1. REWARDS Intermediate Training
Program Authors: Anita Archer, Mary Gleason, & Vicky Vachon
Training Content Designed by Anita Archer
Terri Metcalf & Courtney Huff
October 2016

2. Learning Intentions Review the science of teaching reading
Summarize the benefits of multisyllabic word instruction, accuracy and rate development, comprehension and vocabulary instruction
Describe the components of REWARDS including the materials and instructional design (pre-skills, strategy focus)
Practice delivering the components of REWARDS to prepare for students

3. The Science Behind Teaching Reading
And how it connects to REWARDS

4. Big Ideas of Elementary Reading Big Ideas of Adolescent Reading
Big Ideas of Reading K-12
Big Ideas of Elementary Reading
K-3rd
Big Ideas of Adolescent Reading
4th-12th
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Word study (advanced phonics)
Motivation
We call them the big ideas. Elementary Big Ideas: read them with me: (participants read). The Big Ideas for Adolescent Reading (read them with me). What makes a big idea a big idea for reading is that it is something that we can teach and if it gets taught it will improve reading abilities and it is predictive of reading acquisition. At the elementary level, one of the most frequently asked questions is why Letter naming is not a big idea. Well, it absolutely is an indicator of risk. You have kids who cannot recognize a letter, they are unlikely to be able to know the sound of each letter.

5. Improving Adolescent Literacy Recommendations:
Provide explicit vocabulary instruction
Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction
Provide extended opportunities for discussion of text meaning and interpretation
Increase student engagement and motivation in literacy learning
Make available intensive and individualized interventions trained specialists
Plus - intentional student writing about what has been read (not in 2008 guide)
This is where the recommendations for how to improve literacy for adolescent readers comes into play (4th – 12th grade). I am also the co-director for a US DOE model demonstration grant for improving adolescent reading and we have built our model around these recommendations. I want to go a bit deeper into the first recommendation for my secondary friends who are here today. Also, these strategies are pretty darn good to use regardless of the grade level you teach.
IES Practice Guide, 2008

6. Changing Emphasis of Big IdeasK
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Phonemic Awareness
Blending& Seg
Spelling Dictation
Phonics
Sounds/
Basic Phonics
Advanced Phonics & Multisyllabic
Multi-Syllabic & Word Study
Fluency
Sounds & Words
Words & Connected Text
Connected Text
Vocabulary
Listening
Listening & Reading
Reading
Comprehension
This graphic depicts general subskills within each area that should be emphasized as students move through the elementary grades. Additionally, though all of the big ideas need to be taught daily, the darker blue shading represents where proportionally more time should be spent on instruction. For example, in K and the first half of first grade, a larger portion of the reading block should be dedicated to phonemic awareness, letter sounds, and basic phonics, or the “learning to read skills.” But teachers will also be working on sound and word automaticity and teaching vocabulary and text comprehension right from the beginning focusing on general language skills, literal comprehension and learning basic story elements and text structures primarily through read alouds of narrative and informational text while the students are listening and engaging in classroom discussions. The shift in the big ideas changes in the middle of 1st grade through 3rd grade. Again, vocabulary and comprehension are taught daily and phonemic awareness should be incorporated into spelling instruction; however more instructional time during the reading block should be spent on the explicit and systematic instruction of advanced phonics skills, reading multisyllabic words, and fluency of connected text. Note the focus in K-3 is on the foundational reading skills of the CCSS! Finally, the emphasis shifts yet again in the 4th and 5th grades. Daily spelling dictation, multisyllabic and word study instruction, focusing on using affix and root words to help understand the meaning of words, and fluency should be taught daily. But a larger percentage of time will be spent on vocabulary and comprehension instruction (though there will be overlap between word study and vocabulary). While class discussions and oral analyzing of text should still continue in the upper elementary grades, students will be doing more of the reading independently.

7. Academic Language Skills
Simple Model of Reading (Two domains that lead to reading comprehension)
Decoding X =
Language
Reading
Comprehension
Decoding
Skills
Academic Language Skills

8. Simple Model of Reading
Decoding X =
Language
Reading
Comprehension
Academic Language Skills
Academic Vocabulary
Inferential Language Skills
Narrative Language Skills
Ability to comprehend and use words in formal writing
Ability to discuss topics beyond the immediate context
Ability to clearly relate a series of events

9. Simple Model of Reading
Decoding X
Language =
Reading
Comprehension
Decoding
Skills
Print Concepts
Fluency (accuracy, rate, expression)
Understand the organization and basic features of print
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension
Phonological Awareness
Phonics and Word Recognition
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes)

10. REWARDS: Understanding the Why
Program Benefits

11. REWARDS Why Activity
On Your Own: Read through the 10 statements and decide if you agree or disagree. Complete the “Before Reading” column.
With Your Partner: Then read through the REWARDS Why document. Complete the “After Reading” column.
With Your Team: Record a few key points in your rationale section from the document.

12. Summary of REWARDS Goals
Students will:
Decode unknown multisyllabic words containing two to eight word parts.
Read narrative and informational text accurately with appropriate rate (fluency).
Have expanded general academic and domain specific vocabulary.
Experience increased comprehension and facility with text-dependent comprehension questions.
Accurately spell more multisyllabic grade-level words.

13. Research findings on REWARDS (See Appendix H for review of REWARDS studies.)
1) The REWARDS multisyllabic word reading strategy is effective in improving students’ ability to decode unknown long words,
2) instruction using the REWARDS reading program yields significant
growth in decoding accuracy and reading rate (fluency),
3) REWARDS Intermediate is effective as part of a Tier 2 or Tier 3 RTI
(Response to Instruction and Intervention) initiative,
4) REWARDS has been successfully implemented in rural, suburban,
and urban communities,

14. Research findings on REWARDS (See Appendix H for review of REWARDS studies.)
5) REWARDS is effective when used with students who have been designated English Language Learners at some point in their school history,
6) REWARDS is an effective intervention for students with learning disabilities and for other struggling readers, and
7) REWARDS Intermediate can be used as a whole class intervention, benefiting students at all reading levels (intensive, strategic, and benchmark).

15. Practice: Why Rehearsal & Retrieval
Partner #1 review the Summary of the REWARDS Goals. Select one bullet point to review and practice sharing it with Partner #2. Partner #2 review the REWARDS Research Findings and select one bullet point that stands out to you and practice sharing it with Partner #1. Table Conversation: What stood out to you as an important factor to remember as a REWARDS teacher?

16. REWARDS Key Components
Program Fit, Materials Overview, Getting Ready

17. REWARDS Intermediate R = Reading E = Excellence: W = Word
A = Attack and
R = Rate
D = Development
S = Strategies
AUTHORS: Anita L. Archer, Mary M. Gleason, and Vicky Vachon
(Additional information on the REWARDS programs can be obtained on the following website:

18. What is REWARDS Intermediate?
REWARDS Intermediate is:
A research-validated, specialized reading program
Designed for intermediate students in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades

19. REWARDS Strategy Overt Strategy reconstruction instruction
1. Circle the prefixes.
2. Circle the suffixes.
3. Underline the vowels.
4. Say the parts of the word.
5. Say the whole word.
6. Make it a real word.
reconstruction
instruction
unconventionality

20. REWARDS Strategy Covert Strategy
1. Look for prefixes, suffixes, and vowels.
2. Say the parts of the word.
3. Say the whole word.
4. Make it a real word.

21. Who is it designed for? Students who:
Are in the intermediate grades (fourth, fifth, and sixth grades)
Have mastered the basic reading skills associated with first and second grade expectations
Read at the 3rd grade level or above
Read at least 60 correct words per minute
Would benefit from systematic decoding, fluency, and vocabulary instruction

22. How to determine?
Administer an assessment to determine current reading level
e.g., the San Diego Quick (REWARDS Intermediate Teacher’s Guide, Appendix D)
e.g., the Word Identification and Word Attack Subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test
e.g., any group or individually-administered standardized reading test (Gates, TOWRE, PIAT)
Administer one-minute, oral reading fluency assessment using
e.g., passage provided in REWARDS Intermediate Teacher’s Guide, Appendix E)
e.g., AIMSweb or DIBELS oral reading fluency passages
e.g., grade-level expository text
Administer one-minute, multisyllabic oral reading assessment
(REWARDS Intermediate Teacher’s Guide, Appendix E)

23. Where can this program be used?
General Education Classes
(RTI - Tier 1, Core Instruction)
Beginning of year to increase decoding, fluency, and vocabulary and to enhance grade-level text reading
Intervention Classes
(RTI - Tier 2 and Tier 3)
Intervention classes, special education resource rooms, and specialized tutoring programs
Intensive Intervention Programs
Summer school programs, after-school programs

24. REWARDS Intermediate Materials
Teacher’s Guide
Student Book
Online Materials

25. REWARDS Intermediate Materials
Teacher’s Guide
Introduction
Unit Dividers (See page 3 in Examples)
25 Lessons
Preskills (Lessons 1-15)
Strategy Instruction (Lessons 16-25)
Appendices

26. REWARDS Intermediate Materials
Student Book
Consumable
Stimuli for 25 lessons
Note: REWARDS Intermediate is a teacher-directed program. Students should not work independently in the Student Book.

27. REWARDS Intermediate Materials
Online Lesson Displays
Necessary for each lesson
Download before the lesson
Illustrated Vocabulary Displays (optional)
PowerPoints for vocabulary instruction
Progress Monitoring (See pages 4 and 5 in Examples)

28. REWARDS Intermediate Materials
Use of displays depends on technology and group size. One requirement: You must be able to write on displays.
Some Options:
1. Download displays and use electronically with an interactive whiteboard.
2. Download to an interactive app on a tablet.
3. Download to a computer and project onto a mounted whiteboard.
4. Download and print displays. Project using a document camera.
5. Download and print. Display on a clipboard.

29. Instruction: The Pre-Skills
Lessons 1-15

30. Preskill Lessons
Activity A: Oral Activity - Blending Parts into Words (Examples, page 6)
Activity B: Vowel Combinations (Examples, page 7)
Activity C. Vowel Conversions (Examples, page 8)
Activity D. Reading Parts of Real Words (Examples, page 9)
Activity E. Underlining Vowels in Words (Examples, pages 10 and 11)
Activity F. Oral Activity - Correcting Close Approximations using Context (Examples, page 12)

31. Activity A: Oral Activity - Blending Parts into Words
Activity: Students blend orally presented word parts (e.g., the teacher says re con sid er) into real words (e.g., the students say “reconsider”). Most of the practice words are later included in decoding activities.
Rationale: The ability to orally blend word parts into words directly transfers to decoding of multisyllabic words in which each part is decoded and pronounced and then the parts are blended into a real word.
(See Examples, page 6)

32. Vowels

33. Vowels

34. Activity B. Vowel Combinations
Activity: Students say the major sounds for high-frequency vowel combinations (ay, ai, au, er, ir, ur, ar, or, a-e, o-e, i-e, e-e, u-e, oi, oy, ee, oa, ou) and the major and minor sounds for ow (low, down), oo (moon, book), and ea (meat, thread).
Rationale: Students are more likely to make errors on vowel sounds than on consonant sounds. Thus, vowel combinations are explicitly taught and reviewed to promote accurate and quick production of vowel sounds when decoding multisyllabic words.
(See Examples, page 7)

35. Activity C. Vowel Conversions
Activity: Students say the sound (short sound) and then the name (long sound) for letters a, i, o, u, and e. (This order of introduction was used to separate the easily confused sounds of i and e.)
Rationale: When these single vowel letters occur in words, the word is generally recognized using the sound (short sound) of the letter. If the word is not recognized, the name (long sound) for the letter can be used instead while applying the flexible REWARDS strategy.
(See Examples, page 8)

36. Activity D. Reading Parts of Real Words
Activity: Students read parts of real words (e.g., plete, tise, crim) that contain previously taught vowel sounds. Although these appear to be nonsense words, they are actually parts of multisyllabic words that students will encounter later in the program.
Rationale: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with decoding practice using recently introduced vowel graphemes in short word parts rather than in more challenging multisyllabic words.
(See Examples, page 9)

37. Activity E. Underlining Vowels in Words
Activity: Students locate and underline vowel graphemes within words (e.g., background, turmoil). Next, the teacher guides the students in reading the multisyllabic words by looping under each word part, asking students to say the parts and then the whole word.
Rationale: Since each part of a long word contains a vowel grapheme, locating the vowel graphemes is very helpful in segmenting a word into decodable chunks. Thus, practice reading long words begins in the preskill lessons but supported by careful teacher scaffolding.
(See Examples, pages 10 and 11)

39. Activity F. Oral Activity - Correcting Close Approximations using Context
Activity: The teacher intentionally mispronounces a word in a manner similar to common decoding errors (e.g., hot el, stressing the hot in hotel), repeats the mispronunciation within a sentence (We stayed in a hot el.), and asks students to produce the accurate pronunciation of the word.
Rationale: The words we read must be real words that other English speakers have said or heard. Decoding of unknown words often yields a pronunciation that is a close approximation to the word, but not the exact pronunciation. These close approximations must be turned into real words using oral/aural language in conjunction with the passage context. (See Examples, page 12)

40. Practice Activities A-F
Active Participation Considers: Group Says Answer, Partner Says Answer, Individual Says Answer, Students Write Answers
On Your Own: Read through Activities A-F to become familiar with the tasks and language.
With Your Partner: Practice taking turns being the teacher and deliver each part of the lesson.
With Your Table Team, each take a turn to “Stand and Deliver” one part of the lesson.

41. Preskill Lessons Activity G. Prefixes and Suffixes (Examples, page 13)
Activity H. Circling Prefixes and Suffixes (Examples, pages 14 and 15)
Activity I. Meanings of Prefixes and Suffixes (Examples, pages 16 and 17)
Activity J. Spelling (Examples, page 18)
Activity K. Academic Vocabulary (Examples, page 19)
Illustrated Vocabulary Displays (Examples, pages 20 and 21)

45. Activity G. Prefixes and Suffixes
Activity: Students listen to the pronunciation of prefixes and suffixes, practice saying these affixes, and review previously introduced affixes, the goal being accurate and quick pronunciation.
Rationale: About 80 percent of multisyllabic words have one or more affixes. Thus, the ability to quickly identify and pronounce prefixes (e.g., re, un, dis) and suffixes (e.g., tion, al, able) facilitates the accurate, fluent decoding of longer words. (See Examples, page 13)

46. Activity H. Circling Prefixes and Suffixes
Activity: Students identify, circle, and pronounce prefixes and suffixes within multisyllabic words. Then—with teacher assistance in segmenting— students read words with prefixes and suffixes.
Rationale: Peeling off the prefixes and suffixes is a critical part of the decoding strategy taught in this program, making the task of reading long words significantly easier. The goal is to quickly recognize very common affixes embedded within words and to see their usefulness as a decoding tool.
(See Examples, pages 14 and 15)

48. Activity I. Meanings of Prefixes & Suffixes
Activity: First, students are explicitly taught the meanings of high-frequency prefixes and suffixes. Next, students are given a definition stressing the meaning of the affix (e.g., not loyal) and asked to locate the corresponding word (e.g., disloyal).
Rationale: This activity shows students how the addition of a prefix or suffix to a root (base word, stem) can systematically alter the meaning of a word.
(See Examples, pages 16 and 17)

49. Activity J. Spelling
Activity: The teacher dictates a lesson word. Next, along with the teacher, the students say the parts in the word as they put up one finger for each part. Then the students write the word. Finally, the students compare their spellings to the correct spelling of the word. They cross out any misspellings and rewrite those words.
Rationale: In this activity, students are learning a strategy that they can employ when spelling unknown words (Say the parts. Write the parts. Examine the word and ask "Does it look like the word?"). Decoding and encoding are also reciprocal processes; practice with one strengthens the other.
(See Examples, page 18)

50. Activity J. Spelling

51. Activity K. Academic Vocabulary
Activity: The meanings of two academic words are taught using the following instructional steps: 1) introduce the word, 2) provide a student-friendly explanation, 3) illustrate the word's meaning with examples, and 4) check for understanding.
Rationale: Given that reading comprehension in the upper grades is highly related to a student’s vocabulary, academic words (high-frequency words that occur in many domains) must be systematically taught and reviewed.
(See Examples, page 19)

52. Illustrated Vocabulary Displays
If you are teaching English Language Learners or other students having low vocabulary, you may wish to teach the expanded Illustrated Vocabulary using the online displays that provide pictures to augment each word's explanation, examples, and word family.
If time permits, you may wish to teach Activity K and the Illustrated Vocabulary, providing multiple exposures to each word and increasing the probability of mastery.
(See Examples, pages 20 and 21)

61. Practice Activities G-K
Active Participation Considers: Group Says Answer, Partner Says Answer, Individual Says Answer, Students Write Answers
On Your Own: Read through Parts G-K to become familiar with the tasks and language.
With Your Partner: Practice taking turns being the teacher and deliver each part of the lesson.
With Your Table Team, each take a turn to “Stand and Deliver” one part of the lesson.

62. Instruction: Strategy Lessons

63. Strategy Instruction Modeling I do it. Guided Practice We do it.
Unguided Practice You do it.

64. Strategy Instruction Lessons
Strategy Instruction - Modeling and Guided Practice (Examples, pages 22 and 23)
Guided Practice (Faded) (Examples, page 24)
Unguided Practice (Examples, page 25)
Word Families (Examples, page 26)

65. Strategy Instruction - Modeling and Guided Practice (Lesson 16, Activity D)
Activity: In this activity, the teacher demonstrates each step in the overt strategy, showing students the strategy steps while thinking out loud. Next, the teacher guides students in applying the strategy steps to the decoding of additional multisyllabic words.
Rationale: When teaching any new skill or strategy, explicit instruction should be provided that includes modeling followed by guided practice. Since this is the most important activity in the program, you will need to carefully read the instructional procedures to ensure clarity.
(See Examples, pages 22 and 23 )

68. Guided Practice (Faded) (Lesson 16, Activity E)
Activity: Students circle prefixes and suffixes, underline the vowels in the rest of the word, and read the words by parts, thus applying the strategy with less teacher assistance.
Rationale: As with teaching any new strategy or skill, there should be a gradual release of responsibility in which teacher assistance is carefully faded. Also, an adequate amount of practice is necessary to take the skill beyond accuracy to automaticity.
(See Examples, page 24)

70. Unguided Guided Practice (Lesson 22, Activity E)
Activity: In this activity, which begins in Lesson 22, students visually examine long words, looking for prefixes, suffixes, and vowels, and determine the pronunciation of the word.
Rationale: As an extension of the concept of "gradual release of responsibility,” students use the covert REWARDS strategy to decode words independently, followed by teacher feedback on the pronunciation. If students have difficulty, they are encouraged to pick up their pencils and circle the prefixes and suffixes and underline the vowels so that they can segment the word into decodable chunks.
(See Examples, page 25)

71. Word Families
Activity: After reading the first word in the family, students figure out the remaining words in the list on their own, then read the list with the teacher twice, and finally read the list to a partner.
Rationale: To visually reinforce the morphographic nature of English and to extend decoding practice, in Lessons 16-25, students read word families, which are groups of words having the same base.
(See Examples, page 26)

73. Promoting Strategy Use
Tell them to use the strategy.
Teach the strategy to mastery.
Provide practice that parallels how the strategy will be used.
Sentence reading
Passage reading

74. Promoting Strategy Use
Sentence Reading (Examples, pages 27 and 28)
Sentence Reading – Optional Procedures (Examples, pages 28 and 29)
Passage Reading – Before Reading (Examples, pages )
Passage Reading – During Reading (Examples, pages )
Passage Reading – After Reading – Rate Development (Examples, pages 43 and 44)

75. Sentence Reading
Activity: With each sentence, students first read silently, allowing them time to apply the REWARDS strategy to any particularly difficult words. Then students read orally using one of these reading options: choral reading with the teacher, partner reading, and calling on an individual to read if the group size is small.
(See Examples, pages 27 and 28)

76. Sentence Reading – Optional Procedures
Activity: Two optional procedures can augment the sentence reading: 1) responding to text-dependent questions on sentence content, and 2) determining the meaning of an unfamiliar word using the context clues.
Rationale: This activity provides additional word reading practice within sentences similar to those found within textbooks, promoting generalization of the REWARDS strategies to daily reading.
(See Examples, pages 28 and 29)

77. Passage Reading – Before Reading
Before Reading: The teacher tells students the pronunciation of some difficult words and leads them in applying the REWARDS strategy to other difficult-to-pronounce words. In addition, explanations (definitions) of all of the words are presented, with more extensive instruction given on four word meanings critical to the passage.
(See Illustrated Vocabulary, Examples, pages 30 – 36)

84. Passage Reading – During Reading
During Reading: Students read the passage segment by segment, first reading each segment silently and then orally, answering foundation and higher-order, text-dependent questions by identifying evidence in the passage.
Rationale: The purpose of this activity is to promote generalization of the decoding and comprehension strategies to grade-level informational text reading.
(See Examples, pages )

85. Passage Reading – During Reading
After each segment has been read, students are asked a “Main Question.” To promote success, two types of support are provided:
1. Scaffolding Questions: These Key Detail questions can be asked before the “Main Question” if your students have difficulty with comprehension, or you can ask the “Main Question” and use the “Scaffolding Questions” when students have difficulty composing a quality answer.
2. Sentence Starters: Students are given a sentence starter to use in composing their answers. Sentence starters increase the quality of answers and promote the use of academic language.

87. Passage Reading—Rate Development
Activity: Students whisper-read the passage for a minute, noting their ending point. This is then repeated, with students trying to read beyond their initial ending point. Next, students exchange books, listen to their partners read for a minute, and underline their partners’ errors. Students determine and graph the number of words read on their Cold and Hot timings.
Rationale: Oral reading fluency can be increased through multiple rereadings of passages for which the reader already has a high level of accuracy. Several studies have determined that intentional fluency building using repeated readings results in fluency gains.
(See Examples, pages 43 and 44)

88. Practice Strategy Lesson
Active Participation Considers: Group Says Answer, Partner Says Answer, Individual Says Answer, Students Write Answers
On Your Own: Read through Strategy Lesson Activities to become familiar with the tasks and language.
With Your Partner: Practice taking turns being the teacher and deliver each part of the lesson.
With Your Table Team, each take a turn to “Stand and Deliver” one part of the lesson.

89. Thank you for your participation.
How well we teach =
How well they learn
May the REWARDS be great.