Make It Stick: Professional Training for Teachers of Struggling Readers

Overview of Presentation Profile of Struggling Readers Knowledge and Skills Needed to Teach Struggling Readers Professional Training for Teachers of Struggling Readers A Brief Demonstration Visit a myth about reading comprehension A way to Bring Literacy Life to Students Three Take Home Ideas

Make it Stick! What makes learning sustainable? Create reliable retrieval cues. Mixed and periodic practice > massed practice Embrace beneficial struggles Avoid illusions of learning Go beyond learning styles Increase your ability Make it Stick

Cement the buy-in from the teachers-learners Learning is stronger, when it matters, and when the abstract is made concrete and personal. Know the instructional goals and the reasons to learn that skills (from the student’s perspectives)

Knowns and Unknowns “There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknown; that is to say, there are the things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.” Secretary of State Donald Runsfeld on Iraq’s possible possession of weapons of mass destruction, 2002

Profile of Struggling Readers Difficulty in attending Difficulty in retaining info Easily confused Lack of motivation Difficulty in integrating skills Errors in conceptual understanding Lack of words

Knowledge and Skills Needed Curriculum Understand the reading process Know how to select and sequence teaching examples Instruction Know how to activate prior knowledge Know how to teach cognitive strategies Know how to anticipate errors and fix them Assessment Formative Assessment vs. Summative Assessment Maintain proficiency and program for generalization

A Stimulation Listen to a poem. I think the title of this poem should be ___________. Tell me what you remembered about the poem. Tell me how you feel when listening to this poem.

Vocabulary Matrix 1. Dictionary Definition 2. Example Sentence from the Text 3. Student- Friendly Explanation 4. Positive Examples Nerve-Racking5. Negative Examples 6. Smart Sentences 7. “I Stories”8. Use the key words in five different occasions

Vocabulary Matrix Very trying to one’s patience or equanimity “This is nerve- racking…” Situations or experience make you feel very tense and very worried 4. Positive Examples Nerve-Racking5. Negative Examples 6. Smart Sentences7. “I Stories”8. Use the key words in five different occasions

Vocabulary Matrix Very trying to one’s patience or equanimity “This is nerve- racking…” Situations or experience make you feel very tense and very worried 4. Positive Examples Nerve-Racking5. Negative Examples 6. Smart Sentences 7. “I Stories”8. Use the key words in five different occasions

If I don’t know I don’t know I think I know If I don’t know I know I think I don’t know There is something I don’t know that I am supposed to know. I don’t know what it is I don’t know and yet am supposed to know, I feel I look stupid if I seem both not to know it and not know what it is I don’t know.

Therefore I pretend I know it. This is nerve tracking since I don’t know what I must pretend to know Therefore I pretend to know everything. I feel you know what I am supposed to know but you can’t tell me what it is because you don’t know that I don’t know what it is. You may know what I don’t know, but not that I don’t know it, and I can’t tell you. So you will have to tell me everything.

Building Fluency

Take Home Ideas Mastery requires both the possessions of ready knowledge and the conceptual understanding of how to use it. Use the testing as a learning tool Teach students how to self-quiz Orient the learners to pay attention to novice learners and expert learners.

Progression of Proficiency

Take Home Ideas Four steps in dealing with learning difficulty Acknowledge it. Accept it. Process it. Release it. Find (and be) a mentor. Write a script/social stories for one’s own learning.

Error Correction Procedure

Take Home Ideas Teach students how to be a disciplined learner Habits of mind Routines or cognitive strategies Model think-aloud Provide students immediate and specific praises and feeedback Teach teachers to think like a doctor. Warm heart and cool mind

Questions and Comments What did you learn from this workshop? What more information do you need? Future contact: Kimy Liu, Ph.D.