Key Vocabulary and Concepts:
Running Records- an assessment tool used to show how a student reads using their regular reading materials while the teacher makes a detailed account of their ability to read
Minilessons- a lesson with a more narrow approach that give instruction to a concept that the student will relate to a larger lesson that follows the minilesson.
Book Talk- Where a student shares with the rest of the class specific information about the book they read such as the title and author’s name, sharing an excerpt from the book or sharing information such as characters and or the plot. They summarize the book but don’t give away the ending.
4 Steps of assessment- Step 1: Planning for Assessment- Teachers think about questions such as ‘have students learned the concepts that have been taught?’ before planning a lesson so they are better prepared to use the assessment tools. Step 2: Monitoring Students’ Progress- This allows for teachers to learn about the students and their individual strengths and weaknesses and their instruction. They do this through observations, anecdotal notes, conferencing, and making checklists. Step 3: Evaluating Students’ Learning- assessment at this stage is summative and documentation is used to make judgements about student achievement. Step 4: Reflecting on Students’ Learning- This is the stage where the teacher reflects on themselves to help improve their own effectiveness to adapt thier instruction to meet the needs of all students. They also analyze students achievement at this stage.
Anecdotal Notes- notes that describe specific events that relate the event to the student. They include questions students had and the skills they use and or don’t use.
Rubrics- are scoring guides that how the student is doing according to a certain criteria and level of achievement.
Portfolios- Include include samples of students work such as adio files, lists of books that have been read, reading logs, photos of projects etc.
Instructional Reading Level- books are read at the students level but not read alone. Reading is not always fluent at this level. Comprehension is understood by support from either teacher and or classmates.
Frustration Reading Level- Even with assistance books at this level are too difficult for a student to complete successfully. Reading is choppy and read word by word and most of the time does not make sense. Little comprehension is shown of what has been read.
Independent Reading Level- books are read by the student on their own comfortably. The reading is fluent and they comprehend what they have read.
Guided Reading- an instructional approach where teachers work in small groups where all students are at similiar reading levels and behaviors of reading.
Leveled books- Fountas and Pinnell is used to identify students level based on grade level. Based on a variety of variables that influence reading difficulty.
Lexile Framework- This identifies both the students reading level and difficulty level of the book. The wide range of scores allows teachers to better match students and books.
Informal reading inventories- used to evaluate a students reading performance. Used to determine if a student is reading at grade level and or to identify a struggling students instructional needs in areas of word identification, oral fluency and their comprehension. Consists of two parts, word lists and passages.
Miscue analysis- procedure for categorizing and analyzing a students oral reading errors.
SOLOM (Student Oral Language Observation Matrix)- a rating scale used to assess a students command of English while they are talking and listening in everyday activities. Addresses five components of oral language: listening– scored from able to comprehend a simple sentence to understanding conversations, fluency– scored from frament to fluent speech, vocabulary– scored from limited word knowledge to using words skillfully, pronunciation– scored from unintelligible speech to pronunciation proficiency, and grammer– scored from excessive errors that make speech unitelligible to being able to apply word order and usage rules the right way. Each of the components has a five point range.
K-W-L Charts- an organizer used to organize information before, during and after a lesson. Helps teachers monitor what the student is understanding and learning.
Test taking strategies- require the student to read the entire question first, look for key words in the question, read all answer choices before choosing one, anwer easier questions first, make smart guesses, stick with your first choice, pace yourself, check over your work.
Hight stakes testing- designed to objectively measure a students knowledge according to grade-level standards . These tests typically give little information for helping a teacher make day-to-day instructional decisions on the other hand they are used to judge and hold students, teachers and even admin accountable.
Portfolio Assessment- Student involvement where they select pieces that get put in the file. It evaluates their personal progress and shows their best work. This assessment respects the students abilities and helps others including the students to see growth from one milestone to the next.
Application to the classroom: This chapter relates to the classroom by showing/telling us how teachers use the instruction-assessment cycle to assess students and their literacy development following a set of guidlines. As a future teacher I will have to link assessment with instruction through planning, monitoring, evaluating and then reflecting on my instruction. One thing I need to remember is to involve students so that they can aquire the skills needed to both reflect on and evaluate their reading and writing.
Works Cited: Tompkins, G. E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: a balanced approach. Boston: Pearson.
Amanda Jachthuber 