How Can I Help Students Develop Literacy Skills as Supported Through Research?
During my study, I was given many opportunities to help students increase their foundational reading skills, improve fluency and comprehension techniques, and also grow as writers. I learned how to integrate good literature into my instruction, incorporate cool tools to motivate my students in reading and writing, utilize assessments to determine student needs, and read many professional texts that provided me with new ideas that can be used in the classroom.
Foundational Reading Skills
According to the Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (2016), students must gain experiences with academic language skills including the use of inferential and narrative language. They must also develop an awareness of the sounds in speech and how these sounds are connected to letters. Students must practice, decoding words while analyzing word parts, and they need to write and recognize words. In addition, students must read connected text each day to help them grow as readers.
wwc_foundationalreading_070516.pdf | |
File Size: | 3407 kb |
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Fluency/Comprehension
Begeny, Krouse, and Mitchell (2009) suggest that repeated reading “has been shown to be associated with improvements across a range of reading skills, including comprehension and reading accuracy” (p. 226). In this article, the authors explore a study conducted with a focus group of second grade students whose reading skills were average to below average. Findings from this study, indicate that repeated reading showed the most long term reading retention. The authors also explain that repeated reading is an effective and research based intervention that may be utilized with students who need additional practice in the development of fluency. We also know if students struggle with reading words with automaticity then “attentional resources are depleted” as they must focus their mental energy on decoding words rather than comprehension of text (Applegate, Applegate, & Modla, 2009, p. 514).
comprehension_visual.docx | |
File Size: | 204 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Writing
Kindergarten students require many opportunities to write each day in their classrooms if they are going to develop a love for writing. What is the secret that will motivate young students to write? What should writing instruction look like in a kindergarten classroom? First, let me state that it will not happen overnight and worksheets will not serve as motivators for this instruction. According to Coker (2014), “Writing may be one of the most difficult academic tasks for students” (“Chapter 2,” para. 1). Coker also states (2014), “... including effective writing instruction when students begin preschool and kindergarten can strengthen students’ writing achievement” ( “Chapter 2,” para. 1).
Kindergarten students require many opportunities to write each day in their classrooms if they are going to develop a love for writing. What is the secret that will motivate young students to write? What should writing instruction look like in a kindergarten classroom? First, let me state that it will not happen overnight and worksheets will not serve as motivators for this instruction. According to Coker (2014), “Writing may be one of the most difficult academic tasks for students” (“Chapter 2,” para. 1). Coker also states (2014), “... including effective writing instruction when students begin preschool and kindergarten can strengthen students’ writing achievement” ( “Chapter 2,” para. 1).
ies_writing_guide__1_.pdf | |
File Size: | 1052 kb |
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First Grade Intervention Group Writing Samples
Students used details in illustrations to encourage writing.
Students used details in illustrations to encourage writing.