Module 6

Closing the Gap Early: Implementing a Literacy Intervention for At-Risk Kindergartners in Urban Schools

By Colleen MacDonald, Lauren Figueredo

Assessing preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills in English and Spanish with the Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool

By JoAnn M. Farver, Jonathan, Nakamoto and Christopher J. Lonigan

Theme 1 The Importance of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy

Both articles discuss the importance of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy. When children have emergent literacy skills they usually read sooner and have an easier time learning how to read. Children who do not have emergent literacy skills usually have a hard time learning how to read. Research showed us that oral language is the foundation of literacy development and linked to this is development in phonemic awareness (Adams, 1990; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Stahl, 2001; Trehearne, 2000), a valid predictor of later reading by the end of kindergarten (Morris, Bloodgood, & Perney, 2003).

   

             

·         Every year, we have students entering kindergarten who demonstrate a 405 deficit in the area of oral language and emergent literacy. Students are not coming to kindergarten with the skills and foundation in oral language necessary to be successful, literate learners (MacDonald and Figueredo 2010).  

·         Given that the kindergarten years are a critical period of growth for students’ emergent-literacy, oral language interventions placed during the course of the kindergarten school year give students an additional source of support at a critical time in their development (MacDonald et al., 2010).

·         Thus, some poor readers exhibit low levels of phonological processing skills but have cognitive abilities that are consistent with age expectations (the condition typically referred to as dyslexia), whereas other poor readers have inadequate phonological processing skills as well as poor oral language or low general cognitive abilities, often referred to as garden-variety poor reading (Castles & Coltheart, 1993). For both types of poor readers, these requisite skills can be identified and assessed early during the prereading stage (Farver;Nakamoto; Lonigsn, 2007).          

                                                                                                                                                                                                

     Theme 2 Effectiveness of Early Intervention

      Both articles show the effectiveness of early intervention in the classroom. The first article I read was about at risk kindergartners in an urban neighborhood. The article explained how there is a gap in literacy achievement for student in urban schools from disadvantage backgrounds. The school district created an intervention called the KELT Program. The students need to experience expressing opinions, interacting in discussions, questioning, seeking information, and sharing ideas. The students in the KELT program don’t have the necessary background knowledge and vocabulary to engage in these types of language learning experiences (MacDonald and Figueredo 2010). The KELT Program provides these students with the necessary background knowledge and vocabulary that they need to be able to engage in language experiences. Recognizing the need to develop background knowledge through firsthand experiences, a key part of the instruction included three off-site school field trips (e.g., library, museum, farm, apple orchard, pumpkin patch, pond) supplemented with on-site trips (e.g., seasonal walks in the neighborhood) (MacDonald et al., 2010). The second article I read compared literacy skills in English and Spanish with the get ready to read. That is, interventions that provide systematic, explicit, and intense instruction in phonological awareness, print awareness/letter knowledge, and vocabulary produce the most gains for monolingual English-speaking children who are at high risk of reading difficulties and disabilities (e.g., Hatcher et al., 2004; Mathes et al., 2005; National Reading Panel Report, 2000; Whitehurst et al., 1994).                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                 

      

       After reviewing successful intervention programs, we put forth a proposal to our school district’s director of education, James McCracken, who embraced the program, supporting the philosophy expressed by Rick Lavoie (n.d.) that “fairness means that everyone gets what he or she needs (MacDonald et al., 2010).

·      An intervention program must be specific and focused, not just more of the same thing over a longer period of time (MacDonald et al., 2010).

·       We needed to provide extra time and specific, focused intervention for those students that required it (Farver;Nakamoto; Lonigsn, 2007).

·      Studies of the effectiveness of early interventions also support the importance of these key skills for helping struggling readers and preventing reading disabilities (Farver et al., 2007).                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                               

                        

Research Project

Literacy and Poverty

Orlando's Case Study

Orlando is a 7 year old boy in the first grade who struggles with comprehension skills when reading independently. Due to his lack of progress his teacher has set goals for him to achieve by the end of the school year.

Comprehension is when you are able to understand the material you read.

                       

 Many children may be able to read but it is the teacher’s job to access if his or her students are able to comprehend the material that they read. Comprehension strategies are techniques used to help children understand the material they read. “Though teachers report teaching comprehension strategies, studies have shown that most teachers just monitor comprehension by asking students’ questions after they have read a passage, instead of teaching specific strategies that will increase comprehension skills.” (Levy, Coleman, &Alsman 2002; Swanson &De La Paz 1998).

Comprehension strategies are important because they provide students with a tool that is essential to their learning process. If you teach your students comprehension strategies most likely your students’ comprehension skills will increase because they will be able to retain meaning from the text. The case study states that Orlando enjoys group activities but is unable to answer simple comprehension questions. His teacher listed comprehension strategies as one of his possible strategies. The comprehension strategies listed in the article are predicting, summarizing, retelling, rereading and questioning.

·         Predicting is a strategy that is use before reading the story. Students are able to look at the title of the story and predict what the story is about. Students can also make predictions by looking at the pictures, characters and themes in the story. This strategy would be helpful for Orlando because it would allow him to predict the outcome of the story and be able to see if his predictions were accurate after his teacher reads the story. Depending on how close his predictions are to the actual story helps Orlando to judge how well he understood the story. “Predicting sets a purpose for learning and guides comprehension-“Hmm. That is not what I thought was going to happen. Did I read that correctly or do I need to read more to find out how this works out?” (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study)

 

·         Summarizing “As we read a text, we keep a summary in our heads, which helps us understand the rest of the story and discuss the whole story at the end.” If Orlando summarizes the story it well him to understand the main idea of the story. He will be able to tell what happened in the story using his own words. (Pinnell &Fountas)

                                       
                                                       

·         Retelling occurs after the story has been read. This gives students a chance to retell the story. This strategy will show if Orlando is able to remember the order the events took place in the story he read or listened to. As Orlando retells the story his teacher will be able to see if he know the main idea of the story. It will allow Orlando a chance to show if he remembers the characters and setting of the story.

                                                     

·         Rereading is good because it helps children to become familiar with the story. Students may not read a passage well the first time but after rereading it a few times it helps them with fluency. “Rereading and revisiting favorite text is very beneficial.” (Pinnell &Fountas) This strategy would be helpful for Orlando because it would give him a chance to become familiar with the story. It would help him read with fluency.
                                        

                                                           

·         Questioning readers should be able to answer the following questions of text who, what when, where and how (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study). This strategy would help with Orlando’s comprehension skills. If Orlando is able to answer the questions it shows that he understood who the story was about, when the story took place, where the story took place and how.

                                              

            

             Graphic Organizer helps children recall events, characters, problems, etc in the story. A graphic organizer is a diagram used to help children identify different elements in the story. Graphic Organizers come in many different shapes and styles. They can be used for different grade levels. They can be used in independent or group activity. Graphic Organizers can help students remember the material they read. (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study)

 I chose "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" by Paul Galdone. I tried to keep my organizer simple. The children should be able to name the characters in the story, the problem and the solution. The Characters in this story are the three billy goats and the troll. The problem the goats are hungry and need to cross the bridge to get to the green grass. The troll is on the bridge and gives the goats a hard time. The Biggest troll eventually pushes the troll off the bridge and the goats are able to eat the green grass.

                                                               

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten article written by Lea M. Mcgee and Judith A. Shickedanz

         The article explains the importance of a repeated interactive read aloud in pre-k and in kindergarten. Interactive reading helps children to build oral vocabulary and listening comprehension. “Teachers prompt children to engage in analytical thinking by making comments that model such thinking and then asking thoughtful questions.” These prompts help children to predict events, describe characters and make different connections in the story. Interactive reading allows children to use critical thinking skills oppose to a regular read aloud where the children are just listening to a story.

 As an early literacy educator I am responsible to find the best way to provide for my students’ needs. This article highlights the pros of repeated interactive read alouds. “Thus, effective interactive read-alouds include a systematic approach that incorporates teachers’ modeling of higher-level thinking, asking thoughtful questions calling for analytic talk, prompting children to recall a story in some way within a reasonable time frame, reading a single book repeatedly, and reading books related by topic. It also involves a systematic approach to developing children’s understanding of vocabulary, such as inserting short definitions of words and phrases during reading.” These techniques help students to build vocabulary and it gives the students a better chance to comprehend the story. The article suggests the story be read three times. The first read includes:

1. Book Introduction
2. Vocabulary Support Techniques
3. Analytical Comments and Questions
4. Ask "Why Questions" after the first read .


The second read is usually perform two days after the initial read.

1. Enrich Comprehension
2. Define More Words
3. Ask More frequent Questions
4. Ask "Why Questions" after the second read .




The third read is usually a follow up of the story. It happens two days after the second read.

1. Reintroduce the book
2. Remind students of the story.
3. Ask if they remember what happens next.
4. Ask "Why Questions"after the third read. 
           
         
              After reading this article I was able to see how important it is to introduce a book to young children first instead of just reading the story, The introduction allows the children to look at the story from a different perspective, As an educator it is my job to prompt my students  to help them to think analytical. Providing them with vocabulary words allows them to expand their vocabulary and understand how the words are pronounced and used in the story, Repeated read alouds help the children to become familiar with the story and have a better understanding of the wording, characters and events that take place.

References

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten

by Lea M. Mcgee and Judith A. Shickedanz

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       I enjoyed reading very much as a child. I remember my Kindergarten teacher taking my class to the city library every week. My favorite books were "The Three Billy Goats" and "The Little Red Hen." I loved when the librarian read to us it was magical because she was able to make the characters come alive. I enjoyed the voice changes and physical depiction of the different characters. I enjoyed reading because reading was presented

to me as fun instead of a punishment.  I never had a problem with reading I found learning new sounds to be exciting. When I learned something new I couldn't wait to go home and share it with my mom. For example, I was fascinated that the letter p and h made a f sound when put together. Reading was encouraged at home and at school. I remember when I was in third grade my class was given a reading challenge to see which student could read the most books. The challenge encouraged reading but it was also fun competing against my friends. I don't remember what the incentive was but the goal for the teacher was to get us to read more and it worked.   
      As a teenager reading wasn't as exciting for me as it had been in the past because it was more of a requirement. We weren't allowed to pick our own reading material instead it was already assigned for us. It's different when you have free will because you can read books that excite you. I found some of the books that I was required to read to be boring. I read because I had to and not for enjoyment. When I was younger I was excited to visit the local library but as a teenager I felt the total opposite because visits to the library meant I had to write a book report.
     As an adult I don't read as much as I would like because time doesn't always allow it. There are times when I still try to squeeze a good book in whether its on the weekend, a plane ride or a trip to the beach. I feel a little bit of excitement when I hear a book I already read is being turned it to a movie. I understand the importance of reading and I think we have to continue to encourage children to read read read. There are so many more distractions this day in age than there were when I was growing up. I think the approach that a parent or a teacher uses is very important because if children see reading as a punishment than they aren't going to be excited to read. If reading is made fun and exciting more children will want to read. I think I was given a great foundation because reading was encouraged at home and at school. My mom always reinforced what I learned at school and I think that was a great help.