For years, my school district has pushed back on qualifying students with learning disabilities with reading fluency only. The stance has always been--there is always a reason for being disfluent. Go back and look for the reason.  Well, time and time again--they have been right. The larger reason--the true root cause of the student's learning need!

For me, it always boils done to students needing phonics instruction. It might be the basics: sounds and letters or a Tier 2 intervention then the student is off to the races. However, most of the time it's an advanced phonics need. The student needs to work on vowel teams or open syllables.


When in doubt, look at the words the missed on a running record or oral reading fluency. The photo is the word level analysis of a student's oral reading fluency progress monitoring over 3 weeks. I can now the information to drive my instruction and see (if anything) needs to be changed. In this case, no but I do need to double check the scope & sequence of the phonics program she is in to ensure the advanced phonics she needs does indeed get taught in a timely fashion.

For many who teach reading the mere idea of advanced phonics or what do you mean there are 6 syllable types--its greek. FYI: when looking for a phonics program or intervention look for one with a scope & sequence that covers all 6 syllable types.

Students benefit from learning the concept of syllables, such as hearing them in words, understanding the syllable-spelling connection, and knowing that every syllable has a vowel. There are six common types of syllables found in English orthography. Direct instruction how these syllable patterns work in reading and spelling can be a powerful skill building activity for students, especially those who struggle to read, write, and spell.Knowing these help them learn to read and spell. Oh, and read fluently.

I teach the six syllable types starting with my 1st graders. For example, why are certain vowels used, when should you double consonants, and how does one know the correct way to pronounce sounds in words? Reading and spelling no longer feel so random and mysterious once children learn how words work. (My school's spelling program works students through the types--CRS.)

Breaking words down into syllables simplifies reading and spelling, especially for more fluent readers and spellers. Think about how you spell long, unknown words. You probably break the word down into manageable chunks as you spell it. Systematically teaching students how to hear syllables, then teaching the six syllable types, helps students read and spell challenging, multisyllabic words they previously would have misread or skipped.

The six syllable types are:

Closed Syllables
Vowels in closed syllables are usually short. These are typically the first words taught and learned, so this is a good place to start syllable type instruction. Closed syllables have a short vowel, followed by at least one consonant: much, vet, shell, insect, publish, sunset

Open Syllables
Open syllables end in a vowel that is usually long. Some examples of open syllables are: shy, go, me, silo, zero. Words can have more than one type of syllable, such as these words with both an open and closed syllable: rerun or robot.

Vowel-consonant-silent e Syllables
Vowels in these syllables are long and the final e is silent. Some examples are: lime, those, snake. Examples of words with an open and vowel-consonant-silent e syllable are: define, migrate, and beside.

Vowel Pair Syllables
Also known as Vowel Teams, these vowel sounds are spelled with digraphs such as: plain, coat, cowboy.

R-Controlled Syllables
These syllables have a vowel followed by an r. The r affects the sound the vowel makes, and both sounds are heard within the same syllable. Examples with or, ir, er, ar, ur are: star, bird, her, turtle.

Consonant-le Syllables
These syllables are also known as final stable syllables. Students will usually discover that when they see a consonant followed by le at the end of a word, the three letters form a syllable. Some examples are: bubble, maple, kettle, and fiddle.

Pinterest

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Though I stick to phonics programs to teach syllable types you can do this in guided reading as you see students needing the support.

Until Next Time,

The term “academic rigor” has been making its way back through my building, but many teachers are not familiar with the concept or how to support rigor within their classroom. Understanding rigor is essential for understanding how to approach and measure the learning of students. It questions the standards and makes me think about what I really want students to know. (think 40 years from now)

“Rigor,” in the academic sense, is referring to that fine line between challenging and frustrating a student. It means that students are challenged to think, perform, and grow to a level that they were not at previously. It means that students must work, like an athlete at a team practice, to build their skills, understanding, and thinking power so that they can achieve at higher and higher levels. It means that the standards of the course are calibrated so that students are compelled to grow, but are not frustrated and overwhelmed in the process.

Academic rigor is commonly thought of in three different phases of the educational process. The first is setting the standard for students; the second is equipping students through instructional and supportive methods; the third is student demonstration of achievement.

Setting the Standard

We all know that there is a certain standard of excellence that we implicitly expect of our students. My students know that those expectations involve everything they do for me from writing assignments, pictures drawn, or speaking and listening to peers.

Sometimes these standards are made clear to students with examples, rubrics, directions, and instruction. Sometimes these standards are less defined. What is essential for establishing the appropriate degree of rigor in my classroom is making sure that you overtly demonstrate to students what the expected outcome is.

Not only is maintaining a high standard essential for student success, but excellent teachers must also make sure that they are supporting each and every student to move progressively toward the desired level of achievement. I make sure whatever content or skill is I'm are covering, I have the needed materials and instructional patterns.

• Lessons are systematically scaffolded from one to the next.
• Materials are consistently organized to clearly provide instructions and demonstration of task
• Intervention tasks or instructions are regularly utilized to ensure no students are left behind.
• I'm available for helping students individually at other points throughout the day.
• Parents are communicated with regularly regarding the academic goals of the course.
• Learning tools are color-coded, graphically organized, reinforced, and interactive.
• Content is made relevant and relatable to student background information and interest.
• Validation of Achievement

It’s not enough for teachers simply to “teach” and expect students then to “learn.” The final step for assessment of academic rigor within the classroom is to provide students with various opportunities to demonstrate their degree of achievement in relation to the given standard.

• A balance of formative and summative assessments intermittently provided.
• Student demonstration measured using a rubric or other standard-based assessment tool.
• Students allowed the opportunity to conference and revise work.
• Homework and class activities thought of as “practice.”
• Students work independently or collaboratively on a given project.
• Students connect material to real-life examples and situations.
• Students provide a written or spoken summative report.
• Students metacognitively apply a variety of content learned.
• Student performance compared to previous student attempts.
• Students provide high-level answers to high-level questions.
• Students do not give up or feel overwhelmed when faced with challenges.
• Students reflect on their learning progress and efforts.

So what are your standards in your classroom? How are those communicated, supported, and demonstrated throughout the year? Take time to consider how “rigorous” the academic requirements are for your classroom, and shape the environment to consistently demand of students higher and higher levels of academic progress!

Anticipate Difficulty

• Traditional remediation for struggling students imposes interventions after students have failed. It's more productive, however, if teachers anticipate areas of difficulty before students approach new material. Part of that anticipation includes the teacher considering the classroom population by knowing which students have identified learning disabilities, which have limited English proficiency, or how students have previously performed in class. Teachers should also be aware of which concepts and ideas have been difficult for classes in the past, where student misperceptions or confusions have been particularly strong.

Use Graphic Organizers

• Struggling students often need help organizing information in a coherent fashion to show how different parts relate to the whole and other kinds of relationships and connections. Graphic organizers can help, provided that teachers don't use them like worksheets. I demonstrate using them and make my student create their own. I only provide copies if I have a student that for whatever reason just can't--this is VERY rare. The point of the graphic organizer is to show kids how the facts are connected so they can organize them in their heads. Organizing information into a mental model or framework is the first stage of rigorous learning, and if you don't get that part right, it's harder to go farther in rigor. Ultimately, the goal is to get kids spontaneously creating their own graphic organizers—not on paper, but in their heads.
• A graphic organizer used in advance of a lesson gives students a heads up about key vocabulary, concepts, and skills, that they will encounter in a unit, showing the relationships of the upcoming information but also clarifying expectations of student learning. At the same time, such organizational tools can help teachers clarify in their own mind what kind of work they'll need to do to activate student's prior knowledge in a given area and fill gaps for some students, to better level the playing field as a new unit is undertaken.

Look for Clues

• During a lesson, teachers are constantly collecting information about students' learning through observations and other formative assessments, assignments, quizzes, tests, class participation, and behavioral cues. The feedback you collect all along from students gives you a lot of information about where kids are and where they're struggling but a lot of teachers make the mistake of seeing every struggling student as needing intervention without making the distinction between a productive struggle and destructive struggle.

Raise your hand if you have gone back to school. I started back on the 1st. The beginning of the school year is ALWAYS crazy. Right!! #YesIknow #CRAZY

This year with my new team members and general education teachers, I have to remind them to progress monitor identified students, students in RTI, oh well I really mean more or less your whole class.

What are those reasons for progress monitoring? We have some right?

1. Best practice
2. Monitor progress to grade level benchmarks
3. Adequate progress
4. Know if intervention worked

Progress monitoring has always been a best practice in teaching and learning. However, in an era of accountability ongoing, consistent progress monitoring is an essential component to determine the effectiveness of instruction and student learning. It is critical that we have routines for monitoring students’ growth and achievement that will support appropriate instruction. How do we know whether or not our instruction and our interventions are supporting student growth and learning? Progress monitoring helps us answer this question.

Another consideration is the frequency with which to monitor student progress. I want to give the student enough time to master the strategy, which means I don’t want the monitoring intervals to be too close together. At the same time, if the strategy is not working I want to discontinue it as soon as possible and replace it with methods that do work. This means I don’t want the monitoring intervals to be too far apart.

Without effective progress monitoring, I cannot determine whether or not our methods are working. Therefore, it is essential to think about how I monitor my students’ progress, how often I monitor, and how I use the findings to plan instruction so students learn and master the appropriate skills and strategies aka adequate progress.

Let's remember that progress monitoring is best implemented in a very realistic and sensible manner that can be sustained by the teacher. Using completed homework, class tests, learning/work station products, student share out time, oral presentations, conferences, and portfolios, to name a few, will provide you with the pulse of your students. And only you, as the classroom teacher, the professional, can determine which data and routines best serve you and your students for teaching and learning.

Until next Time,

I'm not sure how much colored page I go through but all I do KNOW is that when it comes to students taking owner ship of their data and it NOT being part of my mess--is a HUGE deal.

This is the third year, I have created data binders for my students and created a current assessment binder for myself.

Why you might ask--did would I go through all that drama to create data binders in color. Well because I wanted NEEDED to tame the mess of student data which had over run my desk.

Let me take you back to the beginning of my teaching career. I kept ALL my IEP data in one huge binder on my desk. The problem--it was a pain to locate a specific student's data or to take to a meeting.

Fast forward a couple of years, I began to keep student's progress monitoring data in group binders. I kept data, lesson plans, and IEPs here. I could find a student's data but it was a pain to lug to any meeting.

A fellow Special Education teacher suggested using file folders as she did the same. Well, let me tell you-my student's data was easy to find and take to meetings BUT it OVER TOOK my desk. I couldn't do anything on my desk without having to move 300 things. (HUGE PAIN)

Then I crossed paths with someone who used individual binders for everything related to the student's IEP. She kept the current IEP, notes from meets with the classroom teacher and conversations with the student's parents.

This is where my data binders started. Over the next couple of years, it went from black & white to color. (This was a hint from my ESL teacher.)  But before I went with color paper, I had to get my students to do their own data collection, reflection, and have a voice in their IEPs. Way easier than said.

I started with reading fluency with graphing with just coloring to the correct number. Then came reflection and voice. I slowly added to what students did based on their IEP goals. One at a time. Last year, I added the colors. The colors were chosen as they matched the dividers and the order I wanted to put things in.





 All these lines lend themselves beautifully to student conferences. Goal setting is KEY to not only giving students voice and choice but it is also how you MOVE students and help them to take ownership of their learning.

Everyone starts the year off with the assessment graphs they need (sometimes I put the teacher assessment in there as well) but as the year progresses each student's binder really become theirs.

Student Voice & Choice (Personalized learning) becomes more prominent. Students decide on what IEP goals they wish to focus on as well as set a SMART goal for that goal. This plus the progress monitoring makes the portfolio to share at their IEP meetings. The information in their binders inform present levels of performance and next steps. While providing my students with a critical life skill.

My Teacher Data Binder holds all the assessments I need to progress monitor IEP goals and extra graphs. Gone are the days my IEP assessments are in 3 different places and they are nowhere to be seen. All in one place and ready for me. I love I can grab and go. I don't have to bring a student back to my office to progress monitor.

I love that my student data is all in one place and I can manage it with a 5 minute conversation with the student about what they are working on. Teachers appreciate that I can bring a student binder to a meeting to talk about the whole child. This makes RTI and classroom intervention planning a breeze.

Click here check out my Student & Teacher Data Binder: Progress Monitoring Made Simple & Easy


Until Next Time,