Literacy In Action
Organization and
Service:
On Thursday, March 13, 2014 I observed a 90-minute reading
and language arts block in my wife, Ms. Ashley Dalia’s, classroom. She teaches
4th and 5th grade ELA (English Language Arts) in the
Blind Elementary School at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. At
the time I observed her she was working with the fourth grade group, which
consists of nine Visually Impaired and Blind students. Their academic abilities
range from on grade level to below grade level and their visual impairments
require them to receive all materials in Braille, large print, or tactile
formats. With additional instruction in assistive technology, the students are
taught ways to access literacy, which connects them to the world around them.
What you saw:
At the beginning of the class, each student read for 15
minutes completing their “100 Book Challenge” for stamina reading. There were 3
Braille readers, 3 students using a Sapphire hand-held CCTV, and 3 student
reading large print books.
After the 100 Book Challenge task was a whole group
instruction grammar lesson, in which Ms. Ashley discussed prepositions and
prepositional phrases. She used an interactive whiteboard (SmartBoard) and distributed
video to individual student monitors at their desks to deliver the lesson.
Then, the students watched a cartoon video, from the adopted
curriculum, where they saw kids rapping and teaching about prepositions, Next,
was a kinesthetic activity, and Ms. Ashley told them that the preposition is
the location of the word; she had the students put their hands ON the desk, NEXT
To, and UNDER, their desks. They also completed a worksheet to reinforce the
concept.
Next, was another whole group lesson when the students
completed a Connect-to-Text reading activity. All week, they’d been reading The
Myth of Hercules, so they discussed that Roman myth and then, watched a video
about thee Greek Myth of Heracles. Following the video, they had a whole group
discussion and completed a Compare and Contrast activity about the two stories.
After the Compare and Contrast lesson, the students reviewed
their Spelling Words and learned how the words were derived from other
languages like–burrito and dungarees and patio. The students were excited to
find out where the words came from, so Ms. Ashley looked up origins of the words
on Merriam Webster Kids webpage: http://www.wordcentral.com/
.
Following the whole group activities, the students engaged
in small group and individual tasks. Students conferenced one on one with Ms.
Ashley to discuss their100 Book Challenge progress (for independent reading
levels) and “Power Goals,” or short term objectives for the week. They also
practiced reading aloud and completed a comprehension check assessment. While Ms. Ashley conferenced individually, other
students were on the classroom computers and iPads completing their “Achieve
3000” reading progress monitoring activities or completing independent
comprehension or vocabulary worksheets. Furthermore, there was a writing activity,
which had students write their own myth stories. Some students used Braillers,
laptops, AlphaSmarts, and 20/20 bold line pens and bold lined paper.
At the end of the block, the students sat on the floor and
on beanbag chairs while Ms. Ashley read aloud a story, called Floors, and
modeled think aloud strategies and asked various comprehension questions during
the chapter.
How the class is run:
During small group and independent work time, the students
have a list of tasks to complete throughout the week at their discretion and at
the end of each week Ms. Ashley uses a rubric to assess their participation,
work completion, and ethics. Overall, this system builds each student’s
concentration, order, and independent work skills. I thoroughly enjoyed my
visit and would like to take the opportunity to visit other classes throughout
our campus.
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| View of Ms. Ashley's classroom from the door. |
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| Braille Writers, SmartBoard interactive White Board, and Distributed Video Monitors |
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| Writing ans Work Station (Talking Tactile Teacher, Braille writer, AlphaSmart, and behind the paper tray, Sapphire handheld CCTVs) |
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| CCTV station, 100 Book Challenge books in baskets, and Classroom Library |
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| Small Group table, in the background classroom desk top computer, and Braille Blazer embosser |
