He Knew it Yesterday ~ When it is Hard to Remember

In February, several of the Teacher Leaders were fortunate to be able to attend the RRCNA National Reading Recovery conference in Ohio. One of the sessions that we attended was called He Knew it Yesterday ~ When it is Hard to Remember  presented by Pamela Grayson, a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader.

Grayson shared some thought-provoking quotes, anecdotal stories and numerous video clips to push our thinking about students who seem to find it hard to remember. Grayson helped us to think about the role that attention plays in remembering and defined attention as:

·        The ability to focus the mind

·        The foundation of learning

·        A prerequisite to motivation, memory and self-regulation

According to Carol Lyons in Teaching Struggling Readers, there are 4 components of the attention system:  Arousal, motor orientation, novelty detection & reward, and executive organization.

Arousal is said to be key in becoming literate as emerging readers and writers must learn what they need to focus their attention on and how to select relevant information from irrelevant information. However, before they are able to do this, they must be aroused and actively engaged in the process.

Motor orientation facilitates and maintains arousal and enables us to direct our senses and attention. It is critical to learning anything (Lyons, p.29). 

Novelty detection and reward provide emotional overtones and motivation for learning, which are essential for focusing and sustaining attention. The processing system can shut down if it fails to find some kind of challenge or personal and emotional connection (p. 30).

Executive organization directs our attention determining which information should be dealt with and if it should be ‘mulled over or forgotten’ (p. 32).

Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals Part Two opens with a quote from Dr. Larry Squires:

               You relate what you hear or see to things you already understand

               The moment of truth is the moment of input,

·        how you attend

·        how much you care,

·        how you encode,

·        what you do with it

·        and how you organize it

 

             How well you accessed it depends on how well you stored it in the first place.
             How do you become more savvy about the way you remember things? Have a good system.
             Notice your errors and try to fix them.

The above helps us to think about the important role of attention, motivation and student connection when it comes to remembering. Are we ensuring that new information that we are presenting to our students is settling into what is already known?  Are we involving several modes of learning to aid in the storage of this new information? Movement is crucial for every brain function including memory and language. Are we ensuring that our student is actively involved and attending to the task? The session with Pamela Grayson has helped us to reflect on the critical components of attention and learning. For additional information, please refer to section 19 When it is hard to remember in Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals Part Two.

English Language Learners are Successful in Reading Recovery Lessons

English Language Learners are Successful in Reading Recovery Lessons

Longitudinal research from a variety of countries shows that ELLs consistently perform well in Reading Recovery. Our data in YRDSB confirms these results with 86% of our ELLs achieve grade one standards in reading and writing and successfully discontinue from Reading Recovery. These positive results are consistent from year to year. In order support our ELLs, it is essential to:

• Increase the time that the student spends talking when in lessons (Literacy Lessons Part 1, p. 183)
• Be aware of the complexity of English language structures that you can expect of him in writing, at this moment in time (Literacy Lessons Part 2, p. 68)
• Choose books carefully to provide opportunities for extending language (Literacy Lessons Part 2, p. 51)
• Support the student with any particular features or structures (book language) that are likely to cause him difficulty (Literacy Lessons Part 2 p. 93)
• Share ideas and experiences using sentences only a little more complex than the ones the student is using (Record of Oral Language, p.31)

Caution:  Sometimes it is necessary for a child to gain control over a particular language structure first ( saying it aloud) before he returns to using the visual information ( Literacy Lessons Part 2, p. 112).

Finally, when the decision is made to discontinue lessons for an ELL student, it is important for the school team to recognize that the student will continue to require appropriate  scaffolding across the content areas:

At the conclusion of the lesson series the child is still in need of rich opportunities for further development in the language of instruction. …..After the a series of Reading Recovery lessons the child then has three complementary routes to further language learning, via oral language, writing and reading ( Literacy Lessons Part 2 p. 183).

The following resources are available to York Region teachers to support the planning of instruction for ELLs:

• English Language Learner Profiles: https://bww.yrdsb.ca/services/cis/englishlanguage/Documents/ELL%20Documents/English%20Language%20Learner%20(ELL%20007)%20Profiles%20Revised%20Feb%202008.pdf
• ELL Accommodations for Running Records: https://bww.yrdsb.ca/services/cis/kinliteracy/prolearning/Pages/Observation-Survey-Tasks.aspx&AuthResend1908BC2350124b5095AB75012FA405BA#running
• Ministry Resources: https://bww.yrdsb.ca/services/cis/englishlanguage/Pages/Ministry-Resources.aspx

The following resources are available to all teachers to support the planning of instruction for ELLs:

• ELL Monograph: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Cummins.pdf

Article: Unlocking Language for English Learners: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/11/04/ctq_minkel_esl.html

Daily Instruction - An Essential Element for Accelerated Learning and Effective Implementation of Reading Recovery

Daily Instruction—An Essential Element 

for Accelerated Learning 

and Effective Implementation of Reading Recovery   

“It makes a difference if you get a lesson every day and make a rapid progression up through the book levels—the pace with which your learning accelerates is somehow advantageous.

If the child moves forward slowly, possibly missing lessons here and there, the end result is not as satisfactory as speedy progress through the book levels.  It is as if the brain cells need to be involved tomorrow in what they explored today to consolidate some permanent change in their structure.” (Clay, p. 151 LL2)

Consider the following chart:

WEEK	# of Lessons per Week
	If 3 lessons per week	If 4 lessons per week	If 5 lessons per week
1	3	4	5
2	6	8	10
3	9	12	15
4	12	16	20
5	15	20	25
6	18	24	30
7	21	28	35
8	24	32	40
9	27	36	45*
10	30	40	50
11	33	44*	55
12	36	48	60
13	39	52	65
14	42	56	70
15	45*	60	75

* a child who has had 5 lessons per week will have received 45 lesson over the span of 9 weeks whereas a child who has received 3 lessons per week will take 6 additional weeks in order to have completed 45 lessons

Reflect:

~ How might you use this chart along with individual attendance registers to monitor daily lessons?   

~ How might the school team ensure a minimum of interruptions to the daily delivery of lessons?

~ How might the school team promote regular attendance by children?

~ If professional learning from the other part of your role involves a full day session, how might the school team work to ensure that missed Reading Recovery lessons are made up?

Please share some of the creative ways that your school team has ensured that intensive daily lessons occur.  

Data, Data, Data

Data, Data, Data – every child counted, all around the world

Have you used the on-line database to enter your students’ entry and exit data?  If you’re ready to give it a go, you’ll find both the link in the Continuous Remote Entry Instruction Manual and your password in communications sent directly to you by Donna McFadden.  This data contributes to our York Region District School Board outcomes, outcomes for Ontario, Canada and the world! 

As Reading Recovery has expanded internationally, outcomes for all children who have received the intervention have been collected and reported.  To date, outcomes have been documented for approximately 3 million children world-wide (New Zealand, Australia, United States including U.S. department of defence schools world-wide, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, Denmark, and island territories like Anguilla, Jersey and Bermuda).  All countries with Reading Recovery use information from Clay’s An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement to determine who is most at-risk, to report outcomes and to monitor change over time.

According to Dr. Jerome D’Agostino, from the International Data Evaluation Center, Reading Recovery, perhaps like no other intervention, has embraced data since its inception.  “The results reveal the year-to-year consistency of Reading Recovery in terms of providing struggling Grade 1 students the opportunity to get back on track toward academic success.”  (Journal of Reading Recovery, Spring 2011)

In addition to reporting entry and outcome data, Reading Recovery teachers prepare, in collaboration with their primary colleagues, an annual school report to examine their school’s implementation.  These reports spark intentional, focused dialogue among staff, guide forward planning, and help to connect and align Reading Recovery with individual School Improvement Plans and the Board Improvement Plan.   New goals for continuous improvement are set and the journey continues!

How are you and your colleagues using the Reading Recovery School Report to enhance what’s possible for the most at-risk Grade 1 readers and writers?    

In addition, independent research reviews from the What Works Clearinghouse confirm that Reading Recovery has the strongest results of any early reading program.  Its proven effectiveness and strong professional learning are examined here:

   

See how Reading Recovery compares with other beginning reading programs in the What Works Clearinghouse review.