Amy's Comments: Week one (Au)

Kathryn Au (p. 119-132)

Dr. Au did influential research with Hawaiian children. As a teacher, she found the students did not seem to benefit from phonics instruction (word identification). She did research showing that an analytic (decoding by analogy) approach was better than a synthetic approach (letter by letter sounding out), but that children showed little interest in either approach.

Her method of instruction focused more on strategies for promoting comprehension and “talk story” discussions.

In her article, Au gives 10 steps to help you improve literacy instruction in your school. These suggestions came from beginning teachers in low-income schools.

Amy's comments: Week One (Ruddell

Robert Ruddell (pgs. 105-118).

What is an Influential Teacher?
Dr. Ruddell talks about two theories:

· Sociocognitive theory
o prior knowledge and beliefs influence the teacher, the teacher uses strategies

o prior knowledge and beliefs of students also influence the student

· Constructivist theory

o Reader Response- the teacher focuses on motivation to help the student

Ruddell & his colleagues studied Influential Teachers from Kindergarten through university. P. 108-109 shows an overview of their findings.

On pg. 110, he goes more in depth into what exactly they found and how it relates to the theories he talked about in the very beginning of the article.

P. 114 shows a diagram he created to help you visualize the interaction between the text being read, the teacher, the student (reader) and the classroom community.

P. 116 is a list of insights gained from this research. These 10 items came from the interviews Ruddell & his colleges did with teachers. He lists them here as a recommendation of what all teachers should be striving for.