Literacy 101: What Does Every School Need to Provide for Every Child

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Literacy 101 What Does Every School Need to
Provide for Every Child

• Stephanie A. Spadorcia, Ph.D.
• Lesley University
• July 2007
• Follow the Child Institute
• New Hampshire Department of Education

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(No Transcript)
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Current Issues

• Scientifically based educational practices
• Response to Intervention
• High-stakes assessments
• Widening of the achievement gap

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Whole-to-Part Model of Silent Reading
Comprehension

• James W. Cunningham (1993)

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Silent Reading Comprehension
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Silent Reading Comprehension
Automatic Word Identification
Mediated Word Identification
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Levels of Word Identification Instruction

• Sight Words
• Single syllable decoding
• Multi-syllabic decoding- chunking
• Polly-syllabic decoding- larger chunking
• Vocabulary

• Word Wall
• Making Words
• Systematic Sequential Phonics
• Making Bigger Words
• Nifty-Thrifty Fifty
• (Cunningham Hall)

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Phonics instruction is only beneficial when
provided alongside opportunities to independently
read connected texts.

• Therefore phonics instruction alone is not a
  whole reading program. Particularly for students
  beyond early grades, other elements need to be
  added.
• http//www.nifl.gov/nifl/pfr.html

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What does this mean for the District Level?

• Across an entire district, there must be
  personnel with a wide-range of training, skills,
  and knowledge required to provide comprehensive
  instruction that meets the needs of all students
  as well as the individualized instruction for
  some students.
• Providing professional development in appropriate
  strategies for word identification across grades
• Providing materials that support teachers in
  teaching word identification across grades

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What does this mean for the School Level?

• In any given school, there must be a range of
  alternative word identification instructional
  strategies and programs to support students who
  struggle in the general classroom setting.
• Specialized programs and strategies
• Wide range of materials
• Decision-making about scheduling
• Team building and coordinating to ensure
  individual students needs are met

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What does this mean for the Classroom Level?

• In any given classroom, the teacher must provide
  comprehensive instruction that addresses all of
  the processes, skills and dispositions in order
  to meet diverse needs.
• Range of instructional approaches to word
  identification
• Materials that are easy to read to allow students
  to practice word fluency
• Regardless of grade level, students need word
  instruction

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Silent Reading Comprehension
Knowledge of the World
Knowledge of Text Structures
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What is necessary for effective comprehension
instruction?

• Teacher-directed
• Comprehension purposes
• Appropriately leveled texts
• Discussion, writing
• Multiple genres

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Vocabulary

• Refers to words we use expressively in speaking
  and writing, as well as receptively through
  listening and reading.
• Students must call upon their knowledge of
  individual word meanings to make sense of
  connected text.
• Broad knowledge of vocabulary becomes
  increasingly important as more difficult and less
  familiar topics are encountered in text.

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Vocabulary Instruction

• Vocabulary is learned primarily through indirect
  means
• Engaging in oral conversation in classrooms
• Listening to others read (by adults or peers)
• Reading independently and extensively
• Direct methods also support vocabulary learning,
  but to a lesser degree
• Teaching words specific to selected text
• Repeated exposures to words in multiple contexts
• Using context clues when reading
• Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks
  for Teaching Children to Read http//www.nifl.gov/
  nifl/pfr.html

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Oral language, hearing others read aloud, and
discussion are the most effective means of
supporting vocabulary growth.

• Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks
  for Teaching Children to Read
• http//www.nifl.gov/nifl/pfr.html

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What does this mean for the District Level?

• Across an entire district, there must be
  personnel with a wide-range of training, skills,
  and knowledge required to provide comprehensive
  instruction that meets the needs of all students
  as well as the individualized instruction for
  some students.
• Valuing effective comprehension instruction
• Allowing teachers to make decisions about which
  texts (novels, short stories, magazines) are most
  effective
• Supporting professional development in
  comprehension strategy instruction
• Providing a wide range of reading materials
  across settings

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What does this mean for the School Level?

• In any given school, there must be a range of
  comprehension instructional strategies and
  programs to support students who struggle in the
  general classroom setting.
• Specialized programs and strategies
• Wide range of materials--that are easy to read
  and comprehend
• Allowing enough time for effective comprehension
  instruction to occur
• Team building and coordinating to ensure
  individual students needs are met

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What does this mean for the Classroom Level?

• In any given classroom, the teacher must model
  and provide direct instruction in comprehension
  strategies in a manner that works for the diverse
  needs of students.
• Consistent use of strategies across texts
• Multiple genres
• Book groups/literature circles
• Careful grouping of students
• Materials that are so easy to read they cant
  help but comprehend them
• Across all grade levels--comprehension instruction

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Silent Reading Comprehension
Eye-Movements
Projecting Prosody
Print-to-Meaning Links
Inner-Speech
Integration
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Automaticity (automatic word recognition) is
necessary, but not sufficient for fluency.

• Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks
  for Teaching Children to Read
• http//www.nifl.gov/nifl/pfr.html

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Fluency

• Fluency is the ability to read accurately and
  quickly.
• Fluency involves reading with expression in a
  natural manner and carries over from oral to
  silent reading.
• Fluency involves accurate and automatic reading
  of individual words and grouping of words to
  support meaning.
• The goal of fluency is being able to read
  connected text in a natural manner, in order to
  access comprehension.
• Fluency is about reading entire texts, not just
  words in isolation.

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Fluency is Dependent Upon

• Efficient phonics instruction offered in other
  parts of the day.
• Familiarity with the words in the text.
• The text itself and its relative difficulty,
  topic familiarity, and overall written structure.
  
• Knowing words in isolation does not automatically
  mean a reader will know them in print.
• Developing fluency requires access to texts every
  day that you can read in oral and repeated
  fashions as well as in independent reading time.
• http//www.nifl.gov/nifl/pfr.html

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What does this mean for the District Level?

• Across an entire district, there must be
  personnel with a wide-range of training, skills,
  and knowledge required to provide comprehensive
  instruction that meets the needs of all students
  as well as the individualized instruction for
  some students.
• Valuing effective comprehension instruction
• Allowing teachers to make decisions about which
  texts (novels, short stories, magazines) are most
  effective
• Supporting professional development in
  comprehension strategy instruction
• Providing a wide range of reading materials
  across settings

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What does this mean for the School Level?

• In any given school, there must be a range of
  comprehension instructional strategies and
  programs to support students who struggle in the
  general classroom setting.
• Specialized programs and strategies
• Wide range of materials--that are easy to read
  and comprehend
• Allowing enough time for effective comprehension
  instruction to occur
• Team building and coordinating to ensure
  individual students needs are met

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What does this mean for the Classroom Level?

• In any given classroom, the teacher must model
  and provide direct instruction in comprehension
  strategies in a manner that works for meet
  diverse needs of her students.
• Consistent use of strategies across texts
• Multiple genres
• Book groups/literature circles
• Careful grouping of students
• Materials that are so easy to read they cant
  help but comprehend them
• Across all grade levels--comprehension instruction

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Silent Reading Comprehension
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Teaching students to use literacy to access the
world.