Assessment and Scheduling

The articles for today were very informative and interesting. Burton and Rog's article entitled "Matching texts and readers: Leveling early reading materials for assessment and instruction" explored the need for finding material of the appropriate or "just-right" difficulty level for students. In doing this, teachers provide students with a balance between support and challenge- something that is very necessary for students to develop reading strategies and flourish as young readers. I was glad to see the reading define what a "just-right" text actually looks like. According to Rog and Burton, in a text of the appropriate difficulty level students should be about to identify 9 out of 10 words correctly. This is where instruction comes in! I also liked that the text laid out some of the factors that define a text's difficulty level. These include length, appearance and placement of text, illustrative support, complexity of concepts, familiarity of subject matter, predictability, and vocabulary. I honestly had no idea how books were deemed a certain level, so this article in particular was very informative for me. I really benefited from the carts in the reading and from the appropriate strategies that were listed for each level as well. On a more personal level, I connected with the reading because I struggled as a young reader to find books that were appropriate for me. I always felt overwhelmed by texts that were assigned to me- thus, they lacked the balance between challenge and support that the article describes.
I also really enjoyed Clay's "Running Records" book. I have seen teachers take running record assessments on student progress, and, up to this point, thought that I fully understood their use. I never knew that teachers should take a tally of errors as well as self-corrections. I like that the book highlights the idea of making it a relaxed experience for the reader. Instead of saying, "I'm assessing you on how well you can read this passage", invite the student to read to you and inform them that you will be writing a few things down. This takes pressure off of the student and makes it a more relaxed atmosphere. I can remember being tested as a young reader and, given that I have test anxiety, I would always get nervous and under perform. The conventions for recording section was very informative. I feel that this is a book that I will keep and refer to several times of the course of my teaching career.


The article entitled "Looking inside classrooms: Reflecting on the "how" as well as the "what" in effective reading instruction" looked at specific classroom practices that were the most useful for improving students' reading abilities. The article looked at grouping practices, teachers' interactive styles, balancing word work and comprehension work, and active versus passive styles, among other things. The article concluded that higher level thinking practices, active pupil involvement, small group instruction, word skill work, and coaching through scaffolding techniques are all ways that teaching styles can be improved to enable better reading. The article concluded by saying that each child needs the appropriate "full backpack" of skills to flourish in literacy. I believe that this statement cannot be overstated. We as teachers must look at the 'how' and the 'what' of a text and of instruction in order to give our students all of the skills necessary. I liked Allington's willingness to be blunt in his article "The schools we have. The schools we need." It seemed to touch on many of the main point that previous articles have, which only further stressed their importance. His article addressed confusions about literacy teaching and learning. For example, Allington looks as experience v. ability, sorting v. supporting, and curriculum v. instruction, etc. He challenges teachers to take a close look at these entities and rethink many of the features that have been set in to place since the school systems were created. In reality,  children need to be placed with expert teachers and appropriate resources to be supported in their diverse classrooms. Programs needs to be evaluated. Assessment needs to be evaluated. Allingtons ideas on school systems and bold nature of speaking made for a very interesting article. I can agree with many of the things that Allington proposed and I believe that our school systems are working towards a reform that will give students the time and attention they need.