Bringing it back to the beginning...

As I am finishing up my data collection and beginning to code the data I am constantly thinking about my research question, themes I am noticing, and how it is all going to connect. My research question is, "How do various methods of sight word instruction, using a balanced literacy approach, affect at-risk students?" From the book, Reading the Past: Historical Antecedents to Contemporary Reading Methods and Materials, Barry (2008) stated, "Beginning readers need explicit instruction and practice that lead to an appreciation that spoken words are made up of smaller units of sound...'sight' recognition of frequent words, and independent reading, including reading aloud; in other words, a balanced approach to reading" (p.46). Reading from this book influenced my research in a big way because this was so much of what I was interested in and wanted to learn more about. There was so much research about sight words, both good things and bad things, and this book had many good insights and connections to the importance of sight word instruction within a balanced literacy approach. It helped me see that I wanted to know how explicit sight word instruction would essentially affect students in other areas of reading (fluency, comprehension, phonics, etc.).

 

Things I am noticing as I am continuing the coding process include students becoming distracted easily and how this affects their ability to complete activities in our small group and read sight words/books accurately. I am also noticing difficulty with "th" words. 5 out of 6 students read "this" and "that" incorrectly often. During running records all students are beginning to recognize and recall sight words correctly. They are still struggling decoding words they have not had practice reading, however sight word recognition is much higher than at the beginning of this study. Students have improved with answering comprehension questions about a story they have read, but are still having difficulty retelling the story without several prompts.

Looking at the numbers

As of last Friday the students have been introduced to 15 sight words. My goal at the beginning of this project was for the students to learn 20-25 sight words. This week is my last week of data collection. I have introduced the students to five more words this week, so they have had experience practicing 20 sight words for this research. On Friday, I started our group with constant time delay with each student. They were asked to read all 15 sight words. If they do not know a word I ask them to not guess and wait. After 3-4 seconds if they do not know the word I give them the word and move it back in the pile for them to read again. I continue this process several times. The words the students miss are counted incorrect, but they practice using constant time delay several times until they read the word correctly. As one student is practicing with me, the other students are using their own flashcards to practice independently or with a buddy quietly until it is their turn. Below are the results from Friday's constant time delay:

Date: 3/8/13	Ted	Jon	Ben	Ellen	Nicole	Noah
a	+	+	+	+	+	+
the	+	+	-	+	+	-
of	+	+	+	+	+	+
to	+	+	+	+	+	+
and	+	+	-	+	+	-
at	+	-	+	+	+	+
have	-	-	+	-	+	+
In	+	+	+	+	+	+
be	+	+	+	+	+	+
you	+	+	+	+	+	+
from	+	-	+	+	+	+
is	+	+	+	+	+	+
it	+	+	+	+	+	+
that	+	-	-	-	+	-
this	-	-	-	-	+	-

As you can see progress is being made! I was very pleased with Nicole, who read all 15 words correctly. I am consistently noticing that 5 out of the 6 students are still struggling with "that" and "this". We have been spending some additional time spelling, writing, and reading these two words. It seems as though the "th" chunk is causing them to misread the word. They are all saying part of the word. For example, "at" rather than "that". I will complete this again this Thursday after the last five sight words have been introduced. I am also going to be using the DRA to assess students ability to use these words in the context of reading. This will help me see how sight word retention affects their fluency, comprehension, and phonics skills.

Raw Data...finishing up

As I am finishing the last few days of data collection, I have made sure to include some fun games and activities that give students extra practice with sight words, and have kept them engaged in our daily group. I have also shared these activities with parents so they can use them at home to help them practice sight words. Two activities that we have done at the end of lessons this week have included magnetic sight words and the sight word "monster". During magnetic letters I had several words that the students have been practicing on the white board. I then asked them to find certain words from the board. They were all mixed up and in no certain order. After all the words had been taken down, I then asked the students "If you have the word ________, put it on the board". Another activity that I used was the sight word "monster" (which is a small trash can decorated like a monster). The students are shown a word and if they answer right then they feed the monster and the word goes inside, if they try to feed the "monster" and read the word incorrectly the monster will spit the word out of his mouth (the teacher touches the back of the trash can so the lid pops open). The students did a good job reading the words. Jon and Ben had the most difficulty. Jon missed 6 words and Ben missed 7 words. They were given another chance to read the words again, with help from their friends in the group. This week I will be doing my bigger assessments (Past and Literacy First Phonics Assessment and the DRA) to assess students progress throughout the last several weeks. Below is an example of my raw data (field notes and observations) and examples of the magnetic letters and sight word "monster" activities.

Magnetic Letters

Sight Word "Monster"

Running Records

After considering my blog comments from last week, I decided to complete running record with my students using a fresh text. Prior to this they have only done running records with their sight word readers that they have practiced. I wanted to do these with books they have not seen before to see if their sight word instruction has helped them be able to recognize these words in context. Can they recognize sight words in a book they have not practiced reading? The book they read was called, A Hat for Kim and it was an grade level text. It was slightly more difficult for my focal group, however, I wanted to see their progress so far. I want to push them a little more because I think they can meet this challenge. Below is what I noticed with my student Ellen.

I called Ellen to my U-table to complete the running record. She skips over and smiles. She is always happy to sit beside me and loves practicing her reading. I pulled out the book and laid it in front of her. Prior to reading, Ellen and I take a picture walk and discuss what we think is happening in the story. Ellen has many speech difficulties and goes to speech class several times a week. Although she is improving she is still very hard to understand. I have gotten better at understanding her, but sometimes I have to ask her to repeat herself. During the picture walk I had to stop twice to ask her again what she said about two of the pictures. She doesn't seem to ever get frustrated and continued to tell me what was happening in each picture. After the picture walk, Ellen reads the title correctly and turns to the first page. The first page read, "Mom had a hat for Kim". Ellen read, "Mom gave a hat for Kim". She misread the word had calling it gave. However, she correctly read the sight words a and for. As she continued to read she did miss many unfamiliar words that she could not use picture clues to read and some of the characters names. However, she read every sight word that she has been introduced to during our small groups correctly. This was very enlightening for me because it showed me that Ellen is learning to recognize sight words in context and read them correctly. She is making progress! After reading the rest of the book, Ellen was so proud of herself. I gave her a sticker for doing such a great job and she beamed from ear to ear. I can tell by the way she is reading more fluently that she is becoming a more confident reader.

This week and next week I will be completing the Literacy First Phonics Assessment and the Developmental Reading Assessment. I am looking forward to seeing each focal students progress in the areas of phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, fluency, and sight words. This will help me get a better idea of how sight word instruction affects students in other areas within a balanced literacy approach.

Multisensory Learning with Sight Words

I have been trying to use more multi sensory activities with sight words. Today, the students and I again practiced writing this week's words, which are "that", "is", "it", "you", and "in". We orally practiced spelling and reading the words at the beginning of the lesson. To do this I gave each student a copy of their words. They would them hold the card with the word on it in front of them in the hand that they do not write with. Using the other hand they tap their arm as the spell the word. For example, if the word was you the student would have the card in their hand (arm extended so they can see the word), they would use their other hand and touch their shoulder first and say "y". Then they would tap the bend of their elbow and say "o", then their wrist and say "u". We all did this together for each of the five words. As I was teaching the students this method, Jon and Ben had great difficulty at first. I had to physically help them move their hand to tap their arm as they read the word. Jon said, "I don't get this". After helping him he was able to do the rest of the words independently. Ben kept switching arms because he writes with both hands much of the time. I told him to choose the one he used most for this activity. But, after helping him move his arm the correct way as he spelled the word he was able to spell and tap the rest independently.

After tapping and spelling our words, we used "bumpy" writing to practice writing our sight words. I saw another group member use this technique and thought I would try it with my friends. The students were given a piece of paper and a small piece of sewing screen to put under their paper. They used a red crayon to write the words because my school recently was trained on Orton Gillingham, as well. They call sight words "red words" and recommend having the students use a red crayon. The students like using crayons to write with, so they were very excited about this activity. Ellen said, "I love writing words and using crayons!" Nicole sat up straight and grabbed her red crayon quickly. Noah was absent again (this is becoming a problem because he has missed so many lessons), Jon and Ben also seemed enthusiastic and sat up straight so they could get their screens to put under their paper. Ted was having a difficult day and was again slumping in his seat. I asked him twice to sit up and reluctantly he did. We began the activity with the students writing the word "that". They had the paper over the screen, so when they wrote their writing was bumpy. After writing each word we moved the screen from under the paper to on top of the paper and traced each word that we had written with our fingers. This gives them another opportunity to say the word, spell the word, and trace the word. We did this with each of the other 4 words. Ted began to enjoy the activity and started to sit up straight and smile. I gave him several compliments about how hard he was working and making good choices.

After our group the students then went into their independent station time. In their station I had pulled out magnetic sight words. The students were to read each word with a buddy and put them on the magnetic white board at the side of our classroom. The words included were all 15 words that the students have been introduced to and have practiced daily with me. Today, I did not get to observe their interactions and behavior in this group. Tomorrow I am going to have this as a station again, and video tape their interactions because I am running other small groups at this time and cannot personally observe them.

Below is a sample of Ben's "bumpy" writing:

 

Making progress!

Every day I have been individually practicing sight words with my students. I take a few minutes at the beginning of our small group to use flashcards and constant time delay with each student. After the last three-four weeks they have been exposed to 10 sight words. At the beginning of today's lesson I reviewed all words and asked each student to read the words. I was so happy with their progress. When we started, almost all students in this focal group knew 2-5 sight words. Today, this is what I found:

Jon-read 7 sight words correctly (missed-have, this, at)
Ben- read 7 sight words correctly (missed-this, and, the)
Noah- read 8 sight words correctly (missed-have, the)
Ted-read ALL 10 sight words correctly
Ellen-read ALL 10 sight words correctly
Nicole- read 9 sight words correctly (missed-and)

Things I am noticing:
1. When the students are reading the words, they more often miss the words that have "th" at the beginning of the word. All 6 students have consistently missed "this" and "the". Today, I introduced 5 new words and they struggled the most with the word "that". The blend at the beginning seems to provide great difficulty for them to remember.

2. They are inconsistent with the words they read correctly. Some days they will read all 5 words correctly from that week. The very next day they miss the same word. I am wondering about the inconsistencies. Why is this happening? How can I help make sight word reading more consistent? I am providing them with so much extra practice in my group, with reading buddies, independent stations. Is there something more going on?

3. Distractibility-4 out of the 6 students are easily distracted and have to be reminded constantly to stay on task and focused. How can I help with distractibility? What other positive reinforcement strategies can I use to help with this?

4. An increase in sight words has helped students in their guided reading and independent reading. Using the running records I have seen much more success when the students have to read the story we have read during the week. This week I am going to let the students choose a "just right" book for them to read to me, to see if there increased knowledge of sight words is helping them with fluency and reading comprehension. I want to see if sight word retention is an important part of the balanced literacy approach? Does sight word reading help students become better readers?

I am really happy with the progress my students have shown so far. I am looking forward to doing the PAST and Phonics test in the next few weeks to see their growth in sight words, and to see how sight word retention is affecting them in becoming better readers.

Interview/Survey

Today I finally was able to complete the last student survey with Ben. He has been absent so much and I keep forgetting to complete it on the few days he has been here. As I was talking with him, I kept thinking that this was more like a student interview because I am the one asking him the questions out loud and writing down what he says. The "survey" has open ended questions so it allows him to give his true ideas and opinions about sight word instruction in the classroom and at home. As I was giving the interview I wrote down exactly what Ben said. I did not make notes on the survey sheet, rather made notes on another piece of paper. I observed how he was sitting, behaving, and how many times he needed to be reminded to focus and listen to what I was asking him. Even though my interview/survey is short, much shorter than this week's examples, I wanted to transcribe them the best I could. I am going to do all five other surveys the same way. I took notes separately on all of them, so I should be able to transcribe them easily.

Here is what I found:
Ben is fidgeting in his seat and sitting on his legs. I remind him to sit down correctly and focus on me as I am asking the questions. I ask Ben the first question, "What do you like about learning sight words?" Ben says "I like learning t-o spells to." He looked at me excitedly and jumps up to show me on the word wall. I note his enthusiasm because this does not always happen. Next, I ask Ben "When do you practice sight words?" Ben at first shrugs his shoulders and looks at the ground then at me. He responds, "At the end of the day with Mrs. Gray and at home with my mom." I made note that he said the end of the day, even though we practice each morning together because he is usually the first student in my room. He is now fidgeting again and sliding out of his seat. I give him another reminder and he sits back down. the next questions asks, "How do you feel when you are practicing sight words at home? At school?" He quickly replies, "Happy because I like doing it!" I then ask a little more into the question. I wanted to know if he felt happy and school and at home when he practiced sight words because I knew his mom had responded differently on her parent survey. He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I asked one more time, and he gave me the same response. I moved on to the last question which was, "Why do you think it is important to learn sight words?" Ben said, "So you can be smart when you are in the first grade." I then asked if he thought it was important to know sight words in Kindergarten and he shrugged his shoulders. The shrugging of the shoulders made me wonder if he understood what I was asking when I extended the question, or if he didn't want to answer anymore questions. As I stated in an earlier post I was surprised to see the discrepancy between the parent surveys and the student surveys/interviews. Ben's mom answered very differently from Ben. I wondered why the students answered the way they did. Was it because I was asking them the questions. After a suggestion from my group to send home the survey and see how they answered the survey with their parents, I decided to try this. So, today I sent home another student survey for their parents to do with them. I am anxious to compare the results! I do have one question...is this a survey or should I consider it an interview and change it in my final write-up?

Here is a picture of Ben's survey: