1. When Students Can’t Read…
26 Steps to assure students are receiving the best literacy instruction.
By: Jennifer Murdock
When Students Can’t Read…
What Teacher’s Can Do
Spring 2007

2. Why Is Literacy So Important???
More than three thousand students drop out of high school every school day.
One of the most common reasons students drop out is simply do to the fact that they don’t have the literacy skills to keep up with high school curriculum.
There are eight million struggling readers in grades 4-12 in schools across the nation.

3. Why is Literacy so Important Cont.
Almost 70% of students entering ninth grade are considered to be reading below grade level.
Almost 60% of students entering twelfth grade are considered to be reading below grade level.
Part of what makes it so difficult to meet the needs of struggling readers and writers in middle and high school is that these students experience a wide range of challenges that require an equally wide range of interventions.

4. 15 Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs
Instructional Improvements
Direct, explicit Comprehension instruction
Effective instructional principles embedded in content
Motivation and self-directed learning
Text-based collaborative learning
Strategic tutoring
Diverse texts
Intensive writing
A technology component
Ongoing formative assessment of students
Infrastructure Improvements
Extended time for literacy
Professional development
Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs
Teacher teams
Leadership
A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program

5. Instructional Elements
Direct, explicit comprehension instruction
Comprehension strategies
Comprehension monitoring and metacognition instruction
Teacher modeling
Scaffold instruction
Apprenticeship models
Effective Instructional Principles Embedded in Content
First form applies to language arts teachers
The teacher does not simply teach a technique as an abstract skill, but teaches using content-area materials.
Second form applies to subject area teachers
The teacher uses instructional principles embedded in the content to reinforce instruction in the skills and strategies that are particularly effective in their subject area

6. Instructional Elements Continued
Motivation and Self-Directed Learning
Addresses the need to promote greater student engagement and motivation
Text-Based Collaborative Learning
When students work in small groups, they should discuss the topic as well as interact with each other around a text.
Diverse Texts
Providing students with diverse texts that present a wide range of topices at a variety of learning levels.

7. Instructional Elements Continued
Intensive Writing
Effective adolescent literacy programs must include and element that helps students improve their writing skills.
Technology Component
Technology plays and increasingly important in our society, and is both a facilitator and medium of literacy
Ongoing Formative Assessment
The best instructional improvements are informed by ongoing assessment of student strengths and needs.

8. Infrastructural Elements
Extended Time for Literacy
In order to improve literacy, more instructional time must be added.
Professional Development
Long term professional development is likely to promote lasting, positive changes in teacher knowledge and practice

9. Infrastructural Elements Continued
Ongoing Summative Assessment of Students and Programs
These assessments are designed speciffically for implementation with continuous progress-monitoring systems.
Teacher Teams
Ensures that the school structure supports coordinated instruction and planning in an interdisciplinary teacher team.

10. Infrastructural Elements Continued
Leadership
It is critical that the principal assumes the role of an instructional leader, who demonstrates commitment and participates in the school community.
A Comprehensive and Coordinated Literacy program
The vision for an effective literacy program recognizes that creating fluent and proficient readers and writers is a very complex task and requires teachers to coordinate their instruction to reinforce important strategies and concepts.
Proceeding information was taken from:
Reading Next: A Vision For Action And Research
In Middle And High School Literacy

11. 11 Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing
Writing Strategies
Summarization
Collaborative Writing
Specific Product goals
Word Processing
Sentence- Combining
Prewriting
Inquiry Activities
Process Writing Approach
Study of Models
Writing for Content Learning

12. Key Elements of Writing Instruction
Writing Strategies
Teaching adolescents strategies for planning, revising, and editing their compositions has shown a dramatic effect on the quality of students’ writing.
Summarization
Writing instruction often involves explicitly and systematically teaching students how to summarize texts.

13. Key Elements of Writing Instruction Continued
Collaborative Writing
Involves developing instructional arrangements whereby adolescents work together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their compositions. It shows a strong impact on improving the quality of student writing.
Specific Product Goals
Setting product goals involves assigning students specific, reachable goals for their writing. As well as identifying the purpose of the assignment and the characteristics of the final product.

14. Key Elements of Writing Instruction continued
Word Processing
The use of word-processing equipment can be particularly helpful for low-achieving writers.
Sentence Combining
Involves teaching students to construct more complex and sophisticated sentences through exercises in which two or more basic sentences are combined into a single sentence.

15. Key Elements of Writing Instruction Continued
Pre-Writing
Engages students in activities designed to help them generate or organize ideas for their composition.
Engaging Students in such activities before they write a first draft improves the quality of their writing.

16. Key Elements of Writing Instruction Continued
Process Writing Approach
Involves a number of interwoven activities, including creating extended opportunities for writing
emphasizing writing for real audiences
encouraging cycles of planning, translating, and reviewing
Stressing personal responsibility and ownership of writing projects
Facilitating high levels of student interactions
Developing supportive writing environments
Encouraging self-reflection and evaluation
Offering personalized individual assistance

17. Key Elements of Writing Instruction Continued
Inquiry Activities
Engaging students in activities that help them develop ideas and content for a particular writing task by analyzing immediate, concrete data.
Study of Models
Provides adolescents with good models for each type of writing that is the focus of instruction.

18. Key Elements of Writing Instruction Continued
Writing for content Area Learning
Writing has been shown to be an effective tool for enhancing students’ learning of content materials
Proceeding information was taken from:
Writing Next: Effective Strategies To Improve
Writing of Adolescents In Middle and
High School.