Lessons from Struggling Readers: Implications for Classroom Instruction from Work in a Summer Reading Program

Peter Fisher, Ann Bates, Debra Gurvitz

IRC 2011

The Importance of Motivation and Interest

• One component of motivation is self-efficacy – the belief that you can do it.

• General interest in reading, and situated interest in a particular reading event are separate.

• Texts of appropriate difficulty and interest are vital.

Elena

• Elena was entering second grade. She ended first grade reading significantly below grade level, even though she had received extra reading support. In an interest inventory administered by her tutor, Jen, Elena described herself as a “bad reader” because “I don’t know any of the words.”

• This important thing called reading had passed Elena by. She was not a member of the Literacy Club.

Elena

• In testing Elena, Jen was prepared to go as far back as necessary to find text that Elena could read with some support. She found this in material written at the early first grade, or preprimer, level (B-C).

• School records showed that the material Elena had been reading in her intervention group was mid-first grade, or primer, level (F-G).

• Jen suspected that Elena had spent almost no time in text she could actually read successfully. She also believed that Elena would make rapid progress through first grade text levels.

Elena

The main goals for Elena’s program were:• Build a sight vocabulary of 100+ high-

frequency words. • Develop word attack skills to solve new

words: focus on short vowels, long vowel patterns, blends and digraphs.

• Reach mid-first grade text levels (F-G), using supportive techniques for contextual reading.

• Include quality trade books and informational text for interest and motivation.

Supportive Contextual Reading for the Novice Reader

• Echo reading: I read then you read• Shared reading: we read together• Partner reading: we take turns

reading• Independent reading: you read!• Rereading the same day and the next

dayFinger-point reading would be used to

maintain accuracy and support word recognition.

Selecting Text that Teaches and Motivates

Jen was purposeful in • Offering Elena choices• Using trade books whenever possible• Including informational text• “Hooking” Elena with1. A series2. Books on animals, pets3. Humor; offbeat characters4. Gross topics

Ongoing Assessment to Monitor Progress and Keep Text Level Current

• Daily Running Record of the guided reading book from the previous day; not a “cold” read.

• Jen needed to see what Elena had retained from the day before.

Keeping Records of Elena’s Progress

Reading Log Word Bank Words

What Does Elena Need in her Second Grade Classroom?

• Daily reading in connected text at her instructional and independent levels:

45-60 minutes per day. • Guided reading in instructional-level

text at least 3X per week with support from her classroom teacher. An intervention group is additional and should not replace classroom instruction.

• Flexible grouping; can be topic-based to allow for a range of reading levels in a group (Ford & Opitz 2008).

Grouping Around a Topic Using Texts with Varying Levels of Complexity

Oscar

• Oscar was a third-grade enrolled in a bilingual classroom and currently transitioning from Spanish to English. Spanish is the primary language spoken at home. He demonstrates reluctance using language verbally; understands more complex speech but still needs repetition. Oscar was reading independently at the pre-primer 2, Level C Fountas/Pinell, and at a primer Level E/F for most instructional purposes.

Oscar

During the initial assessment session, Oscar was very quiet, shy and very cooperative. His strength was his knowledge of beginning and ending consonant sounds and decoding skills. His areas of weakness were print skills (short vowel/digraphs), automatic recall of high frequency/sight words, knowledge of academic vocabulary, writing, and all levels of comprehension. Oscar stated that one of his personal goals for the tutoring program was to read a book by himself.

Oscar

The goals for the program were• to increase his ability to recognize the

meaning of words by using context clues and other decoding strategies.

• to build his academic vocabulary in the content areas

• to improve his automatic recall of high frequency/sight words

• to develop his knowledge of short vowel/consonant digraphs

Build Background Knowledge Talk, Visuals, Trade Books

• Community Map of Neighborhood

• Trade Books using same theme– Preview book—picture walk

• Made predictions• Talked about community• Matched places on community map• Noted key vocabulary words

Recognize the Meaning of Words by Using Context Clues

• Vocabulary Cards– Identified two key words per day– Located in trade book (picture and word)– Wrote word on front of card

• Student illustrated

– Back of each card• wrote or drew similar/connected words

(i.e. market/grocery store)

• Sorted cards• Talked about how grouped• Required to use academic language

Build Academic Language ThroughTalk and Writing

• LEA– Student dictated story “My Trip to

the Grocery Store”• Used word cards to embed academic

vocabulary in the story

– Day 2 • Student read LEA• Added one sentence

– Encouraged to use two new vocabulary words generated from vocabulary word cards

Application for Oscar

Oscar and his tutor read and reread trade books on community. Oscar located used visual cues to locate academic vocabulary in the text. Oscar dictated, read and added to the LEA which embedded academic vocabulary and high frequency words.

This integrated approach helped Oscar increase his ability to recognize the meaning of words by using context clues, build his academic vocabulary in content areas, improve his sight vocabulary, oral reading fluency and confidence as a reader.

Instructional Implications

•Vocabulary word cards

•Use of trade books to build background knowledge and academic vocabulary

•Matching illustrations to text

•Making connections

•Integration of content and literacy

Jarita and Comprehension

Jarita was a second-grade student who Hindi in her home. She was fluent in oral English, although her vocabulary was below grade level. Jarita was reading at an early first grade level for most instructional purposes.

Jarita

The goals for the program were: • improving reading comprehension • developing word knowledge

(especially English meanings)• increasing oral reading fluency.

Jarita

• Her strengths included an ability to read words in isolation. She was able to apply good phonics and other word attack strategies to read unfamiliar words in isolation. She used these strategies less consistently when reading with text. Jarita was also eager to learn.

Instruction for Comprehension

Comprehension instruction was multifaceted but with each strategy focused on metacognition.• Using story structure to develop retelling ability and writing.• Using GIST for summarizing.• Using QAR to develop questioning and becoming an active reader.

Story Skeleton Writing

Story Skeleton Retelling

GIST

• GIST is a strategy that helps students work interactively with text to write brief summaries. • It develops comprehension and summarizing skills by asking them to be selective in their word choice. • The basic idea is to force students to write the gist of a paragraph/passage in 15 words (or 10 for some students).

Jarita’s GIST for Panda Passage (10 words)

Giant pandas play a lot.

They eat bamboo and treats.

Question Answer Relationships (Raphael, 1986)

Categorization of questions:• Right there• Think and search• Author and me• On my own

Application for Juarita

Jarita and her tutor partner read and then asked each other questions from different categories.

This categorization helped Jarita understand that both information in a text and her existing knowledge are important in comprehension.

Instructional Implications

Working on multiple strategies was not confusing for Jarita because the tutor constantly focused on metacognition and conditional knowledge, and because comprehension is multi-faceted.

Serge and Word Consciousness

Serge was a fifth-grade student whose parents had emigrated from Romania when he was a small boy. He understood Romanian, but did not speak it. His oral English was fluent, and he was able express himself well. Serge was reading independently at a second-grade level, and at a fourth-grade level for most instructional purposes.

Serge

He did not enjoy reading, and did not see himself as a reader. His strength was his comprehension. His areas of weakness were his print skills, reading fluency, knowledge of specific vocabulary, and writing. Serge stated that one of his personal goals for the tutoring program was to learn more words.

Serge

The goals for the program were: • to develop his knowledge of

vowel/consonant digraphs• to improve his oral reading fluency • to improve his metacognition in

relation to comprehension • to develop his word consciousness

and his self-esteem by working on learning “difficult words.”

Synonym Alphabet Table (M)

Word Synonym

Tomb

Proverb

Pasture

Wander

Interfere

Negotiate

Construction

• Write down six words that all begin with the same letter

• For example, whole, white, wicked, winter, wakeful, washed

• Write next to each one the antonym or synonym 

• For example, part, black, good, summer, sleepy, dirty

Present just the second list to the class or fellow students

Word Antonym (w)

Part

Black

Good

Summer

Sleepy

Dirty

Games and Word Consciousness

• Manipulation objectifies words and makes them “less threatening.”

• Develops understanding of how words “work.”

• Develops knowledge of word meanings through semantic relatedness.

Lessons for the Classroom

• CBM’s do not give you a full picture of

what kids can do and what they need

• Listen to your students

• Give them a way to talk about literacy

• Self-efficacy – structure lessons so

they believe they CAN do it.