Workshop Session November 17, 2012 9:00 – 11:30 am.

Wisconsin Foundations of Reading Test

Workshop Session

November 17, 20129:00 – 11:30 am

Minilessons and sample

questions Looking at exemplars:

Open-ended responses Solving the scenarios

Agenda

Following the prescription of the statutory

language, Wisconsin developed permission to work with the provider of the Massachusetts Foundations of Reading test to create:

"...an examination identical to the Foundations of Reading test that is part of the Massachusetts

Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL)."

Wisconsin Foundations of Reading Test

The test will be offered in a computer-based testing

format Testing will be available by appointment, Monday

through Saturday at testing centers; Pearson will determine what additional testing center sites will be needed in the state

Test results have a 4-week turn-around time The test cost is not firm at this time. If we use the

cost of the MTEL Reading Foundations Test for students in Massachusetts, we can estimate the cost at $155.

Pearson will establish a Wisconsin website, which will include test registration and score reporting services, and preparation information.

About the Test

Understand phonological and phonemic

awareness. Understand concepts of print and the

alphabetic principle. Understand the role of phonics in promoting

reading development. Understand word analysis skills and strategies. Understand vocabulary development. Understand how to apply reading

comprehension skills and strategies to imaginative/literary texts.

WFRT Objectives

Understand how to apply reading

comprehension skills and strategies to informational/expository texts.

Understand formal and informal methods for assessing reading development.

Understand multiple approaches to reading instruction.

Prepare an organized, developed analysis on a topic related to one or more of the following: foundations of reading development; development of reading comprehension; reading assessment and instruction.

WFRT Objectives

Reading Terminology:Morphemes, phonemes, graphemes, blends, and

diagraphs

Minilesson #1

Terminology Origins

Linguistic terms

morphemes phonemes graphemes

Reading terms

blends diagraphs

a meaningful linguistic unit that cannot be

divided into smaller meaningful units

morpheme = meaning

morpheme

• A single word may be composed of one or

more morphemes.

Example: un+system+atic+al+ly (the word unsystematically can be analyzed into 5 separate morphemes)

Every word in every language is composed of one or more morphemes.

morpheme

One morpheme - boy (one

syllable) - desire, lady, water (two syllables) - crocodile (three syllables) salamander (four syllables), or more syllables

morpheme

Two morphemes boy + ish desire + able

Three morphemes boy + ish + ness desire + able + ity

morpheme

Four morphemes gentle + man + li + ness un + desire + able + ity

More than four morphemes un + gentle + man + li + ness anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an + ism

morpheme

A minimal sound unit of speech

that, when contrasted with another phoneme affects the meaning of words in a language

Phoneme = Phonograph

phoneme

/b/ in book

/t/ in took

/k/ in cook

/h/ in hook

phoneme

a written or printed representation of a phoneme

b for /b/ oy for /oi/

grapheme

boy

grapheme = graph

(visual representation)

grapheme

Blends and Digraphs

BLENDS

The joining of sounds represented by two or more letters with minimal change in those sounds

bl/black spl/splash tr/trip

DIGRAPHS

Two letters that represent one speech sound

th/then ch/chat sh/wish wh/which

Onsets and Rimes

pad

lad

had

sad

bad

Onsets and Rimes

pad

lad

had

sad

bad

The rime is the part that rhymes

Onsets and Rimes

pad

ChadBrad

lad

cladhad

sad

badglad

Onsets and Rimes

pad

ChadBrad

lad

cladhad

sad

badglad

The onset is the first part of the word

Multisyllable words

notice reject

between

surface extend

notice

refrain laptop

number

Multisyllable words

notice reject

between

surface extend

understand

refrain laptop

number

Scenarios

Thinking like the Test Makers

“Teachers will want to research their children. Although because of time constraints it will not be possible to study each child’s test taking logic and processes in depth, studying even five children will reveal worlds of thinking and may create a variety of profiles of test takers that teachers can rely on. . . .” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 109)

“Watch where their eyes move, when they seem to get restless or troubled, when their concentration seems to be kicking in , when they use their pencil, and when they use their finger.” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 109)

Activity 1: Observing the test

taker 1. Watch your partner answer question #44. 2. Ask them to voice their thoughts aloud as they work. 3. Take notes on everything your partner does. 4. Ask your partner the following questions:

- why did you choose that answer?- what were you thinking about as you read and answered the question?- interrupt your partner and ask what he/she is doing now.

4. Switch roles and do question #45. 5. Compare notes.


takerQuestion 44. Correct Response: A. Homographs are words that are spelled the same way but have different meanings. For example, the words saw, meaning the cutting tool, and saw, meaning the past tense of the verb to see, have different origins and meanings, but they are spelled the same way. The activity in the box promotes students' awareness of the characteristics of homographs. Drawing students' attention to the fact that two words can be spelled the same way but have completely different meanings would not contribute to their understanding of structural analysis (B), semantic analysis (C), or synonyms (D).


takerQuestion 45. Correct Response: C. Stopping to consult a dictionary is generally disruptive to the reading process; however, in some situations, as with the sentence shown in the box, consulting a dictionary is the only effective method for determining the meaning of an unfamiliar term encountered in a text. Also, paraphrasing the sentence by substituting the dictionary definition for the unfamiliar term is a good method for both reinforcing understanding of the new term and returning the reader to the flow of the story.


takerThe other strategies given would not be effective in this particular situation. B is incorrect because contextual analysis would not be a useful strategy here, since the sentence around the term déjà vu provides little or no clues as to the term's meaning. Using structural analysis (D) would also not be helpful, since the term is made up of two words and they are borrowed from the French language. Finally, simply noting the term in a vocabulary log and coming back to it after finishing reading the story (A) would cause the student to miss the significance of the sentence and could diminish the student's comprehension of the story.

Activity 2: Looking for clues

1. Read question #51. 2. Talk about the question together. 3. Individually highlight the clues in the question. 5. Talk about what you highlighted. 6. Work together to choose your answer.

“Look for evidence from the text, instead of personal opinions, to support answers. . . Write key words alongside paragraphs. . . [Decide] what the questions is really asking” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 106)

Activity 2: Looking for clues

Question 51. Correct Response: C. Teaching students to use structural analysis and their knowledge of familiar English morphemes (i.e., the root defense and the affixes in- and -ible) to deduce the meaning of a new word containing these morphemes provides students with a powerful independent word-learning strategy. This strategy immediately extends students' understanding of both the target word and other words that contain these morphemes. A, B, and D are incorrect because they describe strategies students can use to clarify the meaning of a particular word, but they do not extend the students' vocabulary development beyond the target word.

Activity 3: Treat the question like a scavenger hunt

1. Read question #81 2. Individually make a list of things to think about as you answer the question 3. Compare lists. 4. Work together to choose your answer.

“When I take a reading test, it’s a little like I’m going on a scavenger hunt. Only the list of things I’m supposed to find is the list of questions at the end of the passage.” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 86)


Question 81. Correct Response: C. The student's oral reading performance in this sample strongly suggests a lack of foundational knowledge in phonics and sight words. The miscues indicate serious decoding difficulties with various phonics elements, including lack of automaticity in decoding common vowel digraphs (reading boats for boots), common consonant digraphs (reading ck for ch), and complex consonant


clusters (reading crucked for crunched). The student also misread a high-frequency sight word (through) that should have been mastered by the end of second grade. Conversely, this oral reading sample provides no evidence that the student has difficulty tracking print (D). And, by self-correcting his or her errors without prompting, the student demonstrates both understanding of the text's vocabulary (A) and the ability to self-monitor for comprehension (B).

Activity 4: Write on the test

1. Read question #93. 2. Individually circle important words 3. Individually draw arrows between the question and the answers 4. Compare your circles and arrows 5. Work together to choose your answer.

“Technically of course, this process goes against the directions in several ways” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 109)


Question 93. Correct Response: C. Phonics and other word analysis skills, such as learning common inflectional endings and the orthographic rules governing their addition to words, are critical skills that promote beginning readers' development of proficiency in decoding. These skills in turn support students' development of reading fluency and comprehension. Daily, systematic, differentiated instruction and practice in these essential skills are necessary to ensure all


students in a first-grade class develop into proficient readers. While some students at this level may still require differentiated or remedial instruction in concepts about print (A) and/or basic phonological awareness skills (B), these skills are generally mastered by most students in kindergarten, so they would not be taught to a whole first-grade class on a daily basis. Instruction in sight words is an important component of a research-based beginning reading program that is primarily phonics based; however, memorization of lists of sight words on a daily basis (D) is an ineffective instructional approach.

Activity 5: Think like the test maker

1. Read question #96. 2. Identify clues that are in the question 3. Identify issues that are not mentioned in the question that could complicate/confuse your thinking. 4. Discuss with your partner what you think the test maker is expecting 5. Work together to choose your answer.

Paraphrasing the question. . . “Our minilessons about paraphrasing the question, holding on to the question for a moment, seemed to help children focus on what the test makers wanted and seemed to help them get more right answers” (Calkins et al., 2001, p. 119)

Activity 5: Think like the test maker

Question 96. Correct Response: D. Print tracking is a concept of print that students generally master in kindergarten or by the beginning of first grade. A second-grade student who is just beginning to track print is substantially behind grade-level standards and would require intensive intervention. A preschool child who has limited book-handling skills (A) or a kindergarten child who has not developed letter-sound correspondences for all letters (B) is within the average acceptable range for the respective grade levels. C is incorrect because at the beginning of the school year, it is reasonable for a first-grade student to rely on predictable texts before the student has had the opportunity to learn basic phonics skills and to transition to decodable texts.

Workshop Session November 17, 2012 9:00 – 11:30 am.

Documents

Transcript of Workshop Session November 17, 2012 9:00 – 11:30 am.