Expert Classroom Instruction for Students with Reading Disabilities by Ruth Wharton-McDonald (2011) could very well be my favourite article assigned to read throughout my PME journey. I found the article concise, informative, and extremely motivating. I would like to dedicate this post to reflecting on my favourite quotes from the article.
1. An Effective Teacher “when struggling readers are matched with highly effective classroom teachers, their developmental trajectory can be altered” (Pg 265) “the most powerful intervention tool that schools have to offer students who struggle to read is the classroom teacher” (Pg 265) “the lowest-achieving students in classrooms with exemplary teachers achieved at the same level as the average students in classrooms with more typical teachers” (Pg 265) “apply their knowledge in providing learning experiences for their students is what makes them so effective” (Pg 268) “What differentiates the expert teacher from a less effective colleague is the ability to match the intervention to the individual student” (Pg 268) Now that Wharton-McDonald has clearly indicated the importance of exemplary teachers, I NEED to make sure I am being a highly effective classroom teacher. After celebrating our literacy success last year, I thanked our reading specialist and congratulated her on her hard work paying off. She quickly replied that the classroom teacher is the one who makes the biggest difference for our students. I thought she was just being modest and not wanting to take all of the credit. This reading has opened my eyes to see what an important role I truly play in the literacy success of our students. I believe I work incredibly hard at making our literacy block meaningful, engaging, and differentiated to all of my students. Through this article, I am reminded of the reason behind all of this hard work - our readers! It is also not enough to just know what to do, or recite what research says or identify literacy programs that are available. Effective teachers take this knowledge and apply it to the needs of their current students. My pet-peeve this year has been when a few of my colleagues are so focused on a specific reading program. They follow the steps of that particular program and refuse to integrate pieces or concepts from anything but that program. I have tried to explain that a program is simply a program. There are so many other pieces to literacy intervention that our students need that may not be contained within any program! 2. Differentiation “struggling readers, even those with identified disabilities, need dramatically different reading instruction from students who learn to read more easily.” (Pg 266) “use ongoing formative assessments to determine the specific needs of individual students and to ensure that students are neither overwhelmed by instruction that is too difficult or bored by instruction that is no longer needed” (Pg 268) “Expert teachers provide instruction that targets the particular skills needed by individual learners” (Pg 268) “any classroom in which all students are expected to read the same book will fail to successfully develop reading proficiencies in all students” (Pg 269) “individual students will enter with different understandings and backgrounds, learn in different ways, at different rates, and in the context of different social environments” (Pg 269) Differentiation ensures that each student is receiving the instruction, lessons, and supports that they need. When we use differentiation and small groups, teachers need to make sure the groups are flexible and dynamic, always changing based on the needs of the students. Effective teachers will provide unique and engaging instruction for their students based on their reading needs and what they are ready to learn next. 3. Explicit Instruction “Explicit instruction means that teachers teach skills and strategies clearly and directly.” (Pg 266) 2 Types of Scaffolding: 1) “a careful sequencing of sills so that concepts and skills build gradually upon a strong, coherent foundation” 2) “an on-going teacher-student dialogue that demonstrates directly to the child the kind of processing or thinking that must be done” I have definitely been guilty of assuming a student understood a concept more than they really did. Sometimes I feel as though I am repeating myself over-and-over, so many times that they must know what I mean. However, I now understand that students need explicit literacy instruction. It will not hurt strong readers to receive overly direct instruction and it is exactly what our struggling readers need. 4. Intense Instruction 1) Increase instructional time “more instruction, more time on task, and more opportunities to read” (Pg 267) “effective classroom teachers spend more time teaching - and their students spend more time engaged in instruction - in on-task behaviour” (Pg 267) 2) Decrease group size “provide instruction in small groups created to provide targeted instruction to particular groups of learners” (Pg 267) “students with reading disabilities benefit more from individualized time with an effective teacher” During this section I made many connections to the RTI framework studied in Module 4. RTI calls for extra support for struggling readers through the Tier 2 or 3 model. RTI does not indicate that students who struggle be removed from the class during literacy instruction or guided reading groups. These students need to be a part of the high-quality classroom literacy instruction AND receive additional instruction either in a small group or one-on-one. 5. Success & Motivation “when students experience success with a text, they are more likely to be motivated to sustain their effort and engagement” (Pg 269) “they need motivating learning environments that support ongoing engagement in learning” (Pg 270) Students want to work on things they are good at. They do not want to spend time and effort on things they believe they are bad at. If we can provide our students with differentiated material that is at their appropriate level, we can help build their confidence and overall motivation in reading. My goal is to build life-long readers, I want students to feel excited about reading and proud of the words they can recognize. If I can inspire my class to develop a love of reading, I will consider myself an effective teacher. Reference: Wharton-McDonald, R. (2011). Expert classroom instruction for students with reading disabilities: Explicit, intense, targeted … and flexible. In A. McGill-Franzen and R. L. Allington (Eds.). Handbook of reading disability research (pp. 265-272). New York, NY: Routledge.
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