Anood

AlShehhi
(H00249845)
Approaches
to teaching
reading;

an

insight intoEPR2603
methodologies used in an
Language
Arts D
English Medium
School.
EPR2603
Language Arts D

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Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Approaches to teaching reading; an insight into methodologies used in an

English Medium School.

I observed grade 6 in PYP School which contain 20 students mixed by girls and boys with
Ms.Izon. Students levels were different since they were 1st language and 2nd language.

Reading approaches:
This school was focusing on reading approaches to improve students speaking, listening,
reading and writing altogether.

1. Guiding reading:
Guiding reading is an educational and a literature process about a teacher works within a
group of few students who share the same level of reading texts. The other groups work
independent work assigned by the teacher. This reading approach is suitable KG-12 but each
grade had their level and different type of activities.
The teacher also, looks out of the basic components of adept skillful reading for the
guiding group. Those skills of reading are decoding; which is the procedure of turning a
written printed words to sounds (Mayer, R. 2010), comprehension; the skill that help you read
a text, acting according to it and know what it means (Reading Rockets. (n.d.)) and fluency;
as the facility of reading fast, showing emotions and actions and being a precision
(Wikipedia. 2014).
The purpose
The purpose of guided reading is making students apply what they learned before from
methods into the text they read it at guiding reading by independent way and with
instructions from teacher. Moreover, students will be focusing on meanings using problem
solving and critical thinking to reach the unknown words. Also, students will tell the different
new concepts they didnt came cross it in prints. Finally, students will be able to over tough
structure sentences they may read. (McClure, A., Kristo, J., & Garthwait, A. 2004)

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EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Reciprocal Teaching Strategy

During my T.P, I observed an activity during the whole 2nd week
in guiding reading. I saw students improving with reading skills in a
short time. I asked Ms.Izon who launched the activity about the
activity? So she told me that it called Reciprocal method.
Reciprocal activity is created by Annemarie and Ann Brown in
1984 (National Behaviour Support Servic. (n.d.)). Its a strategy that
ties five comprehension strategies together in one common reading text. All the five activities
starting with (big boss or leader, summarizer, questioner, predictor and clarifier) called
reciprocal activity. The activity works by guiding the teacher for five students and give each a
part. Thats help motivating students own skills of reading and help to cooperate students
with each others reading weakness skills (National Behaviour Support Servic. (n.d.)).

Evaluate
This activity is an interactive process developed by David E.Rumelhart in 1977 (Williams, A.
2011) which defined by: a reading model that recognizes the interaction of bottom-up and
top-down processes simultaneously throughout the reading process. To clarify it more, its a
compound of two models;
1. Bottom-up process; when the readers identify each letter, sound and decode it into
organized words and texts. In T.P during reciprocal activity, I analyzed that students
who were reading their texts with the leader, questioning each other and clarify it
were using bottom-up process. That because readers identify letters into words, a
whole text and understand it. Secondly, clarifiers answer the questioners by
scaffolding informations by text or dictionaries to make it into statement or sentences
like what students did to find the meaning of the word thunderstorm.

2. Top-down process; when the students relay on prior knowledge or print to discover
meanings and words, predict and think. In reciprocal activity, students who used topdown process were the summarizer and the predictor. Its since summarizer takes a
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EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

whole text then read it in fewer words from their understanding by hearing the text.
Next, predictor uses their knowledge and understanding into guessing like: what will
happen next in the story? in the text. Also, they improve their critical thinking by
predicting (Williams, A. 2011).
However, questioner mixed by the two processes since by observing; they used bottom
up by making questions, words by words from the text to full question sentences. While, used
top-down by getting the questions context ideas from the text.

Recommendation

I recommend using guiding reading in classes for all grades because of the rich
advantages that I saw during TP. First, the students who tried guided reading talk fluency
with well spelling and high critical thinking. Secondly, while being in groups, students gain
confidence and become independent readers. Lastly, teacher will know what to focus in
students weakness to improve them and guide each of them.
As a negative, the groups of the guiding will be similar with the levels without improving
much (Williams, A. 2011). But, Ms.Izon solved this problem by using reciprocal teaching
method which grouped different levels together to share knowledge.

2. Read a loud
Its a method that teachers used for a specific time to read verbally to KG-12. However;
the teacher should consider that the text is higher than the students independent reading
level; how students read smoothly and identify words. Also, condiring suitable level for their
listening skills; how students effectively follow their teacher readings (Laminack, L., &
Wadsworth, R. 2006).
The purpose is to make students understand new words and structure it. Also, its
helps them to read fluency and phrasing well (Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. 1996). Thats
what will make students interested in reading prints. This result shown with class 6E,
I saw that students read high level books about different genres.

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EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Reading by using symbols activity

Ms.Izon was using great technics in this activity: physical
movements, sharing reading roles and questioning. She chose a
water cycle text and started by asking questions about water cycle
to check students prior knowledge then read the text with
students. Then the students made a sound; blab blab blab blab while reading to make the
teacher new words. After, she asks the students to read the text again in groups and change
words into symbols. Students were presenting the text by using hands and symbols like;
moving hand up and down to say water and move their fingers up to down for rain.
So the students were able to:

Memorize new vocabulary and meanings by creating their own symbols.

Help them to read fluently as a fun way that improves their self-steam.

Evaluate

Reading aloud is modeled by bottom-up process since its about when the readers identify
each letter, sound and decode it into organized words and texts (Williams, A. 2011) like what
I mentioned before. For the activity that Ms.Izon used a text or a print and made the students
accomplish bottom up activities successfully. These activities were;
o Sight word recognition or look-and-say which is the words that students
acknowledged immediately like; water, sun and thunderstorm from the text.
o High-frequency words which are the known words that any English print included; for
grade 6, the words are; air, temperature, cycle, etc.
o Reading by using symbols which using symbols as words to make the students
remember it then make it into sentences until they reach the ability to read the whole
text.
o Learning how to read fluently by starting with small details starting by symbols,
words, sentences then a text is what make read aloud a bottom-up process.

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EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Recommendations
Read aloud is effective in classes specially for ESL students because when I was in the
previous TP at a government school, I saw that students dont have any interest of depending
reading and they cant read influence as private schools students.
Furthermore, reading aloud has many advantages like; learning new vocabularies, grow
imagination, thoughts and introduce reading literature as an interesting meaningful tool to
learn (Teacher vision. (n.d.)).
As negatives, teachers couldnt tell the right text to choose for students. Choosing texts
should be by wisely thinking since poor text could make students hate reading and looking at
it as a boring activity. After all, reading is the agreeable bond between book, a reader and the
child. (Charles, Z. 2008)

3. Literacy-rich and Print-rich

Literacy-rich is providing visual setting in
the classroom that help students improving
in reading and speaking (The Access Center.
2007). Its help to make students encourage
their literature and language skills with a
comfortable environment.
I was able to see the contents of literacy-rich in class 6E. As the start,
there is a story area thats comfortable to sit on, classroom small library
contains a books collections and tools to use with reading such as puppets and
boards.

Recommendation

I think that grade 6 should have more books with different genre since therere no enough
books to read with. It will be better if schools could think more about the importance of
literacy rich at classes since its help student to engage, improving skills and interesting
environment (TeachThought Staff. 2013).

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EPR2603
Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Print-rich is all the visual patterns thats you stick to walls to encourage students to
read it, discover it, follow and use it when they needed. Its contained of labels, maps
and charts, signs and pictures with vocabularies (Active Children - Active
Environments. (n.d).
Class 6E had a lot of print-rich starting with the
entrance door which contain students pictures with
their names. Inside the class, there were bulletin
boards with topics; math and science. Each topic has
labels with new vocabularies, charts and pictures.
Also, signs were near the board to remind students
what procedures theyve to follow in the class like:
lining up.

Recommendation
I liked the print-rich in class 6E and all the corridors of the school since its colorful,
richly with knowledge and include the students touch. In the future, when I will be a teacher,
I will consider print-rich as a key for getting attention of the students and improving students
levels. Since students will be able to write and answers questions by seeing labels and
vocabs. Also, print-rich will help students to have an educational environment surrounding
with all those prints neither being in class with empty prints. That will make students board
fast and losing focus (Active Children-Active Environments. (n.d).
At last, two of the most used approaches are guided reading that consider each student
skills in the class and read aloud; a key to make someone read. So to make someone read,
there should be a print-rich and literacy rich to place a suitable environment for teaching,
learning and reading.

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Language Arts D

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H00249845

Recourses;

books;
Charles, Z. (2008). Tumbling into Wonderland. In L. Robinson & Z. Charles (Eds.),
Over rainbows and down rabbit holes: The art of childrens books (pp. 1015). Santa
Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book
Art.
Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (1996). Guided reading: Good first teaching for all children.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
National Behaviour Support Servic. (n.d.). Reciprocal Teaching. Retrieved November
19, 2014, from
http://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/reiciprocal_teaching_strategy_hand
out__copy_2_0.pdf
McClure, A., Kristo, J., & Garthwait, A. (2004). Living literature: Using children's
literature to support reading and language arts (p. 128). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Laminack, L., & Wadsworth, R. (2006). Learning under the influence of language and
literature: Making the most of read-alouds across the day. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.

Internet (web articles);

Active Children - Active Environments. (n.d.). Staff Workshop Teacher Handout:
Integrating a Print-Rich Environment in Early Childhood Programming |
Scholastic.com. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/staff-workshop-teacher-handoutintegrating-print-rich-environment-early-childhood-programmin

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Language Arts D

Anood AlShehhi
H00249845

Mayer, R. (2010, July 20). What is Decoding? Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/what-is-decoding-reading/
Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Fluency. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/fluency
Rochester Institute of Technology. (n.d.). What is reading? | SEA - Supporting English
Acquisition. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.rit.edu/ntid/rate/sea/processes/comprehension/process/whatis
The Access Center, (2007). Literacy-Rich Environments. Retrieved February 1, 2008,
from The Access Center website: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/literacy-richenvironments

Teach Thought Staff. (2013, August 1). The Elements Of A Literacy-Rich Classroom
Environment. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.teachthought.com/literacy-2/the-elements-of-a-literacy-rich-classroomenvironment/
Teacher vision. (n.d.). Reading Aloud. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
https://www.teachervision.com/skill-builder/read-aloud/48715.html
Wikipedia. (2014, November 14). Reading comprehension. Retrieved November 19,
2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_comprehension

Williams, A. (2011, May 12). What Are the Advantages & Disadvantages of Guided
Reading? Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.ehow.com/info_8405104_advantages-disadvantages-guided-reading.html

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