BEFORE MAPPING THE CURRICULUM: About your Comprehensive Reading Program CRP

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BEFORE MAPPING THE CURRICULUM About your
Comprehensive Reading Program (CRP)

• Fred Carrigg
• Special Assistant to the Commissioner
• for Urban Literacy

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• BIG question
• BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE/ MOTIVATION/ VOCABULARY
• PHONOLOGY AND STRUCTURE
• COMPREHENSION
• GUIDED READING AND FLUENCY
• WRITING

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• BIG question (pre-knowledge!)
• Is my CRP (Comprehensive Reading Program)
  perfect?
• Do all students who do not have a specific
  diagnosed learning disability learn to read with
  this CRP (95 or better)?
• ____Yes ____No
• If you answer Yes, then stop!
• If you answer No, then lets go on

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• I. Background Knowledge/ Motivation/ Vocabulary
• Does my Comprehensive Reading Program (CRP)
  sufficiently relate to/motivate my student
  community?
• Are the stories/content relevant ?
• Is there sufficient building of vocab already
  included in this unit?
• Are there gaps, as students enter, to be
  addressed?
• Are there assumptions about literacy at home?

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• II. Phonology and Structure
• Are there students that have phonologocal
  differences that must be taken into account?
• Are there non-existing phonemes?
• Are there late acquisition sounds?
• Are there structural patterns that differ from
  standard English of literacy?

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• III. Comprehension
• 1) Does this CRP really meet NJs high
  standards? for ALL content standards and
  assessed areas
• 2) Does it begin HOTS (higher order thinking
  skills) in kindergarten?
• 3) Does it require that students perform and not
  just demonstrate competence? Remember to think
  of assessment in terms of competence vs
  performance

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• IV. Guided Reading and Fluency
• Does the CRP have an adequate number of decodable
  books at, above and below the average to allow
  for individualized learning?
• Are there sufficient books to provide for
  different learning styles?
• Has the CRP gone beyond decodable books to
  include readers with sight words, gain meaning
  from context?

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MAPPING THE
CURRICULUM

• V. Writing
• How strong is the writing component?
• Does the CRP include prompts similar to
  anticipated performance in NJ?
• Are there visual, reader responses, persuasive,
  poetry prompts?
• Does the series include process writing?