WIXLIB

LAUNCHING LITERACYsharemylessonBy Educators, For EducatorsTeaching Students to Readin which children match initial phonemes tographemes (letters and letter combinationsthat represent phonemes/sounds) by sortingpictures based on initial sounds into 26 paperbags labeled with each letter of the alphabet.Language ComprehensionWhile learning to sound out words isessential, comprehension relies on muchmore—like academic knowledge, vocabulary, and familiarity with complex sentencestructures. The Center offers severalresources to support students in strengthening language comprehension.For example, in the “Classifying Info”activity students write words or phrases in agraphic organizer that describe and/or relateto a category of a topic based on an expository text. One graphic organizer the Centerrecommends to help students monitor theirunderstanding is a K-W-L chart. In threeseparate columns, students keep track ofwhat they already know about a text (K),what they would like to learn (W), and whatthey learned after reading the text (L).Another activity the Center suggests isa “Classic Classifying” graphic organizer,in which students write at least fourwords or phrases that describe and/orrelate to a category of a topic. Forinstance, if the text is about a lion,students could create categories such as“food,” “home,” “appearance,” and“behavior,” and thus keep track of whatthey learn. Finally, “Expository Exploration,” is another of the Center’s activitiesin which students create a graphicorganizer to help them examine andidentify a text’s main idea and details.Teaching students to read so theybecome lifelong learners—and experiencethe joy of reading—is of the utmostimportance. To see the thousands of otherliteracy supports Share My Lesson offers,visit our entire collection of lesson plans,resources, and activities. If you haveadditional ideas or requests, please reachout to us at content@sharemylesson.com.–THE SHARE MY LESSON TEAMGETTYIMAGES/SDI PRODUCTIONSAs Louisa C. Moats writes in this issue’scover article, “the most fundamentalresponsibility of schools is teaching studentsto read.” Fortunately, there is now a strongresearch base to guide literacy instruction—but relatively few teacher preparationprograms, curricula, or other resourcesintended to support teachers currently buildon that research. Today, about 20 percent ofelementary school students across thecountry struggle with learning to read, andanother 20 percent are not meetinggrade-level expectations in reading. Butthese nationwide averages mask a tragedy:among students growing up in underresourced communities—mainly AfricanAmerican and Hispanic students andstudents whose home language is notEnglish—about 60 to 70 percent have weakreading skills. This issue can largely beaddressed now and avoided in the future.The current science of reading is complex,requiring high-quality materials andfocused instruction over several years. Butresults are heartening, with all but about 5percent of children learning to read well.In summarizing that science, Moatspresents a conceptual model known as theSimple View of Reading, which “states thatreading comprehension is the product ofword recognition and language comprehension. Without strong skills in eitherdomain, an individual’s reading comprehension will be compromised.” Share My Lessonhas resources to help.Here, we highlight materials created bythe Florida Center for Reading Research, aninterdisciplinary research center at FloridaState University that has nearly 40 resourcesavailable through Share My Lesson.Word RecognitionTo develop word recognition, phonological awareness is essential. One resourcefrom the Center suggests using a pictureslide so students can segment and blendphonemes (speech sounds) in words.Another activity engages children inpracticing phoneme segmenting andblending; it uses Elkonin Box picturecards—as children say what they see in thepicture, e.g. fish, they place a token in abox for each phoneme they hear.Playing with language is also fun with theCenter’s “Treasure Chest” game, in whichstudents take turns segmenting words intophonemes and blending them to use as clues.Another enjoyable activity is “Brown Bag It”Recommended ResourcesThe Florida Center forReading Researchhttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml1Treasure Chest—PhonemeSegmenting and Blendinghttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml4K-W-L Chart—Monitoringfor Understandinghttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml7Picture Slide—PhonemeSegmenting and Blendinghttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml2Brown Bag e220sml5Classic Classifying—Expository Text Structurehttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml8Phoneme Split andSay Activityhttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml3Classifying Info—Monitoring for Understandinghttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml6Expository Exploration—Expository Text Structurehttp://go.aft.org/ae220sml9AMERICAN EDUCATOR SUMMER 20203

LAUNCHING LITERACYTeaching Reading IsRocket ScienceWhat Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to DoBy Louisa C. MoatsTILLUSTRATIONS BY JING JING TSONGhe most fundamental responsibility of schools is teachingstudents to read. Because reading affects all other academic achievement and is associated with social, emotional, economic, and physical health, it has been the mostresearched aspect of human cognition. By the year 2000, afterdecades of multidisciplinary research, the scientific communityhad achieved broad consensus regarding these questions: Howdo children learn to read? What causes reading difficulties? Whatare the essential components of effective reading instruction andwhy is each important? How can we prevent or reduce readingdifficulties? Two decades later, hundreds of additional studiesLouisa C. Moats has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduateschool faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journalarticles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. After 15 years as a licensed psychologistspecializing in evaluation and consultation with individuals who experienced reading, writing, and language difficulties, she served as a site director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’sEarly Interventions Project and research advisor and consultant withSopris Learning.4AMERICAN EDUCATOR SUMMER 2020have refined and consolidated what we know about bolsteringreading achievement, especially for students at risk.Scientists use increasingly sophisticated technology that canpicture the brain’s activation patterns or measure split-secondreactions to speech or print. New statistical methods can document the complicated interactions of many factors as studentsdevelop reading skills. Fine-grained analyses illuminate thenature of individual differences and individual responses toinstruction. These advanced investigative techniques have confirmed and extended the bedrock findings about reading andeffective teaching of reading that were known 20 years ago. Evidence to guide our practices is stronger than it has ever been.Unfortunately, much of this research is not yet included inteacher preparation programs, widely used curricula, or professional development, so it should come as no surprise that typicalclassroom practices often deviate substantially from what is recommended by our most credible sources. As a result, readingachievement is not as strong as it should be for most students, andthe consequences are particularly dire for students from the leastadvantaged families and communities.This we know: reading failure can be prevented in all but asmall percentage of children with serious learning disorders. It

Policies and systems currently impacting how reading is taughtneed to improve—dramatically and rapidly.is possible to teach most students how to read if we startearly and follow the significantbody of research showing whichpractices are most effective. Students living in poverty, studentsof color, and students who areeligible for remedial servicescan become competent readers—at any age. Persistent “gaps”between more advantaged andless advantaged students can be narrowed and even closed.Fundamentally, these gaps are the result of differences in students’ opportunities to learn—not their learning abilities.Although educators have long understood the importance ofliteracy, teaching children to read is very complex. Far too manychildren have trouble reading and writing. About 20 percent ofelementary school students nationwide have serious problemslearning to read; at least another 20 percent are at risk for notmeeting grade-level expectations.1 For children growing up inunderresourced communities and attending underresourcedschools, the incidence of reading failure is astronomical and completely unacceptable. Students who are African American, Hispanic, learning English, and/or from impoverished homes fallbehind and stay behind in far greater proportion than studentswho are white and middle class. The rate of weak reading skills inthese groups is 60–70 percent, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.2The tragedy here is that most reading failure is unnecessary.We now know that classroom teaching itself, when it includes arange of research-based components and practices, can preventand mitigate reading difficulty. Although home factors do influence how well and how soon students read, informed classroominstruction that targets specific language, cognitive, and readingskills beginning in kindergarten enhances success for all but avery small percentage of students with learning disabilities orsevere dyslexia. Researchers now estimate that 95 percent of allchildren can be taught to read by the end of first grade, withfuture achievement constrained* only by students’ reasoningand listening comprehension abilities.3While parents, tutors, and the community can contribute toreading success, classroom instruction is the critical factor inpreventing reading problems and must be the primary focus forchange.4 To be clear: although the day-to-day work is teachers’responsibility, students’ reading success is our shared responsibility. From preparation programs to standards and assessments tocurricula and professional development, the policies and systems*It is important to note that students’ reasoning and comprehension abilities can alsobe enhanced through informed instruction. As students’ subject-matter knowledgeand vocabulary grow, so will their capacity to think critically.currently impacting how reading is taught need to improve—dramatically and rapidly. Teaching reading is rocket science. But it isalso established science, with clear, specific, practical instructional strategies that all teachers should be taught and supportedin using.Research-Validated Ideas for InstructionA well-validated concept that should underpin the design ofinstruction is called the Simple View of Reading.5 It states thatreading comprehension is the product of word recognition andlanguage comprehension. Without strong skills in either domain,an individual’s reading comprehension will be compromised.A reader’s recognition of printed words must be accurate andautomatic to support comprehension. The development of automatic word recognition depends on intact, proficient phonemeawareness, knowledge of sound-symbol (phoneme-grapheme)correspondences, recognition of print patterns such as recurringletter sequences and syllable spellings, and recognition of meaningful parts of words (morphemes).6 Young readers progress bygradually learning each of these ways that our print systemrepresents language, and then applying what they know duringample practice with both oral and silent reading. If reading skillis developing successfully, word recognition gradually becomesThis article is an excerpt of Teaching Reading Is RocketScience, 2020: What Expert Teachers of Reading ShouldKnow and Be Able to Do, which emerged from a collaboration between the American Federation of Teachers and theCenter for Development and Learning.In this report, Louisa C. Moats calls for teacher preparation and professional development to be more rigorous andbetter aligned with decades of reading science. She describesthe knowledge that undergirds successful instruction andconcludes with recommendations for the professionalpreparation of all teachers ofreading. It is our nation’sdedicated teachers and theirexcellent teaching that willbring the rocket science thatTeaching Readingis research-based readingIs Rocket Science,instruction to classrooms2020across the country and willunlock the power and joy ofreading for our children.Teachers, administrators,What ExpertTeachers ofprofessors, and district andReading ShouldKnow and Bestate leaders are encouragedAble to Doto read the full report byvisiting www.aft.org/sites/default/files/Moats.pdf.By Louisa C. MoatsAMERICAN EDUCATOR SUMMER 20205

Persistent “gaps” between more advantaged and less advantagedstudents are the result of differences in students’ opportunities to learn.so fast that it seems as if we are reading “by sight.” The path tothat end, however, requires knowing how print representssounds, syllables, and meaningful word parts; for most students,developing that body of knowledge requires explicit instructionand practice over several grades.7 While some students seem tofigure out how the print system works through incidental exposure, most do not.Language comprehension, the other essential domain thatunderlies reading comprehension, depends on backgroundknowledge, vocabulary, ability to decipher formal and complexsentence patterns, and recognition of the devices that hold a texttogether.8 Furthermore, language comprehension is facilitatedby metacognitive skills such as monitoring whether reading ismaking sense and choosing to act if it does not. The languagecomprehension factor in overall reading achievement becomesmore and more important from about fourth grade onward.9From preschool through high school, students gain vital exposure to a variety of text forms, language patterns, backgroundknowledge, and vocabulary both by listening to text read aloudand by reading itself.The implications of the Simple View of Reading should be selfevident: reading and language arts instruction must includedeliberate, systematic, and explicit teaching of word recognitionand must develop students’ subject-matter knowledge, vocabulary, sentence comprehension, and familiarity with the languagein written texts. Each of these larger skill domains depends on theintegrity of its subskills.Learning to read is a complex achievement, and learning toteach reading requires extensive knowledge and skills across thecomponents of word recognition, language comprehension,spelling, and writing. Consider what the classroom demands of6AMERICAN EDUCATOR SUMMER 2020the teacher. Children’s interest in reading must be stimulatedthrough regular exposure to interesting books and through discussions in which students respond to many kinds of texts. For bestresults, the teacher must instruct the majority of students directly,systematically, and explicitly to decipher words in print, all thewhile keeping in mind the ultimate purpose of reading, which isto learn, enjoy, and understand. To accommodate children’s variability, the teacher must assess children and tailor lessons toindividuals or groups. This includes interpreting errors, givingcorrective feedback, selecting examples to illustrate concepts,explaining new ideas in several ways, and connecting word recognition instruction to meaningful reading and writing.Some children learn language concepts and their applicationvery easily in spite of incidental teaching, but others never learnunless they are taught in an organized, systematic, efficient wayby a knowledgeable teacher using a well-designed instructionalapproach. Children of average ability might learn enough aboutreading to get by if their instruction is haphazard; with systematicresearch-based instruction, those students could achieve muchmore, such as the appreciation for language structure that supports learning words from context, perceiving subtle differencesin meaning, or refining language use.Toward a Curriculum on the Science of ReadingA core curriculum on effective literacy instruction for pre-serviceand in-service teacher education would, of course, be supplemented and honed over time, but its goal is to bring continuity,consistency, quality, and comprehensiveness to the many different programs, organizations, and systems through whichaspiring and current teachers receive information about how toteach reading. Given the current science of reading, this coreshould be divided roughly into the following four areas:1. Knowing the basics of reading psychology and development;2. Understanding language structure for both word recognitionand language comprehension;3. Applying best practices in all components of reading instruction; and4. Using validated, reliable, efficient assessments to inform classroom teaching.This excerpt offers an introduction to the first two areas. For adetailed discussion of all four areas, please see the full . Reading Psychology and DevelopmentLearning to read is not natural or easy for most children. Unlikespoken language, which is learned with almost any kind of contextual exposure, reading is an acquired skill. Although surrounding children with books will support reading development, and a“literature-rich environment” is highly desirable, it is not sufficient for learning to read. Neither will exposure to print ordinarily

A reader’s recognition of printed words must be accurate andautomatic to support comprehension.be sufficient for learning to spell, unless organized practice isprovided. Thus, teachers must be reflective, knowledgeable, andintentional about the content they are teaching—that is, the symbol system (orthography) itself and its relationship to meaning.Good readers do not skim and sample the text when they scana line in a book. They process the letters of each word in detail,although they do so very rapidly and unconsciously. Those whocomprehend well accomplish letter-wise text scanning with relative ease and fluency. When word identification is fast and accurate, a reader has ample mental energy to think over the meaningof the text. Knowledge of sound-symbol mapping is crucial indeveloping word recognition: the ability to sound out and recognize words accounts for about 80 percent of the variance in firstgrade reading comprehension and continues to be a major (albeitdiminishing) factor in text comprehension as students progressthrough the grades (and students’ background knowledge andvocabulary become ever-larger factors in comprehending academic texts).11The ability to sound out words is, in fact, a major underpinningthat allows rapid recognition of words. (This recognition is so fastthat some people mistakenly believe it is happening “by sight.”)Before children can easily sound out or decode words, they musthave at least an implicit awareness of the speech sounds that arerepresented b

Free, downloadable resources full of fun at-home reading, math and critical-thinking activities . I LOVE TO READ , although these days I do much of it on a computer screen. As a . reading aloud stories and poems that delight young and old, or introducing the wonder of ne