5 Reading Resources

                                                       Critique of Five Reading Resources

                                                                    Mary-Lynn Miller
                                                              Wilmington University
                                                                      Practicum III




1. Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest)
    Vacca, J.L., Vacca, R.T., Gove, M.K., Burkey, L.C., Lenhard, L.A., & McKeon, C.A.         (2012). Reading and Learning to Read (8th ed.).  Boston, MA: Pearson.

    ReQuest is a strategy that is used in many classrooms to help increase students’ reading comprehension abilities.  This technique is free and easy to implement and there are many guidelines available for it online or in textbooks.  The focus of ReQuest is to have students ask their own questions while they read so that they can critically assess what they are reading.  Teachers first need to model this process before students can do it on their own.  Modeling should include reading aloud and showing how you would develop your own questions about the text, or sharing your questions about a passage that students have read (Vacca et al., 2012).  After modeling this a few times, teachers should begin to have students express their own questions about their reading.  Students and teachers can go back and forth asking questions that range from critical thinking questions, to literal, inferential, or predictive questions.  Once students have become comfortable with the process they will be able to work in reading groups where they take turns varying who asks the questions (Vacca et al., 2012).
    A major strength of this practice is that it can be implemented at a variety of grade levels, content areas or with students of a variety of skill levels.  Furthermore, this technique helps students learn how to ask critical questions while reading, which will not only aid in their comprehension, but will also prepare them for meaningful discourse about the text.  I plan on using this technique with my Practicum student to help her keep track of her reading and to help her to look at the text more critically.  However, this method does have some weaknesses in that it may be hard for students who are very behind in their reading skills to participate in this strategy.  This strategy rests on students having some basic concept of what is happening in the text.  If some students are really struggling, then it may be difficult for them to appropriately participate.  In this case, it may be beneficial for those students to have more guidance and more practice, perhaps with the aid of a TAM teacher.

2. Story Mapping Activities
    Reading Rockets. (2012). Classroom Strategies: Story Maps. Retrieved from:         http://    www.readingrockets.org/strategies/story_maps/

    Story mapping activities require the use of graphic organizers that can be printed for free off of many internet sites or that can be created by the teacher.  Story maps are used to help students organize their knowledge about various parts of a story.  These graphic organizers can range from very simplistic to very detailed depending on the type of material you are covering.  Identifying and describing key parts of the text, such as characters, setting, problems and solutions, allows students to absorb all of the key details of the text, thereby aiding in their comprehension (Reading Rockets, 2012). 
    The strength of using story maps is that they can be used for any content area, grade or skill level.  Simple story maps help younger or struggling students focus on just two or three main areas of text whereas more advanced story maps help students focus on character traits or plot details (Reading Rockets, 2012).  Furthermore, the benefit of story maps is that they can be completed individually, in pairs, in small groups, or as a whole class.  This flexibility allows teachers to easily add story maps into any lesson.  Story maps are something that I believe will greatly help my Practicum student.  I believe that having a place to organize facts about the text will help her to remember these important details and thereby increase her reading comprehension skills.
    The weakness of story maps is that they will need to be differentiated to help the majority of students in the class.  Some students may need to work with an aide before being able to work independently.  Guidance can be given in the form of modeling or in having differentiated worksheets.  Struggling students’ worksheets may have more prompts on them that give them examples of questions to answer, instead of just a blank place to write descriptions.  This type of differentiation will take added time for the teacher, but will ultimately help all students.

3. Brain Pop, Jr., found at brainpopjr.com
    BrainPOP. (2012). Brain POP jr. Retrieved from: http://www.brainpopjr.com/

    This website has numerous activities for students in Kindergarten to third grade.  On this website you can have students watch short, educational movies and then take quizzes, play games, or research more about what they have just watched.  For reading and writing there are many movies and activities, including lessons on parts of speech, making predictions, writing skills, nonfiction texts, and more.  Each movie moves at a slow to medium pace and includes characters and music that students will enjoy.   
    This website has many strengths, including ease of use and high appeal to students.  Not only is this a great way to incorporate technology use into the classroom, but it will also appeal to students since it does not feel like regular learning.  I plan on introducing my Practicum student to this website so that she can explore some learning on her own in a fun, interactive way.  Other strengths of this program include the fact that BrainPop has a variety of other programs including one for older students and one for English language learners.
    One major weakness of this website is that most content requires a purchase.  There are some movies and activities on the website that are free, and all of the information for teachers is free, but the majority of student content is not.  To purchase Brain Pop Jr, for just one classroom costs $145 for one year, while a school-wide subscription costs $1200 for one year.  Although this is expensive, it offers a lot of possibilities for use for many classrooms.

4. Free Rice
     World Food Programme. (2012). Free Rice 2.0. Retrieved from: http://freerice.com/#/         english-vocabulary/1557

    Free Rice, which was created by the World Food Programme, is an online game that quizzes participants on vocabulary, grammar, and other subjects.  Each correct answer delivers 10 grains of rice to needy families.  This game is completely free and contains a variety of levels to incorporate participants of all skill levels, both young and old.  Some have called this game  “an opportunity to promote students' engagement with words while contributing to the social good” (Reading Rockets, 2012, para. 54).  Students can play this game at home or in school to help improve their vocabulary or grammar skills.  Furthermore, this game can be used as a regular part of class time, where students play as a whole group and discuss each answer (Reading Rockets, 2012).  Students can keep track of their rice donations individually, or the whole class, grade, or school can get involved.
    The strengths of this website include its ability to stimulate interest in learning and helping others.  The appeal of doing something good for others gives players determination and motivation to play the game.  Not only would this game serve as positive review for students, but could also support lessons from other content areas, such as social studies.  I think that this game could be a wonderful addition to class time and I think that keeping track of the earnings of the class, grade, or school could be a wonderful way to promote learning and giving.  Furthermore, since this game has a variety of levels, it has the capacity to support many different students.
    The weakness of this game is that sometimes the questions can be difficult or include uncommon words.  Even though this website asks questions of various difficulty levels, even the most basic level may be too difficult for very young students, English language learners, or others who are struggling.  Extra guidance would be necessary to help these students, especially to ensure that this game does not add to their frustration with reading and language.

 5. Text Connections
    Vacca, J.L., Vacca, R.T., Gove, M.K., Burkey, L.C., Lenhard, L.A., & McKeon, C.A.         (2012). Reading and Learning to Read (8th ed.).  Boston, MA: Pearson.
   
    Using the text connection strategy is a free way to further promote reading comprehension in the classroom.  With this strategy, you teach students about three different types of connections that they can make to what they are reading.  These three connections are text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world (Vacca et al., 2012).  Text-to-self connections are those students make when something in what they have read reminds them of a personal experience they have had.  Text-to-text connections are made when something in what they are currently reading relates to something else they have read, such as similar problems or characters.  Finally, text-to-world connections are those that students make when they relate something in the story that they are reading, such as a problem or conflict, to something else in the outside world, such as moral issues.  These final types of connections are more difficult and are usually reserved for older students (Vacca et al., 2012).  Using these types of connections helps students further comprehend what they are reading since they are connecting it to other things that they know or have experienced (Vacca et al., 2012).  This fosters a deeper level of understanding for the students and makes the learning much more meaningful and real.
    The strengths of this method are that it helps students create meaningful connections to what they are reading.  These types of connections foster their comprehension and make their reading more relevant and meaningful.  I plan to use this strategy with my Practicum student so that she can begin to make valuable connections to what she is reading.  I expect that by making  these connections she will be better able to remember important parts of that story and will hopefully enjoy reading even more.
    The weaknesses of this strategy are that it must be modeled well, and often, to ensure that students are using it correctly and effectively.  For this reason it may be beneficial to have posters in the classroom that remind students of what the connections are.  Furthermore, giving students a journal or some other way to write down their connections would probably help to ensure that this is a technique that students use often.  Having strategies in place to make sure that students make connections with every book will ensure that they are getting the most out of this strategy.  
   

                                                                     References
BrainPOP. (2012). Brain POP jr. Retrieved from: http://www.brainpopjr.com/

Dalton, B. & Grisham, D.L. (2011). eVOC Strategies: 10 Ways to Use Technology to Build     Vocabulary. Retrieved from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/52248/

Reading Rockets. (2012). Classroom Strategies: Story Maps. Retrieved from:         http://    www.readingrockets.org/strategies/story_maps/

World Food Programme. (2012). Free Rice 2.0. Retrieved from: http://freerice.com/#/     english-vocabulary/1557

Vacca, J.L., Vacca, R.T., Gove, M.K., Burkey, L.C., Lenhard, L.A., & McKeon, C.A. (2012).     Reading and Learning to Read (8th ed.).  Boston, MA: Pearson.