Education Commons^™

The Power Or Words: Increasing Student Vocabulary Acquisition, Kelly M. Tiers

Culminating Experience Projects

A lack of vocabulary knowledge may have an influence on student reading comprehension. Reading comprehension, a fundamental, skill, hinges on understanding unknown vocabulary. The research highlights the significant correlation between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge, stressing its increasing importance as students encounter more complex text. This project explores the importance vocabulary plays in reading comprehension and its link to overall academic success. It further explores strategies to effectively increase student vocabulary and comprehension. The project is designed for elementary classrooms (K-6) to be integrated into existing lessons and routines. An in-service session, part of a district-wide professional development day, will …

Creating Effective Parent-Teacher Partnerships To Positively Impact Student Reading, Ashley A. Durack

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has proven that when families and educators work together the student benefits immensely and they are more prepared to reach greater academic success. Students today need more support than ever in many academic areas, especially literacy, that is why the creation of parent-teacher partnerships is crucial. When families and educators form strong parent-teacher partnerships they are able to communicate more openly and are able to effectively address the reading difficulties that students may encounter through a variety of different strategies. It’s important for educators to keep an open mind during the creation of these partnerships. It’s essential for teachers …

Text Based Discussions: An Approach To Teach Reading Comprehension, Georgeanne R. Green

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has revealed that students’ reading comprehension success is a direct reflection on teachers’ knowledge of the content and level of comfort with instruction. Teachers play an important role in facilitating and managing meaningful interactions with a text amongst students. This project explores factors that contribute to reading comprehension. The main factor acknowledged in this project is the varied levels of teacher knowledge and instructional practices in reading. Consistency in instructional practices within a school matters. With that, this project highlights the importance of implementation of a reading approach, text based discussion, that entails many opportunities for collaborative learning. This …

A Framework For Interdisciplinary Read Aloud Lessons, Lyndsey M. Bensel

Culminating Experience Projects

Science and social studies instruction at the elementary level has diminished in quantity and quality as a result of increasing pressure to maximize English language arts achievement. This approach exchanges short term gains in reading proficiency for long term deficits across many disciplines. Research establishes a strong connection between background knowledge gained through content area learning and the ability to comprehend expository texts. Moreover, deprioritizing science and social studies instruction limits opportunities to explore disciplinary literacy practices which serve as the foundation for acquiring knowledge in different disciplines. The framework for interdisciplinary read aloud lessons developed through this project, will …

An Examination Of Reading Interventions At The Upper Elementary Level, Bethany Vangessel

Culminating Experience Projects

Students of all ages face challenges in their reading and while some challenges begin early in learning to read, other challenges develop as students begin reading more complex texts. However, research into the most effective forms of intervention for students who struggle with reading have focused more on beginning readers in the lower elementary grades. As students enter the upper elementary grades, there are increased demands on foundational reading skills with multisyllabic words, comprehension, and the added pressure of standardized testing. Changing demands on reading skills result in a more diverse need to intervention as students may struggle with foundational …

Engaging Disinterested Adolescent Readers In The Middle School Classroom, Elizabeth M. Lezman

Culminating Experience Projects

Reading is a necessary skill and habit that adolescents need to carry into adulthood to set them on a more advantageous life trajectory. As students reach adolescence and their interest and engagement in reading tends to decrease, it is vital for educators to implement strategies and structures to promote engagement, passion and interesting in reading. Three key factors of increasing engagement are to build a community of readers, implement choice reading, and provide texts representing a variety of identities, cultures, traditions and voices. Research has proven that students are more engaged in reading when they feel part of a community, …

Differentiating Instruction Through One-On-One Literacy Conferences, Rebecca Sue Klenk

Culminating Experience Projects

Today's classroom has a wide range of diversity. To meet these needs, students need individualized instruction. Many classrooms today still present instruction through whole-group. However, research has found this does not benefit students the way differentiated instruction can. Differentiated instruction has two significant misunderstandings. One, teachers see it as they must provide different lessons plans for each student's needs. Secondly, teachers think differentiated instruction is only needed for students working below proficiency. However, with the use of one-on-one reading conferences, teachers can meet all their students' diverse needs and provide differentiated instruction.

Conferring is tailoring instruction to meet students' strengths …

Incorporating Systematic Phonics Instruction Into Daily Reading Curriculum, Rachel Pennock

Culminating Experience Projects

Research reiterates how instilling a strong reading foundation in young students is vital to their growth in the future. Today, students in early elementary need continuous support in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. In order to meet the needs of students, teachers must incorporate a systematic phonics program into their daily reading instruction.

A systematic phonics program uses a scope and sequence to teach reading skills to students. It begins with phonemic awareness and evolves into basic decoding skills, as well as word recognition. Teachers teach new skills through whole group instruction, and alongside students through intentional small …

A Summer Reading Program For Joy And Growth: Using Free Books, Videos, And Little Free Libraries To Empower Students And Parents To Make The Most Of The Summer Months For Reading Growth, Allison Nieboer

Culminating Experience Projects

The summer months provide a prime opportunity for elementary children to grow in their reading skills and reading lives. This project investigates successful summer reading programs that leverage the expertise of parents to mediate the effects of summer slide and encourage summer reading growth. The project culminates in a summer reading program that supports both students and parents. Schools can support students by providing free texts and allowing students to choose these books for themselves. Schools can support parents by providing summer reading tips in the form of short, helpful and practical videos. Both students and parents can be supported …