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I feel we have to approach education with the determination to affect each and every one of our students. The mentality of achieving "success" after reaching one child isn't enough. The Essential 55 Rules - Discovering the Successful Student In Every Child...
"Praline" posted:
I teach first grade. This past year I had 16 students. Half of them scored below average on the DRA. I have taught first grade for many years and this is the highest below average rate I have ever had. The students made progress, but just not enough. I had a boy who had already repeated K and he ended the year on a level 10 (DRA). He had started the year on level A. Another could read anything you put in front of him but could not retell anything about the story. He is receiving speech therapy for language processing and further testing is scheduled for next year. Another girl was evaluated and will be receiving sp. ed services for language arts next year. One boy was already in sp.ed services for language arts.
The other half of the class made a lot of progress. They came from a level 2 or 3 at the beginning of the year to levels between 16 and 24.
I am tied to the basal reader used by the district which is Scott Foresman. Most of the low performing students have no support at home. Everything has to be done in school.
Do you have any suggestions for this coming year?
Mary/PA responded
:
First of all, if you haven't read the following books, I would suggest that you do so. They will help you to better understand the reading and writing behaviors that you observe and to make more powerful decisions about what to do in order to move the children from where they are toward independent, on grade level reading and writing.
Also, find a way to get more reading material for the children. You can use your basal, but it's not enough. The children have to have something new to read every day in addition to reading familiar texts. This material should NOT be at their frustration level. You must have material that is on their instructional level and other material that is on their independent level...you need lots of reading material.
Teach and practice writing every day. Writing is very important at the beginning stages of learning to read. What the children are able to write is a window into what they are actually attending to when they are attempting to read. Writing is the activity that forces them to think about how words and text work, how to compose their thoughts, and learn about the concepts of print.
Don't waste the children's time by having them do workbooks and worksheets. These materials don't teach. The children's time is better spent engaged in real reading and writing.
Teach the children the strategies needed in order to read and write. Teach them what they need to attend to, how to think and what to think about...the meaning of the story, the structure of the language, and what they see on the page. Teach them how to monitor their reading and writing. It is their job to notice when something isn't right. Then teach them how to go back and try something more than they tried before. Teach them how to make predictions about what they are about to read and tell about what they have already read.
The following is a list of strategies I use to help guide my thinking when I'm observing and planning.
Reading and Writing Strategies and Behaviors of First Grade Children
Reading
uses left to right directionality
uses return sweep
attends to print
matches 1-1
locates known and unknown words before and during reading
monitors by known words
monitors by one-to-one matching
uses meaning cues from pictures
uses first letter as a cue
searches for meaning cues
searches for structure cues
searches for visual cues
starts taking risks
re-reads after a "told"
re-reads to search for additional cues
realizes print carries message
has early strategies well under control (without lapses)
continues monitoring one-to-one
continues monitoring with known words
does some cross-checking with help
begins to use more visual cues
verbalizes errors and self corrections
links known to unknown
uses chunks in word analysis ("word families")
uses chunks: -s, -es, -ing, -er, etc.
re-reads to confirm and predict
re-reads to self-correct
problem-solves with more information
begins to integrate cues
has a good self-correction rate
self-monitors consistently
cross-checks cue sources
transfers strategies to various settings
re-reads without teacher prompting
uses some visual analysis on text
uses all of the strategies above to read increasingly difficult texts
problem solves independently
constructs own meaning prior to reading new texts
improves every time s/he reads
Writing
uses left to right directionality
uses return sweep
begins to control appropriate spacing on the page
writes many letters without a model
records dominant consonant sounds
articulates words slowly
pushes counters into boxes while saying the word slowly (the teacher draws one box for each sound giving the child support with boundaries)
writes known words fluently
understands concept of generating words (e.g. if you can write cat, you can write hat)
generates words
generates story/sentences
re-reads sentence to predict next word
re-reads to check work
reconstructs a cut-up sentence without a model
has fluent letter formation
is aware of appropriate punctuation
has a pool of high frequency words
uses a variety of sentence patterns
records first and last sounds
knows there's a middle sound
records sounds in sequence
claps syllables
uses ending chunks: -s, -ed, -ing, etc.
uses beginning chunks: a-, th-, sh-, be-, etc.
uses letter boxes - develops an understand of how words look--"Does it look right?" (the teacher draws a box for each letter of the word giving the child support with word length)
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