RED 570
Assignment 1 Part –Foundational Knowledge inquiry Project
This is an activity for which demographic information is collected. Please see Appendix A for directions.
Part One: Reflections on Current Literacy Instruction and Practice (25 points)
ILA Standards 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4
In Part One of this assignment, you will compose an 8-10 page paper that includes your
personal philosophy statement on reading instruction), an inventory of literacy
professional practices and dispositions (DeFord, 1997), and evidence to document your
analysis of your personal professional practice.
- Begin by writing a 2-page Personal Philosophy Statement outlining your approach to the teaching of reading.
- Then, complete DeFord’s Theoretical Orientations to Reading Profile (TORP) (found in Blackboard).
- Discuss the connections (or differences) between your TORP results and your Personal Philosophy Statement, documenting your analysis with 2-weeks’worth of lesson plans. Consider the percentage of daily time dedicated to each activity as it relates to the relative importance of that activity in your philosophy. (Objective 8)
In Part Two of this assignment, you will compose a 10-12 page paper, in APA style, in which you will identify and reflect on major theoretical foundations of reading and literacy instruction.
- Identify three major theories that inform literacy instruction including psychology, sociology, and applied linguistics/language development. Compare, contrast, and critique each.
- Reflect on seminal literacy studies noted in your readings as these influence the evolution of literacy instruction and align these with your understanding of professional practice and philosophy. Include citations to support your statement. (Objective 7)
Part Three: Assessment of Student Performance (25 points) FL DOE Competency 1 This is a FIELD EXPERIENCE in which you will need to identify a student reader and evaluate that student’s performance using linguistic development and cognitive development lenses. You will be submitting an 8-10 page paper, along with their Oral Language Continuum (OLC) results. (The OLC form is provided in Blackboard or you may download the New Teacher Center’s Oral Language Assessment Toolkit App from iTunes).
- Select two different passages from a developmentally appropriate text.
- Compare the student’s understanding of each passage, one read independently and one read to him/her. At the conclusion of each reading, complete an OLC report on the student as he/she answer questions based on the passages. Note the student’s performance in each of the two contexts and interpret your findings.
- Identify the student’s strengths and TWO elements in need of instructional support. Discuss the nature of the support you would provide, as it connects to the theories of language and literacy development discussed in Part Two of this assignment. Note to Course Instructor: This course assignment has been designated as a Key Assessment for which we are collecting program data on the performance of the candidate. After reviewing and grading this assignment, please link to the Assessment System at http://fischlerschool.nova.edu/assess. You will log in with your NSU login name (e.g., in the e-mail address smith@nova.edu, smith is the login name) and NSU password. Please enter the evaluation results on the specified criteria (bolded areas of the rubric) for each candidate’s assignment online. You will indicate whether the assignment did not meet, met, or exceeded the minimum requirements.
Scoring Rubric:
| Section | Points Earned | Points Possible |
| Personal Philosophy | 5 | |
| TORP | 5 | |
| Comparison | 5 | |
| Lesson Plans (10) | 10 |
DeFord Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP)
Name:
Directions: Read the following statements and circle one of the responses that will indicate the relationship of the statement to your feelings about reading and reading instruction. (SA= Strongly Agree, SD=Strongly Disagree). You may use “3” only two times in your assessment.
SA 2 3 4 SD
- A child needs to be able to verbalize the rules of phonics 1 2 3 4 5
in order to assure proficiency in processing new words.
- An increase in reading errors is usually related to a 1 2 3 4 5
decrease in comprehension.
- Dividing words into syllables according to rules 1 2 3 4 5
is a helpful instructional practice for reading new words.
- Fluency and expression are necessary components 1 2 3 4 5
of reading that indicate good comprehension.
- Materials for early reading should be written in natural 1 2 3 4 5
language without concern for short, simple words and
sentences.
- When children do not know a word, they should be 1 2 3 4 5
instructed to sound out its parts.
- It is a good practice to allow children to edit what 1 2 3 4 5
is written into their own dialect when learning to read.
- The use of a glossary or dictionary is necessary when 1 2 3 4 5
determining the meaning and pronunciation of new
words.
- Reversals (e.g., saying “was” for “saw”) are significant 1 2 3 4 5
problems in the teaching of reading.
- It is a good practice to correct a child as soon as an 1 2 3 4 5
oral reading mistake is made.
- It is important for a word to be repeated a number of 1 2 3 4 5
times after it has been introduced to ensure that it will
become a part of sight vocabulary.
- Paying close attention to punctuation marks is necessary 1 2 3 4 5
to understand story content.
- It is a sign of an ineffective reader when words and 1 2 3 4 5
phrases are repeated.
- Being able to label words according to grammatical 1 2 3 4 5
function (e.g., nouns, etc.) is useful in proficient reading.
- When coming to a word that is unknown, the reader 1 2 3 4 5
should be encouraged to guess the meaning and go on.
- Young readers need to be introduced to the root form 1 2 3 4 5
of words (e.g., run, long) before they are asked to read
inflected forms (e.g., running, longest).
- It is not necessary for a child to know the letters of the 1 2 3 4 5
alphabet in order to learn to read.
SA 2 3 4 SD
- Flash-card drills with sight words are unnecessary 1 2 3 4 5
forms of practice in reading instruction.
- Ability to use accent patterns in multisyllabic words 1 2 3 4 5
(pho’ to graph, pho to’ gra phy, and pho to gra’ phic)
should be developed as part of reading instruction.
- Controlling text through consistent spelling patterns 1 2 3 4 5
(e.g., The fat cat ran back. The fat cat sat on a hat.)
is a means by which children can best learn to read.
- Formal instruction in reading is necessary to ensure 1 2 3 4 5
the adequate development of all the skills used in reading.
- Phonic analysis is the most important form of analysis 1 2 3 4 5
used when meeting new words.
- Children’s initial encounters with print should focus on 1 2 3 4 5
meaning, not upon exact graphic representation.
- Word shapes (word configuration) should be taught in 1 2 3 4 5
reading to aid in word recognition.
- It is important to teach skills in relation to other skills. 1 2 3 4 5
- If a child says “house” for the written word “home,” 1 2 3 4 5
the response should be left uncorrected.
- It is not necessary to introduce new words before 1 2 3 4 5
they appear in the reading text.
- Some problems in reading words are caused by readers 1 2 3 4 5
dropping the inflectional endings from words (e.g., jumps, jumped.)
To determine your theoretical orientation, tally your total score on the TORP. Add the point values as indicated on each item, except for the following items: 5, 7, 15, 17, 18, 23, 26, 27. For these items, reverse the points by assigning 5 points for strongly agree (SA) to 1 point for strongly disagree (SD).
Once your points have been added, your overall score on the TORP will fall in one of the following ranges.
Theoretical Orientation Overall Score Range
Phonics 0-65
Skills 65-110
Whole language 110-140
Now that you have found your theoretical orientation according to the TORP, please give your critical response to your placement. Do you agree? Disagree?
By number, indicate any items on the TORP that you found especially difficult to answer.
