GOING DEEPER WITH INDEPENDENT READING AND FURTHER THAN INDEPENDENT READING

EFFECTIVE LITERACY TEACHING School leaders and teachers must have: Knowledge about literacy learning – what is literacy? What is the literacy curriculum? Knowledge about the learners – what do they do and what do they know, at home and at school? (How to find out?) Knowledge of instructional strategies – gradual release of responsibility model High expectations of all students

TEACHING  ASSESSMENT (DATA) What is taught is also assessed and this assessment (data) informs the teaching. For reading the most suitable time for collecting the data is during independent reading.

THE READING CURRICULUM – what to teach and assess With texts becoming more complex: Strategies used in the Reading Process Comprehension Vocabulary Fluency Decoding Range of Reading Interest in Reading Response to Reading

+ (FOR PREPS) Concepts of print Letter name knowledge Phonemic Awareness Oral language Writing Previous experiences with reading and storytelling Physical aspects eg. hearing, sight First language

More about COMPREHENSION Main strategies used by all readers, all year levels, with all texts: Prediction/Prior Knowledge Questions and Questioning Think-aloud Text Structures and Features Visualising /Visual Representations Summarising (Must know lots about how to teach and assess each of these and how they are used together)

RECIPROCAL TEACHING – one routine using multiple strategies Involves using: Predicting Clarifying meaning (questioning) Questioning Summarising Research: 20 sessions will assist struggling readers to improve reading by at least 1.5 years

APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT (data) How is each component of the Reading Curriculum being assessed (to inform teaching)? What level of difficulty is the text – is this increasing? What is appropriate for assessment of each?  Reading process – analysis of Running Records  Comprehension – discussion/checklists (note that usual questioning only gives information about ability to find information directly in text or through inferring)  Fluency – student reading aloud  Vocabulary–discussion about meaning of words/phrases  Decoding – Analysis of Running Records/student reading aloud; strategies used for spelling  Range of reading – student log of reading

APPROPRIATE TEACHING For example: Think-aloud strategyeg. Inferring Select material that requires inferences to understand the content (nonfiction usually requires more than just print for teaching inferring) Make an enlarged copy for all students to see; need to be able to write on this copy to show thinking/what links are being made across the text Teacher demonstrates inferring by thinking aloud and indicating parts of the text that support this – demonstrate multiple times over several days, with varied text types Involve students in this process, asking them to share their ideas with a partner and to demonstrate their thinking using an enlarged copy of text Students asked to notice inferences when reading independently; teacher confers with students, asking them to describe their thinking and providing feedback and on-the-spot teaching; record what student is doing well/what they need to do more of in a student notebook; record data (assessment) to monitor progress and for future teaching of class and groups Students share their learning – how inferring is helping their reading Teacher selects some students for small group guided teaching of inferring and plans further class and individual teaching

ROLE OF PRINCIPAL/AP/COORDINATOR Are there resources for each student to have a range of materials for independent reading in all disciplines? Are there structures in place for common assessments and recording of each aspect of the reading curriculum? Can teachers bring their student work and notebooks to meetings to discuss student work and compare standards and progress? Can you obtain a school picture, a year level picture, a class picture of all students’ progress? Are there processes for you to meet with teachers on a regular basis to monitor the progress of each student?

Role of teachers, coaches, coordinators How does the teacher use information from independent reading to plan further teaching? How does the knowledge about students’ independent reading affect what occurs in other curriculum areas or when students are working with other teachers? Are there school structures that allow such information to be shared? Are there teachers in other disciplines catering for students’ independent reading? If so, how? If not, what knowledge and resources do they need to be able to do this?

1. Conduct a learning walk in your school with your literacy coach (and AP and literacy coordinator if possible) to find evidence about how independent reading is taking place (choose more than one classroom): Are the students all engaged in reading something at the “just right” level? (Listen to some students read) Are there reading materials organised so that students can easily find something that is suitable for independent reading? (Ask them) Is the teacher meeting with students during this time to confer/assess/teach/record? Are students able to articulate what they are good at/what they are working at or what their goal is? Is there a plan for when the teacher will meet with each student? What link can you see between what the teacher is teaching and what the teacher is assessing during independent reading? How does the teacher use information from independent reading to plan further teaching?

2. Meet with your school coach, AP and coordinator (and regional coach, if you have one) to discuss your observations and decide what additional support and/or professional learning is required for independent reading and related teaching to be more effective in your school. Plan PL accordingly for individuals, groups or the whole staff. Encourage the school coach and regional coach to request assistance with this work at their next coaches’ workshop, if this is necessary. Discuss plans and needs at network meetings. RNLs could pass on any requests or suggestions re future principals’ PL at regional or network meetings. Refer to the power point presentations and the accompanying documents about independent reading and comprehension to assist.