Literacy Observation 5: Domain 3: Fluency

TC NAME: Lacey Bridges

RICA Domain: Fluency

RICA Competency: 9- Instruction and Assessment

Grade Level: 5th

INSTRUCTION:

            My teacher tells the students they will be reading an excerpt from the book called The Fear Place by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  She went over vocabulary they would see in the story.  Rather than just having the students read the story silently, or having the students read out loud to one another, the teacher played the CD audio version of the story.  So, the students are receiving audio assistance as they follow along in their books.  This helps provide the students with a good model of reading at the proper rate as well as with appropriate prosody.  The audio assisted reading reads at the correct speed, so students see that the text should not be read too fast, nor should it be read at a broken or slow pace.  Also, the proper expression and emotion with which the text should be read is modeled on the CD, so students will see how they need to read with excitement when there is an exclamation point, how they should vary their intonation, and how to decide what words should be emphasized.  Experiences reading with the audio assisted CD will help students with their fluency because they can apply the skills that were modeled for them in their own reading. 

            I have seen other ways that the teacher has worked towards building her students’ fluency in other lessons.  The students do silent reading every day in class and for homework, and then they take comprehension AR tests on them.  The teacher reads aloud to them from a book every day to provide a model of how to read at an appropriate rate, with appropriate prosody and with accuracy.  Students also read aloud during rotations in small groups with the teacher where she is providing immediate feedback, giving the students the opportunity to practice the elements of fluency.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            The students sat in their desks with their books on their desks.  The book was also projected onto the screen at the front of the room with the document camera.  The audio version of the text was being played on the stereo at the front of the room.  The teacher walked around the classroom to make sure everyone was following along.

Literacy Observation 4: Domain 2: Word Analysis

TC NAME: Lacey Bridges

RICA Domain: Word analysis

RICA Competency: Syllabic Analysis, Structural Analysis, and Orthographic Knowledge

Grade Level: 5th

INSTRUCTION:

             Traditional Spelling tests and Wordly Wise are done on a weekly basis in Mrs. X’s fifth grade classroom.  On Monday, all of the students take a Spelling Pre-test.  During the test Mrs. X says the word, uses the word in a sentence, and then repeats the word, thus putting the word in context.  These tests often have a theme, for instance this week’s theme is compound words.  More than half of the words are found in their story for the week.  This spelling curriculum is from the Houghton Mifflin textbook series, so the stories and spelling are aligned.  Throughout the week, the students complete worksheets helping them practice their spelling words.  The students are also expected to study their words at home to prepare for Friday’s Post-Test.  The Post-Test is administered exactly like the Pre-Test.  Mrs. X read the word, then a sentence containing the word, and then repeats the word.  Mrs. X corrects their tests, writing the correct spelling for any words that the student missed, and then gives them a percentage grade.   A small group of high achieving students does Wordly Wise in addition to the regular spelling.  This program combines both vocabulary development and spelling, and it provides student with an extra challenge.  On Monday in their small group Mrs. X introduces the words, and the students complete an activity where they have to put the words into sentences.  Throughout the week, the students do different activities using the words in context.  On Friday, the students are tested on their knowledge of the words’ meaning and spelling.  The teacher reads the definition of the word.  The students must write down the correct word with the correct spelling.  They are graded on both aspects, the vocabulary and the spelling. 

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            During the spelling pre-test and post-test the students sit at their desks.  The pre-test is administered after reading the story that contains more than half of the words in it.  Activities for the Spelling words are in the students’ personal Houghton Mifflin Practice Books. Friday’s post-test takes place at the beginning of class.  The Wordly Wise activities and test take place at the table on the side of the room in a small group.   The students are given copies made by the teacher from the Wordly Wise book.

Literacy Observation 3: Domain 5: Comprehension

TC NAME: Lacey Bridges

RICA Domain: Comprehension

RICA Competency: Instruction and Assessment—Understanding and Analyzing Narrative/Literary Texts

Grade Level: 5th

INSTRUCTION:

            The students in this fifth grade class were getting ready to read The Princess and the Warrior: A Mexican Folktale.  Mrs. X started by explaining that they were about to read a pourquoi story, which is a folktale that explains the origin of something in nature. The students were asked if they knew of any other pourquoi stories, and one student said that they read about why the coyote howls.  As a class they discussed how pourquoi folktales are not really true, but rather a stories used as explanations.  The pourquoi was contrasted with the non-fiction story Volcanoes they had read the week before, and they pointed out how both stories are both about volcanoes, but they will be very different.  Mrs. X told the students that the plots of folktales are traditionally about a conflict between good characters and evil characters and that they needed to be looking for which categories characters would fall into during their reading.  She also prepared them for the story by discussing the setting of the story, ancient Mexico during the time of the Aztecs. 

            The students read the folktale in the popcorn fashion.  The story was about a warrior, Popo, and a princess, Ixtaccihuatl, who were in love.  The warrior was going to be appointed chief upon his return from battle, when he would marry the princess.  However, the character called the “jealous warrior” tricked the princess into thinking her lover was dead, and she died of a broken heart.  When Popo returned to find his princess dead, he never wanted to be apart from her.  So, the gods turned them into volcanoes so they could be together forever.  Popo became an active volcano, spewing lava and the princess became an inactive volcano.  The purpose of the pourquoi tale was to explain how these two volcanoes came to be in Mexico.

            During the story Mrs. X asked the students who they thought was a good character and who they thought was a bad character. Mrs. X then discussed some foreshadowing, and asked what in the text may indicate something bad was going to happen.  The students discussed the character called the “jealous warrior” who did not like the main character, and how he thought he should be chief, not Popo, and the possibility of the jealous warrior bringing harm to Popo.  Through the discussion that occurred during this lesson on pourquoi tales, plot, setting, characters and foreshadowing, the teacher was building her students’ comprehension.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            The lesson was conducted with the entire class at once.  The students were all sitting at their desks, each with their own Houghton Mifflin textbook that contained The Princess and the Warrior.  The teacher was also displaying the text on the document camera, which was projected in front of the classroom.  Illustrations were provided within the text that went along with the story.

Field Observation 2: Domain 4: Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background Knowledge

TC NAME: Lacey Bridges

RICA Domain: Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background knowledge

RICA Competency: Role in Reading Development and Factors That Affect their Knowledge

Grade Level: 5th

INSTRUCTION:

            I observed Mrs. X give a lesson on vocabulary and background knowledge.  The class was about to read the story Volcanoes by Seymore Simon.  The teacher began by building the students’ background knowledge.  First she showed the students a short video about volcanoes.  Through the video, students were able to refresh their memory on what they knew about volcanoes, and they were able to build on their previous knowledge, and learn some new things that would help them with their reading comprehension.  They were also getting good visuals of volcanoes.  After the video, Mrs. X showed the students different volcano books and magazines she had brought in for them.  As she did this she mostly focused on the pictures and covers of the books and magazines.  During her discussion of the literature she had brought in, the teacher was talking about some of the different volcanoes around the world, both from the past and present.  When she was talking about Mt. St. Helens, Mrs. X showed the students realia.  She had brought in a jar full of ash from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and she also had the Time magazine issue about the eruption. 

            Following the discussion about volcanoes, Mrs. X led the students in a vocabulary lesson, which would help them with their meaning vocabulary  and thus their reading comprehension as they read the story Volcanoes.  The teacher had already written the vocabulary words on the board.  As she got to each word she asked the class what the word was.  The students would raise their hands, and Mrs. X would call on one or two students for their answers.  She would then write down the definition they had come up with as a class on the white board.  For many of the words she would provide the students with visuals, give them examples, or have the students draw upon their prior knowledge on the subject.  Once the vocabulary lesson was done, the class began reading the text.  They entered the reading process with a stronger foundation for the story than they would have had fifteen minutes earlier.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            The classroom setting was well prepared for this lesson on building background knowledge and meaning vocabulary for the story Volcanoes.  The video she showed provided both audio and visual support.  Mrs. X had at least fifteen books and magazines about volcanoes, which were placed on the tables and up on the board.  There was a volcano poster placed up on the wall in the room.  The vocabulary was written on the board, in large print, making it visible to all of the students.  These words stayed up on the board for the entire week, so it was easily accessible for the students because they worked with the topic of this story throughout the week.  The students were well supported by their instructional setting.