Chicago Striving Readers
International Reading Association Annual
Convention, 2010
Elizabeth Cardenas-Lopez, Manager
Oreitha Benion, Brenda Howell, Renee Mackin, Juliana
Perisin, Rob Residori
Coordinators
Purpose/Overview of Today’s
Session
 Importance
of accountable talk in
the adolescent classroom
 The need for increasing the volume
of reading in the classroom
 Teaching and learning techniques
to enhance comprehension and
vocabulary development
Overview of CPS-SR Project

Tiered intervention model

Addressing the needs of struggling readers
in the middle grades 6-8

Transformation of literacy practices in the
middle grades
CPS-SR Tiered Intervention
Model
Whole School
Targeted
Intensive
All students in In class for
Extended Day
grades 6-7-8 Tier 2 & Tier 3 for Tier 3
students
students
Ke Findings from Research





Adolescent students need to engage in wide
reading activities
Literacy needs to be connected to students’
lives.
Students need to read at their instructional level
Students need to learn and practice a set of
strategies they can use flexibly before, during
and after reading.
Reading is a social activity; engaging students
together in literacy activities is important.
Ogle, D. (2007) Coming Together as Readers
SR Core Teaching Techniques
Before Reading During Reading After Reading
The Exclusion Brainstorming
List, Group, Label
Everybody Read To
Predict-Locate-Add-Note
Guided Reading
PLAN: Predict, Locate,
Add, Note
(ERT)
(PLAN)
Summarizing Procedure
(GRASP)
K-W-L+
KWL
Reciprocal Teaching
Anticipation Guide Think-Pair-Share
INSERT Notes
Exclusion Brainstorming
ReQuest
ABC Graffiti
ReQuest
ABC Graffiti
List,RAFT:
Group,Role,
Label Audience,
PRC2
– PartnerTopic
Reading
RAFT
Format,
Content Too
Reciprocal Teaching
Anticipation
INSERTand
Notes
Notes
GRASP:guide
Guided Reading
SummarizingCornell
Procedure
Wide Reading
Kids not only need to read a lot but they also need lots of
books they can read right at their fingertips. They also need
access to books that entice them, attract them to reading.
Richard L. Allington
What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research Based Programs

During the course of the presentation today you will
encounter the following types of text all related to one
central theme:
 Poetry
 Fiction
 Nonfiction text sets
 Internet/Online Articles
Anticipation Guide
Activates prior knowledge
 Sets a purpose for reading
Agree or Disagree

1. The Golden Rule hasn’t created safe school
environments.
2. The memories of being teased or bullied are
often difficult to erase.
Truth, Barrie Wade
Say Something…
Allows students the opportunity to discuss their thinking with a partner in
a safe and structured setting, thus highlighting the social nature of
language.
I wonder . . .
 I believe . . .
 I’m confused . . .
 I feel that . . .

Vocabulary Development Through
Word & Concept Sorts
Word Sorts
Promotes focused, purposeful conversation
 Activates prior knowledge
 Allows for negotiation
 Provides the opportunity for social discourse


Let’s Sort!
Why do you read aloud to your
students?
Turn to your partner and share some of the
reasons that you read aloud to your students.
 Sharing out…

The Role of the Read Aloud
 Modeling
Fluency
 Sharing Metacognitive Strategies
 Introducing New Concepts
 Building Background Knowledge
 Enjoyment
Inventing Elliot, by Graham
Gardner
 What
is a bully? Turn to your
partner and share your thoughts.
Think – Pair – Share
Structuring Think-Pair-Share
 Accountability
 Moving toward independence


Prompt #1: Did Elliot do the right thing by not fighting back? How might
you have reacted in this situation?

Prompt #2: Discuss the relationship that Elliot has with his mother.
Accountable Talk…
Is purposeful
 Uses evidence appropriate to the discipline
 Demands knowledge that is accurate and
relevant to the issue under discussion
 Is respectful, involves listening, and
occasionally promotes respectful
disagreement

Agreeing to Disagree





$50,000 grant awarded to Blaine Middle School
Principal James has reviewed many proposals and
narrowed them down to two possible programs
The first program is geared at preventing teen
pregnancy—a problem that is becoming
increasingly prevalent in the local high school
The second program focuses on bullying
Principal James has called a focus group to find out
how they feel about the two possible programs
RAFT (Santa, 1988)

RAFTs are written from a viewpoint that might be
different from the student’s, to an audience other
than the teacher. The acronym RAFT stands for:

Role (the writer’s role—observer, eyewitness, reporter)
Audience (the reader—parent, editor, community member)
Format (the best way to present the writing—essay, letter, poem)
Topic (the subject of the writing)



Based on your role, prepare a short (30 seconds) presentation for the focus
group discussion.
The Roles…






1
2
3
4
5
Elliot’s Mother
Kevin Cunningham’s Mother (the bully)
Jillian Spivey—a teen mother
Josephine Callas—school guidance counselor
Mr. James—principal of Blaine Middle School
Principal James should take notes and be
prepared to share details from the discussion
List-Group-Label
(Taba, 1967)
Bullying
List all words that relate to this concept
 Sharing out
 With partner take these words and group
them into categories
 Label your categories

Exclusion Brainstorming
(Blachowicz, 1986).
Helps students activate prior knowledge
 Allows students the opportunity to talk about
words as they relate to a specific topic and
identify words that might not belong
 Let’s give it a try!

What words might not be included in
an article about bullying?
School
Threats
Cyber Stalking
Diseases
Angry
Ignore
Mechanical
Teasing
Illegal
Harassment
Hurtful
Relational
Coding Text—Using INSERT
Notes
INSERT (Interactive Notation System for Effective
Reading and Thinking) Vaughn and Estes (1986)
Take a few minutes to read the article “Breaking the
Silence Around Bullying”
 (X) I thought differently
 (+) New & important information
 (!) WOW
 (?) I don’t get it

Think-Group-Share
Text Sets





A variety of nonfiction books and articles at varying
reading levels
All centered around one theme—in this case
“Bullying”
Allows students the opportunity to read with a
partner at a level that is instructionally appropriate
Builds vocabulary and background knowledge on a
content related topic
PRC2
ABC Graffiti
(Massy & Heafner, 2004)
A process that combines two reading
comprehension techniques, ABC
Brainstorming (Jones, 2000) and Graffiti
(Gunter et.al., 2003)
 Students brainstorm information related to a
topic and then work collaboratively to
synthesize the information

Bullying
Working in partners, brainstorm as many key
terms or phrases that relate to bullying. Use
the graphic organizer to record your words
alphabetically (you have 2 minutes).
Rotate your papers clockwise and continue the
process.
When you and your partner receive your paper
back, it’s time to share out!
Revisiting our Anticipation
Guide
Agree or Disagree
1. The Golden Rule hasn’t created safe school
environments.
2. The memories of being teased or bullied are
often difficult to erase.
Chicago Striving Readers
Debrief
Chicago Striving Readers
CPS-SR Information
www.chicagostrivingreaders.wikispaces.com
For more information or the presentation
materials please visit our website.