ReadWriteServe Tutor Training

1. ReadWriteServe Tutor Training ReadWriteServe Programs of the Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte

2. What is ReadWriteServe? • ReadWriteServe--Partnership for Literacy Action Initiatives brings together UNC Charlotte and community-based resources to address increasingly complex literacy needs of students and their families in the Southeastern U.S. through service, research and community-based programs that are culturally relevant and focused on community needs. p. 2

3. RWS Tutors Provide • Homework Help • Reading Support • Mentoring A note about our terminology: Tutors-----UNC Charlotte student /staff volunteers Learners----the grades K-12 students receiving tutoring

4. The RWS Commitment • Set a time commitment that is reasonable and stick with it. We ask that you commit to meeting with a learner once a week if possible. Whatever your schedule, please keep your commitment to our student partners. • Be ethical and responsible in all that you do in your work with student partners. You are mentors and role models. p. 2

5. Have questions? Need help? • Check out the ReadWriteServe Tutor Blog at rwstutoring.wordpress.com • Get tutoring tips • Learn about upcoming events and trainings • Ask questions & join a conversation

6. Get to know each other Ice breaker & information

7. 3-2-1 Strategy

8. Assessment Overview of Tutoring Meeting the Learner Setting Expectations Evaluating the Learner Planning Tutoring Sessions p. 5

9. Formal vs. Informal Assessment p. 9-10

10. Informal Assessment Assessment gives us information about what learners strengths and areas of need—what they can do and what they need help with. Here are some informal methods of assessment: • Interview • Learner Surveys • 5-finger assessment • Read Alouds • Retellings p. 10

11. Our Approach: Guided Learning Our basic approach is to meet a learner at his or her point of need. You might help the learner with homework or in reading and writing. Most tutoring can be broken into this simpleframework: • Before Reading & Learning • During Reading & Learning • After Reading & Learning p. 14

12. Guided Reading & Learning Guided Reading & Learning is a type of instruction in which a tutor guides at student (learner) through the process of reading. Tutors are mentors to students. They help students (learners) move from reading with help to reading independently.

13. p. 14

14. Example 1: Sam in 7th Grade p. 18

15. Example 2: Rachel in 3rd Grade p. 19

16. If time allows…try some planning

17. Lesson Activities & Mini-lessons Here are some useful lesson activities and mini-lesson ideas: • Book Walk or Picture Talks • Guided Reading & Learning • Dictating Stories or LEA • Word Families & Word Sorts • Sight Word practice • Teaching Strategies p. 17

18. Book Walks & Picture Talks • Tutors guide students through a book by looking at the cover, title page, and pictures in the book. Point out a few key words and ask the learner questions like, “What do you think is going on in the book?” and “What do you think will happen?” During the guided reading and learning session (the heart of the tutoring process), the tutor can check with the learner to confirm predictions. p. 17

19. If time allows…try a book walk • If you have a book available, do a quick book walk or picture talk with a partner. • Talk about pictures • Make predictions • Point out the title and a few words you think are important to the story

20. Picking Texts to Read Comprehension Word Work: Vocabulary & Sight Words Fluency Decoding p. 21

21. Picking Texts to Read p. 22 You can use any type of text to tutor from; however, if you get a chance to read for enjoyment, pick a good book (one that your student picks) that is not too difficult and enjoy reading for pleasure. Together with the student, you can choose reading material that interests the student and is at an appropriate reading level. One method for choosing a book is the five finger method. Remember • Whenever possible, pick books that are interesting to the learner • For tutoring, pick books are that at their Instructional Level (not too easy, not too hard) • For independent (personal) reading, pick books at the Independent Level.

22. What to focus on in tutoring There are four key areas that we most often focus on in literacy tutoring. • Comprehension • Word Work: Vocabulary & Sight Words • Fluency • Decoding

23. Comprehension • Comprehension is the “so what” of reading. Readers who comprehend understand and can answer questions about what they’ve read. Here are some strategies that help with comprehension: • Say Something • Double-entry Journal • ThinkPairShare • KWL • 3-2-1 • Talking Drawings p. 22

24. Comprehension Strategies Say Something Double-entry Journal Take turns reading and… Make a prediction Ask a question Clarify something you read Make a comment Make a connection p. 23-24

25. Comprehension Strategies KWL Chart ThinkPairShare By yourself, think about __________________ Share your thoughts with a partner or tutor Write down some new things you learned Works great with math problems p. 25

26. If time allows… • Take a couple minutes and review pages 23 through 27 in your RWS Tutor Handbook. • Think about the comprehension strategies and how you might use them. • Look back at the lesson plan you created (if we had time) and think about strategies you might add. • What strategies could you have used in tutoring in the past? Which strategies do you think you’d use in the future.

27. Word Work • Sight words are the most common words that make up our spoken and written language. Fifty percent of all text is made up of the most common 100 sight words. • Vocabularyrefers to the meanings of words, not their spelling or pronunciation.  Vocabulary is important to a reader’s success because comprehension breaks down when readers encounter too many words they do not know.  Vocabulary words are new words that students must learn.   p. 28

28. Sight Words • Sight words are common words that a reader should recognize on "sight." These important words are also referred to as "high-frequency words.” • Sight words are a group of common words with a high-frequency of use that readers must know on sight, instantly, and automatically in order to develop into an efficient and smooth reader. Some examples of these important words are a, is, the, of, and, that, in, you, I, and to. • We include a copy of the list of Dolch Sight Words in the back of this handbook on page 55. p. 28

29. Vocabulary Vocabulary strategies help readers with words they don’t know and need to learn. We don’t expect them to have to memorize these words like we hope readers will do with sight words. Readers need strategies to include but go beyond teaching definitions and include pictures and connections to the real world. p. 28

30. Sight Words & Vocabulary Repetition is the key to teaching sight words. Try this: • Play Sight Word bingo • Make sight word flash cards and review them each Here are some strategies that help teach vocabulary. Note that they move beyond simply teaching definitions. • Vocabulary Cards • Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart • How Well Do I Know These Words • Teach common pre-fixes and root words

31. Vocab Cards & How Well Do I Know p. 30

32. Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart p. 31

33. If time allows… • Take two minutes and review pages 28 through 32 in your RWS Tutor Handbook. • Think about the vocabulary strategies and how you might use them. • Try your hand at creating a vocabulary card for a content area term like solar or cylinder.

34. Fluency • Fluency is the ability to read accurately, effortlessly, at the appropriate pace, and with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on figuring out the words, they can focus their attention on what the text means.  In other words, fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time. • Less fluent readers, however, must focus their attention on figuring out the words, leaving them little attention for understanding the text. p. 30

35. Fluency Strategies Here are some strategies to help with fluency: • Rereading. This is one of the best ways to help improve fluency. • Echo Reading. Echo reading is a rereading strategy designed to help students develop expressive, fluent reading. In echo reading, the tutor reads a short segment of text (sentence or phrase), and the student echoes back the same sentence or phrase while following along in the text. • Paying Attention to Punctuation. Some students read through periods. Point out end punctuation, model reading it, and have the learner reread.

36. Phonics & Decoding • Phonics has to do with looking at the letters of a word, figuring out what sounds those letters make, and putting the sounds together to read the word. During phonics instruction we teach children the letter or letters that make each sound. Phonics instruction can also focus on patterns, such as the –ight pattern and all of the words that you can make from that pattern (flight, knight, light, might, night, plight, right, sight, and tight). Spelling is similar to phonics except that instead of reading, you are writing. p. 34

37. Decoding English has many irregular words. Consider these two: Ate and Eight However there are many word patterns you can teach. Here are a few: • Spelling Rules. Late: the /e/ makes the /a/ say it’s name • Word Families. –ightwords, -ate words (late, fate, crate), -ad words (mad, bad, had) Note: Don’t spend too much time on decoding. Be sure to help with comprehension, vocabulary and fluency.

38. Decoding/Phonics Strategies Word Family Sorts Sticky-note Word Family Books p. 34-35

39. Tutoring Scenario You’ve just begun tutoring a new learner, Jose, a fifth-grader. You observe the following: • Jose reads the words on the page well but as he says, “I just don’t get it.” You ask Jose to read aloud and his reading sounds fine but when you ask him to do a retelling he has little to say. • He also says that some of the words in his science book are difficult. What can you do?

40. Reading with Learners p. 36 There are many ways to organize reading—read aloud, partner reading, silent reading. Here are some different ways to organize reading when you work with a student: • Read Aloud (oral reading). Have the student read aloud to you. • Buddy Reading. You and the student take turns reading sections of a text and talking about it. Great questions include: “What do you think will happen next?” or “Does that make sense?” • Choral Reading. Another good strategy for struggling readers is to read a text aloud together in unison. • Silent Reading. Yes, this works in tutoring as well—especially for older students. You and the student read a text to an agreed upon stopping point and then discuss the passage. Not all reading has to be out loud. Read aloud is useful but can be uncomfortable for some learners.

41. If time allows… Take a minute and think about what we’ve talked about: • Planning to meet a learner at his or her point of need • Using strategies to help learners with comprehension, words, & fluency. • Select texts that are interesting and engaging • Provide guided support and mentoring • How can you apply this in your work as a tutor? • What questions do you have?

42. Getting to Know the Learner Setting Expectations Evaluating the Learner Our Approach (Planning) p. 5

43. Getting to Know the Learner At the first meeting or two, the tutor and learner need to get to know one another. This initial session is an important step towards building a positive rapport that will underlie the tutoring and learning experience. Use this first meeting to: • Establish rapport • Setting expectations • Get to know your learner p. 6

44. Ice Breakers Ice Breakers are games or activities we use to get to know a learner or “break the ice.” Here are a few of these activities: • Acrostic Name Poem • The Memory Game • Two facts and a lie p. 5-7

45. Acrostic Name Poem p. 7

46. Setting Expectations It’s important to establish expectations between the tutor and learner. You can do this through discussion or if you prefer, you can use the Literacy PALS Tutor-Learner Agreement that is in the back of your Literacy PALS Handbook. The main points are that both Tutor and Learner agree to: • Come prepared to all tutoring sessions • Arrive on time • Listen and talk with each other • Be respectful of each other

47. 5 Finger Text Assessment • Allow the student to read-aloud about 100 words from a book or text. While the student is reading, count the number of errors made. When a child corrects his own errors, it doesn’t count as an error. • Errors include: • Misread – word said incorrectly • Insertion – added a word different from text • Omission – skipped over or left out a word • Keep track of these errors using the fingers on your hand. • If you count more than nine or ten errors, then the book being read is at the child’s frustration level. • The tutor should then select an easier book to ensure greater reading success. p. 13

48. Tutoring Scenario You’ve just begun tutoring a new learner, Sam, a first-grader. You observe the following: • Sam is very shy and doesn’t seem very comfortable reading out loud. • Sam struggles reading the book he has brought to the tutoring session. He tells you this is a book that he is reading for school. What can you do?

49. A word about mentoring p. 40-41

50. A word on mentoring Mentors are guides. They lead us along the journey of our lives. We trust them because they have been there before. They embody our hopes, cast light on the way ahead, interpret arcane signs, warn us of lurking dangers, and point out unexpected delights along the way. • Student mentoring is defined as a one-to-one relationship between a youth and an adult that occurs over a prolonged period of time. • The mentor provides consistent support, guidance, and concrete help to a student who is in need of a positive role model. • Students involved in the mentoring program may be going through a difficult and/or challenging situation, a period of life in which they need extra support, or they may simply need to have another significant adult present in their life. • The goal of student mentoring is to help students involved in the mentoring program to gain the skills and confidence to be responsible for their own futures p. 40