EDUC 6400 Materials Analysis #1 Fall 2021

Amanda Hetzel

Question 1: Overarching Question: What model of reading guides

the design of this reading program?
a) Looking at the TN FSCS lesson plans, which of the models (Adams,
Goodman, Rumelhart. Rosenblatt) is the basis for this instructional plan?
Name the model.
● The basis for this instructional plan seemed to be based on Adam’s Bottom-up model
(Adams, 2004).
● To answer question #1, you need ONLY to identify the model. You will build a case for this
judgment with your answers to questions 2 and 3 below.
● Please note: I am most interested in your application of knowledge about reading models and
the reading process and the way you justify your answer using evidence from course readings
that is applied to the TN FSCS materials.

Question 2: Analyze the Reading Cue Systems/Knowledge Sources

targeted for teacher instruction or demonstration:
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, context, 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 TN FSCS instruction puts into 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 TN FSCS program. (Week 4)? Cite examples from
the TN FSCS materials to support your points.
■ Overall it seems that these three lessons are phonics-led assignments.
Before the lessons are laid out there are many phonics activities such as
working with onset rimes, and manipulating phonemes (FSCS PDF
p.142-143, 177-178, 187-188). Although there are no direct instructions
on when the teacher should be leading these activities, it could be a good
way to start off each of the lessons. Most aspects of the lessons will begin
being teacher demonstrated before explicit instruction begins. After
reviewing all of the At a Glance for each of the lessons it shows that these
lessons were created to be meaningful learning experiences for the
students and it targets all four of the cueing systems that Adams has
outlined for us. This includes the orthographic processor (letter-sound
relationships), phonological processor (saying words out loud and relating
letters to sounds), context processor (reading to interpret/make meaning of
the text), and meaning processor (making sense of or putting meaning to
parts of words). The orthographic processors and the phonological
processor seem to be in conjunction with each other for many of the
aspects of lesson 16 having students blending and segmenting letters and
words together (FSCS PDF starting at p.146). This builds as a premise for

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the lesson that will allow students to expand their work with certain letters
and sounds (i.e. tricky words) and creating chains for reading. Students
will be adding to their orthographic and phonological processors by using
their meaning processors to make sense of the chains that they are creating
and tricky words that they are learning. These can be hard concepts for
students to understand therefore there will need to be teacher
demonstrations done prior to explicitly instructing students on doing the
work. Lesson 19 (FSCS PDF starting at p.180) begins with working on
tricky words which will use the student’s orthography, phonological, and
meaning processing skills. Although it then builds up to them using their
context processor because the students will be reading for this lesson.
This lesson begins with a teacher demonstration of the reading although
students will be working with each other explicitly to complete the
reading. Lesson 20 (FSCS PDF starting at p. 192) is a combination of
what has been taught in lessons 16 and 19. All four of the processors will
be used throughout the lesson.
b) Which of these cue systems/knowledge sources get the most instructional
emphasis when you look at the three sample lessons as a whole? How does this
instructional emphasis reflect the identified model of reading?
■ I believe that the orthographic processor and phonological processors
receive the most instructional emphasis in these three lesson samples.
They seem to be the basis of the stepping stones in Adam’s model that
helps to allow students to gain decoding skills, which will then lead to a
student becoming a skilled reader over time. Some of these activities
where there is an instructional emphasis when the teacher will be teaching
blending and segmenting of words (FSCS PDF p. 146), using the
consonant flipbooks (FSCS p. 146 & 192), and tricky works such as the
with an emphasis on /e/ and who with emphasis on /o/ (FSCS PDF p.
181). The instruction for these three activities is crucial for building upon
students’ orthographic and phonological processing skills, which
correlates directly with Adams’ model of reading. Each of these activities
will build upon the students' understanding of letter-sound relationships
and ability to words aloud and relate the letters to their individual sounds.
This will then build up to them being able to apply and use these skills in
the other activities that are aligned with the lessons.

Question 3: Analyze the texts included in the lesson and the

accompanying activities
In the TN FSCS lessons students encounter texts that are read aloud to them by teachers, and then
they are expected to read those texts independently or with partners.
a) Describe the characteristics of the texts/stories read by the teacher and students in the
sample lessons. (See the Big Book and Student Reader).
■ Characteristics seen in Big Book/Student Reader
● The story is exactly the same in the big book and student reader

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● Illustrations after each page of reading
● Tricky words underlined throughout the story: I, is, once, a (/a/ sound may not be
as expected), of, the (specifically e because it does not sound like the /e/ expected
sound), some (/o/ and /e/ do not follow their normal sound pattern)
● Both books have a table of contents that outline all the stories and which pages
they start on (for the focus of the sample lessons, we are focused on “Beth” and
“Nat”)
● CVC words are included in the stories
● The stories are made to be decodable for all students to be able to read
b) Why would your identified model choose this kind of text for the student to read?
■ Adam’s model aligns well with this kind of text for the student to read because it
focuses on orthographic skills. Students have previously worked and focused on their
phonetic and alphabetic knowledge, therefore allowing the text to be decoded easily
based on their prior knowledge. This text includes basic words that can be easily
decoded. The illustrations are not revealing the meaning of the story, although it will
help them to picture the story in their mind. The repetition of the same words (ie.
tricky words in this story) throughout the story will allow for spelling-phonetic
patterns to be formed to help improve automaticity. Having this story demonstrated to
the students first will help with their partner reading. The teacher will isolate specific
skills that are used during the reading that can then be done with ease when the
students are reading with their partners (Adams, 2004)
c) What parts of the reading process are targeted for instruction through the teacher
read-aloud portion of the lesson? (Consider the comments and actions scripted for the
teacher.)
■ During the teacher read-aloud portion, teachers will be demonstrating the reading of
the story.
■ Demonstration story- teacher models reading skills to students first
● The teacher will: point out tricky words prior to reading, any specific grammar
that the teacher would like to zoom in on, ask questions for comprehension
check-ins, and clarify anything that students may not understand from the story
Reading Processes targeted during teacher read-aloud portion of lesson:
■ Orthographic processor
● Modeling how the teacher is using their own orthographic processor to say the
words from the text
■ Phonological processor
● Reading the story to the class
● During the second read aloud highlighting the tricky words that are encounters
○ Pg. 2 of Big Book “What do you think the underlined words mean? What
have we learned about this word?”
○ Pg. 4 of Big Book “Who can tell me what the tricky word is on this page?”
● Read the story aloud twice to the class
■ Meaning processor
● Ask students if they know what a snapshot is, otherwise explain
● Have students predict what they think they will see in the stories based on the
titles

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● Read the story first time to the student and remind them that the title of the story
is “Beth” and to listen carefully to learn about Beth and her trip
○ Read through without stopping although track text with finger or pointer
■ Shows that words have meaning
● Remind students that the story is made up of sentences that starts its’ first word
with a capitalized letter and ends each sentence with a period (text features)
● Ask students if there were any parts of the story that they did not understand (if
there are go back and clarify)
■ Context processor
● Introducing book Snapshots
● Tell the students that they will be reading a story about Beth who will be taking a
trip from the US to the UK (point out these places on a map)
○ This is providing context for students to understand where the book is taking
place
● During the second reading point out illustrations that may help support the text
and further thinking of students
○ Pg. 5 point out Beth’s hair “What does this tell us about the weather on top of
the path at the pond?
○ Pg. 9 “What’s the name of this dog? How do we know this?”
● Ask guided reading questions provided in the teacher handbook
● Ask students discussion questions (literal questions given in teacher lesson)
● Preview vocabulary that will be encountered during the reading
■ **quotations and instructions are taken from FSCS PDF p. 183-184
■ **quotations and instructions are taken from FSCS PDF p. 195-197
■ **seen in both stories/instructional plans for teachers

d) What parts of the reading process are targeted for instruction through the student’s own
reading of the text? (Consider the organization of the student reading activity, as well as
teacher talk directed to the students before, during, or after the student, reads the text.)
■ For the student’s own reading of the text, they will be doing this with a partner.
Reading Processors being targeted:
■ Orthographic processor
● Sounding out tricky words from the story
● Putting together letters and sounds in order to form a word
■ Phonological processor
● Reading the text with prose
● Taking letter-sound relationships in order to say a word aloud
● If the partner is struggling to read the text they may help them
● Groupings/partners will be based on decoding skills: “one group for independent
learners needling minimal teacher support, one group for students who need
moderate support, and one group for students who cannot proceed with
independent work on their own” (FSCS PDF p. 191)
○ In doing this students that could be struggling, will be able to gain support
from the teacher
■ Context processor
● Partner is following along with the text as they are listening

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● Early finishers should reread the story from the previous day
■ Meaning processor
● Ask students what page to turn to to find the story (using the table of contents to
find the story)
■ **quotations and instructions are taken from FSCS PDF p. 184-185
■ **quotations and instructions are taken from FSCS PDF p. 197
■ **seen in both stories/instructional plans for teachers

Question 4: Analyze the materials 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 consistently participated in these TN FSCS 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?
Consistent participation what they would form: If students were consistently participating
in these TN FSCS lessons they would likely form social participation form of reading. This
would integrate with the ways of talking, thinking, believing, acting, interacting, valuing, and
feeling through each of the readings (Gee, 2003, pp. 30-31). Reading would involve all of these
aspects in order for it to be considered a cultural way of reading. Reading should also allow for
students and their teacher to interact together to form a community and a positive attitude
towards the act of reading and writing itself. Most first graders view reading as being a pointless
activity that they quickly lose interest in. At their age, students tend to struggle with reading and
give up once they become frustrated with the reading. Students may not value reading that much
because they could see their time is spent doing something that they enjoy doing. There can be a
major disconnect between the reader and the text if it is an assigned text that the student may not
be able to relate to it, through characters, setting, etc. Many students may also not have the
opportunity to hear a read-aloud outside of the classroom causing more of a disconnect between
them and the act of reading. They may not also have access to that many books when they are at
home or access to a library where they can take books out. According to the TN FSCS first
graders should be expected to take a talking, thinking, and interact with the texts that they will be
reading. In accordance with the lessons, the students seem to take a more subtle role in relation
to Gee’s sociocultural perspective view. These lessons seem to be much more teacher-led, having
the story read to them, without giving them the initial opportunity to try to decode the text
themselves. Although the teacher does allow students to interact with the text by asking them
questions related directly to the story and story formate. Students only opportunity to take part in
the reading other than the read-aloud is when they read with a partner. This does not allow for
individual reading experiences. Although by reading with a partner students learn the skills of

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sharing and listening to others. They also can help out their partner if they are struggling with
reading the text. Also in accordance with the TN FSCS students interact with the text when
answering questions directly about comprehension led by the teacher and in the student
workbooks 19.1 (Student WB PDF p. 87-88) and 20.2 (Student WB PDF p. 91-92). Although yet
again these are instructed to be group activities and not individual activities. In accordance with
the TN FSCS the first-grade students seem to be learning more than just skills (ie. letter-sound
correspondence and phonemic awareness). Although since student reading is done in pairs it
lacks in the student’s ability to self-monitor for the meaning of the text. This is monitored more
through the whole class participation. Through the act of reading the student will be lurking and
taking up some specific socially situation identities (from the text and teacher), attitudes, and
ways of using talking.
There seem to be many roles that are not yet offered to the first-grade students through
the TN FSCS. One of these being that there are no meaningful social situation identities (ie.
knowing that reading can be seen as a positive and meaningful activity). The stories that are
given to the student lack diversity, which may then cause students to struggle to relate to the
stories that they are reading. Another aspect that is yet to be offered is that there is not much
learning that is occurring through socialization. Most of the reading lessons presented in Lessons
16, 19, and 20 are direct teacher instruction/modeling. When students have presented a question
there seems to be only one correct answer, meaning that only a handful of students will have the
opportunity to participate in answering the questions. Another aspect that is not yet offered
through the TN FSCS is that even when working together, teachers and students are not
constructing an ideal cultural model of reading is since the lessons are so directed. There does
not seem to be that much tie for the teacher to focus on each child to see who they are (as a
particular reader) and seeing their socially situated identity that has formed through the reading.
If these lessons allowed for a more individualized reading experience, the teacher could pull the
students one by one and see how they are interacting with the text. Another role that is not yet
offered to the students is “how the child -- at home, in the community, and at school – does or
does not acquire specific social practices . . that involve printed words (Gee, 2003, p. 35). TN
FSCS is only concerned with the social practices involved with the readings assigned to the
students.

Question 5: Analyze the materials from a Four Resources Model

perspective (Allan Luke):
Allan Luke proposes a “Four Resources Model of Reading”—which identifies four major
sets of social practices that are required for critical literacy: Codebreaker, meaning
maker, text user, and text critic.

a) FSCS Focus: Which 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 TN FSCS lessons support children’s learning of that resource.
■ Codebreaking: TN FSCS addresses code breaking by using the basis of phonics
throughout all of the lessons. Phonics is the core to the way of reading and writing
according to TN FSCS, therefore in each of the three focus lessons, students will work
on blending and segmenting words, working with letters to create whole words that

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the students may recognize, work on tricky words that may not sound the same way
that their letters and sounds correspond, and the morphology of words through
spelling (FSCS PDF p.146-147, 181-182, 192-195). When students are working on
blending and segmenting words they will work together are a class to correspond the
letter sounds to letter names in order to form a word. This can be seen in lessons 16
and 20. By matching the letter sound to the name they will be able to form whole
words. Students will also be working with letters cards that display letters and letter
groupings such as ‘k’, ‘x’, ‘ng’, and ‘qu’ that may be sometimes uncommon in words.
This will help to build their knowledge of morphology and how these fit into certain
words by looking at them in their consonant flipbooks. Another activity that students
will encounter in these specific lessons is working with tricky words. This can be
seen in all three lessons (ie. on/e/, /o/n/c/e/, th/e/, wh/o/, s/ai/d, s/a/y/s). It will help
support the students in both their whole word recognition and morphology. Tricky
words can be difficult for many students since some letters do not make the same
sound as the letter sound that they were originally taught. Therefore it is crucial that
teachers instruct students on these words. Another activity that students will be using
code-breaking skills for is chaining letters together to create whole words. This can be
seen in lesson 16 where students will be given a set of letter cards to create words
with. This will allow them to build on their whole word recognition and morphology
skills.
■ Meaning-making: TN FSCS supports meaning-making across all of its lessons. As
seen in lesson 16 students will be focusing on creating new words through chaining
letters together to create new words. This activity will allow students to build the
letters together to create new words. They will also be using their schema and predict
where letters should go in order for it to be a word. Lesson 19 is full of
meaning-making activities. Prior to engaging with the reading of the lesson students
will make predictions on what the story will be about and relate their background
knowledge based on the title of the story. Then throughout the read-aloud teachers
may ask the students to predict what will be happening next in the story. Also during
the reading of the story, “Beth” students will be asked comprehension questions to
make sure that they are understanding what is being read to them. During lesson 20
students will build on their vocabulary skills through their work with the spelling
cards of ‘ng’ and ‘qu’. They will relate these concepts to their consonant spelling
cards and adding to their mental vocabulary bank. Through working with the tricky
words of said and says students will also be adding these vocabulary words to their
mental vocabulary bank. Prior to a whole group reading, the teacher will go over two
vocabulary words that the students will encounter while reading the text. It is
important that the class reviews these so that they can comprehend them when they
see them in the text. Some students may know these words prior to seeing them in the
text and can share this schema with their classmates. Upon reading the story “Nat”

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the teacher may ask students to predict what may occur later in the story. The teacher
will also work on comprehension strategies with the students by asking questions to
make sure that they are understanding what is happening in the story. This is similar
to what was being done in the lesson prior. Another way that students will be working
on their comprehension strategies during this lesson is that they will answer three
discussion questions at the conclusion of the whole class reading. This will be a true
indicator to the teacher to see that the students were able to make meaning of the text.
■ Text use: TN FSCS also addresses text use with students in lessons 19 and 20.
Although it is not that strong of an aspect of the social practices in the overall
program. After finishing the readings in lessons 19 and 20 students are directed to go
to their unit workbooks 19.1 (Student WB PDF p. 87-88) and 20.2 (Student WB PDF
p. 91-92) to answer comprehension questions. These questions align directly with the
text. Teachers should have the students use the text in order to respond to each of the
questions. They will be able to find the answer directly in the reader.
■ Text critic: n/a
Curriculum Extension:
b) List the resources that are not targeted for instruction in the TN FSCS.
■ One resource that is not targeted for instruction in the TN FSCS is text critic/text
analysis. Throughout all three of these focus lessons there seems to be no analysis
aspect having students figure out and understand the author’s purpose or
understanding how the text positions them to view the stories in a certain way. Text
analysis could be a more challenging social practice that could be addressed at a
higher grade level. Although when just focusing on the first-grade level it is not
targeted. Another part that is somewhat not targeted in the TN FSCS is through text
use and understanding genre and what we do within texts. This aspect is not seen in
any of the focus lessons. There is the aspect of reading and responding to the text,
although the genre is not discussed with students.
c) If you were choosing/designing a second set of curricular materials/experiences to extend
the FSCS curriculum, what are some of the features of instructional activities and texts
that you would consider important to develop the resources that are not targeted in FSCS.
[Write a brief answer for each of the resources listed as “missing” from FSCS. Bullet
points are fine!]
■ Text critic/analysis - In order to do this, a different text would need to be selected in
order to have the students be able to understand the author’s purpose and how a text
can position the reader. The texts that are given for the students to read in lessons 19
and 20 seem to be chapters of the overall book Snapshot. Since it is not being shown
as the whole book students may have a hard time figuring out the author’s purpose
from these specific chapters in the book.
(1) Understanding the author’s purposes
○ Chose a text that the reader will be able to understand the main ideas of the
text as a whole and be able to follow the author’s ideas (ie. plot) as the story
progresses. After reading the text, the student should be able to tell exactly
what happens in the story (beginning, middle, and end). They can think

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critically about the story they just read and connect it to their background
knowledge.
(2) Understanding how texts position us
○ As stated above the students can think critically about how a chosen story
affected them. This would probably need to be a scaffolded activity with
asking the students questions about how the text made them feel if they could
connect/relate to any of the characters that they read about, etc. Upon
completion of this students should be able to understand how the text
positioned them as a reader.
■ Text Use
(1) Understanding genre and what we do with text
○ In order to incorporate this into the TN FSCS when introducing the reading
activities to the students, I would start out by telling students the genre in
which the text is (ie. fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, etc.) From here I
would give a few examples of other texts that the students may have
previously read in the class or during their free reading time. This will allow
students to use their background knowledge to connect it to the current text
that they are about to read. I would maybe even ask students for other
examples that they could think of that would relate to the specific genre.
Although I would only take a few students’ answers due to time constraints. In
order to have students remember the different genre types, I even have posters
by the classroom library that describe the different genres and some books that
would fit into those categories. After completing the book I would add a
sticky note under the genre poster so that the students can connect to that
story.
○ Additionally, to this, I would ask students about the correct ways to read a
book. This will help students to understand what we do when reading texts.
When reading a text in English the students should start at the front cover,
they should be tracking left to right, flipping the pages singularly, reading any
captions that may be involved, etc. In order to see if students understand these
tasks, they could complete a reading scavenger hunt that requires them to do
these certain tasks.

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References

Adams, M. J. (2004). Modeling the connections between word recognition and reading. In R. B.

Ruddell & N. J. Unrau (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (5th ed., pp.

1219-1243). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Gee, J. P. (2003). A sociocultural perspective on early literacy development. In S. B. Neuman &

D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 30-42). New York:

Guilford Press.

Luke, A. (2000). Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of context and standpoint. Journal of

Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43(5), 448-461. [Focus only on the description of Four

Resources Model on pp 453-455.]

TN Foundational Skills. (n.d.). TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement Grade 1 Unit 1.

Retrieved October 11, 2021, from

https://bestforall.tnedu.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/First_Grade_Unit_1_Teacher_G

uide.pdf

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