English Language Arts & Reading (EC-4)

1. English Language Arts & Reading (EC-4) Presented by Rebecca Cobian-Quiett, M.Ed. TeXes Review Session

2. Language Arts = 40% of test • Phonological and phonemic awareness • Literacy Development • Analysis and Decoding • Reading Fluency • Reading Comprehension • Research and Comprehension skills in content areas • Writing conventions • Development of written communication • Assessment of developing literacy

3. WEEK 1

4. Domain I, Competency 001 The teacher understands the importance of oral language, knows the developmental processes of oral language, and provides children with varied opportunities to develop listening and speaking skills. Examples # 26, 30

5. A pre-kindergarten teacher could bestpromote the development of children’s listening skills by: Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

6. pausing occasionally when speaking to ask individual children to repeat what the teacher just said. • using attentive listening behavior when the children are speaking. • integrating specific listening activities as a routine element in the daily schedule. • frequently reminding the children to think hard about what they are hearing. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

7. Oral language • *The skills in listening involve… • enjoying the words of a speaker • evaluating the message of a speaker • an appreciation of the spoken language • Prior to reading a new story to several kindergarten children, oral language could be promoted by first evaluating the background knowledge of the children.

8. Oral language *Children ought to have various opportunities to adapt spoken language for a variety of purposes, audiences, and occasions. *Children’s oral language and communication skills are better developed through conversations with peers and adults as compared to electronic audio media such as CD’s, tapes, or television.

9. Domain I, Competency 002 The teacher understands phonological and phonemic awareness and employs a variety of approaches to help children develop phonological and phonemic awareness. • Answer the following questions from TEXES Generalist practice test: • # 1 ,3, 8, 9, 36

10. A kindergarten teacher engages children in an activity in which different sounds are substituted for the initial consonant of a repeated word in a familiar song (e.g. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” becomes “Mow, Mow, Mow Your Boat”). This activity is most likely to promote literacy development by helping the children: Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

11. Distinguish onsets and rimes. Blend the sounds in words. Relate phonemes to letters. Recognize word boundaries. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

12. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness • Onsets an onset is the initial single phoneme (sound) in a word • Rime is the remaining set of phonemes in the word: e.g. in sat, the onset is /s/ and the rime is /at/

13. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness (PHONO=SOUND) • Phonological awareness an awareness of and the ability to manipulate sounds • Phonemic awareness the understanding that spoken words can be divided into separate sounds

14. Phonemic awareness is… the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds --phonemes--in spoken words Phonemic awareness is important because … it improves children’s word reading and reading comprehension it helps children learn to spell Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

15. Phonemic awareness can be developed through a number of activities, including asking children to: identify phonemes categorize phonemes blend phonemes to form words segment words into phonemes delete or add phonemes to form new words substitute phonemes to make new words Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

16. Phonemic awareness instruction is most effective… when children are taught to manipulate phonemes by using the letters of the alphabet when instruction focuses on only one or two rather than several types of phoneme manipulation Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

17. Phonics instruction … helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language Phonological and Phonemic Awareness • Phonics instruction is important because … • it leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle -- the systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

18. Programs of phonics instruction are effective when they are… systemic -- the plan of instruction includes a carefully selected set of letter-sound relationships that are organized into a logical sequence explicit -- the programs provide teachers with precise directions for the teaching of these relationships Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

19. Effective phonics programs provide: ample opportunities for children to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words, sentences, and stories Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

20. Domain I, Competency 003 The teacher understands the importance of the alphabetic principle for reading English and provides instruction that helps children understand the relationship between printed words and spoken language. • Answer the following questions from TEXES Generalist practice test: • # 4, 5, 20

21. A kindergarten teacher begins instruction in letter-sound correspondence by teaching students the sounds associated with m, s, t, and b. Which of the following steps would be most appropriate for the teacher to take next? Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

22. Teach students the short vowel sounds of two or three separate vowels to enable the students to begin reading familiar CVC words. Teach students the sounds most commonly associated with all of the remaining consonants in the alphabet. Teach all of the long and short vowel sounds to help students understand the idea that one letter may be associated with two sounds. Teach students how to sound outCVCC words by using the consonant sounds they already have learned. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

23. Alphabetic Principle Important elements of the alphabetic principle include: • graphophonemic knowledge • relationship of letters in print to spoken words • letter names • Children’s alphabetical skills should be monitored with formal and informal assessments in a continuous manner. • The alphabetic principle identifies a relationship between the visual and the auditory • The alphabetic principle helps students to understand the relationship between printed words and spoken language. A B C

24. Alphabetic Principle Instruction • Most effective instruction is … • Explicit • Teacher directed • Systematic A B C

25. Domain I, Competency 004 The teacher understands that literacy develops; over time, progressing from emergent to proficient stages and uses a variety of approaches to support the development of children’s literacy. • Answer the following questions from TEXES Generalist practice test: • # 2 , 12, 17, 28, 35, 39, 44

26. Renee, a preschooler, shows her teacher a picture she has drawn of her puppy. She tells the teacher, “It says, ‘This is my puppy, Oscar’.” Renee’s writing demonstrates that she has an understanding of which of the following concepts about print? ENREE Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

27. Words are read from left to right. Print carries meaning Letters correspond with sounds. Sentences are composed of words. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

28. Literacy Development *emergent literacy describes a child’s early unconventional attempts at reading, writing, and listening. The term was coined by Marie Clay *The Texas Profile of Reading Index (TPRI)and the Tejas Lee are examples of a formal assessment of children’s literacy development. = D+O+G = ?

29. Literacy Development EARLY LEARNING Important early understandings related to print are that the child’s own name can be made with letters, hearing written language can be enjoyable, and writing can provide information such as what something is or where something is located. = D+O+G = ?

30. Literacy Development • provide explicit and systemic instruction • reinforce activities to promote student’s literacy development • provide children frequent and intensive opportunities to read = D+O+G = DOG

31. WEEK 2

32. Domain I, Competency 005 The teacher understands the importance of word analysis and decoding for reading and provides many opportunities for children to improve their word-analysis and decoding abilities. Examples # 14 , 15, 16, 18, 22, 34, 43

33. Which of the following general guidelines should a first-grade teacher follow when selecting texts for beginning readers? Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

34. Provide mostly texts in which the vocabulary consists of regular and irregular sight words that students have already memorized. • Provide students primarily with texts that relate to content-area learning. • Provide mostly phonetically regular texts that allow students to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships. • Provide students primarily with texts that the teacher has already read aloud in class. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

35. Word-analysis and Decoding skills *Syntax refers to the knowledge of English word order. *Decoding is the identification of words by using letter-sound association and structural analysis. *Word recognition skills require decoding, blending, and structural analysis.

36. Word analysis and decoding skills *An onset refers to the initial letter or letters before the first vowel in a word. *The ending part of a word that contains the vowel and the remainder of the word is described by the term: rimes *Frequently occurring words in children’s reading materials are called, high frequency words. *A sight word becomes part of a readers instant mental retrieval upon reading without needing to use word-analysis.

37. Domain I, Competency 006 The teacher understands the importance of fluency for reading comprehension and provides many opportunities for children to improve their reading fluency. Examples # 11 , 21, 31

38. A second-grade teacher observes that a student uses his finger to point to each word in a text as he reads it aloud. The teacher responds by guiding the student to discontinue this practice. Which of the following statements best describes the rationale for this response? Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

39. Pointing to individual words while reading can distract students from systematic decoding. • Students who get in the habit of pointing to individual words while reading aloud often, have difficulty learning to read silently. • Pointing to individual words while reading can interfere with the development of reading fluency. • Students who get in the habit of pointing to individual words while reading aloud often have difficulty developing phonemic awareness. Example provided by TeXes Preparation Manual

40. Fluency is…. Fluency is important because….. the ability to read a text accurately and quickly it frees students to understand what they read Reading Fluency Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

41. Reading fluency can be developed…. Monitoring student progress in reading fluency… by modeling fluent reading by having students engage in repeated oral reading is useful in evaluating instruction and setting instructional goals can be motivating to students Reading Fluency Info provided by National Institute for Literacy

42. Strategies Promoting Fluency *Students’ efficiency of word analysis through phonics (graphophonemic), structural (syntactic), and analysis of words in context (for meaning, semantics). *Match the reading material with the text structure, prior knowledge, and reading skills of the reader. *Encourage reading in children by introducing new books frequently and by reading only part of the book aloud.

43. Strategies Promoting Fluency *Rereading portions of text *Reader’s Theater *Repeated reading of the book *Selection of reading material of appropriate difficulty *Selection of reading material that connects with students’ interests, background experiences, and culture. In this manner, contextualized experiences will be facilitated.

44. Strategies of Fluent Readers • Active reasoning • Interactive transaction between the text and the reader. • Prediction about what is about to be read. The prediction is confirmed or rejected based on three cueing systems: • Semantic • Syntactic • Graphophonemic

45. Domain I, Competency 007 The teacher understands the importance reading for understanding, knows the components of comprehension, and teaches children strategies for improving their comprehension. Examples # 24 , 29, 32, 33, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42

46. Which of the following strategies is most effective for promoting student’s content area vocabulary development?

47. Providing ongoing, corrective feedback in pronunciation during reading activities • Giving frequent, short vocabulary quizzes • Having students look up the definitions of a set of assigned words in the dictionary • Semantically grouping new vocabulary words with familiar words that have similar meanings

48. The 3 Cueing Systems on which predictions are made: *Semantic = prior knowledge, or schema, as well as the cultural knowledge that enables the reader to reconstruct meaning from the text. *Syntactic = predicts on the basis of what is going to sound or “feel” right. A well-developed syntactic system will enable the intuitive prediction of the word that most probably fits. *Graphophonic=based on sounds of speech represented by letters and clusters of letters, and punctuation relates to the intonation patterns of spoken language.

49. Reading Comprehension • Critical cognitive processing includes: • Problem solving • Analysis • Comparing and contrasting • Evaluative comprehension • Character development

50. Reading Comprehension • The following six strategies appear to have a firm scientific basis for improving text comprehension: • Monitoring comprehension • be aware of what they do understand • identify what they do not understand • use appropriate “fix-up” strategies to resolve problems in comprehension • Use graphic and semantic organizers • help students focus on text structure as they read • provide students with tools they can use to examine and visually represent relationships in a text • help students write well-organized summaries of text Info provided by National Institute for Literacy