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.