June 28th/30th Reflection

We combined the readings for June 28th and June 30th, so my reflection will be divided up into 2 paragraphs, one paragraph representing the readings for June 28th and the second paragraph will represent the readings for June 30th.
I agree with the quote, "story text should be easy enough to develop students confidence and facilitate comprehension, but difficult enough to provide a challenge and require the reader to do some "reading " (Clay, 1991a)." The article discusses the kinds of texts that are appropriate for students at various stages of their reading development and share our criteria for determining the difficulty levels of early reading materials.This article was really interesting to read because it gave a lot of in-depth information on leveled reading. Here again in this article it states that appropriate reading materials for readers should contain meaningful and natural language patterns. It talks about how the leveling system is based on 5 considerations, vocabulary, size, and layout of print, predictability, illustration support, and complexity of concepts. I like how the article talks about the leveling system continues to be a work in progress because teachers are constantly collaborating  to identify ways to match texts to an increasingly diverse population of readers. Later in the article is compares and contrasts the leveling system compared to other leveling systems. I really like that that it includes how to use leveled reading materials in a section. Because as teachers we do need to keep in mind that there is no single text that is appropriate for all students, just like there is not on single teaching method that works for all teachers and students. We need to also keep in mind that leveled books are only one type of reading resources available to students. There are lots of resources available to use when teaching students to read. The article also hits on the main points that interests and background knowledge will have a significant impact on the readability for particular students. Students learn to self-select reading materials based on their interests and accessibility. Teachers need to know their students, the books, and the reading process when making decisions on appropriate books for students to read. The Rog and Burton article had a lot of great and useful material for us soon to be teachers and i really learned a lot about leveled reading.

In the other readings, reflecting on how as well as what for effective reading instruction was really interesting to see the data. It wasn't surprising to see that whole group instruction was seen more in the observations because in my observations i noticed a lot more whole group too. However, I saw quite a bit of small group instruction, at least more than what i remember doing when i was in student in school. I learned that effective direct instruction includes clear goals, asking students questions to monitor understanding of skills and content knowledge. I have also learned that more effective teachers use modeling, coaching, and scaffolding techniques in the classroom. Teachers who also stressed a higher level of thinking skills were found to be more effective also. We have already learned most of the important components to reading programs and this article really clues in on these things. It also wasn't that surprising to see comprehension seldom observed, especially in the lower grade levels where phonics instruction was the main focus. It is also important to have your students actively engaged in actual reading and writing along with interactive activities that they can benefit from. I really liked how this article provided a back stage look onto each individual grade level and the awesome characteristics that the teachers used to provide effective teaching instructions. In conclusion to this I found that both the "what" and the "how" are two important concepts when it comes to effective teaching strategies. In Allington's article i really enjoyed the beginning where he talks about schools being viewed as not meeting the standards that society has placed on them and therefore that means that they are failing. He also explains that, "children are more likely to learn what they are taught than what they are not" such a simple thing to say but very honest and true. It's also true that our schools educate larger numbers of children to higher levels of proficiency than ever before, but from all the media that schools and teacher receive from the public eye you would never have guessed that. There is just so much controversy within the education field and Allington really hits on these in his article, mainly focusing on literacy in the schools. He states, "it is time to reject the notion that only few children can learn to read and write well." When children begin school with little to no experience with books they are generally classified as at risk. Basically everyone confuses their lack of experience with lack of ability but he is so right, this doesn't hold true. We must educate the teachers and society that this doesnt mean the child has to fail, it just means we need to help them even more. I think if you could only take one important aspect away from his article it would be don't believe everything you hear or read. Allington's article is probably one of my most favorite articles that we have read during this class. He just provides so much information on the obstacles that teachers face and really breaks down the components that are layed out in the education feild. The things he says is very true, we hold literacy to be the upmost importance but yet we provide little opportunity for children to actually read or write throughout the day. I think he makes an excellant point by addressing the fact that we need high-quality expert teachers in our schools. Let me just say, I didn't choose to come to UT to become an ok teacher, I am preparing myself to be a high quality teacher. I really enjoyed reading these articles and feel like i gained a lot of information that will help me as a teacher.