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TEACHERS.NET GAZETTE
Volume 3 Number 2

COVER STORY
Harry & Rosemary Wong say, "...effective teachers do not employ tricks of the trade, the latest fad, or untested opinions..." This month the Wongs feature Liz Breaux, a most effective teacher...
COLUMNS
Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong
Promoting Learning by Marv Marshall
4 Blocks by Cheryl Sigmon
Ask the School Psychologist by Beth Bruno
Online Classrooms by Leslie Bowman
The Eclectic Teacher by Ginny Hoover
The Busy Educator's Monthly Five (5 Sites for Busy Educators) by Marjan Glavac
Around the Block by Bridget Scofinsky
Ask the Literacy Teacher by Leigh Hall
The Visually Impaired Child by Dave Melanson
ARTICLES
Seussational Reading Excitement - NEA's Read Across America: Too Much Reading Fun for Just One Day!...
The 100th Day of School
100th Day Activities
Television--Don't Trash It--Control It
Remediation Doesn't Work
Behavior Management Tips
Stress
Children and Stress
Children Do Grieve
Infuse Test Preparation With Life-long Learning
Technology Integration Has No Hope of Succeeding!
Technophobia to Technophilia
Cooperative Learning
Why All Students Need Fine Motor Skills
Teaching Gayle to Read (Part 3)
The Role of EFL learners' Heterogeneity in Terms of Age in Their Use of Communication Strategies
The Importance of the School Administration to Student Achievement
Using Non-Fiction to Motivate Reluctant Readers
Quantity over Quality--The Problem with Writing Instruction in Our Schools
Tips for Substitute Teachers
TEACHER INSPIRATION FEATURE
From "I Don't Care" to "I Did It!"
ON-SITE INSIGHTS
Rules for Secondary Classrooms
Block Scheduling
REGULAR FEATURES
Special Days This Month
The Lighter Side of Teaching
  • YENDOR'S Top Ten
  • Exceptional Normalcy
  • Schoolies
  • Woodhead
  • Handy Teacher Recipes
    Classroom Crafts
    Help Wanted - Teaching Jobs
    Featured Lessons from the Lesson Bank
  • Famous Black Americans
  • Valentine Village
  • Upcoming Ed Conferences
    Letters to the Editor
    Chatboard Poll
    FYI
    Arecibo Radar Gets 11th-Hour Reprieve
    Planetary Society Offers New Scholarships
    Gazette Home Delivery:


    About Leigh Hall...
    Leigh Hall is a doctoral student at Michigan State University in the Department of Teacher Education where she specializes in Literacy. Before coming to Michigan, Leigh was a middle school language arts and social studies teacher in Houston, Texas. It was this experience that introduced her to working with students who had a variety of abilities and needs in the areas of reading and writing. Leigh has experience in working with children who have learning disabilities and who perform below grade level. She is also certified to work with students who do not speak English as their native language.

    Upon completing her degree from Michigan State, Leigh hopes to start a career as an Assistant Professor and to do research that addresses students who struggle with reading. She hopes that what she learns both now and in the future can be passed on to teachers in a way that is useful to both them and their students.


    Questions for this column that pertain to the teaching of reading and writing are welcomed. Questions in this area that deal with students performing below grade level, are not native speakers of English or who have learning disabilities are strongly encouraged. In addition, teachers from all subject areas and grade levels should feel free to submit their questions. This column is meant to help us all think about how we use reading and writing in our classrooms and is not meant to be exclusive to elementary teachers or to reading and language arts teachers.

    Please submit your questions to: leighhall@teachers.net

     



     
    Ask the Literacy Teacher
    by Leigh Hall
    Students' Self Measurement

    and

    Helping Second Language Learners


    Please submit your questions to: leighhall@teachers.net
    Dear Literacy Teacher,

    I would like to know how to help students measure their own growth in reading. I teach third grade. I know some first grade teachers who are interested in this topic as well.

    Thanks,
    Judy

    Dear Judy,

    There are different ways that students and teachers can measure growth in reading. The first decision that needs to be made is what is it you want your students to measure. Do you want them to note how many books they read in a week, a month, or a year? Do you want them to track specific progress that they make as readers? For example do you want them to see that now they are able to summarize a chapter that they have recently read when only a month ago they could not have accomplished this task? Since I am not sure what it is you want to them to measure I will provide ideas for both of these examples.

    If you want students to see how many books they read you could use a reading log. An example of this can be found online at http://home.att.net/~teaching/ar/arlog.pdf. I recommend that reading logs are kept private and that they not be posted in the classroom. This helps to prevent slower readers from feeling behind and instead helps them stay focused on their own work.

    Helping students track progress that they make as readers is more complicated. To begin with, it requires the teacher to know where each student is at developmentally. You need to have a strong working knowledge of where each student’s strengths and weaknesses lie. What I recommend at this point is working with students individually, in small groups and as an entire class. I tend to break students up into small groups according to what they need to work on individually. For example, I might have a group of five students meet to do a lesson on locating the main idea in a piece of text. They may not master it in this first group meeting, but over time they would. As I see it happening in class I would be sure to point out to them that they are now capable of doing something that was difficult for them to do before. I would also meet with students individually for short conferences. In these conferences I would ask students to talk about what they need to work on, what they have been working on, and what they have improved on. A record of this meeting could later on serve as a way for the student to see how much they have improved in one year. For students to become aware of their growth they must first understand where they need to improve. The things I have described above are attempts to get at that. It is messy and does not come with any check-off boxes or nicely contained sheets, but then again learning is a messy process with no clear-cut paths.

    I hope that this begins to answer your question. If not, please write back so we can continue this discussion further.

     

    Dear Literacy Teacher,

    In kindergarten we are getting one or two students each year whose first language is other than English, many from Pakistan. There is no ESL support for these children; they are just immersed in the regular, half day kindergarten program.

    Should we be doing anything more than letting them learn the English language (oral and written) on their own while we do the traditional kindergarten literacy activities? We do a lot of shared reading (predictable books, poems, charts), a bit of guided reading.

    Thanks,
    Kindergarten Teacher

    Dear Kindergarten Teacher,

    This is becoming a common question as more children arrive in America who do not speak English. My first recommendation is this. If you have another child in the class who speaks both English and the language of the child who does not speak English, allow these children to work together. The child who is fluent in English can serve as a translator and can help ease the other student’s fears. If this is not possible you may look to see if there is a child in another grade that could come in and work with the child periodically.

    I am assuming that you do not speak Urdu and therefore cannot communicate directly with the child. If this is the case then patience and understanding are important. It can take up to seven years for a child in this position to function on an academic level in the same way that we expect a native speaker of English to do. Even when the student begins to speak and understand English fairly well, and you should notice this development over the course of the year, do not assume that they should also be reading and writing on the same level as their peers. This will come later.

    It sounds like you are doing some great things with these children in your classroom given the situation. I don’t know what state you are in, but some states require that modifications be made for ELL (English Language Learners) students according to their proficiency in English and that they are then graded accorded to these modifications. I would look into what state law requires that you do. Even if they do not require modifications I would consider making them and adjusting them as the students progress. Below I am listing some books that may help you in this situation. Best of luck!

     

    Recommended Books for the Month:

    One Child, Two Languages: a Guide for Preschool Educators of Children Learning English As a Second Language by Patton O. Tabors

    The ESL Teacher's Book of Lists by Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed.D

    Recommended Web Sites for the Month:

    Reading Logs:
    http://home.att.net/~teaching/ar/arlog.pdf

    Collaborative and Cooperative Learning:
    http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/
    concept2class/month5


     

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