working with students who struggle with reading

Working with Students who Struggle with Reading

Lane W. ClarkeLiteracy Concentration Team

UNE MSEEDU 744

From the Stories of Struggling Readers to Readers as

Protagonists

THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU STRUGGLED WITH SOMETHING

Challenging the Term “Struggling Reader”• What does the term

“Struggling Reader” do to our students

Brands and exclude students as “behind” their classmates.

“Restricts” more than it generates

Delineates how a student is expected and allowed to engage with texts, how he is perceived by peers, and how teachers treat him

A label that places everything- all of the challenges, difficulties, and possibility on the student which can lead to a self-fulfilling prophesy.

• Stop using the term “struggling reader” start using a term that is generative and deals with what the student can do.

Enriquez, Jones, Clarke (2010)

Ways of Being

• Compton-Lilly (2008) says that students bring into literacy classrooms differences in: Reading Processes Ways of Being- students’ lived experiences

beyond the classroom wall• Experiences in the world• Relationships with significant people

“The solution to helping struggling readers is simple but also infinitely complex” (p.671)

“We are not merely teaching letters and words, we are also teaching children” (p.671)

Rewriting the narratives of “struggling” students• Vlach & Burcie (2010)

• “Unfortunately, many children recognize early on that they are struggling. Frustrated, they choose a literacy narrative in which they are not the protagonist” (p.522)

• “Because “struggling readers” are the least capable people to rewrite their narratives, other people must intervene and return them to their roles as protagonists”(p.522)

Think about a student who struggles in your classroom•  Spend a minute/two writing a few ideas about a

student whose reading history needs to be rewritten

Turning around students’ reading process• What

What can we do in our classrooms to help students’ re-write their reading narratives?

What instructional practices?

• How How does

intervention/remediation/ assistance look in our classrooms?

What instructional structures support us?

What instructional practices help us turn around students’ reading processes?

• US Department of Education (2006):

10 characteristics of effective reading intervention

Intervention focuses on the five essential components of reading

Instruction is explicit and direct Instruction is engaging and fast paced Instruction provides immediate feedback Many opportunities for students to answer

questions Data driven instruction

Instructional Practices

• Rupley, Blair, & Nichols (2009) assert that explicit/direct instruction has been shown to be a determining feature in successful reading programs. Reading Skills

• Lower level cognitive processing (phonics, structural analysis, context analysis)

Reading Strategies• Higher level cognitive processes (making

predictions, summarizing, interpreting)

Explicit/direct instruction

• The heart: Explicit Explanations

• Connecting new information to old• Explaining why• Eliciting interest

Modeling• Step-by –step• Think alouds- talk alouds

Guided Practice• Scaffolds

Practicing independently• Meaningful practice

Instructional Practices

Meet Martin By Karen Deterding• Martin

Martin was diagnosed with ADHD in First Grade. Parents were divided regarding the use of medication to help him focus. It was decided that Martin would take his medicine at school .

Martin arrived in Second Grade reading at a Rigby level 3 (expected is level 12). He knew less than half of the First Grade High Frequency Words and the ones he knew varied screening to screening.

At the November parent conference I met with Mom and the Literacy Specialist. Together we explained to his mother that he was not making good progress and that he may need the support of special education services.

What worked for Martin?

• What instructional practices were used with success with Martin

• Martin qualified for 30 minutes of Literacy instruction daily through Title One. He also received additional 1:1 instruction in the classroom.

• The Literacy Support teacher began intensive sight word instruction and looked for high interest books at his level to engage him in reading.

• As the Literacy Support teacher began to graph data for Martin, he became intrigued with the graphing and wanted to graph his own scores. When he realized where he was and where he needed to be, it suddenly became a game to him and his scores grew weekly.

• High interest books also added to his ability to read and soon he was reading books about NASCAR, nonfiction animal books, and sports magazines written for children.

Rewriting Martin’s Narrative

• Between December and the end of January, Martin’s confidence in his own ability began to grow and as it did, so did his skill level. The gap began to close and by the beginning of the fourth quarter of the school year, he was reading comfortably on grade level.

• Diagnosis of ADHD and medication that allowed him to focus and learn

• Literacy Support in addition to regular classroom instruction

• High interest books

• Ownership of charting his progress and the level of engagement that happened because of it

• Cohesive team of parent, teacher, Literacy Support staff, principal, RTI interventions, and most of all…..Martin’s personal desire to improve!

Meet Eddieby Linda Lacasse• Eddie was a pre-reader after a year of Head Start and a year of

all-day kindergarten. He suffered from P.T.S.D. and exhibited behaviors which indicated possible autistic tendencies.

• He knew 31 letters and 20 sounds at the start of first grade and was unable to read a level 1 text independently. He was also unable to remember what he had been taught day-to-day or even within the same 30 minute lesson. He did not attend to print at all when reading, and recognized three words: “I,” “a,” and his name. After 10 weeks of intensive intervention, one-on-one for 30 minutes five times per week, he appeared to have made little to no progress

What worked for Eddie?

• The multi-modal approach was used. Letters were taught by writing, tracing, connecting to a known word, finding in text, pronounced (with teacher demonstrating correct position for mouth), sky-writing, including in his own writing, etc. In short, in every way I could think of!

• Words were taught in a similar manner.

• I moved Eddie up (yes, up!) from instructional level A to instructional level B. This seemed counterproductive but my sense was that he was not attending because he was “reading” based on pictures and patterns.

Rewriting Eddie’s Narrative

• Eddie responded well to the increase in text levels. His first response was that “This is too hard!” but I reassured him that I would help.

• I chose texts which were still patterned but with a few changes, and once he realized this he began attending to print consistently.

• After a few weeks, he slowly began to retain new learning. He also began to self-monitor and then, eventually, to self-correct.

• As his confidence grew, he started to see himself as a reader and writer and he continued to make steady progress.

Instructional Structures

What instructional structures help us turn around students’ reading processes?

• US Department of Education (2006):

10 characteristics of effective reading intervention

Small group size (3-6 students) Small group share similar reading difficulty Daily intervention for 30 minutes Data driven instruction

Instructional Structures

• Woodward & Talbert-Johnson (2009)- TIME is the hardest part to providing quality instruction!! Teachers are not expected to work alone! Approaches to Reading Intervention

• Separated Instruction (pull out)• Classroom Support (push in)

No conclusive evidence that one is better than another- individual schools/teachers/districts make decisions about how instructional resources are allocated.

Instructional Structures

• How is TIME allocated to readers where you teach???

• How are RESOURCES distributed to support students where you teach?

Instructional Structures- Time allocations in the Classroom…C. Graffius• Students of concern receive double doses of

instruction-

1. Intervention- those performing 6 mos. Below grade level as assessed through team approach

2. Classroom instruction instruction 4-5 times a week- a quick conference for a reread, other times it is a 15-20 minute Guided Reading

A way to make time for this- students who are excelling: have whole group instruction, brief conferences, instruction in the form of notes written to them, small group which meets every other week

Structures within a school….

P. Wallace

• Title I staff/ 1literacy specialist and 3 highly trained ed. techs

We offer ½ hour pull out or push in lessons

We assist in two classrooms every day for one hour (giving teachers time to work with small groups)

• A multi-disciplinary team meets once a week to determine interventions and supports for our students

• The building and library ed. techs also help to support literacy growth

• Currently have an unemployed lit. specialist who is volunteering time (leveling books for our school’s leveled library)

• Teachers team teach to focus on subject areas

• Parent involvement and student teachers are welcomed

References

• Compton-Lilly, C. (2008). Teaching Struggling Readers: Capitalizing on Diversity for Effective Learning. Reading Teacher,61(8), 668-672.

• Enriquez, G., Jones, S., & Clarke, L. W. (2010). Turning around Our Perceptions and Practices, Then Our Readers. Reading Teacher, 64(1), 73-76.

• Rupley, W. H., Blair, T. R., & Nichols, W. D. (2009). Effective Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers: The Role of Direct/Explicit Teaching. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25(2-3), 125-138.

• U.S. Department of Education (2006). National assessment of Title 1 interim report: Executive summary. Washington, D.C: Institute of Education Sciences.

• Woodward, M. M., & Talbert-Johnson, C. (2009). Reading Intervention Models: Challenges of Classroom Support and Separated Instruction. Reading Teacher, 63(3), 190-200.

• Vlach, S., & Burcie, J. (2010). Narratives of the Struggling Reader. Reading Teacher, 63(6), 522-525.