Week 7.1: My View on Homework

Based on your readings and experience in this class and beyond, create a rationale/purpose for giving homework and independent work.

Within the first week of teaching kindergarten, parents were already asking me when I was going to start sending home homework. At first I was taken aback because I thought students were too young to be receiving homework. Instead, I sent home weekly newsletters that informed students about what we were learning at school and how they could help at home. Eventually, I began sending home writing practice for students to practice their letter of the week. I also encouraged my students to read their sight word books to parents and to READ every night! I quickly realized how important homework is even if it is just 20 minutes a night. Parents are given the opportunity to see what their child is learning in class and students are given the time to practice what they have learning in school. In addition, homework can teach students to work independently and encourage self-discipline and responsibility. (Colorín Colorado)
 

What will constitute meaningful homework?

Meaningful homework will be students practicing something that they have already learned in class. For 
example, my students learned how to make the letter M in class so I sent home practice for them on making the letter M. Parents are encouraged to monitor their child’s homework and to make sure the student is completing the work correctly. This type of scaffolding should eventually decrease as the child gets older in order to increase independence. Feedback will be provided by me within 1-2 days. For my kindergarteners, feedback was in the form of a sticker that read “good job” or “keep up the good work.” For older elementary students, I would provide more specific comments for the student. “Homework helps your child do better in school when the assignments are meaningful, are completed successfully and are returned to her with constructive comments from the teacher” (Colorín Colorado).

What are your intended homework objectives for your students, particularly those who are English Language Learners?

I will send home a letter at the beginning of the year that communicates the homework policy for parents. The letter will encourage parents to use their native language when discussing vocabulary with their child and will also encourage parents to model literacy in their native language as well. (Hill&Flynn, p.78) I love the Colorín Colorado article, “Empowering Hispanic Parents & Families at Home,” because it includes suggestions for parents who can speak only Spanish but may not be able to read. I would include these suggestions in the letter but also hold a “back to school day” for parents to discuss the homework policy as well as other policies. There would preferably be a translator on hand to translate in Spanish.

My students would be encouraged to read every night and to keep track of their minutes in a reading log. The reading logs would be checked on a daily basis and I will put a smiley face to let students and parents know that I am checking.

My students are encouraged to practice reading their sight word books with their families. I always tell them to read it to three different people and give them examples of people which could include their pet. J

My students are encouraged to practice their letter of the week and to turn it into me the following day. ELL students can be given extra time if needed.

 How will you provide specific feedback and overcome potential language barriers in home-school communication?

As stated above, feedback looks a little different for kindergarten then it does for other grades. I do believe specific feedback is important so if I see Bobby (made up name) is having difficulty with his homework, I would have a conversation with him instead of making a bunch of comments on his homework that he wouldn’t be able to read. I would also get in touch with Bobby’s parents to provide them with feedback on how best to help Bobby at home. If the parent doesn’t speak English, I will have a translator speak with the parent. If the parent receives emails, I could always have an email translated to the parent’s native language. I could also send home a translated letter.

References

Hill, J., & Flynn, K. (2006). Classroom instruction that works with English language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Homework: The Basics. (2005). Retrieved June 15, 2015, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/20469/

Empowering Hispanic Parents & Families at Home. (2007). Retrieved June 16, 2015, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/reachingout/empowering

Week 6.1: Fiction & Non-Fiction Text Features

Stories that are age appropriate for Kindergarten	Features of story that will support students learning to speak English.	Features of story that will be challenging for students learning to speak English.
Fiction Story: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin Jr./ Eric Carle	Repetition of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Brightly colored illustrations to draw students’ attention. This will also help them make a connection between the words and the pictures. Easy to follow along in the story. Students can easily predict what animal will come next on the page which entices the student to keep reading.	Text says “I see a ______ looking at me before actually seeing the animal.” This may confuse some children. Difficulty of reading direction on the last two pages. Students are taught to read from left to right starting with the left page. On these pages, students are expected to read all the way across the two pages left to right in order to follow the right animal sequence. Confusion of colors chosen for animals. Students associate yellow for duck but not purple for a cat.
Non-Fiction Story: Camping Text by Gill Munton Developed by Ruth Miskin	High-frequency words throughout the story. They are in a different color (red) in order to help separate them. Brief introduction to three key vocabulary words (plastic, match, supper) at the beginning of the story. Real pictures correlate nicely with the next.	Distracting having high frequency words in a different color then the rest of the text. Students may not connect with the topic if they have never been camping. This may affect comprehension of the text. Unfamiliar vocabulary words.
References Martin, B., & Carle, E. (1992). Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. Munton, G., & Miskin, R. (2009). Camping. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Week 5.1: Reflection of SIOP Videos

Pre-Reading:
1.) The teacher explained the goal for the day's reading. She also read and pointed to each of the objectives listed on the board. This way, ELL students were able to see the visual and also hear the objectives.

2.) The teacher activated prior knowledge by asking students what reading strategies they have been working on in class.

3.) The teacher previewed key vocabulary. Each of the key vocabulary words was written on chart paper. She passed around pictures of the vocabulary words to students. She also provided the analogy flowers for the vocabulary word bouquet. She connected student experience to the words prick and resent. While explaining what resent meant, a student was able to come up with the word jealous which the teacher acknowledged had a similar meaning.

During Reading:
1.) The teacher told students to turn to a page number and also had the page number written on the board.

2.) The teacher had students follow along with the reading while she read. The words were also projected onto the projector.

3.) The teacher came to the words Las Manintas (the Birthday Song) and asked students if they knew the song. Students happily sang the parts of the song that they knew.

4.) The teacher used slower speech and was careful to pronounce each word.

5.) The teacher asked questions during the story and reminded students to make inferences while reading.

6.) The students had  the opportunity to practice speaking the language. One student made a text-to-text connection which she happily shared with the class.

7.) The teacher reinforced key vocabulary words, such as prick.

8.) Students had time to interact with the text and the teacher provided 3-5 seconds of wait time.

Post Reading:
1.) The teacher asked students to use post-its to write 3 notes for the diary board.

Reflection:
Wow! This was an excellent example of how the SIOP method can be effective with English Language Learners, as well as ALL students. The teacher did a fantastic job of making input comprehensible for ELL students. She also did a good job making connections between students cultural backgrounds and the text read. There were many visuals used to help with teaching vocabulary. Students really seemed to be engaged with the text. They used prior knowledge and made connections with the text. They showed respect for their fellow classmates by taking turns raising their hands and providing input on the text being read. The teacher acknowledged when students provided input and normally expanded on it.

Week 4.1: Running Records and Miscue Analysis for ELL Students

The first ELL student I administered a running record to was a first grader named Dianna. Her primary home language is Spanish. Dianna is a very bright student who loves school and especially loves to read! She read Ants by Mickey Darnonco and Lori Presti, Level 18 book with a 95% accuracy rate. Her miscues are shown below in the chart. I found it interesting that 88% of her miscues were graphically similar in the beginning of the word and 50% were graphically similar in the beginning and middle of the word. Only one of the miscues was self corrected which I believed has aided in her comprehension being so strong. She gave a very accurate retelling of the story. I feel she would have had a more difficult time with comprehension if she was consistently self correcting herself.

		Graphically similar?			Syntactically similar?	Semantically similar?	Self-corrected?
Text Says	Child Says	B	M	E
outside	inside		Ö	Ö	Y	N	Y
colony	call-	Ö			N	N	N
worker	workers	Ö	Ö		N	N	N
soldier	sold-	Ö	Ö		N	N	N
they	that	Ö			N	N	N
worker	working	Ö	Ö		Y	Y	N
antennae	ant-	Ö			N	N	N
shows	show	Ö	Ö		Y	Y	N

The second ELL student I administered a running record to was a first grader named Marko. Marko's parents are originally from Ukraine and have taught Marko how to speak Ukrainan. Marko also enjoys school and likes reading. He read Watch a Butterfly Grow by Shaundra Wenger, Level 13 book with a 94% accuracy rate. His miscues are shown below in the chart. Marko's miscue's were 67% graphically similar in the beginning of the word and 67% in the end of the word. Like Dianna, he only self corrected once. Even though his miscues were only 22% semantically similar, he still gave an excellent retell of the story. In fact, he provided many key details of the story including each of the four stages of a butterfly.

		Graphically similar?			Syntactically similar?	Semantically similar?	Self-corrected?
Text Says	Child Says	B	M	E
pupa	pipa	Ö		Ö	N	N	N
cabbage	cab-beige	Ö		Ö	Y	N	N
swallow-tail	swallow-till	Ö	Ö		Y	N	N
then	when		Ö	Ö	Y	Y	N
sticky	sticks	Ö	Ö		N	N	N
sheds	needs		Ö	Ö	Y	N	Y
the	then	Ö	Ö		N	N	N
swallow-tail	Snow-tail			Ö	Y	Y	N
types	tips	Ö		Ö	Y	N	N

Reflection:
Overall, I found it interesting that both ELL students miscues were graphically similar; incidentally in the beginning of the word and often times in the middle of the word also. These two students may automatically be looking at the beginning and middle of the word, and saying the first English word that is graphically similar. For example, the text read the and Marko said then. This would normally affect comprehension, but not for these two students. "Studies of reader miscues, in fact, show that struggling readers often rely too much on letters and sounds, while more proficient readers make greater use of syntactic and semantic clues as they read (Freeman & Freeman, p.137).

 Another thing I noticed is the pronunciation was sometimes very different. For example, the text read cabbage and Marko said cab-beige. I think he still may have understood what cabbage meant in the story but just pronounced it differently. However, if the pronunciation was making comprehension difficult, I would plan goals for the student that focus on pronunciation. (Freeman & Freeman, p.127).

One recurring pattern I found with Dianna is that three of her miscues involved the incorrect use of suffixes. For example, the text read worker and she said working. If I viewed Dianna's writings, I would guess that she is using incorrect suffixes. I would provide some extra practice for Dianna on using suffixes. Writing rhyming pages would help Dianna to become more aware of different spellings for a given sound. (Freeman & Freeman, p.139).  However, I would refrain from correcting her reading as long as it's not affecting her comprehension.

Miscues that are universal to all learners are the ones that are difficult for the student to sound out using phonics. For example, the text read types and Marko read tips. Marko tried sounding out the word and when that didn't work, he said a word that was most closely related. The is another word that phonics doesn't work on which is why its essential to teach and practice sight words with students."The key, then, is for children to build up a large number of known words" (Freeman & Freeman, p.142).

References

Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2004). Second and Written Language Acquisition. In Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar (2nd ed., pp. 52-83). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.