Module 2: PowerPoint Summaries

PowerPoint: Strategies that Support Emergent Literacy by:  Dr. Debra J. Coffey and Dr. Alice F. Snyder

Reflections from the past:

Pre-school: I do not have any memories from this year of school in relation to literacy. I wonder if this was because I was just too young to understand what was going on, or it the impact of literacy was not evident.

Kindergarten/First Grades: I remember being read to a lot, especially gathering in the floor on my piece of tape. We would have visitors come and read books to us as well. As far as writing, I remember writing simple sentences, thus illustrating it afterwards.

Second Grade/Third Grade: This is the year I remember truly learning to read. My teacher would pull us individually, listening to us read and recording notes (probably some sort of reading level test). This is also the year where I remember having to actually write stories/papers.

Predictions:

What would you consider the top three predictors of early success in reading?

1.       I would be looking to see if children liked books and/or reading picture books (even just looking at the pictures).

2.       I would be looking to see if the parents were encouraging reading in the home. Typically when reading is being encouraged, students tend to adapt to that kind of life style as normalcy.

3.       I would be looking for children to make connections/tell stories from pictures or signs they see around town.

How would you rank the top three factors of early success in reading for young children?

Of the above mentioned factors, I believe they would be ranked in this order from most important factor to least: #2, #3, #1, however I really believe all three are great indicators of a successful reader.

I really enjoyed reading about the “Five Essential Elements of Reading” as it is such a good reminder that reading is not all about reading comprehension. In my opinion, all five elements must be present for reading success.

1.Phonemic Awareness/Phonological Awareness

2.Phonics

3.Fluency

4.Vocabulary

5.Comprehension

PowerPoint: Assessment of Reading and Writing Process

From this PowerPoint, I learned how valuable note taking can be. Last week, I had my students take their own notes on constructive and destructive forces. I believe that when students are in control of their learning, they are the ones doing the learning. Students do not learn to their fullest capacity when listening to a teacher. They, the students, must be in control of their learning by being the ones taking the notes and participating in rich discussions.

Also, as I am a fifth grade teacher, I enjoyed reading about the components a writing piece (5^th grade) can be and should be scored according to. When I grade my student’s writing pieces, three things that I check for that were mentioned in this PowerPoint are conventions, ideas and organization. Ideas count double on our writing rubric, as that holds the “meat” of the piece.