Balanced Reading Program - Essay Example

Read To Succeed: Balanced Literacy Program for Second Grade Historically there have existed various contrasting viewpoints regarding the appropriate approach to teaching reading. Teachers and academicians have been faced with a dilemma regarding the choice of methodology to be adopted for teaching reading in classrooms for instance the skills based phonics approach which stresses on the breaking down of individual word into several component sounds, or the relatively easier and child-centric approach which stresses on the reading of texts and simultaneously deciphering its meaning through fun shared readings in classrooms.

Such issues have been addressed and overcome by the introduction of a balanced literacy program. The balanced reading approach offers effective techniques for enhancing reading, writing, listening, viewing and speaking skills of the students through its literacy program. According to Cohen and Cowen (2007): “"The primary goal of a balanced literacy program is to teach reading, not as a skill broken into isolated steps, but as a lifelong learning process that promotes higher order thinking, problem solving and reasoning” (Pp. 37).Plan / template for Second grade Balanced Reading ProgramDivide the class into small groups in accordance with their reading levels and assign the following tasks accordingly.

Daily Reading Plan:Shared Reading (all groups) 30 minutes durationGuided Reading (in groups, in pairs) 30 minutes durationGroup 1 : Guided Reading with the teacher 30 minutes durationGroup 2 : Paired Reading with a partner 8 - 10 minutes durationGroup 3: Silent Reading with a partner (under teacher’s supervision)8 – 10 minutes duration All groups: Reading aloud to the class30 minutesBasic Components The basic components of a Balanced Literacy Program include: Reading Alouds, Shared Reading, Guided reading, Independent Reading, Modeled/ Shared writing, Interactive Writing, and Independent Writing.

The essential components of a Balanced Reading Program, on the other hand include: explicit instruction and practice in essential academic learning requirements which includes phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and thinking skills and strategies etc; Response to reading through writing, discussion and drama; Classroom environment i.e. conducting activities individually or in small groups, focusing on thinking and learning and problem-solving, as well as student interaction; High expectations, clear standards and continuous evaluation; Use of variety of materials such as fiction, non-fiction, and other popular genres; and Daily Reading which includes shared reading, reading to students by teachers, guided reading, and independent reading practice (Holcomb, 2004).

Brief SummaryThis article on “IQ, Phonological Awareness and Continuous-naming Speed Related to Dutch Poor Decoding Childrens Performance on Two Word Identification Tests" by Kees van den Bos deals with the word identification variables and reading-related variables of intelligence, phonological awareness and continuous naming speed. For the purpose of this study, a series of experiments were conducted on children aged between 10 and 12 years who had poor decoding abilities but normal to subnormal IQs.

The authors have claimed that phonological sensitivity to units like onsets, rhymes or phonemes is regarded as a vital prerequisite for decoding ability (Kees, 1998). References:Cohen, V. L., Cowen, J. E., (2007). Literacy for Children in an Information Age: Teaching Reading, Writing and Thinking, CENGAGE Learning PublicationHolcomb, E. L., (2004). Getting Excited About Data: Combining People, Passion, and Proof to Maximize Student Achievement, SAGE Publicaiton, Pp. 162Kees van den Bos., (1998).

IQ, Phonological Awareness and Continous-naming Speed Related to Dutch Poor Decoding Childrens Performance on Two Word Identification Tests, DYSLEXIA, Vol.4, Pp. 73-89