MODULE 2

1. The three most important concepts I gleaned from the readings:


I think that reading the articles reminded me of the absolute first step in reading and that is a good knowledge and use of the language. You cannot read a language if you cannot speak or understand the language. I consider myself to be a good reader, however, if I were given a book in Arabic, I would be completely illiterate. We must take a step back with some of our struggling readers and ask ourselves if this child had been raised in a home where there was talking and listening in the home. If not, we may need to make certain to spend a few minutes with this child each day engaged in simple conversation to build this skill. Another important concept I gleaned is that because teaching phonemic awareness is a “listening” lesson. It is what the child hears, not sees or writes, or reads. Therefore, the computer can be a great asset for those students who struggle with phonemic awareness – especially in first grade and subsequent grades. First grade focuses heavily on phonics and the child with no phonemic awareness will be left in the wind. However, putting that child on a computer for a determined amount of time each day using a phonemic awareness program can help that child tremendously. Finally, the third concept that hit home with me was one that I use constantly and is so important. When a student is writing, each lesson does not need to turn into a publishable project. The student needs to get their thoughts on paper and then use “first-grade spelling” (or whichever grade level you are at) so that phonics is used to spell words. This skill will help the child take the ability to look at letters and make the sound to taking the sound from their brain and putting the letter on the paper. This is an incredible phonics skill booster.


2. How I plan to implement the research into my classroom? What changes I will make to my classroom teaching knowing this new information:


I am most impressed with Quick Writes and did this as I read the chapter and will continue to use this strategy forever. So many times we will read something and then try to go back to a pertinent comment and we have to read and re-read to find it again. By having a pencil and paper ready, I was able to jot down thought s and notes as I went. To implement this into my classroom, I plan on using it for our group reading times. As a student comes to a word or sound they are not familiar with, I will have them write it down and then we can go back and learn the skill to read better.


3. The before/during/after reading strategies I used while I was reading and the effects of it after implementing it in my classroom.


I used the Quick Writes in my classroom with our weekly basal reader. I had the students take an index card, and as they read silently, they jotted down words they were not familiar with, words that they didn’t think followed the rules, and any questions about the story. Then when we gathered into small groups later that morning they were ready with questions and had ownership of our small group time. They were much more engaged and we as a group were so much more effective. This is now a regular part of our reading lessons.