Supporting Struggling Readers

1. Supporting Struggling Readers What We Know - How We Can Help. Anthony S. Cali Principal, Cornwell Ave. School Kathleen O’Farrell Director, English/Lang. Arts SEPTA Presentation – Oct. 21, 2010

2. How America’s Children Learn to Read:National Reading Panel Report (2003) • 5% - learn to read/write with ease. • 20-30% - learn to read relatively easy once they enter school and begin formal instruction. • 60% - have difficulty learning to read.

3. Lack of interest/motivation Ill-defined purpose Lack of background knowledge Information overload Misuse of text supports Character confusion Insufficient vocabulary Intricate plot Limited world knowledge Singular point of view Inability to break the language code Absence of questioning Insufficient reading experience Factors that interfere with reading success:Allen, Janet (2000). Yellow Brick Roads, p. 38

4. What makes reading difficult for too many kids? • Lack of oral language base • Lack of experience with the genre • Lack of phonemic awareness • Lack of letter-sound associations • Lack of background knowledge • Specialized vocabulary • Text structures

5. The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled Reading (Scarborough, 2001) LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE STRUCTURES VERBAL REASONING LITERACY KNOWLEDGE increasingly strategic WORD RECOGNITION PHON. AWARENESS DECODING (and SPELLING) SIGHT RECOGNITION increasingly automatic Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually acquired over years of instruction and practice.

6. Oral Language Base The knowledge that language is made up of sounds and words that have meaning which can be used to communicate with others. Learning to read and write begins with oral language. • Hearing and saying rhymes, jingles, poems, and songs. • Hearing stories read aloud. • Listening to stories while looking at text. • Sharing reading of familiar story. • Reading(or “pretend reading”)for yourself. • Watching someone write. • Noticing signs and print in environment.

7. Experience with Genres All literature can be divided into categories, called genres that have defining characteristics. Once upon a time, the term “children’s literature” referred simply to storybooks, but today the field includes much more. Children’s books are a powerful force in the lives of children. • Poetry • Folklore • Fantasy • Science Fiction • Realistic Fiction • Historical Fiction • Biography • Nonfiction

8. Phonemic Awareness The ability to hear sounds in words and to identify particular sounds. Awareness of phrases, words, syllables, rhymes, etc. • D-O-G (3 letters - 3 phonemes) • C-A-K-E 4 letters - 3 phonemes) • Eight • Enough • Ghost A B C

9. Letter-Sound Associations • Knowledge of relationship between letters and their sounds to make sense of words. • mom • foot • next • jumping • In English, there is not a 1-1 regular letter-sound match for all words. Phonetic strategies only work for about 50% of our words, so a skillful reader needs a wide range of strategies for words that don’t fit the pattern. B b boat G g girl

10. Background Knowledge Elementary students are at various levels of expertise on their way to becoming successful readers. Their levels of understanding are the result of previous experience and opportunities. Key Understandings: • Some words are like other words in the way they sound. • When you read you go from left to right. • Pictures represent meaning that will help you understand the story. • One spoken word matches one written word on the page. • Letters come together to form words.Words come together to form sentences, which have meaning.

11. Specialized Vocabulary When encountering difficult and unfamiliar words, the reader needs to use a range of word-solving skills and search context information for the meaning. • Can use visual information quickly and efficiently • Know and use analogies, word parts, roots, etc. • Have a growing level of awareness of alternative spelling patterns. • Understand multiple word meanings and usage, depending on context.

12. Text Structures The use of visual information and the nature of text changes over time. The text a child reads acts as a medium for developing the kind of processing that will be required. • Excerpt from “Thank You, Lab Detective by Catherine Ripley “…Bacteria live in your throat all the time. Most are harmless, but some can make you sick. For example, a bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes (“Strep A” for short)might be the cause of your sore throat. But your doctor can’t be sure just by looking. A virus could be the culprit, too. So your doctor pokes a cotton-tipped swab around your throat. Any bacteria growing there will stick to the swab. Lickety-split, off to the laboratory goes the swab!”

13. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers? • Need to read a lot. • Need books they can read. • Need to learn to read fluently. • Need to develop thoughtful literacy. • Need extensive reading/writing instruction.

14. Motivating Reluctant Readers • Create a book rich environment • Provide a wide variety of reading materials • Provide a low stress environment • Give opportunities for choice • Foster personal connections and authentic relevance • Allow social interaction

15. “All readers, those who struggle and those who don’t, need to be taught the strategies that proficient readers naturally use to construct meaning from text.” • Harvey, S. (1998). Nonfiction Matters, p. 77

16. 7 Comprehension Strategies Make connections Determine Importance Ask questions Use sensory images Draw inferences Synthesize Use fix-up strategies Keene & Zimmerman, 1997 Word Identification Strategies Decoding Analogies Context Clues Word Meaning Syllabic Analysis “Word solving in reading is a complex process that involves both decoding and deriving meaning; the two processes are inseparable.” Fountas & Pinnell (2001) Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3-6, p. 369

17. Guided Reading Language Experience Thematic approach Talking books Familiar books Buddy reading Computer programs Word sorts Word building Interactive writing Retelling Character mapping Story mapping Instructional Practices

18. MATTHEW EFFECT MIN./DAY SCHOOL READING PERCENTILE WORDS PER YEAR • The only way to close the gap is to read more! • In a 90 min. literacy block, if students read: • 20 min. - gap widens • 40 min. - stays the same • 60 min. - gain of 2 years Kylene Beers, 2003

19. West HempsteadReading Instruction/Support Model • General InstructionInstructional Support • Balanced Reading Fundations (Double Dose) • Read Aloud Just Words • Shared Reading Wilson • Independent Reading Fountas & Pinnell • Guided Reading Raz Kids • Reading/Writing Workshop Study Island • Fundations (Gr. K-3) • Testing Fundamentals (Gr. 3-5)

20. GETTING THE MEANINGWhat is it in language that you as a reader use to make sense of text? Consider this: Readers use three kinds of information to make sense of what they read; • Graphophonic – writing, spelling, punctuation • Grammatical – Syntax, grammar • Semantic – meaning

21. Readers use language patterns to get to meaning. You have everything you need to get to meaning in this nonsense story, but you can’t quite get there because you don’t bring enough meaning to the reading. A Mardsan Giberter for Farfie Gils was very fraper. She had denarpen Farfie’s mardsan. She didn’t talp a giberter for him, so she conlanted to plimp a mardsan binky for him. She Had just sparved the binky when he jibbled in the gorger. “Clorsty mardasn!” she boffed. “That’s a crouistish mardsan binky,” boffed Farfie, “but my mardsan is on Stansan.” “In that ruspen,” boffed Gils, “I won’t whank you your giberter until Stansan.”

22. Comprehension Test • Why was Gils fraper? She had denarpen Farfie’s mardsan. • What did Gils plimp? She plimped a mardasn binky for Farfie. • Who jibbled in the gorger when Gils sparved the binky? Farfie • What did Farfie bof about the mardsan binky? “That’s a crouistish mardsan binky.” • Why didn’t Gils whank Farfie his giberter? She didn’t talp a giberter for Farfie

25. Informational Web Sites • www.alline.org/euro/ereading.html Reading web site resources • http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1349 Reading strategies for elementary students • www.globalclassroom.org/2005/inservice/reading.html Interactive Reading/LA web sites

26. “Many children learn to read by the time they are seven or eight years old; but to become truly literate, they will go on learning to read throughout their lives.” Moira McKenzie