danielle_journal+5

__Journal Assessment #5__

On Friday, I was able to conduct a guided reading group with children in reading level I. There were three children in this group, two boys and one girl. Children in this reading group were finishing up a Scholastic book, A Day in the Life of Slippidy Seal. During this reading group time, for each page, I had students read the page to themselves using their “sliders,” then I would pick a volunteer to read the text aloud. As students were listening, they were supposed to be following the text again with their sliders. After this, we would read that same text together as a group, before we moved onto the next page, in order to ensure everyone’s understanding of the vocabulary and events in the text.

During this activity, I was informally assessing students, as the teacher usually does, by listening to each student read their section out loud to the group, as well as when students were reading the text together. Having groups of students with the same reading level read together, will inform the teacher of whether her students are struggling, or if they are progressing in their reading abilities.

After students read to themselves they would look up, indicating that they were ready for the next students to read the page out loud. I noticed that during students’ turns, they were struggling to say certain words. So instead of having them move on, I stopped them where they were and had them try to sound out the word. If students were really stuck I would ask them to state what letter the word began with, and then asked them to tell me what sound that particular letter made. If they were not sounding out the word after we did this for the first letter, I would continue in this process for the next letter in the word. As we did this students were able to independently blend the letters to make a word. Or I would identify a word pattern, such as a digraph and remind them that those two letters are making one sound.

I believe that conducting reading groups is a good way to gauge students’ reading improvement. Daily, my cooperating teacher works with reading groups, going through the particular level book two to three times over the course of a couple days. Reading in groups in front of the teacher allows students to practice reading and learning new vocabulary. How else will the teacher check whether her students are learning how to read, unless she listens to each student individually? Reading groups, help students to get that one-on-one attention that they need as they are learning how to read because students may not be practicing to read at home, or during silent reading, when they are supposed to be reading books of their particular reading level. This assessment is not very authentic, however it does have a purpose because the teacher is scaffolding her students as they learn how to read, preparing them for the real world.

One negative aspect of having students read in groups is that some students may be reading a page that has more words on it, than another student; or more difficult words. However, the teacher can take these aspects into consideration, as she is observing any progress that is being made, and whether her students are using appropriate strategies to help them read. As a result, this informal assessment is allowing the teacher to gain feedback from their reading, in order to supply her students with instant feedback on how to improve their reading habits. My cooperating teacher will also become aware of whether students are ready to move onto the next reading group or if they need to remain in a particular group.

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