Helping Struggling readers Succeed!

Transcription

1 Helping Struggling readers Succeed!

2 Two Minutes: With your elbow buddy introduce yourself, tell them 1 or 2 facts about yourself and share something about your favorite book.

3 Get them talking. One of the first activities you do at the beginning of the year is get to know your students. Why not do this all year long? Things happen everyday and students change from September to June. Follow their interests. At the beginning of this school year I learned that 65 of my 105 students played soccer outside of school.

4 1. Writing Writing is a two way communication process.

5 Writing comes in many forms Letter Writing This is a great way to begin the school year to get a simple sample of your student s writing. It s not graded but it does reveal a great deal about your student s ability. It also lets you know about them, what they like, their concerns and their dreams. It can also be a foundational piece to include in their personal portfolios.

6 What influences your students? Culture: culture consists of the vast behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, habits, beliefs, customs, language, rituals, ceremonies and practices peculiar to a particular group of people. (Nobles, 1990, p.5)

7 HOW DOES CULTURE INFLUENCE YOUR STUDENT S LEARNING?

8 Books to read for any age My middle school students love when I share a picture book in class. I try to address the ethnicities of my students so they will have something to relate to and respond to. Here are just a few: Native American Czechoslovakia China Latino

9 Recognize their stage of language acquisition Pre-Production: Children acquiring English as a second language experience have a period of silence. They may have up to 500 listening and speaking vocabulary but they may not be ready to do more than repeat a few words. When I was teaching a 5 th grade social studies class I had a new student who had just arrived from Russia. She had L2 level vocabulary and it was a challenge to teach her because of this limitation.

10 Early Production Early Production language can last for about 6 months. During this period the student can speak in one-or-two word phrases. They are still acquiring new vocabulary and may have developed a speaking/listening vocabulary of about 1000 words. Listening activities and small group work are particularly helpful during this stage.

11 Speech Emergence Speech Emergence Students can now speak in short sentences and may be able to have brief conversations however grammatical miscues will be present. Instead of correcting the mistakes it is encouraging to the student to repeat the sentence to show that you understand their intent.

12 Intermediate Fluency Intermediate Fluency- requires some students 3 or more years to achieve. Students in this stage have added more words to listening, speaking, reading and writing vocabularies. You can help students in this stage by offering them opportunities to speak more frequently, share books they ve read or offer a safe place they can respond in writing.

13 Advanced Fluency Advanced Fluency-is the final stage and students are able to converse fluently in most settings. At the very end of this stage students have reached near native language ability. Students in this stage need ongoing support especially in reading and writing practice.

14 Is there a single method to teach reading fluency? The best way to teach fluency is to practice reading!! Take a moment and think about the ways you teach fluency in your classroom.

15 Proven Method in my Classroom I modified the Six Minute Solution method. This is how I practice fluency with my middle school students Monday Teacher Model Check for Initial Comprehension Main Ideas Supporting Details Students Practice Silent Reading Students Echo Read/Choral Read

16 Fluency continued Tuesday Whisper phone practice are Students can listen to themselves read in the whisper phone and note their own mistakes. They shouldn t be concerned about how fast they reading just paying attention to the errors they are making. In their personal fluency journal they can record a note about their reading such as. Today I read 100 words with 3 errors. I had a Fluency reading rate of 97 wcpm. My errors were all words I was having trouble pronouncing. Fix It Strategy: try to sound out the words and ask my teacher for help.

17 Wednesday/Thursday Oral Reading Practice Read with a partner for 1 minute. Your partner checks your reading for errors. Record your wcpm and discuss the type of errors made. Teacher does a quick check at the end of the practice and guides students with fix it strategies together on common mistakes.

18 Friday Oral Fluency Score and Goal Setting Students take charge of their own fluency goals by scoring a repeated reading at the end of the week. Using the Hasbrouck-Tindal scale for oral reading fluency students can calculate their goal for the next week.

19 Let s Practice Polar Explorations 0 The polar regions at both ends of the earth have attracted many 12 explorers./ Some were scientists. Some were mapmakers. Others went to 22 seek fame as the first explorers to reach the poles./ The first explorer 36 was a Greek who sailed north around 400 B.C. / He probably discovered 48 either Norway or Iceland. / No one sailed north for another 1,000 years. 60 Then, Ottar of Norway sailed north from Norway and discovered the 71 White Sea. / The Vikings settled both Iceland and Greenland around A.D /However, they did not go any farther north.

20 How to Calculate for Middle School Students If the student is in 7 th grade for example and they read 102 wcpm for the week. It is the 6 th week of school then, they are reading on the 25 th percentile. Their end of year goal is 202 wcpm. They take the total number of weeks left for the year 25 weeks.* They take 202 minus 102 and get 100 wcpm to close the gap. Take 100 wcpm and divide by 25 then they need to improve by 4 wcpm for next week = 106 wcpm *I do not count the last four weeks of the school year =100/25=106 for next week Goal: Increase by 4 words per minute

21 Vocabulary In Elementary school students are developing their vocabulary bank. Teachers spend most of their time teaching students how to read. In Middle school students are expected to read to learn but struggling readers biggest obstacle is vocabulary.

22 What works Word Walls What kind of word walls do you have in your classroom?

23 Here are a few to consider High Frequency Words Words that appear often in print. Class Books Words from the books or novels you are reading together. Spelling Words from your spelling units. Multiple Meaning Words- Different meanings in different context. Homophones-Different meanings, pronounced the same but spelled differently.

24 Guiding principles Word understanding develops best when linked with life experiences. Using different graphic organizers for vocabulary practice helps students visualize the word. Vocabulary taught in context rather than isolation. Reading Writing-Speaking & Listening practice

25 How Many words per week? How many words should you or do you introduce to your students each week?

26 It Depends It depends on grade level, student ability and how you are including the vocabulary in your lessons. Rule of thumb: More than 5 words per week is like giving a student a dictionary to read..they won t remember much!

27 One more thing about vocabulary Try the 5 step approach 1. Pause during reading to discuss a word. 2. Return to a word already read and show it again to the students. 3. Discuss what the students already know about the word. 4. Use the word in sentences other than the context read. 5. Define the word (definition, synonyms and antonyms)

28 Comprehension This is a vast topic so we will simply discuss three aspects today. 1. Text structure 2. Close reading 3. Read-talk-write

29 Text Structure Students are expected in middle school grades to be able to understand text structure. RL.6.5/7.5/8.5 Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole. 6 th grade: particular sentence, chapter, scene, stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting or plot. 7 th grade: drama or poem s form or structure contributes to its meaning. 8 th grade: compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.

30 Some Examples What books can you use to teach the following text structures? Cause and Effect Problem and Solution Sequencing

31 Some ideas Direct TV commercials Cause and Effect If You Give a.books Cause and Effect The Three Pigs Problem and Solution The Old Lady who Swallowed - Sequencing

32 Close Reading Reading Anchor 10 of the Common Core standards states that students should be able to read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Close reading is a method in which we can help students succeed in this area.

33 Text Complexity Text complexity refers to the level of challenge a text provides based on its quantitative, qualitative and reader/text factors. Close reading is done in the trio method 1.Read it to get the gist. 2.Read it for meaning. 3.Read it for Comprehension

34 UEN Resources UEN Resources UEN Resources Digital Resources These resources help teachers develop superior lesson plans in regards to text structure, complexity and scaffolding struggling readers.

35 Read-Talk-Write Sometimes observers may think that reading and reading and reading is the only way to improve reading. Yes, it is however, Discussion and writing reinforce reading comprehension, vocabulary, fluency and overall communication skills.

36 1. What are alternative ways to teach fluency? 2. What are alternative ways to teach writing? 3. How can you combine your alternative ways to get more bang for your buck with struggling readers?

37 Poetry- Fluency Alternative

38 Ways to do it Poetry Listening to a model reader Reading it independently silently and orally Echo Reading Paired Reading (choral) Paired poetry writing Independent poetry writing

39 Reader s Theater Fluency Accuracy, Rate & Prosody

40 Writing a final thought Narrative Gets them interested Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans Michael has Tourette s Syndrome. He is bullied at school, He has few friends. He needs a cause He becomes a hero he has a superpower What s yours?

41 Hoot by Carl Hiaasan Informative Roy Eberhart moves and from Montana to Florida. He s like a fish out of water. He gets bullied the first day he goes to school. He hates living in Florida. He finds a cause the running boy and his sister want to save the tiny owls who are about to get plowed over (literally). He becomes a hero he saves lives and makes friends What other animals are in danger?

42 Argument The top of the list for everyone s writing instruction- Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix Luke a 3 rd child is illegal. The government is Totalitarian. Jen another 3 rd child dies trying to gain her rights to be acknowledged and live. Luke faces a battle against the Population Police, loss of his home and family and at risk of being killed. What s your view on this type of government?

43 Summary Helping struggling readers is one day at a time. It is one student at a time. It is recognizing them as individuals and teaching every student as if they are the most important child you know. It s testing their abilities, it s moving them to the next level but most of all it is believing in them and knowing they CAN and WILL succeed. You are the second part of the equation that equals success.