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

2. Strength: Vocabulary and
Background Knowledge

3. 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).

4. 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

5. 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

6. Flexibility: Different paces for different purposes

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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.

11. Enjoyment: Reading anything we want, just for fun!

12. 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

13. 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

14. Yes, we can!
Si, se puede!