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The Simple View Of Reading - The Center for Literacy & Learning

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The Simple View Of Reading Research of Importance to All Educators By Linda Farrell, Marcia Davidson, Michael Hunter and Tina Osenga In spite of its importance in the world of reading research, many practicing educators do not know about the Simple View of Reading. It is a formula based on the widely accepted view that […]

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What happened in the story? Use this helpful graphic organizer to capture the characters, setting, and important events in a fiction text. This can be used with the lesson plan: Here Comes the Easter ...?

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Who, What, Where | Worksheet | Education.com

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What happened in the story? Use this helpful graphic organizer to capture the characters, setting, and important events in a fiction text. This can be used with the lesson plan: Here Comes the Easter ...? Grade Subject View aligned standards

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This three-day lesson focuses on three elements of a fictional story: characters, setting and major events. You can teach these lessons with a book of your choice. In this case,

Corduroy by Don Freeman was chosen because it has only two distinct main characters, one setting and easily defined events.

Objective

1. Describe characters, settings and major events in a story, using key details. (1.RL.3)

Materials

Day One Lesson

Say, "Today we are going to read a book called Corduroy. Over the next few lessons, we will be talking about three different elements (parts) of the book. We are going to think about the characters in the book. Characters are usually people in a book but, in this case, a stuffed bear is a character, too. Sometimes characters can be talking animals. Think of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Those bears are characters. A book tells a story about the characters and their problems and how or if they solve the problems."

Say, "I want you to pay close attention to the two characters in this book: Lisa and Corduroy. We will be thinking of words that describe them."

Read the book and then discuss the traits of both Lisa and Corduroy. Was Lisa kind or mean? Did Corduroy have an imagination?

Use the Worksheets

You can use the Character Worksheet with any story. The students decorate the person to fit the story. In this case, they will make it look like Lisa. Then add some words to describe Lisa at the bottom.

You will only use the Corduroy Bear Worksheet for this story and any other Corduroy books you may use. Decorate and write descriptive words.

Day Two Lesson

Say, "Let's talk about the story of Corduroy again. Today we are going to think about the setting of the story. The setting is where and when the story takes place. Can anyone tell us what the setting is for most of the story of Corduroy? It is in the department store. Remember the fun Corduroy had imagining that he was in different places as he searched for a button in the store? Was it daytime or nighttime in the story? (Both) In this case, it didn't matter if it was summer or winter but sometimes it does matter. How the Grinch Stole Christmas would not have a summer setting. Arthur Goes to Camp would not have a winter setting."

Say, "In most cases the setting is an important element in a story. Imagine The Little Mermaid without the ocean! Or The Snowy Day on a beach in the summer. Can you think of any other books with important settings?"

Use the Worksheet

Setting: Draw and color the setting of the story, fill in the name of the book and write down when the story takes place. You can use this worksheet for other books.

Day Three Lesson

Say, "Today we are going to talk about the events or things that happened in the story of Corduroy. This time we will look at the pictures and I will call on someone to tell us what is happening at that moment in the story."

After going through the story, ask,

"What happened at the beginning of the story?" (Lisa sees the bear but cannot buy him.)

"What was the problem for Lisa?" (She wanted the bear but Mother said they had spent enough money and that the bear was missing a button anyway.)

"What was the problem for Corduroy?" (He wanted to find a button so someone would buy him.)

"How is the problem solved?" (Lisa uses money from her piggy bank to buy the bear and sews a button on his overalls.)

"How does the story end?" (Lisa has her bear and Corduroy has a new button. They are happy.)

Use the Worksheet

Story Events: You can use this paper for any story. Fill in each rectangle with words, pictures or sentences based on the students' skills.

References

Freeman, Don. Corduroy. Puffin Books, 1976.

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First Grade Reading Lesson Plan: Characters, Settings and Events

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Teaching early readers about different elements of books, such as the primary characters, where a story takes place and the major events of a book can help them learn to love reading even more. Use this three-day lesson plan including free downloadable worksheets along with a classic favorite: "Corduroy" by Don Freeman.

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Tell Me More: Characters, Settings, and Events | Lesson Plan | Education.com

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Students will dig deeper into each of these components and learn to provide specific details from their texts.

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Story Elements Part 1: Characters, Setting, and Events | English For Kids | Mind Blooming

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In the first two posts in our series about using Socratic Circles (or Socratic Seminars) with English language learners (ELLs), we provided an overview of the activity and its objectives and offered some ideas for how to do a close read of the text that will be the focal part of the activity - in this case, Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Now that you've prepared your ELLs, it's time to implement the Socratic circle.
Note: This activity was prepared by co-author Sydney Snyder.
Getting Started

You can begin by explaining what a Socratic circle is and the purpose of the activity. Discuss the two different roles that students will have during the activity: dialogue participant and observer. Consider showing your students a video clip of students doing a Socratic circle, so they have a visual example of what the activity looks like.

Goal setting

Develop a goal setting sheet that students can use to set 2-3 goals for the Socratic circle activity. Review and model aspects of the goal sheet so that students understand the goals. Examples of the types of goals you can include are:

1. I will use evidence from the text to support my answers.

2. I will pose at least one question to the group.

3. I will listen to participants carefully and comment on at least one of my classmate's ideas.

4. I will encourage others to speak by asking them to share their ideas.

5. I will be open to changing my mind.

6. I will ask questions that require students to think critically about the text.

7. I will learn about the topic from many perspectives.

Sentence starters

Sentence starters will help ELLs participate in the discussion. Students will need opportunities using the sentence starters prior to the Socratic circle, so these starters should be incorporated into the small group work. (We've filled in a couple of sample responses.) As you begin with Socratic circles, consider providing students with just a few sentence starters that are most relevant to the text being analyzed. The table below offers some examples of sentence starters for questions and responses that students might use during a Socratic circle. For additional sentence starters that can support students asking for clarification, responding to the ideas of others, changing the subject, and expressing opinions, take a look at this document.

Questions for Paul Revere's Ride

Responses for Paul Revere's Ride

How did the author convey a sense of urgency in the poem?Give an example of how Longfellow described Paul Revere.What kind of man was he?What is the author's purpose in writing this text?How do you know?

What do you notice about ______________? (e.g. author's word choice)

How is ____________ like _______________?

How is _________ different from _________?

Compare the ____________ before and after the ________________.

What is your opinion of ________________?

Was it appropriate for ________________? Why or why not?

I think the main idea is that Paul Revere was an American hero because he worked hard to warn the farmers that the British soldiers were coming.I noticed that the rhythm of the poem was like the rhythm of a horse galloping.I agree with _____________ because _________________.I think the author is trying to _______________________ because s/he says _____________________.I predict that _______________________.

I was confused about ___________________.

I'd like to go back to what _________________ said about ___________________.

I agree/disagree with _________________ because _______________________.

Socratic Circle and Pair Feedback

Grouping Students

Group students in pairs. Assign one to be the observer during the first round of dialogue and one to be the dialogue participant. The dialogue participants sit in an inner circle and the observers sit in an outer circle. Only the students in the inner circle speak during each round. Each round will last approximately 10 minutes, and during that time the dialogue participants ask each other questions and respond to the questions asked.

In establishing the groups, try to anticipate who will be your more vocal students, and balance those students between observer and participant roles so that each group will have a few vocal students. Create a checklist similar to the goal setting sheet that will allow observers to describe the activities of the dialogue participant. The observer should monitor such things as: type of participation (e.g., question posing, responding to questions, encouraging others to participate, agreeing/disagreeing with what was said) and use of text-based evidence.

Pair Feedback

After the first round of dialogue, students should return to their pairs to discuss feedback. When conferring in pairs, the student who was the dialogue participant should begin by commenting on his/her own participation using the goal sheet. Then, the observer can share what s/he observed. After about 3-5 minutes of pair work, students should switch roles, with the observer becoming the dialogue participant.

Focus for Dialogue

Depending on how you'd like to structure the activity, you could consider assigning a different focus to each dialogue group. For example, in discussing Paul Revere's Ride, one group might have a dialogue about the author's purpose and the discrepancy the poem has with historical fact. The other group might focus on features of the text. Another option is to give students the freedom to speak about whatever aspect of the poem interests them based on the questions that they developed.

Closure

Activity feedback

In order to have a sense of what it was like for students to participate in a Socratic circle and to adapt the activity for the next time you use a Socratic circle, you could ask students to complete an exit ticket at the end of class. You might want to ask the following types of questions:

In what ways did you participate in the Socratic circle?

What would have helped you participate more?

Was anything challenging for you about this activity? If so, what?

What was one new idea you had about Paul Revere's Ride based on the activity?

Balancing participation

In getting started with Socratic circles, you probably will not want to place limits on participation. However, if participation is a concern, you can discuss the topic with the class after the first Socratic circle. You might ask the class how participation was balanced as a way to get them thinking about this issue. Have them brainstorm ways of encouraging more balanced participation (e.g., encouraging others to talk, recognizing if you are talking too much). You can also add specific goals to the goal sheets focused on balanced participation (e.g., I will speak at least 3 times during the discussion, I will speak only 3 times during the discussion).

We hope you will give the Socratic circle a try in your classroom. Don't be discouraged if the first couple of times students are not as active as you would like. Continue to try out the activity, tweaking how you implement it. Please let us know strategies that work well and those that could be improved!

Photo credit: Students at Colin L. Powell Elementary School, Centreville, VA.

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Socratic Circles and the Common Core: Activity Ideas for ELLs (Part III)

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In the first two posts in our series about using Socratic Circles (or Socratic Seminars) with English language learners (ELLs), we provided an overview of the activity and offered some ideas for how to do a close read of Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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4 Simple Ways to Support English Learners’ Comprehension

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Simple strategies—like providing visual cues—that teachers can use to help English learners improve their understanding in any class.

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By: Regina G. Richards

A student struggling to understand what he reads often misinterprets assignments and fails to grasp concepts. This is very frustrating for a student who is otherwise capable of interpreting the information.

Researchers have thoroughly studied reading difficulties for several decades. We now have a solid foundation and understanding of what is required to help students comprehend what they read. In brief, studies reveal that adult monitoring and modeling of strategies is critical. Also critical: a program that uses techniques that are multisensory, systematic, and well structured.

To paraphrase reading expert Reid Lyon from his address to the 55th International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Conference: Reading failure is a major problem for society. Leaders in this field emphasize that the downstream consequences of poor reading are so much greater than the reading failure itself. Consequences include poor self-esteem, difficulty in social development, and interference with future employment.

Reading comprehension is an issue that students must deal with throughout their schooling. Even as adults, we continue to need to adapt our reading strategies for various tasks. For example, suppose I want to learn a new computer program. I buy the software, read the manual, and follow the steps. However, much of the vocabulary is new and I may need to ask for assistance in understanding some of the basic concepts. Eventually, as I begin to get more comfortable with reading and understand this particular kind of writing, I also begin to adjust to the patterns and it makes more sense. Throughout this learning adventure, I have been learning to read while also reading to learn.

Following are some basic strategies and techniques to help your students with homework tasks that involve reading comprehension.

Above all, remember to have fun, use consistency, and maintain structure - this will result in greatest benefit for both you and your student.

Basic strategies and techniques

When we read, our overall goal is to monitor our understanding and make sure that we are getting meaning from the printed page. This comprehension monitoring is a process that is critical for students to develop, and it is one which students often overlook. Encouraging your student to monitor understanding and use strategies while reading is a critical gift that will provide benefits throughout life.

Multisensory strategies

Students derive more benefit from activities in which they actively participate. Active learning enhances efficiency and the child understands and grasps concepts with greater depth.

Multisensory techniques increase active awareness. Students, especially those with learning challenges, benefit from being able to pull in memory hooks (mnemonics) along with multisensory techniques.

As former IDA president Dr. Marcia Henry said, "Multisensory instruction is the linkage of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile modalities. Students simultaneously link the visual symbol (what they see) with its corresponding sound (what they hear) and kinesthetic-tactile input (what they feel) as they write a letter accurately and say the corresponding sound(s)."

Chunking

Chunking is a computer term that means "bundles of information." It refers to breaking information or a task into smaller manageable parts. There are many ways to use chunking in homework sessions.

Suppose a student is complaining about an assignment and makes a statement such as, "This chapter is way too long. It's not worth reading."

First, acknowledge their feelings with a statement such as, "You're right. This is a long chapter. It may require a lot of energy, but think about how proud of yourself you'll be when you finish it. Also, realize how it will help you get a better grade in your discussion or on your test."

Then proceed to help the student divide the activity into manageable chunks. For example, determine how many days he has to complete the reading and divide the task into that many chunks.

If the chunks are still too large, divide each of those chunks into a smaller chunk or section to complete.

Have the student read only one chunk and then use a concrete strategy to summarize what he read.

Then have him read another chunk and summarize it.

After reading all of the chunks, have the student pull together each summary and use those to review the chapter.

Help your student appreciate these important aspects about the chunking process:

Students can store and organize information more efficiently in small chunks.

Everything begins with one small step.

It's the small steps that add up to a bigger accomplishment.

Visually organizing information

Many students who struggle with reading and writing, and even students who avoid such tasks for other reasons, tend to be visual in how they process information. Thus, utilizing those visual skills can be a great asset while reading to comprehend.

Visualization

Visualization is a process where the students create a visual picture mentally to correspond to the ideas they are listening to or reading. Visualization is a powerful tool that helps many students comprehend a passage. It increases active reading and helps the information "stick."

To encourage visualization, have your student close her eyes and imagine a common object. Then have your child verbally describe or draw what she imagined.

Once she understands the process, you may move to the next step. You read a sentence and cue her to develop visual images by asking detailed questions. For example, possible questions for the sentence, "The girl scurried down the street" include:

What does the street look like?

How do you think the girl is going down the street?

What size is the girl?

What is she wearing?

What colors are in her clothes?

What you think the girl is thinking or feeling as she is running?

Is it daytime or night? What in your picture in your head led you to that conclusion?

Reinforce that there are no right or wrong answers and each person creates a different visual picture. The important aspect is to be able to explain why you imagined your image (if the girl is small, for example). What cues did you use?

"Enhancing a student's use of the mind's eye enhances comprehension. Strategies are useful tool to accomplish this."

Another way to represent information visually is to have your child draw a picture that shows what he read. Many children may find that representing words and/or stories in picture form creates a visual image that clarifies the meaning and the connection between people or events in what they read.

Visual organizers

Visual organizers are extremely valuable techniques, and there are many different types. It is useful to select a format that matches the type of information the student is reading. Three of many ways that organizers may be used are:

Before reading - before beginning, create an organizer of the primary sections. Then during the reading, add additional details.

While reading - create an organizer using information as it appears.

After reading - create an organizer to summarize what the information.

Following are some examples of common types of visual organizers.
Basic visual organizers
Format for a basic organizer:

A descriptive organizer focusing on attributes of a person, place, or thing.
Cause and effect organizers
In this example, many causes lead to an event.

In this example, one cause leads to many effects.
Organizers to identify the sequence or episode: episodic organizers
An event can be organized beginning with what happened first.

This organizer progresses from an introduction to a conclusion.

Vocabulary development

Accurately understanding the vocabulary is a very important aspect of both listening and reading comprehension. You can help your student enhance his vocabulary through a variety of interactive, hands-on experiences. The more fun and involvement your student has, the more efficient will be his recall. It will also be easier for him to generalize his knowledge to new situations.

Trigger recollection with a hook

Whenever possible, encourage your child to think of a "key" or a "hook" to help remember a given word. He can then act out (or pantomime) the hook. This develops motor memory which is a very powerful way to help trigger the meaning, as in the following examples:

Angles

Learning the names of different angles causes confusion for many students. Let's use three common angles as an example of incorporating motor memory and "hooks." In this example, students learn the names of right angle, acute angle, and obtuse angle.

Right angle - have your student make a right angle with their first finger and thumb, with exaggerated movement, say "Right on! Right angle!"

Acute angle - have your student make an acute angle using her pointer and middle finger. Using exaggerated movement and voice, have your student say, "Oh, what a cute angle! Acute angle!"

When students learn vocabulary words by rote and mechanically, as when memorizing the definition, many quickly forget. Even if they happen to remember the definition, they may struggle to apply it and generalize their knowledge.

Prepositions

Students can act out the meaning of prepositions by role-playing with a box: they can climb into, around, through, over, and under the box.

Older students may prefer a wad of cotton and a small toy airplane to demonstrate the meaning of many prepositions. They can move their airplane in relationship to the cotton to demonstrate the meaning of words such as above, before, past, behind, across, below, beneath, beside, in, to, along, between, in, beyond, over, on.

Explain that a preposition is a word that describes the relationship between a toy airplane and the cotton: a preposition is like a word that points.

Multiple meaning words

The understanding of words with more than one meaning is a process that continues throughout a student's school career (and one's lifetime). Students with learning differences and those with who are learning English as a second language issues may have tremendous difficulty with words with multiple meanings.

A visual organizer is very helpful to analyze a word with more than one meaning. The following examples show simple organizers for two meanings of the words bat and bill.

Two meanings for the word bill.

Two meanings for the word bat.

To enhance the activity and make it more fun, you can add a riddle that plays with the meanings of the word, as an example for the word bill. For example:

Question: What happened to the pelican who stuck his head in the light socket?

Answer: He now has an electric bill!

As another activity, a student may brainstorm all the different meanings she can think of for a given word. For example, how many meanings can you think of for the word run. Create a visual organizer, similar to the ones above but with more sections.

Morphology (word parts)

A critical aspect of learning to read, spell, and comprehend involves having an understanding of word parts. Young children can begin this understanding by comparing different words that end with -ing. For example, ask, "what is similar about words such as running, jumping, and singing?" Help the child realize that these words are all actions that we can do. The ending -ing often means that the word is an action.

An activity for children beginning in early elementary is to use a chart such as the one below to emphasize the value of word parts. With older students, use more complex word parts because the complexity of vocabulary and concepts dramatically increases as students move through school.

For example:

Start with the word part "bi" and ask your child to think of as many words as he can that begin with this word part. He might think of words such as bicycle and binoculars. Work with your child to determine what the word part "bi" means (it means two). You may write his words on the appropriate spaces on the chart.

Next, ask your child if he can think of another word that has the same ending word part as in bicycle ("cycle"). Perhaps he will think of tricycle. You can then show the relationship between these two words by filling in the chart as follows:

Discuss the meaning of the word tricycle and the word parts "tri" and "cycle". Then introduce the word unicycle and have your child guess what it means. Add it to the chart.

Depending upon your child's age and experience, use other word parts such as "angle" to create words such as triangle or "lingual" to create words such as bilingual and trilingual. Older children may explore words such as unilateral and bilateral. Dinosaur names are also fun to explore and use.

Specific comprehension strategies

One of the keys to comprehension is that the student must be actively involved. Students too often run their eyes over the lines of print and reach the end of the page thinking they have "read" the material. This passive process is not "reading." Reading comprehension is an active process that needs to engage the reader. As a reader, you grasp meaning by thinking during the act of reading. You also bring prior knowledge about the concepts and ideas to the reading activity.

Reading must be purposeful. Reading must be active. The reader can read a text to learn, to obtain information, or to be entertained. These different purposes each require a different set of strategies, but also have some commonalities:

The reader needs to understand the meaning of the words within the text.

The reader needs to have techniques to construct a memory of what he understood.

The reader needs to use his understanding.

Mnemonics

The following mnemonics are generalized techniques that help a reader monitor his understanding as he reads, and help him as a tool to organize the information. This organization will help him construct a memory of what he understood. This tool he has developed will then be useful when he returns to the material to review and/or share his understanding, as it will help him "hook" the information.

In the following strategies, each letter stands for a single step that the child performs. Be sure to help your child understands each step separately. Then show your child how the steps come together to form the mnemonic, explaining that he can then use the mnemonic as a memory hint or hook to trigger each of the steps.

An important aspect about these comprehension strategies is that students frequently require a great deal of explanation and modeling. You need to describe each step completely and show your child how to use the step (this is modeling). Some children need to be shown many times before they are able to do it on their own. Other children, once they see the strategy a few times, are then able to use that step on their own. Some may require reminders, but others may not. There is no right or wrong way to learn a strategy: some children simply require more time.

When students begin to use these strategies consistently, they find they will more effectively monitor their own comprehension. Using these strategies helps the students continually think about questions such as,

Am I understanding what I read?

How can I remember?

Does it make sense?

Students can also combine strategies. For example, they may wish to use a mnemonic strategy combined with drawing or visual organizer strategies.

Mnemonics related to reading comprehension include:

Mnemonics for previewing text

Mnemonics to use during reading

TP

This mnemonic is a reminder for students to use general previewing strategies to preview the structure of a textbook before beginning to read.

T stands for "Textbook structure".

The student looks at chapter headings, captions under pictures and graphs, the index, appendices, bold print and/or vocabulary definitions, and questions at the end of the chapter.

P stands for "Paragraph structure".

The student analyzes how paragraphs are organized within the chapter. He searches for the introductory or topic sentence in each paragraph to determine if they are generally at the beginning of the paragraph. He looks for keywords and for conclusions.

The conclusion of the TP strategy is for your student to try to guess the meaning of the passage using only the minimal cues derived from analyzing the structure. Be sure your student then reads to verify the accuracy of her guesses and that she systematically does verify or justify each guess.

TELLS

This mnemonic strategy provides an organized way for students to preview the structure of stories, either fiction or nonfiction. There are five steps in the TELLS mnemonic:

T stands for Title - have your student looks for clues about the story.

E stands for Examine - have your student examine the story for picture or word clues that will aid her understanding.

L stands for Look - have your child look at important words or pictures. You might wish to discuss these.

L stands for Look up - have your child look up hard words that she may not know and help her work with her sounding out strategies.

S stands for Setting - have your child identify where and when the story occurred.

Your child has now previewed the story and developed a basic framework to which she can attach the information she gathers as she reads.

RCRC

This mnemonic strategy is extremely valuable in encouraging students to monitor their comprehension while reading. It encourages the student to question himself continually about his understanding as he moves through the text.

R stands for Read - your child reads a small part of the material one or two times.

C stands for Cover - your child covers the material he just read.

R stands for Retell - your child retells what he just read. This creates a review and a monitoring. He may summarize the story to himself or to you.

C stands for Check - your child checks to see if he remembered the information correctly. He compares his recall to the actual material.

This strategy works more efficiently if your child works with only one small chunks at a time. Afterwards he may combine all of the chunks for an overall summary.

SQ3R

This strategy is similar to RCRC, but it is a bit more complicated. It is especially helpful for longer passages.

S stands for Survey - your child surveys the text.

Q stands for Question - your child creates questions by restating each heading and subheading.

3R stands for 3 steps, each beginning with R.

R stands for Read - your child reads to answer the questions he created.

R stands for Recite - your child recites the answers to his questions either silently or aloud.

R stands for Review - your child reviews the material to verify or correct his answers.

The Post-it™ Notes strategy

As your student reads a section, have her place a Post-it™ note on that section and record a key word or phrase that represents a significant fact or main idea. At the end of the paragraph (or section), your child then organizes the Post-it™ notes in order and creates a more specific visual organizer.

The last step to this strategy is for your child to review the information. Depending on your child's age and inclinations, he may draw, recite to himself or someone else, or create an outline. This strategy is effective at all levels, even in college.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body!"

In summary

These tips for your reading comprehension toolbox are just a few of many that are available. Hopefully, they will be useful to you and your student with your particular homework situation. Here are some valuable reminders:

Remember to use chunking: go slowly and apply or use only one part at a time.

Use multisensory strategies.

Teach your child a strategy one step at a time.

And above all, make it an enjoyable activity!

References
References

Henry, M.K. (2003). Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and Spelling Instruction. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing. www.brookespublishing.com.

Lavoie, R. (1996). How Difficult Can This Be? - The FAT City Workshop [Video]. Washington, D.C. WETA. www.learningstore.org.

Levine, M.D. (2003). The Myth of Laziness: How Kids & Parents Can Become More Productive. Riverside, CA: RET Center Press. www.retctrpress.com.

Levine, M.D. (2001). Educational Care: A System for Understanding Children with Learning Differences at Home and at School. Riverside, CA: RET Center Press. www.retctrpress.com.

Levine, M.D. (1992). All Kinds Of Minds: A Young Students Book About Learning Abilities And Learning Disorders. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service. www.epsbooks.com.

Levine, M.D. (1990). Keeping A Head in School: A Student's Book about Learning Abilities and Learning Disorders. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service. www.epsbooks.com.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (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. Retrieved August 25, 2008, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm.

Richards, R.G. (2003). The Source for Learning and Memory. East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems. www.learningstore.org

Richards, R.G. (2001). LEARN: Playful Strategies for All Students. Riverside, CA: RET Center Press. www.retctrpress.com.

Richards, R.G. (1999). The Source for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia. East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems. www.linguisystems.com.

Richards, R.G., and Richards, E. (2008). Eli, The Boy Who Hated to Write: Understanding Dysgraphia. Riverside, CA: RET Center Press. www.retctrpress.com.

Sousa, D. (2004). How The Brain Learns to Read. [Quote from preface credited to Sir Richard Steele]. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. www.corwinpress.com.

Regina G. Richards (2008)

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Helping Children with Learning Disabilities Understand What They Read

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By: Regina G. Richards A student struggling to understand what he reads often misinterprets assignments and fails to grasp concepts. This is very frustrating for a student who is otherwise capable of interpreting the information. Researchers have thoroughly studied reading difficulties for several decades.

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The National Center for Learning Disabilities presents examples of accommodations that allow students with learning disabilities to show what they know without giving them an unfair advantage. Accommodations are divided into the following categories: how information is presented to the student, how…

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Ashley Seehorn has been writing professionally since 2009. Her work has been featured on a variety of websites including: eHow, Answerbag and Opposing Views Cultures. She has been a teacher for 20 years and has taught all ages from preschool through college. She is currently working as a Special Education Teacher.

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What Are Remediation Activities? | Synonym

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Ashley Seehorn has been writing professionally since 2009. Her work has been featured on a variety of websites including: eHow, Answerbag and Opposing Views Cultures. She has been a teacher for 20 years and has taught all ages from preschool through college. She is currently working as a Special Education Teacher.

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Are you struggling with what to do while reteaching a concept to your students? Try these six strategies to beef up your reteach, and make your students feel like rockstars!

Build Schema

Sometimes our students have a difficult time understanding a concept because they have no prior knowledge of it. Providing real world examples that they can connect to will increase engagement and allow their brains to build a framework for understanding.

One of my favorite ways to build schema is through YouTube videos related to the topic. Our students are deeply interested in video, and if you are able to find a current video that accurately explains a topic they get really into it. From there I encourage students to ask questions to build into our reteach.

Peer Coach

Sometimes students have already heard it from teachers several times and they aren't making the necessary connections to the content. When this happens, give peer coaching a try.

In order for peer coaching to be successful it is important to carefully think through who you have in the role of coach. It is tempting to select a student who has shown complete mastery of the content, but the more powerful choice is a student who is right on the cusp of mastery without having achieved it yet. This makes the coaching process powerful for both the coach and the students being coached.

I introduce the coach as the "content expert" to the group and give them the floor. In addition I love to record the way the coach introduces and teaches the concept to the group to refer back to. By having a peer coach, students are able to hear the content in a different way, from a different person who they trust.

These Big Ten Math Stations are a perfect took to use along with peer coaching. Each unit offers ten different stations built around the same standard to allow students ample practice towards mastery. They are available for second, third, fourth, and fifth grade in bundles or separately.

Cooperative Learning Strategies

I am slightly cooperative learning obsessed. I love cooperative learning strategies for all areas of the classroom and academic spectrum, but they are especially great for reteaching.

While there are far too many strategies to name that would be perfect for reteaching, my absolute favorite has to be sage and scribe.

To complete Sage-N-Scribe

1. Partner A has the pencil

2. Partner B thinks out loud while Partner A scribes for them giving them praise or corrections

3. Partner A and Partner B switch rolls and repeat

This strategy is amazing for all students, because voicing their thinking really makes them work on their metacognition and work on academic vocabulary. It also allows me, as the teacher, to hear how my students are doing. The power really is in the conversations.

Focus on Vocabulary

Vocabulary really is everything, it can not be underutilized in the classroom. I am a big advocate for pre-teaching vocabulary, but I also understand that it does not always happen. When students struggle with a concept it is imperative that we take the time to ensure that it is not the vocabulary that is getting in the way.

There are a myriad of ways to focus on vocabulary, the important part is that you do it. When students are comfortable using academic vocabulary in oral and written language they are able to better grasp concepts as a whole.

One of my favorite ways to include vocabulary, and get students writing, is through photo quick writes. I show students a photo as well as give them a word bank of vocabulary terms to use to write everything they know about the concept. Their writing is a great way to flush out what vocabulary they truly know and what needs some more work.

Another easy activity to complete with vocabulary is a word sort where students simply take a deck of vocabulary cards, like these word wall cards, and sort them into words they know and words they need help with.

Use Visuals

Our goal is always to reach learners in as many ways as possible, and one of the easiest ways to reach a new learning style is through visuals.

This might mean creating an anchor chart together, making individual mind maps, illustrating vocabulary words, or sketch notes. The sky is truly the limit, and follow the guidance of your students when it comes to visuals.

Check for Understanding Often

Often it is difficult to apprehend where the break down is when it comes to understanding, so it becomes important to stop and check for understanding as often as humanly possible while reteaching.

Whatever you do, just do it early and often.

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Are you struggling with what to do while reteaching a concept to your students? Try these six strategies to beef up your reteach, and make your students feel like rockstars! Sometimes our students have a difficult time understanding a concept because they have no prior knowledge of it.

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Describe characters, setting, and major events in a story, using key details.

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English Language Arts Standards " Reading: Literature " Grade 1 " 3

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Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.