What do Principals REALLY need to know about Reading

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What do Principals REALLY need to know about
Reading?

• Presented by Danielle Harris/NBCT
• Pittsburgh Public School Reading Coach
• July 21, 2008

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5 Essential Reading Areas (lets start with the
basics)

• Although most principals dont teach reading,
  its critical that they know how reading should
  be taught to evaluate the reading programs in
  their (your) school.
• Most young students need instruction in 5 areas
  of reading phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
  vocabulary, and comprehension.

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Phonemics

• Instruction in phonemics helps children to
  become aware of sounds in spoken words (phonics
  increases awareness of sounds in written words).
  Good phonemics instruction..
• Precedes phonics
• Is most appropriate for younger students
• Is generally playful, using such activities as
  rhyming words identifying the number of words in
  a phrase or the number of syllables in a word or
  taking part words and putting them together
  (segmenting and blending).

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Phonics

• Phonics increases awareness of sounds in written
  words.
  
• Makes up approximately one quarter or less of a
  total reading program
  
• Is generally finished by the middle or end of
  second grade
  
• Is most appropriate for students whose reading
  styles match the phonics method- in other words,
  those who have the auditory strengths to perform
  phonics tasks
• Focuses on words, not rules. Good readers decode
  new words by comparing them to patterns within
  words they already know. Good phonics teachers
  draw childrens attention to word patterns and
  provide practice using text containing those
  patterns
• May include invented spelling in the early grades.

5
Fluency

• Instruction in fluency is extremely
  important. It is also the most neglected skill
  of the five critical reading areas. Fluent
  readers read rapidly, accurately, and with good
  expression.
• Good fluency instruction
• Provides many fluid models of reading, live or
  recorded
  
• Encourages non-fluid readers to listen to brief,
  fluid reading models and then to practice the
  modeled passage repeatedly until they can read it
  fluently before reading it aloud to others
• Uses a variety of assisted reading methods
  (shared reading, echo reading, recorded books,
  choral reading, pair reading), depending on the
  reading level of the student and the difficulty
  of the reading material
• Provides a variety of high-interest, high-level
  reading materials both on tape and in text so
  that the child can compare printed and spoken
  words

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Vocabulary

• Oral and reading vocabularies differ. Oral
  vocabulary refers to the words we understand when
  we hear them and are the words we use when we
  speak. Reading vocabulary refers to those
  printed words that we understand as we read, but
  often do not use. While children learn most of
  their vocabulary indirectly (by listening to
  adults and other children speak, being read to,
  conversing, and reading on their own) students
  with large vocabularies have a better chance of
  comprehending what they read.

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Good Vocabulary Instruction

• Engages children in discussions about words
• Uses videos, visuals, and anecdotes to expand
  word meaning
  
• Provides readings of materials that help students
  become increasingly familiar with a variety of
  high-level words
  
• Provides strategies for deciphering unknown
  words, such as understanding prefixes, suffixes,
  and roots
  
• Uses many hands-on vocabulary games to encourage
  children to expand their vocabulary

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Comprehension

• Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading
  instruction.
  
• Good comprehension instruction.
• Sets the mood of a story and provides
  opportunities for dramatizations
  
• Helps students monitor their comprehension by
  asking key questions and modeling the thinking
  process while reading a story
  
• Uses organizational pictures of the texts
  content
  
• Asks question about what children have read,
  especially questions that require children to
  draw conclusions, make inferences, and predict
  
• Teaches children to generate and ask their own
  reading questions
  
• Makes children aware of story structure

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What else do you need to know.. (you mean
theres more?)

• Almost all principals have received training
  in the areas of leadership and management.
  However, most have received little or no training
  in the field of content knowledge in literacy
  instruction.
• How do principals deliver effective literacy
  instructional leadership?

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Essential Areas of Content Knowledge

• School Culture
• Craft Leaders
• Childrens/Content Literature
• Instructional Models
• Curricula
• Options for Organizing Time and Space
• Assessment/Content Standards
• Special Interventions
• Knowledge and Research

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Take a deep breath!
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School Culture

• Principals need to understand the significance
  of entrenched philosophical and instructional
  habits that constitute a culture in a school- and
  his or her own power to change that culture.
  Trust teachers to share leadership, and create an
  atmosphere where colleagues listen to one
  another, the students, parents, and YOU!

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Craft Leaders

• Principals need to know the thinkers and
  practitioners in the field of literacy
  instruction who provide fresh ideas and useful
  models. Who are the Big Fish in literacy?
  Encourage teachers to read and expand their
  knowledge by purchasing books, establishing
  monthly book clubs, and referring to specific
  texts. Principals need to read and reflect on
  the best practices of craft leaders when possible.

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Childrens Literature

• In order to create a community of readers,
  principals must actively read not only
  professional literature, but also quality
  childrens literature. What are the popular
  books/series that your students are reading?
  What books are your students reading as part of
  the curriculum. Read them and use this as an
  opportunity to talk with students.

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Instructional Models

• As the primary filter for new programs,
  principals must be familiar with a wide range of
  current instructional models. Principals have to
  help their teachers develop a high level of
  expertise in order to select the best approach
  for each individual students from a wide variety
  of choices, such as Reading workshops, explicit
  phonics, differentiated instruction, Read 180,
  Socratic Seminars, etc. Instructional leaders
  should also explore new, responsive models of
  education, such as writers workshops that
  actively engage students in the experience of
  becoming authors.

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• Principals must also be able to recognize
  whether teachers are using instructional
  strategies effectively. They should know how to
  help teachers learn new instructional methods,
  how to gauge the amount of time it will take for
  teachers to master new techniques, and how to
  network teachers and coaches as they implement
  new approaches. Principals should know enough to
  establish which teachers are doing the best job
  of raising student achievement. Why do students
  learn more in these teachers classrooms?
  Exemplary teachers can deliver model lessons
  and invite other teachers to observe instruction
  in their classroom.

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Curricula

• The big challenge for the principal is to know
  his or her districts mandated curriculum and
  make sure teachers are able to deliver it. You
  should know the big ideas that should be taught
  in the core curriculum. No one says you need to
  be an expert! You do need to recognize if the
  curriculum is being taught and HOW. Curriculum is
  defined as content, materials, and means of
  assessment, regardless of the delivery.

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Options for Organizing Time and Space

• As the key decision-maker for the use of time
  and space, principals must be aware of how the
  use of time and space affects instruction.
  Models such as literacy blocks (which give large
  chunks of uninterrupted time for instruction in
  reading and writing have proven to be extremely
  useful). Teachers must have time for collegial
  professional development. The learning
  environment of classrooms and hallways should be
  organized by teachers in ways that maximize
  instruction and celebrate students authentic
  work.

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Assessment/Content Standards

• Principals need to know how best to use
  assessment data based on relevant content
  standards with teachers, school communities, and
  parents. The focus of assessment should always
  be improving student learning. Teachers should
  always be assessing to monitor student progress
  and inform instruction. Principals can work to
  structure school schedules to provide ample
  opportunity for formative assessment (used by
  teachers during instruction) and for faculty
  meetings where student work can be discussed.

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Special Interventions

• Principals need to take a close look at how
  support is delivered to struggling students and
  how this support is organized. Most children in
  need of extra academic help should receive it
  from highly trained specialists in intense blocks
  of time. Principals must explore all the options
  for making the possible, such as using part of an
  after-school budget to support a reading
  specialist.

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Knowledge and Research

• Principals need to know where to find models,
  data, and organizations that do useful research
  and that can serve as allies to answer questions
  of what works and why.

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Whew..were done!
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• Questions
• (only if they are easy!)
• Comments
• (only if they are nice!)
• Concerns..
• (only if they are not for me!)
• Just kidding! You also HAVE to have
  a sense of humor!