What Really Matters for Struggling Readers

What Really Matters for Struggling Readers Designing Research-Based Programs (Largely focussed on Grade 3 – Year 10) by Richard L. Allington a summary

Improving Literacy Results for Struggling Readers

Kids Need to Read a Lot  Research shows that volume of reading impacts on the results of struggling readers  Focus on daily sustained silent reading in the classroom  Exemplary teachers teach reading and writing for much of the day  Kids need to be engaged by the text, discuss text and explain their understandings.  READ ALOUD to students regularly  Actively promote daily home reading

Remember:  Some students will need intervention throughout their schooling  Collaborative learning is more effective  All teachers need to teach the literacy of their subject area (vocab, text types, note-taking skills, etc)

Provide good quality, interesting books

 Exemplary teachers have many, many good books available for children to read  CHOICE is important. Kids should be choosing their own reading materials from a wide range of interesting, up to date materials  Really good books, literature, enticing texts, magazines to inspire kids to read. (No-one would read if they had to choose from materials that didn’t really interest them)

Avoid the holiday slump

 Ensure access to high quality reading material over the holidays  Holiday Reading- low-income families will have very few books and poor access to libraries/bookshops etc.  Perhaps provide bulk loans to allow poorer families to access good books over the holiday (don’t worry about potential losses. It’s worth it!)

Kids Need Books they can Read

 Children should read books at an appropriate level of difficulty, not whole class reading the same text all the time.  Science, SOSE, etc. This is the same. Text should be accessible to ALL students  Research indicates that students need a constant stream of success to keep them motivated to keep trying, and keep reading  Small group instruction in reading is essential for students to be taught what they need to know at an appropriate level. Whole class instruction is insufficient for most students  Kids need 'not too hard' books Fluency

Kids Need to Learn how to Read Fluently

 Repeated re-reading of the same text/passage is a valuable tool to assist fluency (read once to decode, twice to understand, three times for fluency)  Fluency means fast smooth reading.  Fluency aids comprehension  Don't constantly interrupt children reading orally (match text level to student)  Students learn to read word-by-word in response to adults constantly correcting them  Allow children to prepare for oral reading by reading and rereading independently before 'public' reading  Match students to texts at an appropriate level

 One on One tutoring assists reading fluency  Read together and then alone.  Use the PPPP method - Preview, Pause, Prompt, Praise  Preview- Use the title and front cover to predict what the story/text might be about  Pause- as the child reads and hesitates, pause before intervening. Give them a little time (2 – 5 seconds) to decode the word themselves.  Prompt- If they cannot resolve the problem suggest "Let's read that again" and allow them to reread. If they still don't know the word, tell them.  Praise- If they do work out the word, praise them and move on  Peer tutoring helps older student , by exposing them to lower level texts in an authentic context  Various strategies provide a forum for repeated rereading……  Reader's Theatre- use scripts to read and reread and then perform  Choral reading- Whole class reading an enlarged text at the same time  Masks- Students make paper plate masks of characters from story, then perform from behind the mask  Oprah- Students pretend they are characters or experts from an article, etc. Teacher acts the role of Oprah, asking questions of the character. Audience may ask questions also.  Puppets- similar to above or act out a key scene from the text  Shared Book Experience- enlarged text or Big Books. Teacher reads for the class as they follow along. Children then join in a rereading over several days. Teacher may select a portion of the book to teach one aspect of decoding, grammar, comprehension, vocabulary, etc.  Echo reading- Teacher reads, then students read  Teacher modelling- students listen as teacher demonstrates intonation, phrasing, pausing, whispering, etc. to emphasise meaning of a piece. Students copy

Reading fluency can be assessed using the following chart of reading rates:

Grade level Expected Words Per Minute Grade level Expected Words per minute Grade 1 60 – 90 Year 7 215 - 245 Grade 2 85- 120 Year 8 235 - 270 Grade 3 115 - 140 Year 9 250 - 270 Grade 4 140 - 170 Year 10 250 - 270 Grade 5 170 - 195 Year 11 250 - 270 Grade 6 195 - 220 Year 12 250 - 300 Comprehension

Kids need instruction in 'Thoughtful Literacy'

 Conversations about texts- not read this and answer these questions.  Important comprehension is not remembering facts and details  Thoughtful literacy is about understanding the main idea, summarising the text, identifying 'key' points and disregarding minor detail.  Conversations such as 'turn and talk', 'telephone', literature circles, reciprocal teaching, collaborative response to texts, debating, etc. are important responses to text.  Sharing opinions, understandings and ideas.  Making predictions, discussing reactions, using evidence to support contentions, introducing 'real world' examples of scenes or premises in the text.  Discussion of vocabulary used and reason for such vocabulary, suggesting alternatives  Discussion of characterisation tools- actions, words and other characters' opinions  Look for bias, and challenge it  Higher order thinking skills are needed

Comparisons or checks  Text – Self,  Text – Text,  Text – Real World

Summarising  Main idea  Facts and details  Relating to self or the real world

Analysing  Plot line (in a story) "Is it believable, imagined, fantastic?"  Assertions (information Texts) "Are they credible, evidenced?"  Relate these analyses to self, other texts and real world

Synthesising  Combine multiple sources of information  Assess relative accuracy of each  Look at all viewpoints  judgement  Develop a single standpoint

Evaluating  Information texts or expositions- "are they balanced, fully supported?"  Articles- "Are they nasty, right wing, scary, etc?"  Novels- "Are they engaging, well-paced, too long, using good language?" THOUGHTFUL LITERACY IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING NOT REMEMBERING

THOUGHTFUL LITERACY IS THE REASON FOR READING

Our English programs need … …LESS COPYING, REMEMBERING AND RECITING………. ……………and more …………… DISCUSSING AND UNDERSTANDING Teach comprehension strategies  Model  Discuss  Problem solve

Learning comprehension strategies takes time  It requires sustained teaching over the year  Kids need to apply the strategies over and over to master them  The greatest gains will be among the lowest performing students  Students need to be able to integrate the strategies to demonstrate full understanding

Useful 'research-based' comprehension strategies to teach students:

1. Activating prior knowledge- what do we know about this topic? Predict what this might be about. 2. Summarising- key features of text. Disregarding less important facts. 3. Story Grammar- Outlining: setting, characters, plot, problem, attempts at resolution, resolution 4. Imagery- visualisation using text 5. Question generating – but not recall questions. Author's purpose, text adequacy, cause and effect 6. Thinking aloud- model internal dialogue a good reader has as they read

Vocabulary

Vocabulary knowledge has a big impact on comprehension More reading   Better vocabulary development  Better thinking about language  Better general world knowledge

Teach strategies for learning the meaning of vocabulary  Word, definition……….. Cowboys wore chaps, leather trousers without a seat, to protect them from thorns.  Word, word restated differently…… The land was parched, dry as a bone.  Word, 'but' antonym …………….. Mary was industrious, but Helen was quite lazy.  Detail, detail, detail, word (infer) …… After filing for bankruptcy, then losing her home and her husband, Susan was destitute.

 Discuss strategies, rather than- 'what does ______mean?'  "Jarryd, tell us how you worked out the meaning of 'arduous' from the text."

 Several 10 minute sessions per week, to teach vocabulary strategies and word meanings  Aim at around 10 new words per week.  Not a list of random, cloze sentences with three alternatives  Use and model strategies

Summary of studies from exemplary Primary School reading instruction The 6 Ts Time: Effective teachers have students spend more time reading and writing (up to half the day) Texts: Students read books they can read accurately, fluently and with comprehension. All have different books Teaching: Model and demonstrate. Explicit teaching using one on one, small group and short whole class instruction. Talk: Lots of it. Purposeful and personalised discussion. Make students' thinking visible and build understanding Tasks: Not worksheets. Differentiated and more long-term (assignment style) Substantive work with more complexity. Tests: Assess 'effort and improvement'. Use of rubrics to make expectations clear. Where to begin……..the school How can we improve results for struggling readers?

Build teacher capacity  Improve teacher knowledge and use of literacy  Have a long term professional learning plan for staff to achieve this  (Schools often have 5 year building or improvement plans. Why not a long term professional learning program plan?)  Provide professional learning and support for teachers in the classroom  Cooperative teacher learning projects, buddying, sharing ideas, giving peer feedback  Coaching/mentoring models work most effectively and show most sustained improvement  'Teacher Professional Leave' projects based on passion or individuals choice of growth area  Professional reading and sharing structure built into team meetings,  Professional Learning Teams looking at a shared goal for English program

Staffing  Expert teachers make the difference  Struggling readers need teachers with the knowledge of how to teach students to read and write  Smaller class sizes are shown to have an impact on improved outcomes (especially in lower socio- economic schools)  Students sitting in classrooms all day every day, where they are given work they could not be expected to complete are entitled to be angry  All schools need an expert in teaching reading to assist teachers and students

Access to appropriate instructional materials  Teachers need access to many books at varying levels of difficulty  Budgets should be spent mainly on many different titles at different levels (rather than multiple copies of the same texts)  Common texts for the whole class should be used no more than 20 – 30 percent of the time  A common book room that stores a variety of levels of texts for teachers to borrow from  Honouring instructional time- avoid interruptions to teaching and minimise time wasted on administrative tasks

Struggling readers need intensive instruction

Interventions  One-to-one tutoring provides the most intensive and effective instruction  Small group 2 – 4 is the next most effective  The weaker the reader, the more expert the teacher needs to be  Expert intervention does not replace ineffective classroom instruction. Struggling readers need good instruction all day long  The more often and the longer the session the better.  Every day for one hour (ten weeks on, ten weeks off) will have much greater effect than every other day for ½ hr over the whole year

Expanding instructional time  The remedial session should be in addition to the regular reading lesson (An extra reading lesson)  Extended day sessions (before or after-school remediation)  Homework help sessions

Homework  Modify homework to suit level of ability  Struggling readers take many times longer to complete grade appropriate homework  Allow negotiation of homework expectations.

Access to Books  Find creative ways of lending books to students over the holidays (when we have libraries full of books that kids could be reading)  Find creative ways of giving books to students (or sharing them)  Seek out donations of books from local businesses, the community, etc.  'Free books' table in office,  gift vouchers from book shops,  book fairs, book exchanges,  book/ magazine 'sharepoints'

Fourth Grade 'Hump'  Around year 3 and 4 the volume of words students need to be able to use goes from 400 to 4000  Many more multi-syllable words are needed  Visual memory loses it's value- decoding strategies are underdeveloped  Many more subject specific words are needed  Significant increase in the use of informational texts  More use of informational texts in the early years would be beneficial  Increase the exposure to informational texts  Teach decoding strategies, syllabification

Older Struggling Readers Informational Texts  Intentionally teach comprehension strategies specific to informational texts  Use more informational texts in instruction sessions  Provide access to borrowing of more informational texts  Create opportunities for using informational texts for authentic purposes  Access to books at an appropriate level  Creative ways of providing books suggested earlier  Reading material that interests them and encourages voluntary reading  Out of hours support programs with open, voluntary literacy support. Students choosing to ask for support are welcomed  Content support for students who ask for it. Some students need reinforcement of the concepts taught, not just the literacy support.

It is teachers who will make the difference to student outcomes. And it is schools that need to support teachers in developing their expertise and leaders that need to reorganise all aspects of the school structure to allow them to teach as expertly as they know how.

 The gap we see between higher and lower achieving students in grade 3 seems to widen over time  The average gap in reading achievement between rich and poor grows to about 4 years by Year12.

 We need our schools to progress towards redressing this  Change will be slow, but should be purposeful  Change is hard. Change is anxiety-provoking and necessarily slow.

BUT SOMEONE HAS TO INITIATE AND SUPPORT THE NEEDED CHANGE. If not you, who? If not today, when?

Summary by Margaret Bertram School Development Officer EMR [email protected]