Chapter 4

After reflecting upon the three features of Comprehensible Input, which are appropriate speech for students’ proficiency level, clear explanation of task, and various techniques to make content concepts clear, I immediately thought of SRA.

The 2nd grade students in my reading group are at a 1st grade reading level, which is also their appropriate speech level. The simple text allows for the comprehension of the majority of the story, therefore when we come upon an unfamiliar word, it is incorporated more easily, allowing the fluency of thought to continue. The surrounding simple sentences and basic text makes it easier to understand.

When new words surface, they are discussed and internalized in a variety of ways. First I ask for student input to find out how much they know. From there I move into understanding the new word according to their responses. Whenever possible I tie the word into something relevant to their understanding, building on that background knowledge by drawing pictures
or modeling examples. After the word is understood, we go back to the reading and apply its meaning. My kids LOVE to act out the story using their newly discovered word, a fun way to instill new vocabulary knowledge.

My new words are already in print in the book so I do not rewrite them on the board, but I normally would if it is a word that comes up in class during another type of lesson. I want them see, hear and ‘know’ the word.

The SRA workbook frequently changes the directions to complete a task, which makes it clear to me who is comprehending and reading carefully. (ie. put a box over the correct answer)

This is an example of how the three components are put into use in my classroom.
Voni