Reading for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Spring, 2011

One strategy that I have found interesting is called, "Traffic Light Reading". It is used with informational text for comprehension. This came from an article in "The Reading Teacher", May 2007. Since some readers struggle with retell, even if they are fluent readers, this strategy introduces students to three different reasons to read. Three hats are used: a baseball cap used to 'read for fun', construction hat for, 'read to learn', and a visor for 'read for information'. Students are given sticky notes to mark parts of the story they don't understand (?), smiley faces for parts they understand, and exclamations (!) for fun facts. Teacher models all types of reading and guides students to self check their answers. A traffic light visual is used to monitor while reading. Yellow-light components would include, "Can I tell myself the important facts so far?" Red-light: stop, what do I already know about this subject? Did I look at the pictures and words in bold?, and Green-light: "What did I learn? What do I need to remember? What was the big idea? This sounds like a fun way to turn students on to reading by providing a visual and purpose for reading.

Sorry, Dr. Moorman, I put my strategy for my first blog. So here is my description for my RWT. I am planning a lesson using Readers Theater to enhance fluency. I have divided my class into three leveled groups and will work with each group to teach the scripts. Each group will have a different script(play) to read. I have written out each student's sentence to read on sentence strips. I think this is best for first graders, so they can see it up close. I plan to teach them how to use the flip camera and tape record their readings. I will tape record a 'cold' read and them after a week, they will record and listen for results.

A strategy that I use all of the time in my Language Arts Resource class and my Math Resource class is called Vocabulary Squares and the citation for that is:

Fisher, D., Brozo, W.G., Frey, N., & Ivey, G. (Ed.). (2007). Content area strategies for adolescent literacy: Vocabulary cards (p. 126). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill:Prentice Hall.

This is actually a good way to build your word wall in your room and to show student work, which administrators love to see! Vocabulary cards are often created on index cards of any size you prefer. The point of this strategy is that students begin to see the connections between words, examples, of the word, and a nonlinguistic representation of the word. This strategy is very similar to the Frayer Model, but the Frayer Model does not have a nonlinguistic representation. Basically the students will draw a line to divide the index card in half vertically and then students will draw a line horizontally. So students will then have four different sections on their index card. These four sections will be called word, definition, illustration, and nonexamples. The targeted term will be written neatly and bold (so it can be seen from far away if it will be placed on the word wall) in the appropriate box. Students will then come up with their own "student-created" definition of the term and put it neatly in the appropriate box. This should be a definition that students can use and explain, not one they look up in the dictionary because that will defeat the purpose of the students creating their own definition. Students will then draw a visual representation of their word in the box labeled illustration. For example, in my class we used the word imagery and students would draw a symbol such as a hand, an ear, eyes, a nose, etc. to show what would be represented by the word imagery. For the nonexamples box students will use words or pictures to describe what the term they are learning about it not. For example, in math if the student is trying to create a vocabulary card for area of a quadrilateral, students could show the perimeter of a quadrilateral as a nonexample.

I really like this strategy because it forces students to focus on their words or terms for a longer period of time, thus improving their memory of the words. Like I mentioned earlier, teachers could hang these up in their rooms for word walls or students could have as section for their vocabulary cards in their notebooks. Also, this should be a strategy that should be used after students have been exposed to the word frequently so they can come up with their own definition easily. This should not be assigned on the same day the word has been introduced.

Katy, your strategy sounds like it would be good for upper grades especially. So many of the first grade vocabulary words contain words that aren't concrete terms; for instance, last week we had the word: also. This would be hard to represent in a picture but I do think this is good for words that can be expressed in an artist form. I am a visual learner and drawing a picture would sure help students that learn this way! From strategies that I have explored, visual representation has the highest percentage of recalling information! Good idea!

Julie - this "Traffic Light Reading" strategy sounds like a good idea! I am always reading to my students and then stopping to ask them questions to make sure they are paying attention. This strategy would be a fun and interactive way for students to be involved in their learning by using visual representations! I really like this strategy and might try and use it in my EC resource classroom with 7th graders! They definitely need the visuals in order to better understand what they are reading, and also so they will not become bored with it!

Dana Eudy:

The strategy ABC Summarize is a neat way to see if students understand the certain concept that you are teaching. Give each student a blank grid of the alphabet-one letter in each box. They have to find a word that relates to each letter for the concept and write it in the box. This assignment can be modified for the different levels of students-work in pairs, as a whole class, students could walk around and try to get different ideas from class mates under a time limit. It could be used as a competition-see who can fill the most boxes in a given time. This is a great strategy that could be used to build or test vocabulary. It can be used in any subject for any topic. Students may need help with some of the harder letters like x or q. This could be a more fun way to see what information your students retained during your unit and you would know if you need to re-teach anything.

http://glossary.plasmalink.com/glossary.html

Dana Eudy:

Julie- I really like the “Traffic Light Reading” Strategy. It could be used in any classroom. I know my fourth graders often have a hard time understanding why they are reading something and picking out the important information. Students love anything having to do with sticky notes; this would probably make my students pay better attention.

Dana Eudy

Katy- I love this strategy. I use it in my classroom every week, I actually did it today. My students have a notebook they keep their words in. After we have studied the word for several days and I feel confident that they understand the meaning of the word, we draw our vocabulary squares. I think it is a great way for students to remember vocabulary words and I can easily tell if students actually know what the words mean.

Dana-I have also used the ABC strategy in my class and it is a great way for students to think use higher order thinking skills because they have to think of words or phrases that start with each letter. My inclusion teacher and I have used this strategy after a novel study on Freak the Mighty. Students were assigned a part of the book to associate letters of the alphabet to terms or phrases that symbolized something from the novel. The kids loved it! You are right - it can also be modified depending on the class and student needs!

A strategy that I found interesting is the FIST strategy. This is a self-questioning strategy that is used to help the students to internalize this process. The acronym FIST stands for First (Read the first sentence), Indicate (Form a question that you would like to be answered based on the first sentence), Search (Read the remainder of the paragraph and look for the answer), and Tie (Relate the answer to the question with a sentence). Initially the students would write this process down as they read each paragraph; however, the goal would be for the student to internalize this process in order to become independent.

I really like this strategy because it is very similar to a DRTA. Just as many questions for the DRTA includes "What happens next?" this strategy utilizes the same process. I think that teaching students to self-question while reading is extremely important especially for students with learning disabilities. I also like the fact that this strategy has the potential to be used throughout a student's school career.

Julie,

I really like this traffic light strategy! I think that it demonstrates a great visual for students while reading. Personally, I know that many times, I read for the sake of reading and can go for a couple of pages and not recognize that I was not comprehending the passage. This is a great way to teach students at a young age in order to internalize self-monitoring. I like all of the visuals that are involved with the different types of reading and the post-it notes for the students to use.

Katy,

I really like this strategy as well. It can be a great opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of the word. I think it is really important for students to be able to express the meanings of words in their own language. The visual representation would also be extremely valuable for all students. Also, I like the fact that the student will encounter the word and its meaning three different times while creating the card.

Dana,

I like your ABC strategy. I think that it is really great! I like the alphabet principle of it, but it is also easy to modify for various levels of student performance. The versatility of this strategy is a definite plus because it could be used in many different grades and subjects to enhance student vocabulary.

I'm sorry that I forgot to post the citation for my strategy:

Clark, F.L., Warner, M.M., Alley, G.R., Deshler, D.D., Schumaker, J.B., Vetter, A.F., &
Nolan, S.M. (1981). Visual imagery and self-questioning: Strategies to
improve comprehension of written material (Research report #51). In Ellis,
E.S., & Lenz, B.K. (1987). A component analysis of effective learning
strategies for LD students. Learning Disabilities Focus, 2, 94-107.

Dana, I too liked the ABC strategy. It made me think of using it prior to making an ABC book. I have let my students select a letter of the alphabet and find a word from the passage to tell how it is important to the story. I think this would be a great way for students to make an entire ABC book or they could work in groups.

Ashley, I liked your FIST strategy. It is always good to have a mnemonic device to help students to remember what they are reading. I think using a highlighter or sticky notes would help students to locate their questions that they need to answer.