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Reading Time

Reading

Reading Instruction

Reading is very complex when it comes to learning about how to decode written symbols and also connecting it to their own life and world around them. Colombo shares in his book that "Reading involves an ongoing interaction between top-down processes, such as inferencing, predicting, problem solving and constructing meaning and bottom-up processes, including letter recognition, linking letters with sounds, word identification, accessing word meaning, and chunking words into phrases." (2012).

 

So, just like we discussed in class, reading and literacy includes a process of Bottom-Up, which is explicit instruction in specific skills (Week 10 Presentation: Literacy Scaffolding).

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So, this includes the 5 Pillars of Reading instruction:

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•Phonics

•Phonemic awareness

•Vocabulary

•Fluency

•Comprehension

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Also, this means that teachers really need to teach with explicit instruction and exposure to print. 

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Also literacy and reading also have a process of Top-Down, which means you need to have very rich experiences with the targeted language and literacy (Week 10 Presentation: Literacy Scaffolding). 

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  • This means that the teacher needs to provide many opportunities to read many different kinds of text

  • There also has to be opportunities to interact with their peers and others around them to use language

    • So, they need to put things in their own words​

    • Use their first language (L1) if it is needed and if it helps them

    • Do many tasks that require rich language interaction with others

  • They also need connections to their own lives in what they are reading and doing (in order to help them understand)

    • This is called the Language Experience Approach, which is "a whole language approach that promotes reading and writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language." (Taylor, 1992). Basically, this approach uses the student's experience that they have with language already to grow their learning of a new language. 

  • Also, we need to give them opportunities to develop academic language registers, which are:

    • Listening

    • Reading

    • Speaking

    • Writing

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What Bilinguals Need to be Successful in Learning to Read

Emergent Bilinguals need to be able to learn to read, because reading is crucial to know so that they can succeed. So, how do teachers do this? Well, a Balanced Approach to Literacy Instruction is the goal that teachers should aim for. This includes both Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approach. This Balanced Approach integrates reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It also teaches the reading skills and strategies that lead to meaningful and authentic communication (Wright, 192). It also includes "experience with authentic texts and meaningful contexts and engaging, motivating, and culturally responsive classroom climate along with explicit instruction" (Week 10 Presentation: Literacy Scaffolding).

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  • Modeled Reading/ Interactive Read Aloud

  • Guided Reading/ Reader’s Workshop

  • Shared Reading

  • Independent Reading

Interactive Read Aloud

An Interactive Read Aloud is when the teacher reads a book or other text to either the whole class or to a small group. The students listen and can respond to the teacher's reading. The teacher needs to pick books that many of the students will be interested in and needs to change the choices up each new read aloud. Through read alouds, the students hear sounds and words spoken and learn to comprehend what they hear.

Guided Reading / Reader's Workshop

Guided reading usually happens with small groups of students that can read at similar levels, or are groups of the class separated for a reader's theater activity. The teacher will work with the students on reading strategies in the guided reading groups to help the students become more skilled readers. This guided reading is a support for the students that need to work on these certain skills.

Shared Reading

Shared Reading is when students will be reading at the same time and "share" or join one another to read the same book/text. One student can read a page and then the next student can read a page. This reading is also guided by the teacher as supports for the students that need it. The teacher models reading skills like fluency.

Independent Reading

Independent reading is when the students are the ones that are reading, so there is little to no help from the teacher. This is the time that you can have students get out books and read for a span of time by themselves. The book they choose needs to be at their level of reading, but something that will also push them.

Activities Done in Class

  • Mindmap

  • Photo gallery activity with captions

  • Building background with reading on Gettysburg address

  • Reader’s Theater

  • Wordle

  • Reading in four voices

Scaffolding Reading

•Giving students access to high-level text

•Many opportunities to read, reread, and interact

•Lots of group work with clear guidelines and roles

•Graphic organizers

•Introduction and background-building activities

•Incorporating oral language and vocabulary strategies

Rich Vocabulary Instruction

  • (Biemiller, 2010, pp. 18-19)

  • (Wright, 2015, pp. 194)

Teaching vocabulary to Emergent Bilinguals is essential to the growth of reading skills, so Biemiller shared a sequence of how to teach vocabulary with reading instruction.

Before Reading:
After Reading:
Reading Throughout the Week:
Last Reading:

  • Explain one to three meanings of words/phrases that are crucial for comprehension of the book.

  • Read through the book, text, or selection fluently without stopping.

  • Teach 4 to 5 word meanings.

  • Reread text sentences with the target word.

  • Briefly explain the meaning in the context.

  • Show students the sentence and pictures that go with it.

  • Continue reading.

  • Teach 4 to 5 more words meanings as before.

  • Talk about comprehension.

  • Review the words.

  • Play word games and sentence building activities.

  • Review each word that was taught throughout the week using the word and creating a new sentence not from the book.

  • Review each meaning.

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What NOT to Do

  • Emergent Bilinguals many not get much out of drills of phonics or phonemic awareness because they are manipulating sounds from words they don't comprehend or know yet.

  • They have a difficult time with drills using phonemes that don't exist in their first language.

  • There are too many rules and exceptions which is extremely frustrating to learn.

  • Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching literacy. (Wright pg. 184)

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Role of Home Languages

Emergent Bilinguals need to be able to develop proficiency in their home language in order to also develop literacy skills in English. There is research, that was done through the NLP Report, that backs how students who are taught with their home language and in English do better than students taught in just English (Wright, 2015, pp. 186). Also, reading instruction should also happen in the students' home language too because it helps boost their reading skills in English. These home language experience positively impact literacy development. So, teachers need to be able to provide reading instruction in their students' home languages. This can be done by giving them the opportunity to read books in their home language and teach them as best as they can through the home language.

Common Core Aligned Goals

Common Core is the nationwide standards set for K-12 students in American classrooms. Some states have built their own standards from common core, like Colorado. However, the Common Core is the building blocks to most schools in the United States. These standards are important that teachers understand and know how to scaffold for the ELLs in their classrooms. So, teachers need to align their classroom teaching goals their goals for their students to the Common Core. 

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Below are the Common Core Standards for ELA. Go ahead and take a look!

Citations:​​

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