Literacy+Article

The text in blue is usable for the article. Black text is just leftover ideas that probably won't make it in.  Teaching reading has gone through fashions, fads, and even a “revolution” or two in the past 50 years. Teacher education, in its perpetual striving to find the most “cutting edge” methods, has often thrown out entire schools of thought in a unceasing search for the one “right” way to solve the puzzle of reading for content and pleasure. In the 60s and 70s, students worked through carefully leveled exercises and “basal” readers that exposed them systematically to carefully controlled texts that limited the words and letters a student might see in her school work—step-by-step, sound-by-sound, children were taught to “sound out” individual words by relying only on each letter’s sound. Unfortunately, this atomized approach often stifled children’s enthusiasm for the magic of stories, and did not work for many other students who turned off to the rote, repetitive approach of drill, workbook, and stale “Dick and Jane” stories. In the 80s, basal readers and phonics workbooks were banished to the dumpsters as school districts took up “whole language” as a rallying cry. Surround children with authentic, real literature, let them encounter text in their classroom environment and routines, and work on instant, whole-word recognition of familiar “sight words” to act as anchors for deciphering the rest of the words on the page—this was the sensible-seeming approach that actually left many children without the tools to become fluent readers in the post-phonics age. As you have probably guessed, the “answer” to the controversy is that there is no single, cure-all “answer.” Different children have different interests, favorite colors, senses of humor, and temperaments—so why should it be surprising that they learn to read in different ways as well? At IDEAL, we have a program that can actually provide for each child’s unique learning profile. It turns out that most readers need a combination of approaches that is tailored to meet them where they are. Children need to be surrounded by great books and experience the wonder of a great story—from a read-aloud of a Roald Dahl classic, to an author study of Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, or Jan Brett. However, children also need a chance to read books at their own level, and to practice strategies that will help them become more fluent readers. Many students also need to be taught explicit letter-sound relationships, and need the repetition of daily practice to make these relationships automatic. At IDEAL, because of the unique model that combines co-teaching, small class sizes, and elective schedules that allow for even higher teacher:student ratios, teachers can meet with students on a daily basis, continually assessing, giving feedback, and combining the elements of a successful reading program in the exact way that serves the exact learning profile of each learner. These elements include:

guided reading: a small group of students read a text chosen by the teacher to learn and practice skills and strategies. The teacher usually explains, demonstrates, and then monitors the focus strategies.

Choral reading: a group of students read a text out loud together, allowing students who are more fluent to model reading for the less fluent readers. Choral reading is usually used with text that is produced by the students themselves.

Self-selected or independent reading: students choose books from leveled or non-leveled choices and practice several comprehension or decoding strategies they are working on.

Literature circles: a small group of students read a book they have chosen, meeting periodically to share responses, interpretations, questions, and thoughts in lively, self-directed discussions

Word work: students work with word parts and spelling patterns to develop word-attack skills

Conferencing: a student meets for a one-to-one meeting with a teacher who assesses, gives feedback, and suggests/demonstrates new strategies to practice

Phonics: students practice decoding word parts by making the connections between sounds and letters or groups of letters. Phonics instruction usually includes repeated practice to develop automaticity.

Buddy reading: a pair of students read a book together or take turns reading different books to each other, monitoring and supporting each other's efforts. When we listen to children read, we are looking for much more than, "Are they decoding each word correctly?" We are watching carefully for what kinds of clues and systems students are using to decode and understand words on a page. Much recent cognitive research indicates how general "self-esteem" cheerleading is much less useful to learners than specific, immediate feedback. In study after study, learners who are praised for being "smart" do worse on subsequent tasks than learners who are encouraged to "work hard" or given specific feedback on their performance. Giving this kind of feedback is somewhere between art and science, and involves watching students closely to see their performances within the context of their own unique profiles of skills, strengths, and challenges. Giving your child specific feedback or offering strategies beyond "sound it out" or "try again" can be a daunting prospect for many parents, however. In the rest of this article, we hope to paint a picture of what teachers look for when they read with a student, and what kinds of feedback work best to give students the strategies, confidence, and resilience needed to navigate the incredibly complex tasks of decoding and comprehending text.

At the heart of quality feedback is an accurate perception of what is going on inside a reader's mind as she encounters text on a page. Ellin Keene, in her masterpiece, Mosaic of Thought, explains that what we call "cueing systems" are central to understanding how one learns to read.

Quoting Ellin Keene's Mosaic of Thought (probably inset with different font): Cueing systems are thought to be the channel or source in which to brain receives information during reading. Theorists believe that the reader accesses these channels concurrently while reading, giving the child a profusion of information. Then the child is able to rely of different strategies and apply them in different contexts.

Understanding how these systems work allows teachers to see how readers are using them, to reinforce systems that are working, and to suggest strategies that students have not yet incorporated into their toolkit. Giving students immediate, specific feedback about their use of any of these cueing systems is a powerful means of investing learners with increased independence, motivation, confidence, self-awareness, and expertise as they read. The grapho-phonic system requires the reader to blend together letters and their sounds to decipher unknown words. Possible problem: The child sometimes appears to have difficulty pronouncing the words or stringing sounds together. A possible solution would be to teach children to sound the word out by looking for beginning and ending sounds, then checking to see if it matches the text. Another strategy is to break the word into individual letters or parts and decipher one part at a time. Then, have the child ask themselves, "Do the letters match the sounds?"

The lexical or orthographic system involves instant word recognition. In this case a child may not recognize the word unless it is in the original context it was learned. Possible problem: The child may also exhibit difficulty recognizing a different form of the word-- contraction, compound, with a suffix, etc. One way to reinforce this system is by showing different fonts, sizes, and instances of the same word, using surrounding text to give clues about the unknown word, or teaching word analysis, look at prefix, suffix, or root to recognize the words that combine to make a larger word.

The syntactic system implicates an understanding of correct word order, grammar, and structure of spoken and written language. An example of difficulty with this system would be to substitute a word that disrupts the meaning of a passage: "My family is buying a new how" instead of "house." In this situation, the child can be taught to stop when reading and something doesn't sound right, adjust their pace, or reread, asking themselves, "Does that sound right?"

The semantic system is the ability to recognize words and longer texts having meaning attached to them. Difficulty with this system is apparent when a child is able to read the words fluently, but has difficulty describing what is meant by a word, sentence, or text. Considering the context of a word often helps the student find the meaning. Children can be encouraged to stop and ask, "Does that make sense?" It is also helpful to sometimes skip a word and read ahead to see if the context will confirm the meaning of a word.

The Schematic system is when a reader uses his or her prior knowledge to help better understand the story. Schema are built by activating long-term memory to relate the story to a prior experience. Difficulty with this skill is often seen when a child has inadequate background knowledge on the subject or has difficulty connect these experiences to reading. To help encourage these connections, students are asked to stop and make a image in their head or on paper about what is happening in the story. Readers also discuss the author's message to see what the author was trying to tell the reader.

Readers also use the pragmatic system while reading. This system involves identifying a purpose of reading. An example of a problem: a child may appear uninterested or cannot find a purpose for their reading. It sometimes helps to encourage the student to consider what she needs to know in order to understand the text, and find the main idea of the story.

Final thoughts: Noticing what readers are ALREADY doing successfully can be another powerful kind of feedback to give your child. Here is a menu of possible strategies your child is using when reading. After hearing a page read aloud, try saying, "I noticed that you were...(fill in one of the choices below). That's what good readers do."

-Follow words with your finger -use the beginning letters of the word use a word that makes sense in the sentence use the picture use a pattern in the story to predict the next word use a rhyming word to help with an unfamiliar word read through the word to the end -reread to see if the word makes sense - skip and return make your mouth ready to say the word reread and self-correct break the word into parts make predictions visualize scenes in your mind stop after each page and say what you are wondering about try to guess why an author is telling the story in this way - make connections between the story and your own experiences

"Unfortunately, in too many classrooms, it is assumed that there are only two kinds of reading problems: failure to decode words and failure to understand word meanings. If we can understand the more subtle features of the reading obstacles themselves, the solutions we teach will be more effective and tailored. -- Ellin Keene, "Mosaic of Thought"

What kind of knowledge is the ability to read? To decode, understand, and (ideally) enjoy sequences of words on a page? Can we compare the journey toward literacy to the also-harrowing, ultimately triumphant passage from crawling to walking? Certainly, learning how to read should share important features with learning to talk. Teaching children how to read has been on the front lines of

Cognition research: incorporating many different “modules” in new ways Explicit teaching is often needed, unlike learning to walk and talk.

Becoming a life-long reader Finding the joy in literature through community, discussion, etc.

Feedback: what to listen to and respond to when you read with a student