Read to Succeed by Hilda

Read to Succeed

Happy February Teachers! Last month we reflected to have a fresh start coming back from break and getting the New Year started. I hope your students are recharged and going ahead with achieving their goals for the school year.

"Don't let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do." ~John Wooden

 If you have read my blog from the beginning of this school year, you are aware that I have had an intensive reading group for Universal Access/Response to Intervention time and it was difficult just getting the students started, focusing on instruction, goal setting, and believing they can achieve. My students did not have the confidence to get further in academic ability. I modeled a lot, they worked independently, and they struggled through the learning. There was frustration, feeling lost, and tears at times, but I every day I reminded them that there is a lot of learning through the struggle. Low and behold, all the learners that thought they would never get any Reading Counts points and would never get past a BR level have achieved their goal; ALL my BR readers now have 30+ points in Reading Counts and have increased their reading score by 100 points!

So, how did this happen, you might ask? You can always go back to read my 2017-2018 blogs for more detail, but for now I will summarize. J

UA/RTI in Mrs. Sanchez’s Class

1.   Homogenous Student Groups-you can use the Wonders Diagnostic Screening and Reading Comprehension Scores to group students.

2.   Grade-Level Teaming- if you have the intensive group, make sure your group is 20-1; allowing for small groups of 4-5 students per group. If you are providing intervention within your own class, you would still make your intensive group the smallest.

3.   Provide Intensive and Systematic Instruction- I personally like to have a Phonics, Fluency, Comprehension, and Grammar groups. I still run the Sound-Spelling cards with my group and then practice segmenting/blending sounds, focusing on the pattern of the week. For fluency, I have students use the Your Turn Practice Book fluency passage of the week, but if it is too difficult, I will copy Wonders Fluency passages that students can read independently. For Comprehension, we use the Leveled Readers. I pick the book most appropriate to their reading level and we work on guided reading (this should be the Teacher Group). Finally, you have a grammar; this would be your computer/technology group that can log into their Wonders Reading account to play the grammar games. There are many other ideas, tied to Wonders materials, for your groups, do your research and find the best instruction for your students.

4.   Organization is KEY! I have baskets with materials that will keep your students organized and engaged within the academic focus for the day/week. There is a lot that goes into this piece; therefore, if you are interested, stay tuned and I will be talking about the Reading Treasure Basket (and any other components that you want to know more about, let me know in the comments) in March! J 

      For now, happy reading and hope you remember that no matter the struggles, stay positive because, as one of my students reminded me last week, “A teacher’s influence is never erased.” You ARE making a difference, you are not just a Teacher, you are an Educational Rock Star! J

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." 

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Live, Love, Teach!