Instruction should be guided by five principles:
1. Instruction is driven by state content standards
2. Instruction is based on ongoing assessment
3. Instruction is balanced
4. Instruction is comprehensive
5. Construction is differentiated to fit the needs of all students
1. Instruction is driven by state content standards
2. Instruction is based on ongoing assessment
3. Instruction is balanced
4. Instruction is comprehensive
5. Construction is differentiated to fit the needs of all students
I. Instruction is driven by state content standards
Includes English-Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools, K through grade 12.
-CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress), which replaced STAR, is used to assess students.
-You must teach California State and district standards
-CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress), which replaced STAR, is used to assess students.
-You must teach California State and district standards
II. Instruction is based on ongoing assessment
Instructional decisions are based on ongoing assessment, formal and informal
III. Instruction is balanced
A balance between explicit instruction in reading and strategies and the opportunity to use those skills (and to write) in several different formats
-Skill is something the reader does automatically (ie decoding)
-Implicit, explicit, and systematic instruction are vital:
* Implicit: An embedded lesson where it's part of an activity.
* Explicit: Direct lessons are teacher-directed. Objective: Teach a specific learning strategy.
* Systematic: Assessment results guide instruction and allow those who have not acquired a skill/strategy to group together for more lessons
-Use many opportunities for students to read and write.
-Skill is something the reader does automatically (ie decoding)
-Implicit, explicit, and systematic instruction are vital:
* Implicit: An embedded lesson where it's part of an activity.
* Explicit: Direct lessons are teacher-directed. Objective: Teach a specific learning strategy.
* Systematic: Assessment results guide instruction and allow those who have not acquired a skill/strategy to group together for more lessons
-Use many opportunities for students to read and write.
IV. Instruction is comprehensive
A comprehensive reading program includes:
-Varied, ongoing assessments
-Development of linguistic processes related to reading (ie. phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, concepts about print, systematic/explicit phonics, spelling)
-Development of reading comprehension; independent reading
-Support of reading through oral and written language development
-Varied, ongoing assessments
-Development of linguistic processes related to reading (ie. phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, concepts about print, systematic/explicit phonics, spelling)
-Development of reading comprehension; independent reading
-Support of reading through oral and written language development
V. Construction is differentiated to fit the needs of all students
Differentiated instruction: Anything outside of entire class lessons.
Students are organized by reading levels
Students with specific issues get individualized instruction
Students are organized by reading levels
Students with specific issues get individualized instruction
Test Questions
(Answers and their explanations are in the Answer Guide)
(Answers and their explanations are in the Answer Guide)
5. When creating lesson plans to promote specific reading skills, a teacher should make sure that:
a. Each planned activity for students is designed to strengthen two or more specific reading skills.
b. The targeted reading skills relate to an appropriate instructional progression and reflects students' needs.
c. Each planned activity connects students' reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.
d. The targeted reading skills are grade-appropriate and taught to all students using the same instructional methods.
6. Of the following questions, which would be most important for a teacher to consider when interpreting the results of a reading assessment for a particular student:
a. How did the student's performance on this assessment compare with that of the student's classmates?
b. Are these findings sufficient to assign a grade to the student's performance?
c. How do these findings relate to the student's performance on other recently administered reading assessments?
d. Do these findings provide information about the student's ranking in regard to national norms of reading achievement?
7. Kallisto is a fifth-grade teacher. Almost all of his students are excellent readers. He has four students, however, who have difficulty understanding what they read. To help this group of students, Kallisto could:
a. Develop a comprehensive plan to teach meaning vocabulary, especially key words this group of students will encounter in their basal readers, social studies, and science textbooks.
b. Assess the students to determine if each has developed phonemic awareness; if not, he should begin with a series of lessons on sound matching.
c. Teach students to use guide words when they are using the dictionary.
d. Do very little; there is every reason to believe that this group of children will "outgrow" the problem with a little help
8. Mr. Bálor has been using guided reading with a group of five of his students. The lessons always seem to go badly. The students in this group do not seem to understand what is going on in the stories they read. This could be because:
a. He should be doing guided reading with his entire class, using an instructional aide to assist him with less able readers.
b. He neglected to include a writing asseignment with each guided reading lesson; for example, writing personal responses to stories in journals
c. The five students have three different instructional reading levels.
d. He has failed to teach students how to summarize what they have read.
a. Each planned activity for students is designed to strengthen two or more specific reading skills.
b. The targeted reading skills relate to an appropriate instructional progression and reflects students' needs.
c. Each planned activity connects students' reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.
d. The targeted reading skills are grade-appropriate and taught to all students using the same instructional methods.
6. Of the following questions, which would be most important for a teacher to consider when interpreting the results of a reading assessment for a particular student:
a. How did the student's performance on this assessment compare with that of the student's classmates?
b. Are these findings sufficient to assign a grade to the student's performance?
c. How do these findings relate to the student's performance on other recently administered reading assessments?
d. Do these findings provide information about the student's ranking in regard to national norms of reading achievement?
7. Kallisto is a fifth-grade teacher. Almost all of his students are excellent readers. He has four students, however, who have difficulty understanding what they read. To help this group of students, Kallisto could:
a. Develop a comprehensive plan to teach meaning vocabulary, especially key words this group of students will encounter in their basal readers, social studies, and science textbooks.
b. Assess the students to determine if each has developed phonemic awareness; if not, he should begin with a series of lessons on sound matching.
c. Teach students to use guide words when they are using the dictionary.
d. Do very little; there is every reason to believe that this group of children will "outgrow" the problem with a little help
8. Mr. Bálor has been using guided reading with a group of five of his students. The lessons always seem to go badly. The students in this group do not seem to understand what is going on in the stories they read. This could be because:
a. He should be doing guided reading with his entire class, using an instructional aide to assist him with less able readers.
b. He neglected to include a writing asseignment with each guided reading lesson; for example, writing personal responses to stories in journals
c. The five students have three different instructional reading levels.
d. He has failed to teach students how to summarize what they have read.