10-second review: What happens when children are treated as if they are disabled and therefore incompetent? “If children are repeatedly treated as incompetent and disabled and/or regard themselves in this way, they will begin to identify themselves as incompetent, disabled human beings.”
Source: B Edmiston. Language Arts (March 2007), 343. The elementary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Common sense. RayS.
10-second review: Teachers need to learn how to communicate with parents, minimizing the use of jargon, or explaining it, and listening to them, to stories about their disabled children.
Source: J Tuten. Language Arts (March 2007), 314-324. The elementary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: I think it is especially important to listen to parents talking about their children’s disabilities. RayS.
5-minute review: What is “analogy-based phonics”?
Quote: “In analogy-based phonics, the aim is to teach students to use known words to decode unknown words. For example, to decode the unknown word ‘snap,’ the student might think of the known word ‘map.’ Analogy-based phonics is systematic when a planned set of phonic elements is taught sequentially (Ehri, et al., 2001; Stahl et al., 1998). Phonic elements might include common spelling patterns as well as initial consonants, digraphs, and blends. I further define analogy-based phonics as systematic when teachers provide students with sufficient opportunities to transfer decoding skills to novel words containing spelling patterns that have been taught. finally, analogy-based phonics is strategic when, through teacher modeling, children learn that when they are reading and come to a word they do not know, they can try to ‘think of a word they do know’ (i.e., a word with the same spelling pattern).” p. 234.
Quote: “In conclusion, this study suggests that analogy-based phonics instruction can be effective for low-and normally achieving grade 2 students when it is systematic and strategic and implemented by regular teachers as part of a balanced literacy program. Systematic means (a) teaching a planned sequence of phonic elements including common spelling patterns and initial sounds, and (b) providing sufficient opportunities for students to transfer decoding skills to novel words containing spelling patterns that have been taught. Strategic means that teachers explicitly model an analogy decoding strategy.
Source: TG White, “Effects of Systematic and Strategic Analogy-Based Phonics on Grade 2 Students’ Word
Comment: I think I can visualize how to incorporate analogy-based phonics into the regular beginning reading program, but it’ll take a lot of work. RayS.
10-second review: How can the teacher “model” reading as a teaching technique? Defines “think-alouds” as the teacher’s talking about and explaining to the students how she reads books, from overviewing to looking for important information, to predicting, to recognizing the author’s writing style, to relating to her own life and to using the knowledge.
Source: CC Block &
Comment: I would have the students do these things after I have demonstrated them using an actual book, with their having a copy of that book. RayS.
10-second review: How help children become involved in reading a book? “…I am reminded of my childhood when skimming a book with only mild interest, I would start suddenly alert and begin reading in earnest.”
Source: V
Comment: With a novel, have the students read for ten minutes near the beginning of the book, half way through the book, three-fourths through the book and near the end. Students recall what they have learned about the novel and raise questions that they will read to answer.
When reading a novel, if students become bored with the text, have them read a single paragraph a page until they are once again caught up in the events of the novel and they will begin to read everything. RayS.
10-second review: Begin a vocabulary program by collecting character traits in the books and stories students read. Discussions of characters in stories will elicit words with which students are unfamiliar.
Source: T Manyak. Reading Teacher (March 2007), 574-577. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
10-second review: Don’t assume students know fundamentals about reading—like reading from left to right; like you must make sense out of what you read and if you don’t then you have to go back and fix it; like following the order of the letters.
Source: DG Litt. Reading Teacher (March 2007), 570-574. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
10-second review: “Can dyslexia be cured? In a word, no. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition that affects people into old age. However, that does not mean that instruction cannot remediate some of the difficulties people with dyslexia have with written language.”
Source: RF Hudson, et al. Reading Teacher(March 2007), 510. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: I don’t know enough to respond to this statement. There have been several attempts to overemphasize phonics as a way of improving the ability to decode words. On the other hand, some people in the field of reading say that the overemphasis on phonics leads to word calling, not comprehension. I’m wondering if the new-found interest in fluency would have an effect on the dyslexics’ comprehension.
And I always have wondered whether the directed reading assignment (build background on the topic; pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary in the passage; setting purpose for reading; and applying what has been learned from the reading) has really been tried. RayS.
Topic: Dyslexia.
10-second review: Dyslexia Defined. "Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. Deficit in the phonological component of language that is unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities."
Source: Shaywitz and Shaywitz. 2003. Quoted by RF Hudson, et al. Reading Teacher (March 2007), 507. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Now that’s a mouthful. In other words, the dyslexic is a bright student who has trouble reading and the problem seems to be an inability to decode words fluently.
A personal note: I once had a “mini-stroke.” It occurred in probably less than a minute. Afterwards, I could not decode the words I had written or the words in the newspaper without much laboring over just recognizing each word, let alone putting them together into sentences with meaning. I began to understand what a dyslexic goes through. I was furious at my inability to read as I normally had and I understood how dyslexics could become combative and angry at the world. I was lucky. My ability to read slowly, in about a day, was restored.
The two or three dyslexics I have encountered in my teaching of writing had excellent minds. They could talk using an outstanding vocabulary. They could express connected ideas orally. They could not put on paper any kind of connected discourse.
What did I do? They wrote for ten minutes a day. I rewrote their ten-minute essays, putting the ideas into order. They rewrote my corrected copy. They did this every day for a school year. At the end of the school year, they could write in sentences and they could connect the sentences into paragraphs. I don’t know what would have happened if I had been allowed to continue to work with them in this way for another year. Rays.
Topic: Dyslexia
10-second review: What to do with dyslexic children: early intervention with intense, explicit instruction. Listen to parents.
Source: RF Hudson, et al. Reading Teacher (March 2007), 513. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Pay special attention to the parents’ description of the child’s reading difficulties. The problem might be dyslexia and then again, it might not. The same is true for children with “learning disabilities." RayS.
One-minute review: What are the characteristics of successful school reading programs?
Strong building leadership
Developing a collective sense of responsibility for school improvement
Securing resources and professional development for teachers
Providing opportunities for teachers to collaborate
Increasing instructional time
Helping school staff persist despite difficulties
Strong staff collaboration
Ongoing professional development
Shared student assessment data
Aligned to state or district standards and assessments
Reach out to parents.
Source: BM Taylor, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (January/February/March 2005), pp. 43-44. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Each one of these concepts requires some thinking about: what they mean and how to implement them. RayS.
10-second review: What are the characteristics of remedial reading students? Studied a “struggling reader.” Found that the student was a successful reader in some contexts and a struggling reader in others. We need to look more carefully at “struggling readers” and should not be too quick to label them.
Source: SF Triplett. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (November 2004), 214-222. The secondary publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Some common sense on the subject of remedial readers. RayS.
10-second review: How can grammar help to establish readability? Interesting method for measuring syntactic complexity for readability. 0-count structures, SVO, etc.; 1-count structures: prepositional phrases, etc.; 2-count structures: passives, infinitives as subject, etc.; 3-count structures: clauses used as subjects, etc.
Source: M Botel and A Granowsky, “A Formula for Measuring Syntactic Complexity: A Directional Effort.” 513-516.
Comment: Interesting, but useless as a practical measure of readability. RayS.
10-second review: What are some problems with readability formulas? “Even the best readability formulae are divorced from the influence of reader purpose and experience.”
Source: AV Manzo. “Readability: A Postscript,” 962-965.
Comment: If your purpose can be achieved through skimming, you can spin through the most complex material to find the ideas you need. If you have a great deal of experience with the topic, you will read it much more easily than someone who knows almost nothing about it. RayS.
10-second review: To combat the depressing nature of many required readings, choose books, stories, poetry that have a range of outlooks on life.
Source: P. Thacker. English Journal (January 2007), 17-18. The secondary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Sound advice. RayS.
10-second review: Spend some time enjoying word play—puns, obscure words, oxymorons, names, product names, car/truck/SUV names; neologisms.
Source: RW Shanley. English Journal (January 2007), 12-14. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: And don’t forget all of the books available on language from picture books to the stories behind the origins of words. And for each type of word play, put the word (“pun,” etc.) into Google and see how many sites you will find. For puns, 2, 530,000 Web sites. RayS.
10-second review: Give students a questionnaire in which they define their view of a good reader. Do you know anyone in your family who is a good reader? Who? How do you know he/she is a good reader? Name some things good readers do when they read. What kind of reader are you? Tell why.
Source: JC Johnson. Reading Teacher (May 2005), 767. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Might get some interesting answers. Distinguish between silent and/or reading aloud? RayS.
10-second review: How help students monitor their own reading processes? Teachers should reflect on and define the learning strategies they use, share their reflections with the students and cause students to reflect on their learning strategies.
Source: BJ Walker. Reading Teacher (April. 2005), 688-692. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Excellent idea. RayS.
10-second review: What does the term “scaffolding” mean? Scaffolding means providing help when students are having difficulty completing a task.
Source: KF Clark and MF Graves. Reading Teacher (March 2005), 570-580. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: "Scaffolding" is the favorite buzz word of English education professional publications. I hate the word. “Support” is the same word in plain English without the metaphor to confuse things. RayS.
10-second review: How help students respond to reading? Create tableaux, using scenes from stories. Students try to guess what is happening.
Source: R Tortello. Reading Teacher (October 2004), 206-207. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Sounds like fun, but I’m not sure it’s worth all the effort. RayS.
10-second review: How model the reading process? Reads aloud a short story. The students read along silently from the overhead. Verbalizes his reactions to what he reads. Demonstrates how to interact with the text. Students were surprised that he demonstrated confusion at what he was reading. It was a story he hadn’t read before. Gave students insight into how to respond while reading.
Source: J Sommers. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (March 2005), 298-305.
Comment: Interesting idea. I would certainly try it. RayS.
