Beginning Reading Instruction

Dr. Frank Serafini

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The Reading Workshop

An Organizational Framework

A Structure to Locate Reading Instruction Within

An Array of Learning Experiences

A Space for Student Interaction

A Time for Engaged Reading

The Reading Workshop

In a Workshop Approach to Reading Instruction, Teachers make Instructional Decisions based on their Knowledge of the Reading Process, their Assessments of the Children in their Classrooms and the Resources that are Available.

Theoretical Assumptions

Reading instruction should develop life-long readers.

Readers learn to read by reading.

People teach people to read, not programs.

Readers use a variety of strategies and cueing systems to construct meaning.

Reading is a Process of Constructing Meaning in Transaction with Texts.

We need to create a Preferred Vision for the types of readers we want to support, the communities of readers we want to develop and the kinds of learning experiences that will help achieve our goals.

Primary Reading Instruction

Calling to conscious attention the uses, patterns and structures of language.

Helping young children find purpose and enjoyment in transactions with texts.

Decoding and Comprehension Instruction Should BOTH be part of primary classrooms

All of the Instructional Experiences We Provide, must be done

IN-SERVICE of MEANING

Elements of Primary Reading Instruction

Reading & Writing Opportunities

Alphabetic Understandings

Graphophonic Proficiency

Developing Vocabulary

Navigating Text

Comprehension Strategies

Reading Aloud Tips

Only Read Books You Love

Read with Cool Voices!

Let Us Talk about the Book

Read Non-Fiction Too!

Practice Reading Aloud

Show the Pictures… Slowly!

Don't Read Too Fast

Let Us Choose Books Sometimes

Selecting Literature

Attractive / Appealing

Tells a GREAT story

Worth Re-Reading

Provides opportunities for teaching and discussion - significant topics

Appropriate Conceptually

Quality Illustrations / Design

Memorable Characters

Quality Writing - Natural Language

Doesn't Reveal Itself Immediately

Selecting Texts for Reading Instruction

Alphabet Books

Counting Books

Repetitive Phrases / Patterned Stories

Cumulative Language in Stories

Home - Away - Home

Rhymes - Chants - Poetry - Dr. Seuss

Predictable Texts - Picture-Text Symmetry

Response Books - Dialogue (Yo, Yes)

Predictable Genres - Fairy Tales, etc.

Leveled (Leveling) Texts PROS:

Provides support for teachers' decisions in

Provides support for readers making appropriate selections

Encourages teachers to attend to the supports and challenges in texts

Provides novice teachers with a place to start

Leveled (Leveling) Texts CONS:

Problems with criteria used in leveling texts

Readers see themselves as a particular level rather than reader

Overemphasis on decoding in leveling

Limits access to reading material

Takes ownership and responsibility away from readers

Alphabetic Understandings

Alphabet Books

Wall Charts

Chants - Poems - Songs

Tactile Letters

Letter Games

Show Us What You Know Strategy

Assertions about Teaching Graphophonic Knowledge (Phonics)

Readers read more words in familiar contexts.

Instruction should proceed from sounds (known) to print (unknown).

Breaking words into phonemes is too inconsistent and too abstract.

Onset-Rime patterns are more recognizable and easier to learn and teach.

Ways to 'Read' Words

Contextual Guessing - figuring out words based on the context they appear in

Letter-Sound Decoding - using graphophonic knowledge to decode words

Analogy - using learned word patterns to read novel words

Sight - able to recognize words on sight, works well for high frequency, irregular words

Developing Grapho-Phonic Relationships

Shared Reading Experiences (visual and vocal support)

Predictable / Pattern Books (developing sight words)

Onset-Rime Instruction (understanding language patterns)

Writing Experiences (sound to symbol correspondences)

Explicit Instruction IN Context (keeping the focus on meaning: whole-part-whole)

Vocabulary Acquisition

Environmental Print

Writing Experiences & Demonstrations

Language Experience Approaches

Classroom Talk

Extensive Reading Opportunities

Shared Reading Lessons

Learning Words by Using Them

3 Principles of

Vocabulary Instruction

Include BOTH definitional and contextual information

Involve children in actively processing new word meanings

Use discussion to introduce new words and meanings, clarify misunderstandings

Vocabulary Instruction

Calling Attention to Language (Word Walls)

Word Games / Word Play

Building Strategies for Independence (Dictionaries, Thesaurus)

Develop Relationships To and Among Words

Direct Instruction of Specific Vocabulary

Read and Talk Widely

Cautions for Vocabulary Instruction

May distract reader from making meaning of texts to learning individual words

Over-emphasis on low-level skills

Must be linked to context and purpose

General vocabulary development is difficult to teach directly

Direct vocabulary instruction cannot substitute for time to read and talk

Words don't have meaning until we use them in contexts for purposes

Navigation Concepts

Directionality

Textual Structures

Punctuation

Concept of 'Word'

Spacing

Parts of a Book / Graphic Elements

Genre Expectations

Strategies for Navigating Text
(what to do when things don't make sense)

Skimming - Previewing Text

Adjust Rate of Reading

Stop, Go Back and Read it Again

Use Grapho-Phonic Knowledge - Sound It Out

Read Ahead and Then Go Back

Break a Word into Parts - Onset / Rime

Use Analogies - Think About Words You Know

Look at Punctuation

Using Syntactical Knowledge-Does It Sound Right?

Demonstrating Navigation

Choose appropriate text

Select words to conceal

Have students generate possibilities

Discuss how they figured out missing words

Discuss other possibilities

Make list of strategies used

Theoretical Assertion

There has been a shift from Professional Development, which focuses on expanding teachers' knowledge, theories of reading and teaching abilities, to Training, which focuses on the correct application of someone else's ideas and practices. (No Teacher Left Reflective)

Comprehension Instruction

Construction of Meaning is the Primary Focus

Based on the Experiences and Knowledge that a Reader Brings to the Reading Event

A Blend of Pre-Planned Experiences and Response Centered Instruction

Taught at the Point of Need - Based on Classroom Assessments

Help Children Assume Responsibility for Making Sense of Readings

Making Comprehending Visible

We teach children to read by demonstrating what proficient readers do, and by making our reading processes and practices visible for novice readers.

Readers' Dispositions

Understand that reading is a process of making meaning with texts.

Awareness of one's thinking when reading.

Willing to recognize and acknowledge confusion.

Ability to apply comprehension strategies when meaning breaks down.

Promoting Invested Discussions
(Whole Group Comprehension Instruction)

Use of Quality Literature and Texts

Turn - Pair - Share

Visual Representations (charts)

Impressions-Connections-Wonderings

Disrupting Textual Perspectives

Emerging Expertise Model

Clarify Expectations

(Full Disclosure)

Describe Reading Practice

(Explicitness)

Demonstrate the Reading Practice

(Making It Visible)

Provide Guidance with the Practice

(Scaffolding)

Student Independent Use

(Application)

Literary Share Circles

(Reflection Opportunities)

Demonstrating Comprehension
(Thinking Through Text Together)

Determine Practice to Demonstrate

Select Appropriate - Meaningful Texts

Clarify Expectations

Describe Strategies - Explicitness

Think Aloud as Reading Text

Ask Questions for Understanding

Have Students Explain What You Did

Have students try what you did

Reflect on the Experience

Comprehension Strategies
(Cognitive Focus)

Setting a Purpose for Reading

Creating Visual Images - Visualizing

Anticipating / Predicting

Asking Questions

Paraphrasing / Retelling

Making Personal & Literary Connections

Monitoring Comprehension

Determining Importance

Comprehension Strategies
(Literary Focus)

Relating to Character's Actions & Motives

Constructing Themes

Analyzing Narrator's Perspective

Time and Place of a Story

Recognizing Textual Structures

Text and Illustrations

Tension and Resolution

Noticing Symbols - Extending Text to World

Inter-Textual Connections

See themes and patterns across texts

Use one text to understand another

Discuss similarities between characters, setting, plots, themes, moods, etc.

See 'Big Picture'

Develop understandings of genre

Concerns about Comprehension Instruction

Comprehension strategies become an end in themselves

Trying to Teach too many strategies at once

Strategies are assumed to work for all texts and all purposes

Relying on Scripted Instructional Approaches rather than teacher's knowledge and decision making skills

Rethinking Reading Assessment

We are conducting far too much of the wrong kinds of assessment (external), and far too little of the right kinds (classroom based).

Assessing Comprehension

Retellings

Think Alouds

Reading Response Logs

Oral Reading Analysis

Literature Study Discussions

Weekly Conferences

Literacy Checklists

So, Where Do I Start?

Increase Your Knowledge of Children's Literature

Use Classroom-Based Assessments to Know Your Readers

Read Aloud on Daily Basis

Begin Invested Discussion Ideas

Demonstrate Reading Comprehension Practices Through Think Alouds

Share Your Reading Life

Children's Literature & Literacy Web-Site:

http://serafini.nevada.edu

E-Mail:

serafini@unlv.nevada.edu