Chapter 7

1. "Diagnostic lessons provide a tool to assess the amount of growth that actually occurs as a result of the instruction and instructional adjustments," (pg. 121)

Reflection: I'd like to see this done in person. I'd like to see this because I'm not sure if I know what they are talking about?!?!

2. "The student's mediated reading level determines the level at which the student can effeciently be taught. This level is determined by evaluating the 'distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers," (pg. 121).

Reflection: I put this quote down because it made me think how many students mediating reading level in the classroom are different but the teacher has to teach a certain level. This certain way might not reach out to all her/his students. How is a teacher supposed to reach out to all her/his students?

3. "When the teacher conducts a diagnostic lesson, however, her primary goal is to teach the student," (pg. 126).

Reflection: I think no matter what the teacher is doing for the student, the primary goal is for the students to learn and to grow from the teacher. I think that teachers forget that sometimes because they get caught up in testing and everything else they "have" to do.

4. "Reading progress is indicated by a decrease in miscues and an increase in the number of questions answered correctly," (pg. 126).

Reflection: This to me makes perfect sense. I hope that I get to see all my students make progress like this because it would be such a great feeling. There is a girl in my pre-k class who couldn't identify any of her colors or shapes when she entered in the beginning of the year so I worked with her every morning. Now she can tell me her shapes and colors and it brings the biggest smile to my face.

5. "She focuses on teaching rather than testing to reveal those instructional adjustments that produce reading change for a particular student," (pg. 132).

Reflection: I really enjoyed this quote. I feel that today there is so much testing that some teachers loose focus on what they are in the classroom for.

Ch. 6

Quote "To formulate hypotheses about a reader's strategies, the diagnostic teacher selects a text that is expected to be in the borderline area, or moderately difficult (90% oral accuracy and 60% comprehension), for the student," (pg. 98).

Reflection I think when teachers are trying to test students to find out where that child's reading level is at, this is what the teacher needs to do. You need to do more than one so you can find out the levels of the student (independent, instructional, and frustration).

Quote "Both oral reading analysis (of print processing) and silent reading analysis (of meaning processing) result in a more comprehensive understanding of the strategies students use to interpret the text as they are reading. However, the diagnostic teacher usually evaluates either print processing or meaning processing, depending on the students' major concern," (pg. 98-99).

Reflection I really don't know too much about this. I've heard a little about it here and there, I think or maybe I do know more about it than I know. I feel sometimes when it comes to these topics when I'm reading about it I'm really lost but then when we discuss it in class I know exactly what is going on.

Quote "The student may use various sources of information when she encounters an unknown word in her reading: (a) the situational context and her experience; (b)the way words sound in conversational speech, that is, whether the words make grammatical sense; (c) graphic information; and (d) phonic information. Using the situational context and her own experience, she might try various words to see if they make sense in the context of the sentence and the story," (pg. 100).

Reflection I think this is a good thing for a student to do. If a student doesn't know a word then why not go about it in another way to try and figure it out. I can remember doing some of these thing, even now.

Quote "Some students simply call words and fail to correct miscues. They believe that reading is orally reading words without constructing meaning. They are unaware of the mistakes they make because they are not reading to make sense of text," (pg. 103).

Reflection When I was in one of my learn and serves there was a student who knew hot to say words but had no idea what these words meant. The teacher would ask him questions about what he read and he could never answer her. Now know what I know now it makes sense that he didn't understand what he was reading.

Quote "Asking the student to think aloud gives an indication of how the student is processing text. The think-aloud process shows the diagnostic teacher the strategies that the student uses to make sense of what she is reading," (pg. 108).

Reflection I really like the think-aloud process. I feel you could gain a lot of information from your student that way. I'm curious to know if anyone in our class has ever done this before?

Ch. 4 and 5

Chapter 4

Quote "In personalized reading and writing, students are engaged in 10 or
more minutes of self-selected reading and 10 or more minutes of
self-selected writing," (pg. 69).

Reflection When I was student teaching in both placements the teachers
made sure that the children silent read for 10 minutes. This made me think
of that. It wasn't everyday that the children were able to self-select
write though. I think this would be a great idea. Even if it was bell work
telling me what they did when they got home from school the day before.

Quote "Students are taught to match the book to their reading levels by
using the rule of thumb. To determine whether it is a good match, they
read a page form their selected book and put a finger on each unknown word
starting with the little finger. If they reach their thumb before the end
of the page, the book is too difficult, and another should be selected,"
(pg. 69).

Reflection I thought that this was very interesting. I never heard of this
before. I wonder how many teachers really use this rule of thumb? I'm very
curious to try it out for myself and see how students feel about doing it.
If anyone has ever used it before I would like to know what you think
about it.

Quote "Thus, personal reading and writing develop within students an
interest in reading and writing for their own enjoyment. It releases
students from the "have-to" assignments made during explicit and guided
instruction, thus placing them in control of their interests, ideas, and
emotions," (pg. 70).

Reflection This made me think of all my old placements that I've had. When
ever the children had to do a writing piece it was the teacher that picked
the topic. To me the topic wasn't bad but I bed if the students had more
of a say in it, it would make them feel more in control and make it more
interesting for the students to write.

Chapter 5

Quote "As young children read along with adults, they begin to recognize a
few words. These words become more familiar as they repeatedly appear in
the text that is read together. Finally, these words become part of the
child's sight-word vocabulary," (pg. 86).

Reflection We are starting now to use sight-words in pre-k. I'm very
excited about it. I actually had to test some children the other day to
see if they could recognize words on their own and most of them did it. It
put the biggest smile on my face. I can't wait to see the children start
reading on their own and be more independent.

Quote "As children move from oral shared reading, they begin to read
silently and, therefore, communicate their story understanding by
retelling the story. This is a developing ability, and the teacher wants
to ascertain whether the student is continuing his literacy development by
also understanding the meaning of the story," (pg. 89).

Reflection Working with pre-k, I read stories to the children daily. We
stop throughout the story and talk about what is going on. By the end of
the story I will ask the children questions to see if they can retell any
of the story. I know most of the children are only 4 but it's shocking how
much the children can tell me.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Danielle. I'm in Edu 572. I did my undergrad at Niagara University. I decided to stay up here and finish my masters in Literacy. I'm working as a pre-k aide, after school program, Community Assistant, and full time student. I keep very busy but love it!