journal+7_danielle

__Journal Assessment #7__ On Wednesday, I was able to observe another guided reading group. There were 7 first graders in group E. Group E has three students that are boys and 4 that are girls. The book students read was titled, “A Friend for Little White Rabbit” by Beverley Randell. There were not enough books for the group so two students needed to partner up as we read the book. Students began by taking a picture walk through the book. From there, the substitute asked students to share their predictions, with the group, of what they believed would happen. One of the students said, “all of the animals are saying no, no, get away to each animal.” The teacher then asked, “Why do you think the animals are saying ‘no’ all the time?” Some of the students suggested, the animals were “in a bad mood”, or just because they are “not the same animal as a rabbit.”

After students’ predictions, some students opened to the first page. The teacher saw this and asked the group to start on the cover. Many of the students were either not paying attention or they did not want to. The teacher asked, “Where is the cover?” Many of the students hesitated, but closed their books so they would see the cover. She had the students read the title together, while using their yellow sliders to focus on the words. They she asked students turn to the title page. Many of the students immediately turned to the first page of the story. She corrected them and asked, “Where is the title page?” I helped students to find the title page. Once everyone was on the title page, they used their sliders to read the title again. The teacher then read the author and illustrator’s name and asked students if they were the same people; if the same person drew the pictures and wrote the words. The students answered, “No.” After, students flipped to the first page of their book. The teacher picked one student to begin reading the first page, everyone followed along with his or her sliders. Some of the students also followed along by pointing to each word. The story was eight pages long, so every student read a page in the story; while reading the last page together.

Each student in group E read their page from “A Friend for Little White Rabbit” very well, especially for reading the story for the first time. The only student with an error was the second student who read. He did not read the words as they were written on the page. Instead, he read the first sentence on the page how he wanted to, using some of the same words. However, the substitute corrected him, rather than giving him a change to re-read the sentence properly.

During guided reading, the substitute continued to ask for predictions and questions in order to ensure comprehension of the text. For example, “How do you think the rabbit is feeling? Or “What is the difference between the brown rabbit and the other animals?” She also made comments, praising students’ reading. For example, on page one, student one struggled with a word, however after he looked at the picture, he knew it was lamb. The substitute praised him for using a picture clue to figure out a word.

As the guided reading group was going on, the substitute was informally assessing students’ abilities to identify specific print concepts, read words from a given page, predict, and comprehend the text. She was able to do this by listening to students’ comments and how they read, as well as their mannerisms as the group went through the story. Observing all of these students at once, will allow the teacher to grasp who is struggling with what and who should move on to the next level. Listening and watching students may also help her to think of strategies that can be used in the follow session to scaffold struggling students.

I believe that guided reading groups are very beneficial to students and the teacher because of the instant feedback that is obtained. However, this particular informal assessment had low validity. This assessment did not give students various opportunities to show how they can read. As a result of so many students being in this group, each student was only given one opportunity to read a page. Some pages may have more difficult words on them or had more sentences, forcing some students to do worse or better than others. This was more of an artificial assessment because students who are really struggling, could appear to be doing well, but were fortunate to get easy words on a one sentence page. This assessment also has low reliability because the teacher may not be judging every student equally. She may get tired of hearing the same mistake being made by every child, therefore thinking that fourth reader is the worst reader of the group.

As I said in one of my previous journals, I believe that this is not an authentic assessment because students will not be pressured to read a page in the real world, however, this exercise allows them to practice reading, which will prepare them “for the real world.” Students are able to get the help they need to learn how to read as they practice reading particular parts of the text. They will also learn by tracking the words with their finger or using the slider to follow the text, as well as from listening to others read and struggle.

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