Ms. Perez classroom review

1. The shared reading activity of reading the poem, Hot Dogs Forever, Ms. Perez addresses a  number of essential components of literacy development. This lesson uses a poem and can therefore help fluency. The lesson certainly addresses word identification and phonics, because students encounter words which they can break down as well as words which they will have to figure out based on context or sound. Ms. Perez also creates an entire lesson for phonological awareness based on this shared reading activity, introducing the "rhyme" ot and demonstrating its sound and usage in other words. Shared reading is a venue to have all students read out loud and to help each other in getting through the text. Teachers can use such activities to promote literacy by addressing some of the skills and components that Ms. Perez did, as well as vocabulary, comprehension, and composition.

This activity includes and engages students of various literacy development levels by having them all read together and then addressing questions to specific students. Because the teacher is aware of the level of each student, she can address a question which focuses on a specific component of literacy to a child who needs improvement in this area. Additionally, all students were engaged the whole time, so they all paid attention to all discussion, giving them overall insight into all the factors that were brought out.

Ms. Perez encourages the students' effort which promotes their altogether motivation. Her usage of phrases such as "good trying" or "good for you" make the children feel good about their effort as opposed to only correct results. She also walks students through the steps of figuring out the answer and prompts them along if they require assistance.

2. Ms. Perez recognizes that by having the students explain the strategies they use to figure out the words. She explains that this way the students internalize it and use it more. 

Whenever students are required to verbalize a skill, they need to recognize clearly what the skill is and how they do it. They also have the verbalization in their head for the next time they encounter a situation where they need to use that specific skill and can pull it up.

In our classroom, we named the skill of masking, "word within a word". Students had this term in their brains and when asked how they would figure out a specific word, they would think and come up with the answer; "Word within a word"!

I like the window the students had to focus on different parts of the word and then stretch the window to see more of the word.

3. Ms. Perez's classroom is well organized to support a wide range of literacy learners.She sets up the class in groups according to levels and skills. Each group works on something different according to their needs. This enables each student to receive the instruction and attention they need to advance in literacy. This also enables Ms. Perez to overlook each group and assess further. Ms. Perez also institutes writing activities based on reading done in class. This gives the students a basis from which to form their writings and also requires them to reference the books they have read, and reread several times, becoming more fluent. 

4. Ms. Perez created a simple chart where she keeps track of the level of reading that the students are up to. This chart gives her a broad overview of what level of literacy the students have mastered, and shows the entire class together. The teacher can create groups based on this chart. She also continually updates her assessments and assumingly makes changes accordingly.

Assessment is the key to keeping students advancing and the more frequently done, the better the teacher can personalize the lessons according to the students' needs. In my classroom, we also had group time. I would implement a weekly system that while the students are busy with their group activities, the teachers circulate from group to group and do an individual assessment on each student. This way, every student's progress would be evaluated once a week and can be carefully tracked and used to determine instruction.