Ohio Department of Education Summer Institute on Deaf Education June 18, 2002 Reading Instruction for High School Low Achievers Pamela Luft, Ph.D. Kent.

Ohio Department of EducationSummer Institute on Deaf Education

June 18, 2002

Reading Instruction for High School Low Achievers

Pamela Luft, Ph.D.Kent State University

HOW TO RESPOND:Reasons for Low Achievement

Primary Language Acquisition Issues

Second & Third Language Acquisition

Disabilities

Primary Language Acquisition Delays in identification and/or services to parents

Primary language learning years are missed Delays are never “made up”

Mismatch in communication choice and child abilities/needs Child misses critical aspects of language learning

Inconsistent communication use Parents and/or teachers do not provide skilled,

accessible communication modeling

Second & Third Language Acquisition

Increasing immigration rates Parents are Limited English Proficient Parents may be multilingual and LEP Children have limited exposure to English Professionals have limited experience or knowledge in

working with immigrant families

Disabilities Causes of hearing loss lead to 25% - 33% rate of

disabilities Vision, LD/ADHD, and MR are most common

Communication challenges are greater Parents and teachers need additional support

Achievement Lack of adult-level language proficiency

Students never acquire proficiency in any first language

Inadequate foundation for literacy High school graduation reading levels remain at 4th grade

Lack of skills for content-area learning World experiences are not mediated by adults Insufficient language to acquire or discuss sophisticated

constructs

Teacher Frustrations With Students

Inability to discuss content, stories, or experiences Inability to answer questions Inability to retain information High rate of “failure” for school tasks Low motivation for literacy and achievement

Intervention Philosophies: Skills-based Approaches

Strengths Teach language and literacy skills from step-by-step

acquisition of hierarchical skills Clear sequences facilitate D/HH learning

Weaknesses Global changes requiring processing and problem-

solving skills Memorized sequences lack explicit relevance for

students

Intervention Philosophies:Process-based Approaches

Strengths: Focus on whole leads to broader understandings Greater motivation

Weaknesses: More complex Ordering of instructional steps is individualized and

variable (less easily taught and tracked)

Teaching Considerations

Background knowledge and experience What can students actively remember and discuss?

Lesson concepts and constructs What are their text and world schemata?

Prerequisite skills What knowledge, skills, or concepts am I assuming

they have?

Where to Start?

Literacy level Assessments: French, 1999

Literacy and Reading ChecklistsProficiency Levels (P-levels)Writing Levels

Literacy Assessment for D/HHAvailable: Clerc Center, Gallaudet Univ., 800-526-9105http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/products/assessment.html

Instructional Strategies

Balanced Literacy Experiences Language Experience Approach Guided Reading Journaling Integrated Literacy Instruction

Build reading and writing skills together Find new writing skills in reading work and vice versa

Balanced Literacy Experiences—at all age levels

Reading Aloud: Immerse in literature and content across a variety of genre Broaden concepts of what authors do Have students choose their own material to share with others

Writing Aloud: Mini-lessons and demonstrations of writing Model techniques for how you write, self-correct, and evaluate your

own work Demonstrate how to move from ASL ideas to written English

(French, 1999, Assessment Toolkit, pp. 95-110)

Balanced Literacy Experiences Shared Reading (and re-reading):

Read text that all can see; engage in re-reading, questioning, and discussion to highlight key teaching points (e.g., new literature and content-area concepts)

Interpret first in ASL and then into English, as needed Encourage students to join in and move toward collaborative teaching;

use paired reading Shared Writing:

Teacher functions as scribe for collaborative writing/modeling Analyze new genres or formats introduced in Shared Reading Explore strategies for moving from ASL to written English

(French, 1999, Assessment Toolkit, pp. 95-110)

Balanced Literacy Experiences Guided Reading:

Teacher provides strategy support and extension activities to small groups

Address theme, style, divergent opinions, forms of literature and nonfiction texts

Guided Writing: Applies to writing stories as well as content topic writing

Reports Newsletters Magazine articles

Move from use of the writing process to independence in evaluation and editing

(French, 1999, Assessment Toolkit, pp. 95-110)

Literacy Checklists

Where to Begin?Language Experience Approach

Benefits Students see their own thoughts in print: language and

literacy become connected English and reading skills are based on unique student

needs and abilities Students are motivated with activities based on interests Excellent for students with lower literacy levels and 2nd

language learners

Conversational Proficiency Level 4

Language Experience Approach Format:

Introduce stimulus—picture, object, movie, activity Students dictate to teacher; teacher writes Students read story, repeating over several days

Modifications Students copy/have an individual copy to read and take home Students and teacher practice editing for

English grammar Punctuation Writing conventions (capital letters, spacing, etc.) Other skills: dialogue, author’s voice, perspective

(Schirmer, 2000, Language & Literacy Development in Children Who are Deaf)

Language Experience Approach

Types of LEAs Individual experiences and stories

Compile to use as ongoing reading “book”Re-read stories to practice literacy skillsUse known context and background to help decodingEncourage students to do increased amounts of reading

Group lessons, field trips, and experimentsAt early levels have students read only their own contributionMove toward increasingly complex stories and formats

Guided Reading: DRTA—Directed Reading Thinking

Activity Benefits

Focus on thinking and whole-story comprehension Preteaching of concepts and critical experiences Top-down processing to assist with vocabulary learning

Development conceptual schema first

Use individual predictions to have students set their own purposes for reading

DRTA ProcessIntroduction

Build interestReview or preteach concepts—DO NOT “TEACH” VOCABULARYPreteach new text format or style

Show title or portion of story (1st paragraph or page)Ask students to predict/speculate about the story

“What do you think will happen in the story? Why do you think so?”Encourage diverse responsesAccept all predictions with equal enthusiasm

DRTA ProcessDirected Silent Reading

Teacher has students read next section silently.

Students use thinking skills to make guesses about new vocabulary (may note remaining unknown words in a notebook/post-it)

Comprehension Check

Teacher asks students if their predictions were right—do they want to keep their original predictions or to change them?

Students identify the part of the story that shows whether they were right or wrong.

DRTA Process

Reading AloudStudents read the portion that proves or disproves their prediction.Teacher facilitates discussion about key story aspects through use of student’s predictions, reasoning, and modifications.

Repetition of StepsStudents progress through the story in sections.Teacher has students build on or revise initial prediction throughout. Students read silently, think about their prediction while reading, look for evidence to prove or disprove and how to modify and evaluate their prediction [teacher may need to model this process].

DRTA Process

Individual Conferences

Teacher individually discusses words the child has recorded; they go back through the text and use context/decoding skills.

Students do individual written responses to the story: literature journals, written retellings, story maps, story boards, etc.

Follow-up Activities

Teacher may do strategy lessons on recurring problems.

Students engage in a variety of supportive of extending activities.

DRTA Variations Identify sections based on student needs and abilities

Divide into more sections to provide greater literacy support. Model “crazy” predictions and irrelevant reasoning strategies

to facilitate discussion about key points [or model appropriate predicting and evaluating/reasoning for students with emerging skills

Teacher can read aloud to students Do this at all age levels to provide exposure to higher level

(age-appropriate) concepts and vocabulary

Use with movies, videos, and various media Encourages engagement, thinking and reasoning, and

scaffolding through discussion

DRTA VariationsModify for content-area reading

Predict content from headings Examine text structures to help with predictions

Collection—information grouped by association and sequence Description—grouping by association with subordinate elements Causation—grouped by sequence and causal relationship Problem/solution—causation structure with a related solution Comparison—information organized by similarities and differences

Do comprehension checks by facilitating discussion based on predictions and student evaluations/modifications

Typical comprehension questions are often VERY difficult for students to answer

Writing: Where to Begin?

Writing Samples Mom go the storeshirt. Mom lookakround the shirts. Mom

see the pokeman shirts. Mom see the lion bike shirts. Mom see the coller and strip shirts. Mom walk go the buy.

My heel to hello heey. [We moved my room around at my dad’s.] Rabbit 7, born or girl and boy famel male Baby. I want see my friend. I will walk go my friend’s house. I

knock to door. She walk open door. She happy see him. She let in my house. She said you want a drink. He said fine. She give he used drink. She said Love my favorite music. He said too mee. She and he are dance to music.

Journaling Dialogue Journals

Daily written conversation: authentic communication No corrections: model and expand language Student-directed: they set topics and style Allows individualized responses and skill development

Content-area, literacy, and unit journals Daily journals on progress Reflection on learning and difficulties Authentic reason for writing

Writing Integrate with Reading

Literature response journals Character journal—while reading story Modify one aspect of story: character, setting, event Read multiple versions and compare/contrast Ideas limited only by our own creativity!!

—do retellings in writing

Content-area writing Rewrite historical events; analyze from another perspective Change one scientific principle and describe our world Describe mathematical steps in a process with reasons

Retelling Checklist:How can we use this in writing to reinforce reading skills as well?

Teaching Caveats, orHow to “Burn Out” Quickly

Rewriting all text and reading book information Often is more difficult for students to comprehend

Mile-wide and inch-deep coverage Students don’t learn thoroughly or generalize

Neglecting conceptual, experiential, and linguistic needs P-4 means emerging understanding of past & future

Historical events may not be meaningful Chain-of-events and cause-effect abilities are not present

(so, because, then emerge at P-5)

Teaching Tips: Replace vocabulary

teaching with concept-based instruction Vocabulary is

meaningless without conceptual schema

Typical children hear a word 300+ times before seeing in print

Identify age-appropriate references and strategies

How to Keep it Fun!

Work with students’ interests and abilities Teach strategies and skills that lead to

independence Focus on a few things at a time

Use a few favorite strategies; repeat frequently Teach one new strategy at a time; use often, then

reconnect with those previously learned Build life-time interest and love of learning

Dr. Pamela [email protected]

References French, M. M. (1999). Starting with Assessment: A developmental

approach to deaf children’s literacy. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.

Schirmer, B. R. (2000). Language and literacy development in children who are deaf. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.