Practicum

Wow.  How to start...
I have two kindergarteners who are significantly behind.  My girl has the initial sounds down pat, except for the qu. Short and long vowels?  No problem.  Then we got to the initial blends - none.  She separates the sounds instead of blending them together.  Ending blends? Almost none.  Silent e ? Nope.  Cape is cap.  She did know kite.  The "z" nonsense words?  She was able to sound out  those as long as they were CVC patterns.  I very much feel like I'm stuck in sand, just spinning my wheels.  But we keep going over and over the same stuff.  Mastery, right?  The memory worries me.  I explain, model, we practice together, then she tries on her own and cannot do it.  Sigh!!!

ESOL article

In doing research for the tic-tac-toe sheet, I ran across a facinating article on helping ELL's acquire English.

"First Language Use in Second Language Literacy Development"
Irene C Pompeiit-Szul, Ph.D. NYU
based on a study in the mid-90's - used in elementary (4th and 5th) and middle (6-8) schools - Use of first language to scaffold second acquisition.
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/

This was a wonderful article, very clearly written with no loose ends as to how they had run the test.  The one thing I had a problem with was that one of the kids was Polish, brought his story from home written in Polish, and luckily the husband of the researcher knew Polish and was able to translate so the experiment could move forward.  Right.  this isn't New York, so I have a sneaking suspicion we would have jsut a bit more trouble. 

But, anyway, please read the article because it does show how to help students move toward proficiency in English.
 In ruminating on the study, I've started to wonder if the techniques could also be applied to students who have reading / writing issues.  I really don't see why they couldn't.....

website - Lexiles VS careers

What We Know About

Adolescent Reading

Dr. Willard R. Daggett, International Center for Leadership in Education

Dr. Ted S. Hasselbring, Vanderbilt University

http://www.leadered.com/pdf/adolescent%20reading%20whitepaper.pdf

This is the article title and link for a report by two researchers from Vanderbilt. In the article is a graph showing average Lexile of 10th graders, average Lexile of textbooks, and on to average Lexiles of entry-level careers.  Very enlightening.  This is the article that points out that the current levels of curriculum are insufficient for the needs of business.  Hopefully the CC will help remedy this.

A non-reader

I would say a non-reader is a person who is unable to read at a level necessary to funtion efficiently in their daily lives.  According to one study I read, the levels of required literacy are increasing as we move forward, putting struggling readers further and further behind the curve.The article was:

"What We Know About Adolescent Reading" - Dr, Williard R Daggett, INternational Center for Leadership in Education; Dr. Ted A. Hasselbring, Vanderbilt University.

Domain VS Content Literacy

In doing some reading, I found a reference to Swafford and Kallus (2002) defining "Content LIteracy" as

Content area literacy is exemplified by individuals who use 1) their background knowledge; 2) print and

nonprint texts; 3) developing technologies; and 4) the tools of reading, writing, speaking, listening,

representing, viewing, and other sign systems to explore, construct, learn, and communicate information

within a variety of social and cultural contexts both in and out of school (p.14).
The quote was in a newsletter from the Learning Development Center of Rochester University.  The article was aimed at helping the teachers better help their students by be good role models for how to study and learn.

For "Domain Literacy", however, there was no consensus on the meaning. The term domain seems to be used rather broadly.  Therefore, one can conclude a) a person competent in assimilating into a new cultural group (moving to the city from a rural area, or a new country),
b) being proficient in one of the domains of literacy: reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing.
c) being proficient in literacy, math, or science.

So...Domain literacy seems to be concentrated on specific content, while Content literacy seems more far-reaching - encompassing print and technological information gathering and assimilation.

I think I just confused myself.....

I'm certainly open to comments.

update on group work

Yesterday I sat with the low group in one of the reading classes - this is the group I'm working with for class.  They had yet to finish reading both chapters assigned last week in their group book.  I went over the events in chapter 4 with them, then started reading chapter 5.  When I read aloud they were able to easily asnwer the comprehension questions and discuss character motivation.  The book is The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton, which is a Lexile of 670 - about mid to late 3rd grade. 

So, I'm finding they can understand what they hear, they just cannot read comfortably at the 3rd grade level.

We're doing 2-column note taking on all book levels using Theme and supporting details.  I'll continue to work along with this group part of the period.

proud of student

One of my students ( male with a reputation for disrupting) with a Lexile of 710 just finished "Monster" by Frank Peretti.  My copy is hardcover and 500 pages long...and definitely above 710.  He could only read a few pages a day, but he carried it with him all the time and other teachers would see him reading when he finished work.  I've heard him talking to other students about what he was reading, so I know he was understanding it. 

Just wanted to share!