Donovan Critique

Michael is a 6 year old first grader at Stillmeadow Elementary School in Stamford, CT. According to Michael’s kindergarten teacher, his current DRA level is 14, which is above the benchmark for students at the start of first grade. The benchmark DRA level entering first grade is level 6. In kindergarten, Michael’s teacher consistently provided extensions for assignments in addition to homework more challenging than others in class, as she found he would typically finish work quickly and stated he was bored. The purpose of testing Michael was for enrichment. The reading interest survey revealed that Michael enjoys reading nonfiction books and books with humor. He also stated that he loves to read and becomes uninterested while reading books

Nolan’s developmental level is fluent, his instructional word identification level is upper Middle School. His instructional reading level is 5th grade. Nolan’s spelling level is at late syllables and affixes/ Early derivational relations. Nolan shows that his word identification is a strength, this was shown in the examiner word lists. A few other strengths that Nolan has demonstrated are, his motivation, his speed/ fluency, prior knowledge and the fact that he genuinely enjoys reading. Nolan expressed his motivation to read in his content items as well as in his attitude survey, which concluded that Nolan enjoys reading print recreationally and digital for academic purposes. Nolan’s speed/ fluency was seen in DIBELS

My personal quest for knowledge has been ongoing since the first day I picked up a science book. I have never been more interested in any subject. It truly spoke to me. At a college level, there is a magnitude of opportunities. I had the opportunity to participate in the Student Dissector program on campus in the Spring of 2015, I visited the Stanford Cadaver Lab with Biology Club this semester, and I traveled to see a talk by the world renowned American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Carter is a seven year old boy who is in second grade. My oldest son, Landon, has been best friends with Carter since preschool. Carter loves WWE, wrestling, John Cena, playing XBOX, and the game, Minecraft. He does not enjoy reading, which makes it more difficult for him to read. His grandmother, Donna, biggest concern with Carter’s reading was just getting him to know more words without having to decode every word. Carter is a very well behaved young boy, which made tutoring a much better experience for both him and me.

Kittery is a 9-year-old fourth grader at Griswold Elementary School in Griswold, CT. According to Kittery’s mother and judging by Kittery’s favorite books, her current level of reading is early first grade, which is approximately three years below her current grade placement. As I am testing Kittery for the purposes of this class and not as my student, I chose her due to her love of school even though she struggles to learn at grade level. Her mother is concerned by her lack of growth, albeit happy that she enjoys going to school. The purpose of this testing is to identify which skills Kittery needs, so that she can enjoy higher levels of text. Through the results of the reading interest survey, Kittery enjoys a wide genre of books, including

Academically, Carlos’s academic skills are appropriate for his grade level. According to the 5th grade report card, he demonstrates strength in all areas of reading and spelling. His academic achievement in this area makes sense because he always has a fiction book with him and he and I constantly talk about the books he’s reading. To advance my child’s skills in reading and spelling, I’m encouraging him to branch out and try read non-fiction books and other books that I recommend to him. Furthermore,

The child I decided to interview is a seven-year-old girl named Chloe. Chloe is an energetic young lady who even at her age makes the people around her feel welcomed. Coming into this interview I had preconceptions about Chloe. I presumed that Chloe is a student who enjoyed books, love to read, and maybe be a collector of books. However, these preconceived ideas stemmed from my interactions and observations of Chloe’s personality and interactions with others and were not necessarily true. The Commission on reading, as cited in Michael C. McKenna and Dennis J. Kear (1990) article, concludes that “ Becoming a skilled reader requires… learning that written material can be interesting.” ( as cited in McKenna and Kear, 1990, p. 1). I agree with

Since middle school, I have volunteered for my local library’s Summer Reading Program. I am incredibly grateful to be a part of encouraging children to read. Through the program, children set reading goals and are rewarded for every novel read. At the end of the summer, the scores are tallied up and the kid who read the most books receives the grand prize. I notice as the children’s knowledge and vocabulary expand, and as they develop a zeal for reading. As an avid reader, I understand the need for literacy across America, and knowing that I aid in tackling this problem is

The first area for growth is LLD 5, Interest in Literacy and his developmental level falls under Building Middle. This means that D shows interest in books and stories by listening and talking about stories or participates, from beginning to end, in listening to a story. For example, the anecdote obtained on 4/19/2018, the teacher reads a book called, “The Very Busy Spider,” by Eric Carle, to the children before the Center time. The teacher calls on child D and asks him questions refer to the book. “D, why did the spider make spider-web?” asks the teacher. D is sitting on his square on the carpet and replies softly to the teacher, “To catch his food.” The teacher then continues, “How does the spider catch its food?” D responds, “By making the spider web.” Teacher gives D a compliment by saying, “You are right, the spider makes a spider-web to catch its food.” This indication that D shows interest in books by participates, from beginning to end, in listening to stories and answers questions correctly. Teacher and the child’s family can help the child develop the desired skills, knowledge, or behaviors in this measure by use flannel-board pieces to retell parts of a story after story time and/or extends literacy activities by retelling a story, drawing pictures about a story, or acting out a story. In addition, parents or families who don’t know the language and

Lake continues to work on self-editing skills. He is aware that spelling is an issue. When reviewing his writing, Lake identifies potentially misspelled words. This practice of awareness can lead to improved pieces. Another self-editing practice that Lake has found successful is reading the work aloud.

As my interest in geography grew, I amassed a collection of atlases and other books related to geography. My other favorite was a world factbook that had a small dossier on each country. I remember discovering, much to my surprise, that various country borders shown in the 1998 factbook were different from the ones in my 1987 atlas. Germany was no longer divided, Czechoslovakia no longer united, and a tiny country called Eritrea had popped up on what used to be Ethiopia’s coastline. My curiosity about these changes led me to begin reading history books, and I soon learned the two fields complemented each other well. When I read about the American Civil War, I often would open my atlas to the map of Virginia. And when our family visited Gettysburg, Antietam, and other Civil War battlefields, I intensely studied the maps of these battles. I also began to notice how geography shaped current world events. Every four years, I tracked the presidential electoral votes on a map of my own, and every two years I made lists of the key congressional districts and Senate seats. I started following the progress of the American campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq in my atlas. To find out more about world events, I began to voraciously read The Washington

The first portion of the article emphasizes that psychosocial development through reading is underestimated. Teaching Young Children Self-regulation through Children’s Books states two reasons for it being underrated. The first reason stated is that we, as a society, focus on how children read, such as vocabulary and comprehension, instead of the actual content of what is being read. The second reason is many childhood educators are not involved in children’s literature in their education program. (Cooper, 2007). Many colleges do not incorporate, or do not have available, some form of a children’s

The documentary’s prime objective is to make the audience understand the importance of scientific endeavour and discovery, convincing them of the impact that it can have. The reason being that pursuing science/scientific research requires dedication, passion, ingenuity and collaboration combined with belief that the experiments that are being performed by the scientists can change the society and humanity as a whole.

The National Curriculum for Science (2013), anticipates to advance all pupils’ scientific knowledge and conceptualise understanding through the segmented scientific approaches; biology, chemistry and physics. In addition, pupils should have an awareness of the nature, processes and approaches used within science, through the various scientific enquires that enable pupils to answer questions related to the world and life. Finally, the aims of the science curriculum also consider that children must have the resources to fund the knowledge that is necessary to use science in the, present and future tense states the Department of Education (2013).

I have experienced the wonders of studying science especially given the practical and Hands-on approach during the formative years of my schooling. I have realized the broader perspectives across various disciplines and come to understand the interdisciplinary approach of research in