Claudia Edmondson, Ph'D'

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Effective Strategies for Struggling
ReadersTrain-the-Trainer Modules

• Claudia Edmondson, Ph.D.
• September 13, 2007

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The Essential Componentsof Reading

• The Alphabetic Principle
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

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Module Contents

• Preparation Checklist
• Power Point
• Facilitators Notes
• Handouts
• Tips for Customizing Modules
• Frequently Asked Questions

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Goal and Objectives

• To promote effective reading instruction for
  struggling readers.
• Objectives
• Participants will
• learn how effective reading interventions impact
  all stakeholders
• learn why some students struggle with reading
• learn how to effectively assess the reading
  skills of struggling readers
• learn and apply evidenced-based strategies in all
  five reading components.

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The Connections Between Reading Interventions,
NCLB, and YOU!
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Gap
Benefit Students Teachers Schools Districts
States
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Alphabetic Principle Module

• Major Features
• Background Information
• Review of Critical Skills
• Intervention Plan
• Introduction to Effective Instructional
  Strategies
• Opportunities to Practice Strategies

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Develop an Intervention PlanOr

• Wander Aimlessly
• Critical Elements
• Comprehensive Assessments Process
• Learner Accommodations
• Research-Based Principles
• Differentiated Instruction
• Specific Instructional Strategies

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Assessment Is Critical

• What type of assessment procedures do you
  currently use?
• What is the purpose of these assessments?

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Comprehensive Assessment Process

• 1. Screening
• Student readiness
• Student interest
• Learning style
• 2. Diagnostic
• Administered to select students
• Helps teachers plan instruction
• Identifies specific problems
• 3. Progress monitoring
• Ongoing
• Formative
• Guides instruction
• 4. Outcomes
• Summative data
• Measurement of student achievement

For more information Big Ideas in Reading
(2006), The Access Center (2006), The National
Center for Student Progress Monitoring (2006)
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Learner Challenges

• Examples
• Difficulty paying attention
• Lack of motivation
• Difficulty remembering
• Sensory impairments
• Behavior problems

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Learner Accommodations

• Examples
• Remove distractions.
• Provide reading material in large print.
• Present activities that appeal to multiple
  senses.
• Post visual reminders of routines.
• Make a tape recording of rules and assignments.
• Provide clear directions with limited wording.
• Have multiple reading materials available on a
  variety of topics.
• Assess student understanding.
• Use flexible grouping.
• Provide easy access to student folders where they
  can keep their assignments.
• Develop a system for student questions.
• The Access Center http//www.k8accesscenter.org/

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Activity 1Learner Accommodations

• Divide into groups.
• Refer to Handout 3.
• Review the vignette of the student assigned to
  your group
• Group 1Raul
• Group 2April
• Group 3Jack
• Group 4Thera
• Review Learner Accommodations (Slide 14).
• Select one or moreor come up with your own that
  may be appropriate for your student.
• Share out with the whole group.

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• Group 1 -Rauls readiness screening indicates
  that he reads at the 2nd grade level and has
  deficits in phonemic awareness and phonics. He is
  very talkative and has difficulty sitting still,
  and often interrupts the teacher when she is
  working with other students. His teacher has
  noticed that he is particularly disruptive when
  it is time for reading. His screening assessment
  indicates that he is a visual learner and is
  interested in all types of sports.
• Group 2 -Aprils diagnostic assessment
  indicates that she has a hearing impairment.
  Although she currently has hearing aids that
  correct her impairment, she still has difficulty
  saying the sounds of the letters and is behind in
  reading. She is somewhat shy and often sits at
  the back of the class. Her screening assessments
  indicate that April is a kinesthetic learner and
  that she is very artistic. She seems eager to
  learn to read better and enjoys listening when
  the teacher reads aloud.
• Group 3- Jacks diagnostic assessment indicates
  that he has Aspergers Syndrome. He has
  difficulty paying attention and is easily
  distracted. He is particularly sensitive to light
  and noise. His cognitive assessment indicates
  that he has the ability to learn to read well but
  has fallen below grade level due to long absences
  from school. His learning style inventory
  indicates that he is predominantly a visual
  learner. He only likes to read stories that are
  about animals.
• Group 4 - Theras readiness screening
  assessment indicates that her phonemic awareness
  skills are at grade level, but that she is behind
  in her phonics skills. Her intervention plan
  focused on these skills. Her 3rd month progress
  monitoring assessment indicated that she is
  falling behind. Although there are no outward
  signs of a disability, review of her diagnostic
  assessment reminded the teacher that Thera
  suffered a brain injury two years ago that
  results in short term memory difficulties.
  Theras screening assessments indicate that she
  is interested in music and is an auditory learner.

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Fluency Module

• Major Features
• Common Terms
• Fluency Components
• Assessment
• Fluency Rates
• Effective Strategies
• Opportunities to Practice

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Discussion Question

• What are some behaviors you may observe in the
  classroom that indicate some students are
  struggling with fluency?

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Possible Observations

• Student has difficulty and grows frustrated when
  reading aloud.
• Student does not read aloud with expression.
• Student does not chunk words into meaningful
  units.
• Student doesnt pause at meaningful breaks within
  sentences or paragraphs.
• Reading Rockets. Target the Problem (2006)

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Assess the Problem

• Use multiple types of assessments formal and
  informal.
• Measure speed, comprehension, types of errors,
  and expression.
• Select and administer assessment tools that are
  valid and reliable in the measurement of fluency.
  
• Monitor student progress regularly to ensure
  student achievement in fluency is progressing.
• Administer assessments one on one.
• Use screening and progress monitoring assessment
  to form flexible instructional groups.
• Good Kaminski (2002)

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What Is Your Fluency Rate?

• Find a partner.
• Read your assigned passage to your partner.
• Record your fluency rate.

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Measuring Fluency

• Informal
• Informal reading inventories (IRI)
• Running records
• Miscue analysis
• Reading speed calculations
• Formal
• Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-4)
• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
  (DIBELS)

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Vocabulary Module

• Major Features
• Types of Vocabulary
• Vocabulary Assessment
• Instructional Strategies
• Strategy Practice
• Processing

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Methods of Effective Vocabulary Instruction
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Specific Word Strategies

• Specific word instruction can be highly
  effective, but the instruction must be robust.
• Teaching important vocabulary words before
  reading can help students learn new words and
  comprehend the text.
• Students learn new vocabulary words best when
  they are provided with instruction over an
  extended period of time.
• Students learn new vocabulary words best when
  they encounter them often and in various
  contexts.

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Specific Word Strategies

• Scenario
• A teacher plans to have his third-grade class
  read the novel Stone Fox, by John Reynolds
  Gardiner. In this novel, a young boy enters a
  dogsled race in hopes of winning prize money to
  pay the taxes on his grandfather's farm. The
  teacher knows that understanding the concept of
  taxes is important to understanding the novel's
  plot.
• What would you do if you were the teacher to
  make sure your students understand what the
  concept means and why it is important to the
  story?

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Word Learning Strategies

• Mnemonics
• systematic strategies for strengthening long-term
  retention and retrieval of information
• Contextual analysis
• vocabulary strategy whereby a reader attempts to
  determine the meaning of an unknown word by the
  way it is used in a sentence or passage.
• Morphemic analysis
• practice of identifying words by an analysis of
  the meaningful parts of those words

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Word Consciousness

• Word consciousness is the knowledge of and
  interest in words.
• Word conscious students enjoy learning new words
  and using words in a variety of ways.
• Word consciousness promotes an understanding of
  how words and concepts are related across
  different context.
• Strategies
• Semantic mapping
• Word play
• Word origins

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Comprehension Module

• Major Features
• Factors that Interfere with Comprehension
• Assessment
• Strategies
• Opportunities to Practice
• Processing

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Evidenced BasedComprehension Strategies

• Activities
• Cooperative learning
• Comprehension monitoring
• Graphic organizers
• Answering questions
• Summarization
• National Reading Panel (2000)

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Cooperative Learning

• A successful teaching strategy in which small
  teams use a variety of learning activities to
  improve their understanding of a subject.
• Key Elements
• Positive Interdependence  (sink or swim together)
  
• Face-to-Face Interaction  (promote each other's
  success)
• Individual  Group Accountability (no hitchhiking
  or social loafing)
• Interpersonal Small-Group Skills
• Group Processing

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The Jigsaw

• All students
• learn about pieces of the puzzle of material,
• share their findings and,
• solidify their learning by teaching to other
  students.

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Instructions forHome Teams

• Introduce yourself.
• Select a leader.
• Group leaders will assign each team member to an
  Expert Group.
• Join your assigned Expert Group.
• Select a leader.
• Complete the reading/activities with the Expert
  Group and develop a dissemination plan.
• Return to your Home Team and share your
  findings with you team mates.

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Tour of Modules

• http//www.k8accesscenter.org/index.php

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The Access Center Improving Outcomes for All
Students K-8American Institutes for
Research1000 Thomas Jefferson St. NW
Washington, DC 20007