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