Comprehension

Accuracy

Fluency

Effective Vocabulary Practice for Engagement

I released my students off to work independently; I remained ashore as they sailed away with their raft of strategies. Before I knew it, students sprang into the sea of semantics - words, phrases, sentence structures, !

Students caught fast hold of any strategy. Then the students began to swim with all of their might toward the shore. It was hard work, although they were bigger than their fears; but by and by they were drawn out of the current, and then they took to their bright ideas and helped push the raft to the land.

Comprehension requires the act of Frontloading
Frontloading includes strategies that are learned daily from text by text and activity by activity.

According to the Vygotskian theory scholars Tharp and Gallimore (1988) Frontloading techniques involve activating and building background knowledge needed to approach all text. Students need knowledge about the content of a piece , they need to know specific strategy to use before reading it and text structure to focus on as well as the demands that are placed on them as readers.

Here are a few was to organize to support learning before reading a new text.

-quick writes
-K-W-L 2.0
-Character quotes
-The Tea Party
-Opinionnaires, Scenarios, Role Play

* View all techniques in detail by visiting the CAFE BLOG !!

Tharp, R. G., & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. Cambridge University Press.

Comprehension of text is compromised when the percentage of accurately read words falls below 95%. When students’ accuracy rates fall below 95%, additional diagnostic assessment may reveal underlying causes such as weak language skills, lack of vocabulary knowledge, or poor decoding and spelling ability.

Fast reading is not the same as fluent reading.

Accuracy is the essential foundation of reading fluency. First and foremost, to be considered a fluent reader, reading must be accurate. The ultimate purpose of reading is always to comprehend what is being read. For a reader to understand what a text means, that text first must be read with a certain level of accuracy.
A reader must be able to identify
- individual words accurately
- alphabetic principle:
letters (graphemes) have associated sounds (phonemes)
that need to be accurately identified and skillfully processed

Fluency may be defined
as “reasonably accurate reading, at an appropriate
rate, with suitable expression, that leads to accurate and deep
comprehension and motivation to read.”

(decoding). Irregular words that cannot be decoded must also
be read accurately.

The recognition of common letter patterns
+ the correct spellings of words play crucial roles in accurate word reading.

Then, once the word has been identified,
its correct meaning must be accessed.

fluent reader = accurate word identification and meaning happen simultaneously and instantaneously

Diagnostic processes help identify reasons for the errors being made and provide guidance for instruction to help improve
reading accuracy.

***Visit the CAFE Blog for tips on diagnostics and tricks for instruction to help improve reading accuracy.

Works Cited
Hasbrouck, J., & Glaser, D.R. (2012). Reading fluency:
Understanding and teaching this complex skill. Austin,
TX: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates.

Kuhn, M.R., & Stahl, S.A. (2003). Fluency: A review of
developmental and remedial practices. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 95(1), 3–21.

Pikulski, J.J., & Chard, D.J. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and comprehension. The Reading
Teacher, 58(6), 510–519.

So, when they were rested, students picked up their toolkit and they started along the grassy bank, to the road less traveled from which the river had carried them. It was a lovely place, with plenty of flowers and fruit trees and sunshine to cheer them, and had they not felt so frustrated with the next challenge ahead, they could have been very happy and could see the light ...

“ The best teacher of writing is the writing”
- Don Murray

Writing Workshop days:
-Add a variety of thinking while writing- Do it first to push past the black and white and to more creativity.
-Write aloud and alongside students.
-Describe thoughts of how and when...Predictions show how to develop a hypothesis
-Verbalizing a confusing point or show monitoring understandings and demonstrating fix-up strategies
-digital storyboard to bring ideas together

To adequately comprehend a passage, it is important to focus on the meaning of words.

Reading with fluency allows students to retain information with accuracy, expression and increased speed. The ability to read fluently develops through reading practice.

As students become fluent readers, they will spend less time trying to decipher the meaning of words and more time considering the overall meaning of the sentences. Over time, fluent readers will develop the ability to insightfully respond to a text

This can be difficult for students who struggle to sound out vocabulary and read at a slower pace than their peers.

Receiving feedback from an attentive instructor is key to helping students improve their reading skills.

*View the CAFE blog post for Reading Fluency Activities for Older Students*

Vocabulary
Whether or not students have mastered vocabulary skills affects their reading comprehension. Students must be able to comprehend a familiar word and its relationship with other words within a text.
Mastering vocabulary includes :
1 recognizing a word’s part of speech
2. definition
3. useful context clues
4. how it functions in a sentence.

These vocabulary strategies can help improve comprehension.

Involves several skills that are utilized at one time. These skills are classified under five main categories:
1.phonics,
2.phonemic awareness
3.vocabulary
4.fluency
5.comprehension.

*The Diagnostic Assessment of Reading *
used by classroom teachers and reading specialists to assess student reading ability in five areas. Some teachers use DAR to test older students who struggle with reading. Teachers need no special training to administer the test, which is un-timed and administered verbally on a one-to-one basis.

Effective reading programs will address each of these 5 components and will determine the method for classroom instruction.

The teacher and the students both shook their heads, for they did not know where the next path would lead... So they sat down upon the bank and gazed wistfully at the Scarecrow until a Stork flew by, who, upon seeing them, stopped to rest at the water's edge. What's next ?

Align Reading and Writing Goals
Make a list of your students and their goals for reading
and writing. This builds their confidence and commitment to the path. Jot down whose goals align across the two subjects. How does this lens (of connecting their reading and writing goals) streamline your conferring and small-group work? How might aligning goals impact
the quality of students’ strategies while reading and writing work as well?

The Anchor Standards for Language note that "Student must come to appreciate that language is at least as much a matter of art and craftof rules and must be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects"
-Image grammar strokes
-Painting with action verbs
-Painting with adjectives out of order
-Painting with appositives
-Painting with participles
-Painting with absolutes