Samantha
Bransfield
MEE 7998
Critique
of 5 Resource/Instructional Materials
There
are so many valuable resources to use in the classroom to teach reading. I will critique 5 materials for the purpose
of this paper. These materials are effective, research-based classroom
resources to help build and strengthen literacy skills in print awareness,
phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and
writing. These resources include: exit
slips, choral reading, elkonin boxes, jigsaws, and story maps.
Exit
slips can be used after reading, to informally assess student’s comprehension.
The slip can contain questions for the students to answer before they can leave
the class for specials, lunch, or recess. Exit slips are great because they
provide the teacher with an informal assessment of each student that can be
done quickly, they allow the students to write how they feel about the topic,
and help students to think critically. A weakness of exit slips is students may
be in a hurry to “exit” and won’t necessarily provide their best work.
Choral
reading is when students read aloud all together. Some strengths of choral
reading are that it builds self-confidence, builds fluency, and motivates
students to want to read without the fear of being embarrassed in front of
their peers. This type of reading provides support to readers who aren’t very
strong or confident when reading. Through repeated readings of the text,
students increase sight word vocabulary and ability to decode words quickly and
accurately. Choral reading helps students spend less time on decoding and have
greater comprehension of the text. A weakness of choral reading is that some
students may not actually be reading and it may be hard for the teacher to make
sure all students are.
Elkonin boxes help students build
phonological awareness. Instead of students counting letters of words, they
focus on the number of phonemes. To use elkonin boxes, the teacher pronounces a
target word slowly, stretching it out by sound, then asks the student to repeat
it. Then, the teacher draws squares on board/paper with one box for each
syllable/phoneme. The student then counts the number of phonemes in the word
and places the letters in the correct boxes. These boxes are a great tool to
help students with decoding and spelling.
A jigsaw is a group activity where
each group is assigned a topic, then once they complete their task, they return
to the class as a whole to teach their groups part and complete the jigsaw
puzzle. It can be used in a reading activity by assigning parts of the text and
specific questions to answer to each group. The teacher can provide a graphic
organizer for each group to summarize their information and to use to teach the
class their assigned part. The strengths of this learning tool are: builds
comprehension, builds problem-solving skills, and encourages cooperative
learning among students. A weakness of this tool is that some group members may
not participate as much as other members, but still receive the same credit for
the assignment.
Story maps can be used as a
beneficial tool to help teach comprehension skills. A story map is a graphic
organizer used to record key elements of a story. The most basic story map
includes the beginning, middle, and end. A more detailed one may include a
place for plot details and character traits. These maps are a great resource to
improve student’s comprehension and help them to organize their ideas
efficiently.
These are just some resources used
to teach reading skills and to aid in instruction. I will definitely use these
five strategies in my future classroom. There are so many tools out there today
that are available to teachers. Using instructional materials in the classroom,
make teaching reading more engaging and effective.
References
Choral Reading - ReadWriteThink. (n.d.).
Retrieved December 4, 2014,
from
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-
development/strategy-guides/choral-reading-30704.html
Classroom Strategies. (n.d.). Retrieved
December 4, 2014, from
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies
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