Competency 15: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Expository/ Informational Texts and Study Skills

RICA Reflection

Competency 15: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Expository/ Informational Texts and Study Skills

Introduction

RICA Competency number fifteen address how to have instructional strategies and assessments that are appropriate for expository or informational text.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.

In a text structure with problem and solution and sequence I have seen both of these used in the classroom. For problem and solution, we read a book entitled Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In this book, it is a great picture story about a girl mouse that is teased about her name and how she overcomes it; as a class we discussed ways to overcome these challenges. Sequencing we used when I read the story Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore by David McPhail, we organized the story into parts that were most important.

For comparison/contrast, in my fifth grade class we compared and contrasted the differences in substances during science. They have to compare the glue and water and then their final solution of putty. The students have to write a few sentences down after they had put the information into a Venn diagram. This helped the students really see the differences between the substances.

Oral and written activities for expository texts in the first grade classroom we were showing the students how to read several different articles all about fruit and have them decide which is their favorite fruit and why supported by textual evidence. Together we found the similarities and differences between tests on the same topic and highlighted key information that would help them come to a decision. It was interesting to see what they chose based on the article.

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Struggling readers and students with reading disabilities will need access to textbooks at their levels. A few ways to help facilitate the struggling readers is by allowing them to listen to the chapter on tape before they are asked to read the chapter, the teacher can read aloud portions of the chapter, and the students are given key vocabulary lessons before the chapter is being read. The teacher may need to scaffold the lesson so that the child has some knowledge before hand or they can take notes and give them to the student. Showing visuals such as real objects, illustrations, and diagrams will be helpful to the struggling student.  

Here is a link to 8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language.

English Language Learners or speakers of nonstandard English will need to have explicit modeling of gathering information from an encyclopedia. A teacher can do a think-aloud, and model how to read and share the text with the class. Using oral language and writing activities to support content-area knowledge will help the English learners acquire the key concepts presented in expository texts. Oral activities can be a follow-up to ensure understanding. Building background knowledge with students native language resources will increase background knowledge for the student. If they have a understanding in their native language then the student will be able to connect to new material better.

Advanced learners will need to have the pace or complexity increased and extending the depth and breadth of instruction.

Assessment

Checking if the students are able to identify and understand the text structure is good way to check for understanding. The teacher provides the students with a prompt with words missing the students should be able to identify what is missing just based on structure.  Multilevel questions and a simple test to check for understanding especially when using the science or social studies textbook. Allow the students to answer the questions where they can look through the text to help find the answers. Readability is a measure of the difficulty of a text. A teacher should do this to ensure that the student will be able to read a specific book. He/she can calculate the word length, number of syllables in each word, and see how many words are in each sentence, this will determine if the book is at the right level for the student.

There are also entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments. Entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments are assessments that the teacher will administer when needed to check progress along the way. If the student is below grade level the teacher will need to figure out why. The teacher may have to go back to kindergarten levels to recheck the students skill level and move on from there to see where the problem is.

Text-to-Text Connections

“When teachers judge instructional content area materials, they frequently assess readability. Readability formulas can help estimate text difficulty, but they are not intended to be precise indicators.” (RLTR, p. 398)

“Expository informational books do not contain story; they contain information that typically follow specific text structures such as the description, sequence, cause-and-effect, comparison and contrast, and problem solving.” (RLTR, p. 408)

TPE Connections

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible

TPE 5: Student Engagement

Competency 14: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Understanding and Analyzing Narrative/Literary Texts

RICA Reflection

Competency 14: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Understanding and Analyzing Narrative/Literary Texts

Introduction

RICA Competency number fourteen address how to have instructional strategies and assessments that are appropriate to use with narrative or literary texts.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.

A variety of genres of books is what I shared with my tutees. I wanted to share them a variety of types of books that they can enjoy and see that they are multiple types of books to read. I introduced them to narratives, fiction, nonfiction, informational, and a folktale.

Knowing the difference between fiction and nonfiction books is an important concept to understand. In the first grade classroom, we worked hard at understanding and noting the difference between text types. As I shared my guided and shared reading books with the students that was one question I knew I had to ask. I observed my master teacher ask this question no matter what book we were reading.

Understanding the elements of story grammar is another important concept to make sure the young scholars are aware of. Being able to identify main characters in the story is critical. Once students understand these elements you are able to move on to harder concepts that help a person connect to the story.

“For story maps and story grammar outlines, teachers first provide models to use as a framework to discuss the story. Then, the teacher provides “skeletal” maps and grammar outlines. Students complete these during and after they read, with help from the teacher. Next, students are challenged to complete maps and grammar outlines on their own.” (RICA, p. 107) I used this technique as an assessment with my shared lesson. In the big book,  Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore we used sequencing as a strategy to sort the story into first, next, then, and last and the students drew a picture to help retell the important details.  

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Struggling readers and students with reading disabilities will need access to grade-level texts throughout oral presentation, be focusing on key elements of story grammar, use story maps, and if needed reteaching of skills and strategies using concrete examples

English Language Learners or speakers of nonstandard English will need to learn clarifications of cultural context of the text and preteaching of key vocabulary.

Advanced learners will need to have the pace or complexity increased and extending the depth and breadth of instruction.

Assessment

Student read and teacher read aloud is key when helping with assessing literary understanding. focusing on oral and written skills is important to check for understanding.

Free and focused response questioning is key to comprehension for students. By giving the ability to respond how they seem fit to a free response question and answering specifically to questions on a focused question will truly check for understanding. For the teacher, here is a link to some types of questions you could ask.

There are also entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments. Entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments are assessments that the teacher will administer when needed to check progress along the way. If the student is below grade level the teacher will need to figure out why. The teacher may have to go back to kindergarten levels to recheck the students skill level and move on from there to see where the problem is.

Text-to-Text Connections

“The big book allows all the children in the class or in a small group to participate actively in reading of the story. Because the print and illustrations are large enough for all children to see, the teacher captures their attention the immediately and focuses instruction around key goals.” (RLTR, p. 104)

“In shared reading, the teacher and class of beginners partake in the reading and rereading of favorite stories, songs, poems, and rhymes. Shared reading is a way of creating opportunities for children to learn what a book is, what an “expert” reader does with a book as it is red, and what makes a story a story.” (RLTR, p. 105)

“In narrative informational text the author typically tells a fictional story that conveys factual information. … This type of text often works well as a read-aloud and can be motivating lead-in to a topic of study.” (RLTR, p. 407-408)

TPE Connections

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible

TPE 5: Student Engagement

Competency 13: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Before Children Read, While Children Read, After Children Read

RICA Reflection

Competency 13: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Before Children Read, While Children Read, After Children Read

Introduction

RICA Competency number thirteen address how to be able to have instructional strategies that can be used with any type of text.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.

Having small groups of the same comprehension levels for reading is something that I plan to incorporate into my classroom. My Master Teacher has this in her classroom and I really enjoy that when you are working within a small group you are able to focus on and target specific strategies that the students are lacking in. I have personally worked with the green group. These six students needed assistance in the strategy of summarizing so that is where I focused my efforts.  

While instructing the green reading group, I made sure set a purpose for reading. This sets up the students for success. This helps the students to be able to focus their attention where needed so they learn the correct objective. My objective for The Sleeping Pig was: Remember at the end you will need to recall at least 1-2 key details of the story or summarize the story.

While the students are reading texts it is important to ask questions that really make the students think. There are several ways in which to have the students find the answers to my questions; right there, think and search, author and you, and on my own. I was able to practice these skills with all of my placements and with my tutees. In my first grade class, we read aloud an article that was teaching us about plants and what they need in order to survive. I asked them a think and search question by saying, “What do plants need to survive?” they responded with their knowledge and/or textual evidence which supported their thoughts.  

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Struggling readers and students with reading disabilities will acquire several forms of differentiated comprehension such as building word analysis skills, fluency, vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge. Through these techniques, the students foundation skills will improve. Reading the text aloud will help struggling learners be able to participate in the class conversations. Reviewing and re-teaching lessons as needed will be helpful as well.

English Language Learners or speakers of nonstandard English will need to learn the transfer of comprehension strategies from their primary language to English. If needed the teacher will have to teach missing concepts that are necessary to acquire English. For some reading comprehension games click here

Advanced learners will need to have the pace or complexity increased and extending the depth and breadth of instruction.

Assessment

There are several ways in which to assess the students to find out if they are progressing.

Determining reading levels is an important tool that a teacher must figure out so they know how best to help their students. Figuring out the independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels of every student will assist for lesson planning. Using question-answer relationships will assist the the students by teaching them critical thinking skills. Right there, think and search, author and you, and on my own are techniques that may need some extra time spent in order to help facilitate the students more.

There are also entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments. Entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments are assessments that the teacher will administer when needed to check progress along the way. If the student is below grade level the teacher will need to figure out why. The teacher may have to go back to kindergarten levels to recheck the students skill level and move on from there to see where the problem is.

Text-to-Text Connections

“Teachers remain the most important decision-makers in terms of critically evaluating and decide what is appropriate invaluable for their students to read.” (RLTR, p. 376)

“Before reading is a time to motivate students and build background knowledge. This aspect of the lesson involves getting ready to read. It is sometimes referred to as the pre-reading phase of instruction. The teacher attempts to build interest in reading, set purposes, and introduce new concepts and vocabulary.” (RLTR, p. 377)

TPE Connections

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible

TPE 5: Student Engagement

Competency 12: Comprehension: Concepts and Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension

RICA Reflection

Competency 12: Comprehension: Concepts and Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension

Introduction

RICA Competency number twelve address how a reader is able to understand what they are reading.  This chapter also reviews the factors affecting reading comprehension.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.

“The answers to inferential reading questions are not in the text- the reader must speculate based on the surface meaning of the text.” (RICA p. 91) I have used this when I was asking my tutees to predict what they thought would happen along the way. In the book, Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog by Cynthia Rylant I asked my tutee to predict if the dog was a good dog or a bad dog. As we continued to read the book we were able to see if her prediction was correct.

In my fifth grade placement, I practice the skill of sentence structure with them every time. We have a daily literature review (DLR), that we correct together as a class. The students are asked to correct the sentences and identify mistakes as they see them. This helps their critical thinking skills and helps review other concepts as well. For some fun worksheets click here

It is important for students to be exposed to many different types text structures. The difference between fiction and nonfiction, informational and stories carry an impact on them and they need to differentiate between them all. With my tutees we worked on an informational book named, Insects where is informed us all about insects. “Students with experiences working with expository text structures can use that knowledge to better comprehend the information-based texts they are asked to read.” (RICA, p. 93)

Text-to-Text Connections

“Through prereading activities, vocabulary words can be focused on before students read to help activate background knowledge in activities involving predicting.” (RLTR, p. 256)

“Not only do questions stimulate interest and arouse curiosity, but they also draw students into the story. In this process, students’ reading comprehension will be more goal-directed. That is, that they will read to satisfy purpose that they, not the teacher, have established.” (RLTR, p. 289)

TPE Connections

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible

TPE 5: Student Engagement

Competency 11: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Instruction and Assessment

RICA Reflection

Competency 11: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Instruction and Assessment

Introduction

RICA Competency number eleven address how to teach and assess vocabulary.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.

Instruction must fit the age and ability of the students is something that I am conscious of when I was planning and writing my lesson plans. I had to make sure that what I had planned was going to be at the right level for all of my students and fit all of their needs. In my science lesson, I thought that my fifth graders would be able to complete a data table and it turns out that they were in more need of guidance. I had to change the amount of time for the other parts in order to meet their needs. Some of the other parts that I had to help with was making the vocabulary a little more kid friendly versus being so scientific.

Semantic maps will be used in my future classroom. I have seen these types of maps being used in my first grade class and they are very important to teach vocabulary and helps to organize the thoughts of the students. My class did a semantic map of plants. The students helped the teacher figure out what a plant needs in order to survive. I loved being able to have the students be able to make the connections to the material they just read to making a poster that connected the information.

“As with almost all types of lessons, struggling readers usually respond well to activities that use a variety of learning modes.” (p. 86) Applying the concept of kinesthetics to teaching verbs can go hand in hand. As a class we were discussing what verbs were and we decided to put motions with the words in order to make the concept become concrete. ex. the word is run, we ran around in a circle spelling run.

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Struggling readers and students with reading disabilities will acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge. The teacher will need to reteach what has not been mastered and may need to reteach the lessons. By providing concrete examples this will help make the connections needed for master of concepts.

English Language Learners or speakers of nonstandard English will need to learn cognates. Working on connecting the Spanish to the English word will help the students be able to make the connections faster. Helping the students understand the different morphemes that will help them in their future. By teaching concepts such as: anti- means against, auto means self, bi- means two, and contra- means against, this will help increase the knowledge needed for competency.  More information about cognates

Advanced learners will need to have the pace or complexity increased and extending the depth and breadth of instruction.

Assessment

There are several ways in which to assess the students to find out if they are progressing. Using a word in a sentence/multiple answer options format is the best and most concrete way to assess for knowledge of word meaning. Asking students to identify and explain the meaning of a word by using a synonym. Analogies are another way in which to assess for understanding. Through the use of context  a teacher can assess through morphemic analysis this is teaching the students prefixes, suffixes, root words, and compound words. Lastly, figuring out if the student understands language structure, this is when you remove a word in a paragraph and the student is able to decipher the missing word based on sentence structure.

There are also entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments. Entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments are assessments that the teacher will administer when needed to check progress along the way. If the student is below grade level the teacher will need to figure out why. The teacher may have to go back to kindergarten levels to recheck the students skill level and move on from there to see where the problem is.

Text-to-Text Connections

“Semantic mapping, or webbing, is a strategy that shows readers and writers how to organize important information. Semantic mapping can also revolve around vocabulary learning by providing a visual display of how words are related to other words.” (RLTR, p. 266)

“Teaching vocabulary words with games should not be “played” in isolation. Games should be connected to learning objectives and adapted to include the word being learned or reinforced. In order for that vocabulary development to truly occur, the focus needs to be on word knowledge rather than word pronunciation.” (RLTR, p. 276)

TPE Connections

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible

TPE 5: Student Engagement

Competency 10: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Role in Reading Development and Factors That Affect Development

RICA Reflection

Competency 10: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Role  in Reading Development and Factors That Affect Development

Introduction

RICA competency ten address that there are many types of ways in which to learn vocabulary; listening, speaking, writing, and while reading: sight, and meaning. Academic language differs because it is used in textbooks and in the classroom and not in a social environment. Background knowledge is the knowledge that one knows about a specific topic, this is the foundation where greater knowledge can be built.

Personal Connection/Evidence

There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency

During my time in the first grade classroom as I was teaching my guided lesson, I noticed when I reviewed the "words to know" the students were able to decode the words but when I asked the the meaning of the words there were some who were unable to to explain. Their reading comprehension is low, I had to stop and explain what the words meant to ensure knowledge of the text.

Background knowledge is essential tool to use when helping students with their comprehension. Accessing the prior knowledge helps the students be able to make the connections needed for new information to be learned.

For the vocabulary learning as an incremental process this helps students understand the meaning of words on different levels; unknown, acquainted, established. Taking the time in my classrooms to stop to check for meaning or front loading them with the meanings help them focus on the concept versus word meaning. "The most challenging task for a teacher is to teach students the meanings of words that fall in the unknown category."(p. 77) Being able to look up definitions of words is something that I do when I am with my fifth grade class. We will stop class to ensure knowledge is being gained. Click here for some tips to help you learn vocabulary.

Text-to-Text Connections

“When teachers explicitly teach strategies with the purpose of eventually fostering independent use of the strategies, teachers are scaffolding instruction. With respect to teaching comprehension, scaffolded instruction means that the teacher model strategies step-by-step and explicitly demonstrate the process of thinking before, during, and after one reads.” (RLTR, p. 287)

“Teachers need to be aware that students from culturally, linguist sickly, and social diverse background will bring a wide range of experiences to the classroom. These experiences will influence how students understand or fail to understand their textbooks.” (RLTR, p. 396) (In regards to background knowledge)

“There is no question that wide reading and thus learning the meaning of words from context is an important way for people to extend the vocabularies. ‘Anyone interested in increasing student vocabularies should see that that they read as much as widely as possible’”(RLTR, p. 273)

TPE Connections

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction

TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments

TPE 4: Making Content Accessible