HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHER- Chapter 1

REFLECTION: Identify the characteristics of a highly effective teacher in your clinical setting. Which of the traits do you feel most apprehensive about? What makes a great teacher? More importantly, what makes a highly effective teacher? Highly effective teachers do not happen overnight. That is the beauty of teaching-it is an ongoing process of growth and learning. Great teachers keep up with cutting-edge developments in their field. They stay current and up to date on what is going on in the teaching world. Highly effective teachers, know their students. Getting to know your students is crucial in being an effective teacher. Mrs. Houston knows her students and is always encouraging growth and learning. Mrs. Houston has a very structured classroom, I believe that this is a characteristic of a highly effective teacher. Mrs. Houston encourages reading and books. She has created a very comfortable and encouraging atmosphere in her classroom for her students. I think that this is very important in reaching students. TRY IT OUT: Examine your teachers classroom library. Write a reflection of how the books are arranged. What organizational system is used? What procedures are used for checking books in/out? What are some other ways to organize books? September 19, 2013 Mrs. Houston organizes her books in her classroom using buckets. She uses the cubbies that are built into her wall for her classroom library. Mrs. Houston uses the top two sections of the cubbies to organize her books that she earns through Scholastic book orders. The lower two sections of the cubbies are books for her students. In each cubby, Mrs. Houston has a basket with a tag on the front. The tag either has a letter on it, an authors name, a series, or a genre. During the week, Mrs. Houston allows time to check out a book from her classroom library. Each student has a book box that they use to put their classroom books in each week. The students line their boxes against the wall. Mrs. Houston allows time throughout the day for silent reading. At this time, the students choose a book from their box to read quietly.

FLUENCY- Chapter 5
Discuss the most effective ways to teach and assess fluency. Discuss what research says about fluency instruction. Fluency is the ability to read accurately and at the appropriate speed and rate. Fluency instruction is crucial for young readers. Reading fluency is developed through explicit teaching. In order for fluency to be taught effectively it is important for the teacher to model. Also, student involvement is a great way to teach fluency. Giving students time to practice is very important when teaching fluency. There are many different ways to go about practice. Students can use a readers theatre, Fry phrases, echo reading, choral reading, and paired reading. To assess fluency there are several things that need to be taken into consideration. The first being, accurate and effortless decoding of text and the overall reading rate or speed. Another important thing to consider when assessing fluency is to make sure to pay attention to use of volume, stress, pitch, and juncture. An example of a way to assess fluency would be a one-minute reading sample. Another great way to assess fluency is to use the Multi-dimensional Fluency Scale. This assessment assesses volume and expression, phrasing, smoothness, and pace. Students also can self-assess themselves. Giving students an explicit rubric and having them assess how they think they are doing with fluency. The National Reading Panels research states that fluency practice is most effective when the reading practice is oral, repeated readings are incorporated, and students receive guidance and feedback from the teacher. Researchers are unclear on which levels of text should be used for optimal fluency practice. TRY IT OUT: Use a Readers Theatre with a group of students. November 5, 2013 Today, I used the Readers Theatre, Miss Nelson is Missing with a small group of students. We read through the readers theatre once and then discussed how important it is to read with expression. We practiced by reading a few sentences throughout the readers theatre. Then, I challenged the group of students to read through it a second time, using expression. Overall, the students did a fantastic job practicing reading with expression. I was very pleased. I think being organized with readers theatre is so important. Next time I do a readers theatre, I want to assign parts prior to starting the readers theatre. **Readers Theatre used is attached.

TRY IT OUT: Use Fry phrases with students to practice fluency. November 12, 2013 I made a set of Fry phrases flash cards for the students in my classroom. During silent reading time in the morning, I pulled two students to practice these phrases. We went through the set the first round reading the phrases together. The second round, we made it fun! I had them try and say the phrases as fast as they could. They loved trying to compete against each other. Both students became more fluent with more practice. After our fun competition, we began reviewing the phrases again. I would do this activity again with students. I liked using flash cards, and making it fun, by turning it into a game. The students were excited about this activity. I hope to be able to complete this activity with more students. **A list of Fry Phrases is attached. TRY IT OUT: Practice sight words with students. November 13, 2013 My full week in the classroom has been amazing! I have gotten to try out so many different strategies and work one-on-one with students. I was able to work with a student on sight words. I had sight word flash cards, and had the student go through the stack of sight words. We then created a fun little game out of it, similar to the Fry phrases. I had the student try to say the words as fast as she could. We went through about 30 words. The student missed 4 total. We focused on those four words for about 10 minutes, and then went through the entire stack again. I found practicing the sight words to be very helpful. The student enjoyed going through the stack, and creating a fun game out of it. Practicing sight words is something that I want to incorporate into my future classroom. The next time that I practice sight words with students, I would like to create a fun file folder activity or game of some kind for the student(s) to play. I would like to have a variety of different ways to practice sight words with my students. **A list of sight words used is attached. TRY IT OUT: Teach or write an explicit fluency lesson. November 21, 2013 I taught a fluency lesson today to a small group of students. There were three students that I taught this lesson to. I started the lesson by reading a Mo Willems book to the student using expression and emotion. I encouraged the students to listen carefully to my voice throughout the story. I modeled for them reading with expression. After I read the book, I discussed what fluency is, the importance of it, and how reading with expression makes reading interesting and fun! For opportunity for practice, I had the students do a readers theatre. The students loved practicing and they did a fabulous job. For the assessment, I had the students read the same readers theatre and I used a fluency rubric to assess them. I introduced this rubric to the students during the teaching part of my lesson.

The next time I teach a fluency lesson, I hope to have the readers theatre parts more organized and assigned to each student. Also, planning enough time for a fluency lesson is critical. Overall, I think this lesson went well. The students really enjoyed the Mo Willems book and readers theatre. **Lesson Plan is attached.

VOCABULARY-Chapter 6
What does research say about effective vocabulary instruction? What are some best practices for teaching vocabulary? Research states that vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas and content all together! Vocabulary makes comprehension accessible for children. In order for students to gain reading comprehension and writing composition, word knowledge must happen. Comprehension is dependent on word knowledge. Evidenced-based research tells us that vocabulary instruction should employ motivational activities to link word learning to schema development. Children are exposed to vocabulary through daily conversations. Reading, and being read to, also increase vocabulary learning. Some effective ways to teach vocabulary include: a graphic organizer, the Frayer model, word sorts, and concept maps. Vocabulary should be taught explicitly, TRY IT OUT: Teach a vocabulary lesson. October 24, 2013 and November 12, 2013 I have taught two vocabulary lessons in Mrs. Houstons second grade class. I have used the curriculum that they use at Trace Crossings both times. I wrote my lesson plan according to their curriculum and then added a few other things. I used the think-pairshare strategy in both my lessons. I also used the Frayer Model in the second lesson plan. The students responded well. During both lessons, I had a hard time re-focusing the students after the pair-share time. This was mainly a management tool issue that I need to work on. In both lessons, I only focused on two words. I enjoy teaching vocabulary. I think there are so many fun strategies to incorporate in vocabulary lessons. If I could do both of these lessons again, I would really focus on an effective management tool. Also, I would spend more time on opportunity for practice. The schedule for second grade does not allow a lot of time for vocabulary/reading time in the morning. I felt rushed during these lessons and wished I had more time for opportunity for practice in both of these lessons. **Lesson Plan is attached.

TRY IT OUT: Give a vocabulary assessment and score it. November 12, 2013 I taught a vocabulary lesson on the words miniature and rarely. For the assessment I had the students match the word to the correct definition. I shared with the students that this was a quick check. This was a very easy assessment for the students. The next time I teach a vocabulary lesson and give an assessment I hope to change it up. I have given two matching assessments for the vocabulary lessons that I have taught. The students have done well on both assessments. I like using an exit slip or a quick check as an assessment. **Assessment used for this lesson is attatched. TRY IT OUT: Word Wall September 26, 2013 Today, Mrs. Houston asked me and some other Samford students observing in second grade to create a word wall for the second grade hallway. The theme for the word wall was to be Second Grade is Wild about Math. We spent the morning drawing and cutting out letters for the title and the actual word wall. When we had everything cut out and laminated, we began to create our word wall! I loved this project! I loved having a group to work with and planning and creating together. I am so proud of the final product. I love walking down the hallway and seeing new words added to the ginormous word wall!!!

TRY IT OUT: Work with an ELL student with vocabulary November 14, 2013 I work with an ELL student in Mrs. Houstons class every Thursday. I read with him. He is also in my action research group. I love our time together. During reading time, we read together or work on our vowels. I often times have him look through the book and choose words that he does not know or is unfamiliar with. There is normally several words that he does not know. We go through the words and discuss each one. Sometimes I use synonyms and antonyms to help him understand the meaning of the unfamiliar word. I have also had him visualize what he think the word may mean. He loves to see if what he thinks is correct! I love working one-on-one with students. I really get to know the students during time. I think that looking through the book for unfamiliar words helps ELL students. This is a way for me to help the student understand meanings of words before diving into reading the book!

CHILDRENS LITERATURE- Chapter 9

October 3, 2013 Read for the Record was a success! The Samford students were in charge of decorating for this event. Read for the Record was an event to encourage students to read! The students were invited to listen to some of the Trace Crossings teachers perform the book Otis. There were many ways for students to get involved with Read for the Record. I thought Read for the Record was a great encouragement for students. I loved decorating and preparing for this event. I also loved seeing our hard work come together at Open House and during the Read for the Record event.

TRY IT OUT: Do a

storytelling activity with students. November 19, 2013 The Librarian at Trace Crossings gave us the opportunity to do a story telling activity with a second grade class during their library time. The group that I worked with read the Song and Dance Man. The students were very attentive during the read aloud. After the book was read, we had three songs from different time periods. We asked the students to think about how they thought people who lived during that time period would dance. We then asked them to show us what they were thinking! The students enjoyed this activity. Our activity that we planned was too short. Next time I do a story telling activity, I hope to plan accordingly and take into consideration how much time we have.

TRY IT OUT: Read Aloud/ Dress up as a book character October 31, 2013 This by far, was my favorite try it out! I read a Fancy Nancy book to my class...AND dressed up as Fancy Nancy! The students came back from PE, Mrs. Houston told the students that there was a special guest coming to the classroom. I came in the classroom and the students went crazy! They were so excited. This was such a fun try it out! This try it out was also great, because it gave me an opportunity to practice reading with expression. The students really enjoyed this read aloud experience. I would do this again in a heartbeat! I loved dressing up as a book character. I think any elementary age student would enjoy this.