Balanced Literacy Program for Second Grade - Assignment Example

Balanced Literacy Program for Second Grade Abstract Design of ‘Balance Literacy Program’ requires careful consideration of critical success factors driving the dynamics of children behavior, surroundings, parental education and brain evolution for creating the strategic framework. Raising confidence of second grade kid through applying different schemes for maximizing their achievement and ease in academic skills remains primary concern for the program. The present paper analyzes the application of the independent reading, word identification, and Self/Co-operative model for resolving the issues in the academic development of the students in second grade. Description of the balance literacy program, basic components, analysis of linguistic articles to supplement the strategy, design of comprehensive framework components, and metrics to assess the activities and timeline of strategies are the key points of the paper to achieve the desired improvement in the children. Balanced Literacy Program Many children struggle to achieve the academic competency despite existence of various viewpoints regarding the approach to teaching children how to read. “Read to Succeed” program creates the design of comprehensive framework for assisting children in reading and writing. Teachers and academicians faces dilemma regarding the choice of methodology that can serve as model of excellence for teaching and reading in classrooms. For instance, the skills based phonics process that stresses on the breaking down of individual word into several component sounds, or the relatively easier and child-centric approach that emphasizes on the reading of texts and simultaneously deciphering its meaning through fun-filled shared readings in classrooms strengthens the value of the program. Balanced literacy program addresses these issues. The balanced reading approach offers effective techniques for enhancing reading, writing, listening, viewing and speaking skills. Cohen and Cowen (2007) observes the inculcation of right aptitude and attitude in the student in which “"The primary goal of a balanced literacy program is to teach reading, not as a skill broken into isolated steps, but as a lifelong learning process that promotes higher order thinking, problem solving and reasoning” (pp. 37). Basic Components The basic components of a Balanced Literacy Program include Reading and Writing that can be divided into various sub-components such as ‘Reading Aloud’, ‘Shared Reading’, ‘Guided Reading’, ‘Independent Reading’, ‘Modeled/Shared Writing’, ‘Interactive Writing’, and ‘Independent Writing’. Balanced Reading Program focuses on concentrated instruction and practice in which requirements for academic learning consists of phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, thinking skills, word identification and strategies etc; Response to reading through writing, discussion. Classroom environment is another component that provides platform for conducting activities individually or in small groups, focusing on thinking, learning and problem-solving as well as student interaction to meet the high expectations, clear standards and continuous evaluation through applying variety of materials such as fiction, non-fiction, and other popular genres especially in multicultural. Daily Reading plan follows the structure of shared reading, reading to students by teachers, guided reading, and independent reading practice (Holcomb, 2004). Comprehensive Framework Component of ‘Read to Succeed: Balanced Literacy Program for Second Grade’ considers the insight of literature review from the scholars as discussed in new section. Summary of Articles Underpinning Balanced Literacy Program Kees (1998) deals with the word identification variables and reading-related variables of intelligence, phonological awareness and continuous naming speed in the article “IQ, Phonological Awareness and Continuous-naming Speed Related to Dutch Poor Decoding Children's Performance on Two Word Identification Tests". For the purpose of this study, a series of experiments were conducted on children aged between 10 and 12 years who had poor decoding abilities but normal to subnormal IQs. The authors have claimed and concluded that phonological sensitivity to units like onsets, rhymes or phonemes is regarded as a vital prerequisite for decoding ability (Kees, 1998). Hammer et al. (2010) reflects on the correlation between the language and literacy growth of low-income children with distinguished features of family and progeny, speech-language deficiency, and domestic circumstances applying the pattern hidden in data retrieved from Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) conducted in 1997. Data analysis includes the effect of variable such as Age, gender, ethnicity, domestic structure; existence of parental speech-language impairment, maternal education, and frequency of home literacy events to design the final logistic regression model. The huge population selected for sample and longitudinal design of FACES increases the depth of analysis to establish the association between critical variables included in the model with vocabulary score, letter-word identification, and reading fluency of the children. The results of research process supports the positive association between reading fluency with word recognition and letter identification abilities of the children as approved by the early literature of scholars (cf. Dickinson & McCabe, 2001; Lonigan et al., 2000; Storch & Whitehurst, 2001). Bashir & Hook (2009) reflects on the methodology of the broad and the narrow reading as suggested in the published article of A.G. Kamhi in year 2007. Reading comprehension and word recognition are the key criteria of each process of reading. The intricacy involved in the reading process finds these views insufficient to explain the comprehension process completely in mutually exclusive design of analysis. The subtle aspect of growth phase that emphasizes the evolution of fluency to connect the word identification with comprehension can’t be ignored. This becomes the focal point of research for the professors, reading experts, program developers and speech-language pathologists to accommodate the factors involved in the development of fluency for creating better process of teaching reading. They find it difficult to design the holistic model for assisting the children to overcome the challenges in reading process but cognitive and linguistic abilities along with psychological dimension of interest and attention will play crucial role in improving the fluency and comprehension of children. The core message of the message articles reflects that teaching strategies should include the verbal pattern recognition of complex text design underpinned by the sufficient vocabulary development, word recognition, and linguistic skills. Conclusion Balance Literacy Program faces the challenges in teaching linguistic skills to realign the endogenous and exogenous processes of reading and writing to enhance the academic competency of the second grade student. Literature review assists in assigning priority list to nurture abilities of children in effective way to increase their passion for reading and writing. Teaching strategy Balance Literacy Program requires revision to uplift the process for exploiting the opportunities present in the information technology to improve the performance of students on regular basis. Cohen and Coven (2007) reflect on the importance of availing the technical innovation to support the literacy program for growth of Children. Teachers should cautiously research the options in the technology to take advantage of new possibilities. References Bashir, A, S., & Hook, P. E (2009). Fluency: A Key Link between Word Identification and Comprehension. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40, 196-200. Retrieved from TAMIU EBSCO database. Cohen, V. L., Cowen, J. E., (2007). Literacy for Children in an Information Age: Teaching Reading, Writing and Thinking, CENGAGE Learning Publication Hammer, C.S., Farkas, G., & Maczuga, S (2010). The Language and Literacy Development of Head Start Children: A Study Using the Family and Child Experiences Survey Database. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 70–83. Retrieved from TAMIU EBSCO database. Holcomb, E. L., (2004). Getting Excited About Data: Combining People, Passion, and Proof to Maximize Student Achievement, SAGE Publication, Pp. 162 Kees van den Bos., (1998). IQ, Phonological Awareness and Continuous-naming Speed Related to Dutch Poor Decoding Children's Performance on Two Word Identification Tests, DYSLEXIA, Vol.4, Pp. 73-89 Appendix Structure/Framework Design Plan / template for Second grade Balanced Reading Program Divide the class into small groups in accordance with their reading levels and assign the following tasks accordingly. Daily Reading Plan: Curriculum Component Timeline Strategies/Activities Shared Reading (all groups) 30 minutes Self-Motivation Guided Reading (in groups, in pairs) 30 minutes Phonological Awareness Group 1 : Guided Reading with the teacher 30 minutes Pronunciation and Word-Identification through Letter Combination Group 2 : Paired Reading with a partner 8 - 10 minutes Pronunciation and Word-Identification through Letter Combination Group 3: Silent Reading with a partner (under teacher’s supervision) 8 – 10 minutes Topic of Interest All groups: Reading aloud to the class 30 minutes Peer groups Feedback Daily Writing Plan: Curriculum Component Timeline Strategies/Activities Independent Writing (all groups) 30 minutes Self-Motivation Guided Writing (in groups, in pairs) 30 minutes Phonological Awareness Group 1 : Guided Writing with the teacher 30 minutes Pronunciation and Word-Identification through Letter Combination Group 2 : Paired Writing with a partner 8 - 10 minutes Pronunciation and Word-Identification through Letter Combination Group 3: Free Writing with a partner (under teacher’s supervision) 8 – 10 minutes Topic of Interest All groups: Reading aloud to the class after writing 30 minutes Peer groups Feedback Read More