Halfway There!

Well folks,

Three sessions down, two more to go. I really can't believe just how fast time flies when you're busy. Wasn't it not too long ago when we first met for this class? I can honestly say that I was prepared to drop it in case I didn't think I would make it through. I suppose that the title of our course, "Practicum: Literacy Assessment," had a lot to do with it. I was never really keen on conducting assessments, even though I know how just how significant they are for determining reading disabilities and levels. Could it be that I just didn't know the right kinds of assessments to administer, and when? But, now that we've been introduced to different types from over-views by Dr. Rivera, through our chapter readings, and the multitude of information found in the QRI, I feel a little more at ease in approaching the topic of "assessments." My student keeps me on my toes and truly is a big challenge for me, but I believe that I chose him for two very good reasons: to help him to read fluently, and to remind myself that I am a teacher whose aim is to promote successful learning among all my students.

Challenges make life interesting, however, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful

(Mark Twain)

quote: http://quotelicious.com/quotes/life-quotes.php

image: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6950516

"There's no stopping yet"

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination."-Don Williams, Jr.

Today was a productive day. Although I completed an hour with my student, I actually wanted to continue a bit longer. There are only two sessions left with my student and I might have to extend and do more assessments to finalize my report. I had my student read the story on "Seasons" and I thought for a second if she was even familiar with the four seasons. After completing that assessment, she had placed in the frustration level. I also tried the written retelling. There were several times when she had difficulty spelling the words and kept trying to sound it out while writing it down. When she was done, I had to ask her to read it to me in order to translate some of the words she spelled. I had learned about the stages of spelling in one of my courses. I have to keep in mind that this course is based on assessment and not try to apply the strategies. Just a couple more months until next semester and then I can help her with her reading.

Image courtesy of http://jeffpedone.com/life/inspiration/

Are We There Yet?!

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"Every path has its puddle"--English Proverb

http://www.friedsocialworker.com/imagery/inspirationalquotes2.shtml

Each session gets harder and harder for me! I know that the data is needed, even if I feel the assessments aren't getting better. I'm trying to keep my patience until I can start helping him with strategies to improve his reading and writing abilities. So for now, here's to splashing through puddles!

Do well; do good!

Our session today was productive, though I think I'll need to add a session or two to help me be more confident in the results that I present in the case report.  I can see so many options of how to help my student understand the passages more.  He's a very bright student that needs just a little more support; his motivation will take him the rest of the way.  I'm glad that I know I can help him.  It helps motivate me to keep up my energy and focus, too.  We're almost ready to reap our rewards!

Today was also our PTC.  My student didn't attend his, though.  I was hoping he would have, and I know I should have reminded him or spoke to his family about going.  I think I assumed his uncle, a counselor, would have seen to it that he went.  But perhaps their translating family members were unavailable at the time.  I know transportation wouldn't have been an issue as they live down the street from the school.  I'll ask him to show me a copy of his report card so we can talk about it.  His Language Arts teacher is a busy bee, but we've been communicating via email.  I hope to get more information about his school performance as our correspondence goes on.  She will be an invaluable resource.

Back to my PTC experience: Though I went through the extra effort of writing up a parent letter inviting them, I only got 5 parents!  To top it all, none of the students who needed to get their Report Card from me showed up.  In the previous weeks, when I asked my students whether their parents would be going, the response was that their parents were working and would be unavailable.  I was excited to see whether the little touch would generate more parental involvement, but it didn't turn out to be the case.  Additionally, since my students are all in the ESL program, I wanted to add a fun, "please help your child translate" portion of the usual parent letter.  A few parents responded, and I hope to continue this as a form of regular parent communication.  The phrase, which now graces my classroom's back wall, was "Go into the world and do well.  But more importantly, go into the world and do good" (Minor Meyers, Jr., from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/205932).  I think it's important that not only should our students (and ourselves) strive to be successful in life, but also we should strive to help others.  I know Team MAGEC takes this phrase to heart!

Man is still responsible. ... His success lies not with the stars, but with himself. He must carry on the fight of self-correction and discipline.

- Frank Curtis Williams

Today my student made my day for me. I was tired and am still fighting my cold, but he put in a great effort, and was really motivated to try and get the word lists and his comprehension questions perfect, so that really motivated me. He also self corrects on many words, and only on a few did he need more that two tried to accomplish the word, it's awesome to see this kind of effort. He was especially ecstatic when he aced all of the comprehension questions after his oral reading. This has made me wonder if having him read out loud will help his comprehension. I know reading out loud can slow readers down, but I am more than willing to sacrifice speed for comprehension. The speed can come at a later date. He also seemed interested in the Shortcuts cartoon that I had for him. He liked going over the jokes and figuring out why they were funny. Here's a good one from Jeff Harris' Shortcuts:

What kind of music do mummies listen to? Wrap music!

Ha!

After some thought he was able to explain to me the difference between wrap and rap and why that is a funny joke, at least to some. Anyway, I must say, I'm interested to see how he does during our next session. And I hope he can build on his success.

Just One of Those Days!

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher

(Elbert Hubbard)

YIKES! What a disaster! Today's session couldn't have been any worse. Nothing seemed to turn out the way I thought it would; even the ride up was probably a sign of what was to happen. As my student pointed out when I cut in front of a car and the driver honked his horn at me, "That's what you get for cutting!"

As for the session, we didn't accomplish much because my student had difficulty reading and consequently, it took awhile before he finished the passage. Halfway through the story, he asked me if I was bored, which took me by surprise because I must have looked it, even though I wasn't aware that I was. To make matters worse, I forgot to turn the taperecorder on halfway through our session, so I was only able to record parts of it. My student was the one who noticed it and was quick to point it out by saying, "Hey, aren't you going to turn on the recorder?" Then, I did the unforgivable: I administered incorrectlythe retelling portion of the oral narrative passage, so now I have to redo the whole thing on our next session.

Finally, the icing to the cake was when my computer kept acting up and wouldn't let me space between words,and so I had to wait some time before it went back to normal. I tell you, couldn't I have it any worse? Thank God my student kept his cool about the whole fiasco, which is more than I can say for myself!

quote: http://www.quotegarden.com/teachers.html

image: http://www.drmcompany.com/images/disaster_prep_hdr.jpg

"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel."-Carol Buchner

Today's session was a productive one. I was able to administer the oral reading and silent reading of the narratives from the QRI-4. I am thankful that my student is patient and cooperative. As I was listening to her read, I could not help but think of the next session when I will be able to do reading strategies with her. With continuous practice, assessment, and incorporating strategies, she will no longer be intimated or shy when reading like how she was in the class I previously had her in. I just want her to gain confidence in her reading abilities so that she will perceive reading as something enjoyable and not something she struggles in. We're halfway through this course and next thing you know we can reflect back on our case study. Once again, I am grateful to be walking through this course with team MAGEC!

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges over their own." -Nikos Kazantzakis

Image courtesy of http://www.k12.wa.us/cisl/images/boybooks.JPG

Assessments and more Assesments

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"A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops." Henry Adams

http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/teacher-quotes.html

Although, my sessions with my student have been slow in completing my assessments, I am even more motivated to complete the assessments so that I can start my report and brainstorm with strategies to help my student. This assignment and my student is personal to me and I want to do all I can to help him improve in his reading. It was another productive night of discussion! Go Team MAGEC!!

The best laid plans...

It turns out I might have been a bit overambitious when I planned to have my student read a narrative and an expository passage and do a retelling for each and start on a language experience dictation.  I didn't anticipate how long it would take him to work through the questions.  As a reader, he read 85 wpm, making 4 miscues.  He didn't seem to struggle with the "Pele" passage, and followed all the punctuation marks and had most of the characteristics of a fluent reader.  So while it seems he was able to read fluently enough, perhaps his comprehension was hampered by the language barrier.  In the sessions to come, I hope I can better assess whether AR's performance issues due to a reading difficulty (and if so, which specifically) or a lack of expressive vocabulary.  He may be able to understand the words in English, but saying or writing the information is a different story.  I hope to get a better picture of AR during the next sessions.

Even though I wasn't able to get through all that I had planned, I was still able to accomplish some things.  I know I have to regroup and be flexible--but as the text pointed out in one of the chapters, the best teachers are always ready on their toes.  I'll consider it practice and roll with it.  It's as George Patton said, "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."  (http://quotationsbook.com/quote/30513/)  Let's work with what we have today and try not to end up with a case of--as my dad likes to insert even when it doesn't necessarily make sense)--"too late the hero."

(taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheG1VIrCyNWcCmNEQI0DCXH9m_5HTD5hO0hQbqOKMuPKqMr7UaqVm-o-Xl473pAwVaprs005uz0ZpYFz9T2hw4t0nVpbb1eQR0Y0KUhMWAAp42nWex4SGsC_tUgXPEy3qa-ZsaWhlF-6c/s320/pinky_brain.jpg)

Go team, MAGEC!  Together we can take over the world--if we take a lesson from Pinky and the Brain and not get distracted.

Chunking

"A common decoding strategy that is taught to struggling readers is called chunking. If students have developed some proficiency with phonemes, they can begin chunking unfamiliar words."

Peter Waycik

I first want to thank all of you for the strategies you talk about when you are helping the younger readers. Because my experience with that age is limited (Sylvan tutoring only), your discussions help solidify the strategies in my head. Today, "chunking" was mentioned several times, and I recalled that can really help students, especially with groups of letters that aren't phonetic. Some classic examples include "tion" pronounced "shun", and "ious" as "us". And at the more elementary level, the blends of "ph" as "f" and "dge" as "j". These reminders are extremely beneficial. As I was listening, I realized that chunking can be applied to life as well. I also chunk the work I must get done! I will do chunks each day, each week, or sometimes month, and that way it all doesn't look so daunting and build up over time, and I have more time at the end to relax. Anyway, thank you for the discussion, and I will fill you in on my make-up session when it happens. Until then, keep it chunky.

Quotation Citation: http://www.edarticle.com/k-12-subject-areas/reading/reading-strategies-for-struggling-readers.html

Image Citation:http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/02/dark-chocolate-chunk-cookie.jpg

Here's to a Great Beginning!

You might be one person to the world, but the world to one young person

(unknown)

Fasten your seatbelts everyone, because there's no turning back, now! Let's do what we set out to do. My student and I not only had a productive first session, but a fun one at that. By his remarks of ..."This is cool!" and "I'm having fun!", I could tell that he really enjoyed his first session with me , and that's how I like it. If today's any indication of what's to come, then I say, "Bring it on!" Being an active boy and having a short attention span, I know that my work's cut out for me, but with a lot of patience and the right strategies, I have no doubt that he'll have a good chance of developing his literacy skills. Thanks to my student's parents for allowing me the chance to work with him, thanks also to Dr. Rivera for her expertise and guidance as we approach each session with our minds set on helping our " chosen ones," and finally, thanks to all of you for being the best partners one could have for this experience of a lifetime! TEAM MAGEC ROCKS!!

Image: http://brandstrategy.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/what-are-we-going-to-do-tomorrow-google/

Team MAGEC's First Session!

"You teach best what you most need to learn."--Richard David Bach

http://www.etni.org.il/quotes/education.htm

It is only when we study and learn about our students, are we able to teach them the best way we know how!

Since classes started, we all have been waiting for this day. It has finally come and I think we are all off to a great start. I am really enjoying the work and effort we are all putting into our Literacy sessions. I am looking forward to the end result! I hope my reading strategies work and see my student improve in his reading skills! I like how we were able to share after the sessions, it help to hear the others share in their experiences!

http://www.frear.cr.k12.de.us/Pictures/teacher-student.jpg

...And they're off!

     It was great to finally start our clinic sessions.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous and neurotic earlier today, putting all my copies together and making sure that I had everything planned and ready to go.  From talking with my student and his family, I know how important learning English and being a successful student is for them.  His mother hopes that he'll be able to follow in his father's footsteps and become a teacher.  From his first session today, I can see that he's well on his way!  

     I think we'll end up motivating each other to do our best.  Working with ELLs everyday at work has helped me to know what to expect with AR, but I also want to keep in mind that he's his own person and to let the data speak for itself since the QRI-4's strength is that it's data- and research-driven.  I think AR, his family, and all of us would agree with Mortimer J. Adler that "Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."  Here's to all of us providing our session kids and our regular students with the best tools for the living of a good life!  Go, Team MAGEC!

(image from http://techtoolsforreading.wikispaces.com/file/view/la_vocabulary_s.gif/74539911/la_vocabulary_s.gif)
quote from http://www.literacyla.org/quotes.htm)

"E for Effort"

A very productive day with my student. The first session gave us an idea of what we need to do for our next session and what level we want to begin with. It felt good not just to be a teacher, but someone who can make a difference in the reading abilities of a single student. I can't even begin to describe the sense of warmth I felt knowing that although this is just the first step, in the ending it will be rewarding. It is a single act of assistance that makes me think back when I was in grade school. The teachers who have made a great impact in my life and how I will never forget them. We have our purpose in life and sometimes we say it is "our calling." If this is what we were truly meant to do, that is to teach and assist younger children, then let us do it with every best effort we have instilled in us. I give our team MAGEC all the credit for being full-time teachers and continuing our education after school hours. We will one day look back and smile at the success achieved.

"The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others." - Solomon Ibn Gabriol

Image courtesy of http://bradcusworth.com

Always Remember and Never Forget

"Always Remember, and Never Forget" - Mike Miller (Erik's Dad)

My biggest flaw today was forgetting to ask the prediction questions on the first reading assessment. Whoops. I will make a big deal out of it in my head, and perhaps tie a string to my finger to help me remember. My student is motivated to improve and told me that he has already improved since elementary and is looking forward to improving more. I think he likes the challenge of trying to get a certain amount right, as at the end he wanted to do more readings to see if he could get to the instructional level. Hopefully this will motivate him. He reads books about woodworking at home and is quite skilled in building items out of wood, he can explain, with some help how to build tables and podiums! So I know he is smart, and if I show him what to do, and demonstrate what to do, he'll be able to figure it out. Additionally, he also needs schema building in all subjects (except perhaps woodworking). Both of the readings were quite unfamiliar to him. I think I will give him the Shortcuts cartoon from the Sunday paper to help him build his schema. Geri, if you're reading this, can you save your Sunday paper and bring it to class next Thursday? That'd be great. It sounds like everyone else has made some good assessments after day 1. Way to go!

Image Credit:http://www.durgana.com/webquest/remember.gif

Quote Credit: My Memory

My Day at the "Cleaners!"

image: http://www.google.com/images?q=vocabulary+words&hl=en&riz=1T4ADFA_enGU358GU366&tbs=isch:1,itp The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

(http://www.famous_quotes.com/topic.php?=1280)

Today was my turn to present Chapters 14 &15 to the class. If anything that you got out of my presentation, I can only hope that you'll be able to use the strategies and activities one-on-one with your student(s). There was an over-whelming abundance of strategies and techniques that were listed in those two chapters that will positively impact our students if applied correctly. Thanks for your patience and tolerance as I painstakingly went through the chapters.

Dr. Rivera once again went over the necessary information needed to assess and diagnose our students in preparation of their journey to becoming literate readers and writers.


Thanks also for the goodies that were provided...it was a great way to begin our session, even though I was the last to try them! Good luck everyone on next week's Reading Clinic session. Go Team MAGEC!!!

Geri and her tea kettle!

The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The above quote reminds me that in order for our students to express themselves, that we must help them gain the vocabulary to do so. Hence, here is my blog about how cool Geri is.

Today's presentation from Geri was great. I highly enjoyed her specific methods that she shared with us, the tea kettle and the vocabulary vault. I like the tea kettle because it forces the students to use their imagination, and I like the vocabulary vault because it forces the students to use the words in real life, which is perhaps the most authentic strategy a teacher can use. I also liked that she stressed the balance that is necessary between direct instruction of vocabulary and incidental acquisition of vocabulary. I agree that the approaches must be balanced, but I'm pretty sure I use the direct instruction system more often because we do not read at length in social studies, however if I were to teach a reading class, would, of course be reading for quite some time during the week, and students would be incidentally learning vocabulary frequently. Incidentally, I need to acquire some more vocabulary and read some other blogs. G'night!

Quote credit: http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/vocabulary/index.html

Image Credit: http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/33500/Tea-Kettle-Home--33903.jpg

Geri has a way with WORDS!

Great presentation Geri! I loved the vibrant colors of your images! I especially like the image of the boy reading a book with stacks of books on his head, it brought to mind the word "osmosis". I learned new strategies for reading and writing you explained the concepts well. You also brought me back to "aesthetic and efferent", romancing and scaffolding. It was once again a great review!
I'm glad we had the chance for another Team MAGEC picture, it was fun! Thank you again for the snacks and yet another productive meeting. Looking forward to our first assessment!

"Words are the voice of the heart." -Confucius

www.coolquotes.com/words.html












www.yahooimage.com

How can you go wrong when it comes from the heart? Go Team MAGEC!

Happy Teachers come from...

Chalk up another great session for Team MAGEC!  Sincerely, Geri, you did an impressive job with all that information.  It was a good run-through of the tips and strategies that the book presented.  We can't say enough about your growth over the semesters.  It's been great to see you in action.  The students of Guam are lucky to have you and the rest of Team MAGEC.  Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week!

The techniques that Geri and the text presented were very structured.  I love this text because it gives us the reasons why its suggestions would be effective--and always gives the teachers their due credit for professionalism.  The text is a bit dense at times, but even if we haven't gotten it all on the first go, we can at least refer back to it easily.  Being a language arts teacher in the high school, I realize I have a lot of freedom compared to those in the elementary and middle schools with reform programs.  I'm glad that I can easily integrate the suggestions into my lessons and be confident that it is backed up by research and thoughtful planning.  I'm glad that we're "through" with the book and that we'll soon be working with our Students, but I think we'll find that the texts are truly invaluable resources as we progress through ED643, ED644, and out into the wild world of post-graduation.

Acting as the student with "Ms. G." today was a real treat.  After going through the word list and narrative reading, we were able to catch up a bit.  She shared that her school has been having a Teacher Appreciation Week complete with daily activities to help commemorate the occasion.  Well, for you, my MAGEC classmates and wonderful, dedicated teachers, I'd like to share the following quote from Donald D. Quinn (taken from http://www.quotegarden.com/teachers.html).

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job."

To you who continue to do what you do with such loving concern for our students (even when they're being difficult), Thank You!

Image from http://www.123orkut.com/graphics/teachers/1/teacher1.jpg

Let us hope for smooth sailing throughout our course.

"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let the countdown begin! Today's session was in full effect. First, Geri's presentation provided many insightful concepts from Chapter 14 and 15. With Chapter 14, I was glad the book had mentioned about the Direct Instruction and Incidental Learning. Before we started the reform programs in our elementary schools, the term "Direct Instruction" was not part of our methods. Many of us geared toward the "Incidental Learning" concept. However, I agree with how Geri mentioned that is it best to have a balance of both when teaching. In regards to Chapter 15, I thought it was interesting how the idea that students are told many times to take home assignments and simply "study it." It is necessary that schools do provide support and concepts for teaching students the procedures of how to study. During the second half of today's session, I was glad that we all had the opportunity to practice our assessment session with a partner. This gave us the chance to have hands-on of what to do prior to our first session. The QRI-4 book is practically our bible as we continue this class. Best wishes to Team Magec!

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