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Grades 5-8 Mother Tongue Literacy
Resource Packet
Ethiopia December 2018
1
The READ II Project
The READ II project’s overall objective is to contribute to USAID/Ethiopia’s goal of improving
the reading proficiency and educational attainment of 15 million children by 2022, with a focus
on six target regions—Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, SNNPR, and Tigray—so they can
lead productive lives and drive Ethiopia’s economic, social, and political development. READ II is
implemented by Creative Associates International and its partners: Education Development
Center (EDC), World Vision International (WVI), and International Rescue Committee (IRC).
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READ II Grade 5-8 Mother Tongue Literacy
Resource Packet
Ethiopia December 2018
Disclaimer
This guide is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this guide are the sole
responsibility of Creative Associates International and its consortium and do not necessarily
reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 4
Training Overview ............................................................................................................... 5
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 6
The Value of Literacy in Upper Grades ...................................................................................6
The Literacy Continuum ...................................................................................................... 7
The Components of Early Grade Literacy ...............................................................................7
Upper Grades – Using Literacy for Learning ..........................................................................9
Upper Grades Literacy Sub-domains................................................................................. 11
Vocabulary Development ........................................................................................................ 11
Comprehension 13
Fluency 17
Writing 18
Speaking and Listening ............................................................................................................ 21
Special Topics to Support Learning for All ....................................................................... 23
Structures for Weekly and Daily Instruction ........................................................................ 23
Universal Design for Learning ................................................................................................. 24
Managing Student Learning .................................................................................................... 25
Inclusion of All Learners .......................................................................................................... 27
Gender Responsive Instruction ............................................................................................... 28
The Struggling Learner ........................................................................................................... 31
Continuous Classroom Assessment ....................................................................................... 32
Remediation 33
Annex: Literacy Strategies ................................................................................................. 36
Strategy Matrix 36
Strategy Information Sheets ................................................................................................... 37
4
Acknowledgements
This guide was produced with the financial and technical support of the American people through
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MoE), Regional Education Bureaus (REBs) and the READ II
project.
The Ministry of Education wishes to thank the American people and individuals and groups who
were directly or indirectly involved in writing, reviewing and publishing this Facilitators’ Guide.
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Training Overview
Objectives: Teachers will be able to
- articulate the developmental range of literacy skills
- identify important skills transition points
- distinguish between learning to be literate and using literacy for learning
- explain the critical sub-domains of literacy in Grades 5-8
- use simple practical strategies for instruction in Grades 5-8 literacy sub-domains
- conduct continuous classroom assessment across the Grades 5-8 literacy sub-domains
- use recommended weekly and daily structures for literacy instruction
- conduct Grades 5-8 remediation
- ensure inclusion of, and support for all learners
The READ II training for Grades 5-8 Mother Tongue Teachers updates teachers on the basic approaches to upper grades Reading and Writing, provides practical instructional strategies to
support teachers as they work with students, and encourages teachers to adopt continuous
classroom assessment during their instruction. The five-day training follows a specific schedule.
Day/Time Topic
Day 1 – Remainder of Day
(6 hours)
Understanding the Developmental Range of Literacy -
Grades 1-8
Day 2 – Morning (3 hours) Vocabulary Development - Concepts, Strategies, & Practice
Day 2 – Afternoon (3 hours) Comprehension Concepts, Strategies & Practice 0 Narrative
Text (Part 1)
Day 3 – Morning (3 hours) Comprehension Concepts, Strategies and Practice –
Informational Text (Part 2)
Day 3 – Afternoon (3 hours) Fluency - Concepts and Strategies and practice
Day 4 – Morning (3 hours) Writing - Concepts and Strategies and practice
Day 4 – Afternoon (3 hours) Speaking & Listening – Integration across Literacy Domains
Day 5 –All Day (6 hours) Special Topics to Support All Learners
Day 5 – Afternoon (1 hour) Closing/Logistics
This resource packet is intended not only for use in training, but also as a teaching resource for
the classroom. It includes background information to support teacher understanding, and specific
strategies that should be used in the classroom regularly to support student learning.
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Introduction
The Value of Literacy in Upper Grades
Reading is a hot topic for educators everywhere. When we talk about reading, we usually discuss
“How do we teach children to read?” We normally have this discussion when we are talking about
early grades - Kindergarten and Grades 1-4. We expect students to be finished learning to read
by the time they reach Grade 5. Students who are on track and working on grade-level usually
are reading well by the end of Grade 3, but does that mean our reading job is done?
As students grow older in school, they will be presented with more difficult reading material and
more difficult concepts and content to learn. Since upper grades students will also be learning
more independently and reading more difficult text, they must continue to have support for their
reading development. However, that support looks different, has different purposes, and uses different processes. It no longer looks like letter, sound, and word recognition. It now looks like
clear structures and processes for learning using books and ideas from across the content
curriculum. This is where we begin to talk about “Using Literacy to Learn,” or “Literacy across the
Curriculum.” Reading in the content areas simply means that we are integrating reading and
vocabulary strategies into all areas of our instruction.
- We use reading and vocabulary strategies to help students learn more about content
- We give more opportunities for students to build their reading skills by exposing them to
more text and language with a variety of text and a variety of content
These two objectives serve two important purposes:
- By using reading and vocabulary strategies in our teaching, we make sure students learn
our content at higher levels
- By giving ongoing opportunities to read and understand words and ideas, we contribute
to better student reading skills every day in our classrooms
This collaborative relationship between content instruction and use of reading skills and behaviors
is the perfect match to prepare our students to learn at higher levels today and be better
prepared for learning tomorrow.
This packet provides teachers with some simple structures and strategies they can use to support
student in practicing their literacy skills, and using those skills to learn across the content areas. This is the goal for Grades 5-8 literacy instruction.
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The Literacy Continuum
Becoming literate is a long process, beginning when children are very small and start to
experiment with language and communication. This process becomes formalized when students
enter school at Grade 1, with a clear process for learning to read and respond to reading in the
early grades. As students gain skills they become more independent in their use of literacy skills
to learn. This transition to more independence happens for most children at Grade 5. As they
move forward in school, their skills continue to grow, leading to students who are ready to learn
successfully by Grade 8. An overview of early grades skills development follows.
The Components of Early Grade Literacy
Literacy is a very complex set of skills. While we often think of reading - as one singular act, our
brains are actually engaging in a number of tasks simultaneously each time we sit down with a
book. There are seven aspects to literacy in the early grades: phonemic awareness,
graphophonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and speaking & listening. These
all work together to create the opportunity for students to become literate. Students must
develop skills in each area to be able to take in information from their world, and communicate
well with others.
Phonemic Awareness
Is the understanding that words are created from phonemes (small units of sounds in language).
Phonemes are mostly learned before a child begin to read. Phonemic awareness is an oral activity;
it does not involve printed text.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in spoken words.
Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of success in learning to read.
Phonemic Awareness instruction focuses primarily on the ability to:
- Identify the first or last sound in a word (e.g. the first sound in “dog” is /d/; the last sound is
/g/)
- Identify which word begins/ends with a different sound (e.g. Of the words “gum, hat, got”, the
word “hat” starts with a different sound and the word “gum” ends with a different sound)
- Blend together spoken sounds to make a word (e.g. /t/ + /o/ + /p/ = top)
Graphophonemic Awareness
Graphophonemic awareness is the connection between the sounds and letter symbols. It is making
connections between oral sounds and written script. A word is identified as a whole unit and then to
letter-sounds connection focuses on connecting sounds with letters in writing.
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Fluency
This refers to the ability of a reader to read a text with speed, accuracy and expression. Fluency
is intimately connected to comprehension. A reader must be able to move quickly enough
through a text to develop meaning.
Vocabulary
In order to read words we must first know them, As students become stronger, more advanced
readers are not only learn to connect their oral vocabulary, they also strengthen each other of
these areas by adding new words to their lists. Vocabulary development is an ongoing process
that continues throughout one’s “reading life.”
Reading Comprehension
This is what most people think of as “reading.” This is because comprehension is the main reason
for reading, Reading comprehension is understanding what text is all about. This is the most
complex aspect of reading. It does not only involve all of other four aspect of reading discussed above, it also requires the reader to draw upon general thinking.
Writing
Many people believe young students are not able to write. However, that is not true.
Development of writing skills begins as early as students are able to hold a pencil and come up
with ideas they want to talk or write about. When teachers wait until upper grades to teach
writing, children’s skills are never adequately developed. Students at upper grades must be able
to write for a variety of purposes. Therefore beginning writing skills (spelling, sentence structure,
and expression) must be developed in early grades.
Speaking & Listening
Speaking and listening is a natural part of learning and interaction for most students. All aspects
of literacy instruction include opportunities to listen to and speak about information and stories.
While students with certain learning disabilities may need direct instruction on speaking and
listening, most students can benefit sufficiently by having speaking and listening activities
embedded into other literacy instruction. For example, students can listen to and tell stories,
listen to or give explanations, and discuss what they are reading and learning with one another
and with teachers.
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Upper Grades – Using Literacy for Learning
As students transition from Grade 4 to 5, most of them have learned the basic literacy skills they
need to read on grade level. This means that most students enter Grade 5 able to
- Decode (sound out) unfamiliar words
- Understand vocabulary in the context of what they read
- Read and comprehend grade level text
- Read grade level text aloud with fluency
- Write simple stories and informational text
- Ask and answer questions at different levels of difficulty
Because most students expected to have these skills at Grade 5, teachers at Grades 5-8 have the
opportunity to address literacy learning needs differently. An appropriate focus for literacy at
Grades 5-8 includes:
- Introducing and learning new and increasingly difficult vocabulary; in both narrative and
informational text
- Reading and understanding new and increasingly difficult text; both narrative and
informational
- Writing in response to text that is read; both narrative and informational
- Building reading fluency through continued practice.
These essential upper grade (Grades 5-8) literacy learning needs (skills) are graphically presented
in the upper Grades Literacy Web below.
Graphic 1: The Upper Grades Literacy Web
Narrative & Informational
Text
1. Vocabulary Development
2. Before Reading -Listening, Predicting
3. During Reading -
Tracking & Monitoring
Understanding
4. After Reading - Questioning &
Clarifying
5. Response to Reading -Writing, Speaking, Fluency
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Full Literacy Developmental Continuum
The table below shows the full developmental focus of literacy for most students from Grade 1
to Grade 8.
Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5 Gr 6 Gr 7 Gr 8 Phonemic
Awareness
Support for students who
struggle
None
Grapho-
phonemic
Awareness
Gradually
decreasing
instruction
Review &
Remediation
Support for students who
struggle
Vocabulary
Development
Gradually increasing difficulty and independence
Reading
Comprehension
Decodable
Text
Leveled text with gradually increasing difficulty and
independence
Fluency Gradually increasing difficulty and skill
Writing
Handwriting
Basic
Words
Gradually increasing complex sentences, stories, and
improved technical skills
Speaking &
Listening
Gradually increasing complexity of language, and independence of
discussion
As the table above shows, the development of skills, and focus of instruction has a common
pattern. In some areas, instruction simply stops, because students have mastered the specific
‘starter skills’ necessary to begin to read. In other cases, literacy is a continuum, with gradually
increasing skills, gradually increasing difficulty, and gradually increasing expectations for learning.
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Upper Grades Literacy Sub-domains
This section of the resource packet introduces the important sub-domains of literacy for upper
grades, and provides specific easy-to-use strategies to support student learning. It is important
to note as you prepare to use these strategies that there are specific strategies for
informational literacy instruction (the ability to understand and use information) and
narrative literacy instruction (the ability to understand and respond to narrative stories). The
strategies included below help to define the different uses for teachers.
Vocabulary Development Begin by completing this Anticipation Guide.
Before Reading
Statement After Reading
Agree Disagree Agree Disagree
1. Vocabulary is knowing word meanings and
using them.
Notes:
2. Writing and memorizing definitions is an
effective way to learn the meaning of new
words.
Notes:
3. Vocabulary words don’t need to be taught
because students can sound them out.
Notes:
4. An effective strategy for helping students to
understand a text is to discuss key words that
the teacher thinks will be difficult for students
before students read the text.
Notes:
5. Good readers learn many new words on
their own by reading a wide variety of texts.
Notes:
6. Vocabulary knowledge is important to
reading comprehension.
Notes:
Now, read the article below to check your thinking about Vocabulary Development.
Teaching Vocabulary at the Upper Grades
Teachers at the upper grades can help students to read subject area text and narrative better by
helping them to build their vocabularies. Each content area has words that are used often and
must be understood. But they may not be familiar to students in their everyday life. For example,
in science students may come across new words like “mammals,” “planets,” and “erosion.” In
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math, words like “combine,” “hexagon,” and “measure” may be new. Vocabulary, or knowing
word meanings and using them, is very important to understanding what they read, or
comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension go hand in hand.
In the past, it was a common practice to give students a list of words to look up in a dictionary
and write definitions. Research has shown that this is not an effective way to learn new words.
To remember word meanings, students must hear and use the new words many times in speaking,
reading and writing. Here are some easy ways that teachers can help students learn and
remember new word meanings.
• Before students read text, preview the text and list words that will be important to
understanding the text and that students probably won’t know. Select only the most
important words so that students don’t become overwhelmed.
• Introduce these words before the students read the text. Write the word on the
chalkboard or a flash card and say the word at the same time. Have students say the
word several times until it becomes automatic.
• Give the students a new word in context. Discuss what it means; show pictures and/or
give examples. Have students look up the word in a dictionary and discuss the various
meanings they find. Select the definition that fits the use of the word in the sentence.
• Expose students to many opportunities to read all kinds of print. One of the best ways
to increase vocabulary is by reading a lot of different kinds of text.
Return to your Anticipation Guide and check your thinking. Have you changed your thinking at
all? Do you have any additional questions? What is important to do in upper grades to support
vocabulary development? What should you NOT do?
Vocabulary Do’s & Don’ts
Do…
Don’t…
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Comprehension
What is Reading Comprehension?
How do we help students understand what they read? Reading ability is not in place
unless learners are able to understand what they are reading. Comprehension - the ability
to understand, interpret, and use what is read, is the main goal of learning to read.
Comprehension of written texts relies on putting together all the other components of
reading. Comprehension activities have two purposes:
- To teach learners strategies for understanding what they read
- To allow the teacher to know if the learners understood what they read
What Good Readers Can Do: Good readers bring certain skills to reading. These skills must
be built in students through targeted and specific reading comprehension instruction. Important
skills include
- Predicting and checking predictions before and after reading
- Identifying Characters and understand them
- Understanding Problems and Solutions, Causes & Effects in a text
- Understanding the Sequence of a story
- Decoding unfamiliar words in any text
- Using pictures, charts or graphs to better understand text
- Understanding the difference between opinions and facts in a text
- Re-reading to understand difficult concepts or ideas
- Asking and answering relevant questions about the text during and after reading
- Summarizing main ideas of any text
Fluent readers use these skills naturally as they read. However, they are not natural for young
readers, and they must be built through targeted comprehension instruction.
Text Coding: As you read the article below, mark the text with four “codes” to help
you understand and prepare for discussion after reading. Use the following “codes.”
!! This idea is very important
? I have questions about this idea
= I agree with this very much
+ Understanding this will improve my teaching
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The Comprehension Lesson Process
Before Reading: Before students are asked to read, it is important for teachers to prepare
them. This can be accomplished through a few simple processes:
- Introduce the title of the text they will read
- Ask a few questions to prompt students to predict what the text might be about
- Make connections between this new text and any text they have read before
- Introduce any new vocabulary students will see as they read
- Tell students what they will be asked to do after they read the text
Before Reading Do’s and Don’ts
DO
- Introduce the text and any new vocabulary to students
- Point out any pictures or images that can help students make predictions about the text
- Ask questions to help students make predictions about the text
- Use discussion to increase student motivation to read
- Provide a mid-reading strategy to help students interact actively with the text
DON’T
- Formally quiz students about the text
- Read the text to students
- Set students up to read aloud
- Respond negatively to student discussion or prediction
During Reading: During reading, students should read silently during most lessons. Silent
reading allows students to focus on understanding what they are reading. When students read
aloud, the student who is reading is not focusing on understanding. They are only focused on
reading correctly. Because of this, oral reading during comprehension instruction actually harms
the student’s ability to understand the text. While students are reading, teachers should remain
quiet, but should watch students to see if they are 1) Using the assigned mid-reading strategy, 2)
Reading silently (students may move their lips, and this should be allowed), and 3) Ask for help
when they have difficulty with, or questions about the text (it should be provided).
During Reading Do’s and Don’ts
DO
- Expect and ensure silent reading is taking place
- Monitor to make sure students are reading and using the mid-reading strategy assigned
- Look for students who are struggling and offer them assistance
- Make sure your assistance is quick and to the point
DON’T
- Interrupt student silent reading with any group corrections or comments
- Spend too much time with students who ask for assistance, make it quick and to the point
- Pull any student away from the reading time for any other activity
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After Reading: After reading is the most important part of the Reading Comprehension lesson.
This is when students reflect on their understanding of the text, get clarification from discussion,
and build confidence as readers. In addition, this is when teachers can get the most information
about the quality of student’s reading abilities – where they can ask the question “Do students
understand what they read?” The After-Reading process should include two important parts:
- Asking and answering questions
- Responding Creatively to Text
After Reading: Do’s and Don’ts
DO
- Engage children actively and creatively after reading
- Include questions at low, mid-, and high levels in all reading discussions
- Follow up on the strategy you asked them to use in the mid-reading process
- Expect children to create some kind of product in response to reading
DON’T
- Test students on their understanding of what they have read, testing immediately after
reading reduces student motivation to read
- Provide all information about the text to struggling students. Expect them to understand
some portions of the text.
Reading and Understanding Narrative Text
Narrative Text is text that is written in a personal tone, and usually focused on a story of a person
or event, instead of information sharing with the reader. Sometimes narrative text is fiction and
sometimes non-fiction. Some examples of narrative text include:
Double Entry Journal
Before you read the professional reading below, draw a Double Entry Journal in your
notebook, like this:
From the text From the Reader
As you read, complete the journal entry, noting the information you get from the text in
the left column, and your thinking questions and response in the right column. Be
prepared to discuss your journal after reading.
16
- Folk tales
- Story books
- Personal stories of events that have happened
- Make-believe stories where magical events happen
- Stories that teach us a lesson about life
In order to read and understand narrative text, students need a specific set of skills (a sub-set
that is included in the overall comprehension skill set). These include the ability to
- Predict and check predictions before and after reading
- Identify Characters and understand them
- Understanding Problems and Solutions, Causes & Effects in a text
- Understanding the Sequence of a story
- Decoding unfamiliar words in any text
- Use pictures to better understand text
- Re-read to understand difficult concepts or ideas
- Ask and answer relevant questions about the text during and after reading
- Summarize main ideas of any text
At each grade level, students should regularly receive instruction on these skills, and practice
using them while reading narrative text. In addition, students should respond to narrative text by
answering questions about the text (multi-level difficulty), and creating products to respond to
text after reading.
Activity
Revisit your Double Entry Journal to see what you have learned. Use it during the follow-up
discussion.
Informational Text
Reading and Understanding Informational Text
Informational Text is text that is written in a technical tone, and usually focused on information
sharing with the reader. Sometimes informational text is in the form of a textbook. Sometimes it
takes the form of a brochure, poster, list, or report. Some examples follow:
Cafe Conversation
After reading the article below, you will be asked to participate in a cafe conversation,
where you work with a small group to answer questions about what you have read. As
you read, make notes in your notebook to help you remember the content of the text.
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- A section of a chapter in a science book
- A health brochure about the importance of cleanliness when cooking
- A report on agriculture within a country or region
- A poster showing the life cycle of a specific animal
In order to read and understand informational text, students need a specific set of skills (a sub-
set that is included in the overall comprehension skill set). These include the ability to
- Predict and check predictions before and after reading
- Skim and scan text for headings and sub-headings to identify important concepts
- Understanding Causes & Effects in a text
- Decoding unfamiliar words in any text
- Use graphs and charts to better understand text
- Re-read to understand difficult concepts or ideas
- Ask and answer relevant questions about the text during and after reading
- Summarize and outline main ideas of any text
At each grade level, students should regularly receive instruction on these skills, and practice
using them while reading informational text. In addition, students should respond to informational
text by answering questions about the text (multi-level difficulty), and creating products to respond to text after reading.
Activity
Now, participate in the cafe conversation process with your group. Take this reading with you
as you move around the room as a supporting resource.
Fluency
What is Fluency?
Fluency is the bridge that connects all skills together to help students demonstrate their reading
ability. Fluency is not instruction. Instead it is practice, where students independently apply all
skills in reading.
Definitions:
• Fluency means “flowing and fast”
Paired Verbal Fluency
Get a reading partner. Sit close together so you can read quietly and still hear each other.
Take turns reading aloud to each other. When you are not reading, listen carefully to your
partner. Try hard to read correctly, and with the appropriate speed and tone to show you
understand the text. Take turns reading until the full professional reading below is finished.
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• Fluency is defined by three domains: rate, accuracy, and prosody; it is the ability to read
text quickly, accurately, and with proper expression.
• Rate refers to reading automaticity and reading speed.
o Automaticity is the quick, effortless recognition of letters and words
o Speed is the fluid pace of reading connected text
• Accuracy refers to correctly decoding unknown words and recognizing high-frequency
and familiar words.
• Prosody refers to reading aloud with appropriate intonation, expression, and pausing at
phrase boundaries.
Importance of Fluency:
• Fluent reading facilitates comprehension because it allows the student to focus on the
meaning of text rather than on recognizing or decoding words in the text.
• When reading is slow and inaccurate, too much attention is being spent on recognizing
words resulting in diminished reading comprehension.
• Fluency is the link between decoding and skilled text comprehension.
• Like all other component skills of reading, fluency begins at the earliest levels of reading
(i.e., learning to read in grade 1-3) and progresses to the later stages when students are
reading to learn (i.e., grades 4 and above)
• Rapid recognition and pronunciation are the keys to fluent reading.
• Once children are reading, fluency is typically measured by the number of words read
aloud accurately per minute.
Writing
Engaging students in regular writing activities is important in the upper grades. Not only does
writing instruction help to develop writing skills, it is also useful as a strategy to have students
respond to what they have read. In this way, writing and reading are an integrated part of instruction. Writing instruction should be regularly provided in several writing sub-domains.
- Technical Skills – Technical skills include skills such as
o `Handwriting (no direct instruction at upper grades, practice only)
o Spelling
o Use of Punctuation
o Paragraph Structures
o Forms and purposes for writing (reports, stories, poetry, etc.)
- Grammar
o Subject/Verb Agreement
o Tense
o Sentence Structure
- Expression
o Tone/Voice
o Sense of Audience and Purpose
o Expressive Vocabulary
19
Some of these writing sub-domains require direct instruction, including technical skills and
grammar. Expression practice takes place when students are actually writing – either creating
their own unique text or responding to reading through writing.
When students are in the process of writing unique text, teachers should use a Writers’
Workshop approach. The Writers’ Workshop approach is a facilitated process, not an
instructional process. It includes:
1. Pre-Writing – Where students plan their writing, usually using some kind of graphic
organizer. This includes choosing topics and developing organizational structures.
2. Drafting - Where students put their beginning thoughts on paper. In this part of the
process students are expected to focus on their ideas and text only, not on having
technical skills and grammar in place.
3. Conferencing – Where students share their beginning drafts with others, getting feedback
about their ideas and beginning text. This feedback comes from other students and
sometimes from teachers.
4. Revision – Where students add to and change their text, based on the feedback they
received. Again, students should focus on the content of their writing, not on having
correct technical skills and grammar.
5. Editing – Where students make technical and grammar corrections to their written text.
In this process, they sometimes work alone, and sometimes with other students or
teachers.
6. Publishing – Where students make a final copy of their corrected writing for submission
to teachers, and for final sharing with other students.
The Writers’ Workshop process usually takes place over several days, with students engaging in
pre-writing and drafting on one day, conferencing and revision on another, editing and publishing
on another. It is important that teachers allow students to complete this full writing process,
instead of packing many different writing activities into a short period of time. It is this process
that helps students practice the skills they are learning during instruction to become better
writers. Without this practice, students will not retain the skills they learn during direct writing
instruction on technical skills and grammar.
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Write About It
Take time to write a short personal narrative about a time you were asked to write an
original piece of work in school. Keep in mind
- The purpose for your writing is to share a personal story with a colleague
- The form for your writing is a personal narrative
Plan your writing before you begin. Then write a first draft. After completing your draft,
find a conferencing partner. Read your draft to your partner. Ask him/her to give you
feedback about the content of your piece, asking questions or giving advice about what
else you can write about in your narrative.
Return to your seat, and revise your narrative, based on the feedback you received.
When you are finished revising, edit your narrative to make sure you have correct
spelling, sentence structure, grammar, and format.
Be ready to share your published piece with the group.
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Speaking and Listening
Complete the chart below to make connections between Speaking & Listening and all other
literacy sub-domains. Follow the directions below.
1. Revisit each of the sub-domains of literacy: Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Fluency,
and Writing. Review what you have read. Review the strategies you have learned how to
use. Think about how speaking and listening happen within each sub-domain, and the
value speaking and listening has to support learning in that area.
2. Complete the chart below for each sub-domain, making the connections between
Speaking & Listening and each of the other sub-domains.
KWL
Before the session, write here what you Already Know about the importance of speaking
and listening activities in the classroom.
Before the session, write here what you Want to Know about the importance of
speaking and listening activities in the classroom.
After the session, write here What you Learned about the importance of speaking and
listening activities in the classroom.
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Literacy Sub-
Domain
How are speaking and
listening used to support
learning in the sub-domain?
What is the added value of
the strategies inside the sub-
domain to encourage
development of speaking
and listening skills?
How can you further
enhance the role of speaking
& listening in the sub-
domain?
Vocabulary
Development
Reading
Comprehension
Fluency
Writing
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Special Topics to Support Learning for All
Structures for Weekly and Daily Instruction
This approach to literacy instruction takes time. Teachers are sometimes concerned about how to structure their instruction to get all sub-domains of literacy addressed every week. There are
some simple approaches you can use to accomplish all that is needed.
1. Integrate your instruction as much as possible.
2. Focus your vocabulary instruction on vocabulary from the informational and narrative
text students will read during the week. This helps reading go more quickly and smoothly.
3. Make a plan to read two main texts during a week, one narrative and one informational.
This helps to keep instruction balanced.
4. Use a set of simple strategies over and over again, so that students can focus on the text
they are reading, not on learning new strategies each week.
5. Provide brief mini-lessons on skills frequently. More shorter demonstrations are better
than few long demonstrations.
6. Use writing activities to respond to what students read. This way you can use your
instructional time efficiently, and integrate Writers’ Workshop with your reading
instruction.
7. Set aside Friday each week for remediation, revisiting of difficult text or skills, and
completion of any remaining student work for the week.
8. Set a regular pattern of instruction, so that planning is simplified and students know what
will be happening each day.
A simple lesson structure will help teachers and students move from teacher-directed work, to
supported work, to independent work every day. The recommended steps for any lesson follow:
I Do – At the beginning of any skills lesson, the teacher should provide direct instruction or
modeling, while students watch and learn.
We Do – In the middle of any skills lesson, the teacher should work with students as, together,
the skills and learning are revisited and practiced.
You Do – At the end of any skills lesson, the teacher should release students to some time for independent practice of the new skill.
This step-by-step instructional structure is not time-bound. If a lesson is 15 minutes, the time
should be divided into these three sections, and the same process should be used for a longer
lesson as well. By putting this structure into every skills lesson, the teacher can ensure that he/she
provides quality demonstration of skills, supports students as they learn, and holds students
accountable for independent use of the skill before the lesson is ended.
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Universal Design for Learning
In any quality education program, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can support access,
engagement, and higher quality instruction for all students.
Universal Design for Learning: Research Tells Us...
• Research on the benefits UDL to support student progress in literacy, math and science
is beginning to emerge (Rao, Ok, & Bryant, 2014).
• Students who received instruction using UDL principles made significant gains in reading
(Coyne et al., 2012).
• Early grade classrooms that used UDL and multi-sensory practices were shown to
increase motivation and reading comprehension skills (Brand & Dalton, 2012).
Based on the concept that accessible environmental changes help persons with disabilities and
help all individuals (e.g., ramps in the sidewalks help people with strollers and rolling suitcases,
etc.), the concept of UDL applies to learning. UDL is based upon the idea that there is great
variety in how children learn (Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014); so it is important to develop
learning environments, curricula, methods and materials that support student learning
differences. Although first introduced as a research- based framework to address the learning
variability of students with disabilities, UDL has increasingly been applied to broad educational
and cross-cultural applications. UDL is viewed very effective as it merges both neuroscience
and learning sciences. Below you will see a summary of the brain networks and the link to
UDL principles.
Brain Networks UDL Principles
Affective networks enable students to engage
with the environment consistent with their
emotions and proactivity.
Multiple means of Engagement—the “why” of
learning. How students are best motivated to
learn.
Recognition networks enable students to
perceive and understand input.
Multiple means of Representation – the
“what” of learning. How students best receive
information or learn information.
Strategic networks enable organization, action
planning, implementation, and self-monitoring.
Multiple means of Action and Expression—
“the “how” of learning. How students best
express knowledge and what they have
learned.
Source: CAST, 2018
The three main principles of UDL follow.
Multiple means of Engagement (foster students’ motivation in a variety of ways)
The principle of engagement acknowledges that students are motivated and engaged in learning
in a variety of ways. Thus, it is very important to consider options for making learning purposeful
and motivating for students. For example, during reading instruction students will vary in their
preferences for reading topics, silent or oral reading comprehension work, reading individually
or with peers, amount of time in a lesson, how and what feedback is provided, and many other
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options. Children with disabilities vary in attention span and often require different
reinforcements. CAST (2018) points out that “Information that is not attended to, that does not
engage learners’ cognition, is in fact inaccessible.”
Multiple means of Representation (present information to students in a variety of ways)
The principle of representation highlights the need to create various ways for students to learn.
In teaching spelling, some students learn better by seeing things visually while others benefit from
using auditory channels. Offering only one approach to instruction limits accessibility of
information. For example, students who are blind/low vision will need to receive the information
orally or tactilely while students who are deaf/hard of hearing benefit from visual learning.
Multiple means of Action and Expression (enable students to express what they learn
in a variety of ways)
The Principle of Action and Expression focuses on how students show what they learn. Where
the Principle of Representation focuses on input, the Principle of Action and Expression focuses
on output. All students have different preferences, strengths and needs related to expressing
what they learn. For example, some students prefer to express learning through multiple choice
questions, others prefer oral examinations, while others may do better when given the option to
write. Writing and spelling are elements of literacy that require multiple options for
demonstrating mastery of learning.
Adapted from the Toolkit for International Education Stakeholders: Universal Design for
Learning to Help All Children Read, USAID, 2018.
Managing Student Learning
All teachers face challenges in managing students in the classroom. Reasons for management
challenges range from student behavior issues to learning issues to overcrowded classrooms.
While each teacher has his/her own approach to management, there are some basic
understandings and strategies teachers can use that will help them with managing students in the
classroom. There are two main areas of management that are needed in the classroom: 1)
Behavior Management, and 2) Management of the Learning Process.
Behavior Management - Important Understandings:
- Students who do not follow classroom rules may be struggling to learn, bored, or confused
about what is expected from them. In addition, they may be bringing negative behaviors from
their home environment, and need assistance to remain actively engaged in learning, and to
understand clear expectations for how they should behave and how they are expected to
learn in the classroom.
- Severe punishment of students is an ineffective strategy to control behavior. When students
are punished they learn several things – 1) that they are not acceptable, 2) that they are
labeled as a bad child, and 3) that trying to make improvements is likely not to achieve any
positive results. Explanation of what they did wrong, and brief removal from interesting
activity (taking away the privilege of working with others) is a much more effective approach.
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- Severe treatment of young children causes them to withdraw from the learning setting, and
can produce repeated negative behaviors, based on a fear response.
- Providing interesting and active learning activities is the best way to avoid behavior problems
in the classroom. When students are interested in the activities taking place during learning,
and when removal from those activities is the chosen disciplinary action, they are much less
likely to be bored, or struggle, and thus less likely to disrupt the learning process.
Management of the Learning Process – Important Understandings:
- Movement and noise in the classroom should be expected when working with young students.
As young children, they must be able to move and talk while learning. It is a critical part of
them making meaning from new information and skills.
- Large classrooms should not dictate specific or ineffective approaches to learning for young
children (for example, lecture, copying information, of low level questioning strategies).
While having too many children in the classroom makes the job of learning management more
difficult, there are a variety of simple strategies teachers can use to make a large classroom
work effectively.
- Large student numbers in small spaces should not limit teachers in the strategies they choose
to use. By organizing the physical space efficiently and creatively, teachers can create a
systematic process for ongoing learning.
Specific Simple Management Strategies
Behavior Management
Classroom Rules: Spend time at the beginning of the year, working with students to set
the classroom rules together. When students are involved in setting expectations they
are more likely to follow them.
Set Clear and Consistent Expectations: Be clear in what is expected for student
behavior. Keep the rules and responses consistent. Students should never be confused
about what is and is not acceptable in the classroom.
Avoid Corporal Punishment: When students believe that their teacher supports them
and likes them, they are more likely to behave in the expected way. If they believe they
are at risk with their teacher, trust will not be built and students will continue to test the
teacher’s patience.
Keep Learning Challenging and Interesting: Make lessons as interesting and active
as possible. Support students in being successful in their learning. When class is interesting
and they feel successful, students will effectively manage their own behavior issues.
Management of the Learning Process
Teach a Few Simple Learning Strategies: Choose and teach students to use a small
and simple set of learning strategies at the beginning of the school year. Young learners
learn best when there is repetition of the same approaches to learning. And, when they
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know instantly what to do, they will be more independent in their learning, helping the
teacher free up time to work on the content of learning.
Organize Permanent Learning Groups: Small group approaches to learning are not
only effective. They are highly useful in large classrooms. Place students in named learning
groups at the beginning of the year. Teach them and practice how to get into learning
groups quickly and quietly. Then regularly use group work. This allows students to have
support for their learning, and enables the teacher to more effectively gather information
about student learning (for example, managing 10 groups instead of 60 students).
Set the Physical Space Carefully: Movement is difficult for teachers and students in
large classrooms. Set up the physical space of the room to ensure that there are pathways
from front to back of the classroom. Identify wall areas where all students can see to
provide learning resources. Keep hands-on materials ready for student use, and teach
them how to manage those resources themselves.
Inclusion of All Learners
All students have the right to a quality education. Most students are able to take advantage of
that opportunity. However, for some students being included in learning is difficult. It is important
for teachers to recognize when students are not being provided access to learning, or when they
have specific issues that interfere with learning. There are groups of students who may be
excluded from learning. Teachers should be aware of these groups and make sure they are providing equal opportunity to learn. This chart includes groups who may be excluded from
instruction, why that happens, and how teachers can ensure equal opportunities.
Student
Group
Issue Strategies for Inclusion
Hearing
Impaired/
Deaf
Unable to
hear
instruction
Students with a minor hearing loss should be placed at the front
of the classroom, and the teacher should regularly check that
they understand directions. Students who are deaf should be
referred for special services.
Sight
Impaired/Blind
Unable to
see the
board or
read small
Students with minor or moderate sight impairment should be
referred to be fitted for glasses, and placed at the front of the
room. Students with moderate sight impairment should also
be provided with large-print text. Students who are blind
should be referred for special services.
Physically
Handicapped
Issues that
interfere
with
learning
Physically handicapped students should be placed where they
can see, with easy access their seat and materials. They should
be given a “partner” who assists them in getting learning tools.
Students with severe problems should be referred for special
services.
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Learning
Disabled
Cognitive
issues that
interfere
Learning disabled students should be provided with
remediation, partnered with strong learners, and provided
with text more appropriate to their level. When extended
remediation does not show improved learning, they should be
referred for testing.
Girls Inclusion Females
denied
equal
education
Girls should be provided with the same instruction as boys.
They should be grouped sometimes with only other girls and
sometimes in boy & girl groups. They should be called on
regularly to respond to questions & activities. When families
keep girls home because of their gender, the school should
conduct a home visit and encourage parents in the value of
girls’ education.
Language
Different
Limited
language
Students who speak limited instructional language should be
exposed to even more language of instruction than other
children. They should be engaged in the same activities as
others. Parents should be encouraged to speak more of the
language of instruction to their children at home.
Health Issues Issues that
keep them
out of
school or
excluded
by others
The school should check on students who have health issues
that keep them out of school. Parents should be encouraged
and offered support to get the child healthy. Students who have
health issues that can be viewed as dangerous to others (for
example HIV/AIDS) may be kept out of school by their own
family or excluded during learning by other children. Education
for children and families will help them understand how
children with communicable diseases can be managed in the
classroom without creating a health risk for others.
Gender Responsive Instruction Gender sensitivity is essential in order to ensure that teachers provide equal learning
opportunities for both girls and boys in the classroom environment. Teachers should reflect on
issues below and should adopt the practical, gender-sensitive practices in the column to the
right.
Areas in which gender
bias can occur
Common teaching
practices that affect girls
and boys differently
Practical, gender-sensitive teaching
practices teachers to minimize bias
and maximize
Gender Equitable
Student Participation
and Gendered
Expectations
Boys are generally
socialized to be strong,
leaders, and ambitious,
whereas girls are generally
Teachers call on students
who raise their hand first or
most enthusiastically.
• After asking a question to the class,
wait 5 seconds to allow for more
students to participate.
• Alternately call on girls and boys.
• Divide students into small groups
when possible, so that all students
have an opportunity to express
themselves.
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socialized to be docile and
obedient. Some teachers
also believe that boys and
girls naturally excel at
different subject
(gendered expectations),
such as the belief that
boys are ‘naturally’ better
at mathematics. When
teachers have these
beliefs, they are less likely
to encourage girls and to
treat girls as having the
same ability as boys to
learn, to achieve, and to
be leaders.
Rarely do teachers
consciously treat boys and
girls different (gender
bias), but these beliefs
make up our social norms
and can only be overcome
when consciously aiming
to change attitudes and
behavior.
Teachers tend to pass over
students who hesitate.
To boost the confidence of with students
who hesitate to express themselves, be
patient and encouraging.
Teachers have gendered
expectations on students’
performance, expecting
boys to excel at
mathematics and science,
and girls to excel at
languages. Teachers also
have gendered
expectations for behavior.
Understand that everyone has biases
instead of denying they exist.
Consciously ensure that equal time is
spent with boys and girls, ensure
evaluations of students are objective, and
never express stereotypes of girls and
boys.
Boys tend to respond to
more high-level questions
when compared to girls.
Discuss with students about women who
are engineers, mathematicians, doctors,
and other career paths that are
stereotypically “male”, and of men who
are artists, nurses, preschool teachers,
and other career paths that are
stereotypically “female”.
Physical Space
The physical space in
which students and
teachers occupy can have
an effect on learning.
There are two aspects of
physical space that can
affect students: the seating
arrangement and
proximity between
individual students and the
teacher. The seating
arrangement will affect
how students differentially
have access to the board,
natural sunlight, the
teacher, and other
students. If seating
Teachers spend more time
interacting with students in
the front rows of the
classroom.
• Change the seating arrangement every
6 to 12 weeks.
• Circulate the classroom during
lessons.
• When a student is speaking, approach
him or her, look him or her in the
eyes, and give him/her full attention.
Teachers assign students to
seats according to sex.
• Be aware of the social, and gender,
dynamics of the students and assign
seating to maximize positive social
interactions.
• Arrange seating in boy-girl
arrangements.
• Do not hold competitions pitting boys
against girls.
Teachers assign students to
seats randomly and/or do
not vary seating very much
• Arrange seating to match the activity
of the lesson. Use traditional row
seating for individual assignments, U-
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arrangements are fixed,
the learning environment
may differ by where
students are seated.
based on activities or
throughout the school year.
shaped arrangement of desks for large
group discussions, and small groups
for cooperative work.
Gender Sensitive
Language Use
Many teachers use gender
biased language without
realizing it. Gender-bias
also exists in textbooks.
Teachers use the male
pronoun when addressing a
mixed-sex group or when
the sex unknown.
Use gender-neutral language or alternate
male and female pronouns.
Teachers use the male
pronoun when speaking of
professionals or use other
words that incorporate the
word “man”.
Instead of saying “chairman” or
“policeman”, use ‘chairperson’ or ‘police
officer’. The pronoun ‘he’ may be
replaced with ‘he/she’ when the gender
of someone is unknown.
School textbooks and
supplemental resource
materials tend to have men
and boys as the lead
characters.
• Analyze books, posters and other
instructional materials for gender
balance. If possible, do some research
to learn more about strong women
and female contributions to science,
mathematics, politics, literature and
art.
• Include as many resources as possible
within your classroom and
curriculum that present women and
men in non-traditional ways.
• When textbooks, other teachers, or
students use gender-biased language,
gently question it. For example, “Can
only men be police officers
(policemen)?”.
Gender-Sensitive
Feedback
Teachers’ feedback to
students can have a large
effect on students’ self-
confidence, motivation,
behavior, and academic
performance. However, it
is not so simple as to say
that all praise is good and
all disapproval is bad. What
the teacher is praising or
disapproving gives
students cues as to what is
Teachers praise girls and
boys differently, which
teaches them to be
motivated in different ways.
Boys also receive both
more negative and more
positive teacher feedback
than girls.
Praise boys and girls equally, focusing on
the content of their work and the process
of their work.
Boys are allowed to speak
over girls.
Encourage a mutually respectful
environment and discourage students
from interrupting one another.
Teachers discipline boys
and girls differently, even
Reactions to misbehavior should be
appropriate, fair, and promote learning
and responsibility of students. Do not use
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important. Unfortunately,
teachers may praise or
disapprove differently for
girls and boys, which
makes boys and girls
differentially motivated to
react. Teachers’ feedback
can perpetuate gender-
stereotypical behavior.
when the misbehavior is
identical.
corporal punishment, labor, or deprive a
student of class time (unless they are
very disruptive to others’ learning).
The Struggling Learner
At any grade level, teachers will encounter students who struggle to learn. This happens for a
variety of reasons:
- Students may be missing foundational skills they should have mastered in early grades. If
this is the case, regular small group and individual remediation will help most students
catch up to grade level. In some cases, students will require special assistance that is
outside of the role and capacity of the classroom teacher (referral for special services).
- Students may have poor independent learning management skills. Using the strategies
included in this guide will help these students manage their own learning, and stay on
focused when reading narrative and informational text. In addition, teachers who use clear
and repeated patterns for instruction provide these students with easy-to-understand
processes in the classroom.
- Students may have other issues outside the classroom, such as problems at home, social-
emotional issues, etc. For these students teachers should provide personal support, and
a caring and positive learning environment.
Even when teachers provide these types of support, some students will struggle with literacy.
Challenges:
Struggling students in the literacy classroom typically…
• don’t turn words they read into mental pictures
• do not actively think about what they are reading, or why
• have gaps in their vocabulary set
• do not enjoy reading
Strategies:
Here are some strategies that reading experts, teachers and students themselves say are helpful:
• Keep high expectations for students’ to become good readers. It is important
that students know that teachers care about their reading and believe in them. Teachers
communicate their beliefs about student’s abilities in many ways. Try to find some little
things the student does right, and praise them. Move them to the front of the room,
32
close to the teacher. Check on them as they work. These are small ways that teachers
communicate their belief that all students can learn.
• Use texts that students can read successfully. This may mean re-writing the
important content in a summary at the student’s reading level. Use simpler vocabulary
and be sure new vocabulary is introduced and discussed before they read.
• Practice, practice, practice! All students need to read a lot, using text at their level.
Good readers like to read and get a lot of practice, but struggling readers don’t. Be sure
there are easy books, short stories written or copied by teachers, or story cards (short,
teacher-made stories on cardboard) on topics of interest such as sports, festivals, fun
things they do with friends. Any suitable, easy-to-read print materials, such as flyers, ads
or greeting cards, can be collected and used as reading materials to provide more
resources for practicing reading.
• Do a “Think Aloud.” Model what you think as you read orally, stopping to tell students
what you are thinking as you read. What questions are in your mind? What inferences
are you making about things that are not stated directly in the text?
• Help students to make a picture in their minds about events and situations they
find in the text. Ask students to “picture in your mind” what they are reading and then
ask them to describe what they saw.
• Assign a good reader as a partner or buddy to read with the struggling student.
They can take turns reading paragraphs, or the good reader can read a paragraph and
then the struggling reader can read the same paragraph.
• Encourage students to monitor their understanding while they read. They
should notice when they are confused, stop, and get help from a partner.
• Use cooperative mixed groups of good readers and struggling readers to work
on tasks together.
Continuous Classroom Assessment
What is assessment?
Assessment is gathering information that tells us:
• How well students are achieving the intended learning outcomes
• How well teachers are using the strategies (self–reflection)
Why do we assess students?
• To find out whether students are achieving the intended learning outcomes
• To identify students’ strengths and weaknesses
• To determine gaps in the instructional process
• To plan for revision, remediation and enrichment
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Challenges: Assessment is often not done because
• It takes too much time and effort to make tests, grade and record them
• Some teachers lack the skills to assess students
• Classes are too large
What is Continuous Classroom Assessment?
Teachers can assess students’ learning using an easy method: Continuous Classroom
Assessment. These types of assessments are usually not formally recorded in the grade book.
They are not extra activities, which take extra time; they are part of the lesson. They are
conducted on an on-going basis during the lesson.
When using the strategies in included in this handbook, teachers have excellent opportunities to
informally assess students’ learning during a lesson:
• Teachers ask questions, observe students at work, and ask students to demonstrate to find
out how students are achieving the learning outcomes.
• Teachers can see the work done by their students on the organizers. For example, they can
look over a student’s shoulder as the student reads text and uses a Double Entry Journal, to
see if they understand and are interacting with the text.
• Teachers can observe if the student can make a Story Map after reading a story.
• They can listen in to a group of students interacting as they work on a Concept Map together in science or math.
Each of the descriptions of the strategies included in this handbook contains suggestions for
continuous classroom assessment (see the Annex).
Remediation
Remediation is the process by which teachers respond to individual students who are struggling
to learn. Remediation should be based on observed student learning needs, gathered through
continuous assessment during learning. There are several levels of remediation that teachers should use:
Level 1 – Remediation During Learning: For most students, learning difficulties are
temporary, and happen only when addressing new content or skills. When students struggle with
learning during a single lesson, provide them with support. Usually they will gain control over the
concept or process and get back on track. For students who struggle with learning each day,
move them on to Level 2 Remediation
Level 2 – Targeted Remediation: This is weekly remediation, provided each Friday, and
specifically designed for students who have demonstrated consistent struggles during the week.
34
Specific lessons should be provided to small groups of students (up to 3 groups per week). This
should not be a repetition of the lessons during the week, but instead a new approach.
Level 3 – Referred Remediation: For students who struggle, even when provided with Level
1 and Level 2 remediation, special outside assistance is necessary. First, consider referring the
student for testing, to see if there is a specific physical disability creating problems, or if there is
a cognitive disability (learning disability). Second, the school should provide after-school
assistance/tuition for those students who regularly struggle to learn. This should not be a
repetition of classroom lessons, but instead a new approach.
DO DO NOT
Work with students during a lesson to
resolve confusion, remain focused on that
student until he/she makes progress
Accept an incorrect answer and move on to
another student to seek the right answer
Pair stronger students with weaker
students. This will not hurt the strong
student, and provides a good model for
the struggling learner.
Isolate the struggling learner, or group weak
learners together. With no effective model,
students cannot make improvement
Remediate immediately in the classroom Wait for tuition time to provide remediation. It
can be too late.
Provide targeted remediation every
week, with activities specifically designed
to address areas of weakness
Remediate with all students. This provides
unnecessary instruction to some, and not enough
individual attention to others.
Remediate with small groups of students
(no more than 6 in a group)
Attempt large group remediation. The purpose
of remediation is to provide more time and
attention. Large groups do not make this
possible.
Some sample remediation lessons follow. It is important to note that the remediation period
should always be brief to avoid removing struggling students from important instructional time.
Remediation Lesson: Vocabulary – Decoding
Purpose Build decoding skills
Resources Word cards, blank word cards, marker pen
I Do
5 minutes
The teacher shows the word cards from the week, reading the word aloud
for students (demonstrating decoding behaviors). The teacher repeats the
process several times for each word, and asks students to listen and watch
closely to see how the teacher can understand the word by sounding out
the letters.
We Do
10 minutes
The teacher shows the word cards again, and asks students (together) to
practice decoding the word out loud with the teacher. The teacher asks
students to say other words they know that begin with that sound. The
teacher writes those words on cards, and the group reads aloud.
35
You Do
5 minutes
The teacher shows the cards again, and students (one by one) decode the
word out loud. The teacher helps students as needed.
Remediation Lesson: Comprehension – Re-Reading
Purpose Build understanding of text and how to read with comprehension
Resources Student text
I Do
5 minutes
The teacher reads the story that has already been read during the week,
using Think Aloud to show how a good reader thinks and reads.
We Do
10 minutes
The children read the story out loud, one by one, while the teacher checks
to see where they are having difficulty, and makes correction.
You Do
5 minutes
The teacher uses the comprehension questions identified for the prepared
text to talk with students about the story.
Remediation Lesson: Fluency Practice – Choral Reading
Purpose Help students hear and understand what fluent reading sounds like
Resources Student text
I Do
5 minutes
The teacher reads the text from the week aloud (not Think Aloud),
demonstrating the behaviors of a fluent reader.
We Do
10 minutes
The teacher and students read the story aloud together (multiple times),
asking students to copy the reading of the teacher as much as possible,
read at the same speed, and with the same feeling.
You Do
5 minutes
The students read aloud, one by one, and get feedback from the teacher
on how they are reading.
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Annex: Literacy Strategies
Strategy Matrix
Below is a list of strategies included in this training. Each strategy is linked to sub-domains of
literacy. By examining the matrix below, teachers can see the multiple purposes and roles of
strategies in their classrooms, and can have an easy resource to find strategies that support
specific instructional plans.
Strategies Vocabulary
Developmen
t
Before
Reading
During
Reading
After
Reading
Fluenc
y
Writin
g
Speaking
/
Listening
Anticipation
Guide X X X X
X X
Be the Editor
X X
Small Group
Reflection X X
X X
Character
Description X
X X
Choral
Reading
X X
Concept Map
X X X
X
Double Entry
Journal X X X
X X
Grammar
Game
X X
KWL
X X X
X X
Paired Verbal
Fluency
X X
Step By Step
X
X
Story Map
X X
X X
Text Coding X
X X
X
Text Preview
X X
X
Working
Word Wall X X
X X
Writers’
Workshop
X X
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Strategy Information Sheets
Strategies learned in this training follow. They are listed in alphabetical order, and each strategy
includes 1) an information sheet describing the strategy and how to use it, and 2) an example from Grades 5-8 instruction.
Strategy: Anticipation Guide Before and After Reading
Description: Anticipation Guides are brief sets of 3-5 statements that activate prior knowledge
(and misconceptions) about a topic and prepare students to think while they read a text.
Learning outcome: Students will use a strategy to think about what they will read and respond
to what they have read.
Materials: Teacher-made set of 3-5 statements, some of which are true and some false, written
on the chalkboard or chart; exercise books and pencils
Procedure: 1 – Before Reading - Teacher introduces the text to be read and calls students’ attention to the
sentences on the chalkboard. Tell students that some sentences are true and some are false.
2–Students read the sentences, and reflect – “Do I Agree with this statements or Disagree?”
Students make a list of sentence numbers in their exercise book, and note Agree or Disagree (or
in some cases True or False).
3- The teacher does not correct students’ answers. Teacher tells students to read the text to
find out if they still agree or disagree (or if the sentences are true or false). Tell students they
will be able to change their answers later if they choose to do so.
4- During Reading – Students read the text and think about how they marked the sentences.
5 – After Reading - Students mark the sentences again as “Agree” or “Disagree” (or “True” or
“False.”) They may refer back to the text as they mark their answers. They may change their
minds and mark the sentence differently based on what they read.
6 –Students discuss their answers with a partner. Partners may refer back to the text to check
their answers and change their answers if needed.
7 – Teacher reads each statement and calls on a pair of students to share their answer and tell
why. Teacher asks other pairs to raise their hands if they agree. If the original sentence is false,
the teacher asks students “How can we make this sentence true?” - and then writes a true
sentence.
Continuous assessment: How will students demonstrate what they know and can do?
After reading, students will respond to statements about what they read. Teachers ask a variety
of students to respond and explain their answers.
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Strategy: Be the Editor Editing in the Writer’s Workshop
Description: This strategy helps students edit each other’s writing.
Learning outcome: Students will be able to recognize errors in another’s work and correct
it. Important to note that this process must be modeled by the teacher multiple times before
students will be able to do it themselves.
Materials: Writing supplies
Procedure: Students sit in pairs and trade their writing drafts. Each student edits the others
work, using the following process.
1 – Spelling errors are circled.
2 – Sentences with grammatical errors are underlined.
3 – Missing words are inserted, using a > symbol.
4 – Comments and questions are written in the margin of the paper.
Continuous assessment: Teachers can observe the process to see which students struggle
with editing. In addition, they can collect and examine draft writing to see how well students are
able to identify and correct errors.
Strategy: Cafe conversation After Reading
Description: This strategy uses small group discussion and writing to respond to a reading
assignment.
Learning outcome: Students will be able to discuss and respond to questions in writing,
working in small groups.
Materials: Writing supplies (including chart paper)
Procedure:
1 - The teacher writes 4-5 questions about a text students have read on individual sheets of chart
paper. The teacher places the chart paper questions at tables or desk groups (one per group).
2 – Students work in small groups to discuss and write their response to the question.
3 – After each group has addressed one question, student groups rotate to another table
repeating the process.
4 – This process is repeated until all groups have responded to all questions.
5 – Student groups return to the place where they started, review the chart question and
responses, and share the results with the whole class.
Continuous assessment: Teachers can observe small groups in discussion to see who is able
to participate actively, and how well students are able to answer the questions. Teachers can
collect the charts after the lesson to analyze how well the class (as a whole) understood what
was read in the text.
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Strategy: Character Description After Reading
Description: This strategy uses an organizer for students to visually record characteristics of a
character in a story based on both their physical characteristics and actions.
Learning outcome: After reading a story, students are able to describe the main character in
a story by their physical characteristics and actions.
Materials: Story (in a book or on a story card); notebook, pencil
Procedure:
1 – Teacher draws an organizer on the chalkboard.
2 - Students copy the organizer in their notebooks.
3 - Students write the character’s name in the circle and draw a picture.
4 -Students write a physical characteristic or something the character does to describe the
character in each of the sections around the circle.
Continuous Assessment: Teachers can observe student’s as they work and/or ask student to
tell about the character to determine if they can describe the physical characteristics and actions
of the main character.
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Example: Character Description
Students read a short story about a little girl named Adilla.(story can be taken from respective Text books
during adaptation)
Small Friendly
Bright Worried
Helpful Sick
Brave Afraid
Adilla
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Strategy: Concept Map Vocabulary, Before/After Reading
Description: A Concept Map is a visual representation of a concept that shows important
elements, relationships, vocabulary and examples that describe the concept.
Learning outcomes: Students suggest and write words associated with a concept, and classify
information in the text they will read (or have read).
Materials: Textbook, chalkboard, notebook, pencil
Procedure:
1 – Before Reading - Teacher selects a key concept in the text (may be a topic or name of unit).
2 - Teacher writes the concept in the center of the chalkboard. Teacher writes categories to
label boxes around the key word.
3 – As a class, students generate words and examples from their previous experience and the
teacher writes them in the category boxes.
3 – Students read the text.
4 – After Reading - Students add words that describe or relate to the categories in each box.
5 - Students write sentence(s) about the concept using words from the concept map.
Variations:
This strategy can be used to find out what students already know about a topic or concept at the
beginning of a unit of study, to assess background knowledge.
This can be used at the end of a unit of study, as a class or individually, to assess what students
have learned.
Continuous Assessment: Teachers can gather a variety of information when students use this strategy. As students put words in categories, teachers can identify if students understand
relationships between ideas. When students write words related to the concept, teachers can
determine if students fully understand the concept. When students write sentences about a
concept, teachers can determine if students can successfully communicate what they have
learned.
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Example: Concept Map
Vocabulary from a Reading Text about Agriculture
Students are studying agriculture in Ethiopia.
Animals Plants Tools
Cows
Chickens
Sheep
Goats
Corn
Beans
Tomatoes
Mangos
Machete
Rope
Hoe
People Favorite Things Work
Farmer
Workers
Farmer’s wife
Children
Baby Animals
Trees
Morning
Carry Water
Harvest food
Graze animals
Agriculture
Topics
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Strategy: Choral Reading Fluency Practice
Description: This strategy is the process of reading aloud in small or group to build fluency
skills of pace, correctness, and appropriate tone of voice.
Learning outcome: Students will be able to improve their oral reading skills by reading
together and listening to other fluent readers.
Materials: Text
Procedure:
1 – The teacher selects a piece of text students have already read for other purposes.
2 – The teacher puts students into small groups, sitting closely together.
3 – The small group begins to read aloud together, and continues until time is given.
4 – This process is repeated from group to group until all parts of the passage or text have been
read.
Continuous assessment: Teachers can observe the process to see which students struggle to
read aloud, and which students are unable to adjust their pace and tone. Teachers may call
struggling oral readers into remediation for additional practice time with support.
Strategy: Double Entry Journal During/After Reading
Description: This reading process supports students to understand important information and
make notes during reading. It also supports students to reflect on their understanding of the
text, and to ask questions during discussion of content.
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to identify important information from the text, and
respond to the text with questions for discussion and clarification
Materials: paper, pencil
Procedure:
1 –Students draw the T-chart in their exercise book or on a piece of paper
2 - Students read the text assigned by the teacher
3 – During reading, students make notes in the left column of the T-chart of the most important
information in the reading
4 – After reading, students reflect on their understanding of what they read, and write the
questions they still have on the right column of the T-chart
5 – Teachers and students talk together about the questions students have, and teachers provide
clarification
Continuous assessment: The Double Entry Journal provides teachers with opportunity to
gather two important pieces of information. 1) teachers can find out if students have learned the
important main ideas in content reading assignments, and 2) teachers can identify and respond to
the misunderstandings or confusion students still have about the content they have read.
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Double Entry Journal Example
Students can read a story in the textbook and complete this double entry journal
From the Text From the Reader
Strategy: Grammar Game Grammar Practice
Description: This is a pair’s game to practice how to use correct grammar and sentence
structure when writing.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to create sentences using correct grammar and
sentence structure.
Materials: Word cards that can be used to form correct and incorrect sentences.
Procedure:
1 – Put students into pairs, and provide word cards (developed by the teacher). These word
cards should be able to be used to create both correct and incorrect sentences (tense, grammar,
sentence structure).
2 – Students work in pairs to create a correct sentence.
3 – Two pairs join together to correct one another’s sentences.
4 – When all pairs are done, the teacher provides the correct answer on the board.
5 – Pairs keep track of their correct answers to find a winner at the end of the game.
Continuous Assessment: The teacher can spot-check all paired work during the process of
the game, identifying what kinds of common grammar and sentence structure problems students
are having. The teacher can respond through reteaching, creation of additional word cards for a
new game, or remediation.
Example: Grammar Game
The following sentences could be made out of these word cards. The, school, boy, went, goes, to,
yesterday, today, tomorrow, she, go, will
The boy went to school yesterday.
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The boy goes to school today.
He goes to school today.
He went to school yesterday.
She will go to school tomorrow.
He will go to school tomorrow.
Strategy: KWL Activity Before/After Reading
Description: KWL stands for Know, Would Like to Know, Learned. It consists of three steps: 1) teacher leads the class to list what students think they already know about a topic, then 2)
teacher leads the class to list what they want to know. Later, after reading and discussing, 3) the
teacher records what students say the learned.
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to tell information they know about a topic, what
they would like to know and what they have learned.
Materials: Blank KWL chart written on chart paper or large piece of cardboard. The chart will
need to be saved for later use.
Procedure:
1- At the beginning of a unit of study: Teacher tells students they will begin a new unit of study and
writes a topic at the top of the KWL chart.
2- In the first column, Know, the teacher asks students what they already know about the topic.
Students brainstorm and say things they know, and the teacher records them in the Know column.
3- Teacher asks students what they want to know about the topic. The teacher will need to
encourage students to respond if this is a new activity for them; they may be afraid to mention
something they don’t know, or they may not be used to being asked what they want to learn. As
students say things they want to know, the teacher records it in the Want to Know column and
thanks the student for their contribution.
4- Teacher tells students they will learn many things about the topic, including the things they
mentioned that they want to know.
5- At the end of the unit of study: Show students the KWL chart developed at the beginning of the
unit. Review the K and W columns. Ask students to tell what they have learned and write their
responses in the L column.
Variations: Students can do the KWL in small groups. One student can record responses for
the group.
Continuous Assessment: The teacher can listen to student responses and contributions to
the KWL chart to assess what they know and have learned.
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Strategy: Paired Verbal Fluency Fluency Practice
Description: This is a paired process for fluency practice.
Learning outcome: Students will be able to read correctly, with appropriate speed and tone
that indicates understanding of text.
Materials: Text that has been previously read.
Process:
1 – Put students into pairs
2 – Assign text for fluency practice, giving each student in the pair (Student 1 and Student 2)
certain parts of the passage to read aloud.
3 – Each student reads their section aloud, being careful to read correctly, and with appropriate
speed and tone.
4 – Students switch roles and continue reading.
Continuous assessment: The teacher should rotate around the classroom while students read,
listening for students who are struggling. The teacher should make note of this for several
purposes; a) to group struggling students with strong students during the next fluency lesson, and
b) to identify students who need additional remediation, models, or practice.
Strategy: Step By Step Before/After Reading
Description: This strategy is a process by which students identify, remember, and recall steps
in a process after they have read text.
Learning outcome: Students will identify steps in a process or sequence of events.
Materials: Chalkboard, notebooks, pencils
Procedure:
1 – Teacher asks students to read text and look for the steps in a process or sequence of events.
2 - Students read text and lists steps 1, 2, 3, etc. in their notebook or on chalkboard.
3 – Students discuss steps with a partner and come to a consensus about the sequence of steps.
4 – Students solve problem using their sequence of steps, if appropriate.
Variations:
1- In mathematics instruction, students can read word problems and identify steps they will take
to solve it. Then they can follow their steps to solve it.
2- In science instruction, students can read to find out how a moth becomes a butterfly and list
the stages in order, draw pictures, then explain the steps to a partner.
3- In instruction where narrative stories are used, students can list what happened first, second,
third, etc. to the end and retell the story to a partner.
Continuous Assessment: Students will list steps in a process or sequence of events and
describe them; or read a word problem and use the steps in solving a problem, depending on the
activity conducted in class.
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Strategy: Story Map After Reading
Description: an after-reading structure to help students organize the main elements of the story
they have read, and examine relationships between these pieces
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to identify important elements of a story
(characters, setting, problem, important events, solution).
Materials (locally available): Story in book or on story card, chalkboard, notebooks, pencils
Procedure:
1 – Teacher or students will read story.
2 - Teacher draws organizer on the board and students copy in their notebook.
3 - Students write the title and author of the story.
4 – Students identify setting, characters, problem, important events and solution and list the
information in the corresponding boxes.
Variations: Students may write a sentence about each element in the corresponding boxes.
Continuous assessment: How will students demonstrate what they know and can do?
Teacher can observe students as they work and check the completed organizer.
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Example: Story Map
Title: The Carrot
Author: H.M. Edward
Setting
Yesterday at sunrise
in a rural village
Characters
Mr. Monji
Mrs. Monji
Their son
Problem
Mr. Monji saw a big, big carrot on his farm. He tried to pull it out, but the carrot
would not come out.
Important Events
Mr. Monji called Mrs. Monji to help him, but the carrot would not come out.
Mr. and Mrs. Monji called their son to help thm, but the carrot would not come out.
They called their cow, goat, dog, cat and mouse.
The carrot would not come out.
Solution
Mr. Monji called a man with a truck. He pulled the carrot out with his truck.
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Strategy: Text Coding During/After Reading
Description: This reading strategy requires students to actively seek information during reading,
by giving them a task to complete during the reading process. Also, it provides a process for
discussion of content after the reading is completed.
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to identify important information, understand when
they are confused about content, and make connections between new content and content they
have already learned
Materials: text, pencil
Procedure:
1 –Students read the assigned text
2 – During reading, students make marks in the margin of the text for three reasons:
a. Students mark with [!] when they read something they think is important to know and
remember, b. Students mark with [?] when they read something they do not understand, and c.
Students mark with [=] when they read something that they already know something about 3 – After reading, teachers and students use the marks to guide class discussion about what was
read
Variations: In settings where students purchase their own textbooks, no variation is necessary.
In settings where schools own the textbooks, teachers may be concerned about students writing
in the margins of the book. Some variations include a. photocopying text and providing copies
for notation, b. allowing students to write lightly with pencil and then erase, use sticky-notes with
!?= on them to post and then remove after the lesson, and d. write short pieces on the chalkboard
for students to model how they use the notations during content reading.
Continuous assessment: Text Coding provides teachers with opportunity to gather two
important pieces of information. 1) Teachers can find out if students have learned the important
main ideas in content reading assignments, and 2) teachers can identify and respond to the
misunderstandings or confusion students still have about the content they have read.
Example; Text Coding
(!!) Grasslands are places where there are very few trees, and mostly bushes and grasses. The
animals that live in the habitat include lions, elephants, zebras, cheetahs, and many other animals.
(??) On the grasslands, animals eat mostly browse, grass and other animals. Animals that eat
browse and grass are herbivores, and animals that eat meat are carnivores. (=)
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Strategy: Text Preview Vocabulary/Before Reading
Description: most well designed textbooks and other print resources have a wide range of
features built in, designed to help students identify and use the full information available in the
text (italics, bold text, headings, sub-headings, pictures, graphs, etc). The visibility and use of
those features varies from text to text. By previewing a text with students, teachers help them
recognize and use the full range of features available to support student learning.
Objectives: Students will learn how to navigate textbooks and resources to maximize the use
of the resource for learning.
Materials: Textbook, chalkboard
Procedures:
1 - Provide students with a copy of a topic-related text that has all of the visual and graphic
features
2 - Ask students to scan the text and graphic features, looking for specific features, such as
headings/sub-headings, numbered or bullet points, words in bold or italics, graphs or charts, etc.
3 - Guide students to discuss what information they can collect and how they can prepare for
reading by doing a Text Preview
Important To Remember: Ask students to preview the text features any time they will read
a large set of text. This builds good pre-reading habits for students, and helps them understand
that preparing to read can make them more successful readers.
Variation: The Text Preview can be used with any piece of informational or technical text. It is
less useful when working with narrative text. The description above suggests a large Text Preview
of a textbook is a good idea. In addition, Text Preview can be used with smaller pieces of text
(chapters in a book or articles from a content magazine or journal).
Continuous assessment: since this is direct instruction and modeling, teachers can gather
evidence only about whether students are able to attend to the lesson.
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Example: Text Preview
Any Grade
The teacher provides the following guiding questions for student Text Preview:
1. Find Chapter Four in your book. What does the title tell you it is about?
2. Find the important vocabulary. What are two important words in the reading today that
you already know? How many words do you have questions about?
3. Look for the skills work you will do before you read. What will you learn more about today?
4. Look at the words in the story that are shown in red and blue. What things are shown
in blue? Why are they going to be important to know? What things are shown in red?
Why are they going to be important to know?
5. Look at the pictures in the story. What do you think it will be about?
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Strategy: Working Word Wall Vocabulary/After Reading
Description: The Working Word Wall is a vocabulary display constructed by students, with
teacher guidance and support. It is a set of word cards – chosen and created by students – that
are placed on the wall and remain there throughout a topic of study. These words are the
important content words students are learning and using during instruction on the topic.
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to
- Identify critical concepts and vocabulary from specific content area topics
- Create vocabulary cards or statements for use in the classroom environment
- Organize vocabulary into meaningful groups and concept structures
- Use the wall to learn new concepts and make connections to prior learning
Materials: cards or blank paper, markers or crayon, tape or push pins
Procedure:
1 –Students to reflect on the big topic for learning (before, during, or after learning)
2 - Tell them that they need to think of the important words that represent what they know and
think is important about that topic
3 – Students write the important words on cards (large letters to be read on the wall) 4 – Students post their words on the wall. They can group them by common meaning or related
idea; they can put them in a line to create a sentence about the topic, or simply place them on
the wall (all variations)
5 – Engage students in a discussion of the words they have chosen, why they are important, and
why they want to remember them. The teacher also provides additional information and creates
any additional words that he/she think should also be included.
6 – Students and teachers can and should revisit the Working Word Wall on a weekly basis
during any topic of study to add new concept words, reorganize, and discuss.
Continuous assessment: Teachers can use the Working Word Wall to gather information
about student learning. Before topic instruction, teachers can find out what students already
know about the topic. Weekly, teachers can find out what students have learned about the topic
that week, and what they still do not understand. After learning, teachers can use the Working
Word Wall as a study resource to complete a final assessment of student learning.
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Strategy: Writers’ Workshop Expressive Writing
Description: This structure is used to support students as they write original pieces, both
narrative and informational.
Learning outcome: Students will be able to complete all parts of the writing process, and
produce a final written product.
Materials: Writing supplies
Procedure:
1 – Pre-Writing: Students will plan what they want to write about, and create a simple organizing
structure for their piece.
2 – Drafting: Students will write their first draft, focusing on what they want to say and how they
want to say it, not on features of correctness or neatness
3 – Conferencing: Students will get with a partner to share their draft. The partner will give
feedback to the student about what is good, what is missing, and what they suggest the writer
should do next to make the piece “better.” This feedback should focus on the content of the
piece, not on technical issues.
4 – Revising: Students will return to their written piece, adding and changing text to improve the
work. Students are still focused on the content of their piece, not technical issues.
5 – Editing: Students should edit their final work. This can be done alone or with an editing
partner (see Be the Editor strategy for more information). Editing includes correcting grammar,
sentence structure, and spelling errors.
6 – Students should create a final clean copy of their written piece to submit to the teacher and
share with other students.
Continuous assessment: Teachers can observe the entire process, and offer assistance when students run into barriers at any step along the way. Teachers can collect drafts to identify areas
where direct instruction on skills is needed (technical skills and grammar). Teachers can collect
finished pieces over time, and compare them to see how the student is progressing throughout
the year, and customize direct instruction skills lessons to help students master the necessary
skills.
