ASSIGNMENT #4: OBSERVING & ANALYZING CHILDREN’S RESPONSES TO LITERATURE

ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS:

1.     Select a wordless picture book that has a story line and plot.

2.     Choose two children – one between grades 1st and 3rd, and the other between grades 4th and 8th (include an ESOL student).

3.     In separate sessions, give each child a few minutes to examine the book and pictures. Then invite him/her to tell a story using the pictures.

4.     Transcribe the students’ oral story descriptions in a written transcript, exactly as they were told.

5.     Provide a thorough analysis of each student’s responses, noting the following elements and supporting them with evidence from the transcript and your observations of each student:

a.    Differences in language development(What is the child’s use of vocabulary, figurative language, idioms, grammar etc.)
b.    Sense of story (Does the story include a beginning, a middle and an ending? Does the story include characters, setting, an initiating event, a resolution, etc.)?
c.    Complexity of sentence structure (Does the child use phrases or complete sentences, were they all simple sentences or were they complex sentences, did they use transition words to show the passage of time)
d.     Complexity of plot (did events follow one another in logical sequence, did the children elaborate on their descriptions)
e.     Descriptive phrases (were there descriptive words in the story, did they use descriptive language).

6.     Use several examples from the students’ stories to support your responses.

7.     Research information about Response Theory and Oral Language Development to support your analysis.

FYI: What is Response Theory? “This theory holds that the individual creates his or her own meaning through a “transaction” (Mora, 2010). Reader response theory is based on the notion that reading is a process which involves active participation by the reader, experiencing text and interacting with a book in order to derive meaning.  It is more about the process of a reader bringing him/herself to a text than a book as the thing which has a meaning by itself.

8.     Please label each part of this assignment (see grading rubric below).

9. PLEASE MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GRAMMATICAL OR PUNCTUATION ERRORS.

RUBRIC FOR OBSERVING & ANALYZING CHILDREN’S RESPONSES

Part 1:
Introduction  (description of students, observations of students as they ‘read’ the wordless book, and your findings on response theory)    2 points
Part 2:
Transcript of students’ stories    2 points
Part 3:
Language development (Analyze and compare the students’ stories using the response theory to support your findings. Include use of vocabulary, figures of speech, word retrieval, expression, etc.)    2 points
Part 4:
Sense of story (Indicate whether the students included characters, setting, a problem, a resolution. How did they begin and end their story?)    2 points
Part 5:
Complexity of sentence structure (Did the students use simple, compound or complex sentences? Did they use phrases instead of sentences. Was the story understandable?)    2 points
Part 6:
Complexity of plot (Did the students tell their story in a logical sequence, Did they elaborate? Did they use transition words?)

2 points
Part 7:
Use of descriptions (Did they use descriptive language? Did they expand their descriptions?)    2 points
Application of response theory
(Include a brief discussion of the response theory as you compare the students’ stories. Did you find support for the response theory in the students’ stories?)    2 points
Reference list (include research from the field on oral language development  and Response Theory)    4 points
Total    20 points

RUBRIC for Assignment 4: Field Experience
OBSERVING & ANALYZING CHILDREN’S RESPONSES TO LITERATURE

Assignment Component    Not Met    Met    Exceeded
Provides opportunities for candidates to understand conceptual underpinnings and evidence based rationales of instructional approaches.
(IRA Standard 2.2)    The candidate does not demonstrate understanding of conceptual underpinnings and evidence based rationales of oral language development after observing and analyzing students as they read.
(IRA Standard 2.2)    The candidate demonstrates adequate understanding of conceptual underpinnings and is able to apply evidence based rationales of oral language development after observing and analyzing students as they read.
(IRA Standard 2.2)    The candidate shows exceptional understanding of conceptual underpinnings and is able to apply in-depth evidence based rationales of oral language development after observing and analyzing students as they read.
(IRA Standard 2:2)
The candidate demonstrates understandings the relationship between first and second language acquisition and literacy development.
(IRA Standard 4.1)    The candidate did not demonstrate understandings about first and second language acquisition and literacy development after observing and analyzing students’ responses to literature.
(IRA Standard 4.1)    The candidate adequately demonstrates understandings about first and second language acquisition and literacy development after observing and providing analysis of students’ responses to literature.
(IRA Standard 4.1)

The candidate shows exceptional understandings about first and second language acquisition and literacy development after observing and providing in-depth analysis of students’ responses to literature.
(IRA Standard 4.1)
The candidate interprets major theories of reading and writing processes and development to understand the needs of all readers in diverse contexts.
(IRA Standard 1.1)
The candidate does not interpret and apply major theories (example: Response Theory & Oral Language Development) after observing and analyzing readers in different grade levels, including an ESOL student.
(IRA Standard 1.1)     The candidate adequately interprets and applies major theories (example: Response Theory & Oral Language Development) after observing and analyzing readers in different grade levels, including an ESOL student.
(IRA Standard 1.1)    The candidate demonstrates excellence in applying major theories (example: Response Theory & Oral Language Development) after observing and analyzing readers in different grade levels, including an ESOL student.
(IRA Standard 1.1)