ENTRY #8

Running records are an important assessment to inform instruction.  Teachers can learn both strengths and weaknesses of their students through running records.  By identifying where and how they struggle as readers, instruction can be planned to better address the students’ needs.  Running records can also be used to group students who have similar reading needs.  It is important to be able to identify what types of miscues the student makes to assess which reading strategies they use and which reading strategies they are not using.  Running records can be used on all types of learners.  Below are two examples from students whose first language is not English.

This student speaks Karen as his first language.  Karen is a tonal language spoken in areas of Burma and Thailand.  The student was tested at a mid-2^nd grade level but he is currently in 5^th grade.

 

While the student made a few errors by omitting difficult words or changing words, his biggest area of need was reading the “s” at the end of his words.  He read the word “forests” thirteen times and did not read the “s” ten of those times.  He also omitted the “s” on the word “comes” and “animals”.  It was difficult to determine the origin of the errors but it is likely that it is due to his difficulties as an English Language Learner.  When he did add the “s” to the word “forests” it seemed difficult for him to pronounce.  One of the errors his self-corrected was adding the “ed” to the word “covered”.  It appears that this student would benefit from small group instruction focusing on different word endings and their importance.  While it doesn’t appear that it intervenes with his understanding of what he is reading, it will hinder his progress to move forward with his reading.  He showed that he did use reading for meaning as a strategy to self-correct.  This would be identified as a strength for this student.

The next English Language Learner who was given a running record is a native Spanish speaker.  He was given an early 2^nd grade prompt and is currently in 3^rd grade.

This student was able to self-correct a few miscues by using meaning, syntax, and visual cues.  He did however, skip over a few words without seeming to notice.  When he came to words he was not sure of he would always say “What is that?” before attempting to try the word on his own.  He was able to use visual cues to identify most of the words he asked about.  He also used visual cues when making errors.  For example the word was “tracks” and he read “trucks”.  He was able to self-correct by using his understanding of what he was reading.  The biggest area of need for this student would be confidence.  If he didn’t stop so frequently to ask what the word was then his fluency would improve.  This could be due to the fact that he is still learning English as a second language so he feels unsure of his reading skills.  This student would benefit from reading aloud familiar texts to younger students or other activities to build confidence.

Running records are a powerful assessment tool.  The most important idea is that they are being used to inform instruction and plan for specific needs of individual students.  They can be used frequently or sporadically to progress monitor student achievement.

ENTRY #10

Homework and independent practice can be great teaching tools for English Language Learners if used appropriately.  Effective homework/independent practice is work that builds on a skill or concept that the students have already been exposed to on more than one occasion.  It is important that the students are not expected to do something independently that they were just taught.  This can cause frustration, anxiety, and confusion.  If a student is expected to complete an assignment, it should address a skill the student has shown some amount of proficiency in.  The student should be able to complete the homework with very minimal support from anyone else. 

Homework can be given across all content areas and can address a variety of skills.  Teachers should assign homework with a familiar structure to class work that the student has previously done, or be prepared to model the expectations of the assignment.  It should not be assumed that all students could comprehend written directions for any assignment.  The more clear expectations are, the more accessible and effective the homework/independent practice will be to the student.  Homework should be something the student feels successful with.  That being said, it is important the the homework assigned is differentiated to meet the needs of the students in the classroom.  It is a rare occasion when every student should be sent home with the same assignment.

Homework objectives should align with the learning and language objective that the assignment is an extension of.  Students should have a clear understanding of what the intended learning are and what language skills they should use.  Often, the intended learning will just be the practice of a skill they have been using in class.  In particular, English Language Learners should be aware of what language functions they are using and what vocabulary is important to the assignment.

It is important to provide students with adequate and timely feedback on their homework/independent practice.  Students are generally more motivated to do well when feedback is given.  They also benefit from seeing where they were meeting the objectives and where they made mistakes.  This allows them to continue in the right direction instead of being unaware of their misunderstandings.  Teachers also benefit from providing feedback, as it can be used as an informal assessment tool.

Different forms of technology can also be incorporated into homework and independent practice.  Many teachers have online blogs that provide outlines of different assignments and more detailed instructions or hints, and links to other helpful tools.  There are also many websites that teachers and students can link where students can go to complete different academic activities.  The teachers can then log on and see what the students were able to do independently.  Different technology is often highly motivating for students as it provides a different way to accomplish tasks.

ENTRY #9

There are many challenges to teaching English Language Learners the difference between fiction and non-fiction.  It is important to use a graphic organizer to outline the differences for these students.  It is also helpful to be mindful of which texts are used to teach this.  Using a fiction and a non-fiction text that have similar themes can be more powerful for students, than using two texts with no similarities.  Two such texts are: Birthdays Around the World by Jackie Glassman, and A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats.  The first book details how birthdays are celebrated in different countries throughout the word.  The narrative text tells a story about a boy who is inviting a special friend to his birthday party.  After having read both texts, a graphic organizer could be completed in a whole or small-group setting.  Since quite a few differences exist between the two genres, it is important to keep the graphic organizer as simple as possible to allow students more access to the information.  Here is an example of a graphic organizer depicting the differences between the two genres based on the texts mentioned above:

Fiction	Non-Fiction
- tells a made-up story about made-up people - drawings to illustrate the story - the story tells about a problem and how that problem is solved - has different characters - each page has the words in one area and a picture either under or next to the words	- gives true information about a topic - has real photographs of what its talking about - had headings to tell the main ideas of the book - uses bold text to highlight important words - shows how to make things that are mentioned in the book - has maps - has captions describing the photographs - there are words all over the page in different areas and boxes

Some fiction text features will prove to be a challenge for English Language Learners.  Fiction that is unrealistic and portrays characters that aren’t human can be confusing as some students may not understand the idea of telling a story and would be confused right from the start.  Fictional texts may also cover topics or ideas that are unfamiliar to students. In particular A Letter to Amy discusses a birthday party and, depending on the different students’ cultures, the idea of a birthday party may not be familiar to them.  If you were reading just A Letter to Amy then these students would benefit from a conversation, prior to reading the story, about birthdays.  One thing that is beneficial to these students is the illustrations.  English language learners will be able to get some understanding of the story based on the illustrations alone.

Non-fiction texts also provide some difficulties to students who are not native-English speakers.  While the photographs and headings can increase the students’ comprehension of the text and the main ideas, the amount and organization of the words can be overwhelming.  In the text Birthdays Around the World, much of the page is covered with writing and or pictures.  This can be overwhelming to any student as they may be confused about where to start or which words correspond with what graphic.  While bold words are beneficial in that they highlight the important vocabulary from the text, it is important that this vocabulary is introduced before reading the text as it may present more challenges.

When teaching students who are English language learners it is important that we keep these challenges in mind.  We should adapt our teaching techniques to address specific needs PRIOR to the start of the book.  Enough background knowledge should be provided before we can expect our students to tackle any text.  It is important that we recognize and teach the differences between fiction and non-fiction, and model for our student how to approach both types of texts.