A website I would highly suggest checking out is the International Reading Association's page. On this site, each year the current hottest topics dealing with literacy are posted. Here is the link to 2009's current issues in reading: IRA Hot List 2009. The list may not reflect the topics that are currently being discussed at your school, but they are interesting to see what other schools are discussing.
As stated on the IRA site: "The 'very hot' topics for 2009 are: adolescent literacy, English as a second language/English-language learners, high-stakes assessment, literacy coaches/reading coaches, and RTI. Of these, the hottest of the 'very hot' topics were adolescent literacy and RTI." I know at my school all of these topics except adolescent literacy (I teach at an elementary school) are issues that we discuss. As a professional, I feel that it is important to stay current in the issues that are affecting teaching.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Adolescent Literacy
A huge problem as students progress through the grade levels is that more and more of them begin to hate reading. About two-thirds of our 12th graders and about 70% of our 8th graders in the United States do not read at grade level. Many students report that they do not read for pleasure on a regular basis. Reading is a process where we need practice to improve. If students are not reading on their own, then they are not gaining practice in using the strategies and skills taught at school.
One way to help adolescents to begin to enjoy reading is by finding interesting books based on their hobbies and interests. This can be daunting for teachers who have a diverse range of students within their classrooms each with individual interests and at differing reading levels. A website that may be of interest is the Ohio Resource Center. This website provides books that catch the attention of adolescents and many of the books are recommended by adolescents.
Another tool to use with teenagers is technology. Teenagers spend a lot of time online. Creating an online scavenger hunt where students have to go to given websites to read information about a topic and record their responses is one way to help them learn using one of their favorite activities. This would give you the opportunity to find websites at various levels to help those students who are not at grade level and who would struggle reading the social studies or science text book for the topic.
Another tool to help teenagers, not as much with motivation but more so with comprehension, is a comprehension connector. This is a simple graphic organizer designed or chosen by the teacher to have the students fill out as they read. This helps students to focus on what is most important in the text and to record their thinking. As with all assignments, teachers should model how to use the comprehension connector before having students work individually with the comprehension connector. Some examples of comprehension connectors can be found at: Choice Literacy.
One way to help adolescents to begin to enjoy reading is by finding interesting books based on their hobbies and interests. This can be daunting for teachers who have a diverse range of students within their classrooms each with individual interests and at differing reading levels. A website that may be of interest is the Ohio Resource Center. This website provides books that catch the attention of adolescents and many of the books are recommended by adolescents.
Another tool to use with teenagers is technology. Teenagers spend a lot of time online. Creating an online scavenger hunt where students have to go to given websites to read information about a topic and record their responses is one way to help them learn using one of their favorite activities. This would give you the opportunity to find websites at various levels to help those students who are not at grade level and who would struggle reading the social studies or science text book for the topic.
Another tool to help teenagers, not as much with motivation but more so with comprehension, is a comprehension connector. This is a simple graphic organizer designed or chosen by the teacher to have the students fill out as they read. This helps students to focus on what is most important in the text and to record their thinking. As with all assignments, teachers should model how to use the comprehension connector before having students work individually with the comprehension connector. Some examples of comprehension connectors can be found at: Choice Literacy.
RTI
Response to Intervention or RTI is a big topic of discussion lately. With the NCLB act causing schools to look at how well they are meeting the needs of all of their students, RTI is one method that schools rely on. In RTI, students are placed into one of three tiers. The first tier is where the majority of the students are placed. In tier one it is the classroom teacher's responsibility to provide the best classroom instruction and differentiate to help all students learn. If a student is not progressing in tier 1, then the RTI committee may deem to move the student into tier 2. In tier 2, the child receives small group instruction from trained individuals to help the student start progressing and hopefully be returned to tier 1. If a student is still not progressing in tier 2, then the child may be moved into tier 3. In some schools this is special education and in other schools this may be one-on-one tutoring before moving on to special education.
The purpose of the RTI system is to help students get the instruction they need before they fall too far behind. RTI places more responsibility on the teacher in providing the best curriculum and instruction. RTI also helps ensure that students are not being placed into special education without other interventions being tried first. With how complex RTI can be, I would suggest checking out the following website: RTI Action Network. This website helped clear up some the questions that I had about RTI and may do the same for you. RTI Action Network also has a blog, discussion board, newsletter, and allows you to send in your own questions about RTI.
The purpose of the RTI system is to help students get the instruction they need before they fall too far behind. RTI places more responsibility on the teacher in providing the best curriculum and instruction. RTI also helps ensure that students are not being placed into special education without other interventions being tried first. With how complex RTI can be, I would suggest checking out the following website: RTI Action Network. This website helped clear up some the questions that I had about RTI and may do the same for you. RTI Action Network also has a blog, discussion board, newsletter, and allows you to send in your own questions about RTI.
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