According to the Chapter, a teacher who works with a small group of no more than 4 students for 20 minutes, 3 times a week, will see improvement in their students' reading and spelling (p.92-93).
There are several focuses for a lesson including rhyming, sound segmenting (which the author points out is the most effective phonemic/phonological exercise) blending, alliteration, etc. Then as we all know there are lesson exemplars, tools and hints for teaching phonemic awareness. While I know I have strayed from the questions as hand, I am trying to give you the most comprehensive view of the reading.
We believe that given the fact that phonemic/phonological awareness is a skill that is generally mastered in Kindergarten or First Grade the best way to increase our children's mastery of this skill is to teach it in tutoring, especially for a student that has very limited phonemic awareness.
There are however other lessons that we can take away from this: first is that children need a a whole language classroom. This means that they must be able to use language in all three of its forms; spoken, heard and written. They must then be able to practice this in a meaningful way. For us (especially the Bilingual teacher) what this chapter boiled down to is this: children must find language enjoyable and useful to even want to learn it. In both classrooms the games with the cubes and letters and even the use of the Big Book are all strategies that are encouraged in a bilingual classroom, because they help students learn how to group words and how they are related. Ms. Loftis could even use these same tools to introduce a math unit, and also to encourage the learning of number families and multiplication facts. Once put in place these activities (rolling a di with a sound) could be modified and used to prime students before a lesson or to review them at the end of the class. More importantly this chapter was useful for the fact that it would be helpful in developing a set tutoring curriculum, and also provided these two teachers with ideas on how to help those students that would benefit most from remediation.
FROM: D. SKAGGS
ReplyDeleteWhen implemented in a mathematics classroom the focus of small group instruction would be: fact fluency, basic skills readiness, problem solving ability, and number sense. In problem solving expecially the teacher would use a whole-language approach intermixed with a great deal of hands-on and visual activities.
To evaluate these strategies for effectiveness I would use informal assessments like facts drill and skills practice. I would also use formal assessments such as unit tests, six-weeks tests and district benchmarks. Profiles of the students learning would be kept up-to-date at all times.
Posted by 5th Grade Math-Mr.Le
ReplyDeleteReflection: I reflected on my use of small groups in math as it pertains to this chapter. This chapter details the reading process of blending, alliteration, rhyming and other components of phonemic awareness.
Implementation: I plan to utilize certain math vocabulary words as quick informal assessments. This should allow me to observe any struggles my students may have as it pertains to reading a word problem.
From: Ms. P. Williams
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author. She says, " A teacher who works with a small group of no more than 4 students for 20 minutes, 3 times a week, will see improvement in their students' reading and spelling." I've seen the spelling improve and I know with improved spelling, reading will also improve. At least once a week I do a read aloud. I choose a story that emphasises the concept I am trying to teach in writing which gives the student an opportunity to hear, speak and write the language.
Post by Gary S. Lopez
ReplyDeleteChapter 6
This chapter made me aware that I need to improve the richness of the language environment in my classroom. Phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and sound awareness need to be acquired if the student is to be a successful reader. I will conduct small groups with no more than four students. I will work with them for twenty minutes, three times a week. To insure that the classroom is language rich, I will exhibit more language posters, and have a graffiti board where the students can write freely. Student improvement in reading and spelling will be my expectation.
From:K.Meador/R.Simpson
ReplyDeleteIt happens more often than you think;a student will ask you what a word means and the second you say it out loud, their response is-I know that word. Obviously,the student knew(but didn't know) the word. They have not made that phonemic/phonological connection in conjunction with word meaning. Exposure to different genres, reading out loud in class and small group, working on blends with more difficult words are excellent ways to improve comprehension.