Module 3: Summary of Opitz Chapters 7, 8, 12

The three chapters this week focused mainly on how to assess students in the best way and gave information about how to help students gain and apply phonics knowledge. The tables and figures within these chapters are useful tools and references for teachers. Chapter seven is full of topics such as concepts, phonological awareness, letter identification, writing, spelling, and story sense and suggestions for how these topics can be assessed. Chapter seven concluded with information about early intervention and how to determine which students need early intervention services. At my school, enrollment in the Early Intervention Program (EIP) is determined by student test scores and/or teacher checklists designed specifically for determining placement in this program.

            Chapter eight focused mainly on listening to and assessing students’ oral reading using the informal reading inventory (IRI), the modified miscue analysis, and the running record. I am most familiar with using a running record to assess students while they read orally. The text even pointed out on p. 172 that running records are a more popular assessment choice and used more often than IRIs. I have had experience with using an IRI while completing coursework for college, but it is not an assessment method my school uses. However, I do like how an IRI provides comprehension questions and doesn’t solely focus on the students’ reading miscues and level. Since comprehension is the main goal of reading I feel that these comprehension questions can provide teachers with valuable insight. The modified miscue analysis is an assessment I cannot recall administering, but I would be interested to do so in the future.  

            Chapter 12 focused on phonics instruction. I enjoy teaching phonics in my first grade classroom, and I find it beneficial for my students to be actively engaged in a phonics lesson each day. The sample exercises provided were much like the activities provided in my phonics lessons. This chapter provided five meaningful ways to assess phonics and examples of these assessments through the use of the figures within the text as well as seven ways to teach phonics. This information provides a valuable resource and refresher for how to provide the most effective phonics instruction in a classroom. Like our summer reading endorsement class/text, the Opitz text also emphasized that phonics instruction should be about learning words and not memorizing rules, and it should be taught as a part of reading instruction.

Opitz, M., Rubin, D., & Erekson, J. (2011). Reading diagnosis and improvement: Assessment and instruction. (6^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Module 3: Literacy Strategies Project PowerPoint

                This PowerPoint provided a lot of information about phonics. Since moving into my first grade classroom a little over a year ago and being introduced to the phonics program they use I have become even more passionate about my phonics instruction. I’m not sure how I was taught phonics as a child, but since I started teaching phonics as an adult I have felt like phonics instruction was missing or not taught effectively to me in school. I think missing the phonics link at an early age caused me to struggle more with spelling and decoding longer, difficult words when I was younger. I appreciated the point stating “Phonics instruction is best taught for two consecutive years (K/1 or 1/2). This reassured me that phonics lessons in my first-grade class are a crucial part of my instruction. I believe the phonics program I use at my school does a good job of covering all areas of phonics instruction. The way it introduces phonics patterns to the students and continues to build upon itself seems to be effective. I see my students apply what we learn in our brief phonics lessons to text during reading and writing throughout the year. Typically this instruction is enough to help the student make significant progress, but occasionally there are students who need more reinforcement and one-on-one instruction and practice. This instruction may occur during morning work or small group time. Also, depending on the skills and the level of assistance the student needs I may provide extra homework for the student and/or provide activities for the parents that can be done at home to support/strengthen the skills taught at school.    

Module 3: Overview of Assessment PowerPoint

            I agree with this PowerPoint about how the purpose of assessments is to improve teaching and learning. Reviewing assessment results help to drive instruction. Teachers can see which students need help with which skills and form small groups or mini-lessons to reteach these concepts. However, assessments provide data not only for remediation purposes but also for enrichment/extension purposes. If a student consistently exceeds expectations on assessments that student may be ready for more challenging work.

            This PowerPoint also provided helpful definitions/explanations of terminology related to specific tests and test scores. The explanations of formative and summative assessment were very clear and easy to understand. This portion related directly to formative assessment article in Module 3 as well. While the section describing validity and reliability related directly to what I have been learning in my research class. This PowerPoint provided some useful information regarding assessments and could be a valuable resource in the future.

Module 3: Formative Assessment Article

             The article focused on formative assessment and its purpose. Formative assessment is used to check for student understanding throughout the learning process. This is different from a summative assessment, which is used at the end of a unit to see what the students know. I see summative assessment as the more traditional way to “test” students, but formative assessment can be very useful as well. Summative assessments are used more to apply a grade, show growth, or provide accountability, while formative assessments are used to close the gap, drive instruction, and provide remediation when needed. On p. 535 the authors discussed how “Using a range of assessments allows teachers to gather lots of evidence along the way to create a “scrapbook” of student learning, not just a single snapshot at some predetermined benchmark (e.g., fall, winter, spring).” I found this quote interesting because of the level of emphasis placed on fall, winter, and spring District Benchmark Assessments (DBA) at schools. My school just recently placed a large amount of our first-grade students in the Early Intervention Program (EIP) based solely on their fall DBA score. One perk of formative assessment discussed was the ability for it to occur as needed during instruction. During lessons teachers are informed about what students need to know or work on, so in turn the teacher can inform the student effectively.  

             

Roskos, K., & Neuman, S. (2012). Formative assessment: Simply, no additives. Reading Teacher, 65(8). 534-538. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01079

Module 3: Phoneme Segmentation Videos

I noticed the teacher in the classroom video doing word activities similar to what I do during my phonics instruction in first grade. Listening for and identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds are a routine part of my phonics instruction. Also, working with rhyming words is a common activity. I think these oral activities are critical to a child’s development as a reader.

In the video with the teacher and the student doing the “Phoneme Segmentation Assessment” I wondered why she was letting the student construct the words from right to left? It seems like that could be confusing for the child. I also noticed the child moving the blocks back and forth so much and rather quickly that it was hard to tell sometimes if the student used 3 or 4 blocks to segment a word. I wanted to see what the teacher was writing on her paper, because I wasn’t sure what the results of some words on this assessment would show. This assessment is similar to Elkonin Boxes which I have used as an intervention in the past. I may have my tutee work with tiles or boxes to segment difficult words if I feel that would be an effective strategy for her.