READING STRATEGIES THAT WORK A Report to the Carnegie Corporation READING NEXT A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy © 2004

FIVE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS  Phonemic Awareness  Phonics  Fluency  Vocabulary  Comprehension National Reading Panel

PHONEMIC AWARENESS  The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.  It is important because it improves the student’s reading, reading comprehension, and helps students learn to spell.

PHONETICS  The relationship between the letters, (graphemes) of written language, and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language.  It is important because it leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle—the predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

FLUENCY  The ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression.  It is important because it frees a student to understand what they read.

VOCABULARY  The words we must know to communicate effectively.  It is important because beginning readers use their oral vocabulary to make sense of the words.  It is important because readers must know what most of the words mean before they can understand what they are reading.

COMPREHENSION  The active process of constructing meaning from the text.  It is important because it is the reason for reading.

CLASSROOM INTRUCTION THAT WORKS Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack

CLASSROOM INTRUCTION THAT WORKS 1. Identifying Similarities and Differences 2. Summarizing and Note Taking 3. Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition 4. Homework and Practice 5. Nonlinguistic Representation 6. Learning Groups 7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback 8. Generating and Testing Hypothesis 9. Cues, Question, and Advance Organizers

Identifying Similarities and Differences Highly effective ways include: Comparing/Contrasting—between things or ideas Classifying—grouping things into categories based on characteristics Creating Metaphors—comparing topics that are different, but have the same patterns or characteristics Creating Analogies—relationships between pairs of concepts

Summarizing and Note Taking Requires students to: Condense information Synthesize material Prioritize data Restate information Organize concepts, topics, and details  A complex process

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition Rewards can be powerful motivators if they are contingent on attaining a stated goal or standard, and if they are symbolic. People generally attribute success on any task to 1 of 4 causes: o Ability o Other people o Luck o Effort—improves achievement, a motivating tool

Nonlinguistic Representation We store knowledge in 2 ways: linguistically (with words) and nonlinguistically (with images) Research indicates that: o we should use a variety of activities to help students represent knowledge o Nonlinguistic representations are more effective if they elaborate on student knowledge

Learning Groups Cooperative Learning has a strong research base to support its use. Research indicates that students who work in groups consistently outperform students who don’t.

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback Gives students direction and helps them think about their own learning Narrows the students’ focus Feedback explains what students are doing correctly and incorrectly Students can give feedback to each other

Generating and Testing Hypothesis Students are applying knowledge Research shows that asking students to explain their hypotheses and conclusions enhances their learning

Cues, Question, and Advance Organizers Activating prior knowledge Research shows that cues and questions should focus on what is important, not on what is unusual. Focus on “higher level” question to focus on deeper learning

READING NEXT Instructional Elements 1. Direct explicit comprehension instruction 2. Effective instructional principles embedded in content 3. Motivated and self directed learning 4. Text-based collaborative learning 5. Strategic tutoring 6. Diverse texts 7. Intensive writing 8. A technology component 9. On-going formative assessment

READING NEXT Infrastructional Elements 10. Extended time for literacy 11. Professional development 12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs 13. Teacher teams 14. Leadership 15. A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program

What is the OPTIMAL MIX? Professional Development Ongoing formative assessment of students Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs

SAY SOMETHING

Final Thought “If you are not effective, it is irrelevant how efficient you are.” -Janet Allen