Elementary Reading

1
Elementary Reading
2
History of Teaching Reading

• I In colonial times, reading instruction was
  simple and straightforward.Reading Material was
  not written at a childs level (Bible and
  patriotic essays.)There was little consideration
  for how best to teach children to read or how to
  assess reading comprehension.
• N In the mid 1800s Horace Mann, began
  to promote aggressively for changes in reading
  instructional methods. He observed that children
  were bored and "death-like" at school, and that
  instruction needed to engage children's interest
  in the reading material by teaching them to read
  whole words.
• B Beginning in the 1930s and 1940s,
  reading programs started focusing on
  comprehension and taught children to read whole
  words by sight. Phonics was used as a last resort
  and taught very sparingly.
• In the 1950s Rudolf Flesch wrote a book
  called Why Johnny Can't Read, a passionate
  argument in favor of teaching children to read
  using phonics. The book was on the bestseller
  list for 30 weeks. It polarized the reading
  debate among educators, researchers, and parents

3
History Contd
In the 1970s whole language was
introduced (deemphasizing phonics). It was the
primary method of teaching reading from 1980-
1990. In the 1980s and 1990s
researchers (such as the National Institute of
Health) continued to conduct study after study
showing that early reading achievement depends on
the understanding of the connection between
sounds and letters. Today, a
combination of both methods is being used, but
whole language is still taught almost exclusively
in teacher education programs and remains the
predominant reading method in U.S.
4
National Standards

• In 1997, Congress asked the Director of the
  National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development, in consultation with the Secretary
  of Education, to convene a national panel to
  assess the status of research based knowledge,
  including the effectiveness of various approaches
  to children to read.
• In its systematic review of the experimental
  research on certain areas of reading instruction,
  the National Reading Panel (NRP) reported on five
  key areas. These are known as the 5 Pillars of
  Reading Instruction
• Phonological awareness
  Phonics
• Fluency
  Vocabulary
• Comprehension

5
National Programs

• Breakthrough to Literacy Addresses not only the
  science of reading but also the science of
  language, the science of implementation and
  school change, and the science of professional
  development for teachers. It remains the position
  of the founders - and of McGraw-Hill - that, to
  be effective, any serious scientific initiative
  must address all four of these disciplines.
  (1980-1990)
• Guided Reading According to Fountas and Pinnell,
  guided reading is an instructional setting that
  enables you (the teacher) to work with a small
  group of students to help them learn effective
  strategies for processing text with
  understanding. The purpose of guided reading is
  to meet the varying instructional needs of all
  the students in your class, enabling them to
  greatly expand their reading powers . (1996)
• DRA Developmental Reading Assessment (Pearson
  Learning Group)
• Reading First This program focuses on putting
  proven methods of early reading instruction in
  classrooms. Through Reading First, states and
  districts receive support to apply scientifically
  based reading researchand the proven
  instructional and assessment tools consistent
  with this researchto ensure that all children
  learn to read well by the end of third grade.
  NCLB (2002) specifically supports this program.
• Observation Survey/Reading Recovery Provides a
  systematic way of capturing early reading and
  writing behaviors and is the primary assessment
  tool used in Reading Recovery. The goal of
  Reading Recovery is to dramatically reduce the
  number of first-grade students who have extreme
  difficulty learning to read and write and to
  reduce the cost of these learners to educational
  systems.

6
State Standards

• SOLS (K-5) (In June 1995, the Virginia Board of
  Education approved Standards of Learning in four
  core content areas mathematics, science, English,
  and history and the social sciences. )
• Curriculum Framework (On February 26, 2003 the
  State Board of Education approved the revised
  English Standards of Learning Curriculum
  Framework)

7
State Programs

• PALS Virginias Early Intervention Reading
  Initiative (EIRI) was established by the 1997
  Virginia Acts of Assembly to help participating
  school districts identify kindergarten and first
  grade children in need of additional instruction
  and provide early intervention services to those
  students with diagnosed needs in reading. The
  Governor and General Assembly provided funding to
  expand the Initiative in March 2000 to include
  students in kindergarten through grade three.

8
Local Standards

• Curriculum Guides which follow the SOLS
• Pacing Guides

9
Local Porgrams

• The Scott Foresman Reading series is used in the
  elementary grades. It is a literature-based
  language arts program designed to foster and to
  enhance literacy skills.
• Accelerated Reader This program is designed as
  an incentive to read more and increase reading
  comprehension.
• Reading Recovery in grade 1 and Soar To Success
  in grades 3-5.
• Observation Survey
• DRA
• PALS
• Guided Reading/Literacy Stations

10
Professional Organizations

• IRA
• 1. Foundational Knowledge
• 2. Instructional Strategies and Curriculum
  Materials
• 3. Assessment, Diagnosis, and Evaluation
• 4. Creating a Literate Environment, and
• 5. Professional Development
• VSRA
• 1. Promote quality literacy instruction
• 2. Support and disseminate literacy research
• 3. Foster interaction on literacy issues through
  collaboration, networking and partnerships
• 4. Encourage legislation that advances literacy
• 5. Provide quality professional development
  opportunities in the area of literacy education
• 6. Promote lifelong reading
• CRC

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Links

• http//www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/Readi
  ng/reading.html
• http//www.vsra.org/
• http//www.reading.org/
• http//www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/Engli
  sh/englishCF.html
• http//www.chesapeakereads.org
• http//www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
• http//www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/Engli
  sh/englishCF.html