1. Well known strategy that incorporates both literacy
and interaction.
2. Employed often in pre-literacy and early literacy
contexts.
3. Provides an opportunity to engage in close interactive
routines with
significant others.
4. Advantages:
– Assists in
developing a love of the rhythm of language
and aesthetic sensitivity to illustrations.
– Reinforces
basic concepts
– Strengthens
emotional ties
– Increases
comprehension and attention span
– Increases
knowledge of story structure
– Increases
ways to meaning-making with print
– Language is
more salient
– Increases
semantic and syntactic knowledge from hearing
language in context
– Can focus
on topics of interest
– Excellent
specific instance of relationship between
interactive routines and language
5. Within reading routine set up various ways to
achieve successful
production from the child
– Expansions
– Use open-ended
questions
– Be responsive
to child's attempts at answering
– Make use of
a developmental sequence of
* what-explanations
* reasoning explanations
* affective commentaries
6. This technique functions as a convenient way to
provide
mediation to the student through
the utilization of written
text as an effective scaffold.
7. In keeping with the whole language concept of
the
commonality of different forms
of text, this (and all other
strategies discussed) may be used
for written and oral text
intervention.
8. The interventionist uses his/her abilities as
a communicator
and a reader to establish
a mediational link between the
reader and the author.
9. Preparatory sets are provided throughout
reading to
supply information on what
the author is communicating.
This allows the student's
processing to be spent on decoding
the message meaningfully.
10. The interventionist uses verbal language to tie
together
the relationships
between the ideas being communicated
by author.
11. When the idea being communicated is complex
and entails
many relationships
between interrelated actions and agents,
establish the
most focal or important events or situations first,
and then add
the meaning of supporting situations or events.
Procedure Number Two
Language Experience Approach
1. This strategy allows the
students to have some type of direct
experience
that they then discuss, write, and read about. This
is an
example of linking reading with the True Narrative
Representation
-- or with well-grounded fictions.
2. If conducted correctly,
the students have a particular experience
that can
expand their knowledge base and provide them with
experiences
to manipulate and discuss through various texts
(oral
discussion, writing, and reading). The interventionist has
a particular
experience that can serve as a vehicle for intervention
and opportunities
for mediation.
3. The interventionist continues
to incorporate this strategy with
others
to provide a more complete intervention.
4. Steps in conducting a
language experience:
Step 1: Choose a topic or concept that will be
focused
upon in this instance. Once a topic or concept is
determined, set learning objectives regarding
what you want the students to learn.
Step 2: Identify the actual activity that will
provide
the experience.
Step 3: Plan for implementation of the activity
-- including
the ways that you will mediate for the students.
Step 4: Conduct the activity.
Step 5: Debrief on the experience. Here you
may
incorporate several of the other strategies that
have been discussed.
Step 6: Have the students (jointly or separately)
compose
a language experience story. This may involve
having the students compose and write or compose
and you do the writing -- depending on their abilities.
Step 7: Have the students read the language
experience
stories and discuss them while you mediate.
Step 8: Develop follow-up activities around
the language
experience.
Procedure Number Three
Communicative Reading Strategies
(Adapted from Norris, 1988; 1989)
1. This technique functions
as a convenient way to provide
mediation
to the student through the utilization of written
text as
an effective scaffold.
2. As with other strategies
mentioned here, this may be used
for written and oral text intervention.
3. The interventionist acts
as a mediator to create (in effect)
a communicative
link between the reader and the author.
4. Just as with naturalistic
intervention, use positive
consequences
with appropriate verbalization and requests
for communicative repair at other times.
5. Some of the major principles for Communicative Reading
Strategies:
A. It is important to maintain organization within
the
interaction.
– The textual structure allows this to occur
– Strive to maintain the topic of the text
– Keep ideas relational when they are provided
– Repair inaccuracies
– Focus on meaning at all times
B. Work with the basic text and ideas contained within
the text but ELABORATE on these ideas
– To work with basic text and elaborate:
* Provide preparatory sets throughout
* Use your own verbal language to tie
together ideas from the text
* Use the concept of problematic behaviors
as indices of when difficulty is occurring
Problematic behaviors from Clinical
Discourse Analysis
Oral Reading Miscues
* Utilize the basic three-step process
recommended under naturalistic intervention.
Provide structure
Provide opportunity
Provide consequences
* When idea is complex and entails many
relationships, establish the most focal or
important ideas first and then add meaning
to the surrounding situations or events
* Whenever cohesive devices are used, show
where the referent of these ties is found. Do
this by using the textual context as your scaffold.
* Provide mediation when inference is required
by the text.
* Use the opportunity to place some information
on metaphor and idioms in the interaction using
the text as support.
* Continually tie new information to old
information by using the text as the scaffold.
* Provide transition statements that include
information about a change in time, location,
or place.
– Expand the basic ideas
– Extend the basic ideas
* more attributes
* more motives, causes, effects
* more reactions
* more planning by characters
* more evaluation of actions
* more time-space displacement
* wider range of perspectives
* increased inferences
* additional prediction of dialogue
* predictions of action
– Extend the plot to include
* more characters and character development
* more changes in setting
* multiple episodes
* integrated episodes
6. It is important
to realize the text comprehension level of your
students if you use Communicative Reading Strategies. This
will help you predict what their levels of comprehensibility will
be in the intervention context:
– Non-readers
* Goal is to establish the knowledge that
print
communicates and to provide exposure to
the form and function of print
* Use written material in which the
picture
reflects the text and is heavily pictorially
represented
* Provide preparatory sets that enable
the
child to predict the words on the page and
then point to the written words as you
restate the child's ideas.
– Beginning readers
* Goal is attention to printed words
and
punctuation
* Establish the concept to be read
before
the child attempts to read the sentence.
* Elaborate on what the child has read,
providing verification and inference
* Provide preparatory sets to tie ideas
together across sentences.
– Middle-range readers
* Goal is to use print to expand language
proficiency
* Refine the child's ability to follow
the
interrelated ideas expressed with complex
structures and deixis.
* Provide preparatory sets to make
appropriate inferences.
-- Average readers
* Goal is to develop strategies for
organizing
information and extending knowledge and
experience of the world.
* Focus on the interrelationships between
ideas and concepts as expressed by text.
Procedure Number Four
Directed Listening Thinking Activity
(Gillet and Temple, 1994)
1. This procedure actually
can be viewed as a progression between
shared reading and guided reading. The children don't typically
read but they do participate is various discussions (Shared) that
are directed primarily by the interventionist (Guided)
2. This technique is
excellent to work on comprehension of text.
3. It is a technique
that can be employed effectively up through
middle school.
4. The overall focus
is to guide the children in effective – even
critical and subtle -- meaning-making.
5. This is a powerful
technique to use with children that have
trouble deriving meaning from expository text (like textbooks).
6 As with all intervention
techniques/procedures, the level of
mediation that you perform, the amount of modeling, and the
responsibility for conducting the activity will progressively
shift from you to the children over time. Remember, that is
the goal – to establish independent meaning-making in the
children through your effective and strategic mediation.
7. The types of questions
and the content of what you focus on
depends on the needs of the children. Examples:
* Strategy focus - using the context to figure out an unknown
word: ask questions about the meaning of
the word and focus on how the children could
Use the surrounding text, context or pictures
to figure it out
* Vocabulary focus - ask questions about the word and discuss
the word and relate it to their experience but
not the process they employed.
* Plot focus - relate the specific event read back to what has
previously occurred and formulate questions
that bring in events and expected reactions.
* Comprehension focus - relate constantly to what is actually
happening and why. Employ the actual facts
and words on the page to make it meaningful
in an connected sense of "telling a story" or
"explaining the way something works"
8. The Procedure is
as follows:
* Select a text that is well-written, meaningful, and
relevant to the students. It should also have some
concepts and points that "push their systems".
* Preview the text that will be read to determine what
you will focus on
* Engage in pre-initiation strategies with them.
That is,
relate the selection to the students' lives by discussing
possible topics that may be addressed in the selection
and their knowledge of these topics. Invite them to
make predictions based upon the title and any artwork
that is present.
* Read the text aloud as the students listen. Stop at
(pre-determined) designated points to confirm or
change predictions and to formulate new questions
and predictions for the next section of the text.
Depending on the level of your children, you may
have to mediate and model often at first but
progressively work to get the students to take on
more of this task.
* Read to the next logical stopping point and again,
confirm, discuss, question, and make new predictions.
* When you are finished, ask the children to summarize the
selection.
– Don Holdaway writes of shared reading (1979: 39-40):
The major purpose from a parent's point of view is to give
pleasure....From the child's point of view the situation is
among the happiest and most secure in his experience.
The stories themselves are enriching and deeply satisfying....
Thus the child develops strongly positive associations with the
flow of story language and with the physical characteristics
of the books.
Shared Writing
-- Remember, the key is that in Shared Writing you
compose
collaboratively with the child,
with the teacher acting as
scribe and expert.
-- Not just dictation of language experience – although
the
expert does act as the scribe
-- An actual negotiated process with meanings, choice
of words,
and topics discussed and decided
jointly.
-- As with shared reading, this is a relaxed and
social encounter
where students are invited to
participate and enjoy.
-- You guide not dominate
-- Advantages of Shared Writing
*
Reinforces and supports the reading process
*
Makes it possible for all students to participate
*
Encourages close examination of texts, words, and
options available to authors
*
Demonstrates conventions of writing — spelling
punctuation, and grammar
*
Provides reading texts that are relevant and interesting
to students
*
Focusing on composing and leaves writing (transcribing)
to the teacher
*
Helps students see possibilities that they might not see on
their own
*
Recognizes the child who may have a wealth of verbal
story material but may be unable to write it down
* Gives both teacher and students confidence in their writing
ability
* Gives the reluctant-to-write teacher a supportive environment
Seven Hypotheses on the Teaching of Writing (Graves)
1. Behaviors of writers are idiosyncratic and highly
variable.
2. Teachers need to observe clusters of behaviors
before making
decisions about writers.
3. Scope and sequence curricula have little
relevance to how writers
develop.
4. The Scaffolding-Conference approach is the
best response to the
variable writer.
5. Teachers should let their writers write
daily, sustain selections
longer, and at predictable
times.
6. Teachers should let children choose about
80% of their topics
because it assists
them with voice, and it heightens their semantic
domain, their skill
of narrowing topics, and basic decision-making.
7. Skills are best taught within the context
of the child's own writing.
Best Practice in Writing (Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 1998)
1. Writing is an active and constructive process,
not copying from
books or the practice
of drills on mechanics of writing.
2. Children must develop ownership for
their writing
3. Children should discover how writing
connects with their own
lives and extends
in many directions
-- Various purposes
* Writing for entertainment
* Writing for explanation
* Writing for persuasion
* Writing for personal expression
--
Enables pleasure, negotiation, and expression of feeling
4. All children can and should write
-- As with reading, this process of meaning-making starts
long before children reach school
* Meaningful (for them) marks on the paper
* Start with drawings
* Imitation writing
* Invented writing giving way to more and more
conventionalization
* As this progresses, the writing can become
more and more interpsychological.........though
it need not only be for interpsychological
purposes -- typically it is not
-- Writing should not be delayed while reading or grammar
is developed first, rather, these processes support one
another
5. Teachers must help students find real
purposes to write
-- The more authentic and motivated a student,
the
actively engaged
-- The best meaning-making occurs when students
attempt
actual communication and then see how real
listeners/readers react.
6. Students need to take ownership and
responsibility
-- Writing means making choices
-- Ownership comes with making and sticking to
those
choices
-- teachers should refrain from making the
choices for
the students
-- Students should:
* Choose their own topics
* Decide which pieces are worth revising
* Learn to look critically at their work
* Learn to set their own goals
7. Effective writing programs involve
the complete writing process
-- Selecting or becoming involved in a topic
-- pre-writing : considering
an approach
Gathering one's thoughts or information
Mapping or diagraming plans
Free-writing ideas
-- drafting (organizing ideas and getting the words
down)
-- revising (further development of ideas
and clarifying their
expression for a particular audience)
-- editing (polishing meaning and proofreading
for publication
8. Teachers can help students
get started
-- They need mediation from the beginning
-- Help them develop abundant ideas about their
own
topics:
* Memory searches
* listing, charting, webbing, and clustering
raw ideas
* group brainstorming
* free-writing
* large- and small-group discussion and partner
interviews
* Reading and research on questions that students
generate
9. Teachers help students
draft and revise
-- Good writing doesn't come immediately and easily
-- Children need help in learning to revise
-- Strategies that can help facilitation
* Role-playing
* Modeling
* Group problem-solving activities
-- Need to repeatedly illustrate a number of complex
thinking processes
* Reviewing one's work and comparing what
one has said to the intended meaning
* Seeing words from the point of view of the reader,
who may have a different point of view
* Being aware of various styles ans strategies
for explanation that can be used to clarify ideas
- usually learned through reading and seeing ways
that other writers do it.
* Generating multiple options for expressing an
idea and choosing the one most appropriate for
what the writer wishes to express.
-- Revision is primarily about thinking and communication,
not just fixing up mechanical details.
-- The best revision strategies often involves
strong modeling
and then asking the child real questions about the writing
(as in a think aloud) so that he/she can learn to revise.
DON"T JUST TELL THEM WAS NEEDS TO BE FIXED.
10. Grammar and mechanics are best learned
in the context of actual
writing.
-- This should not be the primary focus of teaching.
Only after children gain an interest in what they are
writing should you stress these mechanics.
-- When a valued piece of writing is "going
public", then
this is the best time.
-- Encourage the use of invented spelling
-- Isolated work with skill and drill
writing does not
transfer into actual writing.
-- Employ strategies that promote
student responsibility
* Get students to keep lists in their writing
folders of the elements of grammar and mechanics
they've mastered so they can remind themselves
to proofread rather than wait for a teacher's
complaints.
11. Students need real audiences and
a classroom context of shared
learning.
-- Publication of student writing is
vital.
* Making bound books
* cataloging student works in the school library
* Setting up displays in the classroom
* In school hallways
* at the local library
-- Must build a collaborative context
so students can
share writing
* Students must feel that the classroom is
a
safe place to try new topics and to try new
writing strategies.
* This comes when student hear and read other
students' work is a collaborative fashion
-- This context is built through:
* lessons about listening and respecting
other
people's ideas
* Though guided practice working responsibly
in small groups on collaborative projects
* Through guided practice in peer critiquing
* Must model respect and supportive questioning
in conferences with students
12. Writing should extend throughout
the curriculum.
-- Writing greatly supports learning
in any area because
it activates thinking
In this sense, it is perhaps the most cognitively
demanding of the meaning-making tasks.
-- Brief ungraded writing
activities should be used
regulating in all subject areas to:
* activate prior knowledge
* elicit questions that draw students into
the subject
* build comprehension
* promote discussion
* review and reflect on ideas already covered
-- Some writing activities
that can be used across the
curriculum that do not take a lot of time or effort:
* First thoughts: two- to-three
minute free
writes at the start of a new topic to
help student understand what they
already know.
* K-W-L Lists: Chart of what
a student knows,
what the students wants to know, and
what a student learned.
* Admit Slips and Exit Slips:
A few sentences
on a notecard handed in at the start of
class that summarizes the previous day's
work, or stating something learned (or
not understood) to be handled at the
end of class.
* Dialogue Journals:
* Stop-N-Write: Brief pauses during
teacher
presentations or reading periods when
students can jot down responses to ideas,
questions they have, or predictions of
what is coming next.
13. Effective teachers use evaluation constructively and
efficiently.
--
Lots of red ink on a page discourages children and really
doesn't provide effective help for learning to revise or
proof read.
--
Writers grow more by praise than criticism
–
Some strategies for evaluation:
* brief oral conferences at various stages of work
* folder systems for evaluating cumulatively
* Focusing on one or two kinds of errors at a time
* official grading of only selected, fully revised pieces
* student involvement in goal setting and evaluation,
using reflective portfolios and having regular
teacher conferences.
Procedure Number One
Personal Story Creation and Acting Out the Story
(V. Paley 1981; 1984; 1992; 1994)
-- As a meaning-making creature, we are "born
story tellers, it
meshes with the organization of
reality, and, consequently, the
way we think, the way we analyze
our feelings, and the way
we integrate new ideas
-- According to Paley, telling and acting out one's
own story is
a euphoric experience: Self-initiated,
self-fulfilling, and self-
revealing.
-- It is intensely concentrated and leads to a rewarding
act of
concentration.
*
It involves play -- it is play under control
*
Often, the more different or difficult a child appears,
the more eager and able the child is to use stories as a
pathway to the outside world and to others.
*
Those children with minimal language or socialization
may need to listen for a long while before their own
stories emerge ... but they know what is going on and
can follow the stories of others.
*
The children should not only have an opportunity to tell
their own stories and act them out -- they should have an
opportunity to act out the stories of the other children --
that is, participate in the stories of the other children.
*
A key is that the logic and semiotic capacity of social
and linguistic development are found in dramatic
episodes. As Vivian Paley states:
-- drama is the proper stage for those cognitive
questions that need ballast and substance that is
not found in workbooks or diagnostic tests. They
provide the opportunity to scaffold and
contextualize the linguistic/meaning-making
elements needed in the world::
*
What does this word mean (so we can act it out?)
*
What does this sentence mean (so we can act it out?)
*
What do these characters say to each other (so we can
act them out?)
Procedure Number Three
K-W-L Strategy (Know-Want-Learn)
(Ogle, 1986)
-- This is an active and relevant demonstration
of shared writing.
-- The teacher does the primary writing and
the child collaborates
-- An additional purpose is to help students
relate existing
knowledge to text to be
read.
– It should be used when students are reading
expository texts
and it may be applied both before
and after the reading.
– It is a way to model and share writing for
authentic purposes
-- Procedure:
1.
Present the topic of the material to be read
2.
Using the K-W-L strategy (on a sheet or a blackboard
place the letters across the board and form columns),
ask the students individually or in groups to list what
they know about the topic in a column (Column One).
3.
Discuss the ideas listed.
4.
Ask students to list what they want to find out about
the topic in column two.
5.
Discuss the ideas listed.
6.
Present additional terminology that students might
need from the text.
7.
Have the students read the text.
8.
Discuss the text after reading it. Then let the students
list what they learned or still need to know about the
topic.
9.
Work from inter- to intra-psychological usage.
Guided Reading
– This is the next step along the Mediational
continuum.
– There are three reasons that guided
reading is so important
to the development
of good literacy skills:
Practice
Practice
Practice
– Above all, guided reading allows
the student to engage in an
independent
style of reading that is vitally necessary to
become a good
reader, but this can be done while a more
competent reader
guides the use of various strategies.
– Additionally, some of these strategies
enable more opportunities
for the children to
silently read their texts yet they can still
be guided. This
is essential.
– Strategies and procedures in this
overall pedagogical format the
typically contain
the following characteristics:
* The child tends to do most of the reading
* The teacher/interventionist works to guide the child in the
application of effective meaning-making (literacy) strategies
* The guiding typically focuses on employing the best strategies
to get the child to focus on the process of meaning-making and
to derive meaning either by focusing on productive strategies
or critical awareness of the book content itself
* Consequently, there are plenty of opportunities for teachable
moments and specific teaching of strategies as the need arises.
– Once the child starts being able to
read on his/her own, then various
approaches to guided
reading become the reading program core.
– There are many approaches and procedures
for guided reading. We
will discuss several
that will address several overall (and even
some specific) reading
concerns:
* Focusing on General Literacy Strategies
* Focusing on Comprehension
* Focusing on Fluency
* Focusing on strengthening a particular cueing strategy
* Focusing on critical reading/analysis
* Focusing on sharing and performing
– When reading silently, how can you
be certain the students are
actually reading?
There are several ways to hold the students
accountable
in this situation:
* Invite the students to read captivating stories. If
you
supply interesting and well written stories, you can
typically ensure that the students will read.
* Create a group discussion and expect the students to
show understanding by being able to discuss the
material with others.
* Provide response logs
* Use careful observation
Procedure Number One
Reading Out Loud
(Routman, 1994)
A. Reading out
loud (oral reading) is often necessary for students
to learn to develop some of the actual reading strategies and
abilities needed to be a successful reader. Oral reading is a
means to an end, not the end itself.
B. The reading
out loud should be an individual activity or a
group activity and not via "round robin reading". (See
previous discussion of this).
C. Reading out
loud is a way to focus on the actual strategies
that a reader must utilize. In this regard, a distinct made
by Don Holdaway should be considered here -- the
difference between the teaching of Skills and Strategies.
D. The learner
must know how and when to apply the skill;
that is what elevates the skill to the strategy level. Working
on the targeted behaviors in context so that the learner is
developing strategies is what the monitoring or reading out
loud should be focused upon.
E. Literature
can be used as a vehicle to teach targeted behaviors
(skills) strategically.
F. Procedure:
-- Carefully select the material to be read based upon
the
criteria that have been previously discussed (in earlier lecture)
Key into:
* book's appeal to children
* book's potential for interesting and meaningful
discussion
* book's natural and predictable language
* book's match between illustrations
and text
* child is able to read the book at
about 90%
accuracy
-- Introduce the book
* Should be short (5 -7 minutes)
* Plan carefully so that language the
children
need to know to read is included.
New vocabulary
New concepts
Different plot lines
* Review the story (once kids are more independent
as readers this can be very short...a sentence or two,
this scaffolding depends on the children's abilities
to read)
* Encourage guessing and predicting what
will happen
* Always give a short summary of the book
before
you start reading
-- Reading the book
* Most of the time is spent reading the story
(by child)
* Teacher/Interventionist should carefully
observe:
-- Does the child have one-to-one matching
of spoken word to printed word?
– What strategies is the child using (picture
cues, visual cues, sentence structure,
sentence context, rereading, text memory)?
-- What does the child do when in trouble
(stop and wait for the teacher; "sound
it out," reread to predict, check, or self-
correct)?
– What strategies does the child need to
be using?
– Teach strategies as the need arises
* This is when a "teachable moment embedded
within the context" occurs -- it is also an
example of grounding the activity in a true
narrative representation.
* This teaching/mediation of the strategies
as
the need arises must be done consistently.
– Providing Encouragement that results in Independence
is important. Some prompts that should help the student
to think, predict, sample, confirm, and self-correct
* For strategies look under the "responsibility"
variables of the empowerment lecture
-- Figuring out an Unknown Word
* For strategies look under "interaction"
variables
of the empowerment lecture.
Procedure Number Two
Induced Imagery
(Gambrell et al, 1987; 1993)
– Based on research that the ability to form mental
images is an
effective reading strategy
– It assists in:
Memory
Constructing
inferences
Making Predictions
– Induced Imagery is one way to break a reader away
from "tunnel
vision" or the over-reliance on the
grapho-phonic cueing system and
the practice of reading word-for-word.
– In effect, you can teach them to rely on a "stream
of meaningfulness"
by employing imagery
– Can be used for students first grade and above
– May need to take careful time to introduce the
procedure
and get children to understand creating
images
*
Generally in the first step, take time demonstrating and discussing
what you mean by imagery
– Introduce the idea and explain it "you know how you can
remember a TV show or a cartoon you saw yesterday?
When I read I can imagine or ‘see' the location and people I'm
reading about. In that way, when you read to make ‘movies'
about what you are reading in your head"
– Then give several demonstrations by showing them and
"thinking aloud"
– I have found that it helps to let them first get the idea of
"Seeing by closing their eyes". Pick something that they
likely can easily imagine like the front of their house or
their bedroom or their mom"
– You can use a metaphorical exercise like using a paper camera
strategy in which you give the kids a paper outline of a camera
and let them "zoom in" on a given section of a story (can be
the same story and section or everyone can have a different
one). On the back of the paper outline they can draw a
picture of a character, a place, or an event. Then they can
share these with others.
– Remember, however, modeling and consistency is key here
– Generally it is a three step process:
*
Based on your modeling how to construct an image
– See notes above
*
Then student is guided as he/she constructs his/her own images
*
Provide the student with independent practice
– Steps to the process:
1.
Select a passage to read aloud
* Passage should contain much description so the students
are better able to see how words can help form mental
pictures
* Passage should be brief (about 100 words)
* The prose only – no pictures
* Use an overhead transparency or print on a large chart
so all can see
2.
Model the entire procedure for the students
* Focus on What you are doing
* Why mental imagery is of value
* How to actually form mental images
3.
Provide them with Guided Practice
* Read the first part of another prepared passage
* Read aloud the first part and tell them the images you
are forming
* Invite the students to tell about their images
* They can note likes and differences among the images
4.
Pair or group students and give one member a passage to
read silently
* After he/she has had time to prepare ask him to read
it aloud to the others in the group and talk about the
mental images he is forming
* Invite other members in the group to share their images
and explain what caused them to form the particular
image
5.
Provide students time to apply mental imagery independently
while reading their self-selected books.
* You can use drawing to let the kids draw a mental image
of a scene or element of a story after reading a portion
of the books (make certain they note the corresponding
section of the book)
– Example FYI (for 3rd or 4th grade):
Today I want to show you a way to remember what you've read.
It's called mental imagery and it's a way to make pictures of
what we read in our minds. You can do this with characters,
with places, with things that happen in the story. You can use
it to understand what is going on in the book. You know how
you can remember a movie or cartoon by thinking back about
it? Well, you can do the same thing with what you read.....but
you think in pictures and not in words. First, I will show you
how I do it. Then you can try it. I will help you practice.
While I'm reading the part of the book (story), I'll tell you how
I'm using mental imagery to understand and remember what I
read.
(On
the overhead is the following passage from the first Harry
Potter book -- My comments are not bolded):
Harry
woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too
excited and nervous to go back to sleep. This is about an
event. I can imagine Harry waking up and looking quickly
at the clock......hoping it is time to go! His clock is on a little
table – that's where mine is at home and it's a small and black
clock just like mine. He got up and pulled on his jeans because
he didn't want to walk into the train station in his wizard's robes
– he'd change on the train. I see the boy jumping up – wide awake
and
excited! And he sees his jeans and his cool back and gold robes
hung
on a closet door. He grabs the jeans and is in them in a flash!
Oh,
I can remember when I was going on a trip and couldn't wait to
get
started myself. I was scared and jumpy and excited all at once..
I can
see that in Harry's face. He is smiling – sort of – but nervous
too.
Now that he is ready....he has to wait. That waiting was so
hard
for me....you sit and think and the clock just doesn't move. I
see
Harry with his hand on his chin, sitting on the bed and leaning
on
his knees...his hair is in his face but his glasses keep the hair out
of
his eyes. He checked his Hogswarts list yet again to make sure
he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in
her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursley's to
get up. Wow, I can just see him getting off the bed, checking all his
bags,
his big brown trunk, and his white and brown spotted owl...
again
and again....and still nobody else is up – Why don't they
wake
up!!! Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been
loaded into the Dursley's car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley
into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. Ah, I see a
small
blue
car – one of those funny British kind – little and cramped --
with
three big people and one little and excited boy in glasses
stuffed
in the car with bags and a trunk.......off for an adventure!
Procedure Number Three
Looking for Signals
– Often children have difficulty comprehending
due to their inattention
to typographical signals
that are intended to provide additional
information beyond the printed
words.
– The more readily children can interpret
these conventional signals,
the better their comprehension
should be.
– This focus on the typographic signals
can be employed within
guided reading activities
if you note that the child or children
have a problem with them
– The following are the most common "signals"
and their meanings:
*
Comma
Need for pause; placement affects
stress and emphasis
* Period
Need a longer pause; placement
signals end of a thought
* Question Mark
Need to raise intonation at end
of sentence; a question
* Exclamation Mark Need
to read with more emotion
* Underlined print
Need for special emphasis
* Bolded print
Need for special emphasis
* Enlarged print
Need for special emphasis
– These can be approached as a mini-lesson
with good follow-up
practice with actual
texts or by starting with a book and
demonstrating and
then providing some instruction.
– As with all guided reading activities,
however, you must
contextualize and
give authentic practice with real texts
– Suggested Approach One:
1.
Select a book with definite use of typographical signals
* That is, with definite emphasis and definite signals
"Ten Little Bunnies"
"Oops!"
"Watermelon Day"
"Junk Pile!"
"The La-Di-Da Hare"
"Cat's Kittens"
2.
Read the story aloud to the children with the appropriate
"voice"
(e.g., With "Oops" words get bigger and bigger so you go
louder and louder)
3.
After reading the book, go back and show the children
how the signals are present and how that guided your
reading
4.
Explain each one so that the children can see it and
then demonstrate
5.
Reread the book with the children reading to the key
words when you point to them
6.
Discuss not only the big and obvious but the standard
signals too
7.
Have the children read silently and then after they
practice, let them choose a passage with some signals
and let them demonstrate.
– Suggested Approach Two
1.
Select specific sentences from a book the children have read
or will be reading that correspond to the specific signals to
which you want students to attend. This will serve as a
mini-lesson.
2.
Using an overhead projector or chart paper, enlarge the
passage that contains the sentences that provide the
typographic signals you wish to call attention to.
You may also use big books
3.
Tell students that you will read the sentences two
times and that you want them to listen to see which
reading gives them the best idea about the character
or event. In a monotone, read the sentence(s) to the
students. Reread the sentence, using all typographic
signals. Ask the students to point out the differences:
Which reading interested them more? Did emphasizing
different words and pausing at different times give
them a better understanding of what the author was
trying to convey? Finally point out the different
typographic signals that you used and how these
helped you to "get the points across".
4.
Provide the students with meaningful practice and tell
them to be "on the lookout" when reading to themselves.
5. When
the silent reading period ends, have students read
aloud one or more sentences in which they used a typographical
signal and state what they believe the signal indicated
they needed to do.
Procedure Number Four
Think Alouds
(Davey, 1983)
– This procedure can help comprehension by re-establishing
the idea
that the purpose of reading
is to understand a message.
– The procedure revolves around three key aspects
of good pedagogy:
Modeling
Contexualization
Practice
– This procedure – while a guided reading approach
– does involve
some reading aloud at first.
– Your modeling via think aloud strategies
enable the student(s) to see
that reading is comprehending
and that readers can and do use a
variety of strategies to
overcome hurdles that interfere with meaning.
– According to Davey, many poor readers are
unable to use the
following strategies during reading:
* Predicting
* Forming mental images while reading
* Using prior knowledge about the topic
* Monitoring how well they are comprehending during reading
* Fixing problems as they occur when reading
– Any of these strategies can be modeled during
the think aloud
procedure
– Procedure:
1. Select
a passage to read aloud. The passage should have
parts that will pose some difficulties (e.g., unknown words,
ambiguity)
2. Read
the passage out loud while the students follow along
(use an overhead projector or a big book usually)
3. When
you come to a trouble spot or a spot that you have
pre-designated, stop and think aloud while the students
listen to what you have to offer.
4. Once
you have completed reading orally, invite students
to add their thoughts to yours
5. Pair
up students and have them practice the procedure with
one another. Each can take turns reading and responding to
the other.
6. While
they are paired up, monitor the reading pairs and use
the teachable moment when you see them come to a problem
spot that they have trouble with. At this point they are using
the strategies in a think aloud themselves. Reinforce their
effective strategies.
7. Have
the students use the strategies that they learned when
they read silently. Ask them to critique themselves after
they complete the passage. You may want to give them
some written charts of particular strategies that they can
remind themselves of during this point. That is, give them
a chart or card with "cues:
I made predictions
I was able to forma a picture in my head
I knew I was having problems
I did something to fix my problems
– Examples of comments used in think alouds
and what strategies
they focus on
Making predictions:
Just from reading the title, I can tell that this is going to
be a book filled with action and mystery. In fact, the
author tells me that there is a big mystery to solve in this
book (While reading "The mystery of the screeching owl")
Using prior knowledge to make predictions
I already know something about mysteries. A crime or
problem like something or someone is missing and you have
to figure out who did it and why...maybe even where something
hidden. So I know I have to pay attention and look for a person
who did something wrong or a reason that things happened. I've
done that before in the Magic Tree House books.
Form visual images
(After reading two or so paragraphs) I'm getting a picture of
these two brothers and their house. They are sitting on the
front steps with a good friend and a blue car is parked on the
street in front of the house.
Monitoring one's comprehension
(While reading you come to the word "incredible") Hmmm.
"Incredible", I wonder what that means...it's a new word to
me. Since Joe said, ‘Wow, that was an incredible sunset' ,
I have to think it means something like special or different
or surprising since he used ‘wow!' and commented on it.
Fixing a part the interferes with meaning
(Same passage as above) "Incredible". Hmmm. I don't
know that word so I should read that sentence again and
see if the other words can help me figure out what it means.
Procedure Number Five
Initiating a Reading/Writing Activity
– This is a procedure that weaves in various
kinds of reading with
several kinds of writing and discussion
of what was read
– You can actually use this as a shared reading
or a guided reading
strategy
– The key is to get the students involved in
the actual activity and
to cover all the steps
– You should provide modeling as often as is
necessary
– At each stage of the procedure you should
be mediating.
– Procedure:
1. Employ
a shared reading activity where you read a story or
book that all can see
Or
Employ a performance activity wherein one or more students
have been given a portion of the book to practice and then
they read it to the rest of the class (all should be able to see it)
2. After
the reading, use Quick shares as a discussion technique.
That is, you ask the students to comment on a portion of the
story and engage the group in a discussion of that comment
for a moment. Points to remember:
* Accept anything a child says and work to make it
relevant
* Restate what they said and write it on the board or
a flip chart for all to see
* Relate their comment to the book and (maybe) a
personal experience
* Invite a few comments from the children – write
them on the board
* This should last no more than 4 or 5 minutes (maybe less)
* Types of things that can be used:
What is something you liked best about that story
What did you find interesting/surprising about that
story
What was a word that you particularly liked that the
author used
What is another thing that could have happened in
that story
How do you think Mr. Green would feel about what
happened?
3. Use
of brain storm activities. Ask the students to get with
one other student and talk about any other responses to the
question you asked previously (see above). Have them just
come up with some other answers to the question but they
should only be creative and list them ..not talk about them
They can list them or just remember them (2 or 3 minutes)
4. Use
of quick writes. Now ask each child to pick up their
pencil and start writing about something they just discussed
with their partner that is relevant to the book and question
you just asked. Tell them to keep writing – don't stop! –
until you tell them to. Let them have only 60 to 90 seconds
to do this.
5. Share
work with others. Now let them share what they wrote
with others. You write a word or two to designate what they
said on the board and flip chart and something positive is
said about each comment. Let the students join in on this.
This can last 10 minutes or so.....depending on how engaged
the children happen to be.
Procedure Number Six
Paired Reading
(Topping, 1987)
– This allows the students to get more authentic
reading practice
in an activity that you can monitor
and you can assist in applying
appropriate support.
– It will assist in the development of specific
effective strategies
and will help overcome negative
attitudes about reading
– This is a one-to-one reading activity in
which the struggling
reader is paired with a
proficient reader
– The two sit side by side and read one self-selected
text together
– The less proficient reader can (and eventually
should) do some
independent reading but only at
their initiation.
– Since this gives good and authentic practice,
it often greatly
benefits the less proficient
reader.
– With paired reading, this can be done
within your session (with
you or another proficient
reader) or outside of your session.
At the first, you may want
to observe to see how well your
paired proficient reader
(tutor) does with feedback and
interactions
– If you are not the more proficient reader
(tutor), then sit with
that person and demonstrate what
they should do. Teach them
one strategy (see step 7 in the
procedure below) and let them
stick with that and the paired
strategy.
– Procedure:
1.
Pair a proficient reader with a less proficient one.
2.
Agree on a meeting time (if not used as a definite
intervention activity)
3.
The less-proficient reader chooses the material to
read. You should make certain, however, that it is a good
text that has all the qualities that we have previously
discussed.
4.
Start each session with an explanation of what is expected:
Today when we read, we are going to read aloud together.
When you feel that you want to read alone, remember to tap
me on the shoulder and I will be silent. If you come to some
words that you need to problem solve, I will wait for you.
If you have trouble solving the problem, I will help you and
we can continue reading aloud together until the solo signal
is given again.
5.
Always begin the session by reading together.
6.
Establish a signal that will indicate when the student wants
to read solo. Most often this can be a tap on the hand or
shoulder or a nod of the head. When the student signals,
the tutor reinforces the student for taking the risk and
continues to offer support.
7.
The reading can be stopped at logical points to talk about
the meaning of what has been read.
8.
If a miscue occurs, the tutor should wait to see if the student
self-corrects. If not, and the miscue alters meaning, the
tutor points to the word and asks: "What would make sense
here?" The student supplies the word or the tutor tells the
student the word and resumes reading orally with the student,
until the solo signal is given again.
Procedure Number Seven
Reciprocal Teaching
(Palinscar & Brown, 1986)
-- This strategy promotes both comprehension
of text and
comprehension monitoring.
-- Writing can be incorporated into this approach.
-- In this strategy, the mediator relies on
a step-like approach
that involves a six-step
phase similar to the seven steps
known as mediation of learning:
* Explanation,
* Instruction,
* Modeling,
* Guided Practice,
* Praise,
* Teacher Judgment.
– Of course, the amount of time and effort
spent at each of these
(previously) discussed stages
depends on the student(s) and how
quickly they understand.
Good and sufficient modeling is always
the most important
step early-on, however.
-- Going through these six steps by reviewing
text, the mediator
teaches the students
the following:
*
How to predict what will occur
* How to generate questions
* How to summarize information from text
* How to clarify information from text.
– Using text and a process of turn-taking
(or reciprocal) teaching,
the students are able
to learn these four skills through the mediation
of the teacher, interventionist,
or even a peer tutor. An example of
this strategy during
the teaching of summarization during the
modeling and guided
practice steps is provided below:
1. Interventionist and student read paragraph (separately
and
silently or orally and together)
2. Interventionist summarizes paragraph and asks
questions
3. Interventionist clarifies misconceptions
4. Student predicts what will be in the next paragraph
5. Interventionist and student read the next paragraph
6. Student/Interventionist reverse roles
– Again, how much the student(s)
do depends on their level and how you mediate.
Procedure Number Eight
Fluency Development Lesson
(Raskinski, Padak, Linek & Sturtevant, 1994)
– The development of reading fluency is
a key component in competent
reading.
– This approach was developed to
increase fluency is elementary school
children
– It incorporates elements of several
other reading strategies:
* Read out louds
* Choral Reading
* Listening to children read
* Reading performance
– Typically is requires about 15
minutes a session and is implemented
over an extended period
– Best if implemented at least
4 times a week
– Materials that appear best are
meaningful but short passages of 100 to
200 words (poetry,
short books, passages)
– Designed to focus on reading
for meaning, building fluency, and
developing word recognition
– The procedure allows for both
meaningful modeling and for
contextualized practice.
– Procedure:
1.
Preparation consists of obtaining a copy of the text for the
teacher and a copy for each child.
2.
Prepare a version that can also be used and read by the
group (for use on an overhead transparency or flip chart.
3.
The material should be well written (follow previous
guidelines) and can be poetry or some other meaning-laden
passage. If you use a longer text, you should still read only
100-200 words and then continue the next section the following
day.
4.
Read the text to the students several times while the students
listen and follow along silently with their own copy.
5.
Discuss the meaning of the passage with the students. Also
point out how reading with expression can enhance the meaning
and how it makes others want to listen.
6.
With your assistance, invite the group of children to chorally
read the text several times. (See the procedure listed as number
Nine for some suggestions in this regard)
7.
Pair each student with a partner. Each partner in each pair
practices reading the text at least three times. As one child
reads, the other child listens and provides positive feedback
– no criticism allowed – but if the reading child needs help, it
can be provided.
8.
Bring the group back together and invite some of the pairs
to perform their texts for the rest of the group.
9.
Ask the students to choose three words from their text that
they would like to remember and include in a word notebook
or word bank or word wall.
10. Have
each student put their copy of the text into a folder for
future reference or to take it home to read to their parents.
11. The
next day or session, begin the Fluency Development
Session with a quick choral rereading of the previous day's
text (you can use the overhead/flip chart version for this).
Procedure Number Nine
Read-Cover-Remember-Retell
(Ellison, 1998)
– This guided reading procedure is designed
for comprehension
problems.
– Since the procedure does require that the
student read small
sections of text at a time, it
should be used only as an additional
exercise once the text has been
read previously (through reading
aloud, shared reading, or guided
reading). That will prevent an
unnatural focus on learning to
read only small sections of text at
a time (a poor habit in itself).
– Additionally, only small segments of time
(5 minutes or so) should
be used with this technique at
one time.
-- As with other procedures, however, consistency
and modeling are
important.
– It can be used as a preparation for a greater
focus on comprehension
or as a targeted intervention
strategy once a student's poor
comprehension is recognized.
– Even though it is a generalized procedure,
research shows that the
procedure is beneficial in increasing
reading comprehension and
memory for printed text material.
– Additionally, this procedure has been found
to be effective in
breaking two poor habits
often learned by struggling readers:
* the tendency to read all text at the same speed
* the belief that reading is only decoding the words
– This procedure can be done with one child
and the interventionist
or with two children and the interventionist.
The difference is that
if there is a pair of children,
they both read the small portion of the
text silently and then both tell
each other what he/she remembers.
They should rotate going first
and the interventionist mediates and
gives feedback for both
children.
– Procedure:
1.
Select an appropriate text
2.
Read the text in its entirety
3.
Explain to the student after you have read and discussed the
text that you are going to have him/her read (aloud or silently)
a fairly small portion of the text (and amount they think they
can cover with their hand)
4.
Once the small portion is read, the student stops reading and
actually covers the text
5.
The child then focuses on what he/she has just read and tries
to remember it
6.
The child then retells what he/she can remember
7.
You then provide appropriate feedback and (if needed) a
strategy of two to assist recall.
Procedure Number Ten
Choral Reading
(Opitz & Rasinski, 1998)
– To build fluency and to enhance
comprehension this is an
effective technique.
– Although I wouldn't use this
as the primary technique, it
is a fine supportive
technique.
– As the term suggests, the group
of children you are working
with orally reads
one text together.
– This can be used for children
up to fifth or sixth grade but
it is especially beneficial
for children starting to develop
literacy fluency.
– There are a number of alternative
ways that this can be
accomplished.
Selection of these alternatives depend primarily
on the approach that
works best with your children and which
you prefer.
Alternative Approaches:
* Refrain Reading - the students join you to read the refrain.
This is the easiest kind of choral reading
and you may use poetry and/or songs.
* Line-a-child - each
child is given a line to read and he/she
reads it at the appropriate time
* Antiphonal Reading - children are divided into two groups
and each group reads assigned parts
alternatively
* Unison Reading - the entire group reads the passage together.
This is the most difficult because they have
to stay together and place emphasis together.
– This does provide good and risk-free
practice of reading for the children.
– It also builds a strong sense
of community in the children
– My son's best Montessori teacher
effectively employed this
technique and the
rapid change in fluency for Tommy was quite
startling.
– Procedure:
1. Determine the choral reading approach you desire
2. Select the text that will be used. Songs and poetry are
especially
good. A few other considerations (in addition to our usual):
* It is key that there is predictability built in
* It is best if there is a good "rhythm"
* The material has to be meaningful
* Texts with refrains and repetition often work best at first
3. Make the text visual to every child in your group (big book,
overhead, flip chart)
4. Provide a model for the reading. That is, read the text
aloud
to them while they view the text.
5. Discuss how to read for emphasis and meaning. Make
certain you discuss the meaning of the text.
6. Now practice reading the text chorally several times for
several days with your students.. Rasinski suggests using
opportunities for authentic "performance" during these
days (e.g., when visitors come to your session).
Procedure Number Eleven
Mediated Comprehension Procedure
– This procedure is a hybrid between the Guided
Comprehension
Interview (Wixson, Boskey,
Yochum & Alverman, 1984) and
the Mediation for Comprehension
Failures (Collins & Smith,
1980).
– This hybrid procedure is employed when comprehension
is the
primary concern.
– Most often this technique is employed with
expository texts
assigned in school. If trade
books and reading for pleasure
are employed, then modify the
tone and focus of the questions
demonstrated below to fit the
context
– The procedure is based on employing scaffolded
interaction
between the student and
the interventionist before and during reading.
– It can be employed when the student is reading
out loud or silently
reading.
– Procedure:
1.
Select an appropriate text (usually from school)
2.
Review the text with pre-initiation strategies
3.
Before the student starts reading, conduct a guided interview
as preparation for the activity, focus on the following questions:
* What are the reasons for reading is material?
* Why do you (or does your teacher) want you to
read it?
* How good are you at reading this kind of material?
* How do you know?
* What do you have to do to get a good grade in
this
activity?
* If the teacher told you to remember the information
that you read here, what would be the best way to
do this?
Have you ever tried _________________?
* If your teacher told you to find the answers
to questions about what you read here, what
would be the best way to do this?
Have you ever tried ______________________?
* What is the hardest part about answering
questions like this in the book?
Have you tried ___________________________?
4.
Once the child starts reading, then you can focus on his/her
comprehension by asking a series of questions about what
he/she understands.
5. Through interaction during the task, mediate for the student
by teaching any one of the following remedies (the ones most
appropriate to student's needs and abilities) It must be
remembered, of course that these are mediated The actual
potential remedies for comprehension failures are:
* Ignore individual word and read on because the
information is relatively unimportant.
* Suspend judgment because the confusion is likely
to be cleared up later.
* Form a tentative hypothesis about what the passage is
about that can be tested as reading progresses.
* Reread the problematic sentence in context and
look for a tentative hypothesis.
* Reread the previous context to resolve the
contradiction.
* Seek the aid of another because comprehension
is not forthcoming.
Procedure Number Twelve
Say it Like the Character
(Opitz and Rasinski, 1998)
– Often when students focus too much on the
text and not the
meaning they tend to lose the
understanding of what the text
is about. Getting them to
focus in on a salient portion of the
actual text as a meaningful event
can help break the focus on
words and re-assert the focus
on meaning.
– This is a technique that focuses on an aspect
of meaning by
focusing on characters in
a story.
– Additionally, the child can relate their
own feelings and actions
to the characters and this focus
can act as a scaffold.
– As discussed by Opitz and Rasinski this often
helps the reader
shift from a "crack the code"
mindset to an "understanding the
message mindset.
– By understanding that as a story develops
so do the characters and
their feelings and reactions,
the reader can focus more on the story
– the actual meaning-making.
This aids comprehension.
– The technique employs a focus on the characters
and their dialogue
– and what the child knows
about socialization and emotion.
– The technique helps the reader learn to make
inferences about the
characters in a story and this
also aids comprehension.
– The technique provides the student(s) with
practice in learning how
to infer both intonation and feelings
so that they can better understand
the intended meaning and, when
appropriate, communicate this
interpretation to others when reading
aloud.
– The child is expected to read passages the
way they think a character
might actually speak to convey
a specific, meaningful message.
– Typically children need to be 6 or so before
they can deal with this
kind of abstraction.
– Procedure:
1. Invite students
to silently read a selected text
2. Identify
a passage and ask students to silently reread it just the
way they think the character might make it sound.
3. Ask a student
to read the passage aloud (a volunteer), paying
attention to how the character might actually say it.
4. Ask questions
such as:
* How does that person feel when he says that?
* How would you show that when he says what he does
in the book?
* What emotion were you trying to get across when you
were reading?
* What made you think that you should read it the way
you did?
5. You may need
to model this and mediate at first – especially
with younger or impaired children.
Procedure Number Thirteen
Read Around
(Thompkins, 1998)
– As the name suggests, read around is a technique
that allows the
students to read their favorite
sentences and/or paragraphs to others.
– It is a guided reading activity that enables
the students to start
appreciating the content and/or
stylistics of literature.
– This activity is beneficial for both reading
and for writing since it
allows students to focus on the
uniqueness and power of the stylistic
differences seen in printed text.
– It also enables the students to recognize
what they prefer or are
oriented to in literature
– This is an activity that can be used at any
level once students have
begun to read.
– Be certain that you model by engaging in
this procedure yourself.
– Procedure:
1.
The materials used are actually those texts that the students
have been reading. However, if you note that the students
too often use only one genre or topic area, you may want to
require alternatives (e.g., "Okay, today let's choose a
favorite sentence or passage from either your social studies
or history book. Even in those I bet there is something that
you like")
2.
Invite the students to look back through something they have
read previously to find a particular sentence or turn of phrase
or description or paragraph that they would like to share with
others.
3.
Once the passages have been located, have the students mark
them by using a stick-on note of a paper clip.
4.
Provide the students with time to rehearse the passage silently.
Most will need to practice reading their passages a few times.
5.
Ask for a volunteer to read his passage to the group while the
other students listen.
6.
Depending on the students and what you want to stress (reading
practice or the focus on the stylistic elements), you can ask
each child to tell why he/she choose that passage and discuss
the reason for 1 or 2 minutes or you can go on and simply let
one child read and then another reads their chosen passage.
7.
It is best not to call on students but let them determine order
themselves by self-selection.
8.
Continue reading until every person who wishes to perform
has had the opportunity
9.
At the end, summarize the variety and stress that there are
many ways to choose and prefer a piece of literature.
Procedure Number Fourteen
Literature Study Circles
(Daniels, 1994)
1. Literature Study Circles are adaptations of cooperative
learning
grouping that allows students
to work in small groups that
encourage mutual cooperation.
2. Cooperative Learning Groups are usually heterogeneous
in regards
to gender, ethnicity and ability.
Each team consists of four or five
members and the group is responsible
for the learning of all of its
members and rewards are earned
by groups not by individuals.
3. There are several advantages to literature study
circles as guided reading:
* It increases
the amount of time for providing support and
assistance to the targeted student. TEMPORAL SATURATION
* It increases
the number of contexts in which support can be
provided to the targeted student. SPATIAL SATURATION
* It increases
the naturalness of the support and intervention
provided to since much of the work is done with peers.
AUTHENTICITY
* It provides
social and emotional advantages as well as academic
ones.
* It provides
higher levels of motivation and greater intrinsic
motivation.
* It provides
increased self-esteem.
* It results
in more positive perceptions about the intentions of
others.
* It results
in a decrease of negative competition.
* It provides
greater acceptance of differences in others.
* It results
in decreased dependence on the teacher.
* It increases
achievement test scores.
* Due to the
structure of the interactions, there is typically a
give-and-take that provides benefits for all the students in
the grouping.
* Cooperative
learning is an ideal approach to use when
expanding to a more collaborative/inclusive service delivery
model.
* This strategy
is particularly effective with adolescent clients
because of the reliance on peer influences at this stage of
development.
* This
strategy provides an opportunity for incidental learning
to occur that can benefit the targeted student in terms of
social and academic proficiency and it provides a supportive
network outside of the school.
4. Johnson and Johnson (1980) discuss five basic
elements of
cooperative learning:
* Positive
Interdependence
- Students must feel that they need one another to
complete the task
- This can be accomplished by:
Establishing mutual goals
Providing joint rewards
Using shared materials and information
Employing assigned roles
* Face-to-Face
Interaction
- It is necessary that the students engage in positive
interpersonal interactions. These may have to be
trained or practiced. Important interchanges for
cooperative groupings are:
Oral summarizing
Giving and receiving explanations
Elaborating
* Individual
Accountability
- It is important to stress and assess individual learning
so that group members can appropriately support and
help one another. This is essential to the success of
the cooperative grouping.
* Interpersonal
and Small Group Skills
- May need to teach the appropriate communication,
leadership, trust, decision making, and conflict
management skills.
* Group
Processing
- This means giving students the time and procedures
to analyze how well their groups are functioning and
how well they are using the necessary social skills.
- Teacher feedback is very helpful here.
5. Implementation suggestions
* Provide
the students with practical examples of what you
want them to do.
* Strive
for heterogeneity in groups
- Consider students' ability to work together
- Keep groups together for several weeks but no longer
- Make certain "buddies" are not always in the same group
- Never create groups larger than 5...3 or 4 are better for
younger students.
- Arrange desks or tables to fit within the cooperative
paradigm
- You likely will have to develop cooperative skills
Ask the kids what they like and dislike about C.L.
Ask how it should be done differently
Provide opportunities for students to practice
specific social skills
Utilize specific roles
- Confronting Problems
One student Dominates
Assign specific roles -- that student becomes
praise giver (so must listen and comment)
Use a free token response-cost system
Competition
Give groups different assignments
Same assignment worked on at different times
Noise Level
Assign a "noise barometer" in each group
Set the classroom expectations early and be
consistent
A student may not be able to fully and effectively
participate
Make adjustments in presentation and/or
response
Use the jigsaw activity
6. Cooperative Learning can be used for many various
activities:
A.
Conducting research for any class
-- Group selects topics they wish to research
-- They define and narrow their research focus
-- They brainstorm what background knowledge
they already have
-- Jointly search for new information in
books,
magazines, etc.
-- They learn to use other people as resources
-- Jointly create data charts
-- Work out formats to share information with
other groups
B.
Reading Expository Texts
C.
Reading Engaging Fiction
D.
Writing Stories or Reports
E.
Working out Academic Puzzles and Problems
7. Literature Circles are
–
Designed for reading and discussing fiction or
non-fiction at all levels
–
Combines collaborative Learning and Independent
Reading
--
Discussion groups of three to five students who
choose and read the same book, article, or novel.
--
While reading (inside or outside of class) they prepare
to play a specified role and then they come to the
circle with notes to help them take that role.
--
Circles have regular meetings with the roles rotating
each meeting
--
When they finish a book the circle may report briefly
to the whole class.
--
After completing the novel or book, the group trades
members and the process starts again.
--
Consistent Elements of Literature Circles:
* Students choose their own reading materials
* Small temporary discussion groups are formed
based upon book choice.
* Different groups read different books
* Groups meet on a regular predictable
schedule to discuss reading
* Students play a rotating assortment of task roles
* Students write notes on these role sheets to help
guide them
* Discussion question comes from students not
teacher or textbook
* Personal response, connections, and open ended
questions are the starting point of discussion...then
the group may move to literary analysis.
* Teacher does not lead any group. She visits and
listens, may serve as a fellow reader or a
problem-solver.
* When books are finished, each group shares with
the class via posters, reader's theater, book chats,
or reviews.
* A spirit of playfulness and sharing pervades the room.
* Evaluation is by teacher observation and student self-
evaluation.
--
Teacher may have to "massage" some book selections to
form groups.
Procedure Number Fifteen
Word Prediction
(Linda Hoyt, 1998)
– This is a pre-initiation strategy that focuses
on creating the following:
* A preparatory set for the reading
* Anticipation of potential vocabulary
* Pre-reading meaning exploration
– Each of these are important for developing
effective comprehension
– Often struggling readers don't use effective
predictive strategies.
If that is the case, then their
sampling and confirmation strategies
can't operate (if they are potentially
effective) because the reader
doesn't "have the questions that
he reads to answer".
– This is a procedure that helps the child
build predictions of
various types based upon anticipations
based on possible words
expected.
– In effect, this technique brings anticipation
and prediction to a
conscious level and increases
the student's involvement in
monitoring the content of the
reading selection.
– When the students are questioned about their
predicted words
during reading, the students
learn to verify and focus on the
semantic cueing system and
to modify and shift their
comprehension while reading
to meet the expected and
modified demands in meaning.
– Be aware that although this looks like
a vocabulary exercise,
it is not. It is contextualized
and creates an on-going
comprehending that relies
on the semantic cueing system.
– Procedure:
1. Before the reading,
the interventionist initiates a discussion
about the content area or shows the cover of the book or some
illustrations from the story to be read. This may be more or
less detailed depending on how much information the children
have themselves. Can discuss the following:
* Share about related objects
* Pictures about the topic
* Background information
* Personal anecdotes
2. Based on what they
know of the topic, the students generate a
list of words that they think might be found in the reading to
follow.
3. As the students
list words, the interventionist writes them
down for all to see on a board or a flip chart
4. In the guided reading
while the kids are reading (out loud or
silently) the teacher stops the children at key points to monitor
whether or not their predicted words have appeared or not.
You can also ask for more predictions of new words.
5. At the end of the reading,
discuss what was found..
Procedure Number Sixteen
Rapid Retrieval of Information
(Green, 1998)
– This is a technique that is best used only
after a student truly
understands reading as a
meaning-making activity.
– As a guided reading activity, it is designed
to teach the strategy
of "skimming for meaning" or "skimming
for specific data".
– This strategy is particularly important for
* Previewing material
* Reviewing material
* Locating information to verify or support a point of
view
* Improve "fast comprehension" of facts (like skimming
headlines and news in papers)
– Typically for students grade 3rd and above.
An excellent technique
to learning disabled students
or students who need to improve
study skills.
– It teaches the student(s) to distinguish
between relevant and
irrelevant information – particularly
in expository books (textbooks)
– As with all other guided reading techniques
or procedures, you have
to provide consistent and visible
modeling and you may have to
mediate for the student(s).
– Relevant to mediate is the actual text you
use. At first, you should
use text that is fairly easy for
the student(s) to read so they focus
on the strategies. This
may mean text only one page in length –
or you can use longer text but
tell them what page the information
is on. Eventually work up
to more relevant length and text content.
– It is important not only to demonstrate and
let the students learn to
do this, you must also give them
practice and discuss the strategies
employed.
– Procedure:
1. Select material
relevant to the students' learning
2. Provide the
student with the text and ask them to read it silently
3. After that
has been done, present a specific task individually.
For example:
* Read aloud a sentence that explains how a character was
treated
* Read aloud the specific description of the house he entered
* Read aloud the amount of grain exported from .....
* Find a phrase that defines a specific word
* Identify a fact that supports the authors point about crime
4. Ask the student(s)
to listen to the task and reread appropriate
parts of the text in search of information that addresses the
task you provided to them/him.
5. Once
the student(s) have located the information, they should
signal that they have it and you can ask for a volunteer to
share it with the group.
6. Ask
the student to describe how he/she found the information
7. Provide
positive reinforcement and then review the task of
skimming. This involves highlighting the strategy used and then
summarizing the strategies that one might have employed.
For example:
* Focusing on a content rich or key word
* Finding a key point and looking for support that surrounds
that sentence
* Employing headings and subheadings that direct you
* Scanning for key words that were contained in the question
Guided Writing
-- Just as with guided reading, your role is
to guide, respond to
them, and extend their
thinking in the process of composing text.
-- As in guided reading where the student
holds the text and does
the reading, the student
holds the pen or pencil and does the
writing...not the
teacher as in the earlier stages
-- You are there to facilitate....help
students discover what they
want to write,
how to "say" it meaningfully with clarity,
coherence, interest,
form, style and individual voice
-- Must be supportive rather
than directive; suggestive rather
than prescriptive
-- The child always retains ownership
of the writing
-- This is the heart of the writing
program......the children
must have
time to write and the teacher must be available
for guidance.
-- Demonstrations of certain things
like mini-lessons or FYIs
on selecting
topics, drafting, responding, revising, and making
connections to student's lives are important.
-- Mechanics are taught
in context
What do Children do When They Write? (Graves, 1983)
1. There is a process of selecting a topic, conscious
or subconscious.
2. Rehearsal may take many forms such as dreaming,
reading,
sketching, or discussing, etc.
It is a preparation writers make
before they compose.
3. Composing includes the selection of information,
mechanics
and the part in relation to the
whole.
4. Reading one's own text to reorient, search for
errors in conventions,
check for appropriateness of information,
organization, or language.
5. Revision ranges from simple adjustments to major
additions,
deletions, and reorganization
of the information.
What is the teacher/interventionist's role in teaching writing?
1. Modeling good writing practice (sitting and writing
along with the
children)
2. Circulating during writing activities to monitor
and "kid watch"
3. Mini-conferences with each child focusing on that
child's
particular needs
4. Asks questions that aid in self-reflection
5. To improve mechanics and spelling:
--
Focus on ideas and meaning in first drafts --- "sloppy copy"
--
Draw a "magic circle" around words they are unsure of so
they focus on corrections later.
--
Child chooses a piece to revise and refine for publication
and a grade every few weeks.
--
Make use of other learning opportunities with others:
* Work on revising in pairs
* Consult the classroom editing experts
* Look for correct examples in the surrounding
environment of books and posters
--
Employ the concept of mini lessons or FYIs
6. To promote real authorship and good decision making:
--
Model topic choosing and self-evaluation processes
using the author's own writing
--
Use brief one-to-one conferences between the teacher
and student – but the teacher must ask real questions
about the student's thinking process and ideas
--
Never just tell a student what to fix or use "read my
mind queries"
--
Small group collaborative work and peer evaluation
7. Provide for "publication" of work
8. Use evaluation carefully to promote learning and
not
discourage the child
--
Use "responsibility sheets"
--
Hold evaluation conferences to see what changes
the child perceives he/she has made
–
Closely grade only polished pieces that are turned
in every 2 weeks or so
--
Mark only a few examples of "errors" so the child
can look for them him/her self.
Procedure Number One
Dialogue Journals
(Adapted from Staton, 1983)
-- The dialogue journal is a private,
interactive dialogue in writing
between a student and the
interventionist acting as communicative
partners.
– The goal of the journal is improved
personal communication and
mutual understanding
between the student and the interventionist.
– This strategy meets the criteria for promoting
authenticity
constraints because the focus
enables attention to meaning and
function rather than grammatical
form, an emphasis on interaction,
and highly relevant and motivating
interpersonal communication.
– The journal entries can address a broad range
of topics of interest
to the interventionist and the
student including personal
information, interpersonal exchanges,
and academic topics.
-- Many language functions are promoted by
this technique (questions,
complains, promises, denials,
apologies, etc).
– Procedure:
1. The student and
interventionist write each other on a
scheduled basis about whatever they find mutually interesting.
2. All entries are
confidential and each student has his/her own
journal book or "diary".
3. The interventionist
responds only to the content of each
student entry; The teacher does not correct any
grammatical mistakes.
4. Each teacher response
should take about 5-10 minutes.
5. Interventionist
entries are characterized by comments,
expansions, and various types of questions including
clarification questions when student grammatical
errors severely impede communication.
– Dialogue journals result in the interactants
getting to know
each other as unique individuals.
This leads to more motivation
and interest on the part
of both parties. Such interaction is very
empowering to most
students.
– Dialogue journals encourage students
to write more by reducing
the risks normally associated
with traditional error correction,
and by supporting topics
inherently interesting to each student.
– Students become progressively less
dependent upon the
interventionist and write
progressively longer entries.
– Students typically go from making few
grammatical errors
to more grammatical errors
as they become more comfortable
and daring, just as in normal
language acquisition. Simultaneously,
meaning units also increase.
– This strategy promotes more than writing.
Cognitive processing
increases, there is more
integration and transformation of
information, more generalization,
greater perspective-taking, and
other benefits.
– Dialogue journals lead to functional
communicative competence
in writing.
-- Response Journals are another form
of dialogue journals that may
be used with students.
These are less involved with personal
response, however, and so
they tend to be less empowering on
an interpersonal basis.
Procedure Number Two
Group Communal Writing
– This guided Writing Activity employs cooperative
learning
grouping
-- The Cooperative Learning Groups are adaptations
that allow
students to work in small groups
that encourage mutual cooperation.
-- Cooperative Learning Groups are usually heterogeneous
in regards
to gender, ethnicity and ability.
-- Each team consists of four or five members and
the group is
responsible for the learning of
all of its members and rewards are
earned by groups not by individuals.
– Procedure
1. Place
students in small groups (3 or 4)
2. The
group composes only one written product
3. Group
members contribute their strengths in areas such as
* experiential background
* language/writing mechanics
* outlining
* proofreading
4. Assignments
within the group should be rotated
5. After
the written product is completed, group members
sign the paper separately to indicate agreement on the
final product.
6. If
graded, a group grade is given.
Procedure Number Three
Roundtable
– Another form of cooperative learning grouping
– Often used at the beginning of a lesson to
provide a content-
related team building activity.
– All the advantage of groups and modeling
and development
of a sense of community apply
– Procedure:
1.
Teacher asks a question with many possible answers
(e.g., name all of the objects in your home which were
not invented fifty years ago)
2.
Students in the group make a list on one sheet of paper,
writing one answer and then passing the sheet to the next
student in a left or right fashion.
3.
The sheet literally goes around the table.
Procedure Number Four
Three-Step Interview
– Another form of cooperative learning grouping
– Often used at the beginning of a lesson to
provide a content-
related team building activity.
– All the advantage of groups and modeling
and development
of a sense of community apply
– Works best in groups of four
– Group breaks into two pairs
– Throughout the process the student
is required to take notes
And write the notes in an
"interview notebook"
– Procedure:
1.
Step One: One Way Interview
* One student interviews the other on a topic or question
* Notes are written
2.
Step Two: Reversal
* The two students reverse their roles
* Notes are written
3.
Step Three: Roundtable
* Suggestions for where to use:
– For Anticipatory Set
"What do you most want to learn about this topic?"
" What experience have you had with...?"
– For Closure
"What did you learn from the lesson?"
"What would you like to know more about?"
– To reinforce homework
"What did you find most interesting from
last night's reading?"
"What did you find most difficult in last
night's reading?"
Procedure Number Five
Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing
(Raphael & Englert, 1990)
-- The strategy focuses on ways to facilitate
students' development
of the knowledge base needed
for writing. For example, students
need to know about and have
authentic purposes for their writing
and they need to understand
the needs and expectations of both
authors and audiences.
-- They also need to understand different text
structures, possess
strategies for creating
plans, and use text organization and text
signals throughout the writing
process.
– This procedure makes use of "Think
Alouds" in which mediators
model their own writing
and analysis of texts written by others.
-- Then the students are provided with
"think sheets" that act to
provide concrete reminders
of the thinking appropriate throughout
the writing process.
– This strategy makes use of four
recurring phases:
1. Activities of text analysis
2. Modeling the writing process
3. Guiding students as they write
4. Providing students with opportunities for
independent writing
– One definite advantage of the CSIW is the
set of "Think
Sheets" that are made available
to the students. Think
sheets for the following
are provided in the referenced article:
A. Planning how to structure the writing
B. Organizing the writing to be done
C. Self-editing once a draft is completed
D. Revising the drafts
Procedure Number Six
Reading Journals
(Wollman-Bonilla, 1989)
-- The reading journal is much like the dialogue journals
-- The major difference, however, is that the students
use the
journal to comment on their reactions,
ideas, concerns, and
questions about the reading they
are doing.
-- As with the dialogue journals, the key is a personalized
interaction between the student
and the teacher/interventionist
regarding the literature that
the student is reading.
– It has been found that reading journals are
effective because
they help the student feel a closer
relationship with the teacher
and they encourage engagement
because they place the student
at the center of his/her own learning.
– According to Wollman-Bonilla, the reading
journals..."invite
children to use expressive
language that is addressed to
oneself or a trusted reader
and is informal and conversational
in tone. Using expressive
language allows writers to explore
ideas and feelings and formulate
hypotheses, predictions, and
questions as they record their
developing meanings on paper.
Moreover, through the act of
writing, students adopt the reflective,
spectator role". (p. 112)
– Initially, the teacher/interventionist provides
some guidance:
*
Teacher models by sharing his/her own written response
to a book that the group has just completed. Focus is on
recording ideas not neatness or proper form.
*
Offer some initial suggestions for content
- What did you like or dislike and why?
- What did you feel as you read?
- What do you predict will happen?
- What did you notice about how you read?
*
Ask the students to add to your suggestions and get them
into brainstorming
*
Invite the students to return to the text while discussing,
pondering, and writing.
*
Stress the students not simply recount the plot since you
have read the same story. Encourage personal reactions
and reply to every entry they write. (Follow the same
criteria under dialogue journals).
Procedure Number Seven
Use of Evaluative and Directive Phrases
To Facilitate Revision
(Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1982)
-- This mediational strategy makes use of written
phrases that
you and the student use
to go through the same mediational
stages.
-- The phrases that you use may be tailored
to the student's
developmental level and
to the actual task.
– These phrases are especially useful
while actually working
with the student as he/she
is performing the tasks. Some
example phrases for writing:
* Evaluative Phrases
People won't see why this is important
People may not believe this
People won't be very interested in this part
People may not understand what you mean here
People will be interested in this part
This is good
This is a useful sentence
I think this could be said more clearly
You're getting away from the main point
I'm confused about what you are saying here
This doesn't sound right
* Directive Phrases
I think you should leave it this way
You better give an example
You better leave this part out
You better cross this sentence out and say it
in a different way
You better say more
You better change the wording
Procedure Number Eight
Writing Workshops
(Adapted From Atwell, 1987; Calkins, 1986; Graves, 1983)
– This procedure is the heart of the instructional
writing program
– In keeping with the basic philosophy of whole
language, writing
activities must receive
attention similar to that given to talking
and reading.
– This attention will benefit not only the
writing skills of the
students but also the academic
performances and every other
mode and form of language text.
– As with the activities revolving around reading
and speaking,
the issues of authenticity,
meaningfulness, and contextual
embeddedness are most important.
– The focus on writing, therefore, should not
be on skills-oriented
approach to writing but, rather,
writing for well-motivated
meaning transmission through a
process-oriented approach.
– This can be implemented through the utilization
of a Writing
Workshop procedure.
– In this procedure, the teacher/interventionist
sets up a block of
time during which the writing
activities are the primary focus.
It is during this time that the
students have the opportunity to
engage in writing as a meaningful
and developmental activity
that will eventually enable the
students to utilize their writing
across the curriculum.
– In general, the characteristics of a Writing
Workshop are as follows:
* The workshop should be conducted at least four days a week.
*
The workshop should last between 45 minutes to 60 minutes
each day.
* The focus of the workshop is to model and teach the stages
of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, sharing, revising,
editing, and publishing) and giving the student opportunities
to engage in the activity of meaningful writing.
* the workshop must be well-organized with well-established
routines that everyone understands and follows.
* The workshops should emphasize authentic, self-sponsored
writing.
– The Workshop is divided into the following
segments:
* 10 minute mini-lesson
- This is the opportunity to teach the actual process
strategies through the use of modeling, think alouds and
teaching
- A number of skills and strategies can be taught during
mini-lessons. An important component, however, is that
these skills should only be taught when the students
need them and their work can be used as samples.
* Examples of topics for mini-lessons:
Procedural lessons to establish workshop
guidelines
Generating Topics
Brainstorming
Discourse/genre criteria
Developmental spelling
Pre-writing as a process
Drafting as a process
Editing as a process
Writing Conventions
Paragraphing
* 30 minutes of writing and conferencing
- Students are then allowed to work on their own
writing as determined by the way the workshop
is designed.
- during this time the mediator encourages divergent,
creative thinking through writing assignments.
- Students are encouraged to use their writing as a
natural response to literature.
- Two types of Conferencing occurs
Daily check-in conferences where the teacher moves
around the room while the students are working
and makes a few quick (2 or 3 minutes) comments
of the drafts and answers questions.
Formal conferences conducted after the student
finished a draft and wants more extensive
comments
- During these times, the mediator operates from
the
students' developmental level (e.g., incorporating
invented spelling strategies for beginning writers
and encouraging more mature writers to attempt
invented spellings when composing, then assisting
them with checking for correct spellings during editing).
* 5 minutes of group sharing
- During this time all the students come together
to
share comments and insights that they have had
about the writing experience on that day. This may
involve sharing "in-progress" work.
– It is important that the work of the students
-- and other pieces of
writing -- are made available
in the classroom for viewing and
that the students get to select
some of their writing that will be
"published".
-- Atwell (1987) and Graves (1983) provides excellent
discussion
of publishing.
– When student are involved in writing
activities, it is best to have
some ideas about this
complex process.
INDEPENDENT READING
Free Voluntary Reading
(Elley, 1991; Krashen, 1993; Morrow, 1985)
-- This is one of the most powerful tools that
we have in
language education
– This is used as a transition after
the child can start to do
some independent reading.
– Research demonstrates that FVR results
in as much -- or
more growth -- in literacy
as does direct reading instruction.
– Comparisons between direct ESL instruction,
FVR, and
"shared book experience" showed
the FVR and SBE students
far superior on tests of
reading comprehension, writing, and
grammar, listening comprehension,
vocabulary, and oral
language.
– FVR is effective for vocabulary development,
grammar test
performance, writing, and
oral /aural language ability.
– It encourages overall reading practice
and ability. Research
indices that 75% of
children prefer to read alone than read
aloud to someone else.
– FVR was the best predictor of reading
success for students in
second to fifth grade.
– During FVR when a child encounters
an unfamiliar word "a
small but statistically
reliable increase in word knowledge"
typically occurred (Nagy
and Herman, 1987). Found that word
acquisition from one exposure
to an unfamiliar word was between
5 and 20 percent.
When reading amount increases.......this
small effect becomes significant.
– The same thing happens with spelling
as it does with vocabulary
– Results in the students interacting
with messages they understand
in a low anxiety environment
(and so it is consistent with
Krashen's input hypothesis)
– We have to be particularly aware of
the power of FVR with
poor or beginning readers.
Because we try to use fragmented
direct instruction with
them and include workbooks, worksheets
and exercises that don't
encourage FVR......these students fall
further behind good readers.
– Components needed to make it happen:
A. Access to books
Print rich environments
Well-designed library corners
Plenty of good trade books
B. Comfortable and Quiet
Well-designed library corners
Access to Libraries
Opportunities to read in bed (reading lamps)
C.
Types of reading
Self selection
Trade Books
Paperback books are fine
Comic books are fine
Teen romances are fine
Hopefully these may act as a conduit for more
sophisticated books
INDEPENDENT WRITING
Individual Writing for Pleasure
– Students should be encouraged to write on
their own. Such activity
will greatly increase their knowledge
bases and their language usage skills.
-- To encourage students to write for pleasure, you
must foster a positive
attitude toward both reading
and writing, motivate the student to read
and write, and provide the opportunity
to read and write. Writing
Centers will encourage this.
-- Making great use of writing as a natural
part of the home and in the
classroom encourages writing
and is the best way to foster a positive
attitude.
– Making writing an enjoyable activity
and not putting pressure on a
student to perform for others
are additional aspects necessary to
encourage a positive
attitude.
-- Once writing is seen as an activity
in itself that allows the student
to learn about the
things that interest him/her and that serve as
portals for gaining
access to, and even creating stories of adventure,
mystery, science fiction,
romance, travel, sports or whatever the
student is interested
in pursuing, then motivation is increased.
-- As with all other aspects of
language usage, internalized motivation
is truly necessary.
-- To provide an opportunity to
write, set up contexts that are
literacy-rich
is important. This means
* engaging students in reading and writing processes as
a natural part of their activities.
* Making all kinds of print materials available in the
classroom/therapy room. This includes books that the
students can borrow in multiple copies, placing models
of good reading and writing around the room, placing
copies of the student's writing around the room.
* Providing time for reading and writing (SSR, story
telling time).