know and do, you will create a meaningful context for applying new information at the end of the session. Third, by comparing your responses at the beginning and end of the session you will have a meaningful measure of your learning.

Step 1: Read the Classroom Scenario for Kindergarten or Second Grade

In each course session, you will begin by reading and responding to a problem of practice common in many classrooms. Starting now, you will choose to focus on either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenarios. Going forward, staying with the same grade level will provide you the most thought-provoking and coherent learning experience because you will consider each problem of practice at the same grade level.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

In her kindergarten classroom, Ms. Johnson is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. Consistent with her commitment to thematic teaching and curriculum coherence across each day and week, she begins this school day with a morning meeting. She first invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. Then she asks them to recall interesting words they have learned, and as a few children shout out a few words (habitat, shelter, survive, predator, prey), Ms. Johnson’s smiles and nods and compliments them on remembering the interesting words.

Then, she gathers the children on the rug and explains that they will view a Nature Cat video, Where Have All the Butterflies Gone. Before she begins, she reminds children that plants and animals depend on many things in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. She tells children that sometimes humans or animals do things to make a habitat change and when that happens plants and animals can struggle to survive. She tells them that as they watch the video, they should pay attention to what butterflies need in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. When the video ends, Ms. Johnson asks the children what they remember. A few children respond with comments such as, “everything was gone;” and, “the butterflies had no place to live.” Some say all the animals were sad because they thought they’d lose their friends. Ms. Johnson nods and affirms children’s answers. Then she explains that in the next part of the lesson they will work in learning centers where they will continue to learn about different habitats. In one learning center children sort images of different habitats and the plants and animals that go with each; in another, they read or listen to poems and songs about animals and their habitats; and in another, they choose a habitat and they illustrate and label the plants and animals that are commonly found within it.

While children participate in the learning centers, Ms. Johnson circulates to monitor children’s engagement and behavior and also to listen in on their conversations. She notices that children are well-behaved. Her classroom management routines seem to be working; but for the most part, she does not hear children using the science language (e.g., habitat, survive, predator, prey) she has introduced and children have heard in the books she has read aloud and the video they watched. She is not sure what she could do differently to prompt children to use the target vocabulary to think and talk about the important concepts they have been learning about.

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. Consistent with her commitment to thematic teaching and curriculum coherence across each day and week, she begins this school day with a morning meeting in which she invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. She asks children to recall interesting words they have learned, and as a few children shout out a few words (habitat, shelter, survive, predator, prey), Ms. Cox’s smiles and nods and compliments them on remembering the interesting words.

Then, Ms. Cox gathers the children on the rug and explains that they will view a video, Plum Landing, Forest in the City. Before she begins, she reminds children that plants and animals depend on many things in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. She introduces the word “urban” and she tells them that in this video they will learn about “urban” forests. She explains that after they watch the video, she will ask them to describe what an urban forest is. After viewing, she asks children to tell what they learned about urban forests. One child mentions that building houses and offices takes away trees; and another mentions that sometimes animals can’t find food. Another says that he was surprised at how many places animals could find to build a nest in the city. Ms. Cox nods and affirms children’s answers. Then she explains that in the next part of the lesson they will work in learning centers where they will continue to learn about different habitats. In one learning center children sort words (e.g., dry, water, trees, inchworms, chipmunks, logs, fungus, mushroom) associated with different habitats (swamp, desert, forest); in another, they read or listen to books about animals and their habitats, and they take notes about each habitat on a chart with columns for different habitats; in another, they illustrate an urban forest and label places where animals might find food or shelter.

While children participate in the learning centers, Ms. Cox circulates to monitor children’s engagement and behavior and also to listen in on their conversations. She notices that children are well-behaved. Her classroom management routines seem to be working; but for the most part, she does not hear children using the science language (e.g., habitat, ecosystem, survive) she has introduced and children have heard in the books she has read aloud and the video they watched. She is not sure what she could do differently to prompt children to use the target vocabulary to think and talk about the important concepts they have been learning about.

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions be sufficient to prompt most youngsters to understand and use the important science concepts and vocabulary as they work together? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (that is, getting kids to acquire and use science vocabulary as they work together) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Record your reflection on a word document and upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to this rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.7 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 2): Revisit and Revise

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. Does the analysis you completed align with what you have learned about ways effective teachers support children’s language development? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

You may wish to access the Rubric for this assignment.

a) Open your saved local version your previous response.

b) Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.

Looking Ahead

In the next session we will learn about the general skill of phonological awareness (the broad skill of sensitivity to the structure of sounds in language); and the particular skill of phonemic awareness (the specific ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in language). Through a combination of lectures, readings, classroom video visits, online journal responses and discussion forum conversations, we will work together to answer four essential questions:

What is it and why is it important to early literacy?
How does phonological awareness develop?
How do different types of language experiences contribute to the development of phonemic awareness?
What should teachers do?

If you have specific questions about phonological awareness, its connection to reading success, or to the ways you teach, be sure to jot them down now. If you find that these questions are not answered as you progress through the various session activities, be sure to post them on the Discussion Forum so that you get the answers you need!

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

Barnes, E. M., Grifenhagen, J. F., & Dickinson, D. K. (2016). Academic language in early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 70(1), 39-48.

Cheatham, G. A., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Young English learners’ interlanguage as a context for language and early literacy development. Young Children, 65(4), 18-23.

*Cunningham, A., & Stanovich, K. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934-945.

Cunningham, A, & Stanovich, K. (1998). What reading does for the mind. American Educator, (Spring/Summer), 1-8.

*DeTemple, J., & Snow, C. E. (2003). Learning words from books. In A. vanKleeck, S. A. Stahl & E. B. Bauer (Eds.), On reading books to children: Parents and teachers (pp. 16-36). Mahweh, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

*Dickinson, D. K., McCabe, A., & Essex, M. J. (2006). A window of opportunity we must open to all: The case for preschool with high-quality support for language and literacy. In D. K. Dickinson, & S. B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 11-28). New York: Guilford.

Enriquez, G., Clark S. R., & Della Calce, J. D. (2017). Using children’s literacy for dynamic learning frames and growth mindsets. The Reading Teacher, 70(6), 711-719.

Flynn, E. E., (2016). Language-rich early childhood classroom: simple but powerful beginnings. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 159-166.

Hart & Risley (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Hassett, D. D., & Curwood, J. S. (2009). Theories and practices of multimodal education: The instructional dynamics of picture books and primary classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 270-282.

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Zosh, J., Golinkoff, R., Gray, J., Robb, M., & Kaufman, J. (2015). Putting education in educational ‘apps’: Lessons from the science of learning. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 16(1), 3-34.

*Neuman, S. B. (2006). The knowledge gap. In D. K. Dickinson, & S. B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy (pp. 29-40). New York: Guilford.

Radich, J. (2013). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Every Child, 19(4), 18.

*Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (2002). Emergent literacy: Development from prereaders to readers. In S. B. Neuman, & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 11-29). NY: Guilford.

Wright, T. S. (2012). What classroom observations reveal about oral vocabulary instruction in kindergarten. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(4), 353-355.

Yokota, J., & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: Educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 67(8), 577-585.

*Cited in session content.

Required Readings

Dickinson, D.K. & Tabors, P. O., (2002). Fostering language and literacy in classrooms and homes. YC Young Children, 57(2), 10-18.

Richgels, D. J., (2004). Theory and research into practice: Paying attention to language. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 470-477.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1 - Scenario Analysis - Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Scenario Analysis: Based on this description, would the teacher’s teaching actions be sufficient to prompt most youngsters to understand and use the important science concepts and vocabulary as they work together? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--that is, getting kids to acquire and use science vocabulary as they work together--how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Revisit and Revise Analysis: Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. Does the analysis you completed align with what you have learned about ways effective teachers support children’s language development? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

The Scenarios:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Then, she gathers the children on the rug and explains that they will view a Nature Cat video, Where Have All the Butterflies Gone. Before she begins, she reminds children that plants and animals depend on many things in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. She tells children that sometimes humans or animals do things to make a habitat change and when that happens plants and animals can struggle to survive. She tells them that as they watch the video, they should pay attention to what butterflies need in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. When the video ends, Ms. Johnson asks the children what they remember. A few children respond with comments such as, “everything was gone,” and, “the butterflies had no place to live.” Some say all the animals were sad because they thought they’d lose their friends. Ms. Johnson nods and affirms children’s answers. Then she explains that in the next part of the lesson they will work in learning centers where they will continue to learn about different habitats. In one learning center children sort images of different habitats and the plants and animals that go with each; in another, they read or listen to poems and songs about animals and their habitats; and in another, they choose a habitat and they illustrate and label the plants and animals that are commonly found within it.

While children participate in the learning centers, Ms. Johnson circulates to monitor children’s engagement and behavior and also to listen in on their conversations. She notices that children are well-behaved–her classroom management routines seem to be working; but for the most part, she does not hear children using the science language (e.g., habitat, survive, predator, prey) she has introduced and children have heard in the books she has read aloud and the video they watched. She is not sure what she could do differently to prompt children to use the target vocabulary to think and talk about the important concepts they have been learning about.

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. Consistent with her commitment to thematic teaching and curriculum coherence across each day and week, she begins this school day with a morning meeting in which she invites children to recall and share what they have learned in previous lessons on habitats. She asks children to recall interesting words they have learned, and as a few children shout out a few words (habitat, shelter, survive, predator, prey), Ms. Cox’s smiles and nods and compliments them on remembering the interesting words.

Then, she gathers the children on the rug and explains that they will view a video, Forest in the City, Plum Landing. Before she begins, she reminds children that plants and animals depend on many things in their habitat to meet their needs and survive. She introduces the word “urban” and she tells them that in this video they will learn about “urban” forests. She tells them that after they watch the video, she will ask them to describe what an urban forest is. After viewing, she asks children to tell what they learned about urban forests. One child mentions that building homes and buildings takes away trees; and another mentions that animals can have a hard time finding food. Another says that he was surprised at how many places animals could find to build a nest in the city. Ms. Cox nods and affirms children’s answers. Then she explains that in the next part of the lesson they will work in learning centers where they will continue to learn about different habitats. In one learning center children sort words (e.g., dry, water, trees) associated with different habitats (swamp, desert, forest); in another, they read or listen to books about animals and their habitats, and they take notes on a chart with columns for different habitats; in another, they illustrate an urban forest and label places where animals might find food or shelter.

While children participate in the learning centers, Ms. Cox circulates to monitor children’s engagement and behavior and also to listen in on their conversations. She notices that children are well-behaved–her classroom management routines seem to be working; but for the most part, she does not hear children using the science language (e.g., habitat, ecosystem, survive) she has introduced and children have heard in the books she has read aloud and the video they watched. She is not sure what she could do differently to prompt children to use the target vocabulary to think and talk about the important concepts they have been learning about.

Helpful Information:

Two broad principles guide teachers’ actions related to language development:

When adults use complex, interesting language and prompt children to do the same, children learn language faster.
- ○ The more words children hear, the faster their vocabularies develop.
- ○ The more complex adult syntax, the greater the growth in children’s vocabulary and syntax.
- ○ The more adult talk prompts children to elaborate and clarify, to answer cognitive-challenging questions, or to think about language and the child’s world, the greater its effects on vocabulary and comprehension.

When children are engaged in shared book reading of interesting, language-rich texts, they learn language faster.

○ Informational texts expose children to more rare and sophisticated words than narrative texts, and this exposure contributes to greater vocabulary growth by age 5.
○ When children take an active role in shared reading and teachers provide feedback through expansions, modeling, corrections, and praise, children learn substantially more words.
○ Single readings of books may increase children’s receptive vocabulary, but not expressive. Repeated readings (at least 3) and questions support greater receptive and expressive word learning.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the scenario with evidence. For example:

○ At the beginning of the lesson, Ms. Johnson affirms children’s responses without prompting them to use or elaborate on important vocabulary (e.g., habitat, predators, survival).

○ After viewing the video, Ms. Johnson affirmed children’s responses but did not prompt them to use or elaborate on important vocabulary (e.g., habitat, predators, survival) or to elaborate and explain their thinking.

○ Ms. Johnson did not use the important vocabulary herself as a way to model its use.

● Cites findings from lecture or readings that indicate that teaching actions such as those identified support language growth: e.g.,

○ revoicing and expanding on children’s ideas is a way to focus their attention on interesting and complex vocabulary

○ Repeated opportunities to hear and use important vocabulary is clearly connected to language development.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● Your response is excellent because you identified missed opportunities that are central to language learning and you also identified evidence to support your analysis.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● As you continue to think about ways to “grow” children’s oral language, think about how you might “coach” parents to act on the evidence you have learned about. For example, what kinds of questions or prompts might you suggest parents use to not only affirm children’s responses to their questions but to also expand on children’s ideas?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

● In your response you identified important instances in which Ms. Johnson might have taken actions to improve children’s opportunities to learn, and this is a very important step in developing teaching expertise. Articulating evidence that supports the importance of building on opportunities such as these will help “solidify” these understandings and make it more likely that teaching in the ways you suggest will become part of your daily routines.

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of appropriate teaching actions using evidence. For example:

● Revoicing children’s responses and elaborating on them by placing them in a meaningful context helps the child who responds and also helps others who may not have been able to recall the information. By repeating words and placing them in meaningful contexts, teachers also increase exposure to the important ideas, and repeated exposures also relate to vocabulary growth.

● If she had asked important and targeted questions about what caused the habitat to change and how those changes affected the butterflies she might have deepened concept understanding for all children. Asking important, cognitively challenging questions has been found to support children’s concept knowledge and overall language development.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The actions you describe are excellent because they address very specific actions: repeating vocabulary to increase children’s exposure and expanding on ideas to increase children’s concept knowledge. In addition, you support specific evidence (i.e., the connection between repetitive use of important vocabulary and language growth and the connection between cognitively challenging questions and language growth) and this is a good indication of the depth of your understanding.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you integrate these ideas into your own teaching, how might you share the same information with parents. For example, how might you make them aware of the kinds of books they might read with children at home to extend their language and concept knowledge?

o The actions you describe are excellent because they address very specific actions: repeating vocabulary to increase children’s exposure and expanding on ideas to increase children’s concept knowledge. But your rationale is lacks specificity and as such, may not be helpful to you as you try to modify your teaching by incorporating very targeted language learning strategies. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources, helping to inform them of the benefit of engaging children in oral language development to support literacy development.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2 - Discussion Forum 2.1 - Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Developing Phonemic Awareness

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed Lecture 2.2, How Should I Teach Phonemic Awareness? Ten Questions and Answers to Guide Teaching Actions
Read two articles: Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten, Lea McGee and Teresa Ukrainetz and Using Sound Boxes Systematically to Develop Phonemic Awareness, Patricia McCarthy.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Notes the importance of phonemic awareness to early success in reading and explains that the process of moving tokens or letter tiles to designate awareness of phonemes in a word helps the children make an otherwise abstract idea concrete.

● Provides detailed examples of how to introduce and use sound boxes and supports the steps with evidence-based practices (e.g., gradual release of responsibility model).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o You accurately describe the strategy of sound boxes and you also explain why its use is likely to be helpful to children who have not yet developed phonemic awareness.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As I read and reviewed the articles, I was often struck by the evidence that many children come to kindergarten having already developed phonemic awareness and for such children, using sound boxes with the whole class may result in “squandering” some children’s time. How might you decide which children should be included in a group using this practice?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided only a partial justification for incorporating sound boxes in own classroom, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how to use sounds boxes but you do not explain why the strategy is well-aligned with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness. As you continue to explore practices to support phonemic awareness, be sure to focus on the logic or evidence that underlies suggested practices.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, thoughtful, and evidence-based justification for a decision to incorporate (or note incorporate) the strategy in own classroom, with particular emphasis on the observed needs of the children in the classroom and the match between the strategy and children’s needs.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an expert rating, notice and name the strengths in the response. For example, you might say:

o Your response demonstrates your awareness that although the use of sound boxes is an evidence-based teaching practice, the majority of children in your classroom have already developed this ability and would not benefit from more practice. Your intent to use it with a small group is a logical and thoughtful decision.

o You explain that you are not going to use sound boxes because you are concerned that young students will become distracted by the tokens or letter tiles and become inattentive. Although this could certainly happen with some children, I’d encourage you to revisit this idea and consider what you might do to minimize the possibility of this negative outcome. Reread the article with an eye toward teaching actions that might prevent such behavior: might increased teacher demonstration be helpful? Or, perhaps, working with students in smaller groups? Given the potential benefits, it seems it might be helpful to try to “work around” the potential shortcomings.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2 - Discussion Forum 2.2 : Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Developing Phonemic Awareness

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles of developing phonemic awareness as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

Identify at least two ways John Sinnett’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness and cite evidence that supports the practice as effective.
Identify at least two teaching actions that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose these particular actions.

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed a classroom video described as follows:

John Sinnett, a kindergarten teacher in Houston guides his children in the writing process. He helps children first create a plan by drawing a picture; then demonstrates how to label his picture, and writes a sentence that describes the picture. As we step into his classroom, the children have just finished making their plan, and they are about to begin writing. As you view, think about evidence-based instruction in phonemic awareness and search for ways you see these teaching practices “in action.”

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

Two accurate examples of how John’s teaching aligns with evidence-based effective instruction of phonemic awareness. For example, John:

● Modeled how to say words, stretching out sounds, to model how to segment and blend sounds to support reading and writing.

● Asked children to explain the strategies they used to write words.

● Reminded children that he want to “see and hear them” using what they know about letters and sounds to help them write.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you gave two explicit examples of how things John said or did and you specified the ways these practices align with evidence-based teaching of phonemic awareness.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Something I also noticed is that in this example, John’s teaching seemed to be a bit “opportunistic.” By that I mean that he did not seem, in this particular lesson, to be following a scope and sequence. Suppose that’s true--if you wanted to help John correct this, what might you say to him and what resource might you suggest that he read to encourage him to consider your suggestion?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the missing element(s) by posing a question about what they failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant provided two examples of John’s teaching actions but did provide evidence that the actions are effective, you might say:

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of at least 2 explicit teaching actions to incorporate phonemic awareness in own classroom supported by a sound rationale.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You identified two appropriate, evidence-based teaching actions you could use in your own classroom to support phonemic awareness.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o These each seem focused on children who have some level of phonemic awareness and are now ready for some of the more difficult tasks. Suppose you are working with a small group who are not yet ready for phonemic awareness, but instead are still learning to segment words and syllables. What types of activities might you do to help them develop awareness?

o You described 2 teaching actions that you could use in your classroom, but you did not connect these practices to evidence you read and learned about in this session. It might be useful to return to one or more of the articles or lectures for this session and revisit evidence. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support literacy development.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3 - Online Journal: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonics instruction and literacy development. Then answer these questions:

What is systematic phonics instruction and why is it important to literacy development?
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl describe seven principles of effective phonics instruction. If you already address these principles in your classroom routines, provide an example of how your teaching aligns with the principles. If you do not, provide examples of how you will modify instruction to align with the principles.

Helpful Information:

In advance of this online journal task, students viewed Lecture 3.1, Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know? They also read Everything You Wanted to Know about Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Steven Stahl, Ann Duffy-Hester, and Katherine Dougherty-Stahl.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, accurate definition of systematic phonics instruction.

● Fully and accurately describes how phonics instruction relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.

○ For example: Systematic phonics instruction is phonics instruction with a clearly specified scope and sequence in which the teacher provides explicit instruction. Systematic phonics instruction helps children learn how letters and patterns of letters represent sounds and words and supports children in developing automaticity--the ability to recognize words and word patterns without conscious effort. Automatic word recognition allows children to focus their attention on other important aspects of reading such as comprehension.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● You clearly and fully describe systematic phonics instruction and its importance to children’s reading development; this understanding is likely to prepare your students to be capable and successful decoders and in turn, readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● As I read and reviewed the articles, I was often struck by the evidence relating to the importance of active word-solving and emphasizing phonics patterns instead of “phonics rules." Yet, many phonics programs rely on teaching phonics rules through worksheets, particularly for children who struggle. How could you help others (e.g. teachers, parents, administrators) recognize the importance of promoting active word-solving?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about systematic phonics instruction relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read, you might say:

● Your response conveys deep understanding of systematic phonics instructions develops children’s phonics knowledge and ability to decode words. But you did not address the relationship between systematic phonics instruction and other aspects of learning to read. How does children’s ability to decode words and develop automaticity affect their ability to read?

Criterion #2: Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Accurately describes at least one aspect of the relationship between systematic phonics instruction and oral language development and phonological awareness.

● Supports description by citing a specific lecture or a reading from Session 1 or 2.

○ For example, For children to benefit from systematic phonics instruction and decode words, children must have some phonological awareness to be able to segment and blend words into smaller parts such as phonemes or onset and rime (Paratore, Lecture 2.1, slide 2); and at the same time, they apply their knowledge of letter sound relations to read written words. Vocabulary knowledge is also important to word reading because children with larger vocabularies demonstrate greater word reading proficiency in the early grades (Paratore, Lecture 1.1, slide 6).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your response provides clear evidence of your understanding of the relationship between systematic phonics instruction and oral language development and phonemic awareness and also demonstrates your thoughtful attention to how ideas from our earlier session connect to this week’s readings.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might say:

o Maintaining a disposition toward understanding how various aspects of language and phonemic awareness and systematic phonics instruction interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading. Work to continue this focus!

o The relationship you described is accurate and important and indicates you are on your way to developing high levels of teaching expertise. But your response lacks a clear connection to ideas and understandings from the earlier session on language development and phonemic awareness. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to think back on evidence and instructional principles from earlier sessions and try to connect these earlier ideas to new information in each session of the course. Paying attention to how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and systematic phonics instruction interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading.

Criterion #3: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of explicit examples of how each of the principles are addressed in own classroom or gives examples of how instruction will be modified to align with the principles. For example:

● Describes instructional practices and routine and how they align with each principle:

○ Develop the alphabetic principle (i.e., letters can represent sounds)

○ Develop phonological awareness

○ Helps children recognize the forms of letters without conscious effort

○ Provides brisk direct instruction in phonics patterns (and not rules) and substantial time reading connected text)

○ Provides sufficient practice in reading words in isolations and in connected text and writing word

○ Leads to automatic word recognition

○ Is one part of reading instruction

● Or describes teaching activities already used in own classroom and explains modifications that will align the teaching activities with each principle.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The practices you describe are consistent with evidence-based teaching principles and clearly indicate your understanding of effective and systematic phonics instruction and of the types of activities a teacher needs to implement to help children become active word-solvers. You have also specified supporting evidence making it clear that your instructional decisions are informed by credible evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you reflect on your instructional practices, how might you build on these practices to involve parents or other caregivers in supporting children’s decoding and fluency development? Are their particular activities to try out or texts to read children and with family could engage in at home?

o The practices you describe care clearly aligned with evidence-based practice and this is, of course, a really good thing! But, if you reread your response, you’ll see that you did not address all seven principles. As a result, it’s hard for me to know if you fully understand how to implement effective and systematic phonics instruction. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to connect your teaching practices to the underlying evidence as this will be helpful both in keeping you “grounded” and help all your children to become capable and independent readers!

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4 - Online Journal 4.1: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the articles, reflect on what you know about effective early intervention, and in your online journal, respond to these questions:

What are the characteristics of successful intervention? As you reflect upon these ideas, be sure to consider and comment on the ideas of both Lipson and Wixson and also those of Enrique and her colleagues.
Comment on the position taken by Enrique and her colleagues that the use of the label, “struggling readers” has the potential to disrupt and diminish children’s reading development. Will you make any adjustments or changes to your teaching (and talk of students who have difficulty) based on this point of view? Explain why or why not.

Helpful Information:

In advance of this online journal task, students viewed Lecture 4.1, Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know? They also read To What Interventions Are Students Responding? By Marjorie Lipson and Karen Wixson and Turning Around Our Perceptions and Practices, Then Our Readers by Grace Enriquez, Stephanie Jones, and Lane Clark.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points):

● Provides a clear, accurate description of the characteristics of effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulty, drawing from both articles. For example,

○ Children who struggle need more. They need more time to read. They need intervention that is responsive to their specific needs and that connects to and does not supplant the classroom literacy instruction. And they need tasks and text that are engaging (rather than worksheets focusing on skill and drill). They also need tasks that maintain high expectations and cognitive challenge while also receiving explicit instruction and sufficient scaffolding to meet expectations. In working with children, it is also essential to resist labeling children as struggling readers because this can damage their self-efficacy and lead to disengagement in reading.

● Connects each characteristic to evidence from lecture or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● You clearly and fully describe the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word-solving difficult; this understanding is likely to help you accelerate your children's decoding development and in turn, overall reading development and support their identity self-efficacy as readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Given that children who find word solving difficult need more (not less) time reading engaging text, how you can encourage your children to read outside of school (e.g., with family or friends)?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about some of the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word-solving difficult, you might say:

● Your response conveys deep understanding of some of the characteristics of effective instruction for children who struggle to read words. But you did not address how to “resist” labeling children as struggling readers. What steps can you take to avoid such labels and in turn, support children’s self-efficacy and identify of themselves as readers?

Criterion #2: Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● A description of effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulties to pertinent information from all three previous session, commenting on evidence-based instruction of language development, phonemic awareness, and phonics. For example:

○ Sometimes children who struggle to read words, may have less phonemic awareness. If this is the case, it is important to embed explicit instruction in segmenting and blending words into smaller parts such as phonemes or onset and rime (Paratore, Lecture 2.1, slide 2); and at the same time, they apply their knowledge of letter sound relations to read written words as Kathleen Clark (2004, from Session 3) suggests. Activities to build oral language are also important because children with larger vocabularies demonstrate greater word reading proficiency in the early grades (Paratore, Lecture 1.1, slide 6). Interactive and repeated readings are great ways to help build vocabulary knowledge while also supporting decoding development (Paratore, Lecture 1.2, slide 5 and Helman, 2009 from Session 3).

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your ideas about helping readers who struggle to develop phonemic awareness and vocabulary knowledge are excellent and well-grounded; this is also true for your ideas about helping children apply their phonics knowledge when reading connected text. Integrating these practices are likely to accelerate your children’s word reading development and in turn, become capable and successful readers.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might say:

o Maintaining a disposition toward understanding how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and systematic phonics instruction interrelate and connect in your work with children who find word-solving difficult is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading. Work to continue this focus!

o Your response demonstrates your understanding of how to help children who struggle develop phonemic awareness and then coach them in applying that knowledge when reading connected text. But your response lacks mention building vocabulary knowledge when teaching children who find word solving difficult. As you continue to study and learn, be sure to think back on evidence and instructional principles from earlier sessions and try to connect these earlier ideas to new information in each session of the course. Paying attention to how various aspects of language, phonemic awareness, and systematic phonics instruction interrelate and connect is important to developing a comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching reading.

Criterion #3: Connections to the Classroom

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of at least 2 teaching routines for effective intervention to implement in own classroom with strong rationale. For example:

● In my classroom, I will provide my children who find word solving difficult substantial opportunities for and guidance in reading “easy to read texts” because this will help them develop word reading accuracy and fluency. I will also provide all children opportunities and guidance in reading complex text because this will help them build knowledge. Access to both text types will help my children develop the skills and knowledge that will accelerate their decoding abilities, and also prepare them for future reading success. As I work with my children, I will also use practices that support engagement. I like the idea of assembling a topically-coherent multimodal text set and focus on knowledge building as our primary purpose for reading. I also will using guiding questions to prompt my children to discuss important content and co-constructing knowledge. Then, I will ask them to share what they learned with others such as their classmates and family members. Doing so will provide my children an engaging and authentic purpose for building phonics and decoding knowledge and reading.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o The practices you describe are consistent with evidence-based teaching principles and clearly indicate your understanding of effective intervention and of the types of activities a teacher needs to implement to help children who struggle accelerate their decoding development and ability to read. You have also specified supporting evidence making it clear that your instructional decisions are informed by credible evidence.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o The activities you describe are likely to engage your children. To extend your ideas, what practices and routines will you implement to support children in independent reading at school and outside of school as well as the “ways of being” Catherine Compton Lilly teaches us?

o The practice you describe care clearly aligned with evidence-based practice and this is, of course, is a really good thing! But, if you reread your response, you’ll see that you described just one routine. Teaching reading is complex, requiring thoughtful and strategic orchestration of practices and routines that are responsive to children’s needs; I encourage you think of how will you will integrate other important evidence-based routine or practices into your “teaching repertoire”.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4 - Online Journal 4.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Assignment: Using Instructional Resources to Support Children Who Need Extra Practice to Solve Words:

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Game

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning.
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Quality of Texts

An expert response (3 points):

Identifies 3 resources to use for decoding practice with a strong rationale. For example:

● The video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, specifically the section tin which the book is read aloud, will be a good way to support reading for children with difficulty decoding words. The book has humor and engaging illustrations to keep children interested. The combination of fairly easy but interesting language, repeating words, and rhyme in a book that fits with studying about animals in a forest habitat, make this a good choice for fluency practice. This is supported by information in Lecture 4.1 about using engaging texts for effective early intervention.

● The book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems has many poems that can be used to support decoding skills. The beautiful illustrations can spark child interest, the extra natural history paragraphs build background knowledge about pond animals, and the engaging rhythms with repeating and rhyming words will keep children interested. Some poems such as one about wood ducks use the words to show action; as a baby duck leaps into the water the words separate and fall down the page as well. This is supported by information in Lecture 4.1 about using engaging texts for effective early intervention.

● The online animal reference site Wild Kratts: Creaturepedia can be used as a way to motivate children who find word solving difficult to read more about animals in different habitats. Short, fairly simple paragraphs in each of 5 different sections are supported by video clips to aid reading comprehension. Animals can be found by habitat, region, or type of animal and the site encourages exploration. Labels are also read aloud to support ease of use. The use of text, video clips, and illustrations give students multiple ways to make meaning as they read the paragraphs as has been discussed in the readings about using multimodal resources.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● For each resource, you clearly specified why this text is suited to be used for extra decoding practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● For two resources, you clearly specified why this text is suited to be used for extra decoding practice. Is there a third resource from your list that will support children who need early intervention?

Criterion #2: Quality of Teaching Actions

An expert response (3 points):

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings. For example:

● To use the video lesson, Between the Lions: Bear Snores On, to support children who find word solving difficult, I would read aloud this book several times in a whole group pointing out different aspects of the science content and language, preteaching interesting words such as lair, cave, and snore. Children can then work singly or in pairs to read along with the video until they can fluently read the text. A next step might be reading the book on their own without the video. They could also read leveled texts about forest animals to reinforce knowledge about this habitat and promote the children’s interest in the subject. These actions are supported by lecture 4.2: reading complex texts with appropriate scaffolding, preteaching key vocabulary, and using read alouds and re-reading to promote fluency.

● To support reading fluency, especially among children who find word solving difficult, the poems in Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems can be read aloud by the entire class with the poem written out on chart paper and a teacher or child pointing to each word. Before reading a poem such as Listen for Me about spring peepers, I would preteach vocabulary such as thaw, reeds or swells. After the first group reading, I would read the paragraph with natural history information about spring peepers and create a concept map to record interesting information and vocabulary. I would also have a group discussion about rhyming words and decoding any challenging words. Then I would set up a literacy station where a small group of children can practice reading the poem on their own with the book’s illustrations displayed to aid comprehension. These actions are supported by lecture 4.2: reading complex texts with appropriate scaffolding, preteaching key vocabulary, and using read alouds and re-reading to promote fluency.

● The online animal reference site Wild Kratts: Creaturepedia can be used as a way to motivate children who find word solving difficult to read more about animals in different habitats by creating an animal research project where students pick an animal and then use Creaturepedia and other texts to collect information. Less proficient readers could be paired with better readers to support each other in their research. Students would take notes on each of the five aspects presented for each animal, supported by their partner. The pair would then orally present their information to the class, and record it to create an animal podcast that others could listen to. This project would incorporate student choice, peer collaboration, and sharing new knowledge as outlined in lecture 4.2.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You specified multiple opportunities to use these resources to support children who needs extra decoding practice. As such, the resources you chose are likely to contribute to your students’ building a foundation for successful reading.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o How can you support parents and children using these resources at home to build decoding skills?

o You specified opportunities to support children who need extra decoding practice with these texts, but did not include a thorough rationale to support your choices. Go back to the lectures and readings for this course and think about what specific teaching actions best support readers who need extra decoding practice and why. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5 - Discussion Forum 5.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

2020-05-07T08:41:21-04:00

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the the characteristics of trustworthy and meaningful assessment practices and your observations of this classroom.

In this classroom episode, we were given a “glimpse” of a classroom routine to administer one type of assessment (i.e., taking a running record to assess children’s at-home reading). Respond to this routine. In your view, does it align with principles for trustworthy assessment? Why or why not?
This classroom episode also presents multiple opportunities for assessing children’s word-solving behaviors in the context of routine instruction. Re-view the video and pay specific attention to the teacher’s opportunities to observe children’s word-solving behaviors. Make a list of the opportunities you notice and share a few of them. If you were the classroom teacher, what might you notice and “jot down” as you observe the children’s word-solving behaviors and actions? Assuming that these observations are part of a pattern of behavior, how might you follow up with these children? That is, what instructional steps or actions might you take to reinforce or advance their word-solving behaviors?

Helpful Information:

In preparation for this prompt, participants:

Viewed a classroom video described as follows:

In the video, Promoting Readers as Leaders, during Morning Meeting and Shared Reading, Valerie Kostansas uses meaningful assessment practices to guide her instructional decisions and help her students become independent learners. As you view the video, think about best practices for assessing children’s word-solving abilities and search for ways you see these practices “in action.”

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● A clear and thorough evidence-based analysis of Valerie’s routine. For example:

○ During morning jobs, Valerie takes a running record and assesses comprehension with an authentic text for a text a child read at-home. This is effective practice because the running record was completed with an authentic text so Valerie can observe how this child approaches word solving during “real” reading. This is a practice recommended in several readings, and specifically by Wixson and Valencia. She can also observe how fluently the child reads the text since the child is reading the text after rereadings (presumably it was read once at home and once at school). She uses this information to inform text selection for at-home reading. This, too, aligns with the lectures and also with the recommendations of Lipson and Valencia and also Enriquez and others. But it is not clear from the video if she also uses data from the running record to inform her instruction with this child at school. If Valerie does not do so, this would be a very important practice for her to incorporate into her assessment routines.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” entry, notice and name the strengths in the response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the participant is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. You might say:

o Your response is excellent because you explicitly describe several examples of how Valerie implemented trustworthy assessment practices; and you specified the ways these practices align with evidence-based assessment.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o What do you think about using time during morning jobs to assess children’s decoding? Is this a practice you might try out? If so, how would you implement it and how can it help inform your instructional decision making?

o You clearly described ways in which Valerie’s assessment practices are effective, but did not give any evidence to support her actions as evidence-based. It might be helpful for you to return to course readings and lectures to revisit the principles for evidence-based intervention. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your assessment practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular assessment routines and how they support children’s literacy development.

Criterion #2: Connections to Classroom Practice

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Identifies specific opportunities to gather assessment data during the course of on-going instruction and describes appropriate ways to do so. Some opportunities for gathering assessment include when:

○ Valerie asks children to share what the focal read aloud text reminds them of

○ Children turn and talk to share a prediction

○ Children transition to reading the text with Valerie, a partner, or independently

○ Valerie scaffolds a small group’s reading of the text

○ The whole class discusses their reading

● Relates ideas to lectures or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You identified several specific, opportunities for Valerie to gather meaningful assessment data; and you describe appropriate ways to do so.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o As you work toward routinely incorporating these important assessment practices in your classroom, be sure to set aside time to critically self-reflect, and revise or tweak your assessment practices as necessary to maintain high levels of teaching expertise.

o You described several opportunities for assessment and appropriate ways to do so, but you did not connect these practices to evidence you read and learned about in this session. It might be useful to return to one or more of the articles or lectures for this session and revisit evidence. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your assessment practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular teaching routines and how they support literacy development.

Criterion #3: Contributions to the Learning Community

An expert response (3 points):

Encourages collaboration and co-construction of understanding by:

AND

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o To support both your learning and that of others, it’s helpful to elaborate a bit. What is it you agree with and why?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5 - Online Journal 5.2: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Assignment: Identify Texts on the Habitat Resource Set to Use for Assessment

Review the texts you have assembled so far (using worksheets from sessions 1, 2, and 3). Choose three resources from your list to use to observe children’s ability to apply the word-solving strategies that you have taught. Then, in your online journal, describe how you would use these resources to gather information about children’s word-solving abilities. Also explain why these particular resources are likely to provide trustworthy information about the students’ reading abilities.

Helpful Information:

Questions to Guide Selection of Appropriate Children’s Books, Videos, Images and Digital Game

Does the resource convey important information about the big idea?
Is the resource likely to distract or confuse children and diminish attention or understanding of the big idea?
Does the resource require your mediation to support the big idea? Some examples of helpful teaching actions include:
1. Preteaching important vocabulary and concepts.
2. Reading a narrative or informational text aloud.
3. Assigning partners to read a text or complete a task together.
4. Muting the sound on a digital game so that it does not distract.
5. Pausing game-play to have children describe their problem-solving strategy and explain their reasoning.
6. Pausing a video at strategic points to discuss important events or information.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Quality of Texts

An expert response (3 points):

Identifies 3 resources to use for assessment with a strong rationale. In this example the participant chose three books each representing a different level of reading difficulty:

● The book I See Animals has a predictable word pattern with a simple animal name supported by a photo depicting the animal in its habitat. It is especially useful for children who are at the beginning stages of decoding. This format permits children to draw on multiple cues to decode unknown words. This is supported by information in Lecture 5.2 about assessing word reading in context.

● The book Whales is only 12 pages, each page with a large photo and one or two sentences of text with fairly simple one and two syllable words with different spelling patterns. Children can use several strategies to decode this book. This is supported by information in Lecture 5.2 about assessing reading in context.

● The book Cactus Hotel has three-four sentences per page and the text is accompanied by engaging illustrations depicting the life cycle of a saguaro cactus. Most words are one and two syllable words with familiar spelling patterns (and with a few longer, unfamiliar words (such as “paloverde”) and some familiar words that are challenging words to decode (such as “gnaw”). The variety of words in this text provides ample opportunities to assess decoding skills and fluency in context as mentioned in lecture 5.2.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● For each resource, you clearly specified the nature of the text, noting both word and grammatical structures. In addition, you attended to picture cues and word length. In your selection, you demonstrated your awareness that your students represent a range of reading abilities and trustworthy assessment requires a collection of texts broad enough in range to accurately capture what children know and need to know. Moreover, as you attended to the word and sentence-level characteristics, you also maintained a focus on concept knowledge and authenticity, choosing texts that align with the topic of study (habitats) and with features of engaging texts (high-quality illustrations). Well done!

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● As you move on to other topics of study, be sure to continue this excellent approach to building a set of high-quality, authentic texts to guide assessment of children’s word-solving abilities. This is a model that others can also learn from!

● For two resources, you clearly specified why this text is suited to be used for assessment. But you omitted this information for the third resource. This may be because the book is quite similar to the others and you assumed there is no need to say more about it. But as you select texts, be mindful of the need to select a range of texts that will allow you to develop an understanding of the range of children’s reading abilities. If the three texts are too similar, you may be limited in what you learn from each one.

Criterion #2: Quality of Teaching Actions

An expert response (3 points):

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings. For example:

● I would use the book I See Animals for assessing word reading ability for children who are in the earliest stage of learning to decode, as the predictable patterns will support children word-solving abilities. I would assess by taking a running record, recording what children do as they attempt to read the words on each page. Marking children’s word reading attempts and miscues will give me information about the child’s word solving knowledge and strategies. These actions are supported by the information in Lecture 5.2 on assessing word knowledge.

● I would use the book Whales with children who are reading one-syllable words with ease and are beginning to read two-syllable words.I will take a running record, marking children attempts to solve words they do not recognize at sight. These actions are supported by the information in Lecture 5.2 on assessing word knowledge in context.

● I would use the book Cactus Hotel to assess word decoding ability and fluency for my students who are relatively strong decoders and advancing toward a stage of decoding longer words and words with meanings they do not yet know. The variety of words in this text provides ample opportunities to assess accuracy, rate, prosody and comprehension. As the book is 28 pages, I would choose a shorter section for assessment, no more that about 200 words. I will mark their word reading errors and attempts at word solving, and after reading, I will prompt them with open-ended questions to relate what happened to check for comprehension. A prosody measure will also help assess comprehension and fluency. Miscue analysis will provide insight into the skills children are using to decode, and areas of weakness that could respond to instruction. These actions are supported by the information in Lecture 5.2 on assessing word knowledge in context; they are also supported by suggestions in the article by Lipson and others and the article by Wilson and others.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o You specified multiple opportunities to use these resources for assessment. As such, the resources you chose are likely to the development of a trustworthy reading profile of your students.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Your selections suggest that you have a strong understanding of ways to select and use authentic materials for assessment. How might you share these ideas with your colleagues who may have less expertise than you in this area?

o You specified opportunities to use these texts for assessment, but did not include a thorough rationale to support your choices. Go back to the lectures and readings for this course and think about what specific teaching actions accurately assess young readers and why. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to work at specifying the reasons behind your instructional practices. This may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6 - Scenario Analysis: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Baseline Scenario Analysis

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

Revisit your classroom scenario analysis (kindergarten or second-grade) completed at the beginning of this session. What do you notice about the teacher’s practices and the likelihood that they will support engaged reading? Do they align with what you have learned about engaged reading in this session, and, in turn, do the suggestions you made at the outset align with current understandings about reading engagement? If not, revise your analysis and related suggestions. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the instructional actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

On this particular day, Ms. Johnson has just completed a whole-class read-aloud of Here is the African Savanna, by Madeleine Dunphy & Tom Leonard in which she guides children in learning about why the desert provides a good habitat for some animals and not others. As she reads, she pauses periodically to ask children to recall text details. Some children respond--the same children that always seem to respond to her questions--while other children look away. After reading, she distributes a phonics worksheet in which children’s task is to read each word and connect it to a corresponding picture.

Next, Ms. Johnson meets with small groups to guide them in reading “just right” leveled texts. When not meeting with Ms. Johnson, children are assigned to different learning centers (e.g., a phonics center with a vowel matching activity, a reading center with “just right” book bins holding texts selected by Ms. Johnson, a science center with different miniature animals that children refer to as they draw and label pictures of animals and the habitats in which each lives). After Ms. Johnson meets with the first small group, she rotates through the literacy centers to monitor children’s progress. She first visits the reading center and notices that children have closed books in their laps and are quietly chatting with each other. Ms. Johnson asks children why they are not reading and children explain that they have already finished reading a book in their assigned bin. As she visits other centers, she notices similar behaviors--children have completed the assigned tasks and are chatting with each other. Each time, Ms. Johnson redirects children, but she starts to wonder why they aren’t more engaged in the learning center activities.

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

On this particular day, Ms Cox has just completed a whole-class read-aloud of Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City, by Barbara Bash in which she guided children in learning about the ways urban areas provide a good habitat for some animals and not others. As she does so, she pauses periodically to ask children to recall text details. Some children respond--the same children that always seem to respond to her questions--while others look away. Then, she distributes a phonics worksheet intended to teach children to read compound words. Independently, children must choose words (e.g., up, pan, set, cake) from the list which, when joined together, form a compound word.

Next, Ms. Cox meets with small groups to guide them in reading “just right” leveled texts. When not meeting with Ms. Cox, children at are assigned to different learning centers (e.g., a phonics center with a compound word activity, a reading center with “just right” book bins filled with texts selected by Ms. Cox, a science center with different miniature animals that children refer to as they illustrate the animals in their habitats and write a sentence describing where each lives). After Ms. Cox meets with the first small group, she rotates through the literacy centers to monitor children’s progress. She first visits the reading center and notices that children have closed books in their laps and are quietly chatting with each other. Ms. Cox asks children why the are no longer reading and children explain that they have finished reading a book from their assigned bins. As she visits other centers, she notices similar behaviors--many children have completed the assigned task and are chatting quietly with each other. Each time, Ms. Cox redirects children, but she also wonders starts why her children aren’t more engaged in the literacy activities or their learning.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Scenario Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies at least two specific weaknesses or missed opportunities related to engaged reading. For example:

○ During read aloud, she did not engage children in turn or talk or any sort of activity that would have prompted collaboration and made the act of listening and responding a socially important activity.

○ After reading, she did not help children relate and connect what they had learned from the book to what they had previously learned about habitats and the ways they help animals meet their needs and survive.

○ The transition to a phonics worksheet seemed abrupt and there is no indication that it connected to the topic of study in any way (e.g., a key word taken from the text); and the activity itself did not meet the guidelines for “active” learning.

○ The leveled texts seemed unconnected to the children’s study of habitat.

○ Only one of the learning center activities was connected to the topic of habitats.

● Provides a sound rationale for identifying particular instances or examples as weaknesses or missed opportunities.

Examples of feedback to sustain rstanding and teaching

● In response to an “expert” strengths in their response. Noticing and naming expert practice makes the accomplishments explicit and reinforces them so that the teacher is likely to repeat or sustain effective practice. For example,

○ The missed opportunities you identified are both important examples of the ways even a talented teacher sometimes misses opportunities to shape instruction in ways that it is more likely to engage all children in ways that support children’s learning. Your attention to this sort of detail exemplifies your understanding that to achieve very high levels of teaching expertise, we need to engage in fine-grained analyses--choosing a “good” book is not enough; the actions we take AS and AFTER we share a book really matter and we need to make sure we think of all of it, as you have done here.

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

● Your example focused on the ways the teacher might have prompted other children to answer some of her questions; this is a good and important observation and it shows your attention to what we learned in earlier sessions about the ways teacher scaffolding can increase children’s opportunities to learn. But you stopped short after that--your response didn’t seem to bring to bear the information in this session about teaching actions that support engaged reading. One of the things I noticed as I read this scenario was the lack of attention to strategies that a teacher might put in place to make classroom read aloud time “social.” (Remember Guthrie and Humenick’s evidence on the importance of collaboration as a factor in engaged reading.) Take a second look and think about the relationship between this teacher’s actions during this lesson segment and factors you’ve learned that support engaged reading. Through the lens of the four important factors (e.g., social collaboration, knowledge goals, interest, choice) what missed opportunities do you see?

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

● Appropriate teaching actions relative to engaged reading, and relates ideas to lectures or readings. For example:

The teacher can better support reading engagement by revising the type of literacy activities she designs for learning stations after read-alouds to better connect with the initial text. At one station she could have several books, both fiction and informational texts, at different reading levels on the same topic for students to explore. Another station could have several copies of the read-aloud text for students to read to each other in pairs. A third station could have photos of animals in the habitat that students can use as inspiration to create their own writing and drawings of that habitat which will be posted on a board outside the classroom to share with the school community. Another station could have a rhyming poem for students to whisper-read chorally in pairs about that habitat.

● Provides a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

Example of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

● Your suggestion to use connected texts and collaborative literacy tasks in centers is clearly aligned with evidence on the importance of instructional coherence and the social nature of learning. Your lesson modification indicates your understanding that highly expert teachers make strategic and intentional decisions to engage every reader.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Recall a recent read-aloud in your classroom. On reflection, were their opportunities for engagement that you missed and if so, based on what you now know, how would you modify the lesson?

● The practices you describe to engage readers are appropriate and consistent with evidence on effective teaching. But missing from your response is a clear explanation of how these practices align with the research-based evidence, and so it’s difficult to know from your response if you chose these activities because of your understandings of current research and theory, or instead, based on teacher’s intuition. This may seem like a small difference--if a teacher is engaged in good practice why does it matter if it emerges from “good intuition” or deep knowledge of credible evidence? The answer to that is fairly simple: teachers who act on the basis of credible evidence are both more likely to sustain best practice and they are also better “positioned” to share their reasoning with others.
This raises at least the possibility that these understandings will influence the practice of building colleagues.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.6 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will view a video clips of a classroom teacher as she supports a small groups and whole groups of children with phonics instruction. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to what you have learned about evidence-based phonics instruction.

Step Into a Classroom

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Teacher, Hildi Perez: Whole Class Phonics

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Teacher, Hildi Perez: Small Group Phonics

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Discussion Forum 4.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Recall the principles for evidence-based intervention and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose this particular action.

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. (You may wish to review the Rubric to guide your response.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

As in the previous session, you will begin by recalling and applying related knowledge–in this session, it will be about phonemic awareness–to solve a problem of practice. Please note that the scenario for second grade is for a small group rather than the whole class. This is because by second grade, typically-performing children have acquired phonemic awareness and phonological awareness instruction is necessary only for children who are not yet able to segment and blend sounds in words.

Step 1: Read the classroom scenario for kindergarten or second grade.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

Next, as other children work in learning centers, Ms. Cox works with a small group of children who are having difficulty solving unknown words. Ms. Cox has observed that they cannot yet fully segment words into their individual sounds. To get started, Ms. Cox displays the first page of Prickly Pear Party by Holly Hartman. She points to the prickly pear and explains to children that a prickly pear is a cactus plant and that all parts of it are edible–that means they can be eaten. She tells them that in the poem and the illustrations, the author will tell about animals that like the prickly pear. After she reads the text aloud, Ms Cox asks children to name some of the animals and describe why the prickly pear is important to them. She also asks them if they have ever had prickly pear candy and if not, if they think it is something they would like to try someday! Ms. Cox affirms children’s responses and explains that next they will read the text–which is a poem–together.

After they chorally read, she explains that they will practice breaking apart and making words from the text. To do so, she models segmenting hot into its 3 sounds, by enunciating each sound slowly “/h/ /o/ /t/”. Using Elkonin boxes, she writes one sound in each box (). To model blending, she points to the first letter, and sweeps her finger across the bottom of the boxes as she says, “hot.” Next, she distributes a worksheet with Elkonin boxes and she guides children to segment and blend the word ‘lot’. She writes the word on a whiteboard and prompts children to say it with her. Then she instructs children to break it apart and make the word the Elkonin boxes on their worksheet. She watches as some children complete this task with ease while other children struggle. For example, Ameera, writes and Sam writes . She is not sure what she could do differently to scaffold all children’s ability to segment and blend the individual phonemes in words.

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Would the teacher’s instructional actions be sufficient to develop children’s phonemic awareness? If you were faced with this problem of practice (that is, developing children’s phonemic awareness–the ability to hear, segment, and blend sounds in words) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Write your response on a word document and upload upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to Session 2 Scenario Analysis rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3 - Scenario Analysis: Facilitator’s Evaluation Notes Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Baseline Scenario Analysis

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children’s development as active word solvers? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--i.e., some children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text--how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Revisit and Revise Your Classroom Scenario Analysis

In their discussion of how children actively construct knowledge of words Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl comment:

Reconsider the phonics instruction in the classroom scenario you focused on at the beginning of this session. To what extent is the teacher supporting children in actively constructing word knowledge?
Do the actions you suggested at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on active construction of word knowledge. If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Helpful Information:

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting. She first invites children to recall and share some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

She begins her daily phonics lesson with a whole-class sound drill. Today the focus is on vowel teams: ea, ee, ey. Ms. Cox points to each vowel team on a letter sound chart displayed on the wall and children chorally identify the vowels, picture clue (positioned next to the respective letter), and the vowel team sound. For example, when she points to ‘ea,’children chorally say, “ea, eat, /ē/.” After the sound drill, Ms. Cox asks children what the rule is for vowel teams and children respond chorally: “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and the second one does the walking.” Next, she has children practice marking and reading words with vowel teams. To do so, Ms. Cox writes several one- and two-syllable words with a vowel team and models marking the syllables and vowels. Then, they tap a finger for each sound within a syllable and say the word. Ms. Cox then tells children to complete a worksheet comprising numerous one- and two-syllable words for children to mark and say.

After the phonics lesson, some children are assigned to learning centers while Ms. Cox provides differentiated instruction to small groups. On this particular day, she meets with a small group to read the text This is the Sea the Feeds Us by Robert Baldwin to help them apply what they are learning about one- and two-syllable words with vowel teams when reading text. To get started, she previews the pictures with children, inviting them to share what they notice about the sea habitat. She also draws their attention to some challenging words in the text like 'plankton', and 'zillion'. Then, she asks children to turn to page 4, directs them to the word “creatures”, and tells them to identify the syllables and vowel team. However, because children do not respond, she tells them that the vowel team “ea,” is in the first syllable and says /ē/. Next, she tells children to partner read the text, during which she circulates and monitors children’s reading. She notices that as children read, they are not using the strategy of chunking the word into parts they know (in this case ea/ey/ee) and then blending the parts together. Rather, they are guessing when encountering unfamiliar words. She is not sure what she could do differently to coach children to be active word solvers as they encounter unfamiliar words when reading text.

As you review each participant’s response, follow this two-step process:

Step 1. Rate the content of the response:
- Entries rated as Expert (3 points) must include information comparable to (but not necessarily the same as) the ideas outlined in the examples that follow.
- Entries rated as Developing (2 points) must include most of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- Entries rated as Emerging (1 point) must include some of the information, as detailed in the evaluation rubric.
- No entry or an entry that does not address the specified criterion receives 0 points.
Step 2. Provide feedback that is likely to sustain an expert performance or improve the participant’s understanding and teaching actions going forward. Examples of facilitative feedback are provided.

Criterion #1: Revised Scenario Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

An expert response (3 points):

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to teaching children to decode. For example:

○ Although Ms. Johnson (or Ms. Cox) provide children opportunities to learning about phonics, repetitive sound drills are not helping children become active word solvers. This is probably why children struggle to apply their phonics knowledge when reading unfamiliar words in connected text.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

○ Your awareness of the importance of active word solving demonstrates your understanding of the evidence-based principles that were the focus of this session and your ability to relate them to teaching actions.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

● Suppose you were in a position to share what you have learned with your grade-level colleagues. How would you explain your understanding of the importance of active word solving when teaching children phonics and decoding?

● In response to a “developing” entry, notice and name the effective elements in the response. Then, prompt consideration of the “missing” element(s) by posing a question about what the participant failed to address in their response. For example, if a participant wrote about a missed opportunity in the scenario but didn’t support the analysis with evidence, you might say:

Criterion #2: Revised Instructional Modifications

An expert response (3 points) includes:

A description of appropriate teaching actions related to teaching decoding. For example:

● Identifies teaching actions that promote active word solving.

● Considers coaching word recognition when reading connected, meaningful text.

● Provides strategic, explicit instruction in decoding unfamiliar words.

● Emphasizes phonics patterns and not phonics rules.

Provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Examples of feedback to sustain or improve understanding and teaching

o Your suggestion to ask children to share words they know with target phonics pattern provides children opportunities to be active word solvers as they relate your instruction to what they already know. Your lesson modification indicates your understanding of some very important ideas from this course and your ability to apply the evidence you read about to instructional practice.

Then, prompt the participant to continue thinking deeply about the topic. For example, you might ask:

o Recall a recent phonics lesson you taught. Did it align with the principles you have learned about effective teaching of phonics and decoding? If so, what are the points of alignment and if not, how would you modify it for future implementation?

o The practices you describe are excellent because they clearly support developing children’s phonics knowledge and and decoding, and as such, they are likely to help your children become competent word solvers. But missing from your response is an explanation of how these practices align with the principles for evidence-based teaching of phonics and decoding. If you need help recalling the evidence, return to lectures and the readings from this session, and think about how you can articulate the evidence and use it to guide you as you plan your teaching of phonics and decoding. Becoming especially “facile” at sharing the evidence may be especially helpful as you talk with administrators, colleagues, and parents about your use of particular resources to support literacy development.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.7 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Using the Multimodal Resource Set to Provide Phonics Practice

As we learned in the previous session, multimodal resources (traditional and digital texts) have the potential to improve children’s opportunities to learn, but teachers need to choose high-quality resources to support their curriculum. Poems, texts with rhymes, songs, and games can all be used to develop phonemic awareness. As a reminder, click here to access questions to guide exploration of available resources and help you to decide what to keep and what to put aside.

Assemble a Multimodal Resource Set: Add Texts to Support Phonemic Awareness to Your Habitat Resource Set

Recall that for most children, phonemic awareness is developed in kindergarten and first grade and is not part of the “standard” curriculum for second graders. Consistent with that understanding, in this part of this session, if you have chosen to focus on the kindergarten multimodal resource set, you will review and select texts appropriate for use with the general population in a kindergarten classroom. If you have chosen to focus on a second-grade multimodal resource set, you will review and select texts appropriate for use with children in second grade who are experiencing particular difficulty with phonological awareness in general and phonemic awareness in particular. Some resources have clear and obvious connections to phonemic awareness (e.g., rhyming words); while others are more open-ended (such as the PBS Kids ScratchJr coding app) and their use may require some thinking “outside the box.”

To complete this task, access the Resource Set Worksheet for the grade level of your choice. On the worksheet you will see 6 choices: two traditional books; two digital songs or poems; and two digital games (kindergarten); or one digital game and one coding app (second grade). As you make choices, you will select at least one of each type to use to support phonemic awareness and also support developing key concepts related to habitats. Be sure to explain your reasons for selecting each resource. The Assembling a Resource Set Rubric can guide your responses.

Select one:

Session 2 Resource Set Worksheet for Kindergarten ( pdf | docx )

Session 2 Resource Set Worksheet for Second Grade ( pdf | docx )

Alternative Books List for Multimodal Resource Sets

When completed, upload your Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet to the course assignments. (Be sure to save both Multimodal Resource Set Worksheets - Session 1 and Session 2 - in an accessible location as you will return to them throughout the course.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Discussion Forum 2.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Developing Phonemic Awareness -

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles of developing phonemic awareness as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

Identify at least two ways John Sinnett’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness and cite evidence that supports the practice as effective.
Identify at least two teaching actions that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose these particular actions.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	Identifies at least two examples of ways John Sinnett’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness and cites evidence that supports both practices as effective.	Identifies at least two examples of ways John’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness but does not include an accurate description of the evidence that supports both practices as effective.	● Identifies one example of ways John’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness. ● May or may not provide an accurate description of the evidence that supports the practice as effective.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	Describes two teaching actions to incorporate phonemic awareness instruction into own classroom and includes a sound rationale to support both practices.	Describes two teaching actions to incorporate phonemic awareness instruction into own classroom BUT does not include a sound rationale to support one or both practices.	● Describes one teaching action to incorporate phonemic awareness instruction into own classroom. ● May or may not include a rationale to support the practice.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to that I can situate PA instruction within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to that I can situate PA instruction within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3: Discussion Forum 3.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children to Decode

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt: As you reflect on the authors’ ideas, recall the teaching routines that support effective phonics instruction. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to these two questions:

Select at least two of the guiding principles described by Helman. How will you integrate these in your own teaching and why? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.
What does Clark (2004) mean by “coaching” word recognition and how does this teaching action support children’s independent word solving?

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Provides a clear and evidence-based justification for incorporating at least two principles in own classroom.

● Provides a clear and accurate explanation of coaching word recognition and how it supports children’s development as independent word solvers.

● Provides a partial justification for incorporating at least two principles in own classroom.

● Provides a clear and accurate explanation of coaching word recognition but does not explain how it supports children’s development as independent word solvers.

● Selects two principles to integrate but provides minimal or no explanation to support their importance.

● Acknowledges importance of coaching without a clear and accurate description and without explaining why it is important to children’s development as independent word solvers.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Fully describes how at least two principles will be implemented and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details.

● Partially describes how at least 2 principles will be implemented but provides an incomplete rationale to support implementation details.

● Partially describes how at least 2 principles will be implemented but provides no rationale to support implementation details.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

AND

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on clear evidence to make decisions about which children to include in a lesson focused on this type of phonics instruction.)

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.6 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will view a video of a classroom teacher as she assess her children’s word-solving abilities. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to what you have learned about thoughtful assessment practices.

Step Into a Classroom

In the video, Promoting Readers as Leaders, during Morning Meeting and Shared Reading, Valerie Kostandos uses meaningful assessment practices to guide her instructional decisions and help her students become independent learners. As you view, think about best practices for assessing children’s word-solving abilities and search for ways you see these practices “in action.”

Teacher, Valerie Kostandos: Promoting Readers as Leaders

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Discussion Forum 5.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Recall the characteristics of trustworthy and meaningful assessment practices and your observations of this classroom.

In this classroom episode, we were given a “glimpse” of a classroom routine to administer one type of assessment (i.e., formal or informal assessment). Respond to this routine. In your view, does it align with principles for trustworthy assessment? Why or why not?
This classroom episode also presents multiple opportunities for assessing children’s word-solving behaviors in the context of routine instruction. Re-view the video and pay specific attention to the teacher’s opportunities to observe children’s word-solving behaviors. Make a list of the opportunities you notice and share a few of them. If you were the classroom teacher, what might you notice and “jot down” as you observe the children’s word-solving behaviors and actions? Assuming that these observations are part of a pattern of behavior, how might you follow up with these children? That is, what instructional steps or actions might you take to reinforce or advance their word-solving behaviors?

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. (You may wish to review the Rubric to guide your response.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.3 Build Background Knowledge

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

To build background knowledge of why and how oral language contributes to early and later literacy development, you will view a lecture, read an article, and post a reflection in your online journal.

View

In this lecture, What Do We Know About Oral Language and Learning to Read?, Dr. Jeanne Paratore briefly describes the components of oral language knowledge, the importance of oral language to both early and later stages of literacy development, and the factors that contribute to language development in the early and later years. (If you need to download a smaller file, use this PowerPoint version of the lecture without the audio file.)

After this brief introduction, you will read an article that elaborates and extends the information provided in the lecture.

Read

The lecture concluded with this “Take Away”:

Learning to read and write demands a multi-faceted instructional approach and a learning context that, at once, addresses the full range of language and literacy learning needs.

This means that, from the start, even as we help children to develop foundational skills for reading and writing, children must be immersed in meaningful, purposeful, and engaging classroom activities through which they hear and use sophisticated vocabulary and concepts, complex syntax, and varied discourses as they learn and share information about their world.

To further develop your understanding of these ideas, read the article, Theory and Research into Practice: Paying Attention to Language, by Donald Richgels. After you read, you will be prompted to derive a few instructional principles to guide the ways you act on these ideas in your own classroom.

Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about oral language and literacy development. Open your journal:

Explain why oral language development is important to literacy development in both the early and later years of schooling.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of the full array of language knowledge necessary for successful literacy learning.

As you record your ideas, be mindful that you will use your notes to prompt recall and response in the next part of this session. This Session 1 Online Journal Rubric can guide your responses.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

Developing Phonemic Awareness

Total Point Value: 6

This assignment is made of two parts. Your facilitated will grade both parts upon the completion of Part 2.

Part 1: Scenario Analysis: Would the teacher’s instructional actions be sufficient to develop children’s phonemic awareness? If you were faced with this problem of practice (that is, developing children’s phonemic awareness--the ability to hear, segment, and blend sounds in words) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis: Reconsider the instruction in phonemic awareness in the classroom scenario you focused on at the beginning of this session. To what extent are the teacher’s instructional actions aligned with effective teaching of phonemic awareness? Does the analysis you completed at the beginning of this session align with what you have learned about phonemic awareness and its development? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teaching Actions

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the instructional scenario.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the instructional scenario, but does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

● Makes a general, accurate statement about the teacher’s inadequate attention to phonemic awareness, but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the weakness and does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Total Point Value: 6

This assignment is made of two parts. Your facilitated will grade both parts upon the completion of Part 2.

Part 1: Scenario Analysis: Based on this description, would the teacher’s teaching actions be sufficient to prompt most youngsters to understand and use the important science concepts and vocabulary as they work together? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (that is, getting kids to acquire and use science vocabulary as they work together) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis: In the classroom scenario you focused on at the beginning of this session (i.e., kindergarten or grade 2), reconsider the ways the teacher supported children’s understanding and use of science concepts and vocabulary. Does the analysis you completed at the beginning of this session align with what you have learned about ways effective teachers support children’s language development? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the instructional scenario.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity in the instructional scenario, but does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

Makes a general, accurate statement about the teacher’s inadequate attention to language and literacy development, but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the weakness and does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Discussion Forum 1.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

In their discussion of the need for surrounding children with lots of books, Dickinson and Tabors comment that “Of course, having the books is only the first step in the process. It is also necessary to have willing readers who use the books for enjoyment and to expand the children's knowledge of the world” (p. 16). Based on your reading and on your own classroom experiences, share at least two specific actions that teachers can take--either in their own classrooms or in their work with parents and other caregivers--to help children and adults have fun as they read and learn about language and their world? Draw from the principles to explain why these actions are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Describes at least two specific teaching actions to support reading enjoyment, language development, and background knowledge

AND

● Draws from principles to support actions with strong rationale.

● Describes two specific teaching actions to support reading enjoyment, language development, and background knowledge

BUT

● Does not provide a strong rationale for both teaching actions.

● Describes a general teaching action to support reading enjoyment, language development, and knowledge development, without a strong rationale.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Describes at least two specific teaching actions to try in own classroom, or with caregivers, to support reading enjoyment, language development, and children’s knowledge about their world.

● Describes two specific teaching actions to try in own classroom, or with caregivers, to support two of the three criteria: reading enjoyment, language development, and children’s knowledge about their world.

● Describes a general teaching action to support one of the three criteria: reading enjoyment, language development, or children’s knowledge about their world.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective.

AND

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it explains ways that we can make reading both fun and instructive at the same time.)

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective.

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it explains ways that we can make reading both fun and instructive at the same time.)

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Discussion Forum 1.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles for developing oral language as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

What specific teaching actions did Cindy Wilson take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain your rationale.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Identifies at least two accurate and appropriate instances in which the teacher enacted effective teaching actions for language development AND ● Connects the teaching actions to principles that support language development.	● Identifies at least two accurate and appropriate instances in which the teacher enacted effective teaching actions for language development. ● Does not connect the teaching actions to principles that support language development.	● Identifies one instance in which the teacher enacted an effective teaching action for language development. ● May or may not connect the example to a language learning principle.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	Describes at least one explicit teaching action to incorporate in own teaching along with a sound rationale.	Describes at least one explicit teaching action to incorporate in own teaching but omits a sound rationale.	Refers generally to teaching practices (e.g., “I intend to incorporate the language learning principles in my teaching) with or without a sound rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective. AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to expose all of my students to sophisticated vocabulary and language structures.)	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective. OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to expose all of my students to sophisticated vocabulary and language structures.)	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Discussion Forum 2.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Developing Phonemic Awareness

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

As you reflect on the ideas presented these articles, recall the teaching routines that support development of phonemic awareness. (Your previous journal entry may help you recollect important ideas.) On the Discussion Forum, share your thoughts in response to this question:

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Accurately describes the strategy and accurately explains how it is likely to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

● Accurately describes the strategy but does not accurately explain how or why it is likely to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

● Provides a brief description of the strategy without explanation why or how it supports children’s development of phonemic awareness.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Provides a clear and thoughtful explanation for why the strategy is or is not appropriate for the children in own classroom.

● Expresses intent to use (or not use) the strategy but the explanation underlying the decision is unclear.

● Expresses intent to use (or not use) the strategy but does not explain why or why not.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective.

AND

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective.

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Developing Phonemic Awareness

Total Point Value: 12

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Opportunities to Learn About Habitats	Describes how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how at least two resources provide rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how one resource has some content on habitats.	Does not explain how resources support learning about habitats.
Opportunities to Develop Phonemic Awareness	Describes how each resource has multiple opportunities to develop phonemic awareness.	Describes how at least two resources have multiple opportunities to develop phonemic awareness.	Describes how one resource has multiple opportunities to develop phonemic awareness.	Does not explain how resources have clear opportunities to develop phonemic awareness.
Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Includes thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts in the collection. ● Includes appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection.	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is mostly thorough and accurate across all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is mostly accurate across texts in the collection.	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is either not consistently accurate or not completed for all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is either incomplete or largely inaccurate.	● Does not include a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is inaccurate and incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is incorrect or incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection.
Instructional Mediation	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are effective and complete.	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are mostly effective and mostly complete.	Names instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features but suggested practices are mostly ineffective or incomplete.	Did not describe instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features, or suggested practices that are ineffective or incomplete.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3: Online Journal Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children to Decode

Total Point Value: 9

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonics instruction and literacy development. Then answer these questions:

What is systematic phonics instruction and why is it important to literacy development?
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl describe seven principles of effective phonics instruction. If you already address these principles in your classroom routines, provide an example of how your teaching aligns with the principles. If you do not, provide examples of how you will modify instruction to align with the principles.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Provides a clear, accurate definition of systematic phonics instruction. ● Fully and accurately describes how phonics instruction relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.	● Provides a clear, accurate definition of systematic phonics instruction. ● Does not fully or accurately explain how phonics instruction relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.	● Provides a partial definition of systematic phonics instruction. ● May or may not include a full and accurate explanation of how phonics instruction relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Content from Prior Sessions	● Accurately describes at least one aspect of the relationship between systematic phonics instruction and oral language development and phonological awareness. ● Supports description by citing a specific lecture or a reading from Session 1 or 2.	● Accurately describes at least one aspect of the relationship between systematic phonics instruction and oral language development and phonological awareness. ● Does NOT support the description by citing a specific lecture or a reading from Session 1 or 2.	● Describes a connection between systematic phonics instruction and either oral language development or phonological awareness but not both. ● May or may not cite evidence to support the description.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to the Classroom	Provides explicit examples of how each of the principles are addressed in own classroom or gives examples of how instruction will be modified to align with the principles.	Provides explicit examples of how at least five of the principles are addressed in own classroom or gives examples of how instruction will be modified to align with the principles.	Provides explicit examples of how at least two of the principles are addressed in own classroom or gives examples of how instruction will be modified to align with the principles.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3: Discussion Forum 3.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children to Decode

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Recall the principles for effective phonics instruction and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Shari and Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you either already incorporate or will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why this particular action is important.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by both Shari and Hildi to enact principles of effective phonics instruction.

● Cites credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

● Identifies specific teaching actions taken by both Shari and Hildi to enact principles of effective phonics instruction.

● Does not cite credible evidence to supports the practices as effective.

● Identifies one or more specific teaching actions taken by either Shari and Hildi (but not both) to enact principles of effective phonics instruction.

● May or may not provide an accurate description of credible evidence to support the practice(s).

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Classroom Practice

● Identifies a specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective practice.

● Includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

● Identifies a specific teaching action to implement that aligns with effective practice.

● Does not includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

● Describes a general idea to incorporate systematic phonics instruction in own classroom.

● Does not includes a sound rationale to support the practice.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Contribution to the Learning Community

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

AND

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to that I can situate phonics instruction within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)

● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective

● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate phonics instruction within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)

Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4: Discussion Forum 4.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Comment on how the approaches are alike and different.
Describe at least two ways you will integrate these in your own teaching and tell why you chose these as especially pertinent to your own teaching. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	Provides a clear, accurate, and thorough analysis of the commonalities and differences in the two approaches, providing specific examples to support analysis.	Provides a clear, accurate analysis of the commonalities and differences in the two approaches, but does not provide examples to support the analysis.	Identifies one example of something the approaches have in common, but overall the analysis is largely incomplete.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	Describes at least two ways responsive intervention will be implemented in own classroom and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details.	Describes at least 2 ways responsive intervention will be implemented in own classroom but provides an incomplete rationale to support implementation details.	Describes at least two ways responsive intervention will be implemented but provides no rationale to support implementation details.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on clear evidence to make decisions about which children to include in which type of intervention.)	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on clear evidence to make decisions about which children which children to include in which type of intervention.)	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4: Scenario Analysis Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:Teaching Children Who Struggle With Word Solving

Total Point Value: 6

Part 1: Scenario Analysis
Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children who find word-solving difficult? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (i.e., children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis:

What do you notice about children’s ability to decode unfamiliar words when reading text and the teacher’s actions in response to their needs? Do the suggestions you made at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on supporting readers who struggle to solve words? If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the teaching actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

● Identifies a specific instance or a teaching practice that does not align with evidence-based instruction, OR identifies an instance in which the teacher might have intervened and did not.

● Connects analysis to lecture or readings.

● Identifies a specific instance or a teaching practice that does not align with evidence-based instruction, OR identifies an instance in which the teacher might have intervened and did not.

● Does not connect analysis to lecture or readings.

● Makes a general, accurate statement about the adequacy of the teacher’s support for children who are struggling to solve words, b but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the a missed opportunity or inappropriate instruction.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Online Journal 5.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

Total Point Value: 9

Online Journal Prompt:

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
Describe the literacy assessments mandated by your district or school and also those you choose to implement on your own. In your view, are these assessments aligned with the characteristics of trustworthy assessment? If so, explain how they align; if not, explain how they are misaligned. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Provides a clear, accurate explanation of the characteristics of trustworthy assessment with strong rationale from lectures and readings.	● Provides a clear, accurate definition of the characteristics of effective intervention. ● Includes a partial rationale from lectures and readings.	● Provides a partial definition of the characteristics of effective intervention without a strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Content from Prior Sessions	● Accurately describes at least two examples of the relationship between trustworthy assessment and children’s opportunities to develop foundational reading abilities (i.e., oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics). ● Supports description by citing specific evidence from lectures and readings in previous sessions.	● Accurately describes at least two examples of the relationship between trustworthy assessment and children’s opportunities to develop foundational reading abilities (i.e., oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics). ● Supports one but not both examples by citing evidence from lectures or readings in previous sessions.	● Accurately describes one example of the relationship between trustworthy assessment and children’s opportunities to develop foundational reading abilities (i.e., oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics). ● Supports example by citing evidence from lectures or readings in previous sessions.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to the Classroom	● Provides a clear, thorough analysis of literacy assessments in own classroom and district/school in comparison to the characteristics of trustworthy assessment, backed by evidence from lectures or readings.	● Provides a partial analysis of literacy assessments in own classroom and district/school in comparison to the characteristics of trustworthy assessment. ● May or may not be backed by evidence from lectures or readings.	● Provides some analysis of literacy assessments in own classroom and district/school without details or strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Scenario Analysis Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

Total Point Value: 6

Part 1: Scenario Analysis
Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions accurately assess and effectively support support children’s decoding knowledge? If you were faced with the same problem of practice--i.e., despite diligent attention to district-wide assessments and instructional curriculum some children are not making appropriate progress--what would you do to gather more information about the children’s reading abilities and how might you modify instruction? Explain what you would do and why.

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis:

What do you notice about the teacher’s assessment practices? Do they align with what you have learned about assessment in this session, and, in turn, do the suggestions you made at the outset align with current understandings about trustworthy assessment? If not, revise your analysis and related suggestions. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the assessment actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to assessment.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

● Identifies a specific weakness or missed opportunity related to assessment, but does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

● Makes a general, accurate statement about the teacher’s assessment practices, but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the weakness and does not support the analysis with a sound rationale.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate assessment actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate assessment actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate assessment actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Discussion Forum 6.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

Engaging Children in Reading

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Describes at least 3 ideas, one from each article, for engaging young children in reading and writing with evidence from lectures and readings.	● Describes at least 3 ideas, one from each article, for engaging young children in reading and writing with partial or incomplete evidence from lectures and readings.	● Describes ideas for engaging young children in reading and writing but provides minimal or no explanation to support their choice.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	● Fully explains how 3 ideas, one from each article, for engaging young children in reading and writing will be implemented in own classroom with a rationale that supports the implementation details.	● Partially explains how 3 ideas, one from each article, for engaging young children in reading and writing will be implemented in own classroom, but provides an incomplete rationale to support implementation details.	● Partially explains how ideas for engaging young children in reading and writing will be implemented, but provides no rationale to support implementation details.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., "I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me that there are many different ways to engage children in reading and writing.")	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., "I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me that there are many different ways to engage children in reading and writing.")	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Discussion Forum 6.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Engaging Children in Reading & Writing

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

What evidence do you see that children are engaged in the various jobs and learning center activities?
What actions did each teacher take to promote children’s engagement in reading, writing, and learning?
Will you adapt any of these teaching actions into your own teaching routines? If so, explain which actions and why.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Clearly and accurately describes how children are engaged in both videos with supporting evidence. ● Clearly and accurately describes the actions each teacher takes to promote engagement in reading, writing, and learning with supporting evidence.	● Describes how children are engaged in both videos without supporting evidence. ● Describes the actions each teacher takes to promote engagement with or without supporting evidence.	● Partially describes how children are engaged in the videos without supporting evidence. ● May or may not describe general actions teachers can take to promote engagement.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	● Identifies a teaching action to implement in own classroom during routine instruction and provides an evidence-based rationale.	● Identifies a teaching action to implement implement in own classroom during routine instruction but omits an evidence-based rationale.	● Describes some general ideas to incorporate engagement strategies in own classroom.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., "I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective engagement strategies within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to situate effective engagement strategies within the context of important and meaningful daily routines.”)	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Online Journal 6.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Engaging Children in Reading and Writing

Total Point Value: 6

Online Journal: Identify Texts to Support Engaged Reading

Examine the texts on each of your Resource Set Worksheets (Sessions 1, 2, and 3) and the likelihood that this particular collection will be sufficient to engage each of the children in your classroom. As you review your list, remember to consider not only your students’ reading abilities, but also their “ways of being” (as discussed by Catherine Compton-Lilly in session 3). Identify at least three additional texts that will support children as they develop knowledge about animals and their habitats while also providing them sufficient choice. Remember that you can choose from any of the various types (e.g., traditional texts, e-books, videos, or digital games); and you can also choose resources that are not on the worksheet. In your Online Journal, list the texts you chose, explain your reasoning, and describe how you would use them to meet the needs of children in your classroom.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Quality of Texts

● Identifies 3 additional resources to use for engaged reading.

● Supports the choices with a sound rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least 2 additional resources to use for engaged reading.

● Supports the choices with a partial rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least 1 additional resource to use for engaged reading. May or may not include a clear rationale drawn from lectures or readings.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Quality of Teaching Actions

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Online Journal 6.3 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:22-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

Final Project: Putting It All Together

Total Point Value: 18

On-Line Journal: Putting It All Together - A Final Reflection

Think back on all of the lectures, readings, journal entries, discussion forum conversations, and resource set analyses. When you put all of this information together, what guiding principles will you use to frame your instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics.

In your online journal, record 6-10 “principles” to use to frame your instructional planning and day-to-day instruction. As you compose your principles, be sure to address each of the 6 major domains in this course: Oral Language, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Supporting Children Who Struggle to Solve Words, Assessment, and Engaging Readers. As you state each principle, be sure to cite credible evidence from course lectures, readings, and conversations to explain the importance of the principle. Also list a few examples of the kinds of activities or tasks you will implement that align with the principle.

Criteria	Expert 6 Points (per criterion)	Developing 4 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 2 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Guiding Principles	Generates at least one appropriate, evidence-based principle for each of the six target domains.	Generates at least one, appropriate, evidence-based principle for at least four of the target domains.	Generates at least one, appropriate, evidence-based principle for at least two of the target domains.	Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.
Related Tasks and Activities	Related to each principle, identifies at least two tasks or activities, each of which aligns with evidence-based practice.	Related to each principle, identifies at least one evidence-based task or activity which align with evidence-based practice.	Related to each principle, identifies a task or activity but the tasks do not align with evidence-based practice.	Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.
Evidentiary Support	Cites credible research to support each principle and each identified task or activity.	Cites credible research to support some all principles and some but not all identified tasks and activities.	Cites credible research to support each principle but does not cite evidence to support identified tasks and activities.	Did not cite any credible research.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 3: Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children to Decode

Total Point Value: 12

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Opportunities to Learn About Habitats	Describes how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how at least two resources provide rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how one resource has some content on habitats.	Does not explain how resources support learning about habitats.
Opportunities to Support Phonics Knowledge	Describes how each resource has multiple opportunities to support children’s developing phonics abilities.	Describes how at least two of the resources provide multiple opportunities to support children’s developing phonics abilities.	Describes how one resource has multiple opportunities to support children’s developing phonics abilities.	Does not explain how resources have clear opportunities to support children’s developing phonics abilities.
Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Includes thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts in the collection. ● Includes appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection.	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is mostly thorough and accurate across all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is mostly accurate across texts in the collection.	● Includes a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is either not consistently accurate or not completed for all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is either incomplete or largely inaccurate.	● Does not include a variety of resources. ● Analysis of content accuracy is inaccurate and incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is incorrect or incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection.
Instructional Mediation	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are effective and complete.	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are mostly effective and mostly complete.	Names instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features but suggested practices are mostly ineffective or incomplete.	Did not describe instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features, or suggested practices that are ineffective or incomplete.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 4: Online Journal 4.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Teaching Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

Total Point Value: 9

What are the characteristics of successful intervention? As you reflect upon these ideas, be sure to consider and comment on the ideas of both Lipson and Wixson and also those of Enrique and her colleagues.
Comment on the position taken by Enrique and her colleagues that the use of the label, “struggling readers” has the potential to disrupt and diminish children’s reading development. Will you make any adjustments or changes to your teaching (and talk of students who have difficulty) based on this point of view? Explain why or why not.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Provides a clear, accurate description of the characteristics of effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulty, drawing from both articles. ● Connects each characteristic to evidence from lecture or readings.	● Provides a clear, accurate description of the characteristics of effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulty, drawing from both articles. ● Connects some but not all characteristics to evidence from lecture or readings.	● Identifies some (but not all) characteristics of effective intervention without a strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Content from Prior Sessions	● Connects effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulties to pertinent information from all three previous session, commenting on evidence-based instruction of language development, phonemic awareness, and phonics.	● Connects effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulties to pertinent information from all three previous session, commenting on evidence-based instruction of at least two of the domains previously addressed: language development, phonemic awareness, and phonics.	● Connects effective instruction for students who have word-solving difficulties to pertinent information from all three previous session, commenting on evidence-based instruction of one of the domains previously addressed: language development, phonemic awareness, and phonics.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to the Classroom	● Describes at least 2 teaching routines for effective intervention to implement in own classroom with strong rationale.	● Describes at least 1 teaching routine for effective intervention to implement in own classroom. ● May or may not include a strong rationale.	● Describes a general idea for intervention in own classroom without details or strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Discussion Forum 5.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

Total Point Value: 9

Discussion Forum Prompt:

Given what you have read about trustworthy assessment, what assessment “routines” would you put in place to monitor the word-solving abilities of the children in your classroom? What assessments or assessment practices would you use, with what “types” of readers, and how often would you administer them? Then, what would you do with the results--how would you use them to inform instruction? Be sure to share evidence from your readings to justify your ideas.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Provides a clear and evidence-based justification for integrating assessment routines in own classroom.	● Provides a partial justification for incorporating assessment routines in own classroom.	● Describes assessment routines for own classroom but provides minimal or no explanation to support their choice.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Classroom Practice	● Fully describes how assessment routines will be implemented, how they will inform instruction, and explains the rationale that supports the implementation details.	● Partially describes how assessment routines will be implemented and how they will inform instruction, but provides an incomplete rationale to support implementation details.	● Partially describes how assessment routines will be implemented and how they will inform instruction, but provides no rationale to support implementation details.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Contribution to the Learning Community	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective AND ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on clear evidence to make decisions about which children to include in which type of intervention.)	● Respectfully builds on the comments of others, poses relevant questions, or offers a different perspective OR ● Explains response to others’ ideas (e.g., I like Alex’s idea because it reminds me to draw on clear evidence to make decisions about which children which children to include in which type of intervention.)	Post is limited to comments on the ideas of others without explanation or elaboration (e.g., “Good idea, I think I’ll try that in my own classroom.”)	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 5: Online Journal 5.2 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

Total Point Value: 6

Online Journal: Identify Texts on the Habitat Resource Set to Use for Assessment

Review the texts you have assembled so far (using worksheets from sessions 1, 2, and 3). Choose three resources from your list to use to observe children’s ability to apply the word-solving strategies that you have taught. Then, in your online journal, describe how you would use these resources. Also explain why these particular resources are likely to provide trustworthy information about the students’ reading abilities.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Quality of Texts

● Identifies three resources to use for assessment.

● Supports the choices with a sound rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least two resources to use for assessment.

● Supports the choices with a rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

● Identifies at least one resource to use for assessment.

● Supports the choice with a rationale drawing from lectures or readings.

●

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Quality of Teaching Actions

Suggests appropriate teaching actions and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions along with a rationale; however, the rationale may lack clarity and thoroughness.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Online Journal 6.1 Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Engaging Children in Reading & Writing

Total Point Value: 9

Online Journal Prompt:

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to literacy development?
Recall the four factors that contribute to reading engagement; then, consider your classroom routines and practices and your children’s engagement in reading. Do your routines and practices align with the evidence on engaged reading? If so, describe your routines and practices and relate them to the evidence presented in the lecture and article. If not, describe at least two ways you will modify your instructional practices so that they are more aligned with the evidence related to engaged reading. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis	● Provides a clear, accurate explanation of reading engagement and how it contributes to literacy development with strong rationale from lectures and readings.	● Provides a clear, accurate definition of reading engagement and how it contributes to literacy development. ● Includes a partial rationale from lectures and readings.	● Provides a partial definition of reading engagement without a strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to Content from Prior Sessions	● Accurately describes at least two examples of how particular instructional decisions or actions contribute to reading engagement (or disengagement). ● Supports both examples by citing specific lectures and readings from Sessions 1-5.	● Accurately describes at least two examples of how particular instructional decisions or actions contribute to reading engagement (or disengagement). ● Supports one but not both examples by citing specific lectures and readings.	● Accurately describes at least two examples of how particular instructional decisions or actions contribute to reading engagement (or disengagement). ● Supports one but not both examples by citing specific lectures and readings.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.
Connections to the Classroom	● Provides a clear, thorough analysis of how practices in own classroom align with evidence on engaged reading. ● Supports either maintaining or modifying routines with evidence in lectures and readings.	● Provides one or two examples of how practices in own classroom align with evidence on engaged reading, but analysis is incomplete. ● Supports either maintaining or modifying routines with evidence in lectures and readings.	● Provides an example of own classroom practices to engage readers without details or strong rationale.	Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Learning Goals and Standards

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Overview

Although this course emphasizes teaching phonemic awareness and phonics, it is grounded in evidence-based teaching of reading with a focus on the full range of knowledge young children need to grow into engaged and successful readers and writers. As part of their instructional planning, participants are guided to identify and select meaningful and interesting texts for children to read right from the start, as they work toward becoming capable and fluent word solvers. It also emphasizes the importance of providing children a coherent literacy and language curriculum so that every reading act not only “grows” the skills they need to become capable readers in the early grades, but also contributes to a deep well of knowledge about the world that they will need to sustain capable reading in the later grades.

Course Goal

The goal of this course is to help early childhood educators prepare children for long-term success in reading and writing, and to develop a full and deep understanding of how highly effective teachers act on the evidence to support literacy development for all students.

Expected Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing all course requirements participants will:

Understand the ways language provides a foundation for word learning.
Understand that explicit instruction supports development of word study abilities.
Implement teaching strategies that support children’s development of phonemic awareness.
Implement teaching strategies that support children’s development of phonics and their ability to decode monosyllabic and multisyllabic words.
Implement teaching strategies that support the development of word study abilities among children who find word solving difficult.
Understand that texts that convey information through wordless modes such as images, sound, movement, or layout also require a type of “decoding” that must be explicitly taught.
Implement teaching strategies that support decoding of multimodal texts.
Implement assessment strategies that monitor children’s learning of each day’s lesson and inform ongoing instruction.
Create a classroom context and daily teaching routines that support children’s active word learning and support a disposition toward all reading that begins and ends with the process of meaning-making.

Alignment of Course Content With School-based Curriculum Standards

CCSS Foundational Skills & Language

1. Common Core State Standards (CCSS): Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening

Kindergarten

Phonological Awareness

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.a: Recognize and produce rhyming words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.b: Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.c: Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.d: Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.¹ (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.e: Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

Phonics and Word Recognition

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.a: Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.b: Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.c: Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.d: Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Fluency

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.4

Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.a: Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.5: With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

GRADE 1

Phonological Awareness

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.a: Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.b: Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.c: Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.d: Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

Phonics and Word Recognition

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.a: Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.b: Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.c

Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.d: Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.e: Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.f: Read words with inflectional endings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3.g: Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Fluency

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.4.a: Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.4.b: Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1.a: Print all upper- and lowercase letters.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.5: With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).

Grade 2

Phonics and Word Recognition

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.a: Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.b: Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.c: Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.d: Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.e: Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3.f: Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Fluency

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.4.a: Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.4.b: Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.5: Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).

Grade 3

Phonics and Word Recognition

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3.a: Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3.b: Decode words with common Latin suffixes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3.c: Decode multisyllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3.d: Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Fluency:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4.a: Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4.b: Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).

ISTE: Teachers

International Society for Technology in Education: Teachers

1-Learner: educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. Educators:

Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.
Pursue professional interests by creating and actively participating in local and global learning networks.
Stay current with research that supports improved student learning outcomes, including findings from the learning sciences.

4-Collaborator: educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems. Educators:

Dedicate planning time to collaborate with colleagues to create authentic learning experiences that leverage technology.
Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.
Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.
Demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.

5-Designer: Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability. Educators:

Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.

6-Facilitator: Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students. Educators:

Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.
Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.
Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 2: Online Journal Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

Developing Phonemic Awareness

Total Point Value: 9

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about phonemic awareness and literacy development. In your journal:

Explain why phonemic awareness is important to literacy development.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

● Provides a clear, accurate definition of phonological awareness, including the specific definition of phonemic awareness.

● Fully and accurately describes how phonological awareness, including phonemic awareness, relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.

● Provides a clear, accurate definition of phonological awareness including a specific definition of phonemic awareness.

● Does not fully or accurately explain how PA relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.

● Provides a partial definition of phonological awareness (i.e., explains phonemic awareness without a description of the more general phonological awareness abilities).

● May or may not include a full and accurate explanation of how PA relates to other abilities in the process of learning to read.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to Content from Prior Sessions

● Accurately describes at least one aspect of the relationship between phonological awareness and oral language development.

● Supports the claim by citing a specific lecture or a reading from Session 1.

● Accurately describes at least one aspect of the relationship between phonological awareness and oral language development.

● Does NOT support the claim by citing a specific lecture or a reading from Session 1.

Acknowledges the connection between phonemic awareness and oral language development without explaining the specific nature of the relationship.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to the Classroom

● Describes at least two evidence-based teaching routines to try out in own classroom.

● Supports each with a sound rationale.

● Describes at least two evidence-based teaching routines to try out in own classroom.

● Rationale for the choices is either missing, incomplete, or inaccurate.

● Describes only one evidence-based teaching routine to try out in own classroom.

● Rationale for the choice is either missing, incomplete, or inaccurate.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.1 Course Introduction

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

"Extensive research on early literacy now indicates that language skills broadly conceived--vocabulary, syntax, and discourse, as well as phonemic awareness--are central to early and long-term literacy success and that children reap added rewards when they develop these language and literacy-related capacities in tandem so that interconnections among systems can be fashioned into mutually reinforcing systems."

— Dickinson, McCabe, & Essex, 2006, p. 12

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S1.1 Course Introduction	55 minutes
Why is this course important to early childhood teachers?	5 minutes
How is the course structured?	5 minutes
Get Ready: Become familiar with resource set.	30 minutes
Get Started: Introduce yourself!	15 minutes
S1.2 Establish a Baseline: Apply What You Know	30 minutes
Read a classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S1.3 Build Background Knowledge: Oral Language and Learning to Read	70 minutes
View: What Do We Know About Oral Language and Learning to Read?	20 minutes
Read: Theory and Research into Practice: Paying Attention to Language.	30 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S1.4 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	105 minutes
View: How Do Expert Teachers Connect Language Learning Principles to Classroom Practice?	15 minutes
Read: Fostering Language and Literacy in Classrooms and Home	30 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S1.5 Step into a Classroom: Observe Theory and Research in Practice	55 minutes
View a classroom video.	10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S1.6 Explore Multimodal Resources: What are multimodal resources and why are they important to language development? Review and evaluate language and concept learning opportunities in resources in text set.	70 minutes
S1.7 Act on the Evidence: Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions. On Your Own: Additional Resources	60 minutes
Total Session Time (estimated)	7½ hours

Why is this course important to early childhood teachers?

As teachers of children in kindergarten to second grade, getting youngsters off to the “right start” in reading and writing may be our greatest responsibility. This is because there is very strong evidence that children’s early reading success is fundamentally important to long-term success in school. Studies tell us that children’s reading achievement at the end of first grade predicts their overall school achievement in grade 11 (e.g., Cunningham and Stanovich, 1997)! Each time I reread this finding I am reminded of the truly awesome responsibility we have as early childhood teachers.

As is often the case, though, when the stakes are very high, we have an inclination to look for a single answer--sometimes we think of it as a “silver bullet”--to guide us as we plan and deliver instruction that we hope will result in children’s development of a rich foundation for lifelong learning. In literacy, instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics is often perceived in this way--as the single and most-assured “pathway” to early and later reading success. Unfortunately, it is not quite so simple.

Here’s what we know. Phonemic awareness is fundamental to phonics; and, in turn, phonics enables both accurate and rapid word-solving--what we often refer to as automatic word reading. The ability to recognize words automatically or with minimal effort allows readers to focus all of their attention on making sense of what they are reading and in that way early success with word solving also contributes to comprehension. As such, it can make a long-term difference in children’s reading achievement over time.

But, in fact, skillful phonemic awareness and phonics do not develop in isolation. Rather, we have strong and trustworthy research evidence that tells us that there is a strong and persistent relationship between the development of phonemic awareness and broad language knowledge--especially vocabulary. Simply put, the greater children’s vocabulary knowledge, the greater their phonemic awareness. Moreover, in the same way that first-grade reading success predicts achievement much later in school, vocabulary knowledge in kindergarten predicts children’s reading comprehension in grades 3 and beyond (e.g., Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2002)!

So, what does all of this mean? In a nutshell, although we may not have discovered a “silver bullet,” we do have lots of trustworthy evidence about factors that contribute to successful reading and writing in both the early and later school years; and we also have collected a good deal of information about ways highly-effective teachers translate research findings to sound and engaging practices that make a difference for all of the children in their classrooms. At its foundation, we know that as teachers we need to know, understand, and act on the evidence related to all of the domains necessary to become a successful reader, and that we cannot depend on one domain to get us where we need to be.

In this course, our goal and our intention is to work together to develop a full and deep understanding of how highly effective teachers act on the evidence to prepare children for long-term success in reading and writing. We have developed this course to do so in ways that you will find engaging and energizing; and we hope that, together, we will grow our understanding and our practices such that as children enter our classrooms each and every day, they do so looking forward to every opportunity to read, write, and learn together!

How is this course structured?

Course content is structured around the following topics:

Session 1: What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Session 2: What is Phonemic Awareness, Why is it Important, and How Do I Teach it?

Session 3: Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

Session 4: Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

Session 5: Assessing Children’s Word-Solving Abilities

Session 6: Engaging Children in Reading Right from the Start

To help you connect, deepen, and apply your understanding to classroom practice, from time to time you will prompted to engage in the following activities:

The Online Journal is a space for you to consider key concepts and content in the course. Journal prompts are designed to help you make connections between key concepts in current and previous course segments; to critically reflect on the information and its relationship to your routine teaching practices; and to consider the ways the ideas and information can be applied in your own classroom. Online Journal rubrics will guide you as you reflect and record your ideas.

The Discussion Forum provides a space for you to reflect on important ideas and discuss them with your course mates. Discussion prompts are designed to help you and your course mates share your thoughts and impressions, co-construct understanding, and consider ways to apply what you have learned to classroom practice. Discussion Forum Rubrics will guide you as you reflect and post your thoughts.

Classroom Scenario Analyses that begin and end each session will help you document what you know at the start of each session related to the focal topic and, then, again, document what you know at the end. As such, we expect it to provide you (and us) with a way to assess your learning. Classroom Scenario Rubrics will guide you as you prepare your response.

Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set is an exercise in which you will review and select a collection of resources of varying types or “modes” (e.g., traditional texts, videos, digital games) that will support teaching and learning about phonemic awareness and phonics; and will also provide productive contexts for assessing what your children know and do. Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubrics will help you make selections that are rich and appropriate for your students.

Check Your Understanding quizzes appear midway through each session. These are very brief multiple-choice quizzes that are not graded. Rather, they document participants’ understanding of essential information and they serve as a gateway to the second part of each course session as participants must respond accurately to progress to the second part of the session.

In a Final Project, you will recall and review your notes from course lectures, required readings, videos, online journal entries discussion board conversations and use them to compose a list of “guiding principles” to help you plan and implement evidence-based instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. You will also list a few examples of the kinds of instructional activities or tasks you will implement that align with the principle. A Final Project Rubric will guide your preparation of this final task.

More information about each assignment can be found on the session pages.

Get Ready: Become Familiar With the Multimodal Resource Set

Each week, you will begin and end each session by reading, analyzing, and reflecting on a common problem of practice in a kindergarten or second-grade classroom. This activity serves three purposes: first, at the beginning of each session, it will prompt you to recall and consider what you know and understand about the focal topic (e.g., language development, phonemic awareness, phonics, assessment, or engaged reading) and to apply what you know to solve a problem of practice. (This is important because we know that recalling background knowledge is an effective first step as we encounter and try to make sense of new information.) Second, by documenting what you currently know and do, you will create a meaningful context for applying new information at the end of the session. Third, by comparing your responses at the beginning and end of the session you will have a clear measure of your learning.

To complete this task, you will read either a kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario. In each case, from week to week, the teacher you follow is teaching a month-long science unit on habitats. As part of this unit, she routinely begins the day with a literacy activity related to this topic of study; and to do so, she uses a curriculum resource about habitats. Sometimes the resource is a narrative or informational text; other times it is an educational video or digital game. To fully understand and respond to the teacher’s instructional decisions, it will be important for you to be familiar with the resources that frame the teacher’s instruction.

To prepare for this opening exercise, this is a good time for you to do two things. First, decide which grade level you would like to focus on: kindergarten or second grade. Second, gather the four resources that comprise the multimodal resource set for the grade level you chose and read, view, or play each. This will prepare you to review, analyze, and respond to the teacher’s instructional actions in each scenario.

Important: To prepare for this opening exercise, this is a good time for you to do two things. First, decide which grade level you would like to focus on: kindergarten or second grade. Second, gather the four resources that comprise the multimodal resource set for the grade level you chose and read, view, or play each. This will prepare you to review, analyze, and respond to the teacher’s instructional actions in each scenario.

The titles below includes the “traditional texts” included on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheets that are completed in Session 1. You do not need to purchase these books. Instead, you may access these via a school or local library.

The Kindergarten Multimodal Resource Set includes:

Here is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy
The Salamander Room by Ann Mazur
Video: Nature Cat: Where Have All the Butterflies Gone?
Game: Wild Kratts: Capture the Fish-Mobiles

The Second-Grade Multimodal Resource Set includes:

Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City by Barbara Bash
The Salamander Room by Ann Mazur
Video: Plum Landing: Forest in the City
Game: Plum Landing: Creature Connector

Get Started: Introduce Yourself!

Before we turn to the content of Session 1, please take a moment to introduce yourself to your fellow learners in the Discussion Forum. Go to the discussion board and enter the Virtual Café forum.

Use the following prompts to guide you:

Tell us about yourself. Include the grades you teach or have taught; the types of instructional settings you have worked in (e.g., classroom, community, public school, private school, urban, rural, suburban, general education, special needs, bilingual education).
What are the special interests, questions, or concerns that prompted you to take this course?
If this course meets your needs, what questions will be answered for you along the way?

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.5 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will view a video of a classroom teacher as she engages her students in their morning routines. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to what you have learned about language as a foundation for literacy learning.

Step into a Classroom

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Teacher, Cindy Wilson: Morning Meeting

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Discussion Forum 1.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Recall the principles for developing oral language as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

What specific teaching actions did Cindy Wilson take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain your rationale.

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. You may wish to review the rubric for this discussion to guide your response.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S2.6 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will view a video of a classroom teacher as he leads a journal writing lesson in Kindergarten. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to what you have learned about developing phonemic awareness.

Step into a Classroom

Teacher, John Sinnet: Writing

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Discussion Forum 2.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Recall the principles of developing phonemic awareness as a foundation for literacy learning and your observations of this lesson.

Identify at least two ways John Sinnett’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness and cite evidence that supports the practice as effective.
Identify at least two teaching actions that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose these particular actions.

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. (You may wish to review the Rubric to guide your response.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.6 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will visit two classrooms (via video) to observe each teacher as she supports children’s word-solving learning. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to what you have learned about evidence-based phonics instruction.

Step Into Two Classrooms

Teacher, Shari Frost: Word-Solving Learning

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Teacher, Hildi Perez: Word-Solving Learning

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Discussion Forum 3.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

Recall the principles for effective phonics instruction and your observations of these lessons.

What specific teaching actions did Shari and Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you either already incorporate or will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why this particular action is important.

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. (You may wish to review the Rubric to guide your response.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.6 Step Into a Classroom

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

To Observe Theory and Research in Practice, you will view two videos of a two classroom teachers as both support their children’s development as engaged readers and writers. Then, on the Discussion Forum, you will connect your observations to your own practices and implications for your own teaching.

Step into Two Classrooms

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Teacher, Cindy Wilson: Morning Jobs

Videos from Teaching Reading K-2 Library are used with permission from the producer, WGBH Educational Foundation and the funder Annenberg Learner. For more informaiton go to www.learner.org.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Teacher, Alicia Poulin: Explore Together

PBS KIDS ScratchJr is a collaboration between PBS, Tufts University, the MIT Media Lab, and the Playful Invention Company. The app was funded by a Ready To Learn grant (PR/AWARD No. PRU295A100025, CFDA No. 84.295A) provided by the Department of Education to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Discussion Forum 6.2: Reflect, Comment, and Discuss

What evidence do you see that children are engaged in the various jobs and learning center activities?
What actions did each teacher take to promote children’s engagement in reading, writing, and learning?
Will you adapt any of these teaching actions into your own teaching routines? If so, explain which actions and why.

Post your thoughts on the Discussion Forum, and also read and respond to the ideas of others. (You may wish to review the Rubric to guide your response.)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 6: Scenario Analysis Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Engaging Children in Reading & Writing

Total Point Value: 6

Part 2: Revisit and Revise Analysis:

What do you notice about the teacher’s practices and the likelihood that they will support engaged reading? Do they align with what you have learned about engaged reading in this session, and, in turn, do the suggestions you made at the outset align with current understandings about reading engagement? If not, revise your analysis and related suggestions. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why the instructional actions you recommend are likely to make a difference.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Revised Analysis of Teacher’s Actions

● Identifies at least two weaknesses or missed opportunities related to engaged reading.

● Supports the critical analysis with a sound rationale drawing from lecture or readings.

● Identifies one specific weakness or missed opportunity related to engaged reading, and supports it with a sound rationale.

● Makes a general, accurate statement about the teacher’s inadequate attention to engaged reading but does not identify a specific example that exemplifies the weakness.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Revised Instructional Modifications

Suggests appropriate teaching actions relative to engaged reading and provides a clear and thorough evidence-based rationale drawn from information provided in lectures and assigned readings.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions relative to engaged reading along with a rationale; however, the rationale lacks both clarity and thoroughness.

Suggests appropriate teaching actions relative to engaged reading but rationale lacks an evident connection or is missing altogether.

Did not post or post did not meet any of the specified criteria.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.8 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 2): Revisit and Revise

Open your saved local version your previous response.
Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.
Access the Scenario Analysis Rubric.

Final Project: Applying Understandings to My Own Teaching

Think back on all of the lectures, readings, journal entries, discussion forum conversations, and multimodal resource set analyses. When you put all of this information together, what guiding principles will you use to frame your instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics?

In a Word document, record 6-10 “principles” to use to frame your instructional planning and day-to-day instruction. As you compose your principles, be sure to address each of the 6 major domains in this course: Oral Language, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Supporting Children Who Struggle to Solve Words, Assessment, and Engaging Readers. As you state each principle, be sure to cite credible evidence from course lectures, readings, and conversations to explain the importance of the principle. Also list a few examples of the kinds of activities or tasks you will implement that align with the principle. Upload your work to the online journal. Access the Rubric to guide your response.

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

*Cervetti, G., & Hiebert, E. (2015) The sixth pillar of reading instruction: Knowledge development. The Reading Teacher 68(7), 548-551.

Dougherty-Stahl, K. (2017). Applying new visions of reading development in today’s classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 66(1), 52-56.

Hoffman, J. (2017). What if ‘just right’ is just wrong? The unintended consequences of leveling readers. The Reading Teacher.

Neuman, S. (2006). The knowledge gap: Implications for early education. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson, Handbook of early literacy research, Vol. 2 (pp. 29-40). NY: Guilford.

*Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Eds.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp.76-98). Chicago:Open Court.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and

technology. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 97-118).

New York: Cambridge University Press.

*cited in session content

Required Readings

Cunningham, P. (2005). If they don’t read much, how they ever gonna get good? The Reading Teacher, 59(1), 86-90.

Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M. (2004) Motivating students to read: Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation and achievement. In P. McCardle & V. Chhabra (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 329-354).

Mahiri, J., & Miniates, H. (2013). The tough part: Getting first graders engaged in reading. The Reading Teacher, 67(4), 255-263.

Strachan, S. (2014). Expanding the range of text types used in the primary grade. The Reading Teacher, 68(4), 303-311.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Policies and Procedures

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Policies

Be respectful of your facilitator and fellow learners and offer appropriate feedback and comments.
If you plan to be away from the class for more than three days, notify your facilitator and any learners who may be affected by your absence beforehand.
Check current PBS TeacherLine terms of service regarding refunds and other policies.
Participate in course discussions/activities at least three times each week. Your first discussion communication should occur by the third day of the course. Your subsequent responses should occur naturally, move the conversation forward, and support the building of your online community. Your participation in discussions is crucial to the success of this course. Be ready to participate and contribute.
If you need support with technical issues, adjusting to online learning, understanding an assignment, or participating in the discussion forums, it is your responsibility to actively seek help until your needs are met.

Procedures

Following these procedures will help you to maximize your online learning experience and support the development of your learning community:

If you haven't done so already, complete PBS TeacherLine's free online learning orientation mini-course "Practice Learning Online with TeacherLine." Even if you have taken an online course through another provider, you should review this practice course to familiarize yourself with the PBS TeacherLine course environment.
Respond to the comments of others professionally and respectfully, keeping in mind that all communications are public.
Familiarize yourself with this course by exploring each section. By the second day of the course, you should have read the syllabus and e-mailed your facilitator with any questions or concerns.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Online Journal Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Total Point Value: 6

Online Journal Prompt: Based on the ideas presented in the lecture and the article, reflect on what you know about oral language and literacy development. In your journal:

Explain why oral language development is important to literacy development in both the early and later years of schooling.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of the full array of language knowledge necessary for successful literacy learning.

Criteria

Expert

3 Points (per criterion)

Developing

2 Points (per criterion)

Emerging

1 Point (per criterion)

Inadequate

0 Points (per criterion)

Content Knowledge and Critical Analysis

Describes a connection between oral language development and literacy development in both early and later years of schooling and cites credible evidence to support the ideas.

Describes a connection between oral language development and literacy development, but the response lacks one of the following:

• credible evidence to support the connection

• attention to both early and later years of schooling.

Describes a connection between oral language development and literacy development, but the response lacks:

• credible evidence to support the connection, and

• attention to both early and later years of schooling.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Connections to the Classroom

Describes at least two explicit, evidence-based teaching routines for use in own teaching and includes a sound rationale for the choices.

Describes at least one explicit, evidence-based teaching routines but does not include a sound rationale for the choice.

Describes a general idea related to implications for own teaching, but response lacks both specificity and a sound rationale.

Did not post or post did not address this criterion.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Session 1: Assembling a Multimodal Resource Set Rubric

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Total Point Value: 12

Criteria	Expert 3 Points (per criterion)	Developing 2 Points (per criterion)	Emerging 1 Point (per criterion)	Inadequate 0 Points (per criterion)
Opportunities to Learn About Habitats	Describes how each resource provides rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how at least two resources provide rich and ample content to support learning about habitats.	Describes how one resource has some content on habitats.	Does not explain how resources support learning about habitats.
Opportunities to Develop Oral Language	Describes how each resource has sophisticated and interesting vocabulary with complex and engaging syntax.	Describes how at least two resources have sophisticated and interesting vocabulary with complex and engaging syntax.	Describes how one resource has some interesting vocabulary or syntax.	Does not explain how texts have clear opportunities to contribute to either vocabulary or syntax knowledge.
Resource Types, Content and Feature Analysis	● Includes thorough and accurate analysis of content accuracy across all texts in the collection. ● Includes appropriate analysis of features that distract from or confuse children’s understanding across all texts in the collection.	● Analysis of content accuracy is mostly thorough and accurate across all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is mostly accurate across texts in the collection.	● Analysis of content accuracy is either not consistently accurate or not completed for all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is either incomplete or largely inaccurate.	● Analysis of content accuracy is inaccurate and incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection. ● Analysis of text features that distract or confuse is incorrect or incomplete in all or almost all texts in the collection.
Instructional Mediation	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are effective and complete.	Instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features are mostly effective and mostly complete.	Names instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features but suggested practices are mostly ineffective or incomplete.	Did not describe instructional strategies to mediate challenging or confusing text features, or suggested practices that are ineffective or incomplete.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.2 Establish a Baseline

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

As in the prior session, you will begin by recalling and applying related knowledge--in this session, it will be about phonics and decoding-- to solve a problem of practice. You may choose to focus on either the kindergarten or second-grade classroom scenario.

Step 1: Read the classroom scenario for kindergarten or second grade.

Kindergarten Classroom Scenario

Second Grade Classroom Scenario

In her second-grade classroom, Ms. Cox is mid-way through a science unit focused on habitats. As she does each day, she begins this school day with a morning meeting. She first invites children to recall and share some things they have learned about habitats and the animals that live in them and she smiles and nods as they share their ideas.

She begins her daily phonics lesson with a whole-class sound drill. Today the focus is on vowel teams: ea, ee, ey. Ms. Cox points to each vowel team on a letter sound chart displayed on the wall and children chorally identify the vowels, picture clue (positioned next to the respective letter), and the vowel team sound. For example, when she points to ‘ea,’ children chorally say, “ea, eat, /ē/.” After the sound drill, Ms. Cox asks children what the rule is for vowel teams and children respond chorally: “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and the second one does the walking.” Next, she has children practice marking and reading words with vowel teams. To do so, Ms. Cox writes several one- and two-syllable words with a vowel team and models marking the syllables and vowels . Then, they tap a finger for each sound within a syllable and say the word. Ms. Cox then tells children to complete a worksheet comprising numerous one- and two-syllable words for children to mark and say.

After the phonics lesson, some children are assigned to learning centers while Ms. Cox provides differentiated instruction to small groups. On this particular day, she meets with a small group to read the text This is the Sea the Feeds Us by Robert Baldwin to help them apply what they are learning about one- and two-syllable words with vowel teams when reading text. To get started, she previews the pictures with children, inviting them to share what they notice about the sea habitat. She also draws their attention to some challenging words in the text like 'plankton', and 'zillion'. Then, she asks children to turn to page 4, directs them to the word “creatures”, and tells them to identify the syllables and vowel team. However, because children do not respond, she tells them that the vowel team “ea,” is in the first syllable and says /ē/. Next, she tells children to partner read the text, during which she circulates and monitors children’s reading. She notices that as children read, they are not using the strategy of chunking the word into parts they know (in this case ea/ey/ee) and then blending the parts together. Rather, they are guessing when encountering unfamiliar words. She is not sure what she could do differently to coach children to be active word solvers as they encounter unfamiliar words when reading text.

Step 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 1): Reflect and Respond

Based on this description, would the teacher’s instructional actions effectively support children’s development as active word solvers? If you were faced with the same problem of practice (i.e., some children experience difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in text) how might you modify this lesson or what would you do next? Explain what you would do and why.

Write your response on a word document and upload upload your response. Note, the Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment is made of two parts. The course facilitator will read your responses for Parts 1 and 2 and grade your work as a whole according to Session 3 Scenario Analysis rubric. Thus, you may want to keep a local record of your Part 1 response for revisions you will make in Part 2 later in the session.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.8 Act on the Evidence

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Apply theory and research to the instructional decisions teachers make by revisiting and revising your classroom scenario analysis.

Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignment (Part 2): Revisit and Revise

In their discussion of how children actively construct knowledge of words Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl comment:

Reconsider the phonics instruction in the classroom scenario you focused on at the beginning of this session. To what extent is the teacher supporting children in actively constructing word knowledge?
Do the actions you suggested at the outset align with the ideas presented in this session on active construction of word knowledge. If not, revise your analysis and suggestions for instruction. Be sure to draw from the principles you learned in this session to explain why these teaching actions are likely to make a difference.

Open your saved local version your previous response.
Revise your plan, along with your rationale. Upload your work.

Review the Scenario Analysis Rubric to guide your response.

Looking Ahead

In the next session we will learn about evidence-based teaching practices for children who find word solving difficult. Through a combination of lectures, readings, classroom video visits, online journal responses and discussion forum conversations, we will work together to answer four essential questions:

What are the characteristics of evidence-based interventions?
Why is intervention important for children who find word solving difficult?
Why should teachers resist labels for readers who struggle?
What teaching actions should teachers take?

If you have specific questions about teaching children who find word-solving difficult, be sure to jot them down now. If you find that these questions are not answered as you progress through the various session activities, be sure to post them on the Discussion Forum so that you get the answers you need!

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Connecting Research to Practice

*Cunningham, P. M. (2015). Best practices in teaching phonological awareness and phonics. In L. B. Gambrell & L. M. Morrow (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (5th ed., pp.169-194). NY: Guilford Press.

Cunningham, P. M., & Cunningham, J. W. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection. The Reading Teacher, 46(2), 106-115.

*Ganske, K. (2000). Word journeys. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

Hiebert, E. H., & Fisher, C. W. (2005). A review of the national reading panel’s studies on fluency: The role of text. The Elementary School Journal, 105(5), 443-460.

*Jenkins, J. R., Peyton, J. A., Sanders, E. A., & Vadasy, P. F. (2004). Effects of reading decodable texts

in supplemental first-grade tutoring. Scientific Studies of Reading, 8(1) 53–85.

*Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Morris, R. D. (2006). Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(4), 357-87.

*Kuhn, M. R., Schawenflugel, P. J., & Meisinger, E. B. (2010). Aligning theory and assessment of reading fluency: Automaticity, prosody, and definitions of fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(2), 230-251.

*Leinhardt, G., Zigmond, N., & Cooley, W. W. (1981). Reading instruction and its effects. American Educational Research Journal, 18(3), 343-361.

*Pikulski, J. J., & Chard, D. J. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(6), 510-519.

*Rasinski, T. V. (2012). Why reading fluency should be hot! The Reading Teacher, 65(8), 516-522. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01077

*Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical advice for teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates.

*Cited in session content.

Required Readings

Clark, K. F. (2004). What can I say besides sound it out? Coaching word recognition in beginning reading. The Reading Teacher, 57(5), 440-449.

Helman, L. (2016). Opening doors to texts: Planning effective phonics instruction with English learners. In L. Helman (Ed.), Literacy development with English learners: Research-based instruction in grades K-6 (pp. 164-181). NY: Guilford.

Stahl, S. A., Duffy-Hester, A. M., & Stahl, K. A. D. (2006). Everything you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask). In K. A. Dougherty & M. C. McKenna (Eds.), Reading research at work: Foundations of Effective Practice (126-154). NY: Guilford.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S5.7 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Using the Multimodal Resource Set for Assessment

In this segment, you will revisit the collection of texts you have assembled as a multimodal resource set and consider how you might use particular texts to gather information about children’s word-solving abilities.

Online Journal 5.2: Reflect and Respond

The Session 5 Online Journal Rubric can guide your responses.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: Course Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

What Do We Know About Oral Language And Learning To Read?

Required Readings

Dickinson, D.K. & Tabors, P. O., (2002). Fostering language and literacy in classrooms and homes. Young Children, 57(2), 10-18.

Richgels, D. J., (2004). Theory and research into practice: Paying attention to language. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 470-477.

On Your Own Readings

Barnes, E. M., Grifenhagen, J. F., & Dickinson, D. K. (2016). Academic language in early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 70 (1), 39-48.

Cheatham, G. A., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Young English learners’ interlanguage as a context for language and early literacy development. Young Children, 65 (4), 18-23.

Enriquez, G., Clark S. R., & Della Calce, J. D. (2017). Using children’s literacy for dynamic learning frames and growth mindsets. The Reading Teacher, 70 (6), 711-719.

Flynn, E. E., (2016). Language-rich early childhood classroom: simple but powerful beginnings. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 159-166.

Hart & Risley (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Hassett, D. D., & Curwood, J. S. (2009). Theories and practices of multimodal education: The instructional dynamics of picture books and primary classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 63 (4), 270-282.

*Neuman, S. B. (2006). The knowledge gap. In D. K. Dickinson, & S. B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy (pp. 29-40). New York: Guilford.

Radich, J. (2013). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Every Child, 19(4), 18.

Wright, T. S. (2012). What classroom observations reveal about oral vocabulary instruction in kindergarten. Reading Research Quarterly, 47 (4), 353-355.

Yokota, J., & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: Educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 67 (8), 577-585.

What is Phonemic Awareness, Why Is It Important, and How Do I Teach It?

Required Readings

McGee, L. M. & Ukraintz, T. A. (2009). Using scaffolding to teach phonemic awareness in preschool and kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 62(7), 599-603.

McCarthy, P. (2008). Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness. The Reading Teacher 62(4), 346-349.

Yopp, H. K. & Yopp, R. H. (2009). Phonological awareness is child’s play! Young Children, 64(1), 15-21.

On Your Own: Additional Resources

MacDonald, C. & Figueredo, L. (2010). Closing the gap early: Implementing a literacy intervention for at-risk kindergartners in urban schools. The Reading Teacher, 63(5), 404-419.

*Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates/North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

*Yopp, H. K. (1992). Developing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading Teacher, 45(9), 696-703.

Yopp, H. K. & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 54(2), 130-143.

Teaching Phonics: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

Required Readings

Clark, K. F. (2004). What can I say besides sound it out? Coaching word recognition in beginning reading. The Reading Teacher, 57, (5), 440-449

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Cunningham, P. M., & Cunningham, J. W. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection. The Reading Teacher, 46(2), 106-115.

*Ganske, K. (2000). Word journeys. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

Hiebert, E. H., & Fisher, C. W. (2005). A review of the national reading panel’s studies on fluency: The role of text. The Elementary School Journal, 105(5), 443-460.

*Jenkins, J. R., Peyton, J. A., Sanders, E. A., & Vadasy, P. F. (2004). Effects of reading decodable texts

in supplemental first-grade tutoring. Scientific Studies of Reading, 8, 53–85.

*Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Morris, R. D. (2006). Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(4), 357-87.

*Leinhardt, G., Zigmond, N., & Cooley, W. W. (1981). Reading instruction and its effects. American Educational Research Journal, 18(3), 343-361.

*Pikulski, J. J., & Chard, D. J. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(6), 510-519.

*Rasinski, T. V. (2012). Why reading fluency should be hot! The Reading Teacher, 65(8), 516-522. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01077

*Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical advice for teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates.

Supporting Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

Required Readings

Compton-Lilly, C. (2008) Teaching struggling readers: Capitalizing on diversity for effective learning. The Reading Teacher, 61(8), 668-672.

Enriquez, G., Jones, S., & Clarke, L. W. (2010). Turning around our perceptions and practices, then our readers. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 73-76.

Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. K. (2012). To what interventions are students responding? The Reading Teacher, 66(2), 111-115.

Spear-Swerling, L. (2015). Common types of reading problems and how to help children who have them. The Reading Teacher, 69(5), 513-522.

On Your Own: Additional Resources

Allington, R. L. (2013). What really matters when working with struggling readers. The Reading Teacher, 66(7), 520-530.

*Rasinski, T. (2017). Readers who struggle: Why many struggle and a modest proposal for improving their reading. The Reading Teacher, 70(5), 519-524.

Assessment of Children’s Word-Solving Abilities: What Should Teachers Know and Do?

Required Readings

Deeney, T. A. (2010). One-minute fluency measures: Mixed messages in assessment and instruction. The Reading Teacher, 63(6), 440-450.

Lipson, M. Y., Chomsky-Higgins, P., & Kanfer, J. (2011). The missing ingredients in RTI assessment. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 204-208.

Wilson, P., Martens, P., & Arya, P. (2005). Accountability for reading and readers: What the numbers don’t tell. The Reading Teacher, 58(7), 622-631.

Wixson, K. K., & Valencia, S. W. (2011). Assessment in RTI: What teachers and specialists need to know. The Reading Teacher, 64(6), 466-469.

On Your Own: Additional Readings

Dougherty-Stahl, K. (2011). Applying new visions of reading development in today’s classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 66 (1), 52-56.

Kervin, L., & Mantei, J. (2016). Assessing emergent readers’ knowledge about online reading. The Reading Teacher, 69 (6) 647-651.

Lenski, S. D., Ehlers-Zavala, F., Daniel, M. C., & Sun-Irminger, X. (2006). Assessing English language learners in mainstream classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 60 (1), 24-34.

*Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. K. (2013). Assessment of Reading and Writing Difficulties: An Interactive Approach. Boston: Pearson.

Opitz, M., & Ford, M. (2006). Assessment can be friendly! The Reading Teacher, 59 (8), 814-816.

*Teale, W. H. (2008). What counts? Literacy assessment in urban schools. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 358-361.

*Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. (2006). The role of informal reading inventories in assessing word recognition. The Reading Teacher, 59 (6), 592-594.

*Wiggins, G. (1993). Assessing student performance: Exploring the purpose and limits of testing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Engaging Children in Reading

Required Readings

Cunningham, P. (2005). If they don’t read much, how they ever gonna get good? The Reading Teacher, 59 (1), 86-90.

Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M. (2004) Motivating students to read: Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation and achievement. In P. McCardle & V. Chhabra (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 329-354).Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Co.

Mahiri, J., & Miniates, H. (2013). The tough part: Getting first graders engaged in reading. The Reading Teacher, 67 (4), 255-263.

Strachan, S. (2014). Expanding the range of text types used in the primary grade. The Reading Teacher, 68 (4), 303-311.

On Your Own: Additional Resources

*Cervetti, G., & Hiebert, E. (2015) The sixth pillar of reading instruction: Knowledge development. The Reading Teacher 68(7), 548-551.

Dougherty-Stahl, K. (2017). Applying new visions of reading development in today’s classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 66 (1), 52-56.

Hoffman, J. (2017). What if ‘just right’ is just wrong? The unintended consequences of leveling readers. The Reading Teacher, doi: 10.1002/trtr.1611

Neuman, S. (2006). The knowledge gap: Implications for early education. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson, Handbook of early literacy research, Vol. 2 (pp. 29-40). NY: Guilford.

*Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Eds.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp.76-98). Chicago:Open Court.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and

technology. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 97-118).

New York: Cambridge University Press.

*Cited in session content.

Multimodal Resource Sets

NOTE: The titles below are the “traditional texts” included on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheets that are completed in Sessions 1, 2 and 3.

Participants do not need to purchase these books. Instead, they may access these via a school or local library to review, evaluate quality and “fit” for a unit on habitats. Based on their analysis, they will choose one title from each of those listed for each session as a book to include in a multimodal resource set.

SESSION 1: Books to Review to Language and Knowledge about Habitats)\

The Kindergarten Multimodal Resource Set includes:

Here is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy
The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer
Video: Nature Cat: Where Have All the Butterflies Gone <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nature_cat_full_butterflies_gone/nature-cat-where-have-all-the-butterflies-gone/#.WbvNJoprxHY>

The Second-Grade Multimodal Resource Set includes:

Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City by Barbara Bash
The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer
Video: Plum Landing: Forest in the City <http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/educators/context/140_a_forest_in_the_city.html>
Game: Plum Landing: Creature Connector <http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/games/plums_creature_connector/index.html>

SESSION 2: Books to Review to Develop Phonemic Awareness (and Knowledge about Habitats)

Kindergarten Resource Set: Books to Review

In the Small Small Pond by Denise Fleming
Poem Book: Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Sidman
Song: Over in the Meadowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ljGXMMB-
Video: Sesame Street | B is for Butterfly
Game: Sesame Street Words are Everywhere
Video Poem: Between the Lions: Four Seasons

Second Grade Resource Set: Books to Review

Book: Whose House is This? by Elizabeth Gregoire
Online Book: Prickly Pear Party by Holly Hartman <https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/animals/book?BookId=25>
Video: Plum Landing: Mangrove Mystery <http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/educators/context/105_mangrove_mystery.html>
Video: Wild Kratts: Family on the African Savanna <http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1e5eff7a-6606-4889-9ffd-40626ade7c9c/1e5eff7a-6606-4889-9ffd-40626ade7c9c/>
App: PBSKids Scratch Jr. <http://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-scratchjr.html>

SESSION 3: Books to Review to Support Phonics Development (and Knowledge about Habitats)

Kindergarten Resource Set

Online Book: The Forest by Bill Bremer <http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/earthandsky/book?BookId=224>
Online Book: Big and Little <http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/animals/book?BookId=94>
Video: Between the Lions: Bear Snores On <https://lsintspl3.wgbh.org/en-us/lesson/Snoring1-1/12>
Video: Between the Lions: If You Were: Cat <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/arct14.ela.early.cat/if-you-were-cat/#.WaRew4qQyRt>
Interactive: Pigs <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/0e27b9ff-6990-427a-ae3b-f3129e0928d3/pigs/>
Interactive: Mrs. McNosh <https://pbslearningmedia.org/resource/2a5ebf24-75ea-4343-819d-6cf7ea387653/mrs-mcnosh/>

Second Grade Resource Set: Books to Review

This is the Sea that Feeds Us, by Robert Baldwin
Online Book: Great Green Giants by Holly Hartman <https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unite/plantsandfood/book?BookId=1252>
Video (Book Reading): Between the Lions: An Egg is Quiet <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/btl10.ela.early.aneggisquiet/an-egg-is-quiet/#.WaLx3YqQyRs>
Video (Book Reading): Between the Lions: Are You a Snail <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/btlc10.ela.early.snail/are-you-a-snail/#.WaLnSYqQyRs>
Interactive: Pigs <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/0e27b9ff-6990-427a-ae3b-f3129e0928d3/pigs/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.>
Video Game: Sound Hunter -S- <https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/074c0bd7-f886-4831-8559-25e08b6448e2/sound-hunter-s-/>

On Your Own: Additional Curriculum Resources about Habitats

Picture Books

A Grassland Habitat by Bobbie Kalman (part of a Habitats series)

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman

About Habitats: Deserts by Cathryn Sill

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (poetry) by Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes

Desert Night, Desert Day by Anthony Fredericks

Hey Diddle Diddle: A Food Chain Taleb by Pam Kapchinske

I See a Kookaburra by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page

It’s Science!: All Kinds of Habitats by Sally Hewitt

One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner

Step Inside! A Look Inside Animal Homes by Catherine Ham

The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families by S. L. Roth & C. Trumbore

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro by Jennifer Ward

Way Out in the Desert by T. J. Marsh and Jennifer Ward

Welcome Home, Bear: A Book of Animal Habitats by Il Sung Na

What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins

Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Fleming

Who Needs a Jungle? By Karen Patkau

Wonderful Worms, by Linda Glazer

Books for Guided or Independent Reading

Animals in the Desert by Elisabeth de Lambilly-Bresson (part of a Habitats series)

Busy Builders by Melissa McDaniel

Living in a Desert by Patty Whitehouse (part of a Habitats series)

Ocean by Sheila Rivera (part of a Habitats series)

Rainforests by Lucy Bowman

The Sea by Claire Llewellyn

Usborne Beginners: Rainforests by Lucy Beckett-Bowman

Videos

Between the Lions: Video Poem- Quack Quack

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/arct14.ela.early.poemquack/poem-quack-quack/#.WgGjkYpryRs

If You Were a: Boa Constrictor

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/btl10.ela.early.ifyouwereboaconstrictor/if-you-were-boa-constrictor/#.WgGjrIpryRt

Terri and Jairus: Biome Buddies (3:56)

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.reg.deathvall/teri-and-jairus-biome-buddies/

Plum Landing Videos: http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/video/index.html

Plum Landing: Stinkarama

Plum Landing: What’s That Sound

Plum Landing: Wild Wild LifePlum Landing: All About Ants

Plum Landing: Brick-Eating Ivy Mystery

Plum Landing: Earth to Blorb: the Desert (2:32)

Plum Landing: Earth to Blorb: the Jungle!(1:33)

Games

Plum Landing: Mangroovin’

http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/games/mangroovin/index.html

Plum Landing: Nature Changer

http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/games/nature_changer/index.html

Online Reference

Wild Kratts: Creaturepedia

http://pbskids.org/wildkratts/creaturepedia/

Apps (Android or Apple)

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

http://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-scratchjr.html

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S6.7 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Using the Multimodal Resource Set to Support Engaged Reading

In this session you will use your assembled resource set to consider how you can use these resources to support engaged reading. You will add texts to your assembled multimodal resource worksheet and you will also explain your plan for ways to implement the texts in your online journal.

Online Journal: Identify Texts to Support Engaged Reading

Examine the texts in your Multimodal Resource Set (Worksheets Sessions 1, 2, and 3) and consider the likelihood that this particular collection will be sufficient to engage each of the children in your classroom in reading. As you review your list, remember to consider not only your students’ reading abilities, but also their “ways of being” (as discussed by Catherine Compton-Lilly in the article assigned in session 3). Identify three texts that will be likely to engage children who tend to be less motivated or less engaged readers. Be certain to identify resources that will support children as they develop knowledge about animals and their habitats while also providing them sufficient choice. Remember that you can choose from any of the various types (e.g., traditional texts, e-books, videos, or digital games); and you can also choose resources that are not on the worksheet. (See the list of additional curriculum resources below.)

In your Online Journal, list the texts you chose, explain your reasoning, and describe how you would use them to meet the needs of children in your classroom.Access the Rubric to guide your response.

Additional Curriculum Resources

Picture Books

A Grassland Habitat by Bobbie Kalman (part of a Habitats series)

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman

About Habitats: Deserts by Cathryn Sill

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (poetry) by Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes

Desert Night, Desert Day by Anthony Fredericks

Hey Diddle Diddle: A Food Chain Taleb by Pam Kapchinske

I See a Kookaburra by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page

It’s Science!: All Kinds of Habitats by Sally Hewitt

One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner

Step Inside! A Look Inside Animal Homes by Catherine Ham

The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families by S. L. Roth & C. Trumbore

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro by Jennifer Ward

Way Out in the Desert by T. J. Marsh and Jennifer Ward

Welcome Home, Bear: A Book of Animal Habitats by Il Sung Na

What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins

Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Fleming

Who Needs a Jungle? By Karen Patkau

Wonderful Worms, by Linda Glazer

Books for Guided or Independent Reading

Animals in the Desert by Elisabeth de Lambilly-Bresson (part of a Habitats series)

Busy Builders by Melissa McDaniel

Living in a Desert by Patty Whitehouse (part of a Habitats series)

Ocean by Sheila Rivera (part of a Habitats series)

Rainforests by Lucy Bowman

The Sea by Claire Llewellyn

Usborne Beginners: Rainforests by Lucy Beckett-Bowman

Games

Plum Landing: Mangroovin’

Plum Landing: Nature Changer

Words are Everywhere

Videos

Between the Lions: Video Poem: Quack Quack

Between the Lions: Video Poem: Four Seasons

If You Were a: Boa Constrictor

Plum Landing: All About Ants

Plum Landing: Brick-Eating Ivy Mystery

Plum Landing: Earth to Blorb: the Desert (2:32)

http://pbskids.org/video/?guid=be04f226-36ca-459c-891a-a065038f453a

Plum Landing: Earth to Blorb: the Jungle!(1:33)

http://pbskids.org/plumlanding/educators/context/116_earth_to_blorb_the_jungle.html

Plum Landing: Stinkarama

Plum Landing: What’s That Sound

Plum Landing: Wild Wild Life

Terri and Jairus: Biome Buddies (3:56)

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.reg.deathvall/teri-and-jairus-biome-buddies/

Online Reference

Wild Kratts: Creaturepedia

Apps (Android or Apple)

Plum Landing: Creaturizer

App: Super Why ABC Adventures (fee)

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S4.1 Teaching Children Who Find Word Solving Difficult

2020-05-07T08:41:23-04:00

Too many students at all ages continue to struggle in becoming proficient readers, and for many, a lack of a strong reading foundation is the cause. Authentic and engaging foundational instruction can help many students move toward reading proficiency.

(Rasinski, 2017, p. 519)

Learning Goals

Session at a Glance

S4.1 Establish a Baseline	30 minutes
Read the classroom scenario.	10 minutes
Solve a Problem of Practice: Recall, reflect, respond.	20 minutes
S4.2 Build Background Knowledge	70 minutes
View: Supporting Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult	20 minutes
Read: To What Interventions Are Students Responding? Turning Around Our Perceptions and Practices, Then Our Readers	15 minutes 15 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S4.3 Deepen Understanding and Connect to Classroom Practice	120 minutes
View: Evidence-Based Interventions for Children Who Find Word-Solving Difficult: What Should Teachers Do? Read: Common Types of Reading Problems and How to Help Children Who Have Them Teaching Struggling Readers: Capitalizing on Diversity for Effective Learning	35 minutes 30 minutes 15 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	30 minutes
Check your understanding.	30 minutes
S4.4 Step into a Classroom	55 minutes
View: Two classroom videos.	10 minutes
Discussion Forum: Reflect, comment, and discuss.	45 minutes
S4.5 Explore Multimodal Resources	80 minutes
Identify texts appropriate for use with children who find word solving difficult.	60 minutes
Online Journal: Reflect and respond.	20 minutes
S4.6 Act on the Evidence	60 minutes
Revisit the ‘problem of practice’ and reconsider your suggested teaching actions.
On Your Own: Additional Resources
Total Session Time (estimated)	7 hours

Discussion: Virtual Café

2020-05-15T12:45:14-04:00

Come in, have a cup of virtual coffee, introduce yourself, and get acquainted with your fellow learners! When you introduce yourself, include the following information:

your name,
what grades and classes you teach (or taught),
why you are taking this course
& your favorite book!

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S1.6 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-05-19T08:36:59-04:00

What are multimodal resources and why are they important to language development?

As technologies emerge and enter our daily lives in ever-increasing ways, educational researchers and teachers alike have come to recognize that they are bringing with them important changes in children’s opportunities to learn.

Readily accessible technologies open up many new types of texts–referred to as multimodal because of the different modes or pathways they use to convey information. Multimodal texts extend children’s opportunities to learn in important ways. Yet, in many schools and classrooms, especially in the early grades, children are provided few opportunities to experience the affordances of digital resources and also to acquire expertise in effective navigation of various media. As in other aspects of education, the children who are the most disadvantaged by the absence of opportunities to learn about and from high-quality educational media are those who reside in high-poverty homes and communities. So it seems to make sense to take a step back and review what we know about the effects of high-quality educational media on young children’s learning; and then, based on the evidence, consider the implications for the choices we make in our own classrooms.

Among the most important findings from credible and trustworthy studies are these.

Relative to children’s cognitive abilities:

Playing digital games resulted in increases in working memory, mental rotation accuracy, spatial rotation accuracy, and visual attention.
Classroom computer use for 20 minutes a day increased preschoolers’ visual discrimination skills.
Children playing computer games showed increased levels of collaboration and communication.
TV/video/DVD viewing by 4 & 5 year-olds was not associated with attention problems regardless of program content.

Relative to children’s social abilities:

Quantity and quality of interactions increased when pairs were at computers compared to pairs playing with puzzles on the floor.

Relative to children’s literacy development:

Children from low-income backgrounds achieved substantial gains in early literacy abilities, such that the achievement gap with their middle-income peers closed.
Children’s early experiences with high-quality educational media linked with measures of academic achievement 10 years later.

With findings like these as the foundation, the question seems to be not whether we should integrate digital resources into the early childhood curriculum, but rather, which ones and how? These are the questions we will explore next.

Optional Reading: Read more about the evidence of the effects of technology, interactive media, and multimodal texts on young children’s academic development in position statement adopted by the Fred Rogers Center and NAYC.

Assembling a Multimodal Text Set: Guiding Questions

In the previous section we made the point that multimodal resources, in combination with high-quality traditional texts, improve children’s opportunities to learn by providing access to rich, varied, and engaging language learning and concept building opportunities. We also made the point that not all children have equal opportunities to learn from such a rich and varied set of resources; and often, the inequities in children’s language learning experiences are directly associated with parents’ economic and educational resources. Although we can sometimes be convinced that there is little we can do to level the playing field for all children, in this particular case, there is actually a lot we can do. This is because so many of the multimodal resources that provide children rich, varied, and engaging language learning experiences are entirely free and can be accessed through television, on the internet, or at a school or local library.

However, to be able to draw on these resources in our classrooms and also help parents and children use them at home, teachers need to be well informed about what’s available; and they need to make sound decisions about which resources are “worthy” of becoming part of the classroom curriculum.

Toward that end, in each course session, we will use a set of questions to guide our exploration, evaluation, and selection of multimodal resources that are a good “fit” for our instructional goals.

Review these questions to guide exploration of available resources and help you to decide what to keep and what to put aside as you assemble instructional resources. After reviewing these questions, you will use them to guide your analysis of the four resources in either the kindergarten or second-grade set.

Assignment: Take a Closer Look at the “Starting Four”

Using the questions on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet: Session 1, examine each of the four resources in the set and consider how each will support children’s development of key concepts related to habitats and also support the key language learning principles explored in this course session. Then, based on your review, decide if you would have selected this particular text to include in your resource set, and explain why or why not.

Assemble a Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet: Kindergarten ( pdf | docx )

Assemble a Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet: Second Grade ( pdf | docx )

Alternative Books List for Multimodal Resource Sets

Next, check your work against the Assembling a Resource Set Rubric, then upload your completed Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet to the course Assignments. (You will refer to this Multimodal Resource Set at various times throughout this course, so be sure to keep your worksheet readily available in addition to uploading.)

Assignment: Discussion Forum 1.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-05-21T00:41:15Z

Due:

In their discussion of the need for surrounding children with lots of books, Dickinson and Tabors comment that “Of course, having the books is only the first step in the process. It is also necessary to have willing readers who use the books for enjoyment and to expand the children's knowledge of the world” (p. 16). Based on your reading and on your own classroom experiences, share at least two specific actions that teachers can take–either in their own classrooms or in their work with parents and other caregivers–to help children and adults have fun as they read and learn about language and their world? Draw from the principles to explain why these actions are likely to make a difference.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 1.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-05-21T02:02:05Z

Due:

What specific teaching actions did Cindy Wilson take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain your rationale.

What specific teaching actions did Cindy Wilson take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain your rationale.

Assignment: Session 1: Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

2020-05-21T13:07:30Z

Due:

Explain why oral language development is important to literacy development in both the early and later years of schooling.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of the full array of language knowledge necessary for successful literacy learning.

Explain why oral language development is important to literacy development in both the early and later years of schooling.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of the full array of language knowledge necessary for successful literacy learning.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 2.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-05-27T19:36:57Z

Due:

Assignment: Session 1: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-05-30T14:31:45Z

Due:

Upload your Session 1 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Assignment: Session 2: Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

2020-05-30T14:37:42Z

Due:

Explain why phonemic awareness is important to literacy development.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

Explain why phonemic awareness is important to literacy development.
Describe at least two teaching routines you could implement to support children’s development of phonemic awareness.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 2.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-05-30T15:26:31Z

Due:

Identify at least two ways John Sinnett’s teaching aligns with evidence-based instruction of phonemic awareness and cite evidence that supports the practice as effective.
Identify at least two teaching actions that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose these particular actions.

Assignment: Session 2: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-05-30T15:51:42Z

Due:

Upload your Session 2 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Wiki Page, RDLA257.32: S3.7 Explore Multimodal Resources

2020-06-02T15:42:06-04:00

Using the Multimodal Resource Set to Provide Phonics Practice

In the last session, you focused on choosing texts, poems and songs that you could read aloud or sing along with children to support phonemic awareness. In this session, you will focus on identifying texts that will provide children meaningful and engaging contexts in which to practice the phonics skills they are working on. To guide your exploration of available resources, it might be helpful once again to review the guiding questions.

Assemble a Multimodal Resource Set: Add Texts to Support Phonics Practice to Your Habitat Multimodal Resource Set

To add texts to your resource set that will provide your students helpful phonics practice in the context of meaningful literacy experiences, you will choose from the collection of resources on the Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet for your selected grade level. Select at least three resources, including one from each of the three different types: books, videos, and digital games. Once again, be sure to focus on resources that will support children’s development of word-solving skills and their understanding of habitats. Be sure to explain your reasons for selecting each resource. Access the Assembling a Resource Set Rubric to guide your response.

Select one:

Session 3 Resource Set Worksheet for Kindergarten ( pdf | docx )

Session 3 Resource Set Worksheet for Second Grade ( pdf | docx )

Alternative Books List for Multimodal Resource Sets

When completed, upload your Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet to the course assignments. (Be sure to save this along with your Multimodal Resource Set Worksheets - for Session 1 and Session 2 - as you will return to all of these texts as we move through the course.)

Discussion: Help

2020-06-02T19:55:22-04:00

Having trouble understanding what to do in the assignments? Need some help on technical issues? This is the place to post your questions or help others.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 3.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-04T14:30:14Z

Due:

Select at least two of the guiding principles described by Helman. How will you integrate these in your own teaching and why? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.
What does Clark (2004) mean by “coaching” word recognition and how does this teaching action support children’s independent word solving?

Select at least two of the guiding principles described by Helman. How will you integrate these in your own teaching and why? Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.
What does Clark (2004) mean by “coaching” word recognition and how does this teaching action support children’s independent word solving?

Assignment: Session 3: Online Journal: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-04T15:34:21Z

Due:

What is systematic phonics instruction and why is it important to literacy development?
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, and Dougherty-Stahl describe seven principles of effective phonics instruction. If you already address these principles in your classroom routines, provide an example of how your teaching aligns with the principles. If you do not, provide examples of how you will modify instruction to align with the principles.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 3.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-04T21:23:25Z

Due:

What specific teaching actions did Shari and Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you either already incorporate or will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why this particular action is important.

What specific teaching actions did Shari and Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you either already incorporate or will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why this particular action is important.

Assignment: Session 3: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-06-04T23:57:17Z

Due:

Upload your Session 3 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Assignment: Session 2: Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet Assignment

2020-06-07T13:52:27Z

Due:

Upload your Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet here.

Assignment: Session 1: Multimodal Resources - Take a Closer Look at the "Starting Four" Assignment

2020-06-07T19:02:43Z

Due:

Assignment: Session 4: Online Journal 4.1: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-10T14:27:56Z

Due:

What are the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word solving difficult? As you identify characteristics ideas, be sure to consider and comment on the ideas of both Lipson and Wixson and also those of Enrique and her colleagues.
Comment on the position taken by Enrique and her colleagues that the use of the label, “struggling readers” has the potential to disrupt and diminish children’s reading development. Will you make any adjustments or changes to your teaching (and talk of students who have difficulty) based on this point of view? Explain why or why not.

What are the characteristics of effective instruction for children who find word solving difficult? As you identify characteristics ideas, be sure to consider and comment on the ideas of both Lipson and Wixson and also those of Enrique and her colleagues.
Comment on the position taken by Enrique and her colleagues that the use of the label, “struggling readers” has the potential to disrupt and diminish children’s reading development. Will you make any adjustments or changes to your teaching (and talk of students who have difficulty) based on this point of view? Explain why or why not.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 4.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-10T14:33:19Z

Due:

Comment on how the approaches are alike and different.
Describe at least two ways you will integrate these in your own teaching and tell why you chose these as especially pertinent to your own teaching. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Comment on how the approaches are alike and different.
Describe at least two ways you will integrate these in your own teaching and tell why you chose these as especially pertinent to your own teaching. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 4.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-11T14:46:28Z

Due:

What specific teaching actions did Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose this particular action.

What specific teaching actions did Hildi take to enact these principles?
Identify at least one teaching action that you will incorporate in your own teaching and explain why you chose this particular action.

Assignment: Session 4: Online Journal 4.2: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-11T18:53:59Z

Due:

Using the Multimodal Text Resource Set you have assembled, choose three resources that you could use with children in your classroom who are experiencing difficulty solving words. (You may also add different resources if you would like, but be certain to add them to your Session 3 Worksheet and verify that any new resources meet the criteria specified on the Worksheet.)

Then, in your online journal, name the resources and describe how you would use these to provide extra support to children who are experiencing difficulty with word solving. Also explain why these particular resources and the teaching actions you specify are likely to be helpful in advancing children’s word-solving abilities.

Assignment: Session 3: Multimodal Resource Set Worksheet Assignment

2020-06-12T11:24:19Z

Due:

Assignment: Session 4: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-06-12T11:25:09Z

Due:

Upload your Session 4 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 5.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-17T12:41:34Z

Due:

Assignment: Session 5: Online Journal 5.1: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-18T13:43:58Z

Due:

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
Describe the literacy assessments mandated by your district or school and also those you choose to implement on your own. In your view, are these assessments aligned with the characteristics of trustworthy assessment? If so, explain how they align; if not, explain how they are misaligned. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

What are the characteristics of trustworthy assessment?
Describe the literacy assessments mandated by your district or school and also those you choose to implement on your own. In your view, are these assessments aligned with the characteristics of trustworthy assessment? If so, explain how they align; if not, explain how they are misaligned. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 5.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-18T13:51:06Z

Due:

In this classroom episode, we were given a “glimpse” of a classroom routine to administer one type of assessment (i.e., formal or informal assessment). Respond to this routine. In your view, does it align with principles for trustworthy assessment? Why or why not?

This classroom episode also presents multiple opportunities for assessing children’s word-solving behaviors in the context of routine instruction. Re-view the video and pay specific attention to the teacher’s opportunities to observe children’s word-solving behaviors. Make a list of the opportunities you notice and share a few of them. If you were the classroom teacher, what might you notice and “jot down” as you observe the children’s word-solving behaviors and actions? Assuming that these observations are part of a pattern of behavior, how might you follow up with these children? That is, what instructional steps or actions might you take to reinforce or advance their word-solving behaviors?

Assignment: Session 5: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-06-18T20:14:09Z

Due:

Upload your Session 5 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Assignment: Session 6: Online Journal 6.1: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-23T23:14:03Z

Due:

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to literacy development?
Recall the four factors that contribute to reading engagement; then, consider your classroom routines and practices and your children’s engagement in reading. Do your routines and practices align with the evidence on engaged reading? If so, describe your routines and practices and relate them to the evidence presented in the lecture and article. If not, describe at least two ways you will modify your instructional practices so that they are more aligned with the evidence related to engaged reading. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

What is reading engagement and how does it contribute to literacy development?
Recall the four factors that contribute to reading engagement; then, consider your classroom routines and practices and your children’s engagement in reading. Do your routines and practices align with the evidence on engaged reading? If so, describe your routines and practices and relate them to the evidence presented in the lecture and article. If not, describe at least two ways you will modify your instructional practices so that they are more aligned with the evidence related to engaged reading. Be sure to draw from the evidence in the lectures and readings as you explain your reasoning.

Assignment: Discussion Forum 6.1: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-24T01:50:47Z

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Assignment: Discussion Forum 6.2: Reflect, Respond, and Discuss

2020-06-24T14:15:28Z

Due:

What evidence do you see that children are engaged in the various jobs and learning center activities?
What actions did each teacher take to promote children’s engagement in reading, writing, and learning?
Will you adapt any of these teaching actions into your own teaching routines? If so, explain which actions and why.

Assignment: Session 6: Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments

2020-06-24T14:27:52Z

Due:

Upload your Session 6 Classroom Scenario Analysis Assignments here.

Assignment: Session 6: Online Journal 6.3: Final Project: Applying Understandings to My Own Teaching

2020-06-24T16:47:19Z

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Assignment: Session 5: Online Journal 5.2: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-25T19:31:15Z

Due:

Assignment: Session 6: Online Journal 6.2: Reflect and Respond

2020-06-25T22:17:30Z

Due: