HIGH-QUALITY SCHOOL-LEVEL CHOICES SHARON WALPOLE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

1. Differentiation for Vocabulary and Comprehension HIGH-QUALITY SCHOOL-LEVEL CHOICES SHARON WALPOLE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

2. Our First Focus: Tier I Tasks

3. Our Second FocusPhonemic Awareness and Word Recognition

4. Our Third FocusWord Recognition and Fluency

5. Our Last FocusFluency and Comprehension

6. What strategies are you using to differentiate for • Phonemic awareness and word recognition? • Word recognition and fluency? • Fluency and comprehension? • What progress/problems were revealed in your January benchmarking data? • What additional data do you need to gather? TaKE stock

7. What progress did you make? • Please spend 30 minutes with your home team; discuss your progress so far on any of our tasks • Then we will have another 30-minute gallery walk; it will help you to network with others who are tackling the same issues that you are facing.

8. Please connect with others until 10:15

9. Goals for Today • Review this conceptualization of tiered, differentiated instruction • Present a model for instructional planning for the Vocabulary and Comprehension group • Problem-solve for a classroom of students

10. Ground Rules • Separate professional development from state or district or school policy • I can help to inform your policies, but I can’t set or endorse them • Use time wisely • Participate in tasks during and after the training • Stay focused on today’s tasks rather than future ones • Be considerate • Please step outside if you must conduct business other than the tasks I am setting • Don’t come up to the front to ask questions during group work

11. Back in School Use the data available to you to make decisions about groupings and about instruction focus Organize your classroom so that children engage in meaningful reading and writing practice and you can teach small groups without being interrupted Plan for three weeks for each group and evaluate your children’s response to your instruction

12. A Stairway to Proficiency Vocabulary & Comprehension Fluency and Comprehension Word Recognition and Fluency PA and Word Recognition

14. Stage models of reading When children are acquiring literacy – developing the skills necessary for reading comprehension – they tend to move through stages in which their focus is very different. All along, during each stage, they are developing oral language skills.

15. A Stairway to Proficiency Vocabulary & Comprehension Fluency and Comprehension Word Recognition and Fluency PA and Word Recognition

16. Which children belong in this group? Let’s start by considering their needs as instructional targets.

17. Two kinds of children receive differentiated instruction of this kind. One kind is performing at benchmark in all decoding areas but is not yet fluent. These children listen to read-aloud texts. The other kind is fluent and can therefore be expected to read the text that will be the basis of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. What are our targets for the fourth step?

18. Now let’s use the Cognitive Model to identify them.

19. The Cognitive Model Phonological Awareness Decoding and Sight Word Knowledge Fluency in Context Print Concepts Automatic Word Recognition Vocabulary Knowledge Background Knowledge Language Comprehension Reading Comprehension Knowledge of Text and Sentence Structures Strategic Knowledge Specific Purposes for Reading Knowledge of Strategies for Reading General Purposes for Reading

20. Think about your assessments. Let’s translate the model into a series of guiding questions. Think about the data you will need to answer these questions.

21. Yes Is the child at benchmark in oral reading fluency? Vocabulary and Comprehension (Children Read) No Yes Are all or nearly all decoding skills mastered? Fluency and Comprehension No Yes Is the child at benchmark in decoding? Vocabulary and Comprehension (Teacher Reads Aloud)

22. The lessons for K-1 and 2-3 are nearly identical. The difference is that for K-1 the book is read aloud by the teacher, but for grades 2-3, the children read it on their own.

23. Remember that these children are NOT remedial. The three-tier “wedding cake” model of intervention, in which only struggling children receive differentiated instruction does NOT apply. The children at the top stairstep deserve appropriate instruction too!

26. How do we choose books?

27. Books for vocabulary and comprehension • A three-week cycle should contain between 3 and 15 books. • Books should represent a balance of fiction and nonfiction, from cycle to cycle, although the books in a given cycle may be either fiction or nonfiction. • Each cycle should have a unifying topic (for fiction) or theme (for fiction)

28. Books for vocabulary and comprehension • Books should be challenging but not beyond the grasp of students. • For K-1 students, books should be near the listening level. • For students in grades 2 and 3, books should be approximately at grade level. • Books must have plenty of real content. They cannot be decodable or predictable books.

29. Books for vocabulary and comprehension • Books can be tied to state standards in ELA, science, and social studies. • Books should be of similar difficulty within a three-week cycle, but they should gradually increase in difficulty from cycle to cycle. • Books should represent a variety of genres and text structures.

30. Harder Texts Easier Texts Rotation among major text types

31. Together, please examine the books on your table. Select one book that you think would be appropriate for a K-1 read aloud and one for a 2-3 reading group. How did you choose?

32. Unlike the first two steps, instruction on the top step does not move through a progressive series of target skills.

33. Let’s condense these ideas into a simple checklist.

34. Guidelines for text selection • Does the text connect to other texts or other parts of the curriculum? • Is the text likely to be comprehensible given teacher support? • Does the text avoid decodable and patterned language? • Does the text have adequate content to foster comprehension development? • Does the text incorporate a limited number of important, unfamiliar words? • Does the content relate to state standards for the English language arts, social studies, or science? • How many days would it take to finish?

35. Overall Guidelines for planning

36. Instructional Methods for vocabulary • Nonfiction • Concept of Definition • Semantic Feature Analysis • Semantic Maps • Diagrams • Concept Sorts • Fiction • Tier 2 instruction of explicit words Let’s review

37. The planets, A Hypothetical trade book This book combines basic facts about the planets with pictures and diagrams. It is written at a third-grade level. The book is organized by first defining what a planet is and then discussing each one in turn, from nearest to farthest from the sun. Technical vocabulary include: Mercury gravity dwarf planet Venus revolve sun Earth rotate Mars orbit Jupiter solar system Saturn atmosphere Uranus satellite Neptune asteroid Pluto Titan

38. The fact that all of these words appear in the book does not mean that they must all be taught to mastery. However, the words represent key concepts and the teacher must find ways to discuss them and to help students understand how they are related.

39. Concept of definition • The word to be taught is the center of a web. An upward line connects the word to a larger concept, downward lines to smaller concepts. Lateral lines connect to characteristics, etc. This diagram is constructed with explanation from the teacher. This approach works best with nouns, either general or technical.

40. Planet

41. Heavenly Body Planet

42. Heavenly Body Planet Mercury Venus Earth Mars

43. Heavenly Body Could have moons Could have atmosphere Revolves around sun Has gravity Planet Mercury Venus Earth Mars

44. Heavenly Body asteroid Could have moons Could have atmosphere Revolves around sun Has gravity Planet Mercury Venus Earth Mars

45. Semantic feature analysis • A chart places the name of a category in the upper left-hand box, with category members below. Features the members may or may not possess are written in the top row and the remainder of the chart is filled in with plusses and minuses. The teacher leads the students in comparing and contrasting category members or features.

47. Possible Writing Connections • Semantic feature analyses lend themselves to compare and contrast essays; consider a follow-up for this group to write to demonstrate comprehension • Semantic feature analyses lend themselves to construction of definitions; remember that it may take students 14 meaningful encounters to really learn a new concept

48. Semantic maps • Like concept of definition, the word to be taught is the center of a web. The word represents the major topic of the book. Lines connect the word to subtopics and information about each, written in brief. Semantic maps are useful for text structure as well but are also key to helping students organize their knowledge of an important concept.

49. What is Mercury Venus a planet? Planet Neptune Earth Uranus Mars Saturn Jupiter

50. Diagrams • Diagrams are graphic organizers that display how key concepts are related. Principal types include labeled pictures, hierarchical (tree) diagrams, Venns, time lines, and scales. Research shows that they are most effective when they are fully explained by the teacher and when students are given a chance to contribute.