Raynor (01) April 14, 2011

a. Whole-word (look-say) instruction is when you flash a child a word and ask the child, “What does this say. . .”.  If the child does not know, you give the child the word and continue to another word.  The words a repeatedly rehearsed.

b. Phonics Instruction is when you teach the child the phoneme that matches the letter.  This gives the child more strategies for approaching unknown words.

c. Meaning emphasis (whole language) Instruction focuses on the language experiences of the child.  The child dictates stories and is then taught the words that the child dictated.  This type of instruction requires some memorization of whole words as well as some phonics.

d. Prescriptive teaching follows a prescribed set of activities.  This is when teachers follow a scope and sequence.  This type of teaching may include small group instruction as well as whole group instruction.  Responsive teaching is when the teacher uses more of a scaffolding technique.  The teacher uses instruction that is based on what the child needs at that moment.  This type of instruction is when the teacher responds to what the child knows and can do as well as to what the child strugges with, and changes instruction each day to match these needs.

e. I do not think there is one “best” way to teach reading.  I believe that all teachers need to find what works best for them, and how they feel they teach best.  I also believe that the type of teaching methods you choose may change based on your class make-up.

f. I believe our school has a good balance of prescriptive and responsive teaching.  Even though we are required to follow a set scope and sequence, I think we are also given the opportunity to reteach students when needed and change the rate we are working if needed.  Our school is required to use guided reading groups for reading instruction.  I think this opens the door for both teaching methods.

Morris & Gaffney April 10, 2011

1. Luke is an eighth-grade boy who struggles with reading fluency and speed.  He has a history of seizure disorder and ADHD which are both controlled with medication.  The IQ testing shows that he is average to above average in most areas, except for perceptual reasoning (low average) and processing speed (low).  Yes, I have kids in my room with ADHD (controlled with medication) and struggling in areas of reading.

2. Luke was given a recording of a reading (recorded by tutor).  After listening to a page, he was to stop and reread the page.  After completing this activity for the entire chapter, he was to go back and reread the first couple of pages in preparation for the homework check.  The next tutoring session Luke would read the first couple of pages and the tutor would take note of errors and his rate.  During the second part of the session, the tutor and Luke would partner read.   The third part of the session included re-reading.   I have not used the first intervention in my classroom, but I have often used partnering reading and re-readings as a strategies to help my struggling readers.

3. The authors’ explain this discrepancy by the fact that Luke increase his use of phrasing. 

4. I see a connection in the fact that when propositions are related and we are able to make a connection to previous propositions we are more easily able to make sense of the text.  If Luke was struggling with phrasing correctly he may have been forming incorrect propositions and therefore the text did not seem coherent and became more difficult to read fluently.

Kintsch and Vipond (1979) March 31, 2011

In order to comprehend a piece of text it needs to be coherent.  Coherence is established when text has arguments that are repetitive.  In other words, the propositions are connected.  These propositions are connected if there is at least one path from the proposition to every other proposition.   Sentences can be more easily comprehended when there is a proposition that is connected by an argument that has been repeated in previous sentences.We need to have a strong working memory so we can remember previous propositions in order to make the correct connections to all other propositions which then makes the text coherent.

Baddeley 98 March 27, 2011

According to Baddeley, working memory is a multicomponent.  These components include: a central system (central executive) and three sub-systems (phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketch pad, and episodic buffer).  The central executive is responsible for all executive processes such as attention to relevant information, integration of information, coordinating multiple cognitive processes, as well as coordinating the sub-systems.  The phonological loop maintains a short amount of inoformation that is rehearsed.  The visuo-spatial sketch pad creates mental images (mental map).  This sub-system also has two sub-systems that include visual and spatial information.  The episodic buffer provides a connection between working memory and long term memory.  The sub-systems are fluid, but once the information makes it to long term memory it is in a crystalized system.  Information goes through the working memory by way of one of the sub-systems before making it’s way to long term memory.

Kintsch (2004) March 20, 2011

Kintsch thinks that comprehension is the result of a bottom-up process because the schema-as-filter theories cannot fully explain the comprehension process.  The bottom-up process assigns a more decisive role to the comprehension process.  This process shows that instead of only looking for the correct meaning, you will generate several meaning that could work and only later decide on the correct meaning.

 

He explains “construction” as the process of constructing several meanings of a word before deciding on the correct word.  The meanings are then “integrated” into the sentence.  The meanings that are constructed that work are then activated.  The meanings that do not work are deactivated.  Therefore, as you read, propositions are constructed.  The propositions are then integrated into the context of the story.  Propositions that work are activated while the others are deactivated.

 

Kintsch’s (2004) March 5, 2011

Propositions are when you take a whole sentence or idea and you put it into a simple idea unit without keeping the idea in a correct sentence structure.  For example:  The girl is pretty.  (PRETTY, GIRL). 

Well, I think they are five types of text representation.  Through the reading, I was only able to identify five different ways to represent text.

1.  Surface level memory:  Surface level memory are the words and phrases that are actually remembered from sentence. 

2.  Proposition level:  The propositional level is when you take the sentence and put it into simple idea units.

3.  Microstructure:  The microstructure is the propositions that give meaning to the sentence.  This is when you take the words and make meaning.

4.  Macrostructure:  The macrostructure is the high-order units after putting these propositions together. 

5.  Situation Model:  This is when the reader uses his/her background knowledge or prior knowledge to make sense of the sentence.

Harley (01) February 27, 2011

a.  The Dual Route Model suggests that we have two routes for turning words into sounds.  One route takes us directly to the words meaning such as in irregular words.  The second route involves “phonological recoding” which is used for identifying sounds to non-words.  Both routes work simultaneously when we come across a word that is not automatic, but the direct route seems to work more quickly.  As the reader becomes more skilled, more words will go through the direct route which makes recognizing words quicker.

 b. These studies show that irregular words are recognized quicker than non-words because they go through the direct route.  This route takes us directly to the meanings of the words.  The irregular words have to go through phonological recoding which takes longer.  This study is similar to the other studies we have seen.  It shows that non-words that follow the “rules” of our orthography are recognized quicker than non-words that use irregular spelling.

c.  This model is similar to Adam’s Model because it shows that there are different processors used to recognize words.  However, Adam’s Model believes that all the processors work simultaneously.  This model shows that when recognizing certain types of words that through the use of dual routes, the brain will only choose one of those routes to identify the word.

Fleisher (1979) February 14, 2011

a.  There are so many other factors that can differ a skilled reader and unskilled reader as far as comprehension is concerned.  These factors could include but are not limited to:   their prior knowledge of the subject, their ability to make predictions and infer.  Another factor could be the child’s exposure to text as well as their ability to use their context clues in order to figure out the missing word.  It really is amazing the number of factors that are involved in becoming a skilled reader.  I think so often we think of skilled readers as those that can read well, but this study shows that reading the words is only part of the battle.

b. I think Adams and Ehri’s models only show half the battle of reading.  I do think their models show the importance of word recognition and the process we go through in order to recognize words quickly in isolation or in context.  I don’t believe either one of these models dig into the comprehension part of reading.  I think too often we mistake good readers (can read the words) for skilled readers (having the skills to read the words and understand the text).  I think Adam’s and Ehri have good models for showing the difference between readers that struggle with word recognition and those that are more skilled in that area, but I don’t believe either one dug into the actual “comprehension” of the text.  They did not use any sort of assessment for testing their subjects’ understanding of the tet.

Ehri (1998) February 6, 2011

a. Ehri used first and second grade students in order to prove that the letters of words are needed in order to remember a word well.  She finds that students who learned a psuedoword learned it faster when shown the spelling of the word than they did if the word was not shown or if they saw the word spelled incorrectly.  She also found a high correlation between students remembering these pseudowords well and students who recognize high frequency words quickly.

b. Ehri believes that once children understand that letters make individual sounds, that the next step isn’t phonemic awareness but graphophonemic awareness.  Because a a phoneme could consist of more than one letter it is difficult of beginning readers to know which letters are one phoneme and which sound they will make.  She believes that need to have a stronger understanding of how graphemes and phonemes work together.

Adams’s (2004)- Context and Meaning Processors February 6, 2011

The Context Processor helps to quickly make meaning of words as they flow in the context of the story.  Skilled readers are reading for meaning of what they are reading and aren’t paying specific attention to each word as they read.  They only stop to “recognize” a word, if the word in context did not fit.  The Context Processesor also makes connections to the Meaning Processor as we come across unknown words in context.  As we see unknown words in context, the connections with the Meaning Processor will be stimulated every time you come across that word and the way it is used in that context.  As these unknown words are seen more frequently, you will eventually have a meaning in your meaning processor when you come across that word in context.