Jennifer (pseudonym) is a first grade student who I’ve worked closely with and monitored as my focus student. It is evident that she has a few challenges when it comes to academic core subjects but specifically, reading. She is not reading on the first grade reading level and is considered Tier 2. Although she enjoys reading at home and school, she revealed that she did not enjoy reading books that did not have pictures or if the pages were full of words on account of the pictures being her guide. The pictures made it easier for her to follow the storyline, which is reasonable for a first grader. When she reads for pleasure, she is able to select the material that she prefers to read compared to when she is given material to read during the guided reading group or the reading lesson. Therefore I developed the following wondering question: How can I help my student develop phonemic awareness?”
Based on assessments, guided reading group activities, independent work and inventories it is evident that Jennifer is struggling with identifying words as well as spelling them. There have been times that I have witnessed her reading a story aloud with other students or reading a paragraph with me where she would come across a word that she does not recognize and says something completely different. Jennifer utilizes a personal tactic that includes the aid of the picture that is provided on the page to figure out an unfamiliar word rather than using context clues from the text that she read or morphemic knowledge (prefixes, suffixes and root words). For instance, while she was reading independently during center time, I asked her to read the story aloud. When she encountered a word that she did not know, she would mumble lowly or bypass it completely. I proceeded to stop her and ask her to repeat the word. I then noticed her personal tactic; the particular word was shirt but when she glanced at the photograph, she was under the impression that it was a sweater so that is what she plugged into the sentence. There are other times that the word that she would say has no relation to the original word. I administered the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation, which measures a child’s ability to identify and separate the sounds of a word in the appropriate order. The student was able to articulate the correct segments of about half of the twenty-two words that were listed. Yopp (1995) states, “Students who correctly segment some items (7-16 correct) are displaying emerging phonemic awareness.” I believe that one of the problems that she is facing relates to the idea that she believes that a letter can only sound one way; she is not aware of the short and long sounds that one letter is capable of sounding like when saying different words. For instance, when we reached words such as she, that, and three I could detect that she was hesitant with the beginning sounds since those phonemes are joined. She was not able to determine that they should be recited together so when she began to tell me the sounds, she said the sound of each of the letters rather than placing them together. To a certain extent I believe that she is lacking phonemic awareness due to the fact that she is not aware of the different sounds that letters could make. I think this could hinder her writing, as I have already witnessed, when she begins to produce sentences independently. They are taught to stretch out words to the best of their ability before asking for help so this could be a problem if she cannot identify the sounds that she is making. When I’ve looked over her writing, letters tend to be missing especially if it is a blended phoneme or one that is usually silent. “Phonological awareness develops gradually over time and progresses from a sensitivity to big chunks of speech sounds, such as syllables and rhymes, to smaller parts of speech sounds, such as individual phonemes” (Pufpaff, 2009; Pulleen & Justice, 2003). One method that would be effective is to help Jennifer identify syllables by conducting an activity that includes deciphering the difference between short and long words. Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston (2012) suggest that teachers use picture cards to display the difference clearly. For instance, the teacher could use a picture of a man and snow to represent the short words and then a picture of a snowman to represent the long word. This will show Jennifer how compound words are created. She can then clap her hands for each words; further showing her that words can contain different syllables. Another method that could be effective is matching rhyming words so she could begin to recognize the different sounds. As the school year progresses, I plan to collaborate with my collaborating teacher to create a list of site words that could be utilized every week with my focus student. Every day that I am present in the classroom, we will review at least five words from the list; stretching each sound out, spelling them out repeatedly, and producing quality sentences. Since she is in the first grade I do not want to overwhelm her with a variety of material. A copy of the sight words could also be created to be sent home with the student so she can practice the words at home as well with her family.
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Due to family concerns, I was unable to come in last week and was welcomed back with open arms from the students as well as my CT. There were a lot of hugs and questions about my whereabouts which made me feel very good but also a little sad that I missed a day to be around the students. It hadn't registered in my mind how much my presence meant to them and vice versa. I arrived a few minutes earlier than usual so I was allotted time to ask about Halloween and what they decided to dress up as. Throughout the day my CT and I caught up on everything that went on last week; something that we do every Tuesday which has helped us form a great bond. I feel comfortable enough to talk to her about anything that concerns me or even about personal things and ask any questions that I may have. I appreciate how she communicates with me as though I was an actual colleague rather than someone simply helping her around the classroom. She never fails to thank me for helping her at the end of each day. Aside from working with small groups during Mathematics and Language Arts, which has become a routine, I was able to engage in a Read-Aloud with the students. With the talk and hype of the current presidential election, the book that I read was entitled, "Duck For President." Before I began reading, my CT informed the class that there will be a school wide mock voting day that will allow all of the students to vote for the candidate of their choice. Although their votes will not count toward the actual election, it is a great learning activity that exposes them to one of their rights that they will be able to exercise once they become of age. I believe that the school system should not only prepare our students for college but also how to function in the real world. I was so amazed to hear first graders tell me about who they would or would not vote for. I'm pretty sure I was not concerned about who would be in charge of the United States when I was their age; better yet aware of who was running against one another for the presidential position. Times are definitely changing and the educational system is in dire need of adapting to this new generation of children. I would have to admit that reading aloud to children allows me to practice my speaking skills as a future teacher since I am required to read at a much slower pace than I am accustomed to as a college student. I have improved in my execution of reading aloud as I find myself asking more questions that allow the students to apply the story to their personal lives; change the tone of my voice; and ensure that I am not rushing through the story and showing the pictures. My CT also provided me with typed notes of my first formal observation. She and I both acknowledged that teaching a science lesson to the entire class was a huge task that was very challenging but I handled it better than expected. I could admit that I was every overwhelmed by the students' excitement, excessive talking and numerous questions but that comes with the territory. The science lesson focused on identifying the forces of push and pull. I began the lesson by having the students sit on the carpet and review the definitions and motions of a push and pull. The students were then asked to return to their seats for the activity portion of the lesson. The activity included cutting out pictures showing a variety of depictions of push and pull and folding a large piece of yellow construction paper into a trifold. Students were then chosen to stand in front of the class, act out the picture for their classmates and then add it to their trifold when their peers guessed the action correctly. The activity did take up a lot of time and we were not able to get through everything. In our Creating & Differentiating course, we created a visual using play-doh that served as a representation of our classroom management approach. I related closely to assertive discipline, a philosophical approach to management developed by Lee and Marlene Canter. Without a doubt, teachers should be in charge of their classrooms and establish the rules and expectations so students will know what is acceptable and what is not. Students should definitely feel free to communicate with the teacher and express themselves but it is imperative that they understand that the teacher is the authority figure. It is important that they are disciplined when they display undesirable behavior and are provided with positive feedback when they are doing their jobs as students. I also will practice cooperative discipline in my classroom so students will understand that I have their best interest at heart and only want the best for them. We can create a nurturing, positive and enriching environment together. |
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