Wright+Kathleen

Type in the content of your new page here. Deliverable 3 Proposal: To develop a collaborative school wiki for faculty in order to improve comprehension in nonfiction and fiction through professional development.

The Web 2.0 tool would be an Intranet wiki that would be private and available only to the staff at our school. A wiki will give teachers the opportunity to edit and discuss reading issues and to add hyperlinks with new information to share and discuss. The wiki would provide the staff an opportunity to visit sites and listen to podcasts and video presentations about strategies that enhance comprehension and then to discuss and share their collective knowledge on comprehension instruction in their classrooms. This would enable the staff to have an ongoing professional communication vehicle.

The wiki will enable the teaching staff to examine reading comprehension strategies for both fiction and non fiction. At present our PD is not building based, and this wiki would enable us to address our school improvement goal of improving comprehension on the NECAPS. Wikis would also enable the teachers on a grade level to discuss and share what works for them and how they differentiate their instruction. It would also enable teachers to view instruction across grade levels and to ascertain if there are gaps in instruction, and if all GLEs are addressed during instruction. Veteran teachers could share their knowledge and experience, and individuals who attend PD outside the district could easily share new developments in the field.

An important part of the success of such an endeavor would be gently guiding the teaching staff into using Web 2.0 technology. Teachers might need or like to read some background knowledge before embarking on a collaborative wiki. An interesting article in Education Leadership, How Teachers Learn: Learning with Blogs and Wikis by Bill Ferriter can be found at [] To get started, teachers could view the following during a faculty meeting []

Since teachers too will need to be convinced that using a wikis is both educational and feasible watching Mark Wagner’s video from this class would be a another great place to start professional development, or perhaps [|http://help.wikispaces.com/file/view/Help.Wikispaces.Teacher+Presentation,Wikispaces for Teachers a Guide to Using Them in Your Classroom] Once teachers are involved possible teacher web tools to share on the wiki might include podcasts such as this one by O’Brien, and Diana Lapp on how teacher modeling a Think-aloud can improve comprehension strategies [] Links the faculty might use include [] or another interesting source might be [] Or perhaps, [] Roadblocks to success: · Lack of teacher involvement due to lack of individual technology skills, time commitment necessary, and interest and motivation about the topic · Technology problems due to technology restrictions from the district

Issues to Overcome: Initiate a dialogue with district technology staff for ongoing support Start off with small, short informational sessions so that the technology is understood and the staff is comfortable utilizing the wiki. Have ongoing sessions and build a collaborative approach during faculty meeting.

Possible Software: My choices would be to use either //PB Wikis// or //Wikispace//s to implement this project. Sine this is for staff, the teacher section of wikispaces would be my first choice, []

Final Project- A Fluency Wiki
Fluency is an important component of reading. It is also a complex process that involves multiple skills coming together so that a student can read with comprehension. Fluency involves the combination of reading words within a certain range of words per minute, reading with prosody, and the final and most important measure comprehension. Comprehension is the primary goal of reading and fluency is an essential part of comprehension. Goals

This project will center on a fluency wiki with resources that teachers can use to differentiate the teaching of fluency skills in elementary grades. Another goal for this unit is to implement a tool to enable a collaborative approach among reading teachers and classroom teachers. Teachers can contribute their expertise to the school community and the wiki can be an ongoing site for collaboration and learning. The wiki will also enable the staff to expand their teaching practices, share resources and lessons, and use technology in their lessons.

Background Fluency is not usually assessed until the second half of first grade, but there are assessments in rapid word reading skills that indicate possible fluency problems in reading. Normally assessments of fluency skills begin when a student reaches an F/G level on a Fountas and Pinnell

benchmark reading assessment or other benchmark reading program that correlates with it. Children often reach this level during the second semester of first grade.

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 * Power Standard ** : Fluency is an integral part of reading comprehension and direct teaching of fluency skills is necessary to improve fluency.

GLE Standard for reading :  Fluency and Accuracy in 2nd grade as a sample of grade standard ** R–2–11 ** R–2–11.1 Accuracy: reading material appropriate __for the end of grade 2__ with at least 90- 94% accuracy (Local
 * Reads grade-level appropriate material with… **

**R–2–11.2** Fluency: reading __grade-appropriate text__ with oral fluency rates __of at least 80-100__ R–2–11.3 Fluency: reading grade-appropriate text in a way that makes meaning clear, demonstrating phrasing, expression, and with attention to __punctuation (including commas and__ words correct per minute (Local __quotation marks__) (Local

International Reading Association Professional Standards for teachers and reading teachers Standard 1:Foundation Knowledge : Fluency is often the one component of reading that teachers neglect to directly teach. Direct instruction is crucial if children are to improve. For an overall view of fluency, its importance, and assessing it, a short explanation can be viewed on Put Reading First at []

__ To Encourage automaticity in word reading: __ Instruction in areas of fluency is also a time when one can differentiate instruction according to a student or a groups needs. Some students may need to start their practice on individual words. Dr. Susan Bray from the University of Maine suggests for these students finding one minute of free time and using high frequency word cards hung on a lanyard or string just for practice in the hall or during transition times can make a difference. There are also well known word lists such as the Fry or the Dolch lists which can be used for practice.

Practicing word recognition is part of differentiating instruction for struggling readers, but it is only a small step and not the main focus of fluency instruction. Reading with fluency is primarily about finding meaning in what we read.

An additional area to practice is a list of short phrases composed of Fry words. This is an especially good foundation practice to demonstrate that when we read orally we should read in short meaningful groups of words. That is how we begin to understand or find meaning in what we read.

__ Teaching and practicing fluency: __ Teacher modeling during oral reading is an important part of an overall fluency instruction program Repeated readings of poems short passages and books are the key to improving fluency because it serves two purposes.

Useful teaching practices for fluency  ·  Echo reading  ·  Choral reading, especially poetry  ·  Reader’s Theater  ·  Partner Reading, including Poems for Two Resources include some pointers from the University Of Georgia School Of Education. As in all new instruction, teacher modeling is crucial for implementing []

Reader’s Theater sources include The Reading Lady and Literacy Connections at []

One of the premier authorities on fluency is Dr. Timothy Rasinski. He recently added podcasts to his site which you can hear if you download a free iTunes subscription.

[]

Where to start fluency practice: the basics  ·  A timed 1 minute reading on the independent reading level.  ·  Calculate fluency percentage and words per minute  ·  Chart on graph paper to monitor student progress

Many teachers use the leveled fluency passage to practice fluency available at []

It is also a way we can periodically monitor fluency, but students need to understand the purpose and role fluency has in their reading.

Teachers now have the opportunity to use traditional teaching practices combined with new technologies like podcasts to stretch and motivate students. A class in the Narragansett Elementary School [] researched and wrote reports on animals and then each student read their report and recorded it on a podcast for all the community to hear. Students also have the opportunity to have students video their Reader’s Theater performances.

A wiki gives a school community the opportunity to work collaboratively on a ongoing instructional reading practice such as fluency. Please visit the fluency wiki at []

Chariho Elementary Fluency Rubric Name: Date:
 * Assessment Rubrics **

__ FLUENCY RUBRIC __ Consistently Evident  ||  3 Mostly Evident  ||  2 Infrequently Evident  ||  1 Barely Evident  || ~not too fast nor robotic ||  ||   ||   ||   || ~Voice pitch and volume changes ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Criteria || 4
 * Smooth flow to reading
 * Clear pauses at punctuation and conscious phrasing of words ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Clear pronunciation of words ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Rarely rereads or leaves out words ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Sounds like conversation ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Expression shows through:
 * =TOTAL= |||||||| ( /6 ) = Average _ ||

** WORDS PER MINUTE ** Fluency Rubric for 4 Basic Components of Fluency ** Fluency Rubric **
 * Grade || Meets Standard || Below Standard ||
 * 1 || 50-80 WPM || 49 and below ||
 * 2 || 80-100 WPM || 79 and below ||
 * 3 || 90-120 WPM || 89 and below ||
 * 4 || 115-140 WPM || 114 and below ||
 * Use the following subscales to rate reader fluency on the four aspects of accuracy, phrasing, smoothness, and pace. Scores will range from 4-16. Scores of 9 and above indicate that fluency has been achieved for the grade level of the passage read. Scores below 8 indicate that fluency is a concern. **
 * || ** 4 ** || ** 3 ** || ** 2 ** || ** 1 ** ||
 * ** Accuracy  ** ||  Word recognition accuracy is excellent: 96%. Self-corrections are few but successful as nearly all words are read correctly on initial attempt.  ||  Word recognition accuracy is good: 91-95%. Self corrects successfully.  ||  Word recognition accuracy is marginal: 86-90%. Reader struggles on many words. Many unsuccessful attempts of self-correction.  ||  Word recognition accuracy is poor: generally below 85%. Reader clearly struggles in decoding words. Makes multiple decoding attempts for many words, usually without success.  ||
 * ** Phrasing  **
 * (prosody) ** ||  Generally well-phrased; mostly in phrase, clause, and sentence units; with adequate attention to expression.  ||  Mixture of run-ons, mid-sentence pauses for breath, and possible some choppiness; reasonable stress and intonation.  ||  Frequent two and three-word phrases giving the impression of choppy reading; lacks appropriate stress and intonation that mark ends of sentences and clauses.  ||  Monotonic, with little sense of phrase boundaries, frequent work-by-word reading; usually exhibits improper stress and intonation that fail to mark ends of sentences and clauses.  ||
 * ** Smoothness  **
 * (prosody) ** ||  Generally smooth reading with minimal breaks, but work and structure difficulties are resolved quickly, usually through self-corrections.  ||  Occasional breaks in smoothness caused by difficulties with specific words and/or structures.  ||  Several “rough spots” in text where extended pauses, hesitations, etc. are more frequent and disruptive.  ||  Frequent extended pauses, hesitations, false starts, sound-outs, repetitions, and /or multiple attempts.  ||
 * ** Pace (automaticity)  ** ||  Consistently conversational and appropriate.  ||  Uneven and mixture of fast and slow reading.  ||  Moderately slow or overly and inappropriately fast).  ||  Slow and laborious.  ||

References and reading material for teachers
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/teacher_resources/literacy_pages/fluency.htm []

