#9 Fiction and Non-Fiction

Fiction 

and 

Non-Fiction

I chose the non-fiction book If You Lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma and the fiction book Clamshell Boy  by Terri Cohlene to look at and compare. Each book is language based, gives some information about the Northwest Coastal Native Americans, challenging vocabulary, and has pictures. There are many differences between the two books.  The non-fiction book gives real facts about the Northwest Coastal people, and the fiction book is a story or a legend about the people of the Northwest. The fiction book is meant to entertain and the non-fiction is to inform. The non-fiction book has text features that are very different than a fiction book. It has a table of contents, index, glossary, captions, and loads of pictures. The fiction book has a beginning, middle, and end. You can pick up the non-fiction book and read a random page and learn something. You have to read the fiction book from cover to cover to make meaning.

Our ELL students face some difficulties and will need support with both types of texts. Clamshell Boy is a legend of how the first potlatch came to be for the Northwest Coastal Native Americans. First of all, it would be very important for our ELL students to understand that a legend is traditional story, usually of oral origin, that is handed down from generation to generation and popularly believed to have a historical basis. We need to be sure that our ELL students understand the vocabulary that they will encounter in the story, as with any fiction piece. We need to provide our students with background knowledge to understand the Northwest Coastal Native American culture in order to understand the story. They believed in spirits, and it would be important to have a discussion about this before reading. The pictures in a fiction book are a support feature to the ELL student. Often times these students rely on picture clues to help with comprehension.

We need to prepare our ELL students to understand how to work with and navigate through a non-fiction book. Non-fiction books can be very busy looking on the page, which can be overwhelming for an ELL student. There can be confusion on where to start begin reading on the page. First, we need to explicitly teach students about the text structure. Students need to learn how to use a table of contents, glossary, and index. Once that is taught then we can model how to get information from a non-fiction text by using these features. They then need to practice this skill. There are many text features in non-fiction text that will support our ELL students in their learning. Bold print is a visual cue that something is important or will be defined.  Non-fiction books have a lot of pictures and captions. The captions are short little sentences that are sometimes easier to read. ELL students will help make meaning from pictures and captions.  A glossary can be very helpful to an ELL student, this will help them to understand and define some of the unknown vocabulary. 



It is very important that we think about any difficulties that our ELL students may have with different texts. We need to try and give them all the tools and information to help them be successful readers, no matter the genre.

#8 Running Records

A running record is a great tool to help teachers track reading progress.  It gives information on reading behavior and helps to guide instruction and identify next steps that are needed for that reader. I have used many reading assessments through the years, yet I have never been trained to do a running record.

The running record looks at 3 different types of cuing systems.  Meaning (M) is part of the cuing system in which the child takes his or her cue to make sense of text by thinking about the meaning of the sentence. These cues assist in the reading of a word or phrase. Structure (S) refers to the structure of language and is often referred to as syntax. Knowledge of structure helps the reader know if what she or he reads sounds correct. This is where they possibly replace a verb for another verb or a noun for another noun. Visual (V) information is related to the look of the letters in a word and the word itself. A reader uses visual information when she or he studies the beginning sound, ending sound, word length, and familiar word chunks.

I chose 2 students that have learned English as their second language. Jal is in fourth grade and currently reading at a second grade level. His parents were born and raised in Africa, and they moved to the United States when Jal was 5 years old. His native language is Kanuri which is an African dialect that very few people speak. This is the language that is spoken at home. His mother is now taking English lessons from some of our teachers at Greenwood. The second child is Mahika. Mahika’s family is from India, and at home she speaks both English and Hindi. Mahika is in Kindergarten and just learning how to read. Both of her parents speak fluent English.

 

Jal read from the story The Wonderful Day . He read 172 words. There were no pictures to support the reading.  Jal has good command over phrasing, and he reads punctuation. Jal relies on visual cues more than any other. He also tends to ignore mistakes that interrupt the meaning of the text ; he just continues reading. For example, he says “started” for “stared”…yet “started” did not make sense. He substitutes “sometimes” for “something” which leaves the sentence not making sense. This tells me that he is not reading for meaning. He is clearly using a visual cue to figure out the word, but when it doesn’t make sense he does not self-correct, or even pause to think about it. Jal understands the structure of sentences because there are times when he substitutes a noun for a noun. For example, he said the word” guy” instead of “giant.” Jal had one self-correction out of 19 errors. He used meaning to make this correction. He knew that the phrase “sitting there his the road” did not make sense, so he self -corrected the “his” with “in.”  The word cabbage gave Jal the most trouble. He said “cab-e” for it each time it appeared in the story. It appeared nine times, so this accounted for nine of his 19 errors. **I have since learned that this should have only counted as one error.

Next steps for Jal:

Right away I taught Jal the word “cabbage.” He did not know what the word was, but he had heard of it before. I showed him a picture on the computer. We then read the story again with the word cabbage, and it made sense to him. This clearly shows how important it is to teach vocabulary to our ELL students. I did talk with Jal’s teacher and recommended working on reading for meaning. I am concerned that he didn’t stop when meaning broke down. I would make it a goal for him to monitor his comprehension, and make more self-corrections. I do not know anything about Jal’s native language, so I am not sure as to whether any of these errors have anything to do with a transfer from Kanuri to English.

Mahika was very shy about coming with me to read. Our 3^rd graders are big buddies to the kindergarten children, so I invited her big buddy to come out and sit with us so that she would be more comfortable. Mahika is just learning to read, so her reading was very choppy and word by word. She was very strong with all of her sight words. The reading at a level 3 is very predictable and repetitive. Mahika had a total of 9 errors, with a result of 80% accuracy. When she did come to a word that she didn’t know she would try sounding the word out and then appeal for help. Mahika substituted the word “dog” each time for the word “boy.” Without the help of pictures, this could make sense. She asked for help on the words “slide” and “swing.” She also said “rop” for “rope.” The only error that really concerned me was for the phrase, “said the girl” she read, “did the girl” which has no meaning. Most of her other mistakes still made sense.

Next steps for Mahika:

Mahika has been good at getting to know some of the sight words. I would continue to give her more sight words. She may have a b and d reversal to work on. I believe she thought the word “boy” started with a d and that is why she said “dog.” I would teach her the silent e rule. This would help her in recognizing words like rope and saying the long vowel sound. I would encourage her to continue to read for meaning, and sounding out words she does not know. Overall, I was very impressed with where she is at this early in the year.

#7 Word Study

Etymology is the study of word origins, or where the word has originated from.  Many English words derive from a single earlier language.  Words also change or evolve over time. I am taking a look at five English words to see what I can find out about their origin, how they have evolved, and how we can help explain the spellings of these words today to our students.

Old English (450-1100)

Middle English (1100-1500)

Modern English (1500-present)

Father

Definition: The Webster dictionary states that father is a man who has begotten a child. It is used to describe a male parent, and it can also be used to describe God.

Origin: Looking on Wikipedia, I found that the word father comes from the High German word “Vater.”  It is known to be used before the year 900. The word father in Old English was spelled fæder. In Middle English the spelling was changed to fader. In Modern English it is now spelled father, with the th replacing the d.

Spelling and Pronunciation: The Online Etymology Dictionary explains, “Spelling with -th- (15c.) reflects a widespread phonetic shift in Modern English that turned -der to -ther in many words; spelling caught up to pronunciation in 1500s” (Harper, 2001).“Most words are spelled the way they sound” (Freeman and Freeman, P.108, 2004). This type of word is phonetic. “The spelling system also allows writers to show connections between words that share meanings.” (Freeman and Freeman, P. 109, 2004).  An example of this would be crumb and crumble. This type of word is semantic. Lastly, “Some spellings reflect earlier stages of English” (Freeman and Freeman, P. 109, 2004). This type of word is etymological. The spelling of father is etymological. The spelling is reflected by its origin. If the word was phonetic we would pronounce it with a short a sound.

Love

Definition: The Webster dictionary states that love is a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates.

Origin: The word love was once luba, in High German and in Old Frisian it was luve. It is known to be used before 900. One of the earliest uses of love, and its biggest influence, was religion. Love was used to describe the benevolence and affection of God, as well as the affectionate devotion due to God, “God is loue, and he that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God” (John 4:16). From this widely recognized meaning, love began to be used to positively describe instances of affection or acts of kindness. In Old English and Middle English love was pronounced as lufu, it had turned into both a noun to describe, “deep affection” and its offspring verb, “to be very fond of”. 

Spelling and Pronunciation: Love is an etymology word because its spelling reflects its earlier stage in English. Love in early Modern English was spelled luve…and to mark the way it was pronounced people put a line over the u. Soon the u became closed into an o to make love. Love is not a phonetic word because the o is making the short u sound. Love also doesn’t fit the silent e rule of making the vowel the long sound. Love is practiced as a sight word because it doesn’t really fit any spelling rule. 

Friend

Definition:The Webster Dictionary states that a friend is one attached to another by affection or esteem, an acquaintance, or one that is not hostile. 

Origin: The Online Etymology Dictionary explains, the origin of the word friend is from Old High German from the word friund. In Old English friend was frēond. In Middle English it was frend, with a pronunciation similar to the way we say it today.   The word friend is also related to Old English word, "free", meaning "a Quaker" (a member of the Society of Friends). 

Spelling and Pronunciation: Friend is another word that reflects its Old English spelling. When teaching how to spell the word friend, the two vowels can be difficult for children. I always teach that you are a friend to the end…to remember that it ends in end. 

Water

Definition: The Webster Dictionary defines water as the liquid that descends from the clouds as rain, forms streams, lakes, and seas, and is a major constituent of all living matter.

Origin: The Online Etymology Dictionary explains, in Old English water was spelled wæter. Water is wet, even etymologically. The Indo-European root of water is *wed-, "wet." This root could appear in several guises-with the vowel e, as here, or as *wod-, or with no vowel between the w and d, yielding *ud-. All three forms of the root appear in English either in native or in borrowed words. From a form with a long e, *wēd-, which by Grimm's Law became *wēt- in Germanic, we have Old English wǣt, "wet," which became modern English wet. The form *wod-, in a suffixed form *wod-ōr, became *watar in Germanic and eventually water in modern English. From the form *ud- the Greeks got their word for water, hud-ōr, the source of our prefix hydro- and related words like hydrant. The suffixes *-rā and *-ros added to the form *ud- yielded the Greek word hudrā, "water snake" (borrowed into English as hydra), and the Germanic word *otraz, the source of our word otter, the water animal.

Spelling and Pronunciation: Water is a fairly easy word for children to learn to read and spell. I would teach water in syllables. The “wat” is a closed syllablre, however it does not say the typical short a sound. This part of the word doesn’t follow the rule. The “er” is an easy syllable for children to spell.  

Book
Definition: Webster Dictionary defines the word book as a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory, a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together into a volume, or a long written or printed literary composition. 

Origin: The word book is from the High German word “buch.” In Old Enlish it was spelled boc which meant a book, a writing, or a written document. The Old English originally meant any written document. Latin and Sanskrit also have words for "writing" that are based on tree names ("birch" and "ash," respectively). 

Spelling and Pronunciation: To teach the spelling of book, I would focus on the oo. I would teach it in word groups with look, took, nook.

Information above came from:

The Webster Dictionary online at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/

The Online Etymology Dictionary at: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Love&searchmode=none

#6 Distinguishing Factors of Word Recognition and Sociopsycholinguistics

According to Freeman and Freeman, there are two theories of language teaching. The theories are very different in their goals, methods, and classroom practices. Below is a list of the major differences between the two theories. 

Learning/ Word Recognition

Acquisition/ Sociopsycholinguistics

Reading *Written language must be learned *Identify words to get meaning *Make connections between print and oral vocabulary *Sound out/blend to pronounce words *If you can decode a word then you recognize it as words in your oral language *Phonics rules  (focusing on the pronunciation of a group of letters) *Sight words (flash cards to memorize) *Break words apart to identify them (look for words within words) *Teacher uses oral reads to help students learn to identify words *Teacher supplies words that students don’t know in oral reading... with the belief that the child will then learn that word *Learn Vocabulary in advance of reading *Recoding instead of decoding (changing from written language to oral language/without getting at meaning) *Children will possibly say the word but it won’t have meaning *The English language isn’t always phonetic in longer words –break apart words (structural analysis) *Mostly oral reading Writing  *Goal is to produce a quality piece of writing  *Teachers break apart elements and teach parts (letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, essays)  *Topics are assigned  *Emphasis on conventions and mechanics  *Handwriting, grammar, and spelling are major component * Writing is corrected by teacher

Reading *Written language is innate and can be acquired *Reading is a process of constructing meaning *Uses background knowledge and three linguistic systems (graphophonics, syntax, and semantics) to make meaning of texts *Focus on meaning  *Use graphophonics as just one of three cueing systems to gain meaning  *Read to acquire new vocabulary by using context *Decoding (getting at meaning) *Making meaning …not focused on individual words *Sampling the text, making predictions, inferring, checking  predictions, and taking new information and combining it with what is known *Different readers may construct different meaning depending on background *Read extensively to acquire vocabulary *Vocabulary taught as they encounter it in many different contexts *Mostly silent reading *Comprehension strategies *Fix up strategies   Writing *Goal is to understand the process of writing  *Student choice writing topics *Students practice writing in different genres *Writer’s workshop  approach *The more students read, the better they write   *Mini-lessons provide instruction on style and mechanics   *Students are encouraged to share their writing

I believe that as educators we need to have a balance of both Learning and Acquisition approaches. Our students all learn differently, and have different needs. If we have a balanced approach that incorporates both theories, we will meet more needs and learning styles.

*All information above is taken from the text: Essential Linguistics What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, Grammar. By David E. Freeman and Yvonne S. Freeman.

# 5 The Writing Instruction I Received

Growing up, I definitely came from more "Traditional Writing Classrooms" than "Process Classrooms." Writing was always very prescribed. I was taught how to form letters, words, and sentences. The parts of the paragraph were taught explicitly. I don’t remember receiving any type of feedback or coaching before my work was graded. Everything was returned with the dreaded red pen leaving its mark on my attitude toward writing. The teacher didn’t comment on any of the content in my writing, but she circled and underlined everything that I was doing wrong!  We very rarely had the opportunity to choose our own topic. The process of writing was ignored. Reading and writing were two separate times in the day, and they never blended together. There was no chance for the “spillover” to occur. 

In Second Grade, I did, however, have a teacher who taught more process than traditional method…Mrs. Keen. I loved writing that year. She let me spell words the way I heard them and didn’t mark my papers with that red pen. My attitude toward writing bloomed.  We were able to write stories, plays, and skits. I learned all about butterflies, and I wrote a detailed report about all I had learned and even produced an art project to go along with my report. Second grade was the year I won a poetry contest in the library! I remember my mother talking about how Mrs. Keen was a “Whole Language” teacher. She had an old fashioned claw foot tub in the middle of her room, and we could read and write in it! My teacher that year encouraged me in my writing ability. She always had something positive to say about the content of my writing. It was a great year!

Unfortunately, that was the only year that I had a teacher who taught writing as a process. In the years that followed, I had more of a traditional classroom experience, the teachers had more of a “Learning View” of literacy. I say “Unfortunately” because I didn’t love literacy as a child. I had to grow into it as an adult. My year with Mrs. Keen was my favorite, and I believe that is because of her views and approaches to teaching literacy. I am left to wonder if my experience had been a balanced combination of both approaches, and I had more process teaching in my school experience; would I have loved literacy more as a child? I venture to guess....yes!

#4 Building Background for ELL Students

One major part of reading is that we use our background knowledge to make connections. We all have different backgrounds and experiences to bring to our reading. When introducing a picture book, it is important to attempt to "level the playing field" so that all children have the background needed to comprehend. There are children who have a vast background of experiences that they can pull from to help them comprehend text. There are also children who don’t have as many life experiences, and because of this they are not able to make meaning when reading certain things. Whether it is for an ELL student, or a struggling reader, we need to give background before introducing a text to assure student success. 

On Call Back Mountain                 
by Eve Bunting 

               Living in the mountains is a different type of culture. In the book On Call Back Mountain by Eve Bunting, there are many things you need to know in order to understand this beautiful story. The story is about a family that lives on a farm at the base of a mountain. Each summer their friend Bosco stops by the farm before heading up the mountain to his lookout station. A couple of years ago there had been a terrible forest fire, and ever since there have been no wolves in the area. The forest is finally growing back, and the family and Bosco were hoping that they would see wolves again soon. Bosco heads up the mountain to his lookout station. Each night of the summer the two young boys that live on the farm go out to shine their lanterns up at the lookout station to say good night to Bosco. Bosco always responds back, with a flickering light, until one night when the light doesn’t shine back. The next day, the parents go up to the lookout station to find that Bosco has passed away. The next evening, the boys go out to say goodnight to Bosco. Although, they don’t see a light, they do see a lone wolf, howling in the moonlight. The author gives us clues to believe that the wolf is Bosco coming back to the mountain. 

Background to Build:

Setting-Students need to understand what it would be like to live in this area and how it is similar and different from where we live. Do a double bubble to compare the two places. Show pictures of similar settings. Jane Hill and Kathleen Flynn explain in their book Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners, "When students identify similarities and differences in the content they are learning, they make new connections, experience new insights, and correct misconception" (Hill and Flynn, 2006, p.12).

Wildfires in the West- A child that hasn't lived near the mountains would not know about wildfires. Certain things happen with in different settings. It is important to read the book Wildfires by Seymour Simon, read articles about forest fires, show pictures of damage from fires, and have a lot of discussion about what happens during and after wildfires. 

Lookout Stations- Talk about what a lookout station is and why we have them. Show pictures.

Wolves in the West- Share the book The Wolves are Back by Jean Craighead George, Wolves by Seymour Simon. Children need to know how rare wolves are now, and that they flee when there has been a fire...but they also might come back after the forest area starts to grow back.

Building this background will help all readers understand the story better, but it will also give our ELL students new learning to add to their schema. Showing the pictures is a non-linguistic representation which "Enhances students' ability to represent and elaborate on knowledge using mental images" (Hill and Flynn, 2006, p.7).

       Every Living Thing- Papa's Parrot    
                       by Cynthia Rylant

               Every Living Thing is a book of short stories by Cynthia Rylant. Papa’s Parrot is one of the stories in this book. In the story Harry’s father owns a candy store. Harry and his friends enjoy going to the candy store to pick out penny candy. Harry soon grows up and is going other places with his friends. His father gets a pet parrot for the store. Papa talks to the pet parrot, and Harry is embarrassed by his father and stops all visits to the store. One day the father becomes ill and has to go to the hospital. Harry goes to load the bins at the candy store for his father and the parrot starts saying “Where’s Harry? Where’s Harry? Miss him…miss him.” The boy starts crying and goes to visit his papa at the hospital. Children are left to infer why he was crying. 

Background to Build

Setting- Students need to understand that this story takes place in a small town culture, in a candy store. It is the type of store with lots of different bins of candies and a long glass counter with many candy selections. In the story the father has a heart attack and the bins get turned over as he falls…creating quite a mess that Harry later goes to clean up. Pictures of a candy store would help students understand where the story is taking place.

Candies- Bring in peppermints, caramels, jawbreakers, and other candies that are mentioned in the story for students to get a feel for they types of candies. This is not like picking a candy bar from the King Soopers line.

Vocabulary- The word mimic is not in the story but the concept is. This is a concept that a number of ELL students may not understand. This concept is crucial to the story. Teach the word mimic. Model this for the students by having one child mimic another. Have all kids practice doing this with a partner.

Parrots-Parrots are not an animal that many kids know about because they are not a regular pet in many cultures. Read the book Parrots by Linda Jacobs Altman. Read the section on "Choosing Parrots as Pets." This will explain to students that parrots are great pets for people who are lonely. This section will also explain how parrots mimic what they hear. 

This background knowledge is crucial to understanding the story. Harry cries in the end because  he understands that his father has been telling the parrot that he misses Harry. He then runs to the hospital to see his sick father. This story has a strong message about what is important in life.

                                                                 References

Hill, J. and Flynn, K. (2006) Classroom instruction that works with english language learners.

            Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.