I observed for fifteen hours at Cherokee Charter Academy. Cherokee Charter Academy is a charter school in Cherokee County on Sixes Road. Cherokee Charter Academy includes kindergarten through eighth-grade classes. There are over nine hundred students and about sixty-five full-time teachers at Cherokee Charter Academy. Charter schools are similar to public schools and are tuition-free. Charter schools are governed independently, but if the school does not demonstrate success it will lose its charter. At Cherokee Charter Academy I observed the kindergarten classroom of Ms. Dunlap. Ms. Dunlap has been a kindergarten teacher for ten years. In this classroom, I observed the students, the instruction, standards, and the teacher.
As I observed
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Next, I observed the standards, differentiated instruction, and the phonemic and phonics lessons in the class. The essential questions and standards are listed in the front of the classroom but are never referred to. I think that differentiation is a big part of this class, especially because of the number of students with individualized education plans. During lessons, the entire class will meet around the rug for instructions and introductions. After the class is given instructions, most students will work independently and there will be one or two groups that work with Ms. Dunlap or her teacher’s aide for guided practice. The majority of the lessons include hands-on activities, such as cutting examples of noun and verbs out of a magazine, using blocks to measure student’s heights, and songs that emphasize parts of speech. While I observed I also saw some phonemic awareness lessons. These are lessons that focus on individual sounds of letters and the structure of the words and letters. I think that this class had a wide variety of reading levels. Some students did very well, but others could not write their names yet. The class met on the rug for phonemic lessons, and Ms. Dunlap would use a book that had tons of activities. The book includes different activities that make students find the sounds in words, substitute sounds to make new words, blend sounds to form words, and to take apart words to find the sounds. Ms. Dunlap
Phonics is imperative to learning to read because it allows for the reader to distinguish these associations in letters and words that they read to captivate comprehension (Walbank & Bisby, 2016). At the preschool-grade, knowledge of the alphabetic principles should be extensive and in-depth, however, too much focus can lead to over application of this skills having words read but not comprehended. The directional approach for teaching phonics should be precise, articulated well with graphemes organised in a logical and systematic way allowing plenty of time to recite the new skills received inherited obtained attained gained acquired (Learning Point Associates, 2004). Likewise, with phonological awareness the expertise of listening to the sounds in phonemes and words, phonics helps complete the process of sounding out to decode what has been read to eventually move onto the primary goal of learning to read being comprehension (Fellows & Oakley, 2014). Another approach is to teach phonics is the analytical technique in which the teacher guides students to observe phonemes and graphemes by scrutinising full words to bring forth another critical thinking skill required to understand what the text means (Ewing & Maher, 2014). This essential component combined with
The purpose of this paper is to identify and understand the importance of a supplemental phonics program, such as Fundations by Wilson Language, to ensure that students are making noticeable and trackable changes in reading and understanding. Phonemic awareness is the key skill needed for students to better understand how letters and sounds correlate. Some basal reading programs do not have an
The analysis determined that difficulties in reading are strongly related to the lack of phonemic awareness. Instruction, when given explicitly and direct one on one focus in one skill area of phonemic awareness were greater than instructions that focused on three or more skill areas. In addition, the NRP continued to state that children taught in small group settings showed larger improvement gains than students taught in large groups or individually. The panel concluded that it could be taught under a variation of conditions, for a diverse range of learners. Furthermore, it stated that instruction of phonemic awareness was more effective through the use of letters, explicitly focused on only one or two areas of awareness, lesson and activities were tailored toward small group development levels, and program ranged from 5 to 18 hours – remaining under 20 hours of instruction based on 25 minute instruction
Gateway Charter Academy Middle/High School is a charter secondary school on 1015 E. Wheatland Rd Dallas, TX 75241, in the Gateway Charter Academy school district. As of the 2015-2016 school years, it had 343 students. The school received an accountability rating of “improvement required.” 98% (336) of the student body is African American, 1.2% is Hispanics, and 0.6% is white/Caucasians, and Asians make up the last 0.3% of the student body. Texas Association of School Board states that the local school board shall rely on the school district professional staff to select and acquire instructional resources that “represent many ethnic, religious, and cultural groups and their contributions to the national heritage and world community” (Texas
To understand the state of charter schools today, it is important to know how a charter school was envisioned to be. Tell explains that charter schools, by nature, should be more accurately described as “contract” schools. These schools are contractually obligated to serve the interest of the general public by providing education opportunities using the funds provided from taxes. Traditionally, charter schools are defined as “tuition-free, publicly funded, performance-based, non-sectarian, public schools of choice open to all.”[1] These schools are considered autonomous because they are exempt from most, if not all, local and state rules and regulations regarding education. The reduction of applicable laws pertaining to these schools are supposed to liberate them from the supposedly strict regulations that bog down the education system that prevent teachers from what they were actually hired to do: to teach. Although novel in concept, this idea has been difficult to implement in reality.
Despite the charter school model created by education reformers, the verdict is still out on their effectiveness. Recent studies demonstrate that overall performance has failed to accomplish their intended results. Individual states determine the laws each charter organization shall follow, which might account for the differences in performance across states. Although slight differences exist in the way charter schools operate among states, their effectiveness in improving student academic performance has proven to be less than what education reformers lauded as the answer to the ills of the American educational system.
Charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement (what is a charter school 2017). Because they are public schools, they are open to all children; do not charge tuition; and do not have special entrance requirements. The core of the charter school model is the belief that public schools should be held accountable for student learning (what is a charter school 2017). In exchange for this accountability, school leaders should be given freedom to do whatever it takes to help students achieve and should share what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit (what is a charter school
When I am developing units plans, I ensure that all my lessons are deeply infused with the Common Core learning standards. I am also a firm believer in incorporating differentiated instruction. I am able to differentiate through analyzing test results. From those results, I design tiered assignments to give students the appropriate level of material to complete. I deem it is important to know all of my students as individuals. When planning, my students interest and learning styles are taken into consideration. I have also enhanced the phonics based reading program, by infusing whole language learning. I enjoy creating hands on centers such as sensory bin dig, book box, and egg addition. When I find that students are having difficulty, I reach out to my colleagues for ideas. I especially do so for my students with IEP's. I regularly communicate with the speech, SETTs, and OT teachers. By taking these steps, I can execute lessons that are curriculum driven and
XYZ Charter Academy is an elementary school with a total of 450 students and service at risk students on the verge of failure as well as live in low poverty areas. Two- hundred eight five students have been identified as at risk students and 60 of them are in the early childhood program. Those students have been identified as being at least one to two grade levels behind with a reading comprehension level at kindergartern. These students also have high behavior issues and have been suspended several times. According to Cox (2009) students can learn according to their abilities and needs. This form of teaching is also great for the teacher because it gives him/her the time to work individually with students who may be struggling.
Charter schools have an interesting history with origins that are most often overlooked. Since the enactment of the first charter school legislation in Minnesota in 1991, charter schools have grown rapidly to over 6,000 in forty-two (42) states and the District of Columbia (Karp & Heitner, 2013; CREDO, 2013). Originally, charter schools were teacher-operated schools serving students struggling inside the traditional system (Karp & Heitner, 2013). Accordingly, charter schools were established to operate outside the reach of administrative bureaucracy and politicization among many city school boards (Karp & Heitner, 2013).
Social, cultural, and political variables impact the lives of our children, including their development. One explores the socio-political reality of the Charter School Act of 1998 to our society. There are unwavering viewpoints in favor and staunch positions against the Act. The Charter School Act of 1998 created an antagonistic war of words concerning the direction of public education. Those in favor of the Act purport its favorable addition to public school education. Conversely, opponents argue that charter schools will ultimately privatize public education. Nonetheless, this paper seeks to provide historical background
Charter Schools: Another Flawed Educational Reform?, a book written by the late Seymour B. Sarason, author and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Institution for Social and Policy Analysis at Yale University, is a plea to educators and legislators alike to thoroughly consider the possible effects of creating and funding charter schools. Sarason’s background in the field, at the time of publication, spanned over fifty years, and included many educational reform-related papers and books.
Charter schools are a relatively new concept for education in the United States. Originally, states created charter schools through legislation in Minnesota in 1991 (Raymond). The schools gained in popularity as more states began passing laws to allow their creation. By 2012, 41 states have charter schools, and they educated over two million students (Sanchez). Regardless of a person’s opinion about these institutions, they undoubtedly have a large impact on education in the United States. In recent years, the number of charter schools has risen astronomically. Between 2003 and 2013, these schools increased from 3000 to 6500 (“Fast
How did you learn to read? Most of us do not put much thought into this question, but learning to read is a difficult task. According to Cervetti and Hiebert, the National Reading Panel identified five essential components that a teacher should use during reading instruction, which gives the student the highest chance of being an effective reader (2015, p. 548). These five essential components are also called five pillars of reading instruction. They are Phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. This paper will describe each of the five pillars, how they are related, the benefits, as well as give some effective methods of teaching phonics and phonemic awareness. It will continue by addressing the relationship between reading assessment and instruction and end by identifying ways to address the needs and different learning styles of a student. This paper will start by looking at a definition of phonics and phonemic awareness, then move onto the role that each play in learning to read, how they are related, the benefits and effective methods of teaching both.
Charter schools are believed to be schools that can sometimes aid a failing student through unconventional methods. Yet many charter schools fail to reach that higher standard that makes charter schools desirable. However, Alanna Clark’s mother still entered a lottery for Boston children to attend a school outside their neighborhood. Carter’s daughter struggled with a reading disability that was putting her behind her peers. This long shot lottery was Carter’s only sense of hope in the education system. Surprisingly Alanna won the lottery earning a seat at Match, a small charter school, and is now a confident tenth grader. Match is known for it’s “high expectations, high support” (Leonhardt) system where resources are devoted to teaching and students have high standards. Teachers are