1. 2 nd Grade Literacy Program Krista A. Rumschlag, M.A. A Balanced Approach that Supports ELL Students

2. Balanced Literacy 10 Principles 1. Children learn to read by reading 2. Reading should be easy, but not too easy 3. Instruction should be functional and contextual 4. Teachers should make connections 5. Teacher should promote independence 6. Teachers should believe that all children can learn to read and write 7. Literary program should be goal-oriented and systematic 8. Teachers should build students’ motivation and competence 9. Teachers should build students’ language proficiency 10. Teachers need to know how students are progressing

3. Balanced Literacy Components 5 Pillars of Literacy 1.Phonemic Awareness 2.Phonics 3.Fluency 4.Comprehension 5.Vocabulary

4. National Reading Panel and 5 Pillars of Instruction 1. Phonemic Awareness – the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes (smallest unit of sound). Instruction should focus on a few skills at a time, and should include both oral and written language activities. 2. Phonics – teaching letter-sound relationship. Teaching phonics improves children’s sight word recognition, spelling, and comprehension. Systematic and explicit instruction is best. 3. Fluency - ability to recognize words easily, read with increasing speed, accuracy, and expression, and ability to better understand what is read. Teachers promote fluency by having students practice reading until it becomes automatic. 4. Comprehension – complex process that includes vocabulary learning, instruction, and development. 5. Vocabulary – it predicts comprehension. Vocabulary instruction should be taught both directly and indirectly. Low SES and ELL children have significantly smaller vocabulary compared to higher SES children.

5. ELL Students and Best Practice  21% of students speak a language other than English in their home  ELL students and students who are from minority cultures are more likely to live in poverty compared to white English-speaking students  Poverty is a risk factor for academic underachievement  Understanding and appreciating students’ unique culture “can lead to more effective teaching” (Gunning, p. 51)  Economically disadvantaged students perform more poorly on skills tests, but this population still needs higher-level skills and strategies to learn  Assessing ELL’s – measure literacy proficiency in first language -> create a literacy profile

6. Differentiated Instruction  Every child learns differently, so instruction should be designed to fit the learner  Consider students’ cognitive, cultural, personal interests, and linguistic background when planning instruction  “Modify the process, the materials, the environment, the product, or a combination of these”  Assess students intentionally and consistently (on-going) with a variety of formative assessment tools to determine their learning profiles Watts‐Taffe, S., Broach, L., Marinak, B., McDonald Connor, C., & Walker‐Dalhouse, D. (2012).

7. Using Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom  Vary reading comprehension questions for a text or reading assignment (multiple choice, short answer, use of text vs. recall)  Give personalized course packet with individualized remediation or enrichment materials  Use adaptive assessment that gets easier or harder depending on how a student is performing  Offer one-on-one assistance to a student, designed around his/her specific challenges  Group students into small groups, which are centered around their strengths and weaknesses so that they can tutor each other and be more easily helped by the teacher Non-Examples Of Differentiated Instruction  Assigning ‘advanced’ students to teach ‘struggling’ students  Giving ‘advanced’ students no homework  Grouping students into different classes based on their ability  Letting advanced students out of class early or giving them more free play time

8. Assessment  Ms. Rumschlag will use emergent literacy measures, such as PALS, to assess students’ oral language skills (vocabulary, sentence structure, ability to retell a story), reading concepts (letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, print familiarity), interest level, and writing abilities (spelling, organization)  Ms. Rumschlag will also use an informal reading inventory (IRI), such as Classroom Reading Inventory, to identify students’ reading levels: independent, instructional, frustration, and listening capacity  Results from the emergent literacy measures and IRI will help Ms. Rumschlag plan differentiated literacy instruction for all students  Ms. Rumschlag will keep anecdotal records of students’ development and individually share the progress with students once a month during Writer’s Workshop, and with parents at parent-teacher conferences

9. Creating a Welcome Classroom for ELL students  Assign a peer partner who knows the student’s first language  Encourage ELL students to share their culture and language with the class  Use instructional materials that are familiar to ELL students – make sure books in the classroom library reflect your students’ cultures  Become familiar with cooperative learning strategies that your ELL students may prefer to individual/independent work  Label classroom items and areas in student’s first language and in English

10. Standards Common Core ELA Standards: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/ Indiana State Standards: http://www.doe.in.gov/standards/englishlanguage-arts

11. Balanced Literacy Block – 120 minutes Balanced Literacy BlockTime Strategic Read Aloud Session (Whole Group Instruction + Vocab Lesson) M/W/F – Read Aloud T/Th – Choral Readings 10:00 – 10:30 AM (30 minutes) Literacy Centers (Small Group Differentiated Instruction) 10:30 – 11:30 AM (60 minutes) Writer’s Workshop11:30 – 12:00 PM (30 minutes)

12. Strategic Read Aloud Session – M/W/F  Objective: develop content-specific vocabulary; reinforce listening comprehension skills; build phonemic awareness and phonics skills; model fluent oral language skills for students  Activity - Read Aloud: Ms. Rumschlag will read a short text for at least 20 minutes that is “interesting and matched to students’ developmental level” (Gunning, p. 458) as students read along in their own copy of the text  Instruction: Before beginning the text, Ms. Rumschlag will set a purpose for the class via a brief introduction  To aid in active listening, students will mark in their text any unknown words, surprising passages, and memorable moments  Throughout, Ms. Rumschlag will ask students questions to build their comprehension skills and encourage students to make personal connections – important for ELL students

13. Read Aloud – Building Vocabulary Semantic Mapping Objective: Vocabulary words will be discussed after a passage has been read and students will map the words graphically Activity: Students will organize information graphically and in categories through brainstorming, grouping, creating a class map, and discussing the map Morphemic Awareness Objective: Students will use prefixes, roots, and/or suffixes to derive meaning from unfamiliar words Activity: Teacher will write down words (some from the reading and some from Scope and Sequence chart) and students will discuss their meaning. Teacher will have students complete practice exercises in which they have to complete sentences with vocab words from a word bank. Class will discuss understanding of the morpheme (smallest unit of meaning)

14. Strategic Read Aloud Session – T/Th  Objective: model and build oral reading fluency and expression skills; develop content-specific vocabulary; improve phonemic awareness and phonics skills; improve sight word recognition; increase motivation and self-confidence; build comprehension  Activity – Choral Reading: Students will read in unison with one another a nonfiction text that is short, at the reading level of most students, and that is predictable. Students will reread the passage at the teacher’s discretion until most students are able to read the text – with a focus on a balance of accuracy and speed  Content – selections of literary nonfiction that have graphics to assist struggling readers and ELL students  Instruction – Ms. Rumschlag will model for students and point out how to read in phrases, use expression, and read at an appropriate pace

15. Choral Reading – Building Vocabulary Labeling Objective – help students visualize and code vocabulary words in word and image representations, which improves memory of the word and its definition Activity – After the strategic read aloud, students will receive a handout to label related vocabulary words (labeled drawing of an ant, for example) Contextual Analysis Objective: help students predict meanings of words based on context clues to build vocabulary; improve comprehension; complements phonics strategies Activity: The teacher will model these context steps from a passage read. 1. Reread and gather clues 2. Identify part of speech 3. Summarize 4. Use background knowledge 5. Check your careful guess 6. Revise Then the teacher will have students use context clues steps to figure out unfamiliar words in selected passages (guided practice)

16. Literacy Centers (Small Group Instruction)  Class of 30 students will be split into 6 groups of 5 students – 60 minutes  Students will be divided based on reading level from results of IRI, PALS, & CBM  Small group assignments and centers are not permanent – they are fluid Centers Menu  Recorded-Book Method – Reading Blasters program  Readers Theatre (p 456)  Silent reading intervention to build fluency (p. 243) w/ comprehension questions  Phonics Instruction – balanced decodable texts with predictable books (p. 230)  Syllabication Using Patterns (p 250, 247)  Morphemic Analysis (p 290)

17. Reading Blasters Read-Along  Objective: Help struggling readers experience what reading smoothly, fluently, and with few or no mistakes is like; develops spelling, phonics, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension skills  Activity: students will use Reading Blasters software individually or in pairs on iPads to read brief, interesting stories out loud and to also hear them read aloud by the software  Content: 5 adjustable levels of content including over 2,000 vocabulary words and 25 read-along books per level  Instruction: Students will be encouraged to read along with the recorded program several times until they feel they can read it on their own. Then, they should listen to the recording once more and reread any difficult parts. If using partners, students can read to each other after practicing with the software.

18. 2nd Grade Reader's Theater Video Objective – written and oral language activity that develops sight word recognition, vocabulary building, comprehension, fluency, expression, and automaticity. Activity – Students read aloud and dramatize a selection as if it were a play. Content – The text should include a fair amount of dialogue and be interesting yet appropriate for the group’s reading level. For stronger readers, the group may prepare their own script. For less advanced readers, the teacher should select a prepared script intended for reader’s theater. Instruction – The teacher will assign parts or let the students decide. Before the script is read aloud as a group, the students should read and rehearse the script individually. The group should also decide how to interpret the mood of the characters.

19. Fluency Intervention – “Reading Plus”  Objective: improve fluency, comprehension, vocabulary of narrative, information, and expository passages  Activity: Web-based intervention that provides individualized scaffold reading practice  Content: 30 minutes, 3 times per week for up to 24 weeks  Instruction: All students take a “Reading Placement Appraisal” or RPA to determine their independent reading level, rate of reading, comprehension, and vocabulary development.  Students read narrative, informational, and expository passages  After reading, students complete cloze task to develop vocab and comprehension skills – their answers reflect fluency progress monitoring data

20. Syllabication – Pattern Approach  Objective: working in small groups, students will recognize the word pattern all and it in multisyllabic words to practice decoding and phonics  Activity: sorting multisyllabic words to discover patterns  Instruction: The teacher will introduce the 2 syllabic patterns, explaining the importance of syllabic analysis. The teacher will give examples of the pattern within single-syllable words. Then, the teacher will give the group multisyllabic words to sort by pattern (all or it).  Extension: Students will be encouraged to bring in multisyllabic words that they have noticed in their reading and that they were able to pronounce, and share the words with their group.

21. Writer’s Workshop  Objective: Students will work in small, differentiated groups according to their ability level and interests to increase print awareness, strengthen phonic skills, improve writing mechanics, and develop higher-level thinking skills related to content areas and fiction.  Activities: Writing prompts, journal entries, biographies, science experiment results, essay, observation, interviews  Instruction: Students will respond to writing prompts related to content area readings  Assessment: rubrics, peer editing, monthly individual meeting with teacher, learning logs

22. Curriculum-Based Measures  CBM’s are general outcome assessments that indicate proficiency, not mastery  They are quick, easy to administer, and standardized  DIBELS 3 times a year (beginning, middle and end of school year)  Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) & Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)  DIBELS Recommended Benchmark Goals (see graph)

23. Balanced Literacy and RTI

24. Assessment and Evaluation Summative assessment – evaluate student learning at the end of the instructional unit by comparing the work to a standard or benchmark; can be high-stakes  midterms, final projects, papers, tests Formative assessment – monitor student learning in order to provide ongoing feedback that is used to improve teaching and adapt intervention  Helps students realize their strengths and weaknesses  Helps educators modify instruction  PALS, IRI, anecdotal records shared during Writer’s Workshop Reading Grade  25% participation in literacy block  25% writing workshop journals  15% weekly spelling tests  15% unit vocabulary tests  10% monthly writing workshop meetings  10% progress monitoring (DIBELS)

25. Parental Involvement  Open House – get to know school staff (teachers, assistants, school psychologist)  Back to School Night – encourage nightly reading at home  Literacy Night – provide parents with resources (local library info, book suggestions, websites that build literacy skills); invite literacy researchers to speak with parents and students  Parent/teacher Conferences – twice a year; interpreter will be used  Newsletter – Bilingual – class and school updates (projects, upcoming tests, events, field trips, opportunities for parents to volunteer)  Monthly progress report – Bilingual - parents will receive feedback on their child’s DIBELS progress, grades, and areas the child is doing well in/needs support

26. References  Cassidy, J., Valadez, C. M., & Garrett, S. D. (2010). Literacy trends and issues: A look at the five pillars and the cement that supports them. The Reading Teacher, 63(8), 644-655.  Li, G. (2011). The role of culture in literacy, learning, and teaching. In M. Kamil, P.D. Person, E. B. Moje, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 4, pp. 515-538). New York: Routledge.  Reutzel, D. R., Petscher, Y., & Spichtig, A. N. (2015). Exploring the Added Value of a Guided Silent Reading Intervention: Effects on Struggling Third-Grade Readers’ Achievement1. Teaching Stamina & Silent Reading, 121.  Watts ‐ Taffe, S., Broach, L., Marinak, B., McDonald Connor, C., & Walker ‐ Dalhouse, D. (2012). Differentiated instruction: Making informed teacher decisions. The Reading Teacher, 66(4), 303-314.

27. Student Impact Statement Creating a balanced literacy program has helped me develop useful skills for working with struggling readers as a future school psychologist in a large, urban school district. This project has increased my knowledge of best practice literacy instruction; I can now assist teachers who may be struggling to implement an effective literacy program that is sensitive to the needs of all their students. Also, this project increased my comfort level with using curriculum based measurements and emergent literacy measures, both of which are imperative for offering differentiated instruction and measuring student progress. In closing, this project will help me more efficiently identify struggling learners and support them with evidence- based instruction, which ultimately leads to less students identified as needing special education services. This is especially important for schools with high levels of ELL and minority students.

28. Professional Practice Impact Statement  Though I am not a teacher, this project absolutely increased my understanding of designing literacy curriculum, using instructional best-practices including differentiated instruction, designing research-supported literacy interventions, and using curriculum based measures. In the future, I will be able to more successfully consult with teachers who are struggling to design literacy curriculums, help them identify research-supported interventions, and advocate that the lessons and materials reflect students’ unique cultural and linguistic identities. Moreover, I gained skills from this project that will allow me to better communicate with parents to identify supports and resources for their students.