Chapter 10 sets the foundation of the importance of reading and the skill set that follows with the need of teaching students how to "unlock the full meaning of the text they read". Fostering the need and full understanding of reading is what will carry students through the rest of the curriculum. Being able to collaborate between subject areas, especially with reading and truly implementing reading into every lesson, no matter the content, will allow students to always practice those skills and truly develop their reading and become better readers. As teachers, our job is to structure reading into every single lesson, subject area and activity to instill that love for reading. The educational value found in reading and truly understanding what we read has an effect over everything else we learn. As students, the simple act of being able to read and understand directions can be the beginning of success or failure for the rest of the academic year. The focus and time we dedicate to reading in our classroom and with our students, will decipher their overall success across the board. While reading through the chapter, one strategy that really resonated with me was the "rely on a placeholder", which focuses on questioning while reading text. By doing this, students will recognize the meaning behind what they are reading and further understanding the text. Beyond fluency in reading, reading comprehension is a skill all students must obtain early on, to take from the new information presented to them. Overall, I'm glad Lemov added this chapter into the book and really emphasized the need and importance of reading and the powerful tool is really is.
How do you think a K teacher is going to have to go about helping with ELL students. Do we let them struggle and have growing pains with only English or do we bridge the gap by speaking in spanish in them to help? If so how do we not have them rely on spanish when we need them to read english?
When I taught English as a Foreign Language in Italy, we only used Italian as our last resort. We would use every resource we could before giving them the answer in Italian. We would use a picture, act it out, sing - whatever worked! This was more memorable for them and even more exciting! Once everyone understood, it was an instant accomplishment and we'd have even more motivation to go on. Enthusiasm is the key. Although bridging the gap by speaking in Spanish would be "easier" and faster, it's not stretching and challenging them to what they're capable of. They may not even know they're capable until you show them!
I really enjoyed this chapter very much. It really reassures me in the message I have been preaching. Reading does not just stop in reading class. Reading is something that needs to be carried over into each subject area. Reading is base of mostly everything that happens in the classroom. It is important that we preach a love of reading to students. We also need to create, as many opportunities for students to get print rich text in front of them.
In my experience in education I have to come to find that the achievement gap, is directly attributed to literacy. This chapter really stresses the importance of implementing reading across all subject areas. I know when I was in the classroom I would read a text, and still have students answer targeted questions. During guided reading I would have mys students read to check their fluency, but I also had questions pre-planned to assess comprehension. I would use many of the same strategies during math, science, and social studies. I always wanted my students to be fluent readers, but at the same time they needed to understand what they were reading. The true learning takes place when students can fluently read, but then summarize what they were reading and then comprehend the information in the text. Chapter 10 does a good job of expressing the importance of reading, and how essential it is to students overall success.
Mr. English -- I completely agree on the importance of carrying reading into every subject, and am excited to begin setting that foundation for my classroom come August. In your experience, after using techniques discussed in Chapter 10, if you found someone was not reading along for example, how would you correct that on the spot? I feel one would be cautious to not call out the student, but it is important that he/she is following along.
Mr. English, I definitely agree that the achievement gap is a literacy gap. Reading is tied to almost every single thing students (and adults) do throughout the day. Growing into a fluent reader at a young age affects the rest of your schooling, which is why grades K and 1 are such crucial years for students. What you said about transferring strategies into other subjects is so important; it reminds me of me ELL students. While they receive pull out speech and ESL services, which focuses so much on building their every day language and reading language, they still continue to struggle with math--not because they do not know how to do it, but because they do not understand what the question is asking. So as teachers we have to always remember that reading is infused into everything and figure out ways to support all of our students.
Chapter 10 emphasizes the fact that in order for reading to be effective, students must be mastering decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension all together. Also, being able to effectively incorporate reading into each and every subject takes certain skills, such as control the game. Control the game is a way in which teachers can master reading aloud effectively. This is a practice i have used for many years, but have been able to perfect it while working with uncommon. All seven components are needed in order for students to stay engaged, focused and involved. Each component has it's own purpose:
Keep Duratuons Unpredictable- there's nothing less engaging than knowing when it's going to be your turn to read and how long you're going to be reading. When students know when they are going to read, they tune out until their time comes. They also tend to skip ahead to their part and read that silently to themselves while the main reader is reading. This is obviously not an effective way to read aloud. Keeping durations unpredictable require students to stay focused on the text, not knowing when their turn will be coming. Will the main reader read a sentence, or maybe 4?
Keep Identity Unpredictable- this is similar to the previous component except in addition to keeping how long someone reads unpredictable, you are also keeping the next reader unpredictable. This had the same effect in that It keeps the students focused, making sure to be ready in case they are called next.
Keep Durations Short- this step is important to keeping the flow of you're lesson and the flow of the reading engaging and exiting. Longer durations give access for students to once again zone out. Longer durations also slow down momentum, especially when some students are not as fluent as others. This allows the teacher to analyze who is following along and who is not, which allows for teacher leverage.
Reduce Transaction Costs- plain and simple, this is reducing the time You transition from one reader to the next. The faster you transition and the less storage you use facilitates energy, flow and less interruption in you're lesson. I often say "Elijah go", knowing who I'm going to go to next before Elijah is finished reading.
Bridging- bridging is important, not only again for the flow of the lesson, but for readers to hear fluent reading other than their peers. I often only bridge with my low and mid groups, not my highs. They have already mastered fluency and expression, and therefore i do not feel the need to bridge.
Oral Cloze- this i love doing. Letting kids get more involved in the reading together definitely adds a little more jazz to the lesson. It also helps you analyze who is following along. Kids really love doing this. I often add a hand signal along with a pause on the last word (s) in order to ensure that students know they are to fill in the blank.
Rely on a placeholder- this strategy is great when you want to dive deeper into a text but yet still want keep everyone at the place where they left off. I really liked the phrase "finger freeze" used by a leadership prep teacher. I could see this working especially well with younger children.
Even though each component seems so minute, when used together they are a much more effective way to engage students and gain deeper comprehension during read aloud...better than the old tactic of "popcorn reading" which was never my favorite strategy to use during reading groups. Doug Lemov puts all thepieces perfectly together in this chapter to help all teachers become better "reading" teachers.
Mrs Maxwell, you bring up the point of being cross curricular with Reading. In a blended learning school since every minute will be intentionally used for some aspect in the 30 min rotations what do you imagine to do in math to help with this? Do you imagine one of the stations in math to be more of word problems and the other be more manipulative based? Would love to see your thoughts seeing that most classrooms can do more cross curricular since they have a set schedule but it is "all over the place".
Mr. Gillaspie, I most definitely would like to see a word problem "station" . There are often times when struggling readers find their niche in math, but when it comes to story problems they struggle. Honestly, most students struggle in the area of word problems and therefore would like to see kids doing word problems every day. In terms of manipulatives, I would like to see them used in every station, especially at a young age. Being able to comprehend math is just as important as being able to comprehend a text.
Chapter 10 reinforced how essential planning lessons will be in order to have all students succeed. Growing up, I had the privilege to enjoy reading and have parents that encouraged it. Due to this privilege I was able to succeed in many subjects as well as become a proficient writer. Reading is so essential to the learning process and like Lemov said it truly is a "double investment paying both long and short-and long-term results" (249). By thoroughly planning lessons and increasing reading time, students become self-educated in some senses and are able to learn so much outside of the classroom. All teachers must be reading teachers and thus this ensures all activity to be highly productive. By acting proactively as reading teachers, Brilla will invest in a lifetime of educational success.
One thing I will push on as a former Math teacher is Reading is the most important subject! Why, because many math problems you can not decode and work on until you can understand the word problem it is within. I never realized this until I realized how important reading is to figure out what is going on in a problem. If you can not break down and analyze the problem it doesn't matter how good at math you are.
Mr. Gillaspie, I totally agree with you. It's so frustrating for a student who struggles with reading to not be able to show their teachers what they truly know in math because they do not fully grasp what the problem is even saying (though they know how to do the work). In cases like this it's up to the teacher to figure out ways to modify problems or a lesson where all students can have "access" to the material, while being held to the same standards. For example my co-teacher and I may say 1 or 2 math words in Spanish as we teach (i.e. "In this problem we need to separate, separar, to find the missing part") to ensure all of students understand. That was we can see their true math ability (and not their reading/comprehension ability).
Katherine, i like how you brought up the point of having parents who encouraged reading. We sometimes forget as adults how influential we really are to the children that are around us. I make it a point to not only make my own children read everyday, but i read to them as well. I make it a point for them to see me reading for my own enjoyment too. One way to foster this in the classroom is to have something showing what you are reading at the time. Kids then get interested in your book add well!
This chapter centers around the most fundamental aspect of education: reading. Strong reading comprehension can unlock the door to succeed and master other topics. I felt that this chapter was extremely relevant, as teaching elementary education sets the building blocks for strong readers. It was shocking to read the statistic that students in NYC public schools read for less than 10 minutes a day, while 40% do no reading at all.
It is important to ask yourself if your actions in the classroom yield more return than our hurdle rate -- not just will it result in more learning. To maintain high levels of accountability with reading, there are some techniques that will allow you to 'control the game':
Keep durations unpredictable: don't assign the length a student reads out loud.
Keep the next reader identity unpredictable: will enhance focus, since students don't know if they're next.
Keep durations short: maximizes concentration and allows you to collect data on students.
Reduce transaction costs: this reminds me of quick transition technique, minimize the time you waste switching between readers.
Use bridging to maintain continuity: in between readers, it is a good idea for the teacher to read a few sentences, as it brings great expressive reading to the classroom and maximizes student comprehension. Don't always bridge, but harder the text then you should.
Oral cloze: allows you to quickly assess leverage.
Rely on a placeholder: this will allow you to smoothly transition between discussion and reading.
Hello Mr. Larsen~ I, too, agree that this topic is very relevant as teaching reading in elementary sets the building blocks for strong readers. It is true that if students do not gain the fundamental reading skills early, those students will surely struggle academically for years to come.
In chapter 10 Lemov dives into reading. He discusses the importance of reading and how every teacher MUST be reading teachers. “We are what we have read and how we read it, and no other single activity has the capacity to yield so much educational value.” There is so much involved in teaching reading, including decoding, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Lemov goes on to discuss the control the game practice and the various reading strategies imbedded in it that all teachers can use.
Control the Game is the idea of reading whole class but one student is reading at a time, while the rest of the class follows. There are various “skills” you should be doing when playing control the game to ensure that all students are being held accountable to following along in the book. - Keep Durations Unpredictable: Do not always stop at the end of a paragraph or page, but at the end of any sentence. This makes the class more likely to be “secondary readers” since they are not sure when the previous person will stop reading; and they have to be ready. This also allows lower readers to maybe only read 2-3 lines with others reading more, since you have not set a precedent amount of reading. - Keep the Identity of the Next Reader Unpredictable - Keep Durations Short: This maximizes concentration and inherently increase engagement. - Reduce Transaction Costs: When I play control the game I only say the students name for them to know they are reading next. It keeps the pacing going. - Use Bridging to Maintain Continuity: This is when the teacher reads in between student readers. Personally I do not do this that often, but I do try to do it to make the book interesting. For example, I might read a line of dialogue very dramatically, which my kids get a kick out of, but it’s also teaching them how dialogue can be read. - Oral Cloze: This is when students fill in the blank for a word as the teacher is reading. I almost never do this, but I do find it useful to do with sight words to ensure students are continuing to get practice with those words. - Rely on a Placeholder: This strategy is when students place their finger in the book to keep their place when the group pauses to answer a question. Though this technique can be hard to each to K and 1st at first (their fingers magically move out of place after they’ve put them down), it’s very helpful for mid-book discussions.
I really enjoyed this chapter as it dealt with such a fundamental part of education as reading. I was struck early on in the chapter by Lemov's observation that too often, schools treat Reading as "a mere noun: a specific subject area for intentional study" (p. 250). At Brilla, we will need to take advantage of so many opportunities we will have to embed a love for reading in our students. We should not treat reading simply as a subject during the school day but rather treat it as an act that is so important that it is quite literally the bedrock of a brighter future. We need to make clear to every child and every family that, academically speaking, there is no more important act that will happen within our walls as a school. As teachers we will need to plan ALL lessons in such a way that we foster effective reading no matter what the subject matter is -- whether it's math, social sciences, english or the arts. Giving students the opportunities to constantly read throughout their day will equip them with the reading skills that will empower them to educate themselves outside of our classrooms as well; and then they'll see, the sky really is the limit.
Hello Mr. Martinez~ I agree with your statement 100%!! At Brilla, it will be very imperative that we instill a love for learning and being sure that our scholars(and our families) know that we will treat reading as a basis and as you say a "bedrock" for a brighter future. I,too,believe that we should and I know that we will have plentiful opportunities for our scholars to constantly read and not only read, but comprehend what they read so that they are equipped with the skills to continually improve and educate themselves both inside and outside of the classroom.
Definitely. Reading is something that is constantly being performed as adults in our everyday lives, so it should be an integral part of teaching as well. Reading should be integrated into every learning activity. Children are absorbing and internalizing at all hours of the day - you never know when a child might reach an "ah ha" moment. It could be very well in a math lesson where a child realizes that sound that -ing makes.
I agree with you both! What concrete things can we do with families to make reading accessible to them at home? We can say how important it is all we want, but we really need to make it ACTIONABLE!
When you stated, "we will have to embed a love for reading in our students" I envisioned them jumping up and down because they are so excited to read! Often when my teachers would say, "open to page 25 and read to page 50", the whole class would sigh and grumble. Where I previously taught, at North Star, we started Reading Mastery with a cheer and dance. "R-E-A-D-I-N-G ... IT'S TIME FOR READING MASTERY!" That got the students excited to start reading and to shake their sillies out.
Ms. Kopro,
At the school I taught at previously, every Monday students would be given a book and a reading log to bring home and leave at home until the following Monday. Every night they were required to read part of the book and the parent would sign the reading log. Although accountability isn't certain, (many parents just signed the reading log for the entire week in one night) at least the students had access to the book to read at home. If they didn't bring the book back the following Monday? They weren't given the new book and the parents would be hounded until the school got it back.
The chapter stresses two key assumptions: Everybody in a school must be a reading teacher and the general techniques may be the most productive for study by Reading and ELA teachers.
Set of skills students need: Decoding-the process of deciphering written text to identify the spoken words it represents.
Fluency-consists of automaticity, the ability to read at a rapid rate, plus expression, the ability to group words together into phrases to reflect meaning and tone.
Vocabulary-a student’s base of word knowledge: how many words she knows and how well she knows them.
Comprehension-how much of what’s written a student understands.
Comprehension requires a mastery of the first three and a set of techniques of its own.
Lemov goes on to say we need to have as much meaningful reading as possible and defines that as reading that is accountable, moderately expressive, and highly leveraged. By accountable he means that teachers are able to reliably assess whether students are actually reading, rather than, say sitting looking at pictures or out the window daydreaming when they are suppose to be reading and reading effectively, decoding and reading words correctly and diligently, rather than ignoring suffixes or skipping over the difficult parts of the text. Much of the reading in schools fails to meet this criterion. It is not enough to just drop everything and read and oh, how I thoroughly agree with this statement. I remember those D.E.A.R. days and I recall how students would definitely enjoy this activity but unless the teacher was actively monitoring, one could not tell if the student was actually reading or not. To get that leverage of accountable reading, Lemov says to use the Control the Game Skills.
*Keep Durations Unpredictable-asking a student to begin reading is better than asking them to read the next paragraph. This ensures that other students in the class don’t know when a new reader will be asked to pick up and therefore provides them with a strong incentive to follow along carefully.
*Keep the Identity of the Next Reader Unpredictable
*Keep Durations Short- Moving quickly among primary readers keeps the pacing lively.
*Reduce Transaction Costs- Make it a goal to transition from one primary reader to another quickly and with a minimum of words-and ideally in a consistent way.
*Use Bridging to Maintain Continuity-The benefit of this method is that it moves the story along quickly and keeps the narrative thread alive which maximizes comprehension.
Oral Cloze- I really like this technique and it is one that I used when I taught first grade. I feel that it keeps the students attentive because they would not know which word I would "snap" on. I would use a finger snap to indicate for the class to fill in the blank. Have the class try again if they are not with you.
Lemov presents reading as “the skill” because children who are able to master reading skills can carry these skills and use them to understand and further develop skills in other subjects. We are accountable for learning as many reading instruction techniques as we can and use them effectively. Our short term goal is to help our students develop reading skills that they can transfer and use in learning other subjects. The long term goal is that they become excellent readers.
“Control the game skills” allows us to scope and monitor student feedback at the exact moment it occurs so that we can vary the support they need. When we provide support on point we are working to build the confidence and expectations of our students. Once we know that we can begin to minimize this support, we can help students to increase their accountability to read independently.
As soon as I read “Control the games skills,” I used these skills with a first grader I tutor. During one of these reading sessions, he tried to wiggle out of the "bridge for continuity" by asking me if I would please read first the sentence that he was asked to read. That was my cue that he had spotted a word that he “might have difficulty with” – a phrase he is now using in place of “I don’t know.” The “no opt out” technique helped me get him out of the spot and he was happy to continue reading and answering questions so that he could understand the connection with the text.
This also helped me realize that sometimes students get so motivated in sounding out the words that they forget what is going on in the story. “Finger freeze/placement” and “Oral Cloze” are great techniques to help them become aware of and stay connected to what is going on in the story. I love that this work-in-progress is a learning experience that takes place on both sides.
Wow, Ms. Ortiz! It's so great that you have been practicing these strategies in a tutoring setting! What phrasing did you use with the first grader to employ "no opt out"?
Hi Ms. Kopro. I ask the student, "is there a "d" word? (d is short for difficult). When he pointed to "joining" (a fry word), I invited him to play "finger freeze" with it. He used his finger to freeze the -ing suffix. Without wasting time, I asked him to sound out the first syllable. He read, "jon." I responded that it was a great try and but he needed to land the rocket and read it correctly. He smiled and we looked at the vowels in the word join. He connected the dots and on the second try he read "join." Here we quickly switched and "finger froze" join so that he could read "-ing". I said "Good! Now unfreeze the whole word and land the rocket. He read "joining" correctly and we both had a "high 5" moment. To get him to talk about his experience and connect with what was going on in the story, I asked if he had ever joined any sports or clubs. We had a wonderful session! Using opt out and finger freeze made learning to read fun for both of us.
This is the second time I'm writing this... my posts aren't showing up :(
1. I really like his definition of meaningful reading. I remember back to my middle school days, and how I would completely zone out during independent reading time, and just turn pages and fake it when teachers came by. When we would read aloud whole group and I would get called on, I could always rely on my neighbor to point out where we were, with no repercussion. At Brilla, I hope that we will be able to utilize Accelerated Reader or a comparable program to increase accountability (once it becomes age appropriate). In terms of leverage, I think we will really need to practice the idea of "group reading" so that they know the expectations of following along. Maybe even having their fingers move across the pages would be appropriate. I look forward to brainstorming these systems with the team.
2. The other big takeaway from this chapter is the idea that all teachers are reading teachers, and I've never felt that more fully than this year with the changes to common core. I teach math, and the state exam used to be primarily computation based. A student could manage a passing score without reading any of the questions! With the changes this year, it is clear that students will need to fully comprehend the question to have even a prayer of getting the computation correct. Focusing my teaching on the comprehension of questions in addition to fluency with computations, has not only yielded improvements in their reading, but in their conceptual understanding of problems, too!
I remember during class reading, we would switch turns at each paragraph. I used to count ahead and read my paragraph a few times in my head to make sure I knew all the words. It's funny how you want to be a great student and you do stuff like skip ahead, without realizing that you are actually losing out on learning.
I have students in my accelerated reading group follow along with their fingers, but it's very difficult to monitor, especially since you are reading along with the student to help them decode more difficult words. In general, it's challenging to keep track of who is reading along and who isn't...until it's their turn!
Reading this chapter reminded me of a school I worked at a few years ago. They dedicated 30-40 minutes of every school day for independent reading. However, a constant challenge was to ensure that every student was actually reading. So often I would look around the room and students were signing to other students, goofing off, staring off, etc. We tried different approaches to encourage the kids to read such as proclaiming a star reader each day (one who was always reading when we scanned the room), but there was never a way to make sure that every student was getting the most out of reading. In a case like this, how do you make sure your students are reading meaningfully?
Reducing transaction costs- when transitioning from reader to reader during "Control the Game", there are many techniques to reduce to transaction cost in order keep the flow and pace of group reading such as using a minimum of words. However, sometimes students aren't following along. What does one do when this happens? How does it affect the transaction cost? Especially if it happens more than a few times? As the teacher, should there be a consequence for a reader to not follow along? How much time do you dedicate to addressing students who aren't following?
Hi Mr. Larsen: The statistics we see for our public school students are cause for concern. I agree that helping students acquire strong reading skills in elementary grades can help them master other topics. It is the foundation from which they can in time develop excellent reading skills. This chapter really captures the essence of how we as teachers can monitor our actions and timeliness so that our students can succeed in mastering all the elements of reading.
Lemov is right. Most teachers are focusing on teaching every subject and every skill rather than meaningful reading. I admit, I too saw the skills or subject matter in my lessons to be more important than the actual reading. When Lemov pointed that out, I immediately thought back to my Reading Mastery lessons. The word READING is in the title of the subject, but how much were they really reading? I would spend most of the lesson perfecting phonics, decoding, and chunking. My thoughts were, “If we got the independent reading at the end of the lesson – great! If not, oh well! At least they perfected their skills!” If I were to have that same outlook now, I would hear Lemov in my ear screaming, “NO! NO! NO! Let them read!”
A point that stood out to me was, “We are what we read and how we read it.” Read that one again. It took me down my own memory lane and he’s right, yet again. The things I have read have shaped my thoughts, my actions, my hopes, and my ambitions. It’s incredible to think we have the opportunity to open the door for our scholars to the world of reading, which then will shape them into who they are.
Lemov’s analogy of our students beginning to read to a College Lit class really hit home for me. I remember feeling so stressed and confused trying to weed through the fancy words to understand the meaning. Lemov states that when College Lit students or K-12 students are putting in so much effort trying to decode, they may miss the comprehension. By no means is it because comprehending the concept is too complex, it’s because the focus is on the decoding. I had an AHA! moment after that simple, brilliant, and logical explanation.
After reading about controlling the game and the hurdle rate, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What’s my hurdle rate going to be?” When I continued to read and understand the concept I began to answer my own question with, “Every hurdle rate is ever changing.”
At first when Lemov was speaking about accountability as they are reading, I began to think of myself as the student. When I was a student the only way I would pay attention to the reading is if the teacher had told us before we started what we were looking for. Although this would just lead to me looking for the answer, I was still held accountable. Lemov shows us there are other, better ways to do it. He has a whole toolbox full of ways to keep students accountable throughout the reading and I plan to use every single one. Whether it’s the finger freeze, bridging, oral cloze, unpredictability or short transactions (economy of language) I will be conscious of how I’m holding my students accountable to my hurdle rate.
All teachers must be reading teachers; Lamov is 100% correct. Every time a student is in front of new material, it is an opportunity to push inferential and critical thinking skills. When reading intersects with math, science, and social studies, at-bats are increased and students are able to apply what they've learned in reading comprehension to other subject areas. Creating these opportunities for what Lamov coins, "meaningful reading," ie: reading that is accountable, moderately expressive, and highly leveraged, is crucial for pushing student thinking and preparing students to learn from what they read.
For students with special needs, approaching content lessons as an opportunity to develop as reader allows scholars more opportunities to practice applying knowledge and certainly increases the "transaction cost" mentioned in Chapter 10. Other taxonomy elements mentioned in this chapter, including "keep the duration short" provide students with the opportunity to synthesize what they've read and extract deeper meaning from texts. Ultimately, the strategies outlined in Chapter 10 are best reading practices that develop thoughtful readers.
Chapter 10 sets the foundation of the importance of reading and the skill set that follows with the need of teaching students how to "unlock the full meaning of the text they read". Fostering the need and full understanding of reading is what will carry students through the rest of the curriculum. Being able to collaborate between subject areas, especially with reading and truly implementing reading into every lesson, no matter the content, will allow students to always practice those skills and truly develop their reading and become better readers. As teachers, our job is to structure reading into every single lesson, subject area and activity to instill that love for reading. The educational value found in reading and truly understanding what we read has an effect over everything else we learn. As students, the simple act of being able to read and understand directions can be the beginning of success or failure for the rest of the academic year.
ReplyDeleteThe focus and time we dedicate to reading in our classroom and with our students, will decipher their overall success across the board.
While reading through the chapter, one strategy that really resonated with me was the "rely on a placeholder", which focuses on questioning while reading text. By doing this, students will recognize the meaning behind what they are reading and further understanding the text. Beyond fluency in reading, reading comprehension is a skill all students must obtain early on, to take from the new information presented to them.
Overall, I'm glad Lemov added this chapter into the book and really emphasized the need and importance of reading and the powerful tool is really is.
How do you think a K teacher is going to have to go about helping with ELL students. Do we let them struggle and have growing pains with only English or do we bridge the gap by speaking in spanish in them to help? If so how do we not have them rely on spanish when we need them to read english?
DeleteMr. Gillaspie,
DeleteWhen I taught English as a Foreign Language in Italy, we only used Italian as our last resort. We would use every resource we could before giving them the answer in Italian. We would use a picture, act it out, sing - whatever worked! This was more memorable for them and even more exciting! Once everyone understood, it was an instant accomplishment and we'd have even more motivation to go on. Enthusiasm is the key. Although bridging the gap by speaking in Spanish would be "easier" and faster, it's not stretching and challenging them to what they're capable of. They may not even know they're capable until you show them!
I really enjoyed this chapter very much. It really reassures me in the message I have been preaching. Reading does not just stop in reading class. Reading is something that needs to be carried over into each subject area. Reading is base of mostly everything that happens in the classroom. It is important that we preach a love of reading to students. We also need to create, as many opportunities for students to get print rich text in front of them.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience in education I have to come to find that the achievement gap, is directly attributed to literacy. This chapter really stresses the importance of implementing reading across all subject areas. I know when I was in the classroom I would read a text, and still have students answer targeted questions. During guided reading I would have mys students read to check their fluency, but I also had questions pre-planned to assess comprehension. I would use many of the same strategies during math, science, and social studies. I always wanted my students to be fluent readers, but at the same time they needed to understand what they were reading. The true learning takes place when students can fluently read, but then summarize what they were reading and then comprehend the information in the text. Chapter 10 does a good job of expressing the importance of reading, and how essential it is to students overall success.
Mr. English -- I completely agree on the importance of carrying reading into every subject, and am excited to begin setting that foundation for my classroom come August. In your experience, after using techniques discussed in Chapter 10, if you found someone was not reading along for example, how would you correct that on the spot? I feel one would be cautious to not call out the student, but it is important that he/she is following along.
DeleteMr. English, I definitely agree that the achievement gap is a literacy gap. Reading is tied to almost every single thing students (and adults) do throughout the day. Growing into a fluent reader at a young age affects the rest of your schooling, which is why grades K and 1 are such crucial years for students. What you said about transferring strategies into other subjects is so important; it reminds me of me ELL students. While they receive pull out speech and ESL services, which focuses so much on building their every day language and reading language, they still continue to struggle with math--not because they do not know how to do it, but because they do not understand what the question is asking. So as teachers we have to always remember that reading is infused into everything and figure out ways to support all of our students.
DeleteChapter 10 emphasizes the fact that in order for reading to be effective, students must be mastering decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension all together. Also, being able to effectively incorporate reading into each and every subject takes certain skills, such as control the game.
ReplyDeleteControl the game is a way in which teachers can master reading aloud effectively. This is a practice i have used for many years, but have been able to perfect it while working with uncommon. All seven components are needed in order for students to stay engaged, focused and involved. Each component has it's own purpose:
Keep Duratuons Unpredictable- there's nothing less engaging than knowing when it's going to be your turn to read and how long you're going to be reading. When students know when they are going to read, they tune out until their time comes. They also tend to skip ahead to their part and read that silently to themselves while the main reader is reading. This is obviously not an effective way to read aloud. Keeping durations unpredictable require students to stay focused on the text, not knowing when their turn will be coming. Will the main reader read a sentence, or maybe 4?
Keep Identity Unpredictable- this is similar to the previous component except in addition to keeping how long someone reads unpredictable, you are also keeping the next reader unpredictable. This had the same effect in that It keeps the students focused, making sure to be ready in case they are called next.
Keep Durations Short- this step is important to keeping the flow of you're lesson and the flow of the reading engaging and exiting. Longer durations give access for students to once again zone out. Longer durations also slow down momentum, especially when some students are not as fluent as others. This allows the teacher to analyze who is following along and who is not, which allows for teacher leverage.
Reduce Transaction Costs- plain and simple, this is reducing the time You transition from one reader to the next. The faster you transition and the less storage you use facilitates energy, flow and less interruption in you're lesson. I often say "Elijah go", knowing who I'm going to go to next before Elijah is finished reading.
Bridging- bridging is important, not only again for the flow of the lesson, but for readers to hear fluent reading other than their peers. I often only bridge with my low and mid groups, not my highs. They have already mastered fluency and expression, and therefore i do not feel the need to bridge.
Oral Cloze- this i love doing. Letting kids get more involved in the reading together definitely adds a little more jazz to the lesson. It also helps you analyze who is following along. Kids really love doing this. I often add a hand signal along with a pause on the last word (s) in order to ensure that students know they are to fill in the blank.
Rely on a placeholder- this strategy is great when you want to dive deeper into a text but yet still want keep everyone at the place where they left off. I really liked the phrase "finger freeze" used by a leadership prep teacher. I could see this working especially well with younger children.
Even though each component seems so minute, when used together they are a much more effective way to engage students and gain deeper comprehension during read aloud...better than the old tactic of "popcorn reading" which was never my favorite strategy to use during reading groups. Doug Lemov puts all thepieces perfectly together in this chapter to help all teachers become better "reading" teachers.
Mrs Maxwell, you bring up the point of being cross curricular with Reading. In a blended learning school since every minute will be intentionally used for some aspect in the 30 min rotations what do you imagine to do in math to help with this? Do you imagine one of the stations in math to be more of word problems and the other be more manipulative based? Would love to see your thoughts seeing that most classrooms can do more cross curricular since they have a set schedule but it is "all over the place".
DeleteMr. Gillaspie, I most definitely would like to see a word problem "station" . There are often times when struggling readers find their niche in math, but when it comes to story problems they struggle. Honestly, most students struggle in the area of word problems and therefore would like to see kids doing word problems every day. In terms of manipulatives, I would like to see them used in every station, especially at a young age. Being able to comprehend math is just as important as being able to comprehend a text.
DeleteChapter 10 reinforced how essential planning lessons will be in order to have all students succeed. Growing up, I had the privilege to enjoy reading and have parents that encouraged it. Due to this privilege I was able to succeed in many subjects as well as become a proficient writer. Reading is so essential to the learning process and like Lemov said it truly is a "double investment paying both long and short-and long-term results" (249). By thoroughly planning lessons and increasing reading time, students become self-educated in some senses and are able to learn so much outside of the classroom. All teachers must be reading teachers and thus this ensures all activity to be highly productive. By acting proactively as reading teachers, Brilla will invest in a lifetime of educational success.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I will push on as a former Math teacher is Reading is the most important subject! Why, because many math problems you can not decode and work on until you can understand the word problem it is within. I never realized this until I realized how important reading is to figure out what is going on in a problem. If you can not break down and analyze the problem it doesn't matter how good at math you are.
DeleteMr. Gillaspie, I totally agree with you. It's so frustrating for a student who struggles with reading to not be able to show their teachers what they truly know in math because they do not fully grasp what the problem is even saying (though they know how to do the work). In cases like this it's up to the teacher to figure out ways to modify problems or a lesson where all students can have "access" to the material, while being held to the same standards. For example my co-teacher and I may say 1 or 2 math words in Spanish as we teach (i.e. "In this problem we need to separate, separar, to find the missing part") to ensure all of students understand. That was we can see their true math ability (and not their reading/comprehension ability).
DeleteKatherine, i like how you brought up the point of having parents who encouraged reading. We sometimes forget as adults how influential we really are to the children that are around us. I make it a point to not only make my own children read everyday, but i read to them as well. I make it a point for them to see me reading for my own enjoyment too. One way to foster this in the classroom is to have something showing what you are reading at the time. Kids then get interested in your book add well!
DeleteThis chapter centers around the most fundamental aspect of education: reading. Strong reading comprehension can unlock the door to succeed and master other topics. I felt that this chapter was extremely relevant, as teaching elementary education sets the building blocks for strong readers. It was shocking to read the statistic that students in NYC public schools read for less than 10 minutes a day, while 40% do no reading at all.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to ask yourself if your actions in the classroom yield more return than our hurdle rate -- not just will it result in more learning. To maintain high levels of accountability with reading, there are some techniques that will allow you to 'control the game':
Keep durations unpredictable: don't assign the length a student reads out loud.
Keep the next reader identity unpredictable: will enhance focus, since students don't know if they're next.
Keep durations short: maximizes concentration and allows you to collect data on students.
Reduce transaction costs: this reminds me of quick transition technique, minimize the time you waste switching between readers.
Use bridging to maintain continuity: in between readers, it is a good idea for the teacher to read a few sentences, as it brings great expressive reading to the classroom and maximizes student comprehension. Don't always bridge, but harder the text then you should.
Oral cloze: allows you to quickly assess leverage.
Rely on a placeholder: this will allow you to smoothly transition between discussion and reading.
Hello Mr. Larsen~ I, too, agree that this topic is very relevant as teaching reading in elementary sets the building blocks for strong readers. It is true that if students do not gain the fundamental reading skills early, those students will surely struggle academically for years to come.
DeleteIn chapter 10 Lemov dives into reading. He discusses the importance of reading and how every teacher MUST be reading teachers. “We are what we have read and how we read it, and no other single activity has the capacity to yield so much educational value.” There is so much involved in teaching reading, including decoding, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Lemov goes on to discuss the control the game practice and the various reading strategies imbedded in it that all teachers can use.
ReplyDeleteControl the Game is the idea of reading whole class but one student is reading at a time, while the rest of the class follows. There are various “skills” you should be doing when playing control the game to ensure that all students are being held accountable to following along in the book.
- Keep Durations Unpredictable: Do not always stop at the end of a paragraph or page, but at the end of any sentence. This makes the class more likely to be “secondary readers” since they are not sure when the previous person will stop reading; and they have to be ready. This also allows lower readers to maybe only read 2-3 lines with others reading more, since you have not set a precedent amount of reading.
- Keep the Identity of the Next Reader Unpredictable
- Keep Durations Short: This maximizes concentration and inherently increase engagement.
- Reduce Transaction Costs: When I play control the game I only say the students name for them to know they are reading next. It keeps the pacing going.
- Use Bridging to Maintain Continuity: This is when the teacher reads in between student readers. Personally I do not do this that often, but I do try to do it to make the book interesting. For example, I might read a line of dialogue very dramatically, which my kids get a kick out of, but it’s also teaching them how dialogue can be read.
- Oral Cloze: This is when students fill in the blank for a word as the teacher is reading. I almost never do this, but I do find it useful to do with sight words to ensure students are continuing to get practice with those words.
- Rely on a Placeholder: This strategy is when students place their finger in the book to keep their place when the group pauses to answer a question. Though this technique can be hard to each to K and 1st at first (their fingers magically move out of place after they’ve put them down), it’s very helpful for mid-book discussions.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this chapter as it dealt with such a fundamental part of education as reading. I was struck early on in the chapter by Lemov's observation that too often, schools treat Reading as "a mere noun: a specific subject area for intentional study" (p. 250). At Brilla, we will need to take advantage of so many opportunities we will have to embed a love for reading in our students. We should not treat reading simply as a subject during the school day but rather treat it as an act that is so important that it is quite literally the bedrock of a brighter future. We need to make clear to every child and every family that, academically speaking, there is no more important act that will happen within our walls as a school. As teachers we will need to plan ALL lessons in such a way that we foster effective reading no matter what the subject matter is -- whether it's math, social sciences, english or the arts. Giving students the opportunities to constantly read throughout their day will equip them with the reading skills that will empower them to educate themselves outside of our classrooms as well; and then they'll see, the sky really is the limit.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Martinez~ I agree with your statement 100%!! At Brilla, it will be very imperative that we instill a love for learning and being sure that our scholars(and our families) know that we will treat reading as a basis and as you say a "bedrock" for a brighter future. I,too,believe that we should and I know that we will have plentiful opportunities for our scholars to constantly read and not only read, but comprehend what they read so that they are equipped with the skills to continually improve and educate themselves both inside and outside of the classroom.
DeleteDefinitely. Reading is something that is constantly being performed as adults in our everyday lives, so it should be an integral part of teaching as well. Reading should be integrated into every learning activity. Children are absorbing and internalizing at all hours of the day - you never know when a child might reach an "ah ha" moment. It could be very well in a math lesson where a child realizes that sound that -ing makes.
DeleteI agree with you both! What concrete things can we do with families to make reading accessible to them at home? We can say how important it is all we want, but we really need to make it ACTIONABLE!
DeleteMr. Martinez,
DeleteWhen you stated, "we will have to embed a love for reading in our students" I envisioned them jumping up and down because they are so excited to read! Often when my teachers would say, "open to page 25 and read to page 50", the whole class would sigh and grumble. Where I previously taught, at North Star, we started Reading Mastery with a cheer and dance. "R-E-A-D-I-N-G ... IT'S TIME FOR READING MASTERY!" That got the students excited to start reading and to shake their sillies out.
Ms. Kopro,
At the school I taught at previously, every Monday students would be given a book and a reading log to bring home and leave at home until the following Monday. Every night they were required to read part of the book and the parent would sign the reading log. Although accountability isn't certain, (many parents just signed the reading log for the entire week in one night) at least the students had access to the book to read at home. If they didn't bring the book back the following Monday? They weren't given the new book and the parents would be hounded until the school got it back.
The chapter stresses two key assumptions: Everybody in a school must be a reading teacher and the general techniques may be the most productive for study by Reading and ELA teachers.
ReplyDeleteSet of skills students need:
Decoding-the process of deciphering written text to identify the spoken words it
represents.
Fluency-consists of automaticity, the ability to read at a rapid rate, plus expression, the ability to group words together into phrases to reflect meaning and tone.
Vocabulary-a student’s base of word knowledge: how many words she knows and how well she knows them.
Comprehension-how much of what’s written a student understands.
Comprehension requires a mastery of the first three and a set of techniques of its own.
Lemov goes on to say we need to have as much meaningful reading as possible and defines that as reading that is accountable, moderately expressive, and highly leveraged. By accountable he means that teachers are able to reliably assess whether students are actually reading, rather than, say sitting looking at pictures or out the window daydreaming when they are suppose to be reading and reading effectively, decoding and reading words correctly and diligently, rather than ignoring suffixes or skipping over the difficult parts of the text. Much of the reading in schools fails to meet this criterion. It is not enough to just drop everything and read and oh, how I thoroughly agree with this statement. I remember those D.E.A.R. days and I recall how students would definitely enjoy this activity but unless the teacher was actively monitoring, one could not tell if the student was actually reading or not.
To get that leverage of accountable reading, Lemov says to use the Control the Game Skills.
*Keep Durations Unpredictable-asking a student to begin reading is better than asking them to read the next paragraph. This ensures that other students in the class don’t know when a new reader will be asked to pick up and therefore provides them with a strong incentive to follow along carefully.
*Keep the Identity of the Next Reader Unpredictable
*Keep Durations Short- Moving quickly among primary readers keeps the pacing lively.
*Reduce Transaction Costs- Make it a goal to transition from one primary reader to another quickly and with a minimum of words-and ideally in a consistent way.
*Use Bridging to Maintain Continuity-The benefit of this method is that it moves the story along quickly and keeps the narrative thread alive which maximizes comprehension.
Oral Cloze- I really like this technique and it is one that I used when I taught first grade. I feel that it keeps the students attentive because they would not know which word I would "snap" on. I would use a finger snap to indicate for the class to fill in the blank. Have the class try again if they are not with you.
Rely on a Placeholder
Lemov presents reading as “the skill” because children who are able to master reading skills can carry these skills and use them to understand and further develop skills in other subjects. We are accountable for learning as many reading instruction techniques as we can and use them effectively. Our short term goal is to help our students develop reading skills that they can transfer and use in learning other subjects. The long term goal is that they become excellent readers.
ReplyDelete“Control the game skills” allows us to scope and monitor student feedback at the exact moment it occurs so that we can vary the support they need. When we provide support on point we are working to build the confidence and expectations of our students. Once we know that we can begin to minimize this support, we can help students to increase their accountability to read independently.
As soon as I read “Control the games skills,” I used these skills with a first grader I tutor. During one of these reading sessions, he tried to wiggle out of the "bridge for continuity" by asking me if I would please read first the sentence that he was asked to read. That was my cue that he had spotted a word that he “might have difficulty with” – a phrase he is now using in place of “I don’t know.” The “no opt out” technique helped me get him out of the spot and he was happy to continue reading and answering questions so that he could understand the connection with the text.
This also helped me realize that sometimes students get so motivated in sounding out the words that they forget what is going on in the story. “Finger freeze/placement” and “Oral Cloze” are great techniques to help them become aware of and stay connected to what is going on in the story.
I love that this work-in-progress is a learning experience that takes place on both sides.
Wow, Ms. Ortiz! It's so great that you have been practicing these strategies in a tutoring setting! What phrasing did you use with the first grader to employ "no opt out"?
DeleteHi Ms. Kopro. I ask the student, "is there a "d" word? (d is short for difficult). When he pointed to "joining" (a fry word), I invited him to play "finger freeze" with it. He used his finger to freeze the -ing suffix. Without wasting time, I asked him to sound out the first syllable. He read, "jon." I responded that it was a great try and but he needed to land the rocket and read it correctly. He smiled and we looked at the vowels in the word join. He connected the dots and on the second try he read "join." Here we quickly switched and "finger froze" join so that he could read "-ing". I said "Good! Now unfreeze the whole word and land the rocket. He read "joining" correctly and we both had a "high 5" moment. To get him to talk about his experience and connect with what was going on in the story, I asked if he had ever joined any sports or clubs. We had a wonderful session! Using opt out and finger freeze made learning to read fun for both of us.
DeleteThis is the second time I'm writing this... my posts aren't showing up :(
ReplyDelete1. I really like his definition of meaningful reading. I remember back to my middle school days, and how I would completely zone out during independent reading time, and just turn pages and fake it when teachers came by. When we would read aloud whole group and I would get called on, I could always rely on my neighbor to point out where we were, with no repercussion. At Brilla, I hope that we will be able to utilize Accelerated Reader or a comparable program to increase accountability (once it becomes age appropriate). In terms of leverage, I think we will really need to practice the idea of "group reading" so that they know the expectations of following along. Maybe even having their fingers move across the pages would be appropriate. I look forward to brainstorming these systems with the team.
2. The other big takeaway from this chapter is the idea that all teachers are reading teachers, and I've never felt that more fully than this year with the changes to common core. I teach math, and the state exam used to be primarily computation based. A student could manage a passing score without reading any of the questions! With the changes this year, it is clear that students will need to fully comprehend the question to have even a prayer of getting the computation correct. Focusing my teaching on the comprehension of questions in addition to fluency with computations, has not only yielded improvements in their reading, but in their conceptual understanding of problems, too!
I remember during class reading, we would switch turns at each paragraph. I used to count ahead and read my paragraph a few times in my head to make sure I knew all the words. It's funny how you want to be a great student and you do stuff like skip ahead, without realizing that you are actually losing out on learning.
DeleteI have students in my accelerated reading group follow along with their fingers, but it's very difficult to monitor, especially since you are reading along with the student to help them decode more difficult words. In general, it's challenging to keep track of who is reading along and who isn't...until it's their turn!
Reading this chapter reminded me of a school I worked at a few years ago. They dedicated 30-40 minutes of every school day for independent reading. However, a constant challenge was to ensure that every student was actually reading. So often I would look around the room and students were signing to other students, goofing off, staring off, etc. We tried different approaches to encourage the kids to read such as proclaiming a star reader each day (one who was always reading when we scanned the room), but there was never a way to make sure that every student was getting the most out of reading. In a case like this, how do you make sure your students are reading meaningfully?
ReplyDeleteReducing transaction costs- when transitioning from reader to reader during "Control the Game", there are many techniques to reduce to transaction cost in order keep the flow and pace of group reading such as using a minimum of words. However, sometimes students aren't following along. What does one do when this happens? How does it affect the transaction cost? Especially if it happens more than a few times? As the teacher, should there be a consequence for a reader to not follow along? How much time do you dedicate to addressing students who aren't following?
Hi Mr. Larsen: The statistics we see for our public school students are cause for concern. I agree that helping students acquire strong reading skills in elementary grades can help them master other topics. It is the foundation from which they can in time develop excellent reading skills. This chapter really captures the essence of how we as teachers can monitor our actions and timeliness so that our students can succeed in mastering all the elements of reading.
ReplyDeleteLemov is right. Most teachers are focusing on teaching every subject and every skill rather than meaningful reading. I admit, I too saw the skills or subject matter in my lessons to be more important than the actual reading. When Lemov pointed that out, I immediately thought back to my Reading Mastery lessons. The word READING is in the title of the subject, but how much were they really reading? I would spend most of the lesson perfecting phonics, decoding, and chunking. My thoughts were, “If we got the independent reading at the end of the lesson – great! If not, oh well! At least they perfected their skills!” If I were to have that same outlook now, I would hear Lemov in my ear screaming, “NO! NO! NO! Let them read!”
ReplyDeleteA point that stood out to me was, “We are what we read and how we read it.” Read that one again. It took me down my own memory lane and he’s right, yet again. The things I have read have shaped my thoughts, my actions, my hopes, and my ambitions. It’s incredible to think we have the opportunity to open the door for our scholars to the world of reading, which then will shape them into who they are.
Lemov’s analogy of our students beginning to read to a College Lit class really hit home for me. I remember feeling so stressed and confused trying to weed through the fancy words to understand the meaning. Lemov states that when College Lit students or K-12 students are putting in so much effort trying to decode, they may miss the comprehension. By no means is it because comprehending the concept is too complex, it’s because the focus is on the decoding. I had an AHA! moment after that simple, brilliant, and logical explanation.
After reading about controlling the game and the hurdle rate, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What’s my hurdle rate going to be?” When I continued to read and understand the concept I began to answer my own question with, “Every hurdle rate is ever changing.”
At first when Lemov was speaking about accountability as they are reading, I began to think of myself as the student. When I was a student the only way I would pay attention to the reading is if the teacher had told us before we started what we were looking for. Although this would just lead to me looking for the answer, I was still held accountable. Lemov shows us there are other, better ways to do it. He has a whole toolbox full of ways to keep students accountable throughout the reading and I plan to use every single one. Whether it’s the finger freeze, bridging, oral cloze, unpredictability or short transactions (economy of language) I will be conscious of how I’m holding my students accountable to my hurdle rate.
All teachers must be reading teachers; Lamov is 100% correct. Every time a student is in front of new material, it is an opportunity to push inferential and critical thinking skills. When reading intersects with math, science, and social studies, at-bats are increased and students are able to apply what they've learned in reading comprehension to other subject areas. Creating these opportunities for what Lamov coins, "meaningful reading," ie: reading that is accountable, moderately expressive, and highly leveraged, is crucial for pushing student thinking and preparing students to learn from what they read.
ReplyDeleteFor students with special needs, approaching content lessons as an opportunity to develop as reader allows scholars more opportunities to practice applying knowledge and certainly increases the "transaction cost" mentioned in Chapter 10. Other taxonomy elements mentioned in this chapter, including "keep the duration short" provide students with the opportunity to synthesize what they've read and extract deeper meaning from texts. Ultimately, the strategies outlined in Chapter 10 are best reading practices that develop thoughtful readers.