Differentiating Instruction in Reading

1. Differentiating Instruction in Reading Laura L. Waller MEd

2. A Little Bit About Me • Undergraduate degrees from Appalachian State University in Spanish and Communications • Masters Degree from Johns Hopkins University in Elementary Education • Taught in Title One Schools in DCPS and rural NC • Currently work as after school coordinator for Interfaith Refugee Ministry • Educational Outreach program to Burmese population in New Bern, NC

4. A Little Bit About You What grades do you teach? What do you see as biggest challenges for reading teachers? What does differentiation mean to you?

5. Traditional Phases in Lesson PlanTeaching The Emperor’s Egg Grade 2 • Introduction • Look at pictures of penguins together from Scholastic magazine • Teach • Go around room and round robin read paragraph by paragraph • Guided Practice • Have pairs illustrate life cycle of penguin • Independent Practice • Have students answer questions at end of story • Check and Reteach as Necessary

6. Our Challenge as Teachers • 20-25% of students have some difficulty reading in early school years • Number of children (5-17) who spoke language other than English at home went from 4.7 to 11.2 million between 1980 and 2009 • Reading is basis of instructional achievement • Implications for overall school success • Increasing emphasis on reading instruction since 2000 • Bender & Waller, 2011; National Reading Panel, 2000; Podhajski, Mather, Nathan, & Sammons, 2009;

7. Dramatic Changes in Reading Instruction – RTI • 2009 survey showed 73% of respondents implementing RTI in some form • Intensive educational interventions • Targets individual student’s specific learning challenges • Provides supplementary intervention in general education class • Bender & Waller, 2011 • Early studies show problems of many students are reduced or eliminated through participation in specific targeted reading interventions • Bhat, Griffin, & Sindelar, 2003; Fuchs et. al., 2001; Abbott, Walton, & Greenwood, 2002; Denton, Fletcher, Anthony, & Francis, 2006

8. Dramatic Changes in Reading Instruction – Differentiation • Tomlinson introduced differentiation as a fundamental shift in structuring teaching • Wider set of instructional activities in response to diverse learning needs of students • Three areas of differentiation • Content • Process • Product • Tomlinson, 1999; Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006; Bender, 2008; Smutny & Von Fremd, 2010

9. The “Why” Behind Differentiation • Attention levels increase when students participate in fun, novel activities • Specific learning style activities result in increased engagement = increased learning • King & Gurian, 2006; Sternberg, 2006 • Teaching efficacy increases in smaller groups • Achievement increases for sub groups • Bender, W.N., Waller, L. (2011)

10. RTI & Differentiatoin Together • Couple RTI and differentiation to get classwide instruction tied to • Individual learning styles • Individual learning needs • Intensive, supplemental intervention • Tomlinson, 1999; Spectrum K12 School Solutions, 2009 • Represents fundamental shift in structuring reading classroom • Tomlinson, 1999; Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006 • No more • Round robin individual reading • Basal story • Paragraph by paragraph

11. Myths About Our English Language Learners • Children learn a second language quickly and easily. • When an ELL student is able to speak English fluently, he/she has mastered the language. • All ELL students learn English in the same way. • Providing accommodations for ELL learners only benefits those students. • Teaching ELL means only focusing on vocabulary instruction.

12. Guided Reading: Defined • Is critical component of differentiated instruction in reading • Kamps et. al, 2008; Lovett et al, 2008; Manset-Williamson & Nelson, 2005 • Allows for differentiation in primary classroom • Explicit, systematic instruction • Tailored to students’ instructional reading level • Delivered in small groups

13. Guided Reading in Action • Small, homogenous group meets with teacher • Instruction based on learning needs and styles of students • Time based on needs of students • ELL may need smaller groups (3-6) and longer time periods (30 min/day) • Lesson may focus on • Decoding • Vocabulary • Fluency • Comprehension skills • Retelling

14. Guided Reading: Sample Plans • Work on one text for entire week • Variety of genres • Use various instructional activities • See Appendix C for sample lesson plans and instructional techniques used in Guided Reading

15. Guided Reading with ELL Students • Determine student needs and group students based on progress monitoring • Select your book based on objective and reading level • Analyze text and identify challenges for ELL students • Semantics (vocabulary, figurative language, homophones) • Grammar • Text structure • Concept • Strategy instructions (think alouds, predictions)

16. Guided Reading with ELL Students • Detailed vocabulary instruction • Academic language vs. colloquial language • Reading, speaking, listening, and writing • Information concerning the L2 • Semantics, syntax

17. Guided Reading: Challenges • What do I do with the other students? • How do I manage the classroom? • How do I set up my classroom? • How do I group my students? • How do I continue monitoring progress? • How does technology tie into differentiation?

18. What do I do with the other students?

19. Literacy Stations: Defined • Instructional activities planned to keep students actively engaged in literacy • Provide opportunities for differentiation • Independent activities create • Excitement • Motivation • Opportunities for growth • Opportunities for self-directed learning • Authentic, meaningful literacy experiences • Smutny & Von Fremd, 2010

20. Literacy Stations in Action

21. Spelling Using Words Their Way • Complete at desk • Work with individual, differentiated spelling lists • Administer Spelling Inventory • Places each student along a spectrum of phonics knowledge • Emergent, letter name, within word etc • Resources available for ELL students

22. Words Their Way: Defined • Students are grouped based on initial spelling assessment • Students are introduced to new group of words with a specific feature as the focus each week • Students work with hands on activities to sort words with common features • Students build on what they know, to learn what they need to know, and to move forward

23. Spelling Using Words Their Way • Students receive differentiated lists • Typically make three to five groups of students • Each week the list focuses on a particular spelling pattern • Daily spelling activities completed in a spelling notebook • Monday – cut words and sort into columns • Tuesday – sort words and write into notebook • Wednesday – rainbow words; illustrate words • Thursday – word hunt • Friday – blind sort and assessment

24. Words Their Way in Action

25. Computer Based Station: Software • Software based curriculum • Initial screening test to place students at appropriate level • Generally adjust question level according to student strength and weakness • Study Island • SuccessMaker • What do you use at your school?

26. Computer Based Station: AR • Accelerated Reader • One-time school fee • Annual subscription per student • 130,000 online quizzes • www.renlearn.com/ar

27. Computer Based Station: Online Work • Numerous websites can be utilized as well • See handout for list of fee based and free websites

28. Wild Card: Defined • Changes every day • Highlights skill teacher deems necessary to practice • May be in form of: • Phonics practice sheets • Games • Silent reading on topical stories • Comprehension questions • Journal writing • And more!!

29. Wild Card Station in Action • Skill that can be practiced without frustration • Options are nearly endless • Offers a chance for teacher to be creative • Provides opportunity for formative assessment • Teacher is able to differentiate activity based on data from assessment

30. Choice Stations: Defined • Five stations set up around the room • Stations address 5 components of literacy • Writing, Poetry, Phonics, Listening, Library • Students choose one to complete each day • By the end of the week, they should visit all choice stations • On Monday student chooses Poetry • On Tuesday student then chooses Writing etc. • Integrate assignments into thematic unit of study

31. Choice Station: Writing • Create written response to thematic unit of study • Reflection in authentic manner • Use stamps, stickers, cut outs, stencils, magazines

32. Writing Center in Action • Students were studying Outer Space • Used play-doh to create their own planet • Wrote a report describing their planet • Skills practiced: • Proper, common nouns • Complete sentences • Punctuation • Use of adjectives

33. Choice Station: Phonics • Addresses phonemic awareness and phonics lessons • Use magnetic letters, letter stickers, newspapers, high lighters, word games, and more!!!

34. Phonics in Action • Have students look through magazines and find words that address a particular phonics feature • Have students use magnetic letters to change words from singular to plural form • Look in magazines for pictures of one, two, and three syllable words

35. Choice Center: Poetry • Expose students to a wide array of poetry • Promotes fluency • Helps with rhyming words • Can address other phonetic and grammatical skills • Have one to two poems ready for each thematic unit of study

36. Poetry in Action • Highlight rhyming words • Underline proper and common nouns in poem • Draw a picture in response to the poem • Use a template to create their own poem and illustrate • Create a student copy with blanks and have students fill in with correct part of speech • Scramble the poem and have students cut out and paste in correct order

37. Poetry Center

38. Choice Center: Listening • Allows students to hear fluent reading • Stories read aloud so can be slightly higher reading level • Students follow along with hard copy • Try to integrate with thematic unit of study • Complete a follow up activity to incorporate comprehension skills

39. Choice Center: Listening • Audio books can be checked out from most libraries • If no audio book is available, are places online with stories read aloud • Check out Appendix A for suggestions • Use a CD player with headphones • Can buy jacks to allow for three or four headphones at a time

40. Listening in Action • Listen to story • Draw the beginning, middle, and end • Illustrate your favorite character and tell why • Fill out story map • Create a different ending • Create a Venn Diagram comparing two settings in story

41. Choice Center: Library • Offers a quiet place for independent and silent reading • Create a comfortable space • Pillows, carpet, bean bags etc. • Can fill with stuffed animals so that students can practice reading aloud to “friends” • Sort books based on level or genre • Allow students time to pleasure read

42. Library in Action

43. Can You Do It? • We are doing a unit on penguins • Can you think of an instructional activity for your choice centers? • Writing • Listening • Poetry • Phonics

44. You CAN Do It! • Don’t overwhelm yourself • Begin with a few centers • Repeat activities • Finished product not required every time • Manipulatives • Dry – erase markers

45. How do I manage the classroom?

46. Scheduling Literacy Stations • Teach students how to move independently through stations • Take advantage of paraprofessionals or special education teacher • Student initiated rotations require students to: • Use time wisely • Create high quality work • Manage time

47. Scheduling the Literacy Stations • Place rotation schedule up on a pocket chart or word board • Change the order daily • See Appendix B for sample weekly schedule

48. Monday’s Rotation Tuesday's Rotation

49. Scheduling Literacy Stations • Create approximately three heterogeneous groups of students • Teachers call forward the homogenous guided reading group

50. Literacy Stations in Action