Differentiating Instruction for Word Recognition and Fluency

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Differentiating Instruction for Word Recognition
and Fluency

• Sharon Walpole
• Michael C. McKenna

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Agenda

• Who needs this type of instruction?
• What data must be gathered?
• What planning decisions must be made?
• What are some tricks of the trade?

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• We are combining ideas from Chapters 4 and 5

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Remember our plan
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Remember our plan
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What are we trying to teach?

• These children still need to work on decoding,
  but they can segment and blend phonemes to read
  some words.
• They will work on coordinated activities to learn
  new letter patterns and review patterns
  previously taught.
• They will work with words and with
  phonics-focused texts during small-group time.

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How will we know when weve accomplished our goal?

• When childrens initial readings of their
  phonics-focused texts are accurate, we can
  redirect our tier 2 time to fluency and
  comprehension.
• Remember that our goal is to make each of our
  groupings temporary and targeted.

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In our tiered system, who is likely to need this
type of differentiated instruction?
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What data can we use to identify the children?
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DIBELS KLNF and PSF low riskDIBELS KNWF high
risk or some risk

• We KNOW These children are not quite on track
  for achieving the spring first-grade ORF goal.
• We NEED to know Which letter sounds and patterns
  they need and whether they have been taught.

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Lets find out

• Give a phonics inventory or a spelling inventory
  to see which sounds and patterns they need.
• Use your phonics scope and sequence to see
  whether theyve had an opportunity to learn them
  yet!

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DIBELS First-Grade PSF low riskNWF some risk or
high risk

• We KNOW These children are not on track for
  achieving the spring first-grade ORF goal.
• We NEED to know Which letter sounds and patterns
  they need and whether they have been taught.

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Lets find out

• Give a phonics inventory or a spelling inventory
  to see which sounds and patterns they need.
• Use your phonics scope and sequence to see
  whether theyve had an opportunity to learn them
  yet!

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DIBELS Second-Grade ORFhigh risk or some risk

• We KNOW These children are not on track for
  achieving end-of-third-grade goals.
• We NEED to know Whether it is strictly a fluency
  problem, or whether there are underlying word
  recognition problems.

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Lets find out

• Give a phonics or spelling inventory to see which
  patterns they need.
• Do a high-frequency word inventory to see which
  words they need to learn.
• If these data are adequate, then you will know
  that you need to focus on fluency and
  comprehension rather than word recognition and
  fluency.

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Now youre ready!

• Do you have one group or two?
• Think about the word recognition data group
  children with similar specific needs (e.g.,
  consonant blends, or short vowels, or
  r-controlled vowels).
• Think about how low their oral reading fluency
  is. Will you be able to use any of the
  grade-level materials, or will you have to use
  materials designed for an earlier grade level?
• Combine all of the items that they dont know
  onto one list.

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Combining these results will provide you a
collection of known and unknown items for each
child their needs will probably not be exactly
the same. However, group so that unknown patterns
are as similar as possible.
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To make your plan, start with the patterns

• Rank order them according to the order in which
  they were taught in the scope and sequence, so
  that we teach the simpler ones first.
• Link them into like sets of two (and then you can
  add a review pattern each day to make three).
• For example, you could link two specific initial
  consonant blends (bl-, cr-).
• For example, you could link short a and short e.
• For example, you could link -or and -ar.
• For example, you could link -ai and -ea.

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Now find your texts

• Gather all of the phonics-controlled texts that
  come with your core or supplemental materials.
  Work with your coach and your team to find
  specific titles that are the best match to the
  phonics items that you need to teach. Consider
  texts for your grade level and also for the grade
  below yours.
• Let the phonics items you have selected provide
  the order for the texts you will use.

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Now choose your strategies

• Read pages 58 to 69. Letter names and sounds
  (earlier in the chapter) should be too simple for
  this group. Choose sounding and blending if the
  phonics data show intensive needs. Choose letter
  patterns or teaching by analogy if the needs are
  isolated to vowel patterns.
• All children are likely to benefit from the
  high-frequency word strategy.

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Vary how your students respond

• Remember that there are many ways for students to
  respond to instruction in small groups. Build in
  variety to increase engagement.
• In addition to oral responses, children can
• spell words
• signal their answers in an every pupil response
  format (e.g., holding up one finger or two
  against the chest).

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Sounding and Blending Script

• We are going to start today by sounding and
  blending some words. The way that you do that is
  to look at each letter, say each sound out loud
  and then say them fast to make a word.
• Listen to me. /p/ /i/ /g/ pig. Now you try /p/
  /i/ /g/ pig.
• When you come to a word that you dont know you
  can sound and blend it.

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Letter Patterns Script

• Today we will work on reading and spelling three
  vowel patterns. The /at/ pattern is the sound at
  the end of the word cat. It is spelled a-t. The
  /et/ pattern is the sound at the end of the word
  pet. It is spelled e-t. The /it/ pattern is the
  sound at the end of the word sit. It is spelled
  i-t.
• First I want you to listen to words and tell me
  whether they sound like cat, pet, or sit.
• Lets look at the spellings for all of the words
  that sound like cat. Notice that words with the
  /at/ sound have the a-t pattern. You can use
  that pattern when you read or spell a-t words.

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Decoding by Analogy Script

• When I dont know a word, I look for the first
  spelling pattern (the vowel and what comes
  after). I think about my clue words and find a
  word with the same pattern. The clue word might
  be located on the word wall under the vowel
  letter. I tell myself that if I know this clue
  word, the new word must sound like it. Then I
  look for the next spelling pattern. When Ive
  come to the end, I blend the syllables together
  and check to see that my word makes sense.

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Example of a Decoding-by-Analogy Word Wall
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(No Transcript)
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Child encounters shrill
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Teacher Start with the vowel. Do you see a
chunk you know? Student ill Teacher
Right! And can you find a word on the wall
with that chunk? Remember to look under the
letter i. Student pill Teacher Yes, and if
take off the p and put shr at the beginning,
how would you say it? Student shrill
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High-Frequency Word Script

• Today we are going to learn to read and spell
  some really useful words. The first word is
  from. Say that word. Now watch me count the
  sounds in from. /f/ /r/ /u/ /m/. We hear four
  sounds. Say the sounds with me. Now watch me
  spell the word from. The first sound we hear in
  from is /f/, and it is spelled with the letter f.
  The second sound we hear in from is /r/, and it
  is spelled with the letter r. The third sound we
  hear in from is /u/, and it is spelled with the
  letter o. The last sound we hear in from is /m/,
  and it is spelled with the letter m.

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High-Frequency Word Script (cont.)

• Three of the letters and sounds in from are easy
  to remember. The only one that is tricky is the
  o. Remember that in the word from, the /u/ sound
  is spelled with the letter o. If you remember
  that, you can easily read and spell from.

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Now think about fluency procedures

• Read pages 70-79. You will need to consider
  several things your level of support and
  strategies for organizing repeated readings.
• Remember that your goal is to allow the children
  to practice using the phonics patterns that they
  are learning these texts will not likely lend
  themselves to discussion.

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• Since your goal is to allow the children a chance
  to practice decoding, try to start at the bottom,
  with whisper reading.

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Gather or make all of your materials

• Word lists, word cards, phonics-controlled books,
  teaching scripts, white boards, notebooks
  everything you need
• (Hint Use books with word lists in them its
  faster.)
• Remember that our goal is that you plan for three
  weeks at a time

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The very weakest group
Minute allocations are simply an example based
on a 15-minute session.
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A more typical group
Minute allocations are simply an example based
on a 15-minute session.
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A more advanced group
Minute allocations are simply an example based
on a 15-minute session.
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Try it out!

• Remember that we are hoping for a cycle, with
  teacher reflection. Your goal is to move these
  children into a fluency and comprehension group,
  but youve got to be successful here first.
• You may need to repeat a particular lesson for
  two days. Thats fine. You also may need to step
  in with echo or choral reading. Thats fine too.
• At the end of the three weeks, you can use data
  collected as part of the instruction to inform
  your next moves.