Realizing Rigor Realistically: Navigating the Shifts with Struggling and Reluctant Readers

1. Realizing Rigor Realistically:Navigating the Shifts with Struggling and Reluctant Readers Ashlee Gruno, Ed. S. Academic Coach Beth Lee, Ed. S. Lead ELA Teacher Brooks County Middle School

2. Essential Question: How can educators really address CCGPS shifts in text complexity with struggling and reluctant readers? What we expect from you… • Your attention We want to check our phones too, but we think this is more important! • Your participation We know that you all have great ideas and energy to add to this discussion. Please engage. • Your feedback We are learning as we go (aren’t all good teachers?), and we welcome suggestions, ideas, and input.

3. An Invitation to Engage… http://bit.do/ELAparkinglot

4. Let’s Get Started… In the spirit of summer and vacations, please scan the room and choose and go to your favorite vacation destination. Upon arrival, please read and discuss the quote. Elect one person to be your microphone to share out.

5. Now that we feel good, let’s review… Common Core Shifts for English Language Arts/Literacy • Regular practice with complex text and its academic language • Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

6. When the shifts and the new text bands came out… Students were like… Teachers were like… Want to make your own meme? http://www.memegen.com/

7. Sometimes, we don’t play fair... We forget that we are the expert readers. We were the Summer Reading Program kings and queens…the only ones to pass the pop quizzes over the reading homework…the kids who hid under the covers with flashlights to finish the last few chapters. To put ourselves in our students’ shoes, let’s do a quick activity.

8. Your Reading Assignment… • Read the article on nuclear physics. • Read and remember as much as you can in 5 minutes. • Be prepared for a short assessment. This will be graded!

9. The simple truth is that many of our students are NOT ready or prepared to handle the demands of Common Core. As a teacher, we have to push them forward by creating a text-rich, supportive, and engaging learning environment. It IS possible and realistic to help your students become college and career ready readers! Three Steps to Realizing Rigor Find and choose the right texts and resources. Scaffold learning and support your readers. Engage your students, and make reading fun again.

10. STEP 1: Find and Choose the Right Text Common Core requires complex text; however, complex does not equal long. We have had great success starting our year with short stories and news articles. Short selections are engaging, complex, and short enough to complete. They also allow struggling and reluctant readers to gain the confidence they need to move forward.

11. For Example… My 2nd Year Teaching 8th Grade ELA CCGPS UNIT 1: Georgia Authors Text: Members of the Wedding By Carson McCullers UNIT 1: Georgia Authors Text: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” By Flannery O’Connor “Everyday Use” By Alice Walker “Uncle Remus Tales” By Joel Chandler Harris My 1st Year Teaching 8th Grade ELA CCGPS

12. STEP 1: Find and Choose the Right Text We need access to rich, complex, appropriate text, and we need it quick and easy! Here are some resources that we have found and used successfully…

13. STEP 1: Find and Choose the Right Text • GALILEO (Compton’s, SIRS Discoverer, Novelist, etc.) • Newsela(web) • ReadWorks (web) • The New York Times Learning Network (web) • Eyewitness to History (web) • Cobblestone • Leveled Texts Series (Shell Education/print) • “Find a Book” Lexile (http://www.lexile.com/) • Text and Lessons (print) • Short Stories (We LOVE this genre!) • Junior Scholastic and SCOPE (print/web)

14. GALILEO • Excellent resource; extremely underutilized • Supports college and career readiness • Promotes using quality sources and citations • Features many databases and resources for on-level texts: • Britannica • SIRS Discoverer • NoveList • Middle Search Plus • Student Research Center • And many more!

15. SIRS Database (GALILEO)

16. NoveList K-8 (GALILEO)

17. Middle Search Plus (GALILEO)

18. Middle Search Plus (GALILEO)

19. Newsela

20. ReadWorks

21. At your table, please take a moment to browse one or more of these resources (technology or print). • Fill out the guided questions resource sheet. • Share your findings and reflections with your group. STEP 1: Find and Choose the Right TextWORK TIME!!

22. STEP 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your Readers “Our main job, year in and year out, is to lead our students up a ladder of challenge, building their stamina, and pushing them along to literature that requires more intentional thinking. But along that ladder, it’s also our duty to provide just the right amount of and type of support to keep kids progressing” (Daniels &Steinke, 2013).

23. The text is shorter rather than longer. • The reader has chosen the text. • The reader has relevant background knowledge. • The topic has personal interest. • The text evokes curiosity, surprise, or puzzlement. It is the teacher’s job to make complex text more accessible. Factors that make complex text more accessible… (Daniels and Steinke. 2013)

24. The text has high coherence (it explains itself). • The teacher teaches specific reading strategies. • Readers can mark, write, or draw on text as they read. • Readers are encouraged to talk about the text during and after reading. • Readers can hear text read aloud. • Readers have experience writing in the same genre. Factors that make complex text more accessible (cont.)… (Daniels &Steinke, 2013)

25. STEP 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your Readers Additionally, all language teachers should have a working understanding of the fundamentals of reading education; often, secondary teachers lack this foundation, requiring us to brush up on our knowledge of the basic mechanics of reading. We must figure our the missing piece for our struggling readers and adapt our instruction to serve them.

26. STEP 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your ReadersThe National Reading Panel describes five key “building blocks” of literacy instruction (2000); however, struggling adolescent readers have slightly different needs (Heller, 2008). Grades 4-12 Word Study Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Motivation Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Grades K-3

27. STEP 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your Readers • Word Study: • Show students how to break multi-syllabic words into recognizable parts • Give students lots of practice reading and writing that defy spelling patterns (homonyms, homophones, etc.) • Teach common root words, prefixes, and suffixes. • Fluency: • Read aloud to students (A LOT!) • Show students how to read with expression/porosity • Have students record and listen to themselves read • Have students track their progress • Use technology to aid fluency assessment (Dragon Dictation, Talk to Me, iPrompt, etc.)

28. STEP 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your Readers • Vocabulary • Vocabulary Strategies • Marzano’s 6 steps (2004) • Describe • Restate • Draw • Revisit • Revise • Review • Comprehension • Before Reading (Frontloading Learning) • During Reading (Guiding Comprehension) • After Reading (Consolidating Understanding)

29. Step 2: Scaffold Learning and Support Your ReadersCarousel Wrap-Up • This is not a presentation dedicated to scaffolding and strategies; however, we can not underestimate or ignore the necessity or power of these in instruction. • Let’s take about 5 minutes to move around and share some of our favorites. • Please listen for your number, and follow the directions at each station.

30. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. RANT ALERT!! Wake up, people! Our students are bored. They don’t want to read because we teach texts that are hard, old, and boring! We do all of the talking, and we still use worksheets and tired assignments and projects. Many of our readers are not struggling but reluctant. Change your classroom from teacher-focused to student-focused, and watch the transformation take place!

31. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. Realizing rigor is not just about the content. It’s also about the environment you create. Adolescents want to work hard and do well. If you prepare an engaging, challenging lesson, your students will have a good time reading, analyzing, and learning from complex texts. “There is a 0% chance that children will learn from work they do not do.” -Philip Schlechty

32. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. When 3 or more of these 8 qualities are present in a lesson, students will be engaged: • Personal response • Clearly modeled expectations • Emotional and intellectual safety • Learning with others • Sense of audience • Choice • Novelty or variety • Authenticity (Schlechty, 2002)

33. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. Learning with Others Students explain why/how their answer is plausible Students take risks with “unpopular” or more subtle answers Sources, evidence, and examples are cited Reasoning first, answers second Answers questioned or defended Think, pair, share Literature Circles Small group discussion Reciprocal teaching Peer revision and review One talk, One repeats “When he/she talked about _______, I thought…” Emotional and Intellectual Safety • (Schlechty, 2002)

34. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. Clearly Modeled Expectations What it looks like… Supported predictions Opinions Remembrances Connections Comparisons Analogies Summary Statements Strategies I think…because.. Clear objective of activity and learning Models of expectation and strategy Visual exemplars that persist Rubrics and self-assessment Clear formats and procedures Sources Quantity and quality required in personal response activities I included… Personal Response • (Schlechty, 2002)

35. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. Choice Increased level of concern Connections to audience/purpose Voice Responsibility to group Proficient work posted Student work as exemplars Tiered assignments Self-selected reading material Product Selecting tasks from a list Meaningful options Decision-making Sense of Audience • (Schlechty, 2002)

36. Step 3: Engage your students, and make reading fun again. Authenticity Variety of products Diverse perspectives Integrated fun Layered interests Games Simulations and role-play Competitions Relevance to age group Tasks that represent the personalities of the learner Real-life activities Inquiry or discovery learning Hands-on manipulative Current events/issues Transfer or synthesis beyond content Extension of workplace activities Use of workplace or home technology Novelty or Variety • (Schlechty, 2002)

37. Before you go… • Reflect on your own practices. How does the CCGPS demands of rigor and your students’ reading levels impact your instruction? • What can you take away from this session and back to your classroom? What will you CHANGE in the new year?

38. References • Daniels, H., & Steinke, N. (2013). Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature . Portsmouth, NH: Heinenmann. • Heller, R. (2011). Give Struggling Readers the Specific Kinds of Support They Need. Retrieved March 1, 2013, from http://www.adlit.org/adlit_101/ improving_literacy_instruction_in_your_school/give_struggling_readers_specific_support/ • Schlechty, P. (2002). Woking on the Work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.