by Mary Najar
I recently read the book, How Tutoring Works (Frey, Fisher, and Almarode, 2022). This book focuses on raising an educator's impact to accelerate student learning and achievement. It contains many useful strategies that can immediately be applied when instructing a wide range of learners.
One topic that I found especially helpful was a section about fostering meaningful discussions while reading. Digging deeper into text is important to help learners understand what they are reading at a higher level. It is important to give them the opportunity to question, clarify thinking, investigate further, disagree, and struggle with complex issues. This process helps learners assume a higher level of authority and “co-construct knowledge under the guidance of a tutor (teacher, parent…) who facilitates the discussion rather than presents information.” (Frey, Fisher, and Almadore, 2022)
The emphasis is to have readers construct their own meaning through discussions and guided questions. This means the students are doing the thinking instead of you providing the information for them to learn. It also encouraged adequate wait time to give learners the opportunity to process and think about questions before answering.
Fostering Dialogue and Discussion
|
Purpose |
Question/Sentence Starter |
|
Marking conversations |
“That’s an important point.” |
|
Challenging the student |
“That’s a great question. What do you think?” Ask another learner to answer the question. |
|
Revoicing |
“So are you saying that…?” |
|
Asking the student to explain or restate |
“Do you disagree or agree, and why?” |
|
Pressing for accuracy |
“Can you show me where we can find that information?” |
|
Building on prior knowledge |
“How does this connect…?” |
|
Pressing for reasoning |
“Why do you think that?” |
|
Expanding reasoning |
“Take your time. Say more.” |
|
Recapping |
“What have you discovered?” |
How Tutoring Works p. 83
How Tutoring Works is a quick read (109 pages), but it packs a lot of useful information into those pages. This book is not just for tutors, it is for anyone who wants to increase their impact when working with learners.
In the early years as homeschool parents, one of the greatest responsibilities we face is teaching our children how to read. We are as amazed by those children who just mysteriously start reading as we are by those who don’t and require a more systematic method of instruction. There are many schools of thought and types of curriculums to consider. But eventually our children do nearly all begin to read. That is, they begin to decode letters into words and sentences and then entire stories and books. Yay! We celebrate their success as they read faster and faster, gaining independence.
From here on out, comprehension becomes the focus of reading growth. How much of the content that our children read do they fully understand, remember, and apply to their own developing sense of self and the world? This can be a tricky question to answer. It is extremely important that we don’t just assume that because our children are reading words and sentences, they are understanding them completely. Like we have to teach most children strategies for learning to read, we also must teach them strategies for learning to comprehend deeply.
Yes, most children able to read, “The dog is black,” can formulate an image or visualize a black dog in their minds. They understand the words. But what about a 7th grader reading a common expression of Winston Churchill’s when he didn’t want to see a visitor, “I have got a black dog on my back today.” Now a reader might need some strategies to understand the meaning beyond the literal. Literature, even for young children, is full of new vocabulary, literary allusions, symbolism, and metaphor. Readers use specific strategies to interpret complex texts and fortunately, they are not difficult to teach! We give our children a wonderful gift when we offer them comprehension strategies that they’ll use for the rest of their lives.
About 10 years into my teaching career, I read a book that changed everything about the way I thought about myself as a reader, and consequently, the way I taught reading to both younger and older students, including, eventually, my own children. Mosaic of Thought co-authors Elin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmerman help the adult to think about ourselves as readers, about what it is we DO while we read, and then they show us easy ways to model our thinking while reading aloud with children of all ages. Listening to their parents and teachers “thinking aloud,” students learn what it is that good readers do while reading. It’s a lot more than decoding words.
Following on the heels of Mosaic of Thought, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis gave us Strategies That Work, a wonderful collection of research-based strategies that can be taught via “think alouds,” or mini lessons easy to sneak into regular read aloud time with children that make reading comprehension visible. With the end goal of educating students to become engaged, thoughtful, independent readers, I highly recommend taking a look at both of these books that have been inspiring teachers for the past 20 years. Newer editions include updated thinking about current brain research and teaching in today’s more technological world.
Here is quick summary of 7 of the most commonly revered reading strategies, excerpted from Brenda Power of Choice Literacy
1. Activating background knowledge to make connections between new and known information. In many [cases], this instruction is divided into three categories of connection as defined by Colleen Buddy — text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world (Buddy quoted in Keene and Zimmerman, 2007).
2. Questioning the text. Proficient readers are always asking questions while they read. Sticky notes (post-its) have become ubiquitous in [home] classrooms in part because they are such a useful tool for teaching students to stop, mark text, and note questions as they read.
3. Drawing inferences. Proficient readers use their prior knowledge about a topic and the information they have gleaned in the text thus far to make predictions about what might happen next. When teachers demonstrate or model their reading processes for students through think-alouds, they often stop and predict what will happen next to show how inferring is essential for comprehending text.
4. Determining importance. In the sea of words that is any text, readers must continually sort through and prioritize information. Teachers often assist readers in analyzing everything from text features in nonfiction text like bullets and headings, to verbal cues in novels like strong verbs. Looking for these clues can help readers sift through the relative value of different bits of information in texts.
5. Creating mental images. Readers are constantly creating mind pictures as they read, visualizing action, characters, or themes. Teachers are using picture books with students of all ages, not necessarily because they are easy to read, but because the lush and sophisticated art in these books can be a great bridge for helping students see how words and images connect in meaning-making.
6. Repairing understanding when meaning breaks down. Proficient readers don’t just plow ahead through text when it doesn’t make sense — they stop and use “fix-up” strategies to restore their understanding. One of the most important fix-up tools is rereading, with teachers demonstrating to students a variety of ways to reread text in order to repair meaning. More Fix-Up Strategies from This Reading Mama.
7. Synthesizing information. Synthesis is the most sophisticated of the comprehension strategies, combining elements of connecting, questioning, and inferring. With this strategy, students move from making meaning of the text, to integrating their new understanding into their lives and world view.
Effective readers at any age use effective strategies to take in text and allow it to help them to grow, to think, and sometimes, to change their minds. As teachers, we must help young readers to practice these strategies as they are as critical to a strong education as phonics and multiplication tables, if not even more so.
References
Pearson, P. David, L.R. Roehler, J.A. Dole, and G.G. Duffy. 1992.
Power, Brenda, “What Are the Seven Reading Comprehension Stratgies?” choiceliteracy.com/article/what-are-the-seven-reading-comprehension-strategies/ Choice Literacy 2022.
“Developing Expertise in Reading Comprehension.” In S. Jay Samuels and Alan Farstrup, eds. What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 2nd Edition. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Spence, Becky, “Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies,” from This Reading Mama https://thisreadingmama.com/reading-comprehension-strategies/, 2022.
Zimmerman, Susan and Ellin Keene. 2007. Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Research shows us that use of the strategy we call Making Connections is effective for helping readers to understand text. Making connections while reading helps readers, young and old, to monitor their own thinking, to stay actively engaged while reading, and to improve their overall comprehension. (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001; Keene & Zimmermann, 1997)
Making Connections is an easy strategy that we can practice while reading aloud with our children. Given time, they will adopt the practice unconsciously on their own.
View a video of a teacher helping students to Make Connections while reading here.
For further reading, find this article: Learn How to Help Your Child Build Their Reading Comprehension with This Strategy About Making Meaningful Connections by Rachel Wise
Dyslex
|
es Since Time Immemorial is an invaluable resource available for teaching our children about the history and sovereignty of Washington State Tribes. This curriculum has been developed and endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes in our state.
SinceTime Immemorial is a web-based curriculum available for free for WA State teachers, including Pearl parents, and it has been a required part of an education in WA State schools since 2015 when Senate Bill 5433 was passed. We welcome you to explore the Ready to Go Lessons provided by grade level, pre-k through high school, and the vast array of activities and resources available for use including videos, coloring and activity books, timelines, primary sources and documents and slide presentations. These lessons could easily be added to any Social Studies SLP.
In Pearl, we are working to create Social Studies SLP templates that include Since Time Immemorial, but in the meantime, we invite you to explore the web page and let your teacher know how you can add some of these lessons and activities to your current Social Studies plans. It might be easiest to add a month long unit something like this:
Example for Grades 2-3, from the Since Time Immemorial Ready to Go Lessons:
Week 1 - Native Stories of How Things Came to Be - Lesson Plan Link here.
Week 2 - Honoring the Salmon - Lesson 1 Salmon Boy; Lesson 2 First Salmon Ceremony; Lesson 3 Salmon Summer; Lesson 4 Salmon Summer pt. 2
Weeks 3 & 4 - Giving Thanks; A Native American Cultural Tradition - Lesson 1 Where Does Our Food Come From? Lesson 2 How Do We Show Gratitude? Lesson 3 “Seya’s Song” Lesson 4 First Salmon Ceremony
In addition to the Since Time Immemorial website, another excellent resource for connecting our children to Native culture is the Living Nations, Living Words project, founded by Joy Haro, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. “As the first Native U.S. Poet Laureate, I decided that my signature project should introduce the country to the many Native poets who live in these lands. Our communities innately shared and share poetry from before the founding of the United States to the present.” The “Living Nations, Living Words” project features a sampling of work by 47 Native Nations poets through an interactive ArcGIS Story Map and a newly developed Library of Congress audio collection.
Every
After two years looking closely at Growth Mindset and Mathematical Mindset, we are focusing on literacy this year and next. The first book title we’re reading is called, Teaching the Brain to READ; Strategies for Improving Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension, by Judy Willis, M.D., who is both a neurologist and a middle grades teacher. Willis’s unique perspective that includes a deep understanding of current brain research walks us through strategies to teach the various stages of a developing reader, from pre reading and decoding to patterning, fluency building, vocabulary building and successful reading comprehension. Willis focuses on both the mechanics of reading as well as strategies for fostering a love of reading in all students. Her style is equally useful for classroom teachers and homeschooling parents.
Another book that Pearl faculty is finding to be both practical and passionate, blending theory and practice, is called Catching Readers Before They Fall; Supporting Readers Who Struggle, K-4, co-written by long time reading teachers Pat Johnson and Katie Keier. In their book, Johnson and Keier address the important difference between the much beloved Balanced Literacy - a practice of surrounding children with quality literature to promote a love of learning, hoping they’ll learn how to read with enough exposure, and Structured Literacy - explicit, systematic, and sequential instruction, which is often actually necessary before struggling readers (typically about 20% of any population) are able to read fluently.
And the third book on our list, a nice balance to the other two, is called The Book Whisperer; Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, by Donalyn Miller. Miller offers simple and practical advice for inspiring reluctant readers and she explains the inherent need that all children have to engage intellectually and emotionally with books.
We invite you to join us in this deep dive into literacy instruction! No matter how much we think we know about teaching reading, we find that there is always more to learn and practice in this profession. 
If you are new to Pearl this year, we also recommend one of our very favorite Math Mindset books, What’s Math Got to Do with It? By Jo Boaler.
.jpeg)
Dance is Life the Rest is Detailsby 8th grader Sara Wilcox for the Pearl Newsletter, Winter 2022
I tore myself out of bed like Velcro, every inch of my body clinging to the sheets. My body was so sore and I wasn’t ready to dance another day. It was unreasonably early in the morning. No light peeked through the curtains to comfort me and ease the darkness. My mom was prodding me, telling me to just put one foot in front of the other. As we walked out of the hotel lobby to hail an Uber to get to my hair and makeup artist, I could already feel the sticky heat of the last throes of Florida’s summer rallied for one final week or two of assault.
The next thing I knew my hair was being pulled mercilessly slicked back as tight as it would go. I nearly fell asleep to the sound of the tapping of the hair crimper. My glam squad slathered tons of makeup all over my face. As she applied blood red lip stain my lips burned, it woke me up. I felt like a beautiful princess ready to run to her ball.
It was a half an hour until our time on the floor. The butterflies doing cartwheels in my stomach were desperate to get out. I felt sick. As we warmed up, Lucas and I argued, butting heads like two stubborn rams, both of us thinking we were right. My eyes flooded with frustration. They were blinded by the intense light, so tired of being open.
I waited in the on deck area lined up by numbers representing our partner’s last names. Racing through all of my technique the words straight legs, shoulder down, preform, smile, stay connected raced through my mind, I was completely overwhelmed. It was time, our number had been called. Lucas took my hand. In spite of our earlier argument I felt calmed by his strength and confidence. We strode out onto the floor, gulping down all of our fears. We were in this together. The judges stared us down as if we were disappointing children. The music started. Muscle memory took over and we danced through our routines. As I danced I could hear my mother out of dozens of voices cheering my name, giving me a slight hope of doing better this round. My head was spinning as we danced our Viennese Waltz. Everything was a blur of bright colors, sparkles and light, I felt as if my head was about to roll off my shoulders. It was our last dance for now. We were almost done with this round. I could feel my legs getting tired, weaker, begging to quit. Seconds before they gave out, the music faded out. I took a bow hoping to have pleased at least a few judges and spectators other than my mom.
Now was the hardest part, waiting. All of the competitors sat on the edge of their seats, though consumed with exhaustion, wondering and hoping that they would make it to the next round. I played my round back in my mind looking for couples that felt possible to beat. Expectation was thick in the air fueled by competitors, coaches and parents. As if in a world of his own, the man with the results seemed to walk in slow motion unaware of the anticipation radiating from every person watching, as he sauntered to the wall to post his paper. The results were up on the wall. My heart pounded as I pushed past other dancers propelling myself closer and closer for a view of the list. The type was so small; I tried to see my name. Was I one of the lucky competitors called back to the next round? From off of a skyscraper my happiness and hopes plummeted to the ground. Our number wasn’t on the list. All the hard work, hours, pain and money spent with no outcome, it was too much. I wanted to cry. Tears welled up in my eyes and my chin began to quiver. My mom whisked me away upstairs to our room in the hotel. On the foot of the bed she sat with her arm tenderly around my shoulder. We talked about the good lessons I could bring home with me from nationals. Instead of trophies to put on my wall, I had personal tokens to store in my heart. Intangible but just as hard won. Like a couple in marriage counseling, I had learned to better communicate and compromise with my partner. I had realized how important patience with myself was. Making mistakes is okay, it is part of the growing. I had gone from a big fish in the pond, placing in all the competitions, to being a small fish, not even making a callback. But with every opportunity I was learning to swim stronger.
Finally the day was over. It was time to undo all of the morning’s hard work. My legs took a big breath as I lowered my fishnets and pulled off my tights. Little waffle prints left reminders of the confinement they had endured all day. Sadly they didn’t know I would be putting them back on the next morning to begin it all again. The shower called me, offering warm and soothing peace and relaxation. The hot water was just what my aching body needed. It seemed even to penetrate to my soul and wash away the day’s disappointment. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good at washing away the copious amounts of hairspray used that day by the hairdresser. It felt as if I had spent an eternity in the shower. I had shampooed my hair five times trying it seemed in vain to get every last bit of hairspray out. My feet ached as if someone had dropped a cinder block on them. Dried off and dressed I decided to go watch the dancers who had progressed to the finals.
The fantastic colors of the dresses popped on the dull dance floor. My eyes blurred as I tried to watch the dancers flying down the ginormous dance floor. Their skill and fluidity was mesmerizing and inspiring. One day I hope that I will be able to dance in their shoes.
Later, my mom and I looked at the dresses the vendors displayed in hopes of luring families with fat pocket books. Trying on dresses made me feel extravagant. They were so beautiful. It was all part of the game of getting noticed by the judges that line the dance floor. Bright dresses covered in crystals are all part of the strategy. My mom and I locked eyes though as we both discovered simultaneously that the dress I was currently parading around in cost an astronomical $8,000. Slowly, but surely we began the extraction process, making excuses to escape the salesman, pulling ourselves away, trying not to catch the attention of any more of the dress shop’s employees.
Ballroom dance is a beautiful marriage of art and sport. It is stressful and hard and often times painful, but it will always be worth it to me. I love how hard the sport works me and I know it makes me stronger. I dance because it is fun. When I dance I am incredibly happy. Dancing adds soul and purpose to all the details of my life.
ia Screening and Intervention