Try It Outs

Chapter 1: Highly Effective Teacher

Reflection: Identify the characteristics of a highly effective teacher in your clinical setting. Take pictures of posters, talk to your teacher, or make copies of ideas/lessons, etc, that describe any of these traits. Which of the traits do you feel the most apprehensive about?

One of the most evident characteristics of a highly effective teacher in my clinical placement is my teacher's intentionality. She is so intentional with each and every one of her students. She takes the time for intervention with the students that need extra help but that does not cause her to neglect the other students. Each day she tries to spend individual time with each of her students and if she didn't get to them that day she starts with them the next day. The students know she cares about them and I think that is so important. Another trait she possesses is being productive. A highly effective teacher is one that seizes every opportunity as a learning experience, and that is exactly what my teacher does. There is never a minute in the day when the students are just sitting there or doing "busy work." Every thing the students have to do is to benefit them educationally. Another characteristic of a highly effective teacher that my teacher demonstrates in her classroom is a balance between individual and group work. Like I stated above, she takes time to individually work with each student but also has carpet time and group work to develop social skills and allow students to exchange their own thought processes. The trait I am most apprehensive about is the individual work. I love this aspect of teaching, but I am nervous about how to occupy the rest of the class while the individual work is going on. It seems difficult to balance the two, but one on one teaching is very effective and important.

Try It Out: Examine your teacher's classroom library. How are the books arranged? What is the organizational system? Procedure for checking books in and out? Other ways to organize books? Take pictures. My teacher has a classroom full of books and is constantly encouraging her students to read more. The way she has her books set up is by reading level. There are bins with the levels A-Z and each book is labeled and put into the correct reading level bin. They are all along her cubbies and the front of the classroom. There is no specific procedure for checking the books out because for the most part these books are to be only read in the classroom. My teacher provides time each day for students to read and reflect their readings in their journal. The students have a book box that they carry a few of the books they picked out to read throughout the week during these times. This keeps students accountable of only a few books. Another way to organize books is to separate them into categories. This way the students could search books based off what they are interested in. I think I would organize mine the same way as my teacher, with A-Z levels, because this helps students focus on their level until they master it and can move on to the next one.

Chapter 5: Fluency
Reflection: Discuss the most effective ways to teach and assess fluency. Discuss what research says about fluency instruction.

According to much research, reading fluency has been acknowledged as an important goal in becoming a proficient and strategic reader. One the Report of the National Reading Panel was published, reading fluency became a focal point for reading instruction. It was first noted that fluency was being neglected in Allington's study in 1983. The research that the National Reading Panel released in 2000 also plays in to effective ways to teach fluency. Fluency practice seems to be most effective when reading practice is oral, when it involves repeated reading of texts, and when students receive guidance or feedback from parents or teachers. It also seems to be beneficial to have explicit instruction for fluency. Teachers must also define what fluency is and stress the importance of attaining it. They must also develop their awareness of fluency and strategies to become fluent readers. As a teacher, you must also model what fluency is supposed to look like. Provide a lot of reading practice for students. This can come in the form of oral or silent reading. When assessing fluency, teachers must look for accuracy, expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace. Teachers will look at assessing expressive reading or the student can even do a selfassessment of reading fluency. When the student does a self-assessment, it often comes in the form of a rubric and the child sees where his or her reading falls on the scale. When teachers use a rubric to assess they can do something as simple as listing accurate reading, speed or rate, and expression and putting a frowny face or a happy face if they have mastered that area. It shows students what they need to improve on to become fluent readers.

Try It Out (options choose 4):

Use a poem to teach/model fluency. There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Bat. I used this book to show the students what a fluent reader sounds like. I read the poem smoothly and in a rhythm they could follow. The students had to repeat it back to me line by line. This also helped with their ability to recall and retell stories and since it was in a rhyme it was easier for them to read fluently. Practice sight words with students using a game. I used flashcards with common sight words on them. I had a small group of students, normally only 2, and would flash the card to them to see who could recite the word the fastest. Make a collection of reader's theater scripts from online sources. The Legend of Lightning Larry The Legend of Slappy Hooper Savitri The Gifts of Wali Dad Peddler Polly and the Story Stealer The Baker's Dozen The Calabash Kids How Frog Went to Heaven Help! Hilary! Help! Which Shoes Do You Choose? Casey at the Bat The Magic Brocade A Tale of China Master Man A Tall Tale of Nigeria

Tackey The Penguin Wemberly Worried Around the Water Cycle This Is Your Life, Amelia Bedelia! Swamp Thing!! Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Magic Carpet Ride Dinosaurs Reader's Theatre St.Patrick's Day The Little Old Lady Who wasn't Afraid of Anything - Halloween Easter Bunnies Vacation Where the Wild Things Are Who Was King There's a Werewolf In Town The Very Hungry Caterpillar What, No Santa? Turkey Trotten The True Story of the Three Little Pigs The Animal Trainer Chicken Little The Dentist Dinosaur Land The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo No Bath Tonight

The King's Wish The Fairy Godmother's Assistant Liza and the Lost Letter Temper, Temper Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye Remind Me Please Goldilocks and the Three Bears Three Little Bears Cha-Cha-Cha Chin Play The Three Little Pigs Nursery Rhymes with a Twist Columbus Day Reader's Theater The Enormous Nose The Girl-Fish Shiloh Season The Meal Must Go On -Thanksgiving SANTA KNOWS ABOUT RUDOLPH'S NOSE Earth Day A Collection of Many Thematic Scripts Pippi Goes to School The Old Women and Her Pig - Level 1 The Haunted Castle - Level 3 Lightning Larry - Grade 2-6

Rumplestiltskin Piggie Pie

Source: http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm

Use a reader's theater with the class.

There is a Bird on Your Head! By Mo Willems Readers Theatre Adapted by Mrs. Eley Characters: (boy) Piggie Gerald Bird 1 (girl) Bird 2

(Bird 1 flies and lands on Geralds head.) Gerald: Piggie: Gerald: Piggie!!! Is something on my head? Yes. There is a bird on your head. There is a bird on my head? Aaaaaaaaagghhh!!!

(Bird 2 flies and lands on Geralds head.) Piggie: Gerald: Piggie: Gerald: Piggie: Gerald: Now there are two birds. They are in love! The birds on my head are in love? They are love birds! Love birds! How do you know they are love birds? They are making a nest, and laying eggs. I do not want eggs on my head.

Piggie: Gerald:

Then I have good news! The eggs are hatching! Now you have 3 baby chicks, two birds, and a nest on your head. I do not want 3 baby chicks, two birds, and a nest on my head! (Birds 1 and 2 do not listen to Gerald.)

Piggie: Gerald: Piggie: Gerald: Bird 1:

Where do you want them? SOMEWHERE ELSE! Try asking them to go somewhere else. (nicely) Excuse me, birdswill you please go somewhere else? No problem.

(Birds take their nest to Piggies head.) Gerald: Piggie: THE END Source: It worked! Thank you, Piggie! Thank you very much!!! (mad) You are welcome

http://elementarylibraryroutines.wikispaces.com/Reader's+Theater

Chapter 6: Vocabulary
Reflection: What does research say about effective vocabulary instruction? What are some best practices for teaching vocabulary?

Researchers label vocabulary as the glue that holds stories, ideas, and content together, making comprehension accessible for children. It plays such an important role for childrens success in schools. Researches say that students on the path to success are the ones that come to school with thousands of words in their head and comprehend them in daily life. Words are often referred to as the captions that describe our life experiences. Students can better understand and express the world around them with a stronger vocabulary. Researchers claim that vocabulary knowledge in reading is a great predicator of success. Because of the importance of vocabulary, effective teaching methods need to be established. Vocabulary should be taught both explicitly and incidentally because children learn vocab in those two different ways. First they need to be taught the basic definition. The next step is for them to provide the definition and be able to define it in context. Another practice for teaching vocab is to construct vocab from rich contexts. The students must know the core meaning of the word but also have an understanding of how that definition varies in different texts. This goes along with multiple meaning exposures. Vocab learning should be repetitious Students must hear, see, and use words many times in different contexts. All of this is important to provide effective practice for vocabulary instruction.

Try It Out (options choose 4):

Use technology to help students with vocabulary http://www.vocabulary.co.il/second-grade-vocabulary-games/ I used this online vocabulary game with my Action Research Group of ELL students. We did the English/Spanish vocab terms matching game. Use a word map with a student to teach vocabulary. I used vocabulary words my Cub Club students had trouble with to do multiple word maps with them. It was like a light bulb went off in their heads and they finally understood the words. For where we are supposed to draw in the word map, we often acted it out instead. This made it more fun and interactive for students. Select vocabulary words from a text and teach them to students. Write a reflection describing why these words were chosen. I was having one of my students in the classroom read to me to see where his fluency was. He would read the passage fluently until he stumbled upon a word he was unsure of. Then he would slow down, have difficulty pronouncing the word, and would read the word as a question because he was unsure of it. These are the words I would pick out to review from him. We would look at them and use context and picture clues to try and figure out the word.

Help teacher maintain a word wall or word box. I helped my teacher maintain her class word wall and also the second grade word wall. For her personal one I laminated and cut out the words to go up on the wall. For the second grade one, that all the teachers use, I taped some of the words up on the wall for her.

Chapter 9: Children's Literature

Try It Out (options choose 2): **Required: Participate in Read for the Record!** Participated in Read for the Record Attend a library story time I attended multiple library story times because they went every Tuesday when I was observing their class. The librarian was always very enthusiastic and always encouraging the students to read. My fellow classmates and I got to teach our very own story time and read and acted out the story Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving.

Do a storytelling activity with the students. I taught a lesson plan on retelling stories. I read the book I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie and the students had to retell the items she ate in the correct order. Ask your teacher how she motivates her students to read. My teacher motivates her students to read in many different ways. One way is that she motivates them to move up a level in reading and to keep advancing. Another way she motivates students is by finding books on subject matters that they are interested in.