Module 3: Chapters/Article Reflections

Chapter 7
This chapter was packed with wonderful resources for tracking student progress in reading for primary grade levels. I could see how many of these tools would be useful to help organize and layout the areas a teacher needs to focus on. Figure 7.3 on page 117 was really neat to look at and digest. This print concept assessment would benefit the teacher in allowing them to see where a student is with their current print knowledge. I could also see the students enjoying an assessment/activity like this, as if they are almost on some sort of scavenger hunt. Any time you can make learning engaging and exciting, the students are more apt to jump aboard. As a fifth grade teacher, I enjoyed seeing and reading table 7.5 on page 127, as we use all of the listed reading and writing experiences in our reading and workshop models this. In addition, I believe in using picture books for instruction…even in the upper grades. Table 7.6 on page 129 laid out books that fostered different language elements. I use websites that list books under specific skills such as main idea, theme, characterization etc. to teach my daily mini-lessons. The students love being read to!

Chapter 8

This biggest concept that was reinforced for me in this chapter was the marking and scoring of oral reading assessments. We give the DRA twice a year, and I have the hardest time remembering what the symbols correlate with the various miscues. While I’m listening to a student read, I will find myself getting caught up on marking an error, that I lose track of where the student is, possibly skipping miscues that need to be marked. Also, as the student reads, I find myself marking “codes” and symbols that make sense for me at that given time. At the end of completing a DRA, I will go back and correct any of the miscues I scribbled down for the sake of time. My only concern with this table, (8.2) is that the different reading assessments available for our use, use slightly different coding and markings.


Chapter 12
Figure 12.6 on page 307 reminds me a lot of our reading endorsement class this past summer. We focused heavily on how successful students will read with the big picture in mind, verses reading every individual word and sound on the page. This figure made me realize how much harder students are making it for them when they focus in on letter sounds and words instead of the whole text. The more focused a student is on each individual letter or sound, the more likely they are missing the meaning of the text…which is what reading truly is all about.

"Formative Assessment: Simply No Additives"

This article was absolutely amazing and informative to read regarding the power formative assessment has. I text lifted the following quote as I thought it spoke high volumes of the capabilities of formative assessment. “Formative assessment is a gap-minder because it helps the teacher to stay alert to gaps in individual students’ reading development and to adjust instruction.” I have never heard of the term gap-minder before; however, it makes perfect sense as to why we conduct formative assessments. I also did not realize how much information a teacher can learn about their class by simply conducting a formative assessment. I always wondered why we took the Checkpoint Tests in which included a formative assessment component. Our students always performed poorly on that portion because we had not yet taught those skills and standards. It now makes more sense to me, as to the reasoning why. This data truly helps drive our future instruction, in which helps ensure enough time and not too much time are spent on one specific standard.