Chapter 4: Reading and Language Arts
- Integrated units or lessons wherein the teacher incorporates reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities, but with guided focus on reading and writing throughout the student’s education. The curriculum must be continuous with particular focus on reading and writing instruction, and independent reading and writing.
- I can integrate language arts with other concepts in different units by providing the students various opportunities to use language, whether it is by writing, speaking, listening, or reading. Another way is to structure lessons in other subjects in a way that the students would have to practice their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills to complete activities. Some ways of using reading and language arts to strengthen mathematics instruction, for instance, is to use language arts instruction to familiarize students with the meaning of terms or concepts. If the students know the meaning of addition as “putting together” they would understand how the process of addition works.
- Planning must begin from basic concepts to complex concepts. For instance, in teaching grammar, it must begin with nouns, followed by pronouns, and then adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Teaching must be inductive in nature such that it begins from simple to general concepts so the teacher can scaffold learning. Planning must be set in the continuum of learning, such that the teacher makes way for continuity in learning as students advance to higher levels.
- I plan to diversify instructional materials by using different contents in teacher-guided instructions. I can also teach different types of writing content based on the objectives of the author and then allow the students to read different types of texts so they can identify how content differs based on the reading material. The students will go through different types of text for each unit so they can be immersed in various literary sources and then engage in discussions in literature circles. Consequently, the students will complete writing activities of different types of texts.
- Big books refer to large-print books meant for emergent readers. Big books are easy to read and accompanied by pictures, which make them interesting to emergent readers.
- I can incorporate genres in the classroom when I teach reading comprehension and critical analysis of literature through the students’ reflection and introspection. If I focus on reading comprehension, I can introduce different genres of literature to the students and allow them to compare and contrast content, as well as analyze literature.
- Pictures, films or videos, and texts would be most appropriate for visual learners. Audio recording, musical instruments, and oral reading texts would be most appropriate for auditory learners. Hands-on materials and physical objects would appeal to sensory learners. Physical activities that allow students to move and be active in and out the classroom would appeal to kinesthetic learners.
Reading and Language Arts Instruction Study Questions
- If I were to introduce a unit on parts of the book, I can determine the students’ prior knowledge about the topic by making them take a quiz (performance-based assessment), ask the students during discussion to talk about their ideas about the topic (self-assessment), and ask the students to fill in a chart about parts of the book (concept map exercise).
- I plan to conduct reading and comprehension tests by having the students participate in informal reading so I can observe how they read and ask them questions to know if they understood what they read. The students can also conduct self-assessment by rating their performance during informal reading or writing about their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to reading. The students can also take formal tests that measure their reading comprehension, reading accuracy or speed, and other skills in the field.
- I can facilitate language acquisition in terms of letter-sound correlations by focusing on speaking or oral activities where I will sound out letters or the students will use sound boxes to listen to phonics so the students can imitate appropriate sounds. I can also sound out words or short sentences and write them on paper. In terms of concepts about print, I can read paragraphs while pointing the words I sound out so the students can follow how to read words (left-to-right). After modeling, I will have the students read various paragraphs, copy brief sentences, and then write sentences on their own on paper so they can exercise writing proper structure of print.
- In a primary classroom, I will teach the students a song or a poem related to the content of the reading material to set the tone and transition pre-reading to reading. During reading, I can ask questions in between sections of the story to assess whether the students can follow the story and to clarify the story if the students get the questions wrong. During post-reading, I can test the student’s comprehension through a multiple-choice test or by allowing the students to re-tell the story in the proper order. Primary students can complete these activities. In an intermediate classroom, during pre-reading, I can introduce vocabulary words that the students will be encountering during reading. In this way, they will be prepared to read and would better understand the content of the reading materials. During reading, I will also divide the stories into questions but instead of asking the students questions about the previous section read, they will have to make predictions about what would happen next. During post-reading, I will ask the students to write a summary of the reading material in their own words.
- I can help students identify main ideas in nonfiction prose by allowing them to complete activities where they read brief paragraphs about different topics and then identify the main idea in each paragraph. Another activity would be for the students to read different titles and predict what the texts will be about based on the title. The activities could be multiple choice or matching type.
- I would ask the students to visit the library, use the portal to look for books or other sources using keywords related to the specific topic they chose, and then to go online to check with other digital resources. I plan to conduct mini lessons about locating books in the library and then using appropriate keywords in online search engines. I would expect less from third-graders compared to fifth graders since I assume some of them are not adept computer users. Perhaps I can make the research part of their homework so their parents can assist them in conducting research online. Fifth graders can go beyond the library and online library by conducting fieldwork.
- I would primarily use the writing process to model how I would expect the students to write different types of texts. Before the students create their own texts independently, I will model and deconstruct the writing process, during which the students will participate in joint construction to exercise their skills in writing. After showing mastery of the writing process, the students will produce their own texts individually.
- Using rhyming words would help students master spelling. I will introduce rhyming words with the same spelling towards the end, such as “might”, “flight”, and “right”, so the students can learn spelling patterns. Another way would be for me to give students a spelling list that they will master at home and have the students participate in spelling quizzes the following week.
- Learning styles and teaching strategies are related because the teacher adjusts strategies depending on the learning styles of the students. If a student learns most visually, then the students will use visual aids, etc.
- I will divide the class into reading groups once in a while. The students with the same level of reading and language arts skills will be grouped together so the kind of texts and activities given to them would be appropriate for their skills and capabilities. In other activities, I would have the students in mixed groups so those with the higher-level skills can teach or influence those with lower level skills.
- A student being on task is a student that follows instructions and completes activities accordingly, while a student being engaged in an activity is a student that shows genuine interest in the task, is highly motivated, and seeks to understand and make sense of the activity.
- I can motivate students to read by allowing them to choose genres that they are interested in. Some students are into science fiction while others are into adventure, for instance. I can tell the students that through fiction, they can explore different worlds and meet different people, and hopefully learn something from them.
- I can structure oral book reports to be engaging by making it an open discussion. If a student reports on a book, other students can interact and talk about the student’s report. In this way, they can talk about their opinions and agree or disagree. I can also ask students to read different books so when they report about it, it will be their task to entice other students to read the book too.
- Shared reading occurs when the teacher and the students share the reading experience with the goal of encouraging students to interact during the reading process. The students may interact with one another while reading. Individual reading, on the other hand, occurs when the student chooses the book he/she wants to read, at his/her own pace, and the goal or objective depends on the individual student’s skills or learning needs.
Reading and Language Arts Assessment Study Questions
- Common misconceptions include ideas that reading is difficult, especially when students encounter difficult words. For early readers, the appearance of the book, especially the size of texts, affects their interest in reading. Another misconception is that early readers tend to disconnect events in the book from other events.
- For older readers, specifically those in fourth grade, common misconceptions in reading includes those that pertain to comprehension of concepts in reading, attaching meaning to words (e.g. antonyms vs. synonyms), and then retelling the stories in proper order or sequence.
- I can help students overcome common misunderstandings of grammar, syntax, and spelling by identifying the points that must be clarified and then simulating or role playing interactions with the students to teach them how to apply rules or grammar, syntax, etc.
- Standardized tests provide information about the learning level, knowledge, skills, and competencies of each student compared to other students. The results of the tests would be useful in determining ranking of students based on learning standards and level of learning.
- IEPs refer to records of specific services or instruction that the students will receive or learn in school. The IEP also includes plans for the students’ transition throughout the curriculum. 504 plans, on the other hand, contain specific services or instruction that are tailor fit for students that experience conditions or situations that directly interfere with their learning.
- Informal assessments to assess a student’s reading ability include informal oral reading during which the teacher will take note or write down observations. Free writing activities are examples of informal assessment to assess the student’s writing ability.
- The teacher can help students evaluate their own work fairly and accurately by creating a rubric from which the self-assessment form will be based on. During self-assessment, the teacher guides the student in assessing his or her performance based on specific standards noted in the rubric.
- In conducting summative assessment, I can use the portfolio to trace a student’s progress and improvements over time based on portfolio contents. During summative evaluation, I will take note of patterns in the student’s work or output as well as changes that depict improvements or otherwise in the student’s performance.
Chapter 5: Mathematics
Mathematics Curriculum Study Questions
- As a teacher, I can translate national, state, and district curricular standards into classroom instruction by using them to guide the development of the mathematics curriculum and units of learning in the subject. The primary objective in doing so is to ensure that throughout the units, the students will be able to achieve the standards.
- For first graders, the students will learn the concepts of ordering numbers from least to greatest or greatest to least, place value, concepts of addition and subtraction,
