Topic 6 Interventions for Older Readers

1. Topic 6Interventions for Older Readers EDUC6085 Kerry Dally

2. Lecture Overview • Guided reading and levelled texts • Calculating readability estimates • Small groups • Four roles of the reader • Strategies for older readers • Before, during & after reading strategies

3. Guided reading (Lyons and Thompson, 2012) • What is guided reading? • Levelled texts & small group instruction • Teaching & prompting effective reading strategies • Independent activities for other students • One component within a balanced literacy approach • What are the benefits of guided reading? • Reading materials at student’s instructional level • Increased student engagement • Student progress and increased confidence • Increased teacher feedback within small groups

4. How do teachers identify text level? • Level based on: • Book and print features - length, layout, graphics • Vocabulary and sentence complexity • Content - themes and ideas • Text-structure* • Language and literacy features - figurative, dialogue • Pre-packaged materials • Readability estimates – calculated for any text

5. Calculating readability estimates • Paste text in word document • In menu bar go to File tab • Click on Options and then Proofing • Tick box for Show Readability Statistics - OK • Select text & click Review - Spelling/Grammar check • Fix errors & then Readability Statistics box appears • Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level at bottom of box

6. Instructional level • Running record to check text is at instructional level (Topic 8) • Instructional level – 90% accuracy • How many words wrong in 100 word text? • Accuracy = wcpm – words correct per minute

7. Effective Reading Strategies • Before reading • Activate prior knowledge & build background knowledge: • discussion; KWL; videos; teach vocabulary; graphic organisers • Make predictions: • look at title, illustrations, table of contents • During reading • Relate to self; teacher/self questioning; identify meaning of unfamiliar words; peer discussion • After reading • Check predictions; questioning, analysing, independent responses to text – e.g. response journal, assignments

8. Small groups (Lyons and Thompson, 2012) • What are the benefits of using small groups? • How should these be structured? • Homogeneous (same ability) or heterogeneous • Are there any disadvantages of small groups? • Challenges of levelled texts & guided reading?

9. Four roles of the reader • Freebody and Luke (1990) • Code-breaker • phonological skills, punctuation, grammar • Text-participant • making meaning of the text, literal/inferential • Text-user • recognise purpose and structure of text • Text-analyst • Critically analyse, identify bias, opinions/facts

10. During and After Reading Strategies • Read “Outrageous Reactions” and use the Discussion Framework to respond to the story and photo. • What “reader roles” did the questions force you to take? • Was this helpful in supporting Higher Order Thinking (HOT) about the text? • What impact did the group discussion have on your understanding of the text? • What topic or framework for a ‘Joint Text’ report or independent writing could teachers set as a text ‘response’ assignment? • Discussion framework from Classroom Assessment Resource for Stage 3: DEST (2002, p.57 & 66).

11. Reading comprehension • What is construction-integration and what is meant by text-based or situation models of reading comprehension? • Integrate text content with prior knowledge or experience • Construction – decoding words, vocabulary • Integration - requires ongoing monitoring, visualising, summarising, self-questioning • Younger readers – emphasis is on text construction • Older readers – go beyond text – inferences & elaboration • Explain how you would categorise Freebody and Luke’s (1990) four roles of the reader in terms of construction and integration • Relies on effective use of both cognitive & metacognitive strategies

12. Learning Strategies Curriculum (LSC) • Cognitive strategies – give explicit steps • teacher modelling, guided practice, independent practice • cognitive strategies are effective IF USED • Metacognitive or meta-comprehension strategies • students need to now when, why & how to use strategies • see MARSI items (Cantrell et al., 2010, p. 276) • Ultimate aim of strategy instruction is for adolescents to use strategies independently & automatically - strategic readers • Why was the LSC less effective for Yr 9 than Yr 6? • Older students don’t persist in strategy use • constructive feedback during guided & independent practice • Teacher comments need to link effort to success • enhances motivation and self-efficacy

13. Before reading - KWL • KWL strategy (see Woolley, 2010) • K - What I already Knowabout a topic • activating prior knowledge • bridging what is known with what is new • W - What I Want to learn • setting a purpose • increasing motivation • L - Recalling what I Learned • Revising - for retention and understanding

14. Before reading – Preteach Vocabulary • What is the relationship between vocabulary and comprehension? • What is a better source for adolescents to learn new vocabulary? • Talking to university graduates or reading comic books? (Learning Point Associates, 2004, p.28)

15. Modelling & scaffolding strategy use Using The Atmosphere as the textbase for your lesson: • In pairs demonstrate to the class how you would teach some Tier 2 words using the Robust Vocabulary Instruction method (Beach et al., 2015). OR • Teach one of the construction-integration strategies below: • KWHHL strategy (Woolley, 2010) • DISSECT word identification strategy (Cantrell et al., p.273) • During your lesson use think aloud technique to model one item from each of the strategies in the MARSI (Cantrell et al., p.276)

16. References Beach, K. D., Sanchez, V., Flynn, L. J., & O'Connor, R. E. (2015). Teaching academic vocabulary to adolescents with learning disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 48, 1 36-44. Cantrell, S.C., Almasi, J.F., Carter, J.C., Rintamaa, M., & Madden, A. (2010). The impact of a strategy-based intervention on the comprehension and strategy use of struggling adolescent readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102,2, 257-280. Lyons, W. & Thompson, S.A. (2012). Guided reading in inclusive middle years classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47, 3, 158-166. NSW Education Standards Authority. Learning through reading and writing. Available at: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/7-10-literacy-numeracy/literacy-strategy.html Woolley, G. (2010). A multiple strategy framework supporting vocabulary development for students with reading comprehension deficits. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 34(2), 119-132.