Using the Four Block Framework for

Students with Disabilities

Guided Reading

Lets’s Play!

Comprehension of Text

Working With Word

Self-Selected Reading

Guided Reading

Writing

Expected Outcomes:

Participants will:• Become familiar with the

components of the Guided Reading Block

• Become familiar with the research on vocabulary and comprehension instruction

• Learn strategies to implement the Guided Reading Block in their classroom

Let’s look at our books

63-65 Overview/Summary 42-45, 78-84

66-70,75 Before/After Reading 44-45, 66-75

71-73,75 Variations 46-55

74 Coaching Groups 56-65

78-79 Making the block multi-level 76-77

79-83 A Typical Week 79-84

Book Summary

“Without instruction aimed at making meaning from text, children are left with the impression that reading is merely decoding words and saying them aloud.” Erickson & Koppenhaver pg. 64

Book Review Continued…

• For children with the most significant disabilities, making connections to text (before-, during-, and after-reading) often requires involvement from the child’s family. Erickson & Koppenhaver pg. 68

How can we accomplish this task?

Book Review Continued Again…

• We need to be sure that our students have a clear understanding of why they are doing what we ask them to do… Without a purpose or plan; reading becomes “just saying the words on the page…”

What Does The Research Tell Us?

• Round-robin style oral reading have little or no relationship to gains in reading achievement (Stallings, 1980)

• Repeated readings of the same text is effective in improving a variety of reading skills (NPR, 2000)

• Guided oral reading procedures with feedback or guidance from peers, teachers, or parents help improve students’ reading ability, at least through grade 5, and help improve the reading of students with learning problems much later than this (NRP,2000)

Reading Comprehension Instructional Methods

• Effective instruction includes:– Teacher modeling of how to interact with text– Direct explanation of why and what will be taught– Guided practice – teacher and students together– Application across a variety of supported and

independent reading opportunities• Supports readers in using a variety of strategies,

in an array of contexts and texts, and cooperatively with other readers

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Readhttp://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading

Reading Comprehension Instructional Methods

• Comprehension monitoring• Cooperative learning• Graphic and semantic organizers• Story structure• Question answering• Question generation• Summarization• Multiple strategy teaching

(NRP,2000 p. 4-6)

Goals:• Help students develop the skills and understanding

necessary to be strategic in reading a wide variety of texts– Teach comprehension skills and strategies.– Provide experience with a variety different text types.– Increase ability to self-select and apply purposes for

comprehending. • Develop background knowledge, oral language, and

meaning vocabulary.• Provide as much instructional-level reading as

possible.• Maintain the self-confidence and motivation of struggling

readers• Listening comprehension is not a replacement for guided

reading

Overview of Guided Reading

Before Reading• We need to do before reading activities with our

students so that they can…

– Make a personal connection with the new material

– Access and/or assess their prior knowledge

– “Stick the velcro on their foreheads so the new information has something to stick to!” (But please don’t really stick velcro to your students…)

– Develop a reason (purpose) for reading

Pre-Reading Activities

• Building and accessing prior knowledge• Making connections to personal experiences• Developing vocabulary essential for

comprehension• Taking a “picture walk”• Making predictions• Starting a graphic organizer (e.g. KWL chart)• Exploring the text structure• Setting purposes for their reading/listening

– can reflect text structure, task structure and/or content)

Vocabulary InstructionPut Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for

Teaching Children to Readhttp://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading

• Most vocabulary is learned indirectly– Engaging in oral conversation in classrooms– Listening to others read (by adults or peers)– Reading independently and extensively“Oral language, hearing others read aloud, and discussion are the

most effective means of supporting vocabulary growth.”

• Some vocabulary should be taught directly– Teaching words specific to a select text– Repeated exposures to words in multiple contexts– Using context clues when reading

Vocabulary Using Sorts• Picture Sorts: are used to teach children how to

categorize sounds and to associate sound segments with letters and spelling patterns

• Word Sorts: like picture sorts except printed word cards are used

• Concept Sorts: sorting pictures or words by concepts or meaning is one of the best ways to link vocabulary instruction with what your students already know and to expand their conceptual understanding of essential reading vocabulary

Setting Purposes for Reading

• Developing readers have not learned to set their own purposes for reading

• If a purpose is not set, the implied purpose is:– Read this to remember everything– Read this to guess what I am going to ask you

• Purpose should be broad enough to motivate processing of entire text:– Yes: Read to make up a new title for this story– No: Read to tell me where the story takes place

Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

Characteristics of Good Purposes:“Read so that you can…”

• Requires processing of entire text, at least initially– Yes: …tell in 10 words or less what this story is about– No: …tell where the hero lived

• Requires search for main ideas– Yes: …tell how you think the story will end– No: …tell which words on p.7 have the short /i/ sound

• Helps the reader focus attention– Yes: …tell which of these adjectives describes the

boy and which describes the girl in the story– No: …answer the questions at the end of the chapter

Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

Example Purposes/Tasks to Support

• Sequence story elements written on sentence strips– Background: sequence meals, days of week, school

schedule• Select five words that best describe the main character

in the story– Background: generating describing words

• Compare and Contrast the two main characters in the story by selecting words that describe only one character and words that describe both characters (Venn diagram)– Background: same/different with familiar topic

• Select the 10 word summary you think is best– Background: summarize a very familiar story (e.g., 3

pigs)Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

During Reading: Coaching Groups: Small Flexible Groups

(E & K pg. 74-75)

• All children participate in whole-class before- and after-reading lessons

• But during-reading they work in different groups, individually, or with partners and are either reading or listening to text

• Completing a task directly related to the stated purpose

• Make sure “extra hands” are available for the during-reading small, flexible groups!

During-Reading Activities(Teacher’s Guide to the Four-Blocks…Cunningham)

• Choral Reading• Echo Reading• Shared Reading• Partner Reading- p.54-56

• Three-Ringed Circus p.57

• Book Club Groups p.58

• Everyone Read T0… (ERT p.62)• Sticky Note Reading p.64

• Listening to text

p.46

Purposeful Shared Reading(Using the same book across a week for multiple purposes)

MondayRead book with title covered and identify the best titleTuesdayReread book and reveal title; compare/contrast what title

(real or ours) is betterWednesdayReread to describe how the boys are feeling on each pageThursdayRead to expand the dialog between the two boysFridayRead to decide what the dialog would be if the boy in the in

the green jacket was telling the other boy he lost his dog

Communication Boards to Support Shared Reading

• Traditionally boards have highlighted labeling or describing what is in the book

• Traditionally generic boards have included phrase-based comments

• Trying to move toward vocabulary that supports students in making a connection with the book

• Trying to create generic boards based on core vocabulary concepts

Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

Example Messages on a Traditional Generic Board:

• “Turn the page, please”• “Read it again!”• “I can’t see”• “I like that story. / I don’t like that story”• “Let’s read”• “That’s scary/funny/silly!”• “Wait!”• “Why did he do that?”

Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

During Reading

Post reading

Creating Communication Boards That Support Connections

• What would a child without disabilities say while reading that book with an adult?

• How can we capture the core of these comments in our vocabulary selection?

Literacy in AAC Gainesville,FL 6/24-29, 2007

During Reading Activity

Dialogic Reading(Whitehurst & Lonigan)

Dialogic Reading vs. Standard Reading

Standard Reading Dialogic Reading

Story centered Child centered Adult reads Interactive Child listens Follows child’s interest

Adult asks questions Child is an active participant

• While reading the storybook, the adult-child interaction develops into a conversation, a ‘dialog’, about the book.

• Focus of conversation:– Teach new vocabulary– Improve verbal fluency– Introduce the principle components of story grammar

(main character, action, outcome)– Develop narrative (retelling, answering questions)

skills

• Introduce strategies– Predictions– Cause/effect– Main idea

Dialogic Reading: CROWD-HS• CROWD-HS:

– Completion prompts• She tasted Baby Bear’s porridge. It was just ______.• Goldilocks saw a house. Without asking she went _____.

– Recall Prompts• Can you remember whose porridge was too hot?

– Open-ended prompts• Tell me about the times Goldilocks took or used something

that didn’t belong to her.

– Wh-prompts• What broke?• Who came to visit• What is the “Big idea” in the story? (main idea)

CROWD-HS contd.

• Distancing prompts– Would you be scared to be caught by the

Three Bears?

• Home prompt– Can you think of a time someone broke or

took one of your toys with out asking?

• School Prompt– At school, how do you take care of things at

school?

CROWD – HS Activity • C - The first boy greeted the other boy by saying...YO!• R - Do remember why the second boy was sad? (No

friends)• O – Do you think the second boy will be friends with the

first boy? • Wh – Why is the second boy sad? (no friends)• D - Would you like to be friends with the boy that

greeted you with YO! ?• H – Can you think of a time that you felt you didn’t have

any friends?• S - At school, how do you greet people that you don’t

know?

Another strategy…Question, Answer Relationships

QAR (Raphael, 1982)

• Helps students identify where information gained in reading comes from– Right there = literal level (on the page)– Think and search = inference confirmed by

text– On my own = inference guided but not

confirmed by text

• Teach with short paragraphs about students in the classroom

After-Reading

• This is where we come back together as a whole group.

• Stay focused on the purpose you set for reading…don’t go “hopping down the bunny trail”

After-Reading Activities

• Discussing the text

• Acting Out the Story- “doing the story”

• Graphic Organizers

• Somebody Wanted But So (Then) – 1 sentence summary

After-Reading PracticeSWBS-TFSHere is the frame of the summary:

  Somebody (the main character)________________________ wanted (problem) _______________________________________ but (problem) ____________________________________________  So (solution)_________________________________________________. 

This next part is optional depending on the level of your kids.

Then (event) _________________________________________________________. Finally (solution) _____________________________________________________.

Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, Finally Summary

www.fcrr.org Activities K-3 For Teachers…

What are Priorities for SWD?

• Increase opportunity for interaction.

• Increase access to books.

• Improve ability to relate story to prior knowledge and experiences.

Reading Activities…the AT way!

• Adapt versions of text for the computer

• Scan and import illustrations to multimedia software program

• Include MPEG videos of topic to augment student’s understanding of topic

• Add text which computer will read aloud

• Click of a mouse will turn the pages of the electronic book

Selecting Reading Material for the Guided Reading Block

• You must have multiple copies of the books!– Basal Series

• Reading Mastery• Open Court• MeVille to WeVille

– Guided Reading Series• Leveled Science/Social Studies books• Pair It- Steck Vaugn• Unique

– Other• Start to Finish Series• Newspaper and magazines• Multiple copies of trade books• Self authored books• Tarheel Reader books• Reading A-Z and other sites