Empowering Paraprofessionals Strategic Literacy Tutoring Strategies

Fridley Public SchoolsJanuary 29, 2010

Dr. Jennifer McCarty Plucker; Reading Specialist and Literacy CoordinatorEastview High School

Goals:

•To accelerate the literacy •development of striving readers and

writers.

•To develop independent, self-regulated work habits.

Caution:

•When working with lower achieving students, we must be careful to not create a dependency effect where students come to expect aides or paraprofessionals to prompt them or monitor their completion.

What does your student need?

•Motivation and Engagement Support?

•Decoding support?

•Fluency support?

•Comprehension support?

Motivation

•Build Confidence•Change their Mindset•Set students up for success•Build upon Strengths

Lack of confidence can paralyze students— Pair up with someone kind, patient, and knowledgeable. . . Scaffold Give purpose for reading Reward hard work with meaningful activity Avoid spotlighting insecurities (yet keep standards high).

Appreciative Inquiry. Capitalize on students’ strengths.

“Describe a time when you felt most confident as a reader, writer, historian, mathematician, scientist, student, musician, etc.” Ask students to WRITE. . .striving readers will tell you more in writing (typically) than verbally. “Who do you admire as a reader, writer, student. . .Why?

Build Confidence

Change your student’s Mindset “After seven experiments with hundreds of children, we had some of the clearest findings I’ve

ever seen: Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.”

by Carol Dweck

Get Digital

•If the student you are working with has a choice for the medium in which to present content. . consider digital tools—engagement won’t be an issue so focus can be on instruction.

Glogster— www.glogster.comhttp://s001.drmccarty.edu.glogster.com/glog/?from_alert=true

animoto– www.animoto.com

Animoto Example

Phonics/Phonemic Awareness

•Word Sorts•Rhymes•Say it, Spell it, Clap it, Write it

▫Example: strategic

Pair/Share—2 minutes

Turn to a neighbor and process what you’ve heard so far.

What can you take back and implement for your individual situation?

Fluency

•Paired Reading Find a partner Decide who reads first Read 1st paragraph of article aloud to partner. Partner—point out positive fluency behaviors

(punctuation, phrasing, emphasis, rate, etc.) Switch with 2nd paragraph

•Podcast•Reader’s Theatre•Self-Reflection

Comprehension

•Focus on the following:▫Maximize the opportunity to read▫Focus on meaning and means of

constructing meaning.▫Provide students an opportunity to discuss

what was read.▫Explicitly teach meta-cognitive strategies

students can use independently when they encounter difficult reading.

Maximize Reading Opportunities•Just right challenge--In their interest area.•Leveled readers in content areas.

Constructing Meaning

•Think aloud

•Reading with a purpose

•3-5 word summary Paragraph 1: Teacher has greatest impact Paragraph 2: Having good intentions aren’t

enough

“The House”

1. Read the story. Highlight all important parts.

2. Now read the story from a new perspective

Read the house as if you were a :

THIEF

Read the house as if you were a :

NOSY NEIGHBOR

Read the house as if you were a :

Realtor(hoping to see the

home)

“The House” continued…

•How did the highlighted content change as your focus changed?

•How would it help your students to know the task, audience, and purpose of the reading?

Opportunities to discuss what was read

•Activate prior knowledge•Pre teach vocabulary•Reader’s Response

Meta-cognitive Strategies

•Slow down reading•Pause while reading•Look back•Read aloud•Sound out words, analogize to a known

word, or use contextual guessing•Skip a word•Reread the text

▫(Allington, 2009, pp. 139-140)

Next Steps:

•Resources•Additional Training•Book Club

Resource Ideas:Early Literacy:Duke, N. K. & Bennett-Armistead, S. (2003). Reading and Writing

Informational text in the primary grades. New York: ScholasticMcGill-Franzen, A. (2006). Kindergarten Literacy. New York: GuilfordPressley, M. (20060. Reading Instruction that works: The case for balanced

teaching (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford.

Intermediate, MS, HS:Beers, K. (2002). When kids can’t read, what teachers can do. Portsmouth,

NH: Stenhouse.Keene, E.L., & Zimmerman, S. (2007). Mosaic of thought: Teaching

comprehension in a reader’s workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse.Tovani, C. (2001). I read it, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for

adolescent readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

All:Allington, R. L. (2006). What really matters for struggling readers:

Designing research based programs (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & BaconCaldwell, J.S. & Leslie, L. (2005). Intervention strategies to follow informal

reading inventory assessment: So what do I do now? Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.