Instruction for Literacy Portfolio Sections
It will be helpful for you to locate the CIR 309 Portfolio Rubric found in this module to refer to when reading about this assignment.
Section I: MS CCR Grades K-5
If you will be teaching in Mississippi, it will be important to align all lessons to the state standards, so this section has you listing all state standards for all applicable grades for the topic at hand.
Directions: From MS CCR standards cut and paste phonological awareness standards for each grade K-5 under the title MS College and Career Readiness Standards. Please note that phonological awareness and print awareness only require grades K-1, while phonics has standards for K-5. Be sure to look through all sections of the standards to find the correct ones. The print awareness standards can be found under the foundational skills standards.
Example:
MS College and Career Readiness Standards for Phonological Awareness:
Kindergarten:
RF.K.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). RF.K.2a Recognize and produce rhyming words.
RF.K.2b Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
RF.K.2c Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words. RF.K.2d Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.1 (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)
RF.K.2e Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.
First Grade:
[cut and paste first grade phonological awareness standards here]
Section I is worth 1 point.
Section II: Assessment
When you become a teacher, it is important to complete baseline assessments at the beginning of the year to determine readiness and skill level of each student. This section is where you will add in an assessment of your choice that you feel would give you the best data before beginning to teach phonological awareness skills.
Directions: Pick one of the assessments discussed (or another that you found, but be sure to cite source). Below the standards or on a new page put the title: Assessment, cut and paste your assessment choice and include an explanation and rationale of how and when you would use this type of evaluation and why you feel it is the best choice. Please note that the assessment should not be specifically for a strategy you named; it should be for phonological awareness (or your other topics) in general.
Example:
[cut and paste an assessment here]
Rationale: I chose this assessment because…
Section 2 is worth 3 points.
Section III: Five Phonological Awareness Strategies
In your future classroom, after you give your pre-assessment, you will need to have strategies in which to teach and practice phonological awareness skills to those who need them. This section has you choosing those strategies and analyzing each of them in depth. Be sure you choose at least one strategy for the skill of onset/rime, one strategy for phonemes (I have gifted you the strategy of Elkonian boxes that you can use verbatim for this requirement), and one strategy for blending/segmenting. For the last two strategies, you may choose another strategy for the skills listed, or you may choose strategies for rhyme and/or syllabication.
Directions: From the power point lecture, textbook, or your personal reading, choose five researched-based phonological awareness strategies that you feel are effective. For each strategy, create a page. The page should follow the strategy analysis template attached to this module. Title this section Phonological Awareness Strategies and number each strategy please.
Tips:
Use a new template for each strategy. Do not repeat the same accommodations in your differentiation section, or the same questions, benefits, etc.
For your example, be sure to include an explanation of what is being shown in the picture or viewed on the video.
Note that in my Elkonian Box example, I listed many, many accommodations for ELL, Advanced, Struggling, and Sensory Modalities. I did this to show you how easy it is to brainstorm ways to change up the strategy. You will need to include only one accommodation for each of the following areas: ELL, Struggling, Advanced, Visual, Auditory, Tactile, Kinesthetic
Metacognitive questions are about how the student learns, not about the content of the book or the skill being taught. It is fine to include both, but make sure you ask questions like, “How did this activity help you learn about ___?” “Why do you think this is an important part of learning to read?”
Example:
Learning Strategy Analysis
Elkonian Boxes (phonemes/alphabetic principle)
WHO should learn/use this strategy?
· K- 1st
WHAT is the definition of the term?
Elkonian Boxes is a researched based strategy that allows students to focus on counting/recording the sound they hear, first with tokens and then with letters. Sometimes the shapes of letters are used as well.
HOW do you actually teach/do this strategy?
Enjoy a piece of literature with students.
Pull out 3-5 letter words from the story, make a list, and have the students repeat the words after you.
Hand out Elkonian Boxes and chips to each student in a small group setting.
Tell the student that they will put one chip in a square for each sound that they hear.
Possible words include: dog (3), cat (3), in (2), bird (3), at (2), lick (3), fire (3).
Students should say the word, segment the word, say the word, and say how many sounds: /dog/ /d/ /o/ /g/ /dog/ /3/.
WHY
This strategy allows the students to both visually and orally recognize that words can be divided by sounds.
Teaches students how to segment and blend words
Using chips allows students to concentrate on just the sound and not letter recognition
EXAMPLE of the learning strategy.
This image is from the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhurqhIk0c which shows a video of how to use Elkonian boxes with 3 letter words.
Differentiating Student’s Learning:
EL Learners
Model the strategy
Use background knowledge of concrete experiences to formulate responses.
Use words from other language that can be segmented
Allow students to partner with heterogeneous students for support.
Present pictures or other visuals and objects (use realia when possible) of the words before asking students to segment
Provide translations of key words
Promote participation in a nonthreatening way like nodding encouragement.
Struggling Students
Facilitate an instructional conversation to build a base knowledge of words to understand.
Allow student to pick book to pique interest
Work with student one on one.
Allow students to work with a partner or in small groups.
Allow students more time
Gifted Students
Move to letters quickly once you see mastery of segmenting with chips.
Use words containing more letters to segment (4 letter words)
Move to rhyme when phoneme segmentation is mastered.
Sensory Modalities
Visual: Use yellow chips for consonants and green chips for vowels
Auditory: chant or sing the sounds when segmenting
Tactile: Physically move chips up into boxes when segmenting phonemes
Kinesthetic: have students hop or jump for each sound heard
Facilitating Their Metacognition
What did you learn by using the chips and squares?
How can you use this to help you read better?
Will you go home and teach using the chips and boxes to a family member?
How do you think teaching a family member will help you learn better?
Section 3 is worth 20 points (4 for each strategy).
Section IV: Two Websites
On another page titled “Web Sources,” list two website addresses of sites that help with phonological awareness or the literacy area of focus. These sites could be for teacher use, parent use, or student use. The sites could discuss all the reading components, but lead us to the specific section that discusses print awareness. Write a brief description using at least three sentences of the site under the address (do NOT cut and paste from website: paraphrase in your own words).
Example:
[cut and paste website link here]
This website is great for parents in that it provides…
[cut and paste website link here]
This website is great for students because it contains fun games that practice segmenting and blending. An example is….
Section 4 is worth 2 points.
Use this as a guide for each of your portfolio sections, changing the topic to the literacy component of focus.