Multi-leveled Children

In the article, “Let’s Start Leveling about Leveling”, by Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford, the topic discussed how there is not one way of leveling. This idea spans across many aspects. For instance, there is no one strategy to address a student’s need in other areas of life as well. Since we have been learning about child development in literacy, a theme has come up encouraging us to use multiple strategies. Utilizing multiple strategies can help each student find his or her strengths better than an “All for one and one for all” strategy.

The article continues to discuss the idea that leveled reading is not having success in the classroom. This comes as no surprise when each child is different and may feel limited in their studies when given a specific level to stick with. It is a good idea to “meet children where they are” in their reading ability, however limiting students to that level can stifle their growth. The article also mentions how “reading levels are not the same as reading needs.” Sometimes, we hear the phrase “you can only get better if you play with someone that is more skilled than you” when talking about sports. . Although, reading is not a sport, allowing children to choose books of interest just above their strength level can be a good start for them to improve their skills.

We have many multileveled students in our classrooms. Getting to know students and imparting multiple strategies can be extremely helpful in guiding their reading. Along with introducing a higher leveled book to a student, reading books that students know well or that the student has an interest in can help keep students connected to literature as well. Each of these strategies can help build confidence in the students. The confidence that student gain can aid in their reading ability buy encouraging him or her to tackle higher level reading.

Without our help, students are already trying to figure out “who they are” and “what they can do.” As teachers, we have the opportunity to educate ourselves about different strategies and find information on how to use the strategies to help propel individual students. Through these suggestions, we can begin to help our students find his or her “center” in the midst of the leveled chaos.

Expanding Vocabulary

The podcast for this week featuring Dr. Susan Neuman from the University of Michigan discussed strategies for successful interventions for young children. Dr. Neuman suggests that teachers using interventions make sure to have a focus on vocabulary in order for the students to learn at an accelerated rate.

As Dr. Neuman discusses, it is all too often that educators mistake young children’s lack of readiness in relation to learning. Teachers can underestimate how much a child can learn and retain. It is not simply a matter of readiness, but providing the right type of intervention to help each student realize their potential. For instance, children as young as preschool age, can learn self-teaching and learn how to use multimedia with vocabulary. Furthermore, Dr. Neuman mentions that preschoolers learn at an accelerated rate when they have different strategies at play instead of just one. Students can learn faster when learning a vocabulary word if the can hear the word, see the word and see an image that goes along with the word all at the same time. Through this multimedia practice and many others, children can learn the concepts of certain words and make meaning of them as well.

Not only does this strategy work for children, it is used to help adults as well. For instance, the Rosetta Stone Language Program is designed the same way. Instead of teaching direct translation, learners see the written word, hear the word, and are able to see the image that goes along with the word. This is similar to when their first language was taught. Both systems also utilize a repeated vocabulary and multimedia, simultaneously.

Parents can also help by answering children’s questions and responding to inferences that they make about vocabulary. It is important to keep students curious about their learning process because it will help them retain more information. Dr. Neuman also mentions that adults could talk to small children while using interesting words. Children love to hear long and interesting words. If they have the chance to learn it and become exposed to different vocabulary, they will learn form this practice and use the words in speech. For example, in my field experience classroom that is combined with first and second graders, the students were reluctant to say my last name because it was different and it “looked hard”. Not only did the students underestimate their abilities, but we did as well. We decided that we would teach them and they could practice. We believed that they could do it and they began to believe it as well. A name that we thought they would not be able to learn has become common use only after my second day in the classroom. It seems as though we never had this discussion about how difficult my name would be. Another way to help with interesting words is to make sure the students read books that allow them to stretch their vocabulary.

Although these strategies are helpful, it is important to think about learning to implement other multimedia strategies for inclusive classrooms or students that have hearing or sight impairments. Educators should remember that we need to help each student find a way to stretch and retain their vocabulary. In order to do this, teachers can get to know their students and meet them where they are in terms of initial ability. From there, using strategies to enhance or stretch those abilities will be beneficial.

Sounding Out New Strategies

In early field experience, some student teachers are asked to observe his or her host teacher and others are asked to jump right into helping the students. Often, these student teachers help during reading and writing lessons. At this time, student teachers can put into practice the strategies that they learned from their own courses as well as follow their host teacher’s strategies. But what if you hear your host teacher say “sound it out” to a student when they ask for help on a word? Should the student teacher follow his or her lead or does that teacher have other options?

According to the article, Sounding Out: A Pervasive Cultural Model for Reading, written by Catherine Compton Lily, “sounding out” has historically been the go-to strategy when helping students learn various words and texts. However, this strategy does not seem to fully enrich the students. For instance, sounding out may help with letter sounds, but it does not help the children make meaning of their readings. Thus, it does not help the student recall their material.

Sounding out may have been used in every aspect of a child’s life. From older siblings, to teachers, parents and friends; most children have come across someone in this or her life utilizing this strategy.  This may have been the case for many years, however, more strategies have been discovered to help the students in this subject area.

Children are now being taught that there a multiple strategies available to help with reading and writing, not just one. For instance, children can be prompted to read the sentence context and to ponder which word choice they would choose while attempting to decipher the authors word choice. Students can make predictions about the story they are reading. It is also good practice to refer to the student’s real world experiences to help them learn the word that they may be having trouble with. For example, if a child is stumped on the word “cafeteria”, the teacher can say” This is good one, you go eat lunch at this place everyday!” These ideas and so many more are helpful strategies.

            It is also important to understand that each child is different and some may need extensive instruction in these subject areas, as Dr. Shayne Piasta suggests in her podcast. For this reason, using multiple strategies will be beneficial for those students as well. For the students that have help at home, including parents in the different strategies is a wonderful idea. The parents can reinforce this critical thinking behavior at home while their child is completing homework or enrichment activities.

In a world where education reform is changing every day, it is more important than ever to teach children to be self-sufficient and critical thinkers. The “sounding-out” strategy is not a bad choice, however it should be used in addition to other tools as an aid instead of the main strategy. These tools will allow students to succeed in school and out of school no matter what is happening politically. 

Podcast with Dr. Shayne Piasta

http://www.voiceofliteracy.org/posts/37208

Succeeding at Home

This week, we read the article, Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children’s Writing by Kate Foley Cusumano. This article does a phenomenal job at offering strategies to support young learners on the academic journey in and out of the classroom. For instance, Cusumanos’ theory on getting parents involved in a positively encouraging way can really aid in students success. It is also important to point out that these strategies can generally help children enjoy completing homework.

The idea that children do not enjoy doing schoolwork at home seems to be universal. However, the reasons for this reluctant position to do homework can be varied. Some of the reasons include, but are not limited to, lack of help after school or at home, feeling as though “homework’s” purpose is similar to a testing atmosphere, and feeling as if they have to do drills on lessons they either do not understand or have already mastered. This can make the process of completing homework exhausting for the child.

Cusumanos also talks about getting parents to praise their children’s strength, rather than criticize their errors and mistakes. It is all to often those children do not receive positive reinforcement for their efforts. If we want children to succeed, we must first help them understand that they have the ability to do so. Criticizing errors will discourage children from the process altogether. If children feel as though they perform well on little aspects, they may continue to work diligently on the whole project.

Another idea to explore is that parents and the community have their own expectations about how a child should be progressing, not realizing that every child has their own developmental timeline. This could put unnecessary pressure on children to perform like their peers when, in fact, they may not be at the same level. There is much support needed in this area to meet each child where they presently are in their progress.

It is clear that there are strategies to help children approach homework and succeed with the process. Although the strategies presented in this article are paramount, it is important for parents to also look into more ways to help their student in a positive way. Periodic conferences with the teacher and child would be helpful in understanding and supporting the child’s growth. With models such as these, there is no limit to how much we can do to support our students!