During our TE Literacy class on January 26, we broke into groups to discuss different readings. My group discussed the reading Assessing English-Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms by Lenski et. al. We found it interesting that the reading pointed out that not all students who speak the same language come from the same background, therefore the same assessment does not work for all students who speak the same language. We also saw that a very important point was to know what you are assessing for. This is important with all students, not just English language learners. Also, it is important for teachers to use a variety of assessment tools, not only over time, but also from student to student according to the students needs.
Besides ELL students, another type of literacy learner to focus on is emergent readers. According to Tompkins, emergent readers are readers who are gaining "an understanding of the communicative purpose of print, and they move from pretend reading to reading of repetitive books and from using scribbles to stimulate writing to writing patterned sentences." This level of reading is often found in kindergarten students and may even begin long before kindergarten if the child's parents or caregivers read to the child or point out what written words mean. The process of beginning to read may be as simple as the child just understanding that the word McDonald's has a meaning that refers to his or her favorite place to eat.
I have not had a chance to observe many emergent readers, as I am placed in a fifth grade classroom where all of the students are able to read at a second grade level or higher. However, there are many ways a teacher may help a young student become a reader including writing down his or her own speech. This way, the student will see that his or her words can be written and that words on paper have meaning.
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I am surprised to read that some of your fifth graders are only reading at a second grade reading level. I know that we have not had much exposure literacy in the classroom, but for a fifth grader to only be at a second grade reading level, isn't that far behind? What is the teacher doing in order to promote a higher level of reading? If I were the teacher I would perhaps set up literacy circles with the children. By having some of the lower level readers mixed with the "middle of the row" readers, it might help those that are at the lower reading level. However, if they were mixed with the students at or above the fifth grade reading level, this might frustrate them even more.
ReplyDeleteWriting down the child's speech like you suggested is a great idea. Having students see their words on paper can be a very powerful idea. Students should be able to see their words written down on paper. Knowing that some of your students are behind in reading, I am sure you can find some really cool ideas to help motivate those students for your lesson plan.
See you in class!