1. Connect 4 Instruction: Making BAS/DRA2 Data Valuable for All
Amanda Swerdlow, NELC Humanities Program Specialist

2. Connect: Which one? 2 minutes
Which version of Connect Four do you remember playing?
And did you notice that over the years the starting age has gone down?

3. Outcomes for Today
How to use BAS/DRA2 data to provide Just-In-Time Instruction
Use levels and data to inform instruction through the use of anecdotal tools
Create teaching points that are supported by these tools
Identify manageable and simple ways to keep up with student instructional level data
5 minutes
FCS PL definition of “Just in Time: instruction reads: Direct instruction is available to students when it is needed regardless of the availability of an in-person teacher.

4. Literacy Focus Areas
Quick change in branding…

5. Phonics: The study of the relationships between letters and the sounds they represent; also used to describe reading instruction that teaches sound-symbol correspondences.
Guided Reading: A teaching approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency. Teachers work with a small group of students who demonstrate similar reading behaviors and read on similar instructional levels.
Writing Workshop: A deliberately predictable environment with three basic time components: teaching time, writing time, and sharing time. The workshop typically starts with explicit instruction, usually in the form of a 10-minute minilesson.
6 minutes
Read only GR definition

6. Connect: What was your experience in Reading Groups?
7 minutes

7. Connect: Who is your reader for today?
Throughout today, keep a reader that you have taught that you wish you had a “do-over” with.
Mine is a student in my very first class and her fluency .
8 minutes

8. How would you have liked for these two experiences to be different?
10 minutes

9. What and why are we assessing?
DRA2
“ provides teachers with information that helps teachers determine each student’s independent reading level and identify what the student needs to learn next.”
12 minutes
What: what students need to learn next; what opportunities to provide next.
BAS
“ the benchmark instructional level is the highest level at which a student can read with good opportunities for learning through teaching.”

10. After the Assessment is Complete
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Med
High
Low
Low-Med
Below grade level readers need to be taught in Guided Reading EVERY DAY.
On grade level readers 3-4 days per week.
Above grade level readers 2-3 days per week.
13 minutes
According to our Literacy Framework, classrooms should allow for 55 to 60 minutes of GR instruction daily. That works out to somewhere between 2 and 3 groups.
A possible structure could include this schedule.
If you want to see an efficient GR lesson in action, where the mantra is to “teach with urgency”, watch this video of Jen Jones on your own time.
bit.ly/grlevelc
55 to 60 minutes of Guided Reading instruction daily
2 to 3 groups per day

11. Who is in my group? 2nd grade GR Group
Students are similar in their development of a reading process so that it is efficient to teach them in a group. L M J H
2nd grade GR Group
15 minutes
This is our pretend 2nd grade Guided Reading group. They would fall in this ‘low-med’ category. It very rarely works out that all the readers in the group are at exactly the same place.
The green box is F and P’s language for this common teacher puzzle.
H=14
J=18
L=24
M=28

12. This is where that BAS and DRA2 data comes in! 
An oversight teachers make is after forming the small group, they select the text and not the emphases for instruction .
This is where that BAS and DRA2 data comes in! 
Take this in very carefully…it happens all the time. Guilty!

13. Noticed Behaviors and Understandings to Teach For and Support
Sample Data
Student
Noticed Behaviors and Understandings to Teach For and Support
H/14 
J/18
L/24
M/28
Pass out packet according to the school assessment system.
The DRA2 sample is level 14.
The BAS sample is level L.
What do you notice? What understandings would you teach for and support?

14. General Areas of Reading
20 minutes
The systems define the general areas of reading slightly differently.

15. Specific Areas of Reading
The systems define the specific areas of reading very differently.
As you are examining the data, use the accompanying sheet to determine specific understandings you would teach for and support?

16. Specific Areas of Reading
25 minutes
In determining the specific areas of reading, use the guiding documents from the assessment system of your school.
BAS: Continuum
DRA2: Focus for Instruction

17. Then…Select the Text Engaging? Reflect members of the group?
High quality writing?
Varied illustrations?
Reasonable challenge?
So now that we have identified the emphases, we can select the text for the lesson.

18. Analyze the Text What are the demands of this text?
What are the opportunities for learning?
Which of these match with student needs? Those needs you found when you examined their data? 
30 minutes

19. How will this text support?
Planning Sheet for Guided Reading Groups
Priorities for the group:
Reinforce early reading behaviors
Prompt for cross-checking
Prompt for phrasing
Demonstrate and prompt inferring from illustrations
Tiara
Prompt for self monitoring using visual info.
Bradley
Alex
Prompt for use of language structures
Donnie
Prompt for active searching and problem solving, as well as language structure.
Zach
Prompt for phrasing and smoother processing
Planning Sheet for Guided Reading Groups
Priorities for the group:
Tiara
Bradley
Alex
Donnie
Zach
Prompt: Remind the reader to take an action they have already learned to do.
35 minutes
When we plan for a group, we look for how this text will support this group.
An example is found here.

20. What happens after the BAS/DRA2 noticings have been addressed?
Anecdotal Data
What happens after the BAS/DRA2 noticings have been addressed?
Anecdotes are simply short pieces of information taken during the lesson. They can relate to:
Skills
Strategies
Interests
Attitudes
40 minutes
Since we only administer these assessments three times per year, in between we use running records and anecdotal data.
Jen Jones had a terrific FB Live where she discussed many of these topics that would be worth your time.

21. What might the data have shown?
Skills
Strategies
Interests
Attitudes

22. 45 minutes
These samples come from the updated F and P. What does it tell you? Turn and talk—what might arise in a PLC if this information was shared?

23. What does this data show?
“Dad is strict because he is tall.”
Here is a specific example of some anecdotal data. What is the students able to do (and not do) related to standard
ELAGSE2RL7: Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

24. What would come next? “Dad is strict because he is tall.”
Observe Reading Behaviors
Use Behavioral Evidence to Infer “in the head” strategies
Prioritize Behaviors and Understandings to Notice, Teach for and Support
Teach for the Reader’s Change in Strategic Actions
50 minutes
How might we turn this observation of a reading behavior into a teaching point?

25. Teaching Points This is called…(and now let’s do it) 
When readers (we)…
It helps/improves/benefits…
This is called…(and now let’s do it) 
A teaching point follows this structure.

26. Example Teaching Point
“When we look at the title and the cover picture we can learn what the book is going to teach us…this helps us by figuring out the main topic and important details.”
55 minutes

27. Which System to Use?
When organizing this information, find the system that works best for you as a teacher.

28. How often to revisit? 60 minutes
Schedule time in your calendar to revisit this information. What have they mastered? What do they need to continue to work on?