Waxahachie Independent School District

Waxahachie Independent School District

Literacy Framework

Waxahachie ISD develops life long readers and writers by providing a continuum of literacy learning based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. [TEC §110.11 – 110.16]

We believe that a successful language arts student must be actively engaged in authentic listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking tasks for a variety of purposes. A text-rich environment will facilitate both independence and collaborative efforts within and beyond the language arts classroom. WISD provides a balanced literacy curriculum.

English language arts and reading TEKS to be implemented beginning with school year 2009-2010

The English Language Arts Scope and Sequence K– 5th and 7-12th grade can be found listed by six week intervals online by going to www.wisd.org and linking to Eduphoria.

The following essential reading components are taught daily within the context of the TEKS:

* Phonemic awareness

* Phonics

* Vocabulary Vocabulary worwouseuuuuu

* Fluency

* Comprehension

Balanced Literacy Components include:

·  Teacher read aloud: the K-2 teacher reads aloud a variety of texts both narrative and nonfiction while the students listen. The students develop oral language, listening, and comprehension skills. Teachers in K-5 read aloud daily from a variety of text genre such as: narrative, nonfiction and poetry. Science and Social Studies materials are included. In grades 3-5 the teacher reads from the variety of texts listed above as well as reading, poetry, novels and biographies. In grades 3-5 the emphasis is more on content reading.

·  Shared Reading: the teacher acts as a support to the children as he/she invites students to participate actively in reading within a socially supportive environment. Students observe how print works. As the children feel their efforts are accepted by the teacher and their peers, they increase their involvement and take a more active role in the reading activity. The teacher may point or frame words for the students to read aloud. For example the K-2 teacher may start reading a paragraph and call on students to finish the page. An example of shared reading in grades 3-5 might be echo reading, partner reading, plays and dramatizations.

·  Guided Reading is a context in which a teacher actively supports each reader’s development of effective strategies for processing new text at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. The teacher sets the stage for reading by linking the real world experiences of the children to the plot and setting or topic of the text. The teacher models or thinks aloud as he/she points out the features of the print lay-out such as headings, sub-headings, titles and graphics. The teacher may introduce a chapter in Social Studies or Science. The students need the teacher to think aloud as he or she looks at headings, sub-heading, maps, graphs, or tables in a content book in the 3rd – 5th grade. Skills can be introduced by the teacher modeling and demonstrating in a whole group setting which is followed by small guided reading and writing group instruction. Students are grouped according to similar strengths, and skills, based upon on-going assessments and daily teacher observations. This information guides and informs the teacher’s interactions with the individuals in the group and helps the teacher select appropriately leveled texts. These small flexible groups are taught by the regular classroom teacher. The classroom teacher is to differentiate the instruction based on the individual needs of the students. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to give challenging instruction to advanced students.

·  INDEPENDENT READING – Gradually the teacher support, a scaffold, is pulled away and the student accepts the full responsibility of reading for meaning. The student is able to read new books independently. He or she is able to decode and link new information to the known as they read for meaning at an appropriate pace and with expression. The student is now able to independently select a book at an appropriate level and read it for enjoyment. This method of teaching is known as the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model.

·  The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model is used throughout the components of a balanced literacy/TEKS centered classroom.

Pearson and Gallagher

High Teacher Responsibility

High Student Responsibility

Demonstration & Modeling Participation Performance

Changes Over Time

WISD has chosen the 2006 Houghton Mifflin Reading Program as the district’s reading program for kindergarten, first and second grade until the Textbook Proclamation 2010 Advisory Committee studies the reading series offered for adoption by the state during the 2009-2010 school year. The present Scope and Sequence which is based on the new English Language Arts and Reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.

ASSESSMENT –

·  Ongoing formative and summative assessment is mandated by the TEC. Teacher, Literacy Coach and team analysis of on-going assessment data both informs and guides instructional plans. The required accelerated (intensive) instruction begins with students in Grades K-2 who are at risk of reading difficulties and goes on to provide support to students who must meet the new grade advancement requirements of SSI. (TEC §28.0211 and TAC §101, Subchapter BB).

NEW 2008-2009 Accelerated Reading Instruction and Accelerated Mathematics Instruction Program Guide

Identification of Struggling Students

It is recommended that districts use results from instruments included on the 2008-2009 Commissioner’s List of Early Reading Instruments to identify students needing early reading intervention in Grades K-2. Students in Grades 3-8 may be identified using TAKS scores, results from locally created progress monitoring tools, performance on classroom assessments, teacher observations, progress reports, and report cards. Parents must be given the results of the reading assessments. Parents also must be notified if their child qualifies for focused intervention instruction.

The students listed as Still Developing on the TPRI or the Tejas LEE must be given a minimum of 30 additional minutes of intensive reading instruction by their classroom teacher within the classroom.

·  Universal Assessments [Screeners] -

Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) and Tejas LEE (Spanish Reading Inventory) are both on the TEA Commissioner of Education’s approved list of reading assessments which is administered individually 3 times each year: Beginning, Middle and End of Year to all Kindergarten, First, Second and Third grade students. This is required by the Student Success Initiative.

2008-2009 Commissioner's List of Reading Instruments (Click + Control to follow link)

·  DRA2 and EDL2 are used throughout the year, in K-2, as a progress monitoring tool which gives the teacher a student’s current instructional reading level with a percent of accuracy and a comprehension score expressed as a percent. The student’s strategic behaviors are noted as he or she reads a new text. The student must read a text with at least 90% accuracy and a minimum of 75% comprehension to be considered reading at a certain text level.

*Any text reading score below 90% accuracy is considered to be Too Hard.

*90 to 94% is considered to be Instructional

*95 to 100% is considered to be Easy

Most of the child’s reading should be within the instructional range. Vygotsky calls this

the cutting edge of learning. (A student has work to do and is actively engaged as he/she reads the text and problem solves on the run. A student that scores within the instructional range must also score at least 75% on the explicit and implicit comprehension questions.) The DRA2 and the EDL2 (Spanish) scores are used to group children and plan additional differentiated small group instruction.

·  Accelerated Reading Initiative students receive at least 30 additional minutes of differentiated, specific instruction in a small group taught by the classroom teacher in the regular classroom. Instructional focus is on the skill areas that need more explicit ARI (Response to Intervention) direct instruction. The Intervention Activities Guide is to be used to plan this instruction. This additional instruction is required by the Texas Education Agency. These groups are to be flexible groups not static.

Forming and Re-forming Flexible Groups for Guided Reading

Daily Observation and Analysis of Individual Data

On – Going Grouping and Regrouping Based on Data

Text Selection

·  Literacy Coaches

·  Reading Recovery® tutorial lessons are provided in the first grade, as an intervention for students that score low on the Texas Primary Reading Inventory/ Tejas LEE and An Observation Survey by Marie Clay. Reading Recovery teachers have attended two three hour graduate level reading courses at a certified university. Reading Recovery has been rated by the What Works Clearing House as a highly effective short-term intervention for low achieving first graders. Reading Recovery provides a safety net of early reading instruction for students who are not catching on to the complex set of concepts that make reading and writing possible. Reading Recovery is used as a supplement to good core Tier I classroom teaching. Reading Recovery is an acceleration reading program in contrast to remediation. Each Reading Recovery teacher teaches 4 to 5 RR students each day. They have programs of 10 to 20 weeks during the school year. Helpful information can be found on these websites:

http://www.readingrecovery.org

What Works Clearinghouse www.w-w-c.org/

U.S. Department of Education www.ed.gov/

Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) http://www.fcrr.org

Reading Recovery teachers also teach four literacy groups per day. Each literacy group serves from 4 to 5 students daily. These are flexible groups and children are rotated back to the classroom as quickly as possible. The team decision is made by the classroom teacher, the literacy group teacher, the building principal, etc. The goal is acceleration and student independence.

·  Bilingual flexible small group instruction for grades 1 and 2 is taught at Wedgeworth by a certified Bilingual teacher. This teacher uses leveled Spanish texts as she teaches her students in small flexible reading and writing groups. This instruction is in addition to the core classroom reading instruction and the extra 30 minutes of explicit teaching also conducted by the classroom teacher. These students scored Still Developing on the Tejas LEE and were given the Instructromento de Observación de los Logros de la Lecto-Escritura Inicial: Spanish Reconstruction of An Observation Survey A Bilingual Text (Paperback) by A, Andrade, A. Basurto, O. Ruiz, Marie Clay, and Kathy Escamilla. This reading instrument is used to note strengths and weaknesses in the Early Emergent Reading and Writing skills.

”The least complicated entry into literacy learning is to begin to read and write the language that children already know and speak. What they already know about language can then be used to power their literacy learning”. —Marie M. Clay

·  The bilingual students stay in this setting until the classroom teacher and the small group teacher agree that the student has accelerated and is operating on the same level as the average student in the classroom. The bilingual students read books printed in Spanish, use manipulatives, participate in word study, use phonemic awareness, graphophonemic awareness, phonics and write daily in their journals.

·  Additionally, Title I certified teachers work with grades 3 -5 in small pull - out groups. Wedgeworth, WISD’s bilingual campus has a bilingual teacher that works with the 3 -5th grade students. The Gradual Release of Responsibility Reading and Writing Model is used with all students.

·  Dyslexia teachers serve students in 2nd – 12th grade using the MTA Dyslexia Program. MTA is a multi sensory decoding program. MTA teachers must have two weeks of training. They also attend workshops through Region 10 during the school year and other appropriate training for testing.

What to Look for in the WISD Reading Classroom

Teacher

ÿ  Teaching reading as a process (before-during-after reading)

ÿ  Focusing on reading strategies within the context of meaningful text

  Modeling and discussing his/her own reading processes (think aloud)

ÿ  Emphasizing comprehension and strategic thinking skills

ÿ  Working with students in whole group, small groups, and individually to differentiate instruction

ÿ  Teaching word identification and vocabulary development through explicit instruction using a variety of activities.

Students

ÿ  Using thinking strategies independently (inferring, questioning, making connections, determining importance, visualizing, summarizing and synthesizing)

ÿ  Reading text on their instructional level with support from the teacher (small group setting)

ÿ  Applying before-during-after reading strategies to read text silently and orally

ÿ  Monitoring and adjusting their comprehension as they read

ÿ  Applying word identification skills and vocabulary strategies in independent reading

ÿ  Rereading texts frequently for specific purposes

ÿ  Responding to reading critically and creatively

ÿ  Writing before and after reading

ÿ  Choosing materials (appropriate level and interest) for independent reading

Classroom – What Do You See?

ÿ  Wide variety of reading materials available on different levels

ÿ  Print rich walls displaying authentic student writing

ÿ  Collaborative activities with discussion and interaction

ÿ  Evaluation that shows teacher – student collaboration

Comprehensive Literacy Framework for the Intermediate Grades 3-5

·  Interactive Read-Aloud

·  Modeled/Shared Reading

·  Poetry Sharing/Sharing/Response

·  Reader’s Theater/Process

·  Independent Reading

·  Guided Reading

·  Guided Writing

·  Independent Writing

·  Literature Study

·  Investigations

·  Content Reading in grades 3-5 focuses on reading to learn. In K, 1, & 2

students read mostly narrative text structure, which is featured in basal readers and leveled text. Narrative text focuses on characters, settings, themes, conflicts, plots and conflict resolutions. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th grade students are expected to read

and understand increasingly more difficult materials in an array of content areas

such as math, science, and social studies. Students may have little experience reading expository writing, the kind of text structure found typically in core area textbooks

and other content materials.

·  We must be aware that many students in the 3rd-6th grade have inadequately

developed basic reading skills, such as word identification and decoding skills, and may not be able to read with fluency. Further, they may become frustrated and confused by the content-specific vocabulary and concepts that characterize these materials. Students may be lacking —or unable to use efficiently—the comprehension strategies necessary for getting meaning from content area materials successfully. Specifically, teachers teaching 3rd,4th,5th & 6th grade students must provide students with instruction that: