14. Cunningham & Stanovich. (1998) What reading does for the mind. American Educator , Spring/Summer, pp. 8-15. From Anderson,Wilson,& Fileding (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school .RRQ,23 ,285-303. An Extra 10 Minutes
15. Effect of Increasing Fifth-Graders’ Book Reading by 10 Minutes per day Adapted from Adams (2006); Baseline data from Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding (1988) % Rank Minutes of Reading Per Day Words Read Per Year Plus 10 Minutes Total Words Read Percent Increase in Word Exposure 98 65 4,358,000 5,028,462 15% 90 21.1 1,823,000 2,686,981 47% 80 14.2 1,146,000 1,953,042 70% 70 9.6 622,000 1,269,917 104% 60 6.5 432,000 1,096,615 154% 50 4.6 282,000 895,043 217% 40 3.2 200,000 825,000 313% 30 1.8 106,000 694,889 556% 20 0.7 21,000 321,000 1429% 10 0.1 8,000 Based on reading level, ~300,000 words 2 0 0
At Scientific Learning, we believe the literacy gap can be addressed by leveraging some key scientific discoveries on how the brain learns. As you can see, some of the most notable magazines have written important articles on how brain science can inform learning.
Let’s consider this analogy to better understand brain fitness, or improving brain processing efficiency. Online content accessed via a broadband connection yields an entirely different user experience than the same content accessed via a dial-up connection. Similarly, two students experiencing the same research-based curriculum can have very different learning experiences based upon the preparedness of the brain to capture, process and retain proven instruction (their bandwidth). Scientific Learning unifies proven curriculum with brain fitness exercises to improve brain processing efficiency for learners; thereby accelerating the learning process that results in enduring gains. This means that the at-risk students you worry about most will be moving quickly toward adequate yearly progress.
Our Fast ForWord family of products develops cognitive skills necessary to be effective readers, and Reading Assistant support readers as well in terms of reading skills. Reading Assistant functions like a one-on one tutor for children or adults, coaching them to improve their reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Reading Assistant’s software is based on the research of Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams, a noted scientist and researcher in literacy development, and author of the book Beginning To Read . Today we are going to help you become comfortable with our Reading Assistant software. We’ll review the pedagogy of the program, get you using the program as your students will and show you the tools you’ll need to monitor student progress. This software is very innovative. We hope you will leave today’s session excited about the possibilities it holds for your students. So, let’s get started! Slide 3 - Please open your packet so we can review its contents. Included are: Student Activity Sequence Reading Assistant Manager - Getting Started for Teachers Anthology Summary – lists titles and reading levels Maximizing Success – tips for helping your students get the best experience
When we look at the “big five” of reading instruction, phonemic awareness (there are these symbols called letters and the have associated sounds), and phonics (you combine sounds to make words) are addressed in the earlier years of elementary. The ultimate goal of reading instruction, obviously, is understanding what you are reading and developing a strong vocabulary to support comprehension. In the middle is the bridge of fluency – being able to read well enough so that you stop becoming a word-by-word reader and are able to read phrases for meaning without your thread of comprehension being broken by reading errors. Reading Assistant initially focuses on developing fluency, but also focuses on building vocabulary and comprehension in the process. The program has a rich vocabulary tool to provide contextual understanding of key vocabulary words, and comprehension assessments that employ a variety of comprehension strategies (ie: inference, prediction, vocabulary, factual recall). The product is appropriate for students with a basic decoding set that are reading at an entry point of 25 wcpm.
Review the 5 components of literacy instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary & comprehension. Reading Assistant focuses on fluency growth and the associated vocabulary and comprehension gains. It is not a phonemic program and should be used with students who have a basic decoding set. Slide 5 - The term fluency has a couple of connotations. Often is it used to define a measurement of reading proficiency – “how fast or automatically can a student read” – we take that measurement in WCPM (words read correct per minute). We focus on the fluency as a skill - the ability to read easily enough, accurately enough so that the reader can maintain the thread of comprehension while they are reading. Reading Assistant looks to strengthen this skill through its supportive guided oral reading.
We all know the “Nascar” reader – the student who can decode and move through a text at lightening speed. The problem is these students don’t absorb much of what they read. Fluency is more than reading quickly – we want students attending to what they read.
Review National Reading Panel report and its recommendation of guided oral reading as the optimum tool for fluency growth. We show this slide because Reading Assistant was developed and designed specifically from this recommendation. There is only one method which has been proven effective to develop fluency: guided oral reading, which is listening to a student read, providing support and correction, vocabulary definitions and questions to illuminate reading. Other methods do not have proven research to help grow fluency: Silent reading, choral reading and videos before reading.
Why is Oral Reading so powerful? Because while there are many assessment tools: (Dibels, DRA) that provide valuable feedback, a teacher’s ear is equally valuable. Listening to a student read, you can hear and diagnose quickly where the struggle is. More importantly – you can provide the correction and support for that reading error immediately when the student needs it.
The number of words read per year to be gained by adding 10 minutes of extra reading each day varies with a student’s reading rate. Students who spend more time reading books typically have faster reading rates. So, for example, students at the 80 th percentile gain around 800,000 additional words per year, whereas students at the 20 th percentile gain around 300,000 words by adding 10 minutes of daily reading.
The number of words read per year to be gained by adding 10 minutes of extra reading each day varies with a student’s reading rate. Students who spend more time reading books typically have faster reading rates. So, for example, students at the 80 th percentile gain around 800,000 additional words per year, whereas students at the 20 th percentile gain around 300,000 words.
It’s important that teachers’ expectations be set properly when they are introduced to the program. Reading Assistant is not a phonemic program – we will not stop a child if they say “wabbit’ for “rabbit”, if they leave off an “ed” ending, or they slightly mis pronounce. The idea is to assess each reading error, and only stop the student if the error they are making impedes comprehension. Just as a teacher would, we take not of words we have “concerns’ with – those are the blue review words – so that the student and teacher knows this word is not “automatic” and should be reviewed. Students should understand that re-reading is what will build their fluency best. We do not want students reading a passage just once and then moving on to a new passage. Re-visiting text, reviewing unfamiliar words multiple times will help with fluency development. Students should expect that they will need to re-read a passage several times – and note that mastery of the text is the goal. Fluency focus The software models the best classroom practices of a supportive listener. It wants to stop the reader as infrequently as possible while still ensuring the/she doesn’t miss words that impede comprehension. It does not demand exactness; if an “s” or “ed” is left off, the software will allow the student to continue. The software errors on the side on non-intervention, but it will flag words not fluently recognized and mark them for review. The software is particularly lenient with glue words; (the, and, at, it). Basic decoding skills necessary This is not an appropriate tool for students who can not decode. The frustration of continual intervention will impede fluency growth. Designed to support and respond to common reading errors of students During training, teachers understandably test the program’s ability to detect and support reading errors. Many of the errors made in training sessions are not representative of a typical student error. The best way to evaluate and the program’s capabilities is to have a student use it.
Each selection must be read twice whether or not the student achieved the fluency goal or mastery. If the student has not reached mastery after the second reading, the student should read the selection a third time. If after the third reading the student has not reached mastery, the student should be instructed to move ahead and read a new selection. Student progress should be monitored weekly at the beginning of the implementation to ensure that they are reading at the correct reading level. Subsequently students may be monitored on a bi-weekly basis. If a student makes more than 10 errors (the student receives 10 or more interventions) on a 2 page spread, the student is not reading “just right” content, and should be assigned content at a lower reading level. NOTE: Students who can’t read 25 wcpm or are under 6 years old aren’t candidates for RA.
Stop the PowerPoint Presentation & Begin Reading Assistant Demo