Shared Reading Road Map Analysis

My early reading experiences reflect the history that Vogt and Shearer (2011) describe in the first chapter of Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches in the Real World. The basal reading programs of the 1970s and 1980s included “leveled readers, phonics activities, and a great deal of comprehension skill practice, usually found on the pages of the accompanying workbooks. The programs also included highly structured, detailed teacher’s guides, with different lesson plans for each of the three instructional groups” (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p.13).

A doctor once said ‘the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go’. That doctor was, of course, Dr Suess in his book 1978 book, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!. Reading is the orchestration of many skills. It is much more than simply decoding words. The National Reading Panel Report (A Closer Look, 2004, p. 1) summarised a child’s reading process and teachers’ effective reading instruction into five essential components. These five critical elements are phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Each element is individually important; however, each cannot occur independently of one an other. The most effective way to teach these elements is through a balanced

• Read and think aloud: Ask if someone would like to read the first page aloud. Discuss the 3 parts to notice in a story – the setting, the characters, and the plot. Read pp. 2-5 and think about Matt’s problem and how he might solve it. Discuss and encourage students to begin by saying, “I noticed____. This helped me understand____.” Read pp. 6-14 and think aloud about what happens

Shared book reading focuses on developing comprehension, alphabetics, and general reading achievement to enhance student literacy achievement. The teacher selects a text and reads it aloud to a student and/or group of students. The shared book reading program allows the teacher to model reading strategies, increase alphabetic skills, and activate and increase comprehension skills through targeted questions, prompts, and strategies. During the reading the teacher prompts students with strategic prompts and/or questions to engage the students in the text. Moreover, the teacher directs the students to key elements within the pictures, words, and/or text features. The teacher tailors the shared reading experience to meet the needs of the participants (International Reading Association Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Committee, 2012). Hence, educators are able to alter prompts, questions, and strategies to enhance the learning needs of

Within their table groups which had been set up deliberately by the teacher to get children with similar reading levels together, the children had to explore different features of the book. One group would work on questions they wanted to ask the characters, another would take in turns to read the book and highlight words they did not understand or had trouble reading. Tennant (2014: 165) tells us that the text used during guided reading should be challenging but the children should still be capable of decoding it. I observed this to be true during my school placement because the children were able to show a wide understanding of what was happening within the book however when they were asked questions about how the character was feeling or what they think would happen next, they took a bit more time to try and get an understanding of this. Tennant (2016) states that “the teacher’s task is to deepen the reader’s understanding of the text by initially ascertaining what sense the reader has made of the text just after having read it”. Tennant’s statement can be evaluated as useful for teaching a good level of guided reading because teachers have to broaden the children’s knowledge of the text. My own observations seemed to be a success because each group was paired with an adult and each adult was drawing out information from pupils by asking questions that got them thinking. Not only were they getting an idea of what children already knew about the text but they

In chapter five, by Cris Tovani, “Why Am I Reading This” explains how educators need to establish a clear reading instructional plan. In order to accomplish understanding students need to concentrate on main ideas from the readings. Tovani explains that it is vital for teachers to model how students should hold their thinking or slow down their reading. Throughout the chapters she gives examples as question strategies, highlighting text, or summarizing key points. As this will benefit students in their reading assignment. Tovani also explains throughout the chapter that teachers should model thinking aloud. This strategy will benefit students on how to negotiate difficult text.

“A Read Aloud Curriculum integrates intentional direct comprehension and explicit vocabulary instruction into read alouds while maintaining the integrity of an authentic read aloud experience that would be highly engaging for students (Fien, et al., 2011).” The Read Aloud program is structures as to “(a) set a purpose for reading, (b) building vocabulary knowledge, (c) making text-to-text and text-to-life connections, and (d) having students retell stories or information on a regular basis (Fien, et al., 2011).” The problem is that Read Alouds by themselves do not help close the gap between children who enter school with strong vocabularies and children who enter school with weak vocabularies, accordingly the gap between students with strong and weak vocabularies only grows as the children progress through school. Another setback for students with weak vocabularies is that there is a direct link between word knowledge and comprehension, consequently the children with weak vocabularies will struggle with comprehension. Small-group instruction shows promise in improving student’s vocabularies thus improving their comprehension. By spending more time with the text and receiving instruction in a group of 2-5 students, those with weak vocabularies have shown improvement in their word knowledge and

The strength of shared reading has been well documented by many researchers in the field of education and thus is a widely used practice among elementary teachers. Researchers have concluded the importance of shared reading experiences as it gives students opportunity with texts that helps “facilitate the

How can literature be used to support and develop language and literacy for students in the primary years? Rationalise the use of the text (chosen literature) and literature more generally for developing language and literacy in relation to the target year level and give examples from your text. Numerous

I chose to use the article “From the Reading Rug to the Play Center: Enhancing Vocabulary and Comprehensive Language Skills by Connecting Storybook Reading and Guided Play” by Susan L. Massey for my study group. As a primary school teacher, I try to implement storybooks into every literacy lesson possible. “Quality children’s literature provides exposure to abstract language and abstract concepts not commonly experienced in typical adult-child conversation” (Massey, 2013, p. 125). I chose this article because the variety of strategies and scaffolding techniques introduced. Not only has this article provided me with numerous ways of enhancing student involvement through conversation but, also by expanding student vocabulary and comprehension

I believe the more I read and the more I write, the easier it is for me to comprehend what is being told in the story line. For example, in Dr. Seuss’s ABC book, I was able to comprehend which words began with each letter in the alphabet as the book contained pictures and examples of each letter. The book Ten Apples Up On Top! by Theo LeSieg helped me gain a knowledge and understanding of counting numbers as well as learning my colors. Each page in this book displayed an apple in bright red color with one or more apples on each page. By doing so, this taught me to count each apple on the page and the repetitive use of the red colored apple taught me the color red. I believe it is imperative that all readers gain a knowledge and understanding of words being used in their

Using guided reading could be another way that educators tap into individual students and their needs. Abbott, L., Dornbush, A., Giddings, A. & Thomas, J. (2012) found that students in four kindergarten and first grade classrooms were identified as having poor reading strategies. They were lacking processing, comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and fluency skills. Site A included 712 students and site B served students ranging from 3-8 years of ages with a total enrollment of 577 students. The researchers used a parent survey to gain insight into the students reading habits at home. They also used an observational checklist. It was used to observe students’ behaviors during whole group and small group instruction. Researchers also used baseline assessments. The reading strategies that were implemented were successful. Through the use of guided reading, small instruction groups, students were provided ample support and time to utilize new

The article targets three main purposes including: how shared book reading provides intervention to young children, to determine pitfalls that could arise from adult-child storybook reading, and to recommend strategies to avoid the stated pitfalls. Kaderavek and Justice (2002) stress the importance of book reading interactions because it reflects contemporary perspectives in the administration of speech and language services to young children. There are four areas of interest targeted in shared book reading, and for each area, there is a list of potential pitfalls that could arise due to various reasons. For each pitfall, there is a list of ways to modify intervention in order to make shared book reading interesting to all

Explicit instruction is important in connecting to prior knowledge and skills when beginning a learning sequence (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2016). It helps to lay the foundational areas of reading and literacy as a whole in the early years of schooling. Effective reading instruction builds on what children already

For the second interactive read aloud, teachers should read the book for a second time