Please watch this clip and respond by midnight on the 18th of July. You should write at least 2 responses. Be sure that you're responding to your classmates.
Happy posting!
Use the Beers text and Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 to support your answers.
(REMEMBER -- there are not really any right or wrong answers, just non-supported answers.)
o What strengths do you see/hear in the clip?
o What weaknesses do you hear/see in this clip?
o What would you do to deepen the students’ literacy skills?
o What do you think about your classmates’ ideas for assisting the
student? Did their ideas help you? Do you disagree with their ideas?
Abigail, a five year old who will enter into kindergarten the following year is reading a book on her own. She works to sound out the words and pauses to think about the word she is about to read throughout the reading demonstration. Kylene Beers divides students into two categories: dependent and independent readers. Abigail is an example of a independent reader because she is self motivated to read the book she starts and is able to finish it by decoding the words on her own. One weakness revealed in the clip is that Abigail says “um” before reading some of the words she encounters which shows that she is going through the process in her head of decoding the word she is about to read. I would work to deepen Abigail’s literacy skills by exposing her to more books at her reading level. The book she was reading seemed to be a simplified book, which included very few words (2-3 per page) on each page. I would work with Abigail and help her read books that are a bit more challenging in order for her to learn that “reading is an active process” (Beers, 102). – Carolina Castro
ReplyDeleteThis is difficult to assess because we cannot see the actual words to figure out how accurately she was reading. I have a hard time believing that dick "see see see-d" on the first couple of pages. Sorry Carolina, but I disagree with you again: I noticed the "umm" came as she was turning the page, and not paused on a specific word. Though you are correct in stating that she is an independent reader. I would have been interested to hear more than a few pages from Abigail.
ReplyDeleteNone of the words had any fluency to them, but as a new reader (pre-k) it may be a little early to take away credit for that. However, that would be an area where I would work to improve her skills. Abigail says "Se-See S-Sally can't work" demonstrating a bit of trouble and likely frustration with the text. Beers says that the Frustration level of students is "Students who recognize fewer that 90 percent of the words and comprehend less than 50 percent of the text. At this level, students are too frustrated by the text to learn from the text." Also students who are "Fluent readers know the words automatically, spending their cognitive energy on constructing meaning." This is particularly evident at the end of the video when Abigail seems to know the last line and reads it not only fluently, but with feeling. I believe that if questioned about the story she just read she would say "Sally can work" despite that the majority of the story up to that point was about Dick working, and specifically not Sally.
Joelle, you make a great point about not being able to see the words in the book. It does make it difficult to assess how skillful Abby is. However, I don’t agree that she is an independent reader. I don’t think we have enough information to make that determination.
ReplyDeleteAbigail is reading the first few pages of this book independently, albeit it prompted by the adult working the camera, but at times she slowly sounds out the simplest sight words of her favorite book and when she gets to the sixth page, she seems less confident about what she is reading. I wonder if this is because it is the first time she encounters a word that begins with the letter J. She actually pronounces the word as “Jay” when it should be Jane, as this is obviously part of the “Read With Dick and Jane” book series. After initially struggling with that page she does, as Joelle states, finish with fluency and feeling. At that point, she is stopped from reading further, in an abrupt fashion, and praised by the adult stating that “…yer doin’ really good with yer readin’.” As we know well, praise is a great positive reinforcement, and a good first step towards helping Abby further develop.
As per Beers If-Then Chart ( fig. 3.2 on page 28) Abby is sounding out a lot of words and she needs help with word recognition, spelling and fluency. Also when she encounters the word “oh” she usually precedes it with “um” and a short pause. I’m not so quick to call Abigail a dependent reader because she may be completely lost if given another book. Nevertheless her reading development seems to be on pace for a 5 year old.
I agree with Joelle and Erik that it is difficult to fully assess Abby’s reading because we are unable to read the text along with her. Like Carolina, I do, however, view Abby as more likely to be an independent reader than a dependent one. Since Abby is a beginning reader, I don’t think she is exhibiting all of the criteria of a fully independent reader. She is, however, displaying confidence in her reading. Beer cites being confident in a variety of ways, including cognitively, socially, emotionally and textually, as requisite skills for developing into independent readers. I feel Abby is beginning to show some of these skills. Although an adult is standing right over her, Abby continues to work through words she is decoding on her own, rather than stopping and having the adult give her the words.
ReplyDeleteIn comparing Abby to the boy in the other clip, Abby clearly is reading with more outward enthusiasm. More importantly, the adult in this clip is responding much more enthusiastically to the reader’s efforts than the adult in the other video. I think the stronger and more enthusiastic my praise for my students’ reading efforts will be, the more I will be able to encourage them to become independent readers.
I guess I gave her credit for being an independent reader because in comparison to the first clip, she needed less assistance. Though ironically, the boy in the first clip was reading more difficult vocabulary. They may actually be at the same reading level.
ReplyDeleteI also found it difficult to fully assess Abigail’s reading when we could not see the text itself. So I did some digging and found part of the book on google books. The last two pages of what she reads is missing, but I found the last page through another source. I’ll type what I have here, but here’s the link if you’d like to read it yourselves: http://books.google.com/books?id=zNBe4rA-LhsC&pg=PA34&dq=dick+and+jane+we+work&hl=en&ei=5ApDTJTiD8G78gasysiZDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=dick%20and%20jane%20we%20work&f=false.
ReplyDeleteWork, Dick.
Work, work.
See, see.
See Dick work.
Oh, Dick.
See, see.
Oh, oh, oh.
See Sally work.
(This page is missing and I didn’t want to write it down inaccurately).
Oh, Dick.
Oh, Jane.
See, see.
Sally can work.
If you do go to the google books link, however, you will see one of the last pages of the book and notice that the mom did stop Abigail from reading when it got to be more complicated. According to Amazon, the reading level for this book is ages 4-8. As Abigail is only 5 years old, I think she is doing really well for her age.
I agree with Carolina that Abigail is an independent reader. She self-corrects, and sometimes omits (this was the part of the story that I unfortunately couldn’t find online) but for the most part she seems to do well with language and sentence structure that she hears every day. There are only seven different words in this reading (work, Dick, Oh, Jane, See, Sally, Can) and she is pretty fluent with almost all of them. The two places where she gets most confused is with Jane’s name and with “oh.”
Before I found the text to follow along with, I thought Abigail was just repeating words because she didn’t know them well and that she was just having a lot of trouble with the text. But in reality, this text is not how a person would normally speak, and I think that is why Abigail has the most trouble. A five year old doesn’t often say, “Oh, Dick.” It is on the “oh’s” that she stops and says um the most, and to me that seems normal. She also pauses before Sally’s name appears the first time, but after that she can decode “Sally” at the same rate as other words.
I agree with Carolina: I would give her a more challenging text to develop decoding skills. Dick and Jane books are mainly focused on memorizing words, which is why this text only has 7 words in the 5 to 6 pages that Abigail reads. That is why when she gets to a new word (or name) she has trouble decoding it, because the text focuses on memorization and recognition, not decoding.
(Kassie Archambault)
I agree with Carolina and others that Sally is an independent reader. She read the parts we could see alone and very well for her age. She as well as the child in the first video need to work on their fluency which I beleive will naturally come with age. The mother in the video was very positive and enthusiastic unlike the teacher in the last video and I felt gave her better praise and you could see the excitement the child had when she finished. I also saw that Sally put her finger on the word she was up to while she was reading. I thought this was good practice for now and possibly later in her reading career. This can help her keep on task of what she is reading. In Beers it says, " Often struggling readers struggle becasue while they read, their eyes move over the words but their minds move to thoughts of the weekend plans, last night's phone conversations, or after-school sports events. They don't focus on what they are reading, confusing page turning with comprehending" (105). It is important that Sally learns ways to stay focused on her reading and if she is doing this early on it may continue and even be encouraged if it helps her.
ReplyDeleteTo deepen this child's skills I would just have her continuing to practice while I was there to help if she needed it. I would let her pick out her own books. I would also increase the level of the books gradually provind more assistance when I did so.
Thanks to Kassie for posting the text she found.
ReplyDeleteI am not concerned that Abby may have memorized a text that has only 7 words of vocabulary. I think pre-readers and beginning readers often use memorization as a strategy for reading short texts. I believe this encourages them to develop more advanced reading skills, including automaticity and fluency. Abby does seem on the cusp of developing stronger skills and should be encouraged to choose texts at the top end of her proximal zone of development.
Carmen’s noting that Abby uses her finger to read along in the text reinforces some of the comments to the other clip that the comic format seems to make it difficult for beginning readers to use that strategy for following text.
Kassie, thank you so much for posting the text from the book! Much like everyone else, I thought that Sally was having a problem decoding the words and was just repeating them. Now that I can see the text, I think that this 5 year old girl has a much stronger fluency than I thought. I think that the reason that Sally has so much trouble with the word “oh” is because she does not have complete phonic analysis or syllabication which are two decoding strategies listed in the NRP article.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carolina and all of the others that the Sally is an independent reader. I say this because she is reading the book on her own and she is excited about what she is reading. Also her mother constantly praises her for her work on her reading. Sally dos not seem to think that reading is a chore, and she seems proud of herself for being able to read so well at such a young age. This corresponds to what was said in the “Just Plain Reading Article.” Students said that they preferred when they could have free reading time. While we are not sure if Sally chose this book, she is reading it on her own and seems to be enjoying it. This is a great basis for enjoying reading in the future.
I also would like to comment on the point that Joelle makes from the Beers book that says, “fluent readers know the words automatically, spending their cognitive energy on constructing meaning”. I think that by taking this quote into account we can agree that Sally is an independent reader but not a fluent one. Sally probably would not be able to explain what she is reading, but she is able to decode all of the words. Sally is in the beginning stages of becoming a developed reader. Her fluency is still choppy and she spends time figuring out how to pronounce each word. Since she is only fie years old, I believe that she is at the right reading level for her age. I believe that once she gets older and enters kindergarten she will be able to combine fluency and decoding to become a better reader.
Carrie Bino
Ok, first of all I want to correct something in the last paragraph of my previous response. I meant to write that I’m not so quick to call Abby an independent reader. True, she is able to read those pages with a few self-corrected errors, but who knows how many times she’s practiced this book. This series of books is designed to build a readers repertoire of sight words, which is why there is little to no sentence structure. I don’t think this type of book is not a good barometer for determining whether a reader is independent. According to Beers, independent readers are readers that know how to make text make sense- even if they do not initially understand the text. How do we know that this text makes sense to Abby? She isn’t asked any questions about the text. It seems to me that any 5 year old learning sight words would be classified as a dependent reader, although I have not found any criteria in our readings that can back it up because the book and our other readings focus on adolescent readers. Actually, I would prefer watching middle school kids where we can make a better connection to what we are learning about and the challenges we will soon face.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the adult is enthusiastic, but does not identify when Abby made a mistake with the word Jane. The woman could have asked her to repeat the word or model reading the word or just ask Abby some questions about what she was reading. Either way, she dropped the ball on that and seemed more interested in having Abby perform on cue, or maybe she was running out of video tape. Furthermore, I did not see consistent praise, as the woman only praised Abby at the very end.
-Shanetta Cathey
ReplyDeleteI think for five-years-old Abigail is demonstrating great ability to read. Her eagerness and excitement combined with positive parent-involvement is spear-heading what looks to be a positive road to success in regards to literacy. One of the first things that stood out for me is how relaxed Abigail looks while reading. The fact that she is casually lying back on the couch shows that her mother is subliminally making the concept of reading a relaxing event for Abigail.
Joelle pointed out that although it sounds like Abigail is doing a good job reading the fact that we cant see the words in the book makes it hard for us to assess just how well Abigail is reading. As I believe Abigail shows fluency when reading I quickly noticed she uses the word “um” a great deal. I don’t know if this has much to do with fluency or is it that she has yet to grasp the idea of simply taking a breath before starting a new sentence or before turning the page.
Ultimately it’s the parent-involvement that is key in this experience. I truly believe children should learn to read far before entering the classroom. The explicit praise giving by the woman in the clip is very important to Abigail’s success in regards to reading. I am led to believe her self-motivation may be correlated by the praise and parent-involvement received.
Abigail is developing into a strong and independent reader. Like my other classmates, I agree that Abigail is developing great skills by reading on her own and implementing self-correcting and word recognition techniques. Abigail is also an active reader; she uses her finger to follow along with the text, which will be an important and useful technique once she begins to read both independently and silently. Abigail is also developing skills that are important to reading aloud, she seems to be comfortable in front of the camera and willing to have people hear her, she is definitely not intimidated. In the “Just Plain Reading” article, it referred to the need for students with reading problems to become familiar with a text or content before reading the material aloud. Abigail seems to have practiced with the book and is confident in her reading ability. I thought the point where she said either “umm” or had a long pause was part of the learning process. It is more important to know that she is confident in abilities than a few pauses (I am sure the constant practice will help her develop into a fluent reader).
ReplyDeleteUnlike the reader in the first clip, I was able to follow along with Abigail and from the copy of the text Kassie uploaded, it seems as though Abigail is well on her way to becoming a fluent reader. The pages in the "Dick work" book were easy to follow and the words were visible not as confusing as the comic book. The layout of the page seem to assist with Abby remaining focused on the read aloud. Abby also has a great deal of encouragement from her mother and I agree with the point Shay makes about parent involvement. Abigail has not entered school yet; however, she is reading independently and has the support of her mother. I am sure Abigail and her mother practiced reading the book before the recording and that probably assisted with her confidence in reading he piece. Nevertheless, parent involvement and encouragement places a crucial role in developing fluent readers.
Evita Bullen
Continuation-Shanetta Cathey
ReplyDeleteKylene Beers speaks about the categories of dependent and independent readers. It is clear Abigail is an independent reader as she is able to read the book from the beginning to end without the need of assistance. Beers also states that possessing a certain level of confidence when becoming an independent reader is very imperative. Abigail clearly displays a high level of confidence while reading. Although I think she may need to read a more challenging book and perhaps it will really show the level of confidence she possess.
James Bleshman
ReplyDeleteI was most interested in the culture of reading shown in the clip, which is mentioned immediately above by Shay. Because this is not a reading lesson but rather a family home video, I focused on the positive, which Shay mentions as well- that the entire family is promoting independent reading, whether or not this five year old is there yet. Not only is the mother proud of her daughter’s reading level and using some level of praise throughout, it also appears that some younger siblings are gather around to hear the eldest sister read. In this sense, the eldest daughter is modeling successful reading for the younger children, creating a culture of reading in the family that is not only created by the parents but rather from the children as well.
I agree with several of the other posts above, which tended to be critical of this girls’ literacy; from this clip, it is not clear at all as to whether she really is skilled in decoding or fluency, as she may have simply memorized the book. However, I still believe that given the context of this video, the activity is successful in that is promotes independent reading for the girl and her siblings.
I realized that I called Abigail Sally throughout my entire post. Sorry if there was any confusion!!
ReplyDelete-Carrie Bino
Abigail reads a Dick and Jane beginner book, one of the first she can read on her own. According to Shanahan and Shanahan, Abigail is developing basic literacy, an ability to decode and identify high-frequency words. As defined by the NRP, she has good fluency (speed, accuracy and expression). She also has good rhythm and word recognition skills. These reading skills may be attributed to a few factors; the book’s use of high-frequency words (Beers, p. 204-205, 212) and Abigail’s possible familiarity with the book. It’s likely she’s had this or other Dick and Jane books read to her multiple times. At some points it appears that Abigail stutters when she reads, but without being able to see the text she may actually be reading correctly because Dick and Jane uses repeated words and phrases. Abigail seems to depend on her finger to guide her through the text and possibly keep pace. To improve Abigail’s already has strong skills I would introduce new vocabulary at regular intervals to increase and vary her word recognition. Vocabulary is identified by the NRP as critical in oral reading instruction. I would also incorporate phonics training to increase her ability to decode unfamiliar words.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the debate in the above comments about memorization vs. decoding, I think at Abigail's reading level word recognition/memorization and decoding are interchangeable. It is very likely that she has the book memorized, but I also think she will be able to read these 7 words anywhere she sees them; in other books/magazines, on billboards, etc. So I think she's also decoded these 7 words.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment James made about creating a culture of literacy in the family. Not only does the mother videotape her daughter reading (itself a kind of praise), but she also brags about her daughter for all of the youtube community to see. Not only that, but she does so in front of a younger sibling who sees how reading independently could earn him praise and attention. As far as Abigail's decoding and fluency skills go, she seems to be sight-reading words she recognizes rather than sounding them out individually. It's hard to say exactly what's going on, but she seems to pause before each one until she remembers what it is, rather than trying to decode each letter and syllable individually. With respect to her comprehension, we frankly have no idea. There wasn't exactly Shakespearean complexity behind the text she was reading. That said, the mother could easily ask her 'what's going on?' or 'what does that mean?' to check whether or not the child understands the words she reads. All told, I think Abigail is well on track for a five year old.
ReplyDeleteThe mom is excited and encouraging right away, which I think is really important. The enthusiasm around Abigail reading one of her first books leads to Abigail shows confidence in her reading and be excited about it as well. This is something I definitely want to use in my classroom – praise and excitement around reading and every accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteAbigail follows along with her finger for each word and seems to comprehend what she is reading.She could be further challenged with slightly more difficult books and specific guidance, but I agree with Kassie that Abigail is above average for her grade
In this clip, reading is a family event; I like James’s point about modeling for her younger brother. I agree with Shay that family involvement and learning to read before entering Kindergarten is highly beneficial.
Abigail receives instant praise and attention for her effort with reading. Although praise is understood to be beneficial, I agree with a few of my colleagues in stating that Abigail's level of reading cannot be adequately assessed due to various factors--my inability to gauge what she is reading based on the video, my knowledge of the content ABigail is reading, and also, the use of a diagnostic tool (i.e. Brigance Word Recognition Tool). It is great that Abigail appears to be an independent reader. I presume she read the material and did not simply memorize the content for the video ( hey it could happen). In addition, the Shanahan article states that children can learn through repetition of recognizable word content. It is possible that Abigail recognizes the recurring words and is able to read it, as a result. However, her recognition of the word does not equate to her comprehension of the word.
ReplyDelete- Hassan Brown
Abigail receives instant praise and attention for her effort with reading. Although praise is understood to be beneficial, I agree with a few of my colleagues in stating that Abigail's level of reading cannot be adequately assessed due to various factors--my inability to gauge what she is reading based on the video, my knowledge of the content ABigail is reading, and also, the use of a diagnostic tool (i.e. Brigance Word Recognition Tool). It is great that Abigail appears to be an independent reader. I presume she read the material and did not simply memorize the content for the video ( hey it could happen). In addition, the Shanahan article states that children can learn through repetition of recognizable word content. It is possible that Abigail recognizes the recurring words and is able to read it, as a result. However, her recognition of the word does not equate to her comprehension of the word.
ReplyDelete- Hassan
My biggest take away from this clip was that if a child is given encouragement and praise, it will reinforce their interest in reading as we have read in the articles. Encouragement and positive reinforcement is key to ensuring that children first gain an interest in reading. Children are inquisitive and seek approval of the authority figure.
ReplyDelete- Hassan Brown
I think Abigail is a dependent reader according to the Beers criteria. Her flow and pronunciation are delayed; however it is important to bear in mind that she is 5 yrs old. For her age she is quite an advance reader however she has a long way to go to becoming a proficient reader. The fact that reading is a part of the family is incredibly important as it seems that independent reading is and will be encouraged.
ReplyDeleteIf we are to develop the comprehension skills the mother could ask more questions about the text and see if the child is retaining what she reads. As others have mentioned it seems the child is sight reading words instead of using phonics. Being able to phonetically break down works and use syllabication will prove an important skill to develop once Abigail moves onto more complex texts. Likely these skills will be best explored when Abigail goes to school.
I think according to the Beers criteria that Abigail is on her way to becoming a proficient reader.
words* instead of works....
ReplyDeleteseveral of the comments point out something that I was thinking...it is difficult to assess Abigail's reading ability without proper knowledge of the text in place or knowledge of her retention of the material.
Also as She pointed out: this excercise does a lot to instill confidence in the little girl. Reading before the camera, her siblings, and mother will help Abigail to become a confident and proficient reader. As I said earlier too, it is incredibly important that this family promotes a culture of reading amongst the children through attention and praise for reading.
Unlike the previous video, one thing I notice about Abigail is she does not depend on the illustrations to provide context clues to her reading. She points to each word, showing that she is examining the word and sounding it out. Since she says “umm” before certain words, she is showing that she is decoding the words. She still needs assistance with her fluency. It is important to note that she self corrects throughout reading. I have to say it was a bit difficult to gage weaknesses and strengths for this clip. I did not know the book she was reading and, other than her age, I did not know much about Abigail as a reader. To help develop her reading abilities I would continue to use phonics instruction, since she does seem to be responding well to that.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the National Reading Panel Reccomendations:
“Phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading and spelling. The primary focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes) to form letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns and to help them learn how to apply this knowledge in their reading.”
I would have to agree with those who have said Abigail is an independent reader. While she still needs to work on her fluency, by pointing to each word she shows that she understands word order. Her read aloud also showed that she is processing words, and has a thinking process as to how she will read the words. She doesn’t need someone to tell her to sound it out, she does this herself. Unlike the last video we saw, the mother did not need to assist her and just provided positive encouragement.
~Sarah