Due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the state established

National Board Certification Renewal

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nComponent 1

nPGE 1

nDue to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the state established rigorous goals to ensure students were reading on grade level or above by the end of third grade. In case the students failed to meet this requirement, they could be retained in the third grade up to two times. In response to the states movement for students to meet these standards, teacher undertook rigorous training in the teaching of reading-highly qualified teachers. The state also started funding for initiative to assist students to meet those requirements, while districts began calling on teachers to initiate new ways to identify and remediates those students that were the lowest readers in grades K-3.

nPGE 2

nSince there was need to ensure that our students could read on grade level by the third grade, it was crucial to identify the student that were at the greatest risk for entering the third grade 1 or more levels behind in reading. The teacher used beginning of the year reading assessment and previous grade level assessment as well as teachers recommendations to identify the lowest 25%ile.

nDuring this period, I was teaching an undergraduate reading class for pre-service teacher at a local university. One of the conditions for the pre-services teacher was 15 hours of field experience with students in K-2 utilizing instructional reading strategies learned in the course. With all this in mind, I found a great chance to help the lowest readers in the school in first and second grade, while offering my pre-service teachers the skills for the reading course. Students with this problem were invited to join a literacy program for one hour on Tuesday evening.

nUnder my guidance, pre-services teacher worked with the student one-on-one on beginning reading skills such as vocabulary, decoding, phonics and fluency by the students teachers and/or revealed by assessment. The pre-service teacher also prepared several lessons where student read a variety of written materials to assist in process of learning to read. As the pre-service teacher worked with students, I worked with parents on how they could assist the students reading and learning at home.

nPGE 3

nFor the need to help students in efficient reading skills, I learnt on appropriate use of technology. Fortunately, the elementary school had a technology that was accessible for students, parents and teachers to utilize in helping learners in the process of acquiring proficient reading skills. The main reason why I used technology such as computer is that it gives instant feedback on performance and gives a variety of practice to students. Additionally, they helped the students to enhance their comprehension, fluency and word vocabulary. In this respect, I acquired skills on how to use computer based reading that catered for personal needs of students and increased interactions.

nMoreover, technology helped to improve the parents literacy levels. I also learnt new skills on how to create a record of students progress using the new computer software. Furthermore, I learnt to use computer software to assist the students in developing their creativity through photos, videos, sounds and clip arts into their reading texts. Most importantly, I acquired new skills in using technology packages in assist students in grammar, phonics and spelling skills.

nI also took additional courses in the university that helped to advance my technological skills in the use of computers. In the university, I utilized the opportunity to attend a workshop that increased my expertise on the use of computer software to assist students in the process of learning to read.

nPGE 4

nI had extensive interaction with colleagues, pre-service teacher and the parents in order to ensure this program was available. I collaborated with the administration and colleagues at my school to identify the students in the greatest need. My colleagues and I met during planning time for over a period of 3 hours to categorize students and the skills that every student required assistance.

nThe interaction that took place with my pre-service teachers occurred over a period of 15 weeks, two hours once a week. I directed the pre-service teachers on the reading instructional strategies in designing lesson plans, incorporating pedagogy and choosing reading materials that would be appealing and helpful for the beginning readers. Moreover, I organized pre-service teachers to design lessons based on the use of computer. The students were able to interact with courses in the computer that help them to read and understand more information.

nThe interaction that took place with the parents was extremely helpful. The time I utilized with the parents in was truly a learning process for me. Through this interaction, I have to understand the challenges they experienced at home in attempting to help their children in the process of learning to read. In this regard, the experience with the parents compelled me to do further research and call on the experts within the university I was working at to get insights on how to help the parents. Consequently, I searched for programs at libraries, the university, on the computer as well as instructional and learning resources that could be used at home by the parents that conformed to their time constraints, challenges and lifestyles.

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nPPG

nComponent 2

nThe students featured in this 10-minutes video entry are from a Grade Four classroom that consist of twenty-five student: thirteen girls and twelve boys, between the ages of nine and ten years. I am currently the Curriculum/Reading Resource Specialists for my school and I work with students that are reading below grade level. In order to fulfill this portifolio entry, I used another teachers class. Nonetheless, eight of the students in the videotape are part of my fourth grade reading remediation class. The students featured in this videotape are part of an inclusion class. The majority of them in the classroom are of average intelligence. Nine of the students are Hispanics, six students are Caucasians, and six students are African American, while Asian and Americans Indians have two students each. Moreover, eleven of the students speak a language other than English at home.

nI have several students with special needs that include English as a Second Language Learners (ESL), Student with a significant low IQ that does not qualify for Exceptional Student Services, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Additionally, I have students that deal with the negative effects that their home lives presents. The lesson that I planned included strategies that will reach my gifted, my challenged and those that require a real life and meaningful links I order to succeed academically.

nMy states standards outline minimum proficiency skills in language, social science and health. The language art minimum proficiency for this age level state that every student should have the ability to identify the main idea of a reading passage and express the idea both verbally and through written language. In addition, the student must be able to record their thoughts, research for information, edit, and draft and revise a written report. Learners at this age level must be able to write for different occasions, purposes and audiences.

nThe class faced a variety of challenges. For instance, two students are currently undergoing testing for the Gifted Program, one of which sees the Guidance Counselor two to three times a week to work on social skills. The other students pose several challenges for me, which include, hearing deficiencies, lack of effort and motivation to complete assignment, visual defects, poverty issues and emotional problems stemming from the childs home life.

nTo address these challenges, I implemented different strategies to meet the needs of the students. For instance, by heterogeneously grouping the students, ESL students cooperated with students whose first language is English. Additionally, students that were above average were able to work with those at below grade level. Cue cards offered a visual for my ESOL, ESE and visually impaired students.

nThe theme of this recorded lesson dealt with environment, places and people. As required by the states social studies standards, learners must be able to understand the interaction of the people and physical environment. The lesson addressed the ability of the student to understand how the physical environment support and constrains human activity, how human activity affect the physical environment and how factors such as population, transportation, communication and economic development influenced the use and conservation of natural resources.

nThe novel, The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo, was used to teach the students. They naturally were persuaded by the main character to help save the Everglades. By implementing teacher assigned groups and roles, the students were forced to see another persons perspective. This lesson was especially appropriate for this age group because students at this age typically are “beginning to consider perspectives other than their own,”

nThe overall instructional goals for student learning in this theme were to provide the students with the opportunity to experience the difference citizens could make through cooperation, compromise, consensus and questioning. Other instructional goals for this lesson included providing the students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding for the power of language and how word choice can be used to shape reactions, perceptions, and/or beliefs. I fostered reading development by offering children with instructions that enhance familiarity with the aim of reading, age-appropriate vocabularies and skills in language structure as well as comprehension. These skills acts as the foundation of student development in learning that assist them in the future.

nI chose these particular goals primarily because they correlate with the state standards and grade expectations that were outlined by the state where I teach. However, I do believe that these particular goals are essential to social studies instruction. This particular group activity provided the students with a meaningful opportunity to practice democratic processes, rights and responsibilities. This project also allowed the students to experience first-hand how exercising their rights as a citizen can affect people, places, and environments.

nThe students were able to brainstorm ideas that led to a viable solution to benefit the group they were assigned to represent. In some cases, the groups were able to compromise and come up with solutions that benefited both parties. This is clear evidence of the students blossoming critical thinking skills.

nSocial studies instruction is an opportunity to encourage students to participate in their community by working together. The overarching goals of any teacher should include goals that foster cooperative learning and the recognition of the impact of individual and group decisions. My goals as a Reading Specialist clearly focus on deriving meaning from text and communicating those ideas through verbal and written communication and/or applying the information gained from the text to other areas of the students learning. This lesson enabled me to combine the goals of the students regular education teacher with my own goals as a Reading Specialist and move the students to a new level of thinking, speaking, and writing.

nThroughout the unit, the students were exposed to lessons relating to the conservation of natural resources, the preservation of endangered species, plants, and habitats as well as character education topics highlighting tolerance, respect, and responsibility. As a culminating activity to this unit, it was planned that the students would write a persuasive essay to either save the Everglades by flooding existing farmland, save the farmland, or come up with a compromise that would be agreeable to both parties.

nI worked with the regular education teacher to locate a reading that would pose a dilemma for the students. The point/counterpoint reading (not evidenced in the entry) that I found in an older edition of the schools social studies textbook provided an opening for discussion among the students. The reading presented valid arguments for helping the farmers save their land and strong arguments for preserving the Everglades.

nEach child in the class had the opportunity to participate in the activity. The groups and the roles were teacher-assigned and were representative of the ethnic, gender and ability ranges that make up the overall class. The groups were heterogeneous so that students of all abilities were represented within the groups. As evidenced in the videotape, the students all participated in the discussion. The make-up of the groups proved to be successful, as the students appear to be actively engaged and genuinely listening to one anothers ideas and/or suggestions.

nEach student had a specific role within the group. The students decided which role each member of the group would carry out in order to complete the task. This enabled each student to take responsibility for an aspect of this project and it allowed each student to be a leader.

nThe specific learning objectives for the learning experience presented on the videotape were: identify the problem, listen to the alternatives presented by their group and the other groups, discuss the alternatives with their group, and make a decision on which alternatives would solve the problem most effectively. The students listened attentively to the readers in each group. Then, as evidenced from the very start of the videotape, the students began to discuss the alternative solutions presented by the other groups.

nIn the videotape, I began facilitating the discussions with Group B, the environmentalists. In minute 2:11, Tomas (red shirt) points out that the Everglades are an important part of our environment and the only landform like it in the world. Therefore, we have an obligation to take care of it.

nThe numerous lessons on expository writing that the students engaged in over the school year finally paid off. The students had the opportunity to experience first-hand the power that an individual possesses using writing and voice. Through the discussions evidenced on the video, and the discussions that took place over several class periods, this project helped the students realize that writing skills are important and meaningful in the real world.

nComponent 3

nThe video features students in Grade Four classroom that include of thirty student: seventeen boys and thirteen girls. The average age of these students is ten years old. The main purpose of this lesson is to show students working on computers that assisted them to improve their reading skills. In this videotape, ten of the student featured is part of my fourth grade reading class. Most of these students with reading challenges speak Spanish and Portuguese languages at home. At the beginning of the year, I administered a reading test to the class in order to identify students at below average level of reading. Out of the thirty students tested in this test, ten of them scored below the fourth grade reading level. Most of these students speak Spanish at home with their Hispanic friends with some unable to translate to Spanish.

nUsing the computer program Q-review, I addressed the grammar, vocabulary and reading. The computer program helps the student to improve skills in close reading, sequencing, connectors and genre. In addition, the program covered other skills such as reading instructions, comprehension, fluency and word vocabulary. There were also several categories of texts such as letters, articles and stories. The section on vocabularies dealt with teaching techniques and skills that assisted students to address new vocabulary. The video show students reading questions and passages that illustrate words they could not understand and asked to develop the meaning from the context of the sentence. On the grammar section, addresses the verb usage. Students were exposed to exercises that addresses on verbs uses and tenses and topics such as indirect statements, present and past perfect voices.

nDuring this lesson, students attentively engaged in the task. The class started on the Vocabulary pre-test. Initially, the class had an average score of 67 percent but they improved the average to more than 87 percent, demonstrating their improvement. Similarly, students had improved on the Reading Comprehension. Consequently, through use of technology, the students were able to improve their reading skills. The computer program assisted the students to gain more understanding and levels of reading. I conducted informal interviews about the computer sessions. The students revealed that using the new program helped them to gain new information because it was easy to operate and read. In addition, it provided photos and illustrations that improved the process of learning to read.

nSome students argued that they do not make mistakes when reading stories from the computer. I also assisted the students to play computer games that provided fun moment to practice literacy skills. These encouraged many students to read more and more work. The computer had interesting photos and pictures that attracted students to read many stories and eventually improved their reading skills. For instance, one of the students (in white shirt) had problems with vocabularies and reading comprehension but he recorded tremendous improvement.

nSince many of the students who had problems in their reading skills used English Language as their second language, they had experiences of valuable assistance in reading ability. I selected materials that helped them to discuss after reading and watching a video clip. The video enabled the students to make comparison about the content of the information. Therefore, the majority of the students who had scored below average in reading had improved their reading skills using modern technology.

nReflection

nThe improvement I have witnessed in reading vocabularies levels for my students is extremely amazing as evident from higher levels of attitudes and towards reading and their own achievements. For instance, due to interaction with computers they were able to gain interest in reading. My student was motivated about the use of computers because of courses that tailored their needs with being involved in learning process. I feel that the success of the students in reading will assist them in other studies. I believe that my students were actively involved in the videotaped lesson and the unit of study as a whole.

nAt the end of each lesson, I asked each group member to state a positive learning experience for the session as well as identify the groups strengths and/or weaknesses. This reflection aided the students in recalling what events took place during the session as well as providing a forum for suggesting changes for the next session. It was a safe, non-threatening manner for the students to express their feelings about the group experience. This review at the end of each session also provided me with an opportunity to gain insight in the effectiveness of student-placement in each group. I was able to monitor the students learning and mediate when conflicts arose.

nAs evident from the video, students started to discuss their ideas for the most persuasive way. Their conversation in the class clearly demonstrated their appreciation and learning for the points of view of others. In addition, in the videotape, students are able to support their points using different approaches such as waving their signs and chanting. Moreover, via the discussions and research that occurred in this unit, the student internalized the validity of their argument and identified the cons and pros of their ideas. In the video class, one student shouts “Save the everglades!” This is Kyra and is part of my remediation. The student does not have confidence and usually follow other students instead of expressing her own opinion. I have noticed significant development in Kyra this year particularly via observation during this unit of study. Fortunately, this year, she is able to contribute freely to her group and mobilized the little rally for Group B.

nThe lesson was designed to facilitate working together and learning from others opinions and ideas. Therefore, they were able to listen to their classmates and started to develop an appreciation for several factors. In addition, this lesson allowed students to work with classmates that they may not have initially chosen to work with had the groups not been teacher-assigned.

nSince my certification as an educator, I have experienced many challenges in the process of helping students to improve their learning. Several factors impede reading development for children. For instance, children who lack stimulating literary experiences in childhood lack vocabulary development and awareness on literacy concepts. Additionally, most of the students reading skills are affected by poverty that limits their proficiency in English. Since parents play a role in reading skills, parents whose reading abilities and practices are poor are likely to influence their children. I have also experienced challenges in children with hearing, language and speech handicaps that ultimately affect their learning to read.

nMany students who use English as their second language present many challenges in the process of learning to read. These challenges have offered barriers in the proper implementation of the National Board Standards. However, as a professional teacher I have worked with parents, colleagues and students to help them in their academic development and assist them to carry out their duties diligently. With new technology, students have easy ways of improving their skills at home and in schools. In addition, by increasing the students motivation and attitude that ensure that they read more materials in order to improve their abilities. Furthermore, I have encouraged parents to take part in assisting their children in reading.

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nReferences

nNational Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 26555 Evergreen Road, Suite 400, Southfield, MI, 48076.www.nbpts.org