Channing Porter

Take Home Exam 1: Analyzing Instructional Interactions and Materials from a “Models of
Reading” Perspective

1) Overarching Question: What model of reading seems to guide the design of this
reading instructional program?

a) Looking at the Unit Overview and Day 1 lesson plans, which of the models (Adams,
Goodman, Rumelhart. Rosenblatt) is the basis for this instructional plan? Name the model.

● Adams

2) Reading Cue Systems and Reading Processes

The Adams, Goodman, and Rumelhart models identify several different cue systems/knowledge
sources used during reading. These cue systems are identified somewhat differently in each
model, but generally deal with graphophonics, semantics, syntax etc. Using the terminology
appropriate to the reading model you selected in your answer to #1 above, in this question I ask
you to analyze how the Journey’s instruction puts into to practice the key tenets of the reading
model you identified in #1 above.

a) What cue systems/knowledge sources are targeted for explicit instruction or teacher
demonstration in the Journeys program? Cite examples from the Journeys materials to support
your points.

● For the daily phonemic awareness, the teacher is linking the orthographic and meaning
processors. to instruct students to identify beginning sounds. Adams states, “the direct
link between the orthographic and meaning processors also may be responsible for
skillful readers’ perceptual sensitivity to the roots and affixes of polysyllabic words.”
(Modeling the Connections Between Word Recognition and Reading, 1233) In the
Journey’s program, words such as “mat” or “ban” are the stepping stone for students’
ability to pronounce and comprehend words with more than one syllable (ex. “Material”
or “banish”). The teacher pairs students up and applies corrective feedback using both
orthographic and meaning processors by modelling the individual sounds in each word
(ex. /t/ in tap). (Journey, T13).

● For the words with short “a”, and consonants “n, d”, Journey is using the word “Dan” as
the first example. On page T17, the teacher is expected to use Adam’s “bottom up”
approach. The teacher begins with the /d/ sound in the word “Dan”, then adds the short
“a” sound. The student is expected to learn how to blend the /d/ and short “a” sounds
before adding the /n/ sound. Eventually, the student will blend all three sounds to
produce the word “Dan”. In this lesson, the orthographic and phonological processors
are working together. Adams states that “through experience, the associative network
 comes to respond not just to next-door neighbors but also to the larger sequences and
patterns of letters that represent whole familiar words” (Modeling the Connections
Between Word Recognition and Reading, 1225-26). The teacher is providing the
experience and practice of blending sounds to create larger, familiar words for students.
Students are processing letter order to master the comprehension of the word “Dan”.

● For the Phonemic awareness warm-up, the teacher introduces the short “a” sound using
a card that has the letter “a” and a picture of an apple. (Journey’s, T16). By doing this,
the teacher is teaching using the context processor. According to Adams, the context
processor is “responsible for priming and selecting word meanings that are appropriate
to the text” (Modeling the Connections Between Word Recognition and Reading, 1230).
By using a picture of an apple and the letter “a”, the teacher is providing the context for
the student and scaffolding for the student to produce a meaning that is appropriate to
the text, or in this case a picture of an apple.

b) What cue systems/knowledge sources get the most instructional emphasis when you look at
the Journeys Day 1 lesson as a whole? How does this instructional emphasis reflect the
identified model of reading?

● The majority of Journeys Day 1 focuses on decoding and phonemic awareness.

Because of this, the orthographic and phonological processors get the most instructional
emphasis. Teachers focus their lessons on the breakdown of individual sounds and their
blending to produce words. Adams believes in the bottom up approach which is reflected
by the phonemic breakdown and the decoding of words.

3) Analyze texts from a “models” perspective:

In the Journeys excerpts I have provided (Day 1 lesson and Overview), students encounter 4
texts:

1. Big Book (teacher read aloud): Note: We did not have a copy of Chuck’s Truck in our
curriculum lab, so I’ve included the other big book mentioned in the overview, My Colors, My
World. (Teacher’s Manual, xxiv)

2. Teacher Read Aloud: The Lion and the Mouse (Teacher’s Manual, start page T14)

3. Decodable Reader (student text): Dan and Nan (Teacher’s Manual, start page T19)

4. Anchor Text: What is a pal? (student text) (Teacher’s Manual start page, T20.)

a) Analyze the characteristics of the two texts read aloud by teachers.

 ● My Colors, My World is visually pleasing for students. The illustrations are friendly for
visual learners because they emphasize each of the colors. The text is also written in
both Spanish and English, making it useful for students who are native Spanish
speakers. My Colors, My World is also culturally relevant particularly for Hispanic
students. Hispanic students have the opportunity to see themselves represented in texts.
Finally, My Colors, My World is organized in that there are no more than 3 sentences per
page. This makes it easy for students to follow while the teacher reads out loud.

● “The Lion and the Mouse” is not as visually pleasing for students because there are no
illustrations. This texts focuses more on vocabulary building because certain words are
highlighted on the page. The teacher is expected to provide extra focus on the
highlighted words. Because “The Lion and the Mouse” is a fable, students are expected
to learn a lesson from the text.

b) What parts of the reading process are developed through teacher read alouds.

● Kathy Short’s “learn language”, demonstrated on her curriculum model (The Search For
Balance in Literature Curriculum, 132), is being developed through teacher read alouds.
Both of these texts support the statement: “The read-aloud books include both
predictable texts that invite reader participation and challenging texts that are currently
beyond what students can handle on their own.” (Short, 133). The context and meaning
processors are also being developed through read alouds. Students are “constructing a
coherent, ongoing interpretation of the text” (Adams, 1230) as well as “acquiring the
meaning of new words gradually by encountering them in context” (Adams, 1231).

c) Describe the characteristics of materials to be read by students.

● “Dan and Nan” focuses on the “an” sounds and is on grade level for students to read.
There are illustrations provided with the text and each word only has one syllable. “What
is a Pal?” also comes with illustrations and focuses on certain words. Neither text has a
particular plot because the purpose of the texts are for students to develop their reading
and language cues. Teachers are expected to use these texts for guided reading and
guide student focus on the highlighted words.

d) How does the design of these student texts reflect the underlying model of reading?

● The design of these texts reflect Adams’ “bottom up” approach because there isn’t much
focus on the content and the context of the text. For example, “Dan and Nan” focuses on
the short a sound rather than the outside information. Students are reading the text and
developing their blending skills. In contrast to Goodman’s approach, the text does not
emphasize student discussion on the background knowledge of cats. “Dan and Nan”
focuses on the orthographic and phonological processors in order to blend sounds to
make words.
 ● In “What is a Pal?”, Goodman’s theory is paired with Adams in that students begin by
discussing what being a pal looks like. Students are using their context and meaning
cues before and during the reading of the text. Goodman states that “If reading is
making sense of written language, then it is a psycholinguistic process: a theory of
reading must include the relationships of thought and language.” (“Reading, Writing, and
Written Texts, 5). Students develop a relationship with the main idea of the text before
they begin reading it. Unlike the “Dan and Nan” reading, teachers aren’t focused on the
reading fluency of students but rather the comprehension and building relationships with
the text.

4) The Journeys Overview discusses how these materials were designed to help
students meet CCSS related to text complexity and close reading.

a) For beginning readers, we would expect the most complex texts to be read aloud by
teachers. Choose ONE of the texts read aloud by the teacher (either: My Colors, My World OR
The Lion and the Mouse) Identify features that make this text more or less complex. Do you
think this text is appropriately complex for first grade readers?

● My Colors, My World is complex in that there are multiple sentences per page. Often,
there are texts with only one sentence per page at the first grade level. The Spanish
translation also makes the text complex because there is a whole new language
introduced besides the English text. This can be complex for non-Spanish speakers. My
Colors, My World aligns with the Common Core Standards in that there are vivid
illustrations that appropriately pair with the text (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 Use
illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.) My
Colors, My World also appeals to the senses of sight, touch, and sound. The illustrations
of the colors as well as the descriptions appeal to sight. The lines about the mud and
cactus appeal to touch. The line about the wind appeals to sound. (CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings
or appeal to the senses).

b) In what way(s) is close reading incorporated into the lesson plans for Day 1? What is your
evaluation of close reading activities in these lessons?

● The lesson using “The Lion and the Mouse” incorporates close reading when the teacher
models how to correct a mispronounced word. The first line in the text was used for
close reading in that example. The vocabulary words “excellent”, “suddenly”, “miss”, and
“invitation” are highlighted because the teacher is expected to reread the sentences with
those words in order to define them as a class. The text comes with numbered stopping
points where the teacher is expected to evaluate student comprehension. Close reading
is necessary because all of the answers are text based. In the lesson, students will retell
the story. Students need to use close reading, particularly when describing individual
 details. I think there needs to be more of an emphasis on specific quotes and details
from the story. For example, the lesson is lacking the expectations for students to
identify where they got their characterization, compare and contrast, and theme
responses from the text. I think that the lesson is also lacking the necessity to reread
certain passages. The beginning paragraph and the paragraph labeled “1” illustrates
characteristics of a fable. The teacher should begin with teaching the students what a
fable is and other characteristics of a fable. It would be beneficial for students to learn
the genre and then focus in on those paragraphs that clearly portray this text as a fable.

5) Analyze the Journeys lessons from a sociocultural perspective (Gee):

Gee argues that as children engage in the Discourse of reading instruction in school they
acquire social practices that involve specific “ways with printed words.” Children co-construct an
identity as a particular type of reader and acquire cultural models about what reading is (for
children of their age and experience level).

a) If students participated in these Journeys lessons (as written in the teacher’s guide) what
cultural model of reading would they form? What would they think reading was like? What
purposes, values, attitudes about reading are part of this cultural model? What reading roles are
first grade students expected to take? What stances or actions toward text are part of these
roles? What reading roles are not yet offered to first grade readers?

● Because the teacher’s guide is primarily a “bottom up” approach, students would
develop a cultural model that reading is practicing the reading and speaking of individual
sounds and words until they are correct. According to Gee, “cultural models come out of
and, in turn, inform the social practices in which people in a Discourse engage.” (A
Sociocultural Perspective, 37). Students would develop the cultural model or social
practice of emphasizing the “correct” pronunciation of words and sounds.

● Students would think that reading is about the deconstruction and decoding of words
rather than the overall theme and main idea of a text.

● The purposes, values, and attitudes are that of Adams because the sole focus of the
cultural model is the importance of “standard English”. Teachers are encouraged to
correct students and break down the sounds every time they pronounce a word
incorrectly. This emphasizes our cultural value of pronunciation of sounds and words.

● First grade students are expected to take the role of acquiring language. The language
can be considered “social language” because the sounds being taught are common in
the English language.
 ● First graders are not offered the role of critical reading or forming an identity as a reader.
This is because this lesson does not focus on the connection between reader and text
but rather the fluency and decoding of words and sounds.

6) Analyze the Journeys lessons from a critical literacy perspective (Luke; Lewison,
Leland, & Harste):

a) Luke and Freebody propose a “Four Resources Model of Reading”. Which of the resources
are targeted for instruction in this set of materials? For each “resource” you name, give a brief
(2-3 sentence) example or explanation that will let me understand how the Journeys lessons
support (or do not support) children’s learning of that resource.

● Coding Practices- Journeys lessons support this resource though the lesson of the short
a, /d/, and /n/ sound lesson. Students are expected to blend the sounds into words which
supports the pattern and structure of sound. The “apple” lesson also relates the letter “a”
to the short “a” sound.

● Text-meaning Practices- The “What is a Pal?” text supports text-meaning practices

because students are expected to define what a pal means to them before and after
reading the text. The concept of a “pal”, and even the word for a “pal”, differs between
cultures. The cultural meaning that is constructed is paired by the text and student
responses.

● Pragmatic Practices- Journeys lessons do not support this resource. There is no

discussion or emphasis on the purpose and value of the texts. The composition of the
texts are not discussed either.

● Critical Practices- Journeys lessons do not support this resource. I did not see evidence
of students developing an identity or relationship with the texts. I also did not see
evidence of critical thinking questions.

b) We read about a variety of ways that students can begin to take a critical perspective as
readers. Lewison, Leland, and Harste propose four dimensions of critical literacy. Briefly
describe an extension activity you might add to these lessons to help your students begin to
take a critical perspective. Name the dimension of critical literacy that you are targeting in the
extension lesson.

The dimension of critical literacy that I would target would be inquiry based curriculum. I would
use the text “What is a Pal?” as my anchor text for inquiry based curriculum. An extension
activity could be for students to interview other teachers, students, and administrators outside of
the classroom on what it means to be a pal. The questions would be: Who is someone that you
consider a “pal”? Why? What does it mean to be a pal? How are you a pal to someone? What is
something that we can do as a school to be a pal to someone? The interviews could lead to the
question: How can our school be a pal to others? Students can have structured time to record
the interviews on a tablet. Each student would choose one person to interview. As a teacher, I
would also research other supplemental texts that could be paired with “What is a Pal?” The
final product would be students writing 1-2 sentences on how our school can be a pal to others
which will be paired with a drawing. The project could even lead to different community service
activities such as helping at a soup kitchen or making holiday cards for people in a nursing
home.

Reference List

Adams, Marilyn Jager. (2004). Modeling the connections between word recognitions and
reading. Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. 4th ed. 1219-1240.

Gee, James Paul. (2002). A sociocultural perspective on early literacy development. Handbook
of Early Literacy Research. 30-41.

Goodman, Kenneth. (1994). Reading, writing, and written texts: a transactional

sociopsycholinguistic view. Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. 4th ed. 1-38.

Luke, Allan. (2000). Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of context and standpoint. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43:5, 448-459.

Short, Kathy. (1999). The search for “balance” in a literature‐rich curriculum. Theory Into
Practice. 38:3, 130-137