Final post for the semester

Use this week’s blog to reflect about your understandings of literacy assessments. As you move forward in your teaching career, what do you plan to use to assess or evaluate a student in reading and writing? How will you collect and use what you have assembled? How confident do you feel in giving and interpreting literacy assessments? Were you able to use the assessments to plan for instruction? If so, how? What lingering questions do you still have about assessments?

I would have to say that I really do have a much greater understanding now of literacy assessments and their value for evaluating students and my own instruction. I have always been retlatively comfortable administering running records, spelling tests, and variations of the NWREL writing continuum, but I did not have an appreciation for either the variety of assessments available, or their utility and effectiveness in planning instruction. I will continue to use basic running records to assess my student's reading levels for grouping purposes, but I would now feel comfortable adding comprehension retelling and WPM measures. I also think that I could learn much more about all my student's literacy levels by giving a combination of phonologcal/phonemic awareness, and phonics/alphabetic principle assessments. Before taking this class, I did not know that teachers could learn so much from these assessments, instead thinking thast these types of tests would only be given in special circumstances or by specialists like SLP's. I have not yet been able to use the assessments I gathered from my case study to recommend specific instruction for my subject, but I do plan on giving his teacher a copy of my work. I hope she will be able to use my suggestions for planning, to help him through the rest of the year. As to lingering questions about literacy assessments, I would only ask how to best organize and draw upon all that we have been given. I am sure that with some trial and error I will be able to determine which tests are going to be the most useful for my practice.

Case Study Progress

To be perfectly honest, I took the news that our case studies could be turned in a week later as some sort of small miracle. There is just so much data and information to sort through in order to make any sense of my student, in terms of his literacy, that I was worried I would not be able to do it in time. Matthew has been absent for the last few days, and I still have two assessments to administer. Hopefully the extra time will allow me to get everything done and adequately interpret all my data.

I have recently gotten some clinical information that may or may not clear up some questions about my student. He clearly has language processing difficultios of some sort, but it seems that they are definitely not physical. His hearing has been professionally tested and is functioning normally, and a speech/language specialist has evaluated him and confirmed that he has no apparent physical problems that would affect his speech. This later fact is somewhat surprising to me, given that he has complained about mouth pain, cannot pronounce certain sounds well, and has occasionally stuttered. This information is raising more questions than it is answering, but is also giving me some very interesting issues to speculate on.

I am anxious to get my running record and reading comprehension assessment done as soon as possible, since I believe these will give me great insight into Matthew's strengths and challenges. I don't feel like I have a complete picture of him yet without these pieces. Hopefully I will get them done tomorrow and will be able to move on to interpreting the information. Luckily, I did get to examine these two assessments last week as administerd by another student teacher in our class. Her first grade student actually seemed very similar in development to Matthew. I am confident that I will soon have enough information to put together an interesting case study of a fascinating child.

Literacy Assessments

I feel relatively comfortable giving various assessments in literacy to my students. It helps that I have a few years experience in the classroom as an assistant teacher in a private school, because assessments were one of the time consuming chores that my head teacher liked to pas off to me. I find it interesting that he must not have felt they were terribly important, given that I was largely in charge of performing the assessments (mostly running records and spelling lists), grading them, and recording the results. In the future, I plan on using assessments more often and more effectively in my classroom. It seems that many teachers think of them as a chore that has to be gotten over with, rathe than a useful tool for informing instruction. I hope I don't fall into that mindset, because I can see their value clearly. Interpreting results of these assessments is something that I am less confident in. I think I will need lots of time and practice in order to confidently gauge children's aptititude and learning levels using the different assessments. There are just too many variables to consider when making assumptions based on these results. I think that is why a range of assessments are necessary in evaluating each student. One result can be very misleading. For example, my case study student Matthew is showing a wide range of results in his assessments, which I believe relate more to his attitude than his aptitude. I had a very difficult time getting answers from him on the personal interview, because he wasn't interested, and he struggled with the Bryant Pseudoword, because he thought it was silly. He wasn't able to complete the Z test, either, because he got so frustrated. I have several assesments left to complete with him, and need to find a way to make them more interesting and engaging, in order to get any useful results to interpret. Basically, I am finding that the engaging part of this task is much more difficult than the administering or interpreting of results. I know there is a wealth of information to be gotten from Matthew, I just need to figure out how to get it out of him.

Reading to dogs - get involved

Honestly, I didn't want to copy Dr. Ness' idea for this post, but being involved with children reading to dogs to support literacy is a topic near and dear to me. I had the idea first!!! Just kidding. The dog you see on the right of your screen is my best friend, Reuben. He is a two year old wire-haired dachshund, and as you can see, from the stylish outfit he is wearing, he is a certified member of "The Good Dog Foundation." Actually, we are a team. The GDF primarily sends certified therapy teams to provide emotional support, stimulation, etc. to nursing homes, hospitals, rehab centers, and shelters. Reuben's job usually involves sitting in someones lap hoping to make them smile. The GDF recently began a children's literacy program in 6 public schools and 4 libraries in NYC, and we are excited to get involved. Below are some links to the GDF website and some media coverage. If anyone has a pet they think would be a good candidate (i.e. calm, well-behaved, doesn't like to eat children...) then GET INVOLVED! It is amazingly satisfying and rewarding; a great way to give back to your community and spend more time with your best friend.

http://www.thegooddogfoundation.org/news.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/06/21/2008-06-21_therapy_pets_make_perfect_listeners_as_h.html

Case Study - fascinating ELL with strong writing, weak reading and oral language

I have chosen as the subject for my case study a 2nd grade boy named Matthew, with very low reading skills and comprehension, and even lower apparent oral language skills. The very interesting thing is that he has above average writing skills. I'll go into much more detail later. Matthew is 8 years old and comes from a home where Cantonese is the primary language spoken. I don't believe there is anyone at home with whom he can practice his English. He came to the US with his parents a few years ago - I need to find out how long, as well as more details about his home life. I know his mother is at home, but I don't know about other family members yet. He is very difficult to understand when speaking, and he has trouble understanding both oral and written directions. My inexpert opinion is that his oral language is at about a pre-k to kindergarten level. He gets added support from an ESL teacher for 40 minutes a day in a pull-out environment. It is possible that the bulk of his issues come from difficulty with the English language, but I strongly suspect that there is a serious problem with his aural processing. I hope to find out much more through the course of my case study. In many ways he is a typical 8 year old boy - he likes sports, video games, animals, etc... In other ways he is quite unusual - he acts out in class, asks extremely silly questions, and has a very hard time focusing. One great plus for my research is that he is engaged and willing to please, and likes to interact with me one-on-one. I don't believe he has ADD or ADHD, but it is possible. One reason I chose Matthew as my subject is his aforementioned skill with writing. His ideas and sequencing are well developed, he can write large volumes, and explain his writing, and his handwriting and written vocabulary are at the top of the class. There is a serious disconnect somewhere which I intend to discover.

#3 - Its Obviously Broke - Fix it!

One topic we have recently discussed in class which I find to be very interesting is Vigotsky’s Zone of proximal development theory. This is the idea that there are basically 3 levels of beginning readers which help inform instruction. When a child reads with 98% or more accuracy on his/her own, this is the Independent level. 95-97% is the Instructional level, and below 95% is called Frustrational. I suppose this makes perfect sense, but I had held different conceptions of what to best challenge children with in reading in the past. I would have said that the independent level is good for practice, but not of must use for instruction. Similarly, I would have looked at the instructional level as better, but still not challenging enough for teaching. My instincts would have me push students with reading that they could process at maybe 85% to 95%, but apparently research shows that anything under 95% is too difficult and would be counter-productive. I am glad I have been exposed to this research so I do not make the mistake in the future of asking too much from my students.

One thing I would like to discuss that I am not necessarily confused by, but more shocked, is the data on reading abilities in specific and literacy in general for the overall population. The numbers cited in this weeks reading about literacy rates for minorities are to be honest, disgusting. In particular, some stats that I find particularly upsetting are that “20% of elementary students are very poor readers,” “44% of all fourth graders…below basic,” and “the rate of reading failure in these groups (African-American and Latino) is 60%-70%” (Moats, 2000, p.4). I simply cannot understand how we have let this situation get so out of control in this modern age.

To answer this week’s most important topic question, this is exactly “why it is essential for Pre K – 5 teachers to know about and understand children’s oral language acquisition.” We must address this terrible injustice in a logical, methodical way. If we don’t understand how children acquire oral language skills, we will never break this cycle. Oral language is the basis for all further instruction in literacy. Obviously we need to find a way to adapt our instruction and curricula regarding written language based on newer research about oral language to better serve students today.

#2 - Testing, Testing, ABC

My experience with assessments in Literacy education is rather limited, consisting mostly of observation and analysis. Though I do have a couple of years of experience in the classroom, my role in assessments has been limited because I have always been an assistant teacher. The responsibility for assessing students reading and writing abilities has rightfully been, in my opinion, the role of the more experienced educator in the classroom. This is because, I believe, it is an extremely tricky endeavor. It is difficult to accurately judge where a child’s level is, largely because kids are generally very good at “faking it” – copying what they have heard adults write and say. For example, the first thing an emergent reader often “reads” is a storybook that has been read to them so many times that they have memorized it. Thankfully, this appears to be an area of extensive research, so as beginning teachers, we have many resources at hand to help us decode the mystery.

At the second grade level, where I am getting my student teaching experience, I am amazed by the variance in skills and knowledge when it comes to reading and writing. In addition to the problems related to learning English as a second language, there is just a huge range of exposure to language across the grade. It is obvious, at this age, which children have been read to when young and which have not. Similarly, there are some children who are comfortable with writing, and others who are terrified by it. This is the most concerning thing to me. With a little extra attention, it seems to me that a second grader can catch up relatively quickly in his/her reading abilities, but based on my experience with third and fourth graders, it seems much harder to correct bad habits or attitudes in writing. Writing, a task which involves both brain hemispheres, requires emotion, intuition, and abstract and metaphorical thinking, all while utilizing learned structures, conventions, and fine motor and graphic skills. This balance is something that if not acquired early on, can be severely limiting to a child’s development in all areas of education, not just in relation to literacy.

Assessments are critical to literacy education for two main reasons. Not only does the child need to be assessed in order to determine the correct course of education for them in the future, but the teacher and curriculum likewise need to be continually assessed in order to improve further practice. For the student, first we need to know what prior knowledge or skills they bring to the table. When this is accomplished, we need to judge how their ideas and thought processes are developing. Finally, we need to understand what they have understood. What have they learned and what will they be able to apply to successive lessons? For the teacher and the curriculum, we simply need to understand how to improve practice. William Ayers writes in his 2001 book To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher “good teaching is forever pursuing better teaching; it is always dynamic and in motion, always growing, learning, developing, searching for a better way… Good teachers, then, are what they are not yet, and so their first and firmest rule is to reach.” Assessment, in sum, is just as important for the teacher as it is for the student, and cannot be ignored or glossed over.