Key Vocabulary:
The Reading Process: The process that readers go through in order to understand what they are reading.
Stages of Reading/What Happens in Each Stage: Prereading, Reading, Responding, Exploring, and Applying.
- Prereading: Becoming aware of the reading’s genre, purpose, and reading level while also preparing for new vocabulary.
- Reading: The stage of reading, or being read to, either as a group or individually while also examining any images, graphs, or charts.
- Responding: Either taking part in a discussion regarding the reading or writing down one’s individual thoughts in a reading log or reading journal.
- Exploring: Rereading as needed in order to aide in comprehension, along with reinforcing new vocabulary words.
- Applying: Either finding more information by reading similar books or using the information gained from the book to create a project of some sort.
Phonemic Awareness: The recognition of the smallest unit of sound in a word, without the use of physical written words. For example, the “c” sound in “cat.”
Phonics: The application of placing certain sounds to certain letters or combination of letters.
Word Identification: Recognizing common words without needing to sound them out and the ability to sound out uncommon and difficult words, all depending on the appropriate reading level.
Fluency: The speed at which a student is able to read a passage while also comprehending the meaning.
Vocabulary: Knowing the definition or meaning of a word.
Comprehension: An understanding of vocabulary combined with an understanding of the context.
Background Knowledge: What students know before reading or writing any given literary piece.
Mini Lessons: A sort of “subplot” of the lesson plan. The teaching of processes, strategies, concepts, etc. that are all included within the main lesson.
Guided Reading: Reading in small groups of students at similar reading levels.
Shared Reading: The teacher and students reading a passage together as a group.
Interactive Read-Aloud: The teacher reads the book to the students while the students engage in activities related to the content of the reading.
Word Wall: Important words that the teacher has written down and posted on a wall of the classroom.
Word Sorts: Students sorting words into predetermined categories.
Readers Theater: A sort of play that does not involve any props. The students read their lines in front of the class while in character. Sort of like a table reading for actors.
The Writing Process: The strategies involved in writing.
Stages of Writing Process/What Happens in Each Stage: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing.
- Prewriting: Determining the topic, purpose, and genre of the writing while also gathering all of the information necessary to the writing.
- Drafting: Creating a rough draft with enough white space on the page for written editing and revision.
- Revising: Fixing errors in either the grammar of the rough draft or the ideas included in the rough draft both individually and with the help of others.
- Editing: Repeating the revising stage as many times as necessary in order to perfect the writing.
- Publishing: Creation of the final draft which will then be shared with the intended audience.
Reading Strategies/Writing Strategies: Examples include sounding words out, drawing inferences, taking notes, organizing ideas, proofreading, and layout designs of the final draft.
Classroom Application:
Reading benefits writing and writing benefits reading. The more students are able to read, the more they will be able to write, and vice versa. As teachers, we need to place equal emphasis on both of these processes in order to give our students the greatest possible chance of succeeding. Any activity that involves reading should also involve writing.
Morgan Wyatt 