This is a PPT created by Aleasha Lewis for Coppin State University for REED 501 on September 20.2010.

1. Creating Strategic Readers of All Students Using Innovative Techniques from Your Teaching Toolbelt Aleasha Lewis REED 501 Coppin State University September 21, 2010

2. A Strategic Plan for Creating Strategic Readers Valerie Ellery, a nationally-recognized reading consultant states: Students must be instilled with a vision that they are readers Teachers must have a “toolbelt” for each reader, paying particular attention to multiple intelligences and readers of varying abilities Teachers must ask themselves: What skills are necessary to teach to students to allow them to be strategic readers? 2

3. Strategic Readers Are created by design, via a careful plan and method of achieving the goal of having all students be great readers The plan should be implemented from birth forward and should encompass all readers from emergent to fluent The plan should evolve to adapt to the reader and meet individual needs 3

4. Key Concepts of a Strategic Reading Plan Curriculum: What to do to create strategic readers (with focus on five components: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension) Assessment: Are you assessing what has been taught; does it forward the goal of creating strategic readers; are you reaching multiple intelligences; are higher order thinking skills being engaged? Instruction: Instruction must reach all readers and meet them where they are 4

5. Ellery provides two examples of techniques to help create strategic readers: For Comprehension: ask students to “see or visualize” what they have read, in their minds; Ellery utilizes an empty picture frame asking the students to “frame” the story and retell it from their memory For Fluency: Ellery shines a light beam at a particular rate of speed to assist students in pacing when reading. She utilizes their feedback to adjust the pace. She suggests that they listen for their reading to see if it sounds “conversational” in its speed. 5

6. Learning Communities A community of learners forwards the goal of creating strategic readers by offering a risk-free environment of sharing - consisting of students, and school & community members who have common goals for literacy and who promote an environment conducive to reading and learning. 6

7. Can Junk Mail Create a Strategic Reader? Lisa Storm and Sharon Roth, educators from Urbana, Illinois believe that even chaff from the mailbox can create strategic readers. If a strategic reader is one who can: Acquire new information Comprehend, Interpret, Evaluate and Appreciate Draw on prior experiences Interact with other readers Identify words and meanings Understand textual features (context, graphics, etc.) Apply knowledge of language structure, conventions, media techniques, and figurative language Critique and discuss Evaluate and synthesize; and Communicate their discoveries to suit purpose and audience . . . then even “junk mail” can be used to acquire and/or sharpen strategic reading skills! 7

8. The Activity In Fink and Roth’s Junk Mail lesson plan the students (or “learning community”): Discuss what junk mail is Sort junk mail by characteristic, using a Venn Diagram Share their thought processes about sorting the mail in the manner they did 4.Rewrite junk mail by improving or changing the original message 8

9. Some Questions to Prompt Discussion How do you know what the message is about? Who is the message directed to? Did it reach its audience? Who created the message? What do the advertisers want the recipient to think or do? What attracts the reader’s attention? Is the message effective? Would the message convince you to think or act the way the advertisers want you to (if you were the audience they targeted)? Did anyone disagree with the junk mail categorizations? Why? How was the disagreement resolved? 9

10. Strategic Reading AND Writing After students sort and discuss the junk mail, they can rewrite it to: Make it more honest Make it more effective Make it more dramatic Make it more humorous Attract a different audience Make a different point 10

11. Assessment Were the students’ strategic reading skills enhanced? Assessment of this lesson would be primarily observational: How was the junk mail sorted? In order to sort the mail the students must effectively: Acquire new information Comprehend, Interpret, Evaluate and Appreciate Draw on prior experiences Interact with other readers Identify words and meanings Understand textual features (context, graphics, etc.) Apply knowledge of language structure, conventions, media techniques, and figurative language Critique and discuss Evaluate and synthesize; and Communicate their discoveries to suit purpose and audience Was the Venn diagram utilized correctly? Did students participate and interact, exhibiting relevant vocabulary, comprehension and fluency? 11

12. Creating Strategic Readers of ALL Students This includes students at all reading levels and abilities, including multicultural students and students whose primary language is not English This helps to answer the question, “Whose voices are left out of the curriculum?” The Junk Mail lesson plan offers varied materials for readers of all levels, and opportunities to strategically navigate content and vocabulary in a familiar format, and in a small cooperative learning community, guided by teacher questions designed to inspire critical thinking The attention-grabbing visual and graphic features of junk mail enhance vocabulary and comprehension by supporting the text Sorting, discussion and writing develops students’ analytical, strategic literacy skills and knowledge Reading and communication in small groups increases participation, comfort level, and confidence, especially for emergent and ELL readers 12

13. Great Minds Think Alike Ellery, Fink, Roth and REED 501 embrace and see students as “readers” Each has a toolbelt equipped to reach all readers, from emergent to fluent, to ELLs, and others Each reflects a plan as evidenced in curriculum, assessment and instructional suggestions (covering phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension) designed to create strategic readers through innovative and relevant lesson plans tailored to all students Each values supportive cooperative learning communities, conducive to creating strategic readers 13

14. References Ellery, V. (2010, June). A Strategic Plan for Creating Strategic Readers. Podcast retrieved from http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WIRA.Ellery.cfm Fink, L. & Roth, S. (2010). Investigating junk mail: Negotiating critical literacy at the mailbox. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/investigating-junk-mail-negotiating-321.html. Johnson, N., & Lattiboudere, D. (2010). The history of immigration and the future of ELL’s [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Lewis, et al. (2010). How did the author arrive at the ideas of: Including “non” traditional immigrant groups in the exploration of immigration [and] allowing the immigration curriculum to be student-led [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from 14