Reading Strategies to Promote

Student Success

I Don’t Get It!

""In primary grades children are learning In primary grades children are learning to read to read

and in upper grades they are reading to and in upper grades they are reading to learn." learn."

-Anonymous-Anonymous

Challenge Yourself!

• It is easy for us as educated, proficient readers to forget just how hard it can be to make meaning from words on a page

• Preview all of the readings on your sheet and choose two for close reading- the one that you believe will be most challenging and the one that you believe will be least challenging

How Did You Do?

• Were your pre-reading predictions correct?• How did you read your selected texts?• What was your mind doing to help you

understand what you read?

Discuss…

• Which skills did you use the most? The least?• How did the skills that you used help you to

understand the texts that you read?• What are some ways that you teach these

skills in your classroom?• What are some of the challenges that you face

in helping students build their reading skills?

Available from www.ascd.org/books

Possible Sentences• Pre-reading Strategy from

Kylene Beers’ When Kids Can’t Read

• Helps students make predictions about a reading & encourages them to stay engaged while reading

• Helps teachers to assess prior knowledge about a concept

“spectators”“who really needs this

stuff?”“bottle of neon orange

liquid nearby”“replace salt lost in sweat”

“kids playing video games”“key to athletic success”

“dangerous obsession with hydration”

“athletes”“growing backlash”

“drink responsibly”“benefits meager at best”

Possible Sentences• Struggling readers don’t automatically make

predictions• Struggling readers don’t always notice text

elements that trigger prior knowledge• Struggling readers tend to open a book and look

at the words without a focus• This strategy helps students to build vocabulary,

make predictions, realize that they have prior knowledge about the text, see relationships between text elements, make inferences, and visualize as they read

Key Details

• Choose one thing to pay attention to (imagery, plot, characterization, mood, conflict, figures of speech, etc.)

• Highlight related words and phrases • Then we will look at those words together and

group them together• Article of the Week site:

http://www.kellygallagher.org/resources/articles.html

Key Details

• Read the passage• Underline or highlight any passages that relate

to imagery • You may also want to pay attention to the

phrases that you saw in the “possible sentences” activity- you can self-correct your sentences

• You can complete this activity on your own or with a partner

-lifting a weight-strapping on a football helmet-lacing up running shoes-big bottle of green, blue or neon orange liquid-spectators in the stands-kids playing video games-long haul truckers-office workers-salty, sugary beverages-a bit less salty but has a little more sugar-replace the salt lost in sweat-the longer you go, the harder you go, the more you sweat

-runs for an hour at a time in hot weather-doesn’t bring water, let alone a big bottle of sports drink-sweat enough to shed large quantities of salt-still be cramping up at the end of the day-sometimes we’ll add a half-teaspoon of salt to the bottle-sprint a bit faster-shoot better than players who drank plain water-they didn’t do any better on a passing drill

Can we group these words into categories?

-lifting a weight-strapping on a football helmet-lacing up running shoes-big bottle of green, blue or neon orange liquid-spectators in the stands-kids playing video games-long haul truckers-office workers-salty, sugary beverages-a bit less salty but has a little more sugar-replace the salt lost in sweat-the longer you go, the harder you go, the more you sweat

-runs for an hour at a time in hot weather-doesn’t bring water, let alone a big bottle of sports drink-sweat enough to shed large quantities of salt-still be cramping up at the end of the day-sometimes we’ll add a half-teaspoon of salt to the bottle-sprint a bit faster-shoot better than players who drank plain water-they didn’t do any better on a passing drill

Key Details• It’s okay for kids to have different passages highlighted-

there are no right and wrong answers• Students have a focused reading task that keeps them on

track and motivated- encourages close reading• Students understand how writers write- every word is

chosen for a reason• Builds vocabulary• Great preparation for writing an essay- I have a focus for

my thesis statement and I have supporting evidence (How does the author use _______ to reveal _________?)

• Can do this activity with the essay topic (students highlight any details that relate back to essay topic)

First Word, Last Word• Highlight or underline words/phrases/sentences

that stand out to you• Get into small groups• First person reads one of their highlighted

sections and does not comment on it• One at a time, other members comment on

selection (“I chose that as well because…”, “I didn’t choose that, but I think that someone may have chosen it because…”)

• First person explains why they chose selection

First Word, Last Word

• Builds confidence in struggling readers- they hear their ideas validated by their peers

• Based on text- not personal• All students have a role and a voice• Students practice finding and describing

significance of text details

THANK YOU for participating today!If you have any questions or comments about anything that we did today, please contact me

at laura.schmaltz@cssd.ab.ca@LauraSchmaltz