ELA and Reading 4-8

Reading Comprehension

The ability to read a text and understand its meaning

• Ex: Jessie read the book and was able to explain to me why the character lied in Chapter 3

Syntax

Rules that govern the construction of words in order to make phrases, clauses, and sentences

Quantitative Data

Data which is measured and usually expressed numerically

• distance, time, temperature, test scores

Instructional Flexibility

Ability to modify instructional plans in response to student needs, unexpected events, or new insights gained during the unit

Dyslexia

A disorder manifesting by a difficulty in learning to read, write, or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural oppurtunity

Small-Group Reading

Reading done by students with teacher support

Ongoing Assessment

An assessment that guides the pace and content of instruction

• Used to determine student knowledge and dictate whether the class is prepared to move on to a new skill

Literature Circles

Strategy in which a teacher organizes studens into small groups to discuss a common text

Direct Instructoin

A teacher-led approach to instruction in which the instructor provides information on a concept and is the sole expert in the room

• Ex: lectures and demonstrations

Graphic Organizer

A visual display of the relationships between facts and ideas

• Ex: story maps, timelines, venn diagrams, KWL charts

Receptive Language

The ability to understand meaning from language

Differentiated Instruction

Tailoring teaching methods to meet individual needs

• Ex: Using varied reading levels for different student groups

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A label applied to individuals who have a great difficulty concentrating on what they are doing AND are extremely active, impulsive, distractable, and excitable

Qualitative Data

Data which is described rather than measured

• color, shape, smell, opinions

eBook

Book published in digital format, also known as an electronic book or e-Reader

Supervised Oral Reading

A strategy in whcih a student reads aloud to a teacher or tutor

Differentiation - Pacing

How much content is presented and how fast the content is presented

• Teachers may need to adjust pacing ot allow students time to comprehend difficult text

Modeling

An instructional strategy in which the teacher demonstrates a concept or skill and students learn by observing

• Ex: When a teacher encounters a difficult word in a text, she thinks aloud to model how she can use the context clues to discover the meaning

Passive Participants

Students who let their minds wander elsewhere

Diagnostic Assessment

Assessment used to “diagnose” a specifc difficulty a student is having

• Ex: If a student is struggling to read a grade level passage, the teacher could perform a diagnostic assessment to determine what is causing the difficulty

Active Participants

Students who pay attention with their whole bodies

Instructional Interventions

Additional focus on a specific skill in an effort to improve it

• Ex: A class struggles with focus, so the teacher incorporates more movement breaks into the daily lesson plan

Critical Period Hypothesis

Theory that there exists a period from early childhood to adolescence in which full native competence is possible when acquiring a language

• Supports the idea that language acquisition should happen between age two and puberty.

• Not a universally accepted theory

Autonomy

Student’s abilty to self-govern or self-motivate

Independent Reading

Reading done by students independent of the teacher; can be either assigned or student-selected and is typically silent

I Do, We Do, You Do

Teaching model that gradually releases responsibility to the student

Mentor Text

Books or other pieces of literature that are revisted throughout the school year for different purposes in literacy instruction

English Language Learners (ELLs)

Students who are learning the English language, or for whom English is not a first language

Syllable Awareness / Syllabication / Syllable Segmentation

The abilty to hear individual parts/syllables of words

• Ex: “Education” has four syllables (“ed-u-ca-tion”)

Informal Assessments

More flexible than formal assessments and can be adjusted to fit the situation and particular needs of the student being tests

• Ex: Observation during a lesson

Morphology

The study of forms of words including affixes, roots, stems, and parts of speech

• Ex: The word “bicycles” is made up of three individual morphemes. The prefix bi-, the stem cycle, and the suffix -s.

Differentiation - Complexity

How difficult the vocabulary, sentence structure, and organization is to understand within a text

• Ex: When assessing the complexity of a task, a teacher should determine if the skill or content be broken doen into more simple components

Orthography

The standards present in a language’s conventions

• Ex: spelling, capitalization, punctuation, emphasis

Formal Assessments

A usually post-instruction assessment with the purpose of assessing student knowledge, retention, and application. Often involves the use of standardized rubric or scoring guide based on several criteria

• Ex: chapter tests, semester texts

Formative Assessments

Ongoing evaluations to moniter student progress

• Ex: Using exit tickets to check understanding of the day’s lesson

Early Producition

Stage of second language acquisition in which the learner is listening and absorbing new information and collecting new words

• The learner makes many errors

Norm-Referenced Tests

Tests that compare an idividual’s performance/achievement to a group called the “norm group”

• Ex: IQ Test

Active Reading

Engaging with the text through questioning and summarizing

• Ex: Annotating and highlighting key points while reading a textbook

Standards-Based Instruction

Instruction designed to align with given standards

Intermediate Fluency

Stage of second language acquisition in which the learner begins to communicate in more complex sentences

• Ex: The learner starts to think in the second language

Phonological Awareness

The understanding and ability to hear individual words, syllables, and sounds in spoken language apart from print

Learning Objectives

Specific, measureable goals the define what learners are expected to know, understand, or be able to do as a result of instruction, guiding both teaching and assessment

Backward Design/Planning

Lesson planning that begins with the desired outcome in mind

Stakeholders

Includes administrators, colleagues, community members, school board members, family members, and students who receive information on assessment data and growth

Reading Fluency

Abilty to read with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody

Phonemic Awareness/Sound Awareness

The abilty to hear, identify, and re-create individual sounds in spoken words

Summatice Assesments

Evalutations at the end of an instructional period

• Ex: final exams or projects that assess overall learning

Blog / Discussion Board

Platforms where students asynchronously can share thoughts and respond to comments on various prompts

Competence

A student’s desire to perform

Background Knowledge

• Schema or prior knowldge

• Information or experience that the student has prior to learning

Student Choice

Allowing students to have autonomy over their education; letting students explore topics and repertoire of their choosing within a clearly defined set of directions and goals

Intrinsically Motivated

Students draw their motivation from the learning process itself

Pre-Production / Silent Period

Stage of second language development acquisition in which the learner takes in a new language, bu does not speak it

• Ex: The learner is silent. The length of time varies for each learner

Relatedness

A student’s connection to others

Metacognition

The awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes, enabling students to moniter, control, and reflect on thier learning stratgeies and problem-solving techniques to enhance their cognitive abilities

Scaffolding

Providing support to students to achieve a task

• Ex: Using “I do, We do, You do” to gradually release text analysis

Expressive Language

The ability to express meaning through language

Extrinsic / External Motivation

The motive for the activity comes from outside the individual

Speech Emergence

Stage of second language acquisition in which the learner speaks more frequently using longer words and sentences

• The learner is still relying heavily on context clues and familiar topics

Alphabetic Principle

The understanding that their is a logical/systematic relationship between the sounds of spoken English and the letters and letter-patterns of written English

Assessment

Tools used to evalute student growth and determine whether educational goals are being met

Flexible Grouping

Grouping students based on their learning needs or interests

Dysgraphia

Language-based disorder in which one struggles with the mechanics of writing resulting in impaired or illegible handwriting

Criterion-Reference Tests

Tests in which a standard has been set for the test taker to achieve in order to pass the test

• Ex: a multiple choice or short answer test on the content of a unit of study in which a 70% is needed to pass

Advanced Fluency

A stage of second language development acquisition in which the learner has reached a level of near-native proficiency

• The learner refines accuracy and continues to develop an academic vocabulary

Entry-Level Assessment

An assessment that occurs at the beginning of instruction, which is used to determine student’s current skill levels and allows the teacher to adjust instruction accordingly

• Ex: A teacher provides and entry-level assessment when starting a new unit to determine how much she needs to review some foundational skills before moving on to more advanced skills

Retell

A comprehension strategy in which students retell or tell differently what they have read or listened to

Interest Survey

Questions that ask students the types of books they enjoy reading