Effective Interventions for Struggling Readers Comprehension: The Essence of Reading

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Effective Interventions forStruggling
ReadersComprehension The Essence of Reading
Your name here Date, location, etc.
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Agenda

• Impact of Reading Interventions
• Factors That Interfere With Comprehension
• Assessment
• Strategies and Practice
• Processing

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Goal and Objectives

• Goal To provide participants with the tools to
  improve reading comprehension for struggling
  readers.
• Objectives
• Participants will
• Learn how effective reading interventions impact
  all stakeholders
• Learn why some students have difficulty
  comprehending text
• Learn how to effectively assess the comprehension
  skills of struggling readers
• Learn and apply evidenced-based comprehension
  strategies

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Warm-Up Activity

• Read the selection on HO 1
• Be prepared to respond to several comprehension
  tasks

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The Connections Between Reading Interventions,
NCLB, and YOU!
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Gap
Benefit Students Teachers Schools Districts
States
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Essential Components of Reading

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
• Comprehension Components of an Effective
  Reading Program http//www.k8accesscenter.org/tra
  ining_resources/effectivereadingcomponents.asp

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Discussion

• Share with your partner examples of students you
  know who struggle with comprehension. Discuss why
  you think they may be having difficulty.
• Share with your partner any comprehension
  strategies you currently use, or know about.

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Students Who Struggle

• Students with disabilities
• Dyslexia
• Traumatic brain injury
• Learning disability
• Cognitive deficit
• Attention deficit disorder
• Sensory Impairment
• Students with skill deficits in the reading
  components
• Students who are not task persistent
• Students who lack appropriate background
  knowledge
• Students who are not engaged in reading
• Students who are not motivated to read

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What Can Practitioners Do

• Students with disabilities
• Increase your knowledge base
• Provide accommodations
• Skill deficits
• Conduct screening assessments
• Provide remediation
• Lack of appropriate background knowledge
• Conduct screening assessments
• Implement pre-reading activities
• Lack of engagement
• Select appropriate text
• Allow for choice

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Comprehension AssessmentsThings to Consider

• Different tests tap different abilities.
• Tests do not usually help pinpoint difficulties
  in individual students.
• Tests are not geared toward distinguishing
  specific comprehension processes that might
  underlie poor comprehension in both listening and
  reading.
• Spear-Swerling (2006)

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What Practitioners Can Do

• Look for and use tests that are technically
  adequate
• If possible, use more than one test
• Assess key component skills
• Take everyday classroom performance into account
• Consider both current and upcoming grade
  expectations
• For more information about comprehension
  assessments, go to the Web site of the Southwest
  Education Development Laboratory
  http//www.sedl.org/reading/framework/assessment.h
  tml

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How Do YouAssess Comprehension
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Instructional Strategies andPractice
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National Reading Panel (2000)Key Findings

• Teaching a combination of reading comprehension
  techniques is the most effective.
• When students use comprehension techniques
  appropriately, they assist in recall, question
  answering, question generation, and summarization
  of texts.
• When reading comprehension techniques are used in
  combination, these can improve results in
  standardized comprehension tests.
• Teachers must be provided with appropriate and
  intensive training to ensure that they know when
  and how to teach specific strategies.

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Evidenced-BasedComprehension Strategies

• Cooperative Learning
• Comprehension Monitoring
• Graphic Organizers
• Answering Questions
• Summarization
• National Reading Panel (2000)

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Cooperative Learning

• A successful teaching strategy in which small
  teams use a variety of learning activities to
  improve their understanding of a subject
• Key Elements
• Positive Interdependence (sink or swim together)
• Face-to-Face Interaction (promote each other's
  success)
• Individual and Group Accountability (no
  hitchhiking or social loafing)
• Interpersonal and Small-Group Skills
• Group Processing

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The Jigsaw

• All students
• Learn about pieces of the puzzle of material
• Share their findings
• Solidify their learning by teaching to other
  students

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Instructions forHome Teams

• Introduce yourself
• Select a leader
• Have group leaders assign team members to Expert
  Group (including yourself)
• Join your Expert Group
• Select a leader
• Expert Group Read the background information,
  complete the activity, and develop a
  dissemination plan
• Return to your Home Team and share your
  findings with your team

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Your Cooperative Learning Experience

• Refer to Slide 17
• Take a few minutes to discuss which of the key
  elements of Cooperative Learning you experienced
  during the Jigsaw strategy exercise

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Culminating Activity

• Think of a student/s you have in your class, or
  have worked with in the past.
• Which of the strategies you learned about today
  may be helpful to them?
• Explain to your team why this particular activity
  would work for this student/s.
• Describe how you would implement this strategy in
  your classroom.

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Questions/Comments