Schoolwide Academic Fitness: Circuit Training Schoolwide Academic Fitness: Active Literacy Strength Flexibility Endurance Enjoyment

Strength: Vocabulary and Background Knowledge

Schoolwide Academic Fitness: Circuit Training Today, we will train for strength. By strength, we mean having sufficient vocabulary to make meaning from text. Vocabulary is closely related to background knowledge, and background knowledge is the most important factor in reading comprehension. Here are a few things you can do that will take just a few minute of class time to build your students’ vocabulary: Analyze word prefixes and roots of key words to show how they are related to words that students may already know. 2. Embed the target word in a cluster of words related to the topic. 3. Introduce key words that the students will meet in their upcoming readings. Repeat new words in various contexts. 5. Show the word. Emphasize its spelling and how it looks like related words. 6. Give students opportunities to use new words in conversation. 7. If you can, make connections between new words and words in other languages. 8. Give students opportunities to use new words in informal writing. 9. Indulge in word games and crossword puzzles to reinforce new word. 10. Give students opportunities to use non-verbal ways to express meanings (drawing, gestures, skits, charades).

Vocabulary: The Key to Reading Comprehension Dolch List General Service List Academic Word List (AWL) 2,000 words for general conversation in English (aka BIC: Basic Interpersonal Communication) Ex: through, long, where, much, people, should, feel, down, each, think, between, good, how, become, nation, hand, here, house, both, mean, call, write, under, night, develop, move, under, thing, general… 570 word families for academic reading; Words that appear frequently in academic texts of various subjects, but are not frequent in casual conversation Ex: approach, analysis, assess, assume, consist, obtain, available, finance, export, formulate, item, estimate, journal, injure, restrict, select… 220 sight words that elementary students should recognize Based on frequency Ex: a, am, away, all, after, and, are, again, an, any, as, always, around, ask, about, ate

Designate; designation; identify, identification Ascertain; determine Tier II Words Tier III Words Tier I Words: Domain-specific terminology; “Glossary” words On-the-job words Language of academics, business, government “Vocab List” words Everyday Language: Ask Dead Name Find out; figure out Answer Rain Use Sharp Get Take apart and put together balance Interrogate Deceased Designate; designation; identify, identification Ascertain; determine Precipitate, precipitation Utilize; employ Acute Acquire Analyze; synthesize equilibrium Photosynthesis Cytoplasm Metamorphosis Asymmetrical Bathysphere Rhetoric Deoxyribonucleic acid Artifact Habeas corpus Diaspora Polysyndeton Adjective x chr___ ___ic ph __y__ ___sis Code-switching Prefix/root/suffix

Flexibility: Different paces for different purposes

Schoolwide Academic Fitness: Circuit Training Today, we will train for flexibility. By flexibility, we mean the ability to adjust pace and focus to get the desired level of information from text. Flexibility is important for readers because not everything demands the same level of concentration. The flexible reader has the skills to skim, scan, read closely, read between the lines, and study to memorize targeted information. Here are a few things that you can do to help your students develop flexibility as readers: Provide all kinds of reading material in your classroom related to what you want students to know: magazines, paperbacks, fiction, Internet, lists, etc. Give students guided practice in skimming, scanning, reading closely, reading between the lines, and studying. Increase their awareness of how they shift gears to derive information from text. Skim it Scan it Read it (Read between the lines of it) Study it

Skim it: Scan it: Read it: Study it: Four Gears of Reading: Skim it: Scan it: Read it: Study it: Go back, as necessary, getting a more useful and permanent understanding. This may involve working with a partner, taking notes, creating graphic organizers, and other meaning-making activities. Glance over it; (30 secs per page); get the gist; be able to state what it is about in a complete sentence Look it over with an eagle’s eye, scanning for specific information, such as information that has key words to answer questions Now that you’ve let the text wash over you, read it thoroughly: every word, every sentence, every graphic. 8

Endurance: The ability to concentrate on a text over a period of time

Schoolwide Academic Fitness: Circuit Training Today, we will train for endurance. By endurance, we mean the ability to concentrate on reading for a sustained amount of time. Here are some things you can do to help your students build endurance: Start with short intervals of sustained silent reading and/or listening to you read aloud while they follow along in the text. Begin with alternating one-minute intervals, if necessary. Systematically increase the intervals of sustained silent reading. 2. Remind students that it is necessary that they visualize as they read. 3. Give students the opportunity to see the extent to which their concentration is impaired by environmental conditions such as noise or lighting.

Enjoyment: Reading anything we want, just for fun!

Enjoyment: Reading anything we want, just for fun! stories, newspapers, comics, magazines, graphic novels, teen romances, sci-fi, adventure, humor…. Components of successful free reading programs in schools: Lavish access to all kinds of appealing reading material No accountability (ie, tests) Teacher modeling Regular time set aside for reading Sustained over time (multiple years) Comfortable environment, conducive to reading Opportunities for discussion Staff training on the benefits and management of SSR

What the research tells me [about SSR] is that when children …start reading for pleasure… good things will happen. Their reading comprehension will improve, and they will find difficult, academic-style texts easier to read. Their writing style will improve, and they will be better able to write prose in a style that is acceptable to schools, business, and the scientific community. Their vocabulary will improve, and their spelling and control of grammar will improve. Stephen Krashen, The Power of Reading

Yes, we can! Si, se puede!