1. MIBLSI School-wide Reading Systems Readiness Activity
Elementary
miblsi.org

2. Welcome This readiness session consists of four activities.
Each activity will be identified with a
and will be accompanied by directions.
Let’s get started!

3. Video 1
Video is entitled MIBLSI's School-wide Reading Series Introduction and it is 1:42 long. The link to it is on the MIBLSI webpage for the Elementary Reading Readiness content
Video Script:
For slightly more than half of all children, learning to read is “wired” from birth. They learn to read with relative ease, especially once exposed to formal instruction. But, for the other 40% of children, learning to read is much more challenging. Moats, L.C., Whole Language High Jinks (2007). Washington, DC: Thomas Fordham Foundation, p. 11. Olson, R.K., SSR, Environment, and Genes (2004). Scientific Studies of Reading 8, no.2:
How students ultimately fare as readers is profoundly affected by the reading instruction they receive. We need to identify problems early and teach intentionally to ensure that all students are successful. We need an effective and efficient system around reading instruction that includes assessment to know who is on track and who is not, solid core instruction combined with additional tiers of intensified instructional support, and a team of educators working together. Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C.M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan-Thompson, S., and Tilly, W.D. (2008). Assisting students struggling with reading: Response to Intervention and multi-tier intervention for reading in the primary grades. A practice guide. (NCEE ). Washington, DC: National Center for Edu- cation Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from publications/practiceguides/.
MIBLSI’s Schoolwide Reading Series is designed to provide your school with these results. The training series guides schools in building effective schoolwide reading systems, combined with research-based classroom practices, training on data analysis and interpretation, and an emphasis on developing teams that support the framework in a meaningful and effective way. Ready to get started? Welcome!

4. 2 minute partner discussion
Activity 1
2 minute partner discussion
What questions or wonderings do you have from the video?

5. Learning to read is not easy!2
As a GROUP, chorally read the poem on the following slides from Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain by Maryanne Wolf.
(Trust us, you don’t want to
read this aloud by yourself!)
Wolf, M. ( 2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, pp
Wolf, M. ( 2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, pp

6. Mark Twain on the English language . . .
I take it you already know,
Of touch and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother.
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
Wolf, M. ( 2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, pp

7. Mark Twain on the English language(cont.)
And here is not a match for there,
And dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s dose and rose and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I’d learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to read it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.
Point is that learning to speak is a natural process but not so with reading!

8. 2 minute partner discussion
Activity 2
For more information on this topic, see:
Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the brain: The new science of how we read. New York, NY: Penguin Books
2 minute partner discussion
Learning to speak is natural but learning to read is not. Why?

9. Video: The reading process3
Video: The reading process
As a reminder on how complicated the reading process is, Dr. Reid Lyon will talk about the steps needed for children to become readers.
Before watching the video, please read the statements on the following slide with a partner and determine whether you believe the statements are true or false.
Show “Meet the Experts: G. Reid Lyon (The Reading Process)” Video is 5:44 from Reading Rockets. The link to it is on the MIBLSI webpage for the Elementary Reading Readiness content.
Information on Dr. Reid Lyon: Dr. Lyon received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1978 with a dual concentration in Special Education (learning disabilities and disorders) and neuropsychology/neurophsyiology). He served on the faculties of the University of Alabama - Birmingham (Special Education and Educational Psychology), Northwestern University (Communication Science and Disorders and the Director of the Neuropsychology Laboratory), the Stern Center for Language and Learning (Research Director), and the University of Vermont School Of Medicine (Neurology). He has authored, co-authored and edited more than 130 peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters on developmental neuroscience, learning differences and disabilities, reading and reading difficulties, and educational policy. 

10. True or False Statement
1. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that printed words are made up of individual sounds
2. Strong phonics skills are critical for being able to decode a word you have never seen before.
3. Phonics skills are not strongly correlated with reading comprehension.
4. Reading is a very complex process is which students must integrate several cognitive and linguistic skills simultaneously.
With a partner, read each statement on the screen and determine if you believe the statement is true (T) or false (F) and why.

11. Dr. Reid Lyon unpacks the Reading Process
YouTube Video Meet the Experts: G. Reid Lyon The Reading Process (
Video clip to watch is 5:44 and closed captioned. There is a pause and then the video continue.
Information on Dr. Reid Lyon: Dr. Lyon received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1978 with a dual concentration in Special Education (learning disabilities and disorders) and neuropsychology/neurophsyiology). He served on the faculties of the University of Alabama - Birmingham (Special Education and Educational Psychology), Northwestern University (Communication Science and Disorders and the Director of the Neuropsychology Laboratory), the Stern Center for Language and Learning (Research Director), and the University of Vermont School Of Medicine (Neurology). He has authored, co-authored and edited more than 130 peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters on developmental neuroscience, learning differences and disabilities, reading and reading difficulties, and educational policy. 

12. 2 minute partner discussion
Activity 3
2 minute partner discussion
Review the answers on the next slide. How did you do?

13. Statement Answers Statement T or F False
1. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that printed words are made up of individual sounds. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds.
False
2. Strong phonics skills are critical for being able to decode a word you have never seen before.
True
3. Phonics skills are not strongly correlated with reading comprehension. Phonics skills are part of the equation of Decoding x Language = Reading Comprehension and are strongly correlated with reading comprehension. Effect size for phonics instruction is 0.54 (Hattie, Fisher, Frey, 2016)
4. Reading is a very complex process is which students must integrate several cognitive and linguistic skills simultaneously.
With your partner, check your answers.
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds. Lyon, G.R. (1999). Why reading is not a natural process. In Educational Leadership, Vol. 55, No. 6, March 1998, pp. 14–18. Adams, M. J  Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
2. Strong phonics skills are critical for being able to link sounds to letters and decode a word you have never seen before. Lyon, G.R. (1999). Why reading is not a natural process. In Educational Leadership, Vol. 55, No. 6, March 1998, pp Adams, M. J  Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
3. Phonics skills are strongly correlated with reading comprehension. Adams, M. J  Hattie, J., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2016). Visible learning for literacy: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Excerpted from: National Reading Panel. (April, 2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
4. Reading is a very complex process is which students must integrate several cognitive and linguistic skills simultaneously. Lyon, G.R. (1999). Why reading is not a natural process. In Educational Leadership, Vol. 55, No. 6, March 1998, pp. 14–18.
For more information, see MIBLSI Online Modules on beginning reading available at

14. Impact is Devastating
Of the 10-15% of students that drop out, 75% report difficulties in reading
Struggling with reading skills can have a huge impact on a student’s self-esteem and motivation
A lack of reading skills can deprive students of learning critical content in upper grades
A lack of reading skills may decrease the chance of succeeding in college and/or earning a family sustaining wage with pathways for advancement
Dr. Reid Lyon, Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in testimony before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, House of Representatives, March 2001, as quoted in Carnine, Silbert, Kameenui, Tarver, Jungjohann (2006). Teaching struggling and at-risk readers: A direct instruction approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, p. 4.

15. Good News
Torgeson, Preventing and remediating reading difficulties: National goals and current accomplishments. Presentation to International Dyslexia Association Conference, Seattle, Washington, November Retrieved from
Reading research indicates that 90-95% of ALL students, including those with learning disabilities, can achieve literacy levels at or approaching grade level

16. How can this work?
Education continues to rely on the “excellent teacher” myth rather than on the “improved system” approach. Excellent teachers are a gift, and we should admire, learn from and support them. But the real issue is how to (a) train more “excellent teachers”, (b) give them curricula that really works, and (c) give them a system that makes it easier and more likely that excellent teaching happens by design rather than by heroic efforts to overcome the system.
Building a strong MTSS framework will get us there! Which leads us to jigsaw reading about MTSS.
Quote above by Dr. Rob Horner, University of Oregon, at the MIBLSI State Conference, December 11, 2014.
Rob Horner, 2013

17. What is this system and how will it help?4
Divide into groups of three. Each person read a page of the following article and be prepared to share out the talking points to the group.
Jigsaw read of the article on the webpage for this content, “A teacher’s guide to multi-tier system of supports (MTSS) and Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI). It is a 3 page article.
The group of three is just a suggestion Please feel free to adjust for the needs of your group.

18. Activity 4 2 minute discussion (just kidding, take 5)
Provide your partners with a brief summary of the big ideas of your section of the article

19. Summary
Learning to read is NOT easy and we must have a system in place to make sure all students are readers
MTSS can assist your school in maximizing your instruction in reading
MIBLSI’s School-wide Reading System series is designed to walk you through that process

20. What’s Coming This Year?
DIBELS Next Essential Workshop (1 day)
Tier 1 Elementary Reading Systems (1 day)
DIBELS Next Data Interpretation (1 day)
Grade-Level Problem Solving (2 days)
Winter Data Review
Elementary Intervention System Day 1
Tier 2 Behavior Check-in/Check-out (CICO)
Spring Data Review

21. Exit Slip
After today’s presentation and discussions, describe two things that you are thinking about, wondering about, pondering, questioning, etc
You may want to have this printed out so they can write and turn it in as they leave.

22. Thank You
You have the most important job in the world. Thank you for all that you do for your students!