Independent- Instructional- Hard Reading Levels

Independent- Instructional- Hard Reading Levels

Day 6 Collaboration 

October 6, 2014

Thank you for your amazing conversations about bringing rigor to students using instructional levels and using resources to match student needs in the are of reading.

We learned...

• Some readers went from independent to hard levels right away.  We will instruct them at the hard level with a lot of support.
• Only a few readers have an instructional range.
• Assessing to the hard level helps us detect student errors and provide teaching points.
• Students fell apart mostly on comprehension about and beyond the text.  We need to focus our mini lessons and Guided Reading in these areas.  F & P Question Stem Bookmark        About the Text Questions
• The continuum is a great resource to use.  It was recommended to photo copy levels and use it as a reference for teaching points.
• We need to encourage students to look back in the book to find evidence.  This needs to be modeled in mini lessons, practiced in Guided reading and applied in F & P testing.
• Having students do a picture walk may support their learning.
• Give students a praise and prompt from assessing but keep it general and don't give story specific answers as they may be assessed again on the same book.
• Tricky book titles can be skipped.  Just use the non-fiction.
• MAP scores show we are low in informational reading.  We need to make a conscious effort to include more informational reading.

We wonder...

• How will we find time to do this?  It took 60 minutes for a 2nd grader because they had multiple levels of instructional!  A 5th grader took 80 minutes to hit hard level.  (Before school assessments, can support staff cover, other ideas)
• Can we assess students when we see them moving in GR so it is responsive to their growth and not all at once?
• Where do we instruct a student who had the summer slide?  Begin at their Spring score because research says with solid instruction they will regain their levels and be ready to move on.
• Where do we begin and end assessing?  Begin 2 levels above instructional and continue until hard at 90% accuracy or limited comprehension. 
• How  will the instructional level change expectations for each month?  
• Can we use the same book to assess?  You can if it is after 6 weeks. Some kids are remembering the answers so make sure 
• Will it help to do some vertical assessing so that we are consistent in scoring and expectations?

Next steps...

• Assessment calendar changes...Assessment Calendar                                                  Oct. 17/20- Independent levels due in the T drive.  If you have instructional you may add it.                                                                                                                                 K- Any readers     1-5- New students and students in question- Update progress      Oct. 21- Progress Monitoring in the conference room.                                              Oct. 24- Data Day SLO-  Have baseline data ready and an area you would like to focus on.  Here is a sample SLO.   SLO Reading Sample
• Conference communication can be used as in the past but we want the focus more on the needs of the students versus the level.    Conference Brochure
• Day 6 ideas:  Make bookmarks with questions from the continuum for levels, Observe peers in GR, have Sue model or observe GR with higher order questions.
• Determine what information will be useful to pass on to the next years teacher.  Determine if we will need Fall data or see if the Spring data is accurate.

Thank you for your professionalism and please add other comments to keep a record of our great conversations.