Module 3: Opitz 7,8,&12

Chapter 7

When first beginning to read chapter 7 of the Opitz text, I could not believe that kindergarten is not required in several states. I feel as though kindergarten is such an important year in transitioning children into school and I do not know how the child would be ready for 1^st grade without going through kindergarten. At the school that I work at, new students are required to complete the Gallistel-Ellis that is administered by their teacher. This provides teachers with an idea of students reading comprehension skills as well as spelling from the very beginning. The students are required to come in before the school year begins and therefore the teacher is not wasting school time as the text discussed.  I really enjoyed reading about the suggestions to take away from administering students pre-reading tests. I feel as though one of the most important aspects is to use the information in order to better your teaching strategies by planning effective lessons based on the students needs.

Reading through the chart on page 111 is very useful when deciding which test to administer to students based on the concept or skill that you want to know. I feel as though I will definitely refer to this chart when I have my own classroom. When I am working with a small group of students during rotations, I constantly have the students repeat the concept or skill we are working on as well as verbally communicate with one another. The text discusses how important oral language is within the classroom and this occurs everyday in the classroom that I am currently working in. When introducing a new book to the students, I have found it important to discuss with the students what they think the text is going to be about, read the book aloud to the students, read the text together as a small group, discuss what happened in the text, and finally have them read to either myself or a partner. I have found this to be very beneficial for the students that I work with and the repetition provides them with reading comprehension.

I found it interesting to read about the letter identification test. I feel as though this would be interesting to have given my 1^st graders on the first day of school. Although many of students can recognize the letter in the alphabet, they write the letter incorrectly. There are many steps that take place when completing letter identification in my 1^st grade class.  First, we look at letter cards and as a small group say the letter, the word that begins with the letter that we are reviewing, and the sound it makes. As the students are saying this orally, they are writing the letters in the sand trays. There are several other steps that take place in small groups that is a constant repetition in order for the students to master the letters. I loved being able to read the text and really relate it to my classroom.

Chapter 8

            Throughout my undergrad, I was required to give an IRI to one of my third grade students. I was able to determine the student’s instructional level as well as her frustration level. I was able to use these scores when planning my reading lessons with the students. Although I was shown how to calculate the different reading levels in my undergrad, this reading was a nice review and a beneficial source to refer to.  Before this reading, I had never heard of the listening capacity test. I found this to be very beneficial because often time’s students get so wrapped up in sounding out words that they lose focus of gathering meaning from the story. If I had known about this type of test earlier then I would have administered this format with the student that I am tutoring. I have really enjoyed the readings thus far in this class because I feel as though it is very informative as a first year teacher. Reading about the different tests to administer to students is very beneficial when deciding which are the most appropriate for the group of students in your classroom.

Chapter 12

            I feel as though something that I always struggled with during undergrad was working with students on phonics. I have learned that this is something that takes time as well as experience to master. I have seen a lot of auditory and visual discrimination in the 1^st grade class that I am working in thus far. This is very important for students in order to hear the letter as well as visually see the letter. I have completed an activity with my students where they are required to circle the words that are similar just as they discussed in the text. I really like the idea of allowing the students to work together as partners in order to complete this type of activity rather than individually. This way they would be able to use the auditory and visual discrimination method.

            With my current group of 1^st grade students, my lead teacher as well as myself is working with the students on initial consonants. When the students are first learning their sight word, they are required to tap it out using their fingers. They also use their arms as a source to tap out their words. Just as the book discussed the letter “Q’, was how we introduced the letter last week. We practiced writing the letter in the sand tray, with dry erase boards, as well as on a piece of paper. I really enjoyed reading about the whole to part using nursery rhymes that the text discussed. I found this to be a very helpful and beneficial idea when introducing a new text with students.