To evaluate this lesson, I looked for three qualities: explicit, purposeful, systematic (Justice, Mashburn, Hamre, & Pianta, 2008). Explicit means to consistently use terms for skills and concepts. Gina was explicit in the use of special/nasal sound, using two fingers to point to two letters making one sound, and the need to protect or defend the vowel. Purposeful means to consistently relate code-based concepts to application and practice. In this lesson Gina was purposeful by having students segment, read, and write real words with multiple exposures (e.g. they used letter tiles first and wrote each word second). Systematic means the activities are well-planned and linked to previously learned concepts and skills. Gina was systematic in reviewing the special nasal sound –ng and protecting/defending the vowel with –ck. Gina also reinforced students’ progress on remembering how to spell –ng and the correct directionality of c.
Scaffolding is “intentional, strategic support that teachers provide that allows children to complete a task they could not accomplish independently” (McGee & Ukrainetz, 2009, p. 600). The teachers specifically spoke of the questions they asked or prompts they gave to students when they were stuck recognizing a word. Michelle said, “The prompting is so much different now. It’s not check the picture, pick my brain, or what makes the most sense. Instead, it’s ‘What do you need to ask yourself? How do you find the vowel?’” Jennifer expanded this thought by saying, “I used to believe that if I could prompt them with a [contextual strategy] question they could fix any mistake they were making. That is so unfair.” Jennifer’s last sentence reflected what all four teachers said – they felt poorly for their former students who were not explicitly taught and scaffolded alphabetic knowledge.
Students’ Growth as Readers
The teachers said it was easy to see their students’ growth as a result of instruction. They used formative assessments throughout the year and saw students’ progress on scores for alphabetic concepts. The teachers said they also looked at numerous additional assessments including Fountas and Pinnell, AIMSWeb, and informal assessments, such as listening to students read and evaluating students’ writing. Each assessment measured different aspects of literacy, and they considered the whole picture when evaluating their students.
Michelle said,
“You can really measure their learning on
whether they can explain the concept. I’ve
never been able to get some kids to apply it
and regurgitate [explain] it.”
Jennifer said,
"Even with my high readers who came to first
grade as high readers, I see growth in them.
They aren’t tapping out of the curriculum.
With the multisyllable words, there is some
way to challenge them. I’m also excited to
see those low kids. They may not be at grade
level on Fountas and Pinnell assessment yet,
but when they finish their alphabetic
lessons, what a stronger reader they will be
because they have been exposed to all the
concepts and they are not just guessing,
which is what they used to do."
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I used to believe that if I could prompt them with a [contextual strategy] question they could fix any mistake they were making. That is so unfair. ---- Jennifer