Reading Mastery Demonstration

     Mary Lee's instruction in teaching Reading Mastery was like a refresher course for me. I used that program at a previous school in which I taught. Students were given a placement test and  placed in a small group with other students with the same placement scores. "Checkouts" were given at indicated lessons and if students did not master the test, we "revisited" previous lessons until mastery was achieved.  The scripted program should be strictly followed or not taught.
     The stories and pictures are quite humorous and often made interesting topics for discussion among the students. For example, "What is a fish cake?"  Is it a cake shaped like a fish or a cake made from fish?  Another story was about the cowboy who rode a cow instead of a horse. The "demonstration" our group gave was exactly what happens in real group situations.
     Students will show substantial gain in Reading Mastery over the course of time if proper and consistent delivery of the program is carried out.  One problem I encountered was that  there were not enough materials to go around. Teachers must also make sure that they have all components of the program before beginning the instruction.

Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient in RTI Assessment

     The conventional approach to identifying students with reading difficulties was to use universal test data.
Students were placed on a list, assigned to a teacher,  put on a schedule and pulled from the regular classroom  for instruction.  Instructional methods were not consistent or well-documented.  Students receiving the instruction did not seem to make adequate progress and continued to qualify for services year after year. This has been the typical scenario in many schools for many years.
     The purpose of the RTI is to identify students with learning difficulties and to reduce the number of students being identified as learning disabled by preventing reading difficulties through proper, differentiated instruction.  According to Lipson, improper instruction does not benefit a student and can even do harm.
     The one size fits all approach will not benefit students. In order for students to make gains, proper diagnostic information is needed to guide instructional programs. One screening instrument alone does not provide enough information to make sound decisions.  Teachers should look at the students overall reading ability and what kind of difficulties he is having.  Additional assessments may be required in order to make a diagnosis.  The student's needs should be matched with the proper instruction. Interventions should be more individualized in order for the student to achieve success. 
     I think the "Template for Analyzing Student Data and Creating Profiles" is a good example for documentation of an intervention plan. It includes the plan, areas of concern, data, goals and progress of the student.

Depth of Knowledge

The activity of the February 14th class was to complete the analysis of the "character" element from kindergarten through twelvth grade.  Our group split into smaller groups and worked on one or two grade levels. It took a lot more time than we expected.  As each group presented the element for their grade level, it became very clear that the development does indeed spiral. It started out as very simple with skills of identifying, describing, responding, explaining and comparing/contrasting.  As the higher grade level groups presented, elements not only spiralled, but became more complex and interwoven with each other and the plot. Students will be required to have a deeper understanding of the story line and how it moves along depending on the actions of the characters. Much more rigor is required. I liked what Kathleen said about teachers not lowering the expectations of children with reading difficulties, but that we should lift them up to the bar.  
I think this activity was a great use of time. I enjoyed it and am more keenly aware of what is taught in other grade levels.  I am a PreK-5 teacher and  I learned a lot about middle and high school reading standards.
Barb, you should do this activity in every Reading Endorsement class.

Common Core Activity

I thought the activity of the Feb. 7th class was interesting. We were able to see what is required of each grade level as we traced the  development of one element within the Key Ideas and Details  from kindergarten through the twelvth grade. This allowed everyone to see exactly what is required in every other grade level and how the Common Core builds from year to year on previously learned skills as it spirals to the top. It also shows how the focus is going to be more on depth of knowledge. Performance tasks are going to require much more rigor.

Assignment for September 13, 2011 Class

     I read the blogs of Dr. Tim Shanahan (http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/) and also watched a clip of an interview on you tube about text difficulty.

     Texts should match grade levels not reading levels. The difficulty of texts has decreased for children while it has increased for adults. This has widened the gap between the reading difficulty that is expected beyond school. It has poorly prepared students for the SAT. Long term exposure to simplified texts has created a lack of rigor in domain specific knowledge. Students learn more working with challenging texts than with low readibility/high interest texts.
     The common core teaches reading through more complex texts. The belief is, "The more you do, the more you will be able to do."  This comes from the need for students to be better prepared for the demands of reading beyond school.  The Common Core's  focus on  challenging text is central to development and maximizes learning.
     Learning to read depends on the interaction between learner, text  and teacher. Teachers then must be wlling to give more guidance and support to their students in the classroom. Students and teachers must become more involved in hands on, interactive  learning/teaching which is much needed in many classrooms today. It is going to force teachers to provide more quality instruction to better prepare our students for the future.
     I do not give "busy work" in my classroom. I try to find meaningful activities to relate to the text. However, the more challenging texts will bring change. In my classroom, it will mean more preparation and  more one on one. It will mean even more research, discussion, projects, and experiments. However, these are the things that make text meaningful for students. If we don't challenge them, they won't reach their potential.

What is a non-reader?

     My definition of a non-reader is a person, young or old, who does not read because he cannot read. He lacks the skills of a fluent reader such as phonics,  vocabulary and comprehension. We label this person "illiterate" which gives the impression that something is wrong with him.  In most cases, there is nothing wrong with the person other than he has not been taught the skills he needs in order to be able to learn how to read.

Content Vs Domain

     Content reading is the ability to read and comprehend material of a particular subject area such as science, social studies or math. No prior knowledge is required and the reader can gain knowledge and understand the facts/information stated in the text.
     Domain reading is the process of the actual reading activity itself, the function of reading. Prior knowledge is necessary in order to comprehend the text.

     Content knowledge is the ability of a teacher to know content area or "core" of the subject matter and be able to instruct the content. It is the "how to" of teaching so that students can best learn the concept of a particular area. The most useful way of representing subject  content to enable students to better comprehend requires an "unpacking" or taking apart of the ideas, such as with problem solving in math. 
     Domain knowledge is the knowledge base about a specific field of interest based on trends, terminology, experience and expertise. It is the general, global knowledge about all areas of life and is critical for success.