Position Paper

Teaching Reading

Katrina Pickett-Rust
EDR343
12/10/2014

According to Temple, Ogle, Crawford and Freppon (2011), reading is

the act of understanding written text (p. 6). Another definition of reading is
that it is the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic
interaction among the readers existing knowledge, the information
suggested by the written language, and the context of the reading situation
(Wixson & Peters, 1984, p. 5). From these definitions, we can see that
reading is to understand the meaning of a written language but there are
many other components to what reading really is.
Aside from being able to understand written text, reading also
involves developing vocabulary and working on fluency, comprehension and
critical reading (Temple et al., 2014, p. 11-12). Phonemic awareness, word
recognition and phonics are important when teaching reading to beginning
readers (Temple et al., 2014, p. 10). I believe all of these elements of reading
are important to have in a reading curriculum and will be including them in
my reading instruction.
According to Temple (2014), Vocabulary is the store of words and
their meanings in memory (p. 11). You cannot truly understand what you
are reading if you do not know the meaning of the words. If children know
what the words mean, they will be able to understand the text better. One
strategy I would use to improve lower elementary students vocabulary skills
is a word wall. Temple (2014) stated that Word walls consist of words that
children are learning arranged alphabetically on the walls of the classroom in
ways that allow the words to be easily seen and accessed (p. 134). I will

introduce the students to new words each week and will post the words,
along with a matching picture, on the wall. Whenever the students need help
with one of these words, they can refer to the word wall.
Temple (2014) mentions that fluency has four parts: recognizing
words automatically and accurately, reading text efficiently (with appropriate
speed), reading with meaningful inflection, and grouping words
meaningfully (p. 11). I believe the best ways for students to improve in
fluency is for them to hear examples of fluent reading and for them to read
and reread as much as possible. Students need to hear what fluent reading
sounds like in order for them to become fluent readers (Blau, 2014). I will
model fluent reading to my students on a daily basis, whether it is a whole
picture book, a chapter from a book or a single sentence from a book to show
how to appropriately group the words. Students should read a lot. Reading
the same text multiple times will help students improve their fluency. I will
read a text, such as a poem, and I will reread it and reread it again. I will then
have my students echo what I read, line by line. Next, I will have them read
the piece multiple times on their own (Blau, 2014).
According to Temple (2014), Reading comprehension is the act of
understanding the meaning, of making sense of what is read (p. 11). This
takes us back to the first sentence of this paper. To read is to understand the
text. In order to help my students comprehend texts and keep them
interested in the texts, I will bring fun activities into the reading routine. We
will incorporate readers theater when reading non-fiction texts. I was

introduced to readers theater in a social studies course at University of

Michigan-Flint. A classmate let us experience what readers theater was like
by having us read about J. F. Kennedys assassination and then reenact it. I
think this activity is a great way to get students involved and fully engaged
in the text. I will also incorporate reading groups and book clubs into my
instruction (Temple et al., 2014, p. 39). These will allow the students to have
conversations with their peers about the text to gain more understanding.
Temple (2014) states that critical reading is to explore the meaning
of texts and ways texts have meanings (p. 13). In my EDR343 class, we
learned that this is one of the hardest reading elements teach students. In
order to get my students thinking about the meaning, I will have them do an
activity called Questions Mailed to my Teacher (Lewin, 2010). As the
students read, I will have them write down three questions that they have
about the text. They will all put their questions in an envelope and one
student will mail then envelope to me. This activity gives the students
practice in questioning what they read and it also helps me assess their level
of understanding (Lewin 2010). At times, I will choose a few of the questions
to bring up in a class discussion so the students have the opportunity to hear
the thoughts of their peers.
With lower elementary students, I would incorporate word
recognition, phonics and phonemic awareness into the instruction. Temple
(2014) states that word recognition has two parts; recognizing words
instantly and decoding and that phonics is knowledge of the relations

between letters or groups of letters and speech sounds (p. 10-11). In my

EDR343 class we learned that phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the
sounds that letters make and to be able to break the sounds, in words, apart.
The word wall that I mentioned, previously, will help students with word
recognition. In EDR343 we learned that an example of teaching phonics is to
show the students a letter A and say A says ahh. What does A say?
Students will learn these letter/sound relationships through repetition. We
learned that an example of teaching phonemic awareness is to say What
are the sounds you hear in the word cat? The students would respond by
saying the sounds they hear from the letter c, then a, then t. I would
help them do this by having them stretch the sounds, one by one, down
the length of their arm. We discussed this strategy in EDR343.

I do not believe that the reading instruction in a lower elementary

class should be strictly phonics based or strictly whole language based. In
the article, The Reading Wars, by Jon Reyhner, he talked about a phonics
based learning approach vs. a whole word approach. Both had their upsides
and downsides but I think teaching literacy with both approaches is the most
beneficial to students. The phonics emphasis is teaching the relationships
between letters and their sounds. The whole word approach is teaching
students to read by using sight words repeatedly through special stories
(Reyhner, 2008, p. 7-8). Using balanced reading instruction would be
combining both of the approaches to teach reading (Reyhner, 2008, p. 7). I

would choose balanced reading instruction for literacy learning in my class

over just using one method. I believe children need to have a good
understanding of the sounds that letters make, but I also know that a lot of
our words do not sound like they are spelled. It would be nearly impossible
for a child to learn all of their words by using phonics alone. Because of this,
we would need to incorporate the whole word approach, as well.

In order to know what our students know and what they have
learned, we need to assess them. I will incorporate centers into the daily
classroom routine. Within these centers, I would include the elements of the
Daily 5 which are read to self, work on writing, partner reading, word work
and listen to reading (Boushey and Moser, 2012, p. 173). These centers will
help the students work on the important elements of reading. I will also
include a center with me. This will be called the teachers station. I will
work with the students in small groups where I can do short formative
assessments with each of them. I will observe them to check for the four
elements of fluency and I will ask questions to check for comprehension.
With upper elementary students, I would use quizzes and exit cards
along with observing. Temple (2014) states that exit slips are done at the end
of class. The students will have around five minutes to answer the following
questions: What is the most important thing you learned today? What is one
question you have about the topic? What is one comment you want to make
about todays lesson? (p. 316). I would adjust these questions to go along

with my lesson, if needed. I will also incorporate learning logs into reading
class. According to Temple (2014), Learning logs are daily journals the
students keep. They provide a way for student to make explicit their
thoughts about what they learned (p. 317). I will use these on a weekly
basis. Students can be given a question to write a response to or they can
just write down their thoughts about the text (Temple et al., 2014, p. 317). I
can read their entries to assess their understanding.

There will always be the possibility of having English language

learners (ELL) in my class, especially in the state of Florida where I plan to
teach. Because of the language barrier, I will need to work with them in
different ways than I will with the English speaking students. If I have ELL
students in my class, I will be sure to provide them with adequate amounts
of reading material in their language. I will also provide them with bilingual
books to help them learn English and with reading-focused websites that are
either bilingual or in their native tongue (Temple et al., 2014, p. 503).
Websites can offer English language learners translations in audio and in text
form, which will help them with the pronunciation of English words. Some
companies make text books in other languages. If it is an option, financially, I
would like to acquire at least one text book for each subject area so my ELL
students can have the same opportunity to read the text as my English
speaking students. I will observe and assess my ELL students in the same
way that I will with the rest of my students, as often as possible. I will take

into account that they will struggle with some things and that they may use
words from their native tongue. This will require extra work on my part
because I will need to find out the meaning behind what they write and say. I
will do my best to give them quizzes and tests that have been translated into
their native tongue. If the school has a paraprofessional or Response to
Intervention (RTI) specialist that speaks the same native tongue as one of my
ELL students, I will speak to them about the possibility of giving those
students oral tests and quizzes. I speak a small amount of Spanish. If I have
Spanish speaking students in my class, I will use technology, such as
websites and applications, to help me translate words that I do not know. I
am able to pronounce the Spanish language properly so Spanish speaking
students will be able to understand what I am saying as long as I know the
right words to say.

The reading levels of my students will vary greatly. Some students

may be struggling while others are at grade level or advanced. Because of
this, I must offer differentiated instruction to meet all of their needs. Temple
(2014) states that differentiation means taking into account all of these
factors on which there are significant differences among the students and
planning instruction so all students can be successful and enjoy their
experiences (p. 25). One way to offer differentiated instruction, in reading,
is by creating a classroom library that has books for many reading levels
(Temple et al., 2014, p. 26). Another way is to create guided reading groups

that are organized by their reading level (Temple et al., 2014, p. 26).
According to Temple (2014), these skill-based reading groups will allow me to
address specific needs while permitting other students to work on other
aspects of their reading development (p. 26).
It is important to get to know my students as well as possible so that
I can adjust my instruction in a way that will benefit them the most. Temple
(2014) states that teachers should start getting to know their students right
away by interviewing them individually, having conferences and ongoing
communication with their parents, finding out what they like to do outside of
school and where they spend most of their time and energy (p. 26). These
things will help me get to know more about the students cultures and what
they like to do. To get to know their abilities and literacy needs, I would like
to have all of the students go through the Response to Intervention process.
Mesmer and Mesmer (2008) described RTI as being a new approach to
identify students with specific learning disabilities (p. 280). This process will
let me know who my struggling readers are so that I can alter my teaching
accordingly and, if needed, get them some extra help with reading, outside
of the classroom.
After I know more about my students, I can begin to make my
classroom a more comfortable place for them. We will use reading to learn
more about their cultures. I will have print materials readily available that are
culturally diverse so that the students see themselves in the stories and in
informational texts (Temple et al., 2014, p. 64). This will help to make the

classroom library more inviting and exciting. I like this quote by Temple
(2014) Clearly, schools cannot adopt the culture of each and every child,
but they can accept the culture of every child, accommodate that culture,
and use its presence and teachers knowledge of it to help teach all children
(p. 43). This lets me know that it is impossible to change the whole culture of
my classroom to suite one or a few students, but I can make the classroom a
better place for them by accepting that their culture is different than mine
and by incorporating pieces of their culture into our room.
Another thing that I can do to make connections with my students
and reading is to fill the library with books that focus on things they are
interested in. I will also encourage the parents and caregivers of the students
to visit the classroom as often as possible so that they can see what their
students are doing in school. This will also give the rest of the class a chance
to be around people from other cultures.
As the school days pass and we all become more comfortable with
each other, I will get to know my students better and I will see how their
skills have developed over time. I will be able to find out what types of
learners my students are and that will allow me to teach and assess the
reading instruction in different ways so that each of them has an equal
opportunity to learn. By watching their development, I will notice if
something is not working and I will try something different.
This is the type of reading teacher that I would like to be. I do not
know everything about reading but I know enough to get started. I will

continuously pay attention to who my learners are and how they are
progressing so that I can adapt my instruction to fit their needs in the best
way possible. I will continue to learn more about teaching reading because
the education field is always changing. New and improved strategies are
always popping up and I will always be open to trying them.

References

Blau, L. (2014). Five Surefire Strategies for Developing Reading Fluency.

Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/5-surefirestrategies-developing-reading-fluency
Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2012), Big Ideas behind Daily 5 and CAFE. The
Reading Teacher, Vol. 66 (issue 3), pages 172-178.
Lewin, L. (2010). Teaching Critical Reading with Questioning Strategies.
Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/mar10/vol67/num06/Teaching-Critical-Reading-with-QuestioningStrategies.aspx
Mesmer, E. M., & Mesmer, A. E., (2008). Response to Intervention (RTI): What
Teachers of Reading Need to Know. The Reading Teacher, Vol. 62 (issue 4),
pages 280-290.
Reyhner, Dr. J. (2008). The Reading Wars: Phonics versus Whole Language.
North Arizona University, 1-8
Temple, C., Ogle, D., Crawford, A., & Freppon, P. (2011). All children read:
Teaching for literacy in today's diverse classrooms (3rd ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Temple, C., Ogle, D., Crawford, A. and Freppon, P. (2014). All Children Read:
Teaching for Literacy in Todays Diverse Classroom (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson
Wixson, K. and Peters, C. (1984). Reading redefined: A Michigan Reading
Association position

paper. The Michigan Reading Journal, 17, 4-7.