##### Straight Off the Tracks #####

      Yesterday was another exciting whirlwind of learning in the second grade classroom!  I learned a lot about the reading program put into place. On a typical day, the second graders spend their entire morning on literacy! That's right, an entire morning. 9:00-12:00. 3 hours. 180 minutes. 10,800 seconds of 100% reading and writing! I don't know about you, but I never saw anything remotely close to this when I was in second grade. I remember my mornings being about math, science, maybe we would get to read something when we were done with our math and science work....and then there was the occasional story or spelling worksheet. I guess I do remember some writing prompts and such, ones of which we never got to share with one another... My how things have changed!
      In my practicum classroom, each week has an overall theme or concept that is being taught. This week the students are learning about story charts. They are identifying problems and important events that lead to the solution of that initial problem. They were introduced to the story Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin...

      On Monday, the students had a read aloud by their teacher. She modeled how to read the new vocabulary and pointed out new concepts and ideas that were found in the context of the story. They then split up into pairs and reread the story with a partner
      Yesterday, the students were to read the story again, this time on their own. One by one, the teacher called the different reading groups back to read with her. The students are divided into groups based on their reading levels. The lower level readers practiced reading the same story with the teacher, whereas the more advanced students were reading chapter books within their groups.

The class is divided into 5 reading groups:

PURPLE: DRA 14-16 (Grades 1-2) 

GREEN: DRA 16'ish (Grade 2)

RED: DRA 18-20 (Grade 2)

BLUE: DRA 24-30 (Grades 2-3)

ORANGE: 30-34 (Grade 3)

      When the teacher meets with each group, the students take turns reading their text out loud. This provides students with the opportunity to verbally read text out loud and hear themselves pronounce words. It is also important for the teacher to hear each student read and comprehend text. It is a great way to assess the reading development of her students.
      I was eager to see what the rest of the students would do while their teacher was meeting with a group in the back of the room. I expected some might hang from the ceiling, thought others would meticulously run around their desks in perfect, complete circles, and...nahhhh, they all sat in their seats diligently reading and writing. Every morning, students are given "literacy tasks" to complete. Once they finish these tasks, they can choose to finish their incomplete literacy work, or pick something exciting to write about from their "Literacy Menu." The Literacy Menu is a great writing prompt guide students can sit down and work on when they have extra time. My practicum teacher switches out the menus when some time has gone by. There are times when the students have literacy centers they can rotate in an out of throughout the whole morning. They are starting some fun and exciting literacy writing centers next week....more to come on that!
      Overall, today taught me about differentiated instruction. The leveled reading groups do not push the lower level readers too hard, or keep the advanced readers from moving forward. All the students need to read the story of the week, and learn the new literacy concept. The reading groups allow the students to branch off and read at their specific levels, furthering their understanding and development of reading. The entire morning was so clean and organized! The students were on task and always knew what to do. I could tell that my practicum teacher enforced routines and rules very well at the beginning of the year. Talk about classroom management. I will definitely consider implementing reading groups into my future classroom. I think it is a great way for students to collaborate with each other in small groups, as well as find time to meet one-on-one (even though they are in small groups) with their teacher. It allows student to practice reading out loud, and it provides the teacher assessment opportunities, as well as helping students develop their reading at their own specific level.  :)

##### Straight Off the Tracks #####

      Helloooo Running Records! Recently, I have been introduced to running records as a means of literacy assessment. Students read a piece of text out loud to the teacher and the teacher records all the correct words and incorrect words or errors the student has throughout their reading. Once all the errors have been recorded, teachers then look for times when students self-corrected their own errors. These errors do not count in the overall calculation of errors. This assessment allows teachers to identify each child's error ratio, accuracy percentage, and their self-correction ratio. It will help teachers to identify where the child falls as far as reading levels go, and if the selected text was too hard, too easy, or just right for the student's current reading level.
      Yesterday, I performed my first running record with one of the second graders in my practicum classroom. In a previous post, I introduced you to some of her work. She is at a much lower reading level than most of the students in her class. My practicum teacher said she was at a DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) level of 14, and most incoming second graders are hoped to be at a DRA level of 18. I chose to read a book my NAU teacher read in one of my literacy classes, Dear Mr. Blueberry. The book cover says it is appropriate for children ages 4-7. I did not know going into the reading, that the book would have such a high DRA level. The book is for children very young, but as far as independent reading goes, it would be way too hard for most students in this age group. The book falls under a DRA level of 24, which is still a second grade reading level. I thought this book might be a bit challenging, due to some of the vocabulary words, but I did not realize how hard it would be for this student. My practicum teacher told me that all but 8-10 students in her classroom would be able to read this book without it being too hard. For my next running record with my student, I have chosen a book at much lower reading level.

Total # of Words: 445
Total # of Errors: 94
Total # of SC: 1

Error Rate: 1:3.73 (for every word she said correct, she had 3.73 errors)
Accuracy: 78.9% (this falls under Hard 50-89%)
SC Rate: 1:95 (she self-corrected once out of 94 errors + her self-correction error)

Here is the running record that I did for my child assessment student:

(Click to enlarge)

      My student struggled in the read aloud but she did not get frustrated or quit :). She said she has a hard time with long chapter books but she likes reading because she can learn more and learn lots of new words! She said she spends an average of 20 minutes reading during every sitting. If she is reading a chapter book, she either reads one chapter, or cannot put it down until she reads the whole book. 

      I did a reading interest survey with her and discovered she likes to read about animals, plants, friendships, fashion, and famous people (including her favorite magazine: People) She also enjoys reading science fiction books as well. The book she is most excited to get her hands on is Diary of a Whimpy Kid. 

      Overall, the running record was a bit challenging! I took a small recorder with me and got the student's permission to record her reading the book to me. Later, I wrote down all the words and listened back at her read aloud. Due to the number of errors, I found the far right columns on the running record a bit overwhelming and very challenging. It was hard to tell if her errors were due due to her knowledge of meaning, structure, or visual information. I hope that over time, I will be able to decipher which is which and how to identify errors more accurately. 

Waiting for Superman

      Waiting for Superman is a new movie that discusses the problems facing the United States educational system today. We are ranked 25th in math and 21st in science. I love how the trailer talks about our standings in literacy...oh wait.... However, children in the United States rank #1 in confidence. If students have the confidence and mindset of success, we as educators, need to give them the necessary skills and foundations to reach the goals and dreams they set for their lives. I am looking forward to watching this film, and I recommend that all teachers take the time to check it out.

      Have you seen Waiting for Superman? Any thoughts?

Singapore Math: Love It or Hate It?

       The New York Times posted a great article entitled, Making Math Lessons as Easy as 1, Pause, 2, Pause..." The article discussed the increasingly popular national math system called Singapore Math. Just incase you were wondering, this is not the actual math OF Singapore.  This approach to math is much slower-paced and uses a three-step learning process: 1) Concrete, 2) Pictorial, and 3) Abstract. Most math programs in the United States focus on the concrete and abstract steps, which often confuses students because they do not focus on the step that helps students picture their math. The Singapore math program's slower pace allows students to really hone in on their knowledge of individual numbers. The article talked about a teacher that was apprehensive to integrate Singapore math into their curriculum because they could not see how students could spend 45 minutes talking about one number. He was surprisingly pleased to discover that his students learned more through a longer open-ended thinking time.

      How do we know if this math approach works? Students using Singapore Math are ranking at or near the top on international math exams dating back to the mid 1990s (http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/1997/st00297.htm). This approach teaches fewer topics to make sure students are really grasping the concepts they are to learn. They incorporate detailed instruction, problem solving, questioning, and scads of hands-on learning activities. This allows students to gain a solid base of math knowledge to grow and develop through more mathematical instruction. They are less likely to forget what they are learning when the pace is slowed down and students are allowed to spend more time learning the important math concepts. From that, they can build a stronger knowledge in math with each passing year.
      One downside to the Singapore math approach is its cost. It is said to be a pricey implementation into your curriculum. How much is the question that is probably on your mind. One school district in New York spent over $144,000 implementing the books and teacher materials. This program also requires a lot of teacher training. The time and money required to implement the actual program might be more than you are looking to spend, but teachers can take the basic concepts and ideas of the Singapore math program and incorporate it into their curriculum without buying the actual program.
       Teachers should definitely do their research on the Singapore math program and weigh the pros and cons of their mathematical approach. Take a look at the article and do some research on their web site. What do you think about Singapore math? Would you like to try it in your mathematical instruction in your classroom?

Information obtained from:
Hu, Winnie. (2010). Making math lessons as easy as 1, pause, 2, pause... The New York Times: September 30, 2010.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/education/01math.html?_r=1&ref=education

Singapore Math web site:
http://www.singaporemath.com/aboutus.asp

##### Straight Off the Tracks #####

      Friday was another exciting day in the second grade classroom! I felt more like a teacher when my practicum teacher told me I should give the spelling test to the students that day. I remember thinking, "Wow, that won't be too hard."....Then, there I was...standing in front of a room of eager and nervous students. I looked at the sheet of paper and saw a long list of contractions. Sure, saying the words out loud was no big deal, but then I had to think of sentences to go along with these words. This was a bit challenging considering contractions don't give you much "context" to form an interesting sentence. If the word had been "evaporation," I think a sentence might have come to my head much quicker. This challenged me and made me realize that when I begin student teaching and have to give spelling tests, I will look at the list in advance and write out clever and interesting sentences that I can use to add a little more fun and excitement to the tests. All in all, I think it went pretty well! I will most likely be giving the students their spelling test the rest of my practicum.
      The great thing about the school I observe in, is the opportunities they have for students who are a bit more advanced in their spelling. The more advanced students, who do well on their initial pretest of the regular words, are given the opportunity to take an alternative test with harder words.

Here are the regular words for the week: 17 out of 19 students scored between 10-15 

1. don't
2. we've
3. aren't
4. didn't
5. I've
6. won't
7. we'll
8. doesn't
9. hasn't
10. let's
11. she's 
12. he'll
13. we're
14. they've
15. couldn't

Here are the advanced words of the week: 4 out of 5 students scored 9-10

1. solid
2. liquid
3. gases
4. property
5. mixture
6. condensation
7. evaporation
8. precipitation
9. temperature
10. water vapor

      Friday I chose the student I will be doing my student assessment assignment on. She is young girl who compared to the rest of her classmates, is a little low in reading. I have not spoken with my practicum teacher about other areas yet, but I plan to focus more on her overall development in my next observation. Here is a sample of a literacy assignment and spelling test:

Spelling Test

      The student scored an 11 out of 15 on the regular spelling test this past week. I graded the test, and I noticed that she is having trouble with e and the e sound. In aren't, she spelled it arn't....forgetting the e. She spelled doesn't, dus'nt, and hasn't, has'nt. These incorrect spellings show that she is missing the e sound and not sure of where to put her apostrophe. In her spelling of the word we're, she wrote wer'er. She is unsure if the e can stand alone. I would recommend that the student be re-familiarized with her e sounds. 

Literacy Assignment

      In this assignment, the student was to read the provided story above and answer the questions. It appears that she is not reading her directions. In number one, many students chose to write the word hungry. This does not have a gr and a long a sound. I am curious why many students did this. In number two, she wrote down a word that means the same thing as little, but the directions clearly said to choose a word from the story. This would be the word small. While the student understood the concept of a synonym, she did not read the directions clearly. The rest of the questions were testing the students on their comprehension. The student struggled with getting some basic facts about the story correct. Overall, the student needs to spend a little more time with carefully reading stories and directions. I recommend that the teacher spend a little one-on-one time with the student for the next assignment like this. This will help them gain perspective on how the child is thinking about reading stories and answering questions.

      Overall, the day provided me great new experiences with testing and grading. I had to grade the literacy activity and spelling test above, and I got good insight on where the students are at in their learning and development. 

##### Straight Off the Tracks #####

      My practicum experience this semester is with a second grade teacher in the Paradise Valley Unified School District. She is also a fellow Lumberjack of Northern Arizona University. Today was another day chalk-full of experience!
      I got to conduct "Just Right Reading" this morning with several of the students. Each week they have a bag of three books of their own choice. They meet with me and read a section from two of the books. I was told to ask them various questions to gather how much information they took from the text. This was a major eye-opening experience for me. At the second grade level, the students are all on very different levels of reading. 
      I had one student who was reading dialogue like she was in a play! She enunciated all of her words and spoke in voices. She had an exuberant love for reading! You could just hear it in the way she read the book. She was even more excited to answer questions such as:  1) What did you like about the book? 2) Who was your favorite character and why? and 3)What was your favorite part about the book? 
      Another student struggled to decode the words she was trying to pronounce. She often looked up at me, waiting for me to help her sound out the word she was stuck on. This did not shake her confidence whatsoever. She pressed on! 
      It was pretty evident that another student did not read her book at all. When they sat down with me, I told each student they could pick any part in the book to read aloud to me. I told them it could be their favorite part of the book, or perhaps the beginning, or even the end. This student started from the beginning. When I asked her what the rest of the story was about, she could not answer. Perhaps her shyness played a vital role in her vague discussion with me about the book...or perhaps she didn't read. 
      Overall, I really enjoyed getting perspective on where the students are at in their reading development. I will continue to do do "Just Right Reading" with the students throughout my practicum. I cannot wait to see the development take place in all the students over the next few months. :)
      These second graders are becoming great writers! I observe one day a week, and each time I am there, they are working on a different rough draft. Today they had the opportunity to share theirs with the class. I was bummed to see that most of the students "passed" on their opportunity to share what they wrote with their fellow classmates. It got me thinking...How can I get students to want to share their writing? You are going to have your shy students of course. That is inevitable. But how can I get the discouraged students to share their writing?.....