Ellen McIntyre

Learning Written Storybook Language in School: A Comparison of Low-SES Children in Skills-Based and Whole Language Classrooms:

This study examined three data sets from previous studies to determine if children who begin kindergarten with significantly less implicit linguistic knowledge of books, as compared to well-read-to kindergartners, acquire this knowledge through experience with books in kindergarten and first grade. Further, the impact of instructional method on acquisition of this linguistic knowledge was examined by comparing children who experienced skills-based beginning literacy instruction to those who participated in whole language classrooms. Results show that all of the children who began school with low levels of knowledge of written syntax and vocabulary catch up to the well-read-to children’s baseline kindergarten scores on this dimension by the end of first grade. In addition, those children in whole language classes with increased levels of storybook readings, book discussions, and opportunities to explore books and to write, as compared to the skill-based curriculums, showed significantly greater growth in their knowledge of written language and more extensive breadth of knowledge of written linguistic features.

Teacher Learning and ELL Reading Achievement in Sheltered Instruction Classrooms: Linking Professional Development to Student Development.

The increase in language minority students in U.S. schools has drawn attention to instructional models designed to assist these students. It is critical that literacy educators understand the potential of these models for literacy achievement. This study was designed to examine reading achievement of elementary English language learners in classrooms where teachers implemented a popular sheltered instruction model called SIOP (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004) compared with students of teachers who have not received instruction in the model. Through a mixed methods study linking professional development, teacher learning, and student achievement, researchers found significant differences in classrooms where the model was well-implemented. However, the differences come with qualifications, and the findings are critiqued in light of sociocultural theory and studies on professional development.

Supplemental Instruction in Early Reading: Does It Matter for Struggling Readers?

The authors compared phonics and reading comprehension achievement of 1st-grade children and reading achievement of 2nd-grade children who received daily supplemental reading instruction with the achievement of children who did not receive supplemental instruction. The authors collected data through individual administration of phonics and reading tasks, classroom observations and field notes, and teacher interviews. First- and 2nd-grade children served by models that included daily instruction as a supplement to their regular classroom reading instruction achieved significantly higher scores on the reading comprehension measure than did students in the models without this feature. Yet, authors found no significant differences between the 1st-grade students in the 2 groups on phonics measure. Findings have implications for policy making when educators decide to include supplemental instructional opportunities in their overall school literacy plan.

Johnny won’t read, and Susie won’t either: Reading instruction and student resistance

Why are children off task? What is going on in classrooms where a majority of children are off task? In this study we analyzed primary-grade classroom literacy instruction in which there was considerable off-task behavior. Using Turner and Paris’s frame for understanding student motivation in the classroom, we analyzed 73 activity settings where students were off task at least 25 percent of the time for instructional characteristics positively associated with student motivation: choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences. Student off-task behavior was prevalent in classrooms where few of these six variables were present and instructional tasks were characterized as ‘closed’, i.e. where the products and processes were predetermined. Where there was indication of a high degree of off-task behavior, a disproportionately high number (23 of the 28 data sets) were from classrooms that used scripted literacy instructional programs. Findings are interpreted using both psychological and critical frameworks.

YOUNG CHILDREN'S READING BEHAVIORS IN VARIOUS CLASSROOM CONTEXTS

This is a study of classroom context and how it shapes childrens beginning reading behaviors. Three first-grade children were observed and tape-recorded twice weekly during reading instruction for the first 10 weeks of school. Patterns of reading behaviors emerged through a constant comparison of conditions under which each of the behaviors occurred. The three children in this study learned to interpret the various classroom reading contexts and their responses reflected the conditions of each. The salient conditions included: (a) the instruction, (b) the implicit and explicit rules for functioning within that context, (c) the texts the children read, and (d) the physical and affective characteristics of the context. The differences in the contexts were often quite subtle, yet children followed instructional foci and read accordingly. It was evident that some behaviors occurred across contexts, whereas others did not. For example, children did not transfer many of the skills they were able to employ during the direct instructional settings to unguided reading time. Implications for theory and practice are offered to explain the reading behaviors of the young children.

Los fondos de conocimiento de las familias como mediación de la enseñanza en los colegios rurales

Resumen El objetivo del estudio que se presenta en este artículo, fundamentado en la teoría sociocultural, es describir la relación entre la vida familiar y escolar de estudiantes de clases baja y trabajadora de zonas rurales de Kentucky, EEUU, y documentar como los profesores hacen uso de los “fondos de conocimiento” de las familias para establecer puntos de conexión directos entre la vida de los estudiantes y la instrucción en clase. Durante 4 años, dos investigadores siguieron a 30 niños de entre 5 y 9 años de edad distribuidos en cuatro clases entre parvulario, primero y segundo de primaria (P-2). Se utilizó un diseño cualitativo y técnicas etnográficas de observación, entrevista, reflexión individual y en grupo y análisis documental. El análisis se basó en la investigación interpretativa y el análisis de discurso. Los resultados sobre los patrones de enseñanza ilustran la variedad de formas a disposición de los profesores para establecer conexiones entre la casa y el colegio con objeto de estimular el desarrollo académico de los estudiantes. Los investigadores encontraron que unos profesores eran mejor que otros en la enseñanza de fondos de conocimiento y, en consecuencia, algunos estudiantes lograron menor éxito académico que otros. Los efectos de una enseñanza mala, mediocre o excelente y las experiencias del entorno de los niños están entrelazadas e influyen en su rendimiento escolar final., Se propone un modelo pedagógico en el que se ilustra un enfoque basado en los fondos de conocimiento, y el potencial de la teoría de Vygotski sobre el desarrollo de conceptos científicos mediado por los profesores y como prolongación de los conceptos espontáneos aprendidos a través de la experiencia.

Prospective teachers’ goal orientation: an examination of different teachers’ typologies with respect to motivations and beliefs about teaching

In this qualitative study the authors investigated how prospective teachers’ professional goals were understood by participants. Interviews of 25 prospective teachers from the United States were collected as part of a larger mixed-methods study. Qualitative data from interviews (the focus of this study) examined the profiles of the three identified clusters/typologies of teacher candidates. Most precisely, study findings describe prospective teachers’ goal orientations as related to their teaching motivations, their teaching beliefs, the context that shaped their teaching goals and their strategies to fulfill their professional goal of becoming teachers. Contributions from this study can help teacher educators, policy makers and teacher education programs develop guidelines for teacher recruitment and retention.

Teaching and Learning Writing Skills in a Low-Ses, Urban Primary Classroom

This study investigated which writing skills were learned in one low-SES, urban, primary classroom in relation to the childrens instruction. The skills measured in this study included fluency, a sense of audience and purpose, organization, use of “written” language (rather than oral), use of lively or engaging language, use of compound or lengthy sentences, end mark punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. The childrens learning was studied in light of instruction from a whole-language perspective. Participants were three teachers who team-taught a group of primary-age children and 11 children who were considered conventional writers at the beginning of the study, 3 of whom had learning disabilities. Childrens writing folders and journal entries were collected in late September and compared to their writing samples in late March/early April. The first five skills (above) were examined holistically using a rubric, and the final four skills were examined through word and sentence counts and error rates. To capture learning in its instructional context, the teachers and children were observed twice a month for a school year during literacy instruction, and six visits were tape-recorded. Teachers were interviewed and lesson plans were photocopied. The children in this classroom became more fluent writers who used more complex sentences and lively language. Children used surface level skills for some purposes, but the skills did not become automatic. Although the teachers changed their instruction midyear to meet the needs of learners, their instruction was not always a part of the childrens writing. More opportunities for editing and publishing and more explicit instruction on particular skills may be needed for some of the children.

The CAEP Standards and Research on Educator Preparation Programs: Linking Clinical Partnerships with Program Impact.

Responding to the challenge of more rigorous and outcome-oriented program evaluation criteria of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), authors take a critical look at the intersection of two standards: Clinical Partnerships and Practice (Standard 2) and Program Impact (Standard 4). Illustrating one aspect of a secondary education teacher preparation program, authors consider how clinical partnerships can be designed in light of these standards to have a positive impact on P-12 student learning. Focusing on the program evaluation framework, authors describe a spectrum of diverse formative and summative growth measures that document the scope of impact for all stakeholders, including students. In light of the Feuer, Floden, Chudowsky, and Ahn (2013) questioning framework, authors assess program outcomes. In closing, the authors (a) conclude that comprehensive evaluation models are needed to document complex outcomes, which will make program impact more visible and measureable; (b) recommend using the Feuer et al. decision-making framework to initiate and guide programmatic design and evaluation model development; and (c) affirm CAEPs expectations—clinical partnerships go beyond positive relationships, coselection of mentor teachers and candidates, and commitment to diverse settings to ensuring P-12 student achievement—as attainable goals for educator preparation accreditation.

Instruction, Development, and Achievement of Struggling Primary Grade Readers.

Abstract This study examined the phonics and reading achievement of 117 primary grade students in 14 schools and 42 classrooms. Students received instruction in one of six different reading programs or models based upon the school they attended. Through qualitative data collection and analysis of specific instructional practices, it was determined that no model or program proved more effective for the learning of phonics in the first grade after one year of instruction. However, when observed after the second year of instruction, these children seemed to achieve differently on reading comprehension measures.