Module 7

MODULE 7

I read Chapter 16: Preparing Students for High-Stakes Test Taking in Reading; listened to the Webinar: Differentiated Reading Instruction and listened to the webcast on reading rockets: Carol Ann Tomlinson, G. Michael Pressley, and Louise Spear-Swerling discuss teaching strategies for differentiating reading instruction.

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

1. Assessments are a vital tool in teaching when used correctly. This is a bit of a soapbox issue for me. Reading teachers must continuously assess their students to determine where each child is in their reading progress and then teach accordingly. When assessments are used for this purpose, they are a tool that is successful.

2. Assessment used for grading many times can be misconstrued and not only be invalid but incorrect for the student who took the assessment. Assessments are designed to test a general population. We must consider those students who are ESL, who have a poor socio-economic background and will take longer to bring forth a health prior knowledge base, and who are simply not feeling well or worried about home issues on test day. Many times our districts place so much on a single test. One test on one day will never, never give a valid evaluation of any student’s knowledge.

3. I always knew that differentiated instruction was powerful and necessary, but to hear the advice of the experts was an incredible journey. Not only in reading, but I feel especially in reading, we must teach with differentiated instruction classroom settings. There is no other way to reach each individual student at their own instructional level. We have students in class with an age difference of about one year. However, the instructional levels of the students in our charge can be up to three years different. We cannot possible expect to teach students when we cannot reach them.

4. One other thing I want to comment on is the reality that we must not assess as a group with one test and one grade. We must assess for growth. Since everyone comes into our classrooms at different levels and brings with them a different background to work with, how can we, as professionals, believe that one assessment will show true results for each child? If a child still scores below the standard that has been set, but has had a 14 month growth, then we have something to celebrate – but if we do not change our assessment procedures, that child will still feel like a failure.

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 have always felt strongly about the assessment ideals listed above, but to make a change, it must happen at the district level. In my classroom however, I administer the district required BEAR test. I also administer the Literacy First assessment on each of my students each few weeks to monitor progress. I have weekly mini-assessments to monitor progress and I take notes as my children are working independently to assess their work. I give a report card that measures each student by the PASS objectives, but I also send home a letter and a copy of the other assessments I have given to each child to the parents so they know exactly where their own child is in their reading progress. If a student is struggling, a copy of these assessments and letter go into their cumulative file so that the next teacher has a strong base to work with. I would like to see the change in my district (in all districts actually) so perhaps I can step up to the plate and voice concerns and solutions. This will be how I change things because of having the research to back me.

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 witnessed a strategy by a fellow teacher and I used it in my readings and in my classroom recently. It was a huge success both places and I plan to use it all year next year. I took a piece of paper and folded it into fourths. I then used it for each article I read/listened to. I wrote what happened at the beginning that caught my eye, what happened next, and then next again. I wrote in the last fourth of the paper a summary or my feelings about the article. When finished, my thoughts and facts were organized and it made it very easy to write this blog. In my classroom, we did this with our weekly story. However, instead of writing, the children drew a picture of what happened first, next, next again, and then the ending of the story. When I assessed for comprehension all the children knew all the answers! I was very impressed and will make this a weekly part of our learning.