Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties: The Reading Teacher's Sourcebook

Reading problems don’t disappear when students enter middle school—recent studies show that nearly a quarter of today’s eighth graders aren’t able to read at a basic level.* This book arms language arts teachers with the lessons, strategies, and foundational knowledge they need to resolve older students’ reading difficulties and increase their chances for academic success.

Ideal for use with struggling readers in Grades 6–8, this book clearly lays out the fundamentals of effective teaching for adolescents with reading difficulties. Teachers will discover how to

• select and administer assessments for comprehension, fluency, and word recognition
• use assessment results to plan individualised instruction
• apply research-supported instructional practices
• develop flexible grouping systems so students get the targeted instruction they need
• set manageable short-term learning goals with students
• keep the pacing of instruction quick and energetic so students stay engaged
• give appropriate positive and corrective feedback
• monitor student progress over time
• promote generalisation of new reading skills
• provide effective interventions within a school-wide Response to Intervention framework

To help teachers incorporate evidence-based practices into their classroom instruction, they’ll get more than 20 complete, step-by-step sample lessons for strengthening adolescents’ reading skills. Easy to adapt for use across any curriculum, the sample lessons provide explicit models of successful instruction, with suggested teacher scripts, checklists for planning instruction, key terms and objectives, strategies for guided and independent practice, tips on promoting generalisation, and more.

With this practical guide to high-quality instruction, middle school teachers will help struggling readers develop the skills they need to master complex academic content and succeed inside and outside the classroom.

With 20+ step-by-step sample lessons that improve

• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Word recognition
• Vocabulary

Table of Contents

About the Authors Acknowledgments Introduction

I. Assessing Struggling Readers at the Secondary Level

• Terms to Know
• A Schoolwide Approach to Reading Intervention
• Tier I: Schoolwide Strategies and Routines
• Tier II: Strategic Intervention
• Tier III: Intensive Intervention Implementing a Schoolwide Reading Intervention Approach

2. Overview of Assessment at the Secondary Level

• The Sequence of Assessment

3. Selecting and Administering Assessments

• Assessing Reading Fluency
• Assessing Word Recognition
• Monitoring Student Progress Over Time
• Caveats About Oral Reading Fluency in Middle School Students
• Outcome Assessments

4. Using Assessment Results to Plan Instruction

• Grouping Students for Instruction
• Determining the Instructional Focus
• Setting Short-Term Goals with Students
• Scheduling Small-Group Instruction
• An Alternative Schedule for Reading Intervention Classes
• Managing Small-Group Instruction

II. Effective Instruction for Struggling Readers

5. Components of Effective Instruction

• Terms to Know
• Statement of Objective or Purpose
• Daily Review
• Explicit Modelling and Teaching
• Guided Practice
• Independent Practice
• Teaching for Generalization
• Monitoring Student Learning
• Periodic Review and/or Multiple Opportunities for Practice

6. Delivering Effective Instruction

• Terms to Know
• Explicit Instruction
• Targeted Instruction
• Time on Task
• Quick Pacing of Lessons
• Positive Feedback
• Corrective Feedback
• Engaged Reading Practice
• Address Student Motivation

III. Research-Supported Instructional Practices

• Terms to Know
• Sample Lessons in this Book

7. Comprehension

• Sample Lesson: Before-, During-, and After-Reading Comprehension: Previewing Text and Question Generation
• Sample Lesson: Before-, During-, and After-Reading Comprehension: Generating Level 1 (Right-There) Questions
• Sample Lesson: Before-, During-, and After-Reading Comprehension: Generating Level 2 (Putting-It-Together) Questions
• Sample Lesson: Before-, During-, and After-Reading Comprehension: Generating Level 3 (Making-Connections) Questions
• Sample Lesson: During Reading: Mental Imagery Log Sample Lesson: During Reading: Main Idea Strategy
• During Reading: Identifying Text Structures and Using Graphic Organizers Sample Lesson: After Reading: Summarizing Text
• Sample Lesson: After Reading: Wrap-Up/Main Idea Log

8. Vocabulary

• Terms to Know
• Word Types
• Choosing Words to Teach
• Explicitly Teaching Word Meanings
• Word Knowledge
• Word Consciousness
• Word Learning
• Sample Lesson: Word Knowledge: Semantic Mapping
• Sample Lesson: Word Knowledge: Semantic Feature Analysis
• Sample Lesson: Word Knowledge: Generating Examples and Nonexamples
• Sample Lesson: Word Consciousness: Prepared Participation
• Sample Lesson: Word Consciousness: Possible Sentences
• Sample Lesson: Word Learning: The Word-Part Strategy
• Sample Lesson: Word Learning: Using Context Cues
• Sample Lesson: Word Learning: The Outside-In Strategy

9. Fluency

• Terms to Know
• Why Teachers Should Consider Fluency with Middle School Readers
• Caveats About Oral Reading Fluency in Middle School Students
• Assessing Oral Reading Fluency
• Instruction to Support Reading Fluency
• Sample Lesson: Partner Reading
• Sample Lesson: Readers' Theater
• Sample Lesson: Audio- or Computer-Assisted Reading

10. Word Recognition

• Terms to Know
• Introduction Teaching Students to Recognize Syllable Patterns in Words
• What Do Students Need to Know About Syllables?
• Syllable Types
• A Strategy for Reading Multisyllable Words
• Planning and Implementing Word-Recognition Instruction
• Sample Lesson: Word Recognition: The Multisyllable Word Reading Strategy
• Sample Lesson: Word Recognition: The Silent e Syllable Type
• Selecting an Effective Reading Intervention Program
• Students Who Do Not Respond Adequately to Intervention

Conclusion

References

Appendix

Index

Permissions