Teaching Literacy in the 21 st. Century Session 5 Ian Hauser

Classroom Libraries Why is it important to have a classroom library? What does a classroom library in a High School look like? –Where is it? –What does it contain? –How is it used?

Classroom Libraries What are the problems associated with establishing classroom libraries in High Schools? What are some possible solutions?

Teaching Literacy Round Robin Reading and other Perils of Reading Instruction Each group has been assigned a ‘peril’  Discuss your ‘peril’  Is it really a peril?  Why?  What other solutions can you come up with?  How will they help?

Student Assessment What do we learn about Brandon as a reader during this reading conference?

Assessment Running Records  A running record is a record of errors, or miscues, that readers make as they are reading. Running Records were developed by Dr Marie Clay as a way for teachers to quickly and easily assess their students’ reading behaviours “on the run”, so to speak.  Running Records capture what the reader did and said while reading. They capture how readers are putting together what they know in order to read. They allow teachers to describe how children are working on text. They allow teachers to hear how children read – fluent, phrased, word by word, acknowledging punctuation, or on the run. (Further reference: Clay, M “Running Records for Classroom Teachers)

Cueing Systems There are three main cueing systems. Good readers use all three simultaneously. (a) SYNTACTIC CUES –(Structure) cues from our experience and patterns of language. For example – It ………………… under the water. The word must be a ……………….. (b) SEMANTIC INFORMATION – (Meaning) cues about meaning which come from our knowledge of the subject. For example – Tommy put his pet turtle in the tank. It …………………….. under the water. (c) GRAPHOPHONIC CUES – (Visual) cues from our knowledge of the conventions of print, the way words look, the relationship between sounds and letters within particular words. For example – Tommy put his pet turtle in the tank. It d……………….. under the water.

Running Records Conventions

What do Running Records offer? Values the actual act of reading Observation time Change over time Grouping & comparisons Analysis links to instruction Text reading level Self correction rate

Calculation % errors in words 95%-100%easy text 90%-94%instructional text <89%hard text

Running Record form What is important?

Correct Reading  

Substitution duck  lamb  Child Text

Several attempts l – la - pet  lamb sn - sn -   snow

Self Correction duck SC  lamb 

No response  lamb Insertion the 

Attempts and SC du - l - la SC  lamb 

Re-reading duck R  lamb 

Repetition  R  R 2  R 2 3 4

Told (the three second rule) duck -  lamb T 

Verbal appeal A  lamb T Y 

Re-reading & Self correction duck SC  lamb 

Appeals & Tolds du - A  lamb T swo – swe  snow T

Try That Again snow du - lim -  she  lamb swo – swe TTA  snow

How reading sounds Some examples: Fast and fluent Word by word Slow and choppy Slow and careful

Error Analysis SheepMSV Lamb Is the child using Meaning? Is the child using Structure? Is the child using Visual information?

Self Correction analysis Error Self correction La - lady SC MSV MSV Lamb Using Visual information on error and able to self correct using Meaning

Running Records Let’s try it with Brandon reading!

Capturing student reading processing

Running Records are part of An Observation Survey ‘Systematic Observation of Early Literacy Achievement’ Marie Clay

Running Records Student level Class level School level Regional level State level

Running Records: student level Time for teacher to observe – objectively Captures reading behaviour on real text Self correction ratio – insights into processing Informs teaching - often immediately Easy to administer / can be done anywhere Evidence for teacher-teacher discussions Guides text reading level decisions Captures change over time for individuals Supports decision making-grouping of students

Running Records: At the system level Observe ‘change over time’ of text reading level progress of students Evaluate progress of groups of students Evaluate progress at school level Evaluate school system

What needs to be set in place for this to happen?

Teachers who know Running Record conventions Teachers who know how to analyse Running Records Wide selection of leveled texts Management system for student data

Review Text levels Conventions Conventions of Seen and Unseen Time

Text Types: Biggest bang for your buck Repetitive texts vs Storyline texts Seen or Unseen texts Benchmark texts for assessment Leveled texts (who do we believe?) How many words is enough?

Text Selection Storyline Semantic information Vocabulary Sentence structure (including length) Illustration support Print – the visual information –High frequency words –Level of semantic and structural support –Phonological /orthographic support

Baby Monkey climbed the tree. He climbed to the top of the tree. Baby monkey looked down at the tiger. The tiger was angry. Baby Monkey was safe. Up climbed Baby Monkey to the top of the tree and looked down at the angry tiger. He was safe.

Baby Monkey climbed the tree. He climbed to the top of the tree. Baby Monkey looked down at the tiger. The tiger was angry. Baby Monkey was safe.

The man with the long grey beard… The long grey bearded man…

Seen texts (S) –Texts that have been introduced by the teacher –Texts that have been read before Unseen texts (US) –Texts that have not been read before * Title is given to student * Student is offered the opportunity to look at the pictures

Conventions Standard Easily read by others