Teaching Reluctant Students to Read

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Teaching Reluctant Students to Read
A CTAP project by Cindy Ranney, Elementary
Special Education Teacher, Portola, California
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Introduction CTAP Online Teaching
With Technology II
My hopes and expectations for this lesson

• Implement a lesson design that I have heard and
  read is effective in specialized programs for
  children with reading disabilities
• Produce measurable gains in students reading
  skills including
• Oral fluency
• Recognizing high frequency words
• Understanding word meaning

My realities after implementing this lesson

• Incorporate new technologies into my teaching
  including
• Computerized assessments
• Digital image and sound media
• Improved data collection

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When a student has not learned to read by the age
of 7 (second grade), then reading is most likely
an activity she hates.
Introduction
CTAP Online Teaching with
Technology II
He will avoid reading he will misbehave in order
to get out of it. Even going to the Principals
office is better than being asked to do something
he just cant do, having to face the disapproval
of his teacher and the ridicule of his peers.
Reading for this kid is just plain torture..
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Introduction
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There are many different methods for teaching
reading. I wanted to try the method that has
been getting rave reviews by many Special Ed.
Teachers..
Its called Scaffolded or Guided Reading.
But you will probably recognize it as something
your Mama always told you.
Practice Makes Perfect!!
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In this lesson, I scheduled 30 sessions of
guided reading, each session 30 minutes long.
Outcomes
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The shortcomings of this lesson included deciding
I wont use the online computerized assessment
again, due to its difficulty to administer and
its poor ability to measure the specific
outcomes Id hoped it would measure.
Our successes included tremendous gains in
students motivation to read, their reading
fluency, their sight word recognition, and their
ingestion of gummy worms.
I ended-up still using hand-scored assessments
(inventories, checklists, running records,etc.),
just like Ive always done!
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I used a computer assessment program as well as
word inventories and skills checklists to measure
three crucial reading skills (high frequency
words, word recognition and word meaning) before
and after.
Outcomes
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http//www.letsgolearn.com
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And I used running records to evaluate
students oral fluency, before and after.
Outcomes
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Here are their before and after scores on high
frequency word recognition (using the Pressley
list of 600 words, grade levels 1-6)
Results
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Before
After
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The computer program measured the subskills of
Word Recognition (student must click on the
correct spelling of a word that the computer
says)
Results
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Word Recognition
and Word Meaning (student must click on a picture
that represents a spoken word).
Word Meaning
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Results
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These subskills are scored with Standard
Scores(grade-level norms, using a scale of 1 to
100). The problem with the online assessment I
used was that it did not compensate for students
who have been retained (all of my students).
Thus, their normed scores arent very valid.
After
Before
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So just what is Guided Reading?
Results
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• Step 1
• Teacher reads a
• sentence out loud.

Step 2 Students chorally repeat sentence.
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Step 3 Then one student reads back the whole
paragraph.
Results
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Results
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While all the other students finger track..
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Results
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Finger tracking forces the students eyes onto
the words.
Using this method, the student looks at each word
that is read three times---first when the teacher
reads, second when the class reads together,
third when the individual student reads.
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Revision
CTAP Online Teaching with
Technology II
Thats where the popsicle sticks come in..
Students are given popsicle sticks for keeping
their fingers (and eyes) on the right words. At
the end of the session, the popsicle sticks are
counted. Students who earn at least 10 sticks
get..
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Revision
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A gummy worm!!
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30 minutes every day
Revision
CTAP Online Teaching with
Technology II
In this lesson, I planned 30 minute daily
practice sessions every day for six weeks.
Fulfilling this lofty goal proved elusive, due to
student absences, schedule changes, classroom
management issues that disrupted the sessions,
etc. But I definitely see that the success of
this lesson for each student is totally dependent
on the amount of time they spend in guided
reading.
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The culminating activity of this lesson is cold
reading
Synthesis
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After 20-30 sessions of guided practice of
guided choral reading, cold reading is when
students read a passage entirely independently.
It must be a passage they have never before seen
or heard. We assess their progress by their rate
of fluency and the number of miscues they make.
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Synthesis
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Luis, whose first language is Spanish, is a 4th
grader. Here he demonstrates basic proficiency
with this 1st grade passage.
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Synthesis
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Kamrin attained a level of proficiency (fluency,
word recognition and expression) that pleased us
all. He is a 5th grader. In September, Kamrin
was reading at pre-primer level. Now, 5 months
later, here he is reading cold from a 2nd grade
book.
(Kamrin with his sister, Krystal---they are
practically inseparable!)
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Synthesis
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And heres Krystal---who made the most progress
of any of my students. A 4th grader, here she is
demonstrating mastery level reading with a 4th
grade story! She is very proud of herself (and
we are proud, too)!
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