Sharon Walpole, University of Delaware
Michael C. McKenna, University of Virginia
GUIDING DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION:
WORD RECOGNITION AND FLUENCY
MOMENTUM |MŌˈMENTƏM; MƏ1 Physics, the quantity of motion of a
moving body, measured as a product
of its mass and velocity.
2 the impetus gained by a moving
object : the vehicle gained momentum
as the road dipped.
3. the impetus and driving force
gained by the development of a
process or course of events: the
investigation gathered momentum in
the spring.
[ORIGIN late 17th cent.: from Latin,
from movimentum, from movere ‘to
move.’]
Voyager required a great amount of energy to launch, but it
will now continue forever, propelled by its own momentum!
LAST MONTH’S FOCUS
Professional
Development for
some portion of
instruction
Time to plan
and practice
Targeted
observation of
just that portion
CONDUCTING A READ-ALOUD
Team reads
the overview
Coach uses the
checklist
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
Teachers use the
coach’s plan
Coach shows a
sample plan
PLANNING A READ-ALOUD
Coach shows
the planning
template
Coach uses the
checklist
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
Teachers use
their own plans
Teachers work
together to plan
Did you
try it?
•How did
teachers
respond?
•Did it increase
the frequency
and quality of
implementation?
We
talked
about
providing
feedback
•We suggested that
you make specific
observation
checklists.
•You watched
Sharon coach her
student.
A hardness scale for coaching
A hardness scale for coaching
A hardness scale for coaching
A hardness scale for coaching
A hardness scale for coaching

You had lots of
questions about the
small-group instruction
and about word
recognition in general.

Today we’ll try to
deepen your
understanding.
GOALS FOR TODAY
Use developmental theories to predict potential
instructional needs
 Review a set of instructional strategies that are
appropriate for this group
 Introduce a set of lesson-plan scaffolds to
deepen your understanding of the needs of this
group

YOUR WORK TOMORROW


Read to review today’s
concepts
Plan a full support cycle
for a group of your
teachers
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
YOUR WORK BACK IN SCHOOL

Implement a full
support cycle for a
group of your teachers
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
LET’S REVIEW THE VIDEO

Remember Katie, our stunt teacher? She has
borrowed some kindergarten students on the
very last day of school . . .
THIS INSTRUCTION HAS FIVE PARTS
Using Words in
Using Decodable Text
Isolation
Sound and blend
individual phonemes
Whisper Read
or vowel patterns
Fully analyze
unknown highPartner Read
frequency words
Choral Read
WHO NEEDS THIS INSTRUCTION?
Indicator
Status
Letter Names
Proficient
Individual Letter Sounds
Proficient
Oral Blending
Adequate
Single Word Reading
Struggling
ORF
Struggling
ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
If oral reading fluency is weak
And nonsense word fluency is
weak
Use an informal diagnostic
assessment – a phonics inventory
If ORF is green … this is the wrong group
If ORF is red or yellow, check NWF.
If NWF is green … this is the wrong group.
If NWF is red or yellow, give phonics inventory.
A Stairway to Proficiency
Vocabulary & Comprehension
Fluency and Comprehension
Word Recognition and Fluency
PA and Word Recognition
Vocabulary and Comprehension
Students
Teacher Reading
Reading
Fluency and Comprehension
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Reader
Reader
Reader
Blends and
Digrap hs
Word Recognition and Fluency
R-Controll ed
VowelVowel Teams
Vowels
Consonant-E
Phonemi c Awareness and Word Recognition
Basic
Using
Using
Alphabet Knowledge
Letter Sounds
Letter Patterns
WHAT ARE THEIR LIKELY ROADBLOCKS?
Blends and
Digraphs
R-Controlled
Vowels
VowelConsonante
Vowel Teams
These
children can
decode
words like
cat but not
chat or clap
These
children can
decode words
like ran but
not
farm, firm, or
form
These
children can
decode words
like clan but
not cane
These
children can
decode
words like
cane, but not
rain or coin
Once you have identified a focus for your phonics
instruction, the trick is choosing enough words
for a sequence of lessons.
We will show you how we’ve planned for each
group.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WORDS?
Blends and Digraphs
Single Consonants
Short Vowels
Consonant Blends
Consonant Digraphs
HERE’S A WORD LIST FOR BLENDS
blab
clog
flap
glad
blob
club
flat
glum
clam
clip
flop
glob
clap
flag
flip
plan
THREE-WEEK SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Initial blends
(slap, crop, black)
Initial and final blends
(stand, cramp, blink)
Blends and digraphs
(shift, fresh, stash)
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WORDS?
R-Controlled Vowels
Single Consonants
Consonant Blends
Consonant Digraphs
R-Controlled
HERE’S A WORD LIST FOR R-CONTROLLED
arch
arm
art
card
pork
born
form
corn
cord
bird
fir
dirt
firm
first
girl
sir
THREE-WEEK SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Week 1 ar/or/ir
(start, fork, stir)
Week 2 ar/or/ur/er
(shark, porch, turn, herd)
Week 3 ar/or/ur/er/ir
(far, for, fur, perch, birch)
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WORDS?
Vowel-Consonant-E
Single Consonants
Short Vowels
Consonant Blends
Consonant Digraphs
Vowel-Consonant-E
HERE’S A WORD LIST FOR VCE
mad
cane
dime
ape
rag
line
bake
dive
flat
chat
lift
brim
THREE-WEEK SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Week 1 Short a, aCe Short i, iCe
(shack, made; pink, hide)
Week 2 Short o, oCe, Short u, uCe
(stop, choke; crush, cube)
Week 3 All short vowels and all VCe
patterns
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WORDS?
Vowel Teams
Single Consonants
Consonant Blends
Consonant Digraphs
Vowel Teams
HERE’S A WORD LIST FOR VOWEL TEAMS
bait neigh reign stain
bay claim play
ray
weigh way maid pain
SIX-WEEK SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
A teams (ai, ay, ei)
(pail, stay, weigh)
O teams (oa, ow, oe, oCC)
(coach, grow, toe, gold)
i teams (ie, igh, iCC)
(pie, night, find)
SIX-WEEK SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Week 4 E teams (ee, ea, ei)
(street, meat, piece)
Week 5 U teams (ue, ui, ew)
(glue, juice, threw)
Week 6 Diphthongs (ou, ow, oi, oy)
(shout, prowl, spoil, joy)
CHOOSING HIGH-FREQUENCY WORDS
After children are grouped because of their needs
in decoding, use an inventory to identify HF words
each child needs to learn
 List the words unknown by any child and plug
them into your lesson plan; for all children, that
will mean some words are known and some are
new
 Don’t worry about trying to find a decodable text
that matches the HF words; they are called HF
because they are!

CHOOSING DECODABLE TEXTS




Remember that our target is generalized decoding skills;
you needn’t match the texts directly to the words that
have been taught
Choose decodables that reinforce this principle: when
you see a word you don’t know, you can usually sound
and blend it
Almost all texts have words that the students don’t know
and can’t decode; you can simply teach them just before
the reading starts
If you don’t have enough decodables, recycle them in
later lessons rather than using them several days in a
row – we don’t want the children to memorize them
NOW LET’S REVIEW THE INSTRUCTION




Clear focus
Simple, repetitive
language
Extensive teacher
modeling
Every pupil response
WHICH BOOKS ARE INFLUENCING US?
Remember that these are already in
your professional library!
TEACHER MODELING
Sounding and Blending
When you come to a word that you don’t know,
you can sound and blend. The way that you do
that is you look at each letter, make each
sound, and then say them fast to make a word.
I’ll show you how to sound and blend today’s
words, and then you try.
COMPARE-AND-CONTRAST PHONICS
Vowel-Consonant-E
We are going to work with vowel sounds. First,
listen for those sounds. I will say a word, and I
want you to point to a picture of a word with
the same sound.
When you see a final e, the vowel says its
name. I am going to say a word. Find it on
your list, and when I say go, spell it out loud.
ANALOGY-BASED PHONICS
Decoding by Analogy
We are going to work with other long vowel patterns. The way
we’ll do it is, we’ll learn a set of clue words, and we’ll use
those words to read other words.
Your clue words today are rain, May, and eight. They all use
patterns to spell the long A. In the word rain, the letters AI
represent the long A. In the word May, the letters AY represent
the long A. In the word eight, the letters EIGH represent the
long A. We are learning three different ways that the long A is
spelled. I am going to show you a new word. I want you to
point to our clue word with the same pattern and then say
“I know_______. This must be ______.”
FULLY ANALYZING WORDS
High Frequency Words
I am going to teach you some words that you see all
the time. The first word is said. What word? Watch me
count the sounds in said. S-e-d. There are three
sounds. Now watch me write the letters: s-a-i-d. There
are four letters. Let me show you how this word works.
The first sound we hear is /s/, and it is spelled s. The
next sound we hear is /e/, and it is spelled with a and i
working together. The last sound we hear is /d/ and it
is spelled with d.
EVERY PUPIL RESPONSE TECHNIQUES
Choral Response
Teacher models the sounding and blending
process for a word, then says “your turn” and
students sound and blend that same word. This
allows us to use more difficult words because we
are ensuring success from the start.
EVERY PUPIL RESPONSE TECHNIQUES
Constant Time Delay
Children read a word first in their head, and then,
with a cue from the teacher, read it aloud
chorally. This procedure ensures that all children
will attempt to respond on their own, without
being influenced by children who might respond
more quickly without the cue.
DECODABLE-TEXT-READING STRATEGY
Whisper
Read
No
support
Apply
skills
Partner
Read
Some
support
More
success
Choral
Read
High
support
Total
success
LET’S TRY ONE LESSON OF EACH TYPE

You have all of the materials you need to try
each of our four lesson types. Take turns being
the teacher. Be sure to practice all of the every
pupil response techniques.
BUILDING WORD RECOGNITION AND
FLUENCY
Team reads
the overview
Coach uses a
checklist
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
Teachers use the
coach’s plan
Coach shows a
sample plan
BUILDING WORD RECOGNITION AND
FLUENCY
Coach shows
the planning
template
Coach uses a
checklist
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
Teachers use
their own plans
Teachers work
together to plan
YOUR WORK TOMORROW


Read to review today’s
concepts
Plan a full support cycle
for a group of your
teachers
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice
YOUR WORK BACK IN SCHOOL


Implement a full
support cycle for a
group of your teachers
Decide exactly what you
will do to build theory,
demonstrate, support
teacher practice, and
provide feedback.
Theory
Feedback
Demonstration
Practice