Core Classroom Reading Instruction: Addressing the Needs of Students at Tier I

1. Core Classroom Reading Instruction: Addressing the Needs of Students at Tier I Christa Macomber M.S.E. Melissa Smith, M.S. Monona Grove School District

2. Acknowledgments • Oregon Department of Education • Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement, College of Education, University of Oregon • Texas Education Agency, College of Education, University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts • U.S. Department of Education, Officeof Special Education Programs

3. Content Development Content developed by: Edward J. Kame’enui, Ph. D. Deborah C. Simmons, Ph. D. Professor, College of Education Professor, College of Education University of Oregon University of Oregon Beth Harn, Ph.D. Michael D. Coyne, Ph. D. University of Oregon University of Connecticut David Chard, Ph. D. Patrick Kennedy-Paine University of Oregon Katie Tate University of Oregon Nicole Sherman-Brewer Jeannie Wanzek Oregon Reading First University of Texas Michael Ford, Ph.D. Christa Macomber, M.S.E . University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Monona Grove School District Ed P. O’Connor, Ph.D. Melissa Smith, M.S. Monona Grove School District Monona Grove School District

4. Core Classroom Reading Instruction Focus Instruction on the Big Ideas High Impact Skills at Each Grade Level Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction

5. Focus Instruction on the Big Ideas What are the Big Ideas of early literacy? • Phonemic Awareness • Alphabetic Principle • Fluency with connected text • Vocabulary • Comprehension

6. What Makes a Big Idea a Big Idea? • A Big Idea is: • Predictive of reading acquisition and later reading achievement • Something we can do something about, i.e., something we can teach • Something that improves outcomes for children if/when we teach it

7. Big Idea: Phonemic Awareness Phonemic Awareness: The ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words and the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds (Yopp, 1992). Essential to learning to read in an alphabetic writing system, because letters represent sounds or phonemes. Without phonemic awareness, phonics makes little sense. • “cat” is composed of the sounds /k/ /a/ /t/

8. What Skills Does PA Include? Phonological Awareness Development Continuum - Word comparison • Rhyming • Sentence segmentation • Syllable segmentation & blending • Onset-rime blending and segmentation • Blending & segmenting individual phonemes • Phoneme deletion & manipulation (Modified from O'Connor, Notari-Syverson, & Vadasy, 1998) • High Priority Skills

9. PA Instructional Guidelines: Application • Highlight hierarchy of skills using the Gradual Release Model • 15 – 20 minutes of instruction a day for all (Universal) - More for those who demonstrate difficulty • Blending and segmenting high priority skills • Teach children to manipulate sounds in connection to print • Identify sounds associated with letters/words in reading • Writing letters associated with sounds (early learning for spelling)

10. Assessing Phonemic Awareness • There are curriculum-based assessment tools designed to measure specific indicators of PA. Examples include: • DIBELS Initial Sound Fluency (ISF) • Administered Grade K (fall/winter) • DIBELS Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) • Administered Grades K (winter/spring) & 1

11. Big Idea: Alphabetic Principle Alphabetic Principle: Based on two parts: • Alphabetic Understanding: Letters represent sounds in words. v a s p m

12. Big Idea: Alphabetic Principle (AP) Alphabetic Principle: • Phonological Recoding: Letter sounds can be blended together and knowledge of letter-sound associations can be used to read/decode words. Translation from written representation into a sound based system to arrive at the meaning of words in the lexicon (stored vocabulary) in long-term memory (Wagoner & Torgesen, 1987). a p m

13. What Skills Does AP Include? Progression of Regular Word Reading

14. What Skills Does AP Include?

15. What Skills Does AP Include? • To develop the alphabetic principle across grades K-3, students need to learn two essential skills: • Letter-sound correspondences: comprised initially of individual letter sounds and progresses to more complex letter combinations. • Word reading: comprised initially of reading simple CVC words and progresses to compound words, multisyllabic words, and sight words.

16. What Skills Does AP Include? Definitions Related to Word Reading • Regular word: A word in which all letters represent their most common sounds (e.g., sit, fan, got). • Irregular word: A word in which one or more letters does not represent the most common sound (e.g., was, of) or a word for which the student has not learned the letter-sound correspondence or the word type (e.g., CVCe). • Sight word reading: The process of reading words at a regular rate without vocalizing the individual sounds in the word. • Decodable text: Text in which the reader can read the majority of words accurately because the reader has been taught the sounds and word types.

17. Assessing Alphabetic Principle • There are curriculum-based assessment tools designed to measure specific indicators of AP. Examples include: • DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency • Administered Grades K - 2

18. Big Idea: Fluency Accuracy & Fluency with Connected Text • A fluent reader’s focus is on understanding the passage by reading each word accurately and with speed to enable comprehension. • Automaticity with fundamental skills so that reading occurs quickly and effortlessly(e.g., driving a car, playing a musical instrument, playing a sport). Fluent reading is not speed reading.

19. What the Research Says About Fluency • Fluency provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension (National Institute for Literacy, 2001). • Proficient readers are so automatic with each component skill (phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary) that they focus their attention on constructing meaning from the print (Kuhn & Stahl, 2000). • If a reader has to spend too much time and energy figuring out what the words are, she will be unable to concentrate on what the words mean(Coyne, Kame’enui, & Simmons, 2001).

20. What the Research Says About Fluency • Fluent readers • Focus their attention on understanding the text • Synchronize skills of decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension • Read with speed and accuracy • Interpret text and make connections between the ideas in the text • Nonfluent readers: • Focus attention on decoding • Alter attention to accessing the meaning of individual words • Make frequent word reading errors • Have few cognitive resources left to comprehend

21. What Skills Does Fluency Include?

22. Enhancing Fluency Repeated Practice • First through third graders should spend approximately 20 minutes each day on fluency related activities • At least once per month teachers should time students on an unpracticed passage • Meta-cognition - students graph their WPM and monitor progress

23. Assessing Fluency • There are curriculum-based assessment tools designed to measure specific indicators of fluency. Examples include: • DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) • Administered Grades 1 – 6

24. Big Idea: Vocabulary Vocabulary: • Using and understanding words: • Ability to say a specific word for a particular meaning • Ability to understand spoken/written words

25. Vocabulary Instruction • Good readers have developed adequate background knowledge and vocabulary to ensure connections between what is known to the unknown. • Children use their knowledge of word meanings to make sense of the words they see in print. • Beginning readers have a much more difficult time reading words that are not already part of their oral vocabulary.

26. Direct Vocabulary Instruction • Teaching specific words before reading helps both vocabulary and comprehension. • Extended instruction that promotes active engagement with vocabulary improves word learning. • Repeated exposure to vocabulary in manycontexts aids word learning.

27. Indirect Vocabulary Instruction • Children/Adults engage in daily oral language. • Children listen to adults read to them. • Children read on their own.

28. What does the research say about vocabulary development? • Independent reading by proficient readers has a substantial effect on vocabulary development. • Children who are not yet proficient readers learn little vocabulary through the reading process. • Children from low SES environments are exposed to dramatically fewer words on a daily basis. “Children come to us unequally prepared.” The question is, what are we going to do about it? (Lyon, NICHHD, 2000)

29. Vocabulary Usage Points to remember: • Define what the word is and what it is not. • Continual use and review. • Do not introduce other new vocabulary words to define a new word (e.g., to define boat, do not use the word buoy). • On-going promotion of word awareness and clarification of word usage.

30. Assessing Vocabulary • There are curriculum-based assessment tools that are being researched as indicators of the Big Idea of Vocabulary. Examples include: • DIBELS Word Use Fluency • Administered Grades K - 3

31. Big Idea: Comprehension Comprehension: • The process of getting meaning from spoken language and/or print. Good comprehenders: • Relate new information to existing knowledge • Have well developed vocabularies • Can summarize, predict, and clarify • Use questioning strategies to monitor their comprehension

32. What does the research say about comprehension? • Comprehension is the active process that requires intentional and thoughtful interactions between the reader and the text, it involves accessing previous knowledge, understanding vocabulary and concepts, making inferences, and linking key ideas. • Text comprehension can be improved by explicit instruction that helps readers use specific strategies. • Instruction in using strategies flexibly and in combination is important. (Lyon, NICHHD, 2000)

33. Reading Comprehension Strategies Comprehension cannot be learned through rote instruction, but requires a series of strategies that influence understanding of text. • Prior Knowledge • Making Connections • Questioning • Visualizing • Inferring • Summarizing • Evaluating • Synthesizing • Strategies Together Teachers must be skillful in their instruction and must respond flexibly and opportunistically to student’s needs for instructive feedback as they read.

34. Assessing Comprehension • There are curriculum-based assessment tools that are being researched as indicators of the Big Idea of Comprehension. Examples include: • DIBELS Retell Fluency • Administered Grades 1 - 6

35. Focus on the BIG IDEAS • Effective instruction means teach less more thoroughly • If you don’t know what is important, everything is. • If everything is important, you will try to do everything. • If you try to do everything you will diminish the outcomes of the high impact skills. • If you do everything you won’t have time to figure out what is important.

36. Focus on Best Practice • Most children do NOT learn to read or spell “naturally” but instead learn from instruction. • Good word identification instruction does NOT include guessing words from context or picture cues. • Instructional time spent on independent, silent reading with minimal guidance or feedback has NOT currently been confirmed by research to improve reading fluency.

37. Focus on Best Practice • Assessing comprehension is NOT effective comprehension instruction. “We don’t fatten a cow by weighing it!” • Effective reading instruction is NOT adding one new program after another to programs already in your school without determining each one’s alignment with scientifically-based reading research.

38. 5 Big Ideas - Diet of Literacy • Identify critical features of instruction • Identify high priority skills • Establish routines • Employ independent strategies

39. All the Big Ideas are Important • Different students will require different levels of instruction to acquire and apply the skills contained in the big ideas. • Not “one size fits all” but… • Which strategy for which students • Based upon where the student is on the reading continuum.

40. Prioritize High Impact Skills • Time: K 1 2 3 Phonemic Awareness * * Alphabetic Principle * ** * Fluency ** * Vocabulary * ** * Comprehension * ** * • Focus: Kindergarten – 3rd Grade = Learning to Read 4th Grade into Adulthood = Reading to Learn

41. Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction • Explicit – Overtly teaching each step through teacher modeling and many examples (Gradual Release Model). • Systematic – Breaking lessons and activities into sequential, manageable steps that progress from simple to more complex concepts and skills. • Practice and Feedback – Providing many opportunities for students to respond and demonstrate what they are learning, which may include teacher modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. • Mastery and Application – Generalizes what is learned in different contexts.

42. Explicit Instruction Skills are directly taught through: • Modeling - Demonstrate the skill exactly with concise language. • Supported practice - “Say it with me” or “Let’s do it together.” Repeat until firm or model again if necessary. • Test - Ask student to demonstrate the skill independently. “Your turn” Provide corrective feedback. ALWAYS IN THIS ORDER- teach before testing

43. Systematic Instruction • A plan for instruction is critical to be sure all essential skills are taught and follows a logical sequence from beginning skills to more difficult skills. • Planned and not incidental. • Follows a particular order that enhances learning. • Includes all essential elements with nothing left to chance to prevent gaps in knowledge.

44. Repeated Practice Some children need more exposures to information and/or skills to learn them. You may need to triple the number of practice opportunities for some students through: • Choral responding - Whole class response • Small group instruction- Increase number of opportunities to respond • Call on individuals • Review previously learned information for a few minutes daily

45. Repeated Practice (Cont.) Corrective Feedback • Immediate. • Model skill again, if needed. • Concise and direct (Give the correct answer and repeat task). • Available any time a child is learning a new skill before it is mastered.

46. Teach To Mastery Before a student can apply the new skill with automaticity, they need to have mastered the skill. • Test student frequently to determine mastery level. • Reteach skill until student reaches mastery level. • Do not move on until student has mastered the skill.

47. Application • Don’t assume that every child is going to automatically apply the mastered skill in different contexts. • Model the application of the skill in a variety of contexts. • Provide support and corrective feedback to learner when learner is applying newly mastered skill. • Goal: To transition from learning to read to reading to learn.

48. As far as I know. . . • There was a farmer who was an expert at cows. One day his friend asked, “When someone comes to buy a cow and they wonder, ‘Is it a good cow?’--what do you say?” • The farmer, being the expert, replied, “I say, ‘Well yes, it is a good cow.’” • The friend gently pressed on, “How do you know?”

49. How much do you want to know? • The friend asked, “How do you know?” • The farmer said, “Because I am the expert at cows! This is my business; I have done this for a long time. Selling cows is who I am.” • His friend interrupted, but what about. . . • Do you really want to know?

50. Instructional Strategies to Improve Outcomes for all Students Motivation Social/Emotional/Academic Learning