They Didn't Give Up: Middle School Success!

Excerpt from Rhoades to Reading: A Successful Middle School Reading Program

By Tonianne Merante

California Middle School News Vol.20 No4

I’m happy to have this class.

Thank you for helping me this year.

I feel great about myself. I’m very happy.

Now that I have been in this class, I have been doing my homework.

I feel great that I got into this class because I’m doing better in my other classes.

Reading/writing success is the class that I like most

Now I can read and write better and don’t have to ask what the words are.

These comments and more were made by students enrolled in the reading/writing success classes that are part of the Rhoades to Reading program.

The classes were formed several years ago in an attempt to help the more that 60 percent of students who were seriously deficient in reading ability, performing two or more years below grade level. These students were not achieving academic success in their content area classes.

A schedule was implemented which allowed time for reading instruction, but we lacked a program which would raise students’ reading levels and be user-friendly for teachers with little knowledge of teaching reading.

The need was answered when the Rhoades to Reading program was …implemented. The program was used with up to 35 students in a class. The positive results were significant.

Note from Jacquie: Thank you to Mrs. Merante and the teachers, staff, and students who worked together to achieve success.

Mix Process+ Content + Feeling to Create Success

• Process Defines the Method of Teaching. 

When planning a lesson, the instructor has many processes, sometimes  referred to as structures or activities, from which to choose. Large and small group  instruction, computer assisted instruction, and cooperative learning are examples. Each strategy can work with almost  any curriculum.

  The challenge is matching the student or students to a process that is most effective. The following video, made quite a few years ago as a student project, provides examples of classroom activities that  integrate student success and peer engagement. The content is reading. However,  each activity may be used across the curriculum. The Thirteen Activities link that follows includes directions for implementing specific activities.

Student Project   redirect link

Thirteen Activities    redirect link

Content

Defines what is taught

Whether a classroom teacher, tutor, or parent, there is seldom  an opportunity to select content. However, the instructor often has a choice of delivery. Following is a mixed  list of approaches used by many instructors. Rreaders are welcome to add  favorite methods  in the comments scetion.

1. Link the subject to everyday life.  For example, when learning about ounces, weigh different objects, such as candy bars, to discover if the package information matches their findings. OR Ask a question such as: What would happen if the First Amendment of the Constitution  was erased?

2. Create a syllabus telling students the timeline for reading each chapter.

3. Design a rubric stating exactly what students are expected to learn.

4. Make a list of study questions  telling students what they are expected to learn.

5. If there are questions at the end of the chapter,  instruct students to read the questions before reading the chapter.

6. If vocabulary words are listed at the beginning or end of the chapter, review the meaning and use of the words before assigning indepent reading.

7.  Review and discuss chapter  headings with the class before assigning  independent reading.

 

• Feeling is  the Most Important Component of each Lesson. 

Many stress factors which inhibit learning are often out of a teacher's control. If a student is hungry, has not slept, worried about being "jumped" after class, is expected to read a sixth grade text when he or she can only read on a second grade level, are but a few examples.  For those who want to investigate stress and learning, please follow the link below.

Stress and Learning  indirect link

• 

Structure and content  are available tools  to assist in reducing stress. Feelings  are attached to every learning event and have a direct impact on the assimilation and retention of information.

 

• When learning is fun and tension free, information is  easily assimilated.

Mix Content, Process, and a positive feeling tone to creat teacher/student success.

 

Stages of Reading Development

 Stages of Reading Development

The quality of reading is not measured by how soon a child begins to read but by how well he or she reads when ready.  

 Students learn in different ways and in synchronization with their own personal growth and development. 

 Reading acquisition  rates can differ from child to child within a single family.  For example,  one child may begin reading at age four while another does not begin reading until age six. Parents may be surprised to notice that both children are reading at the same level at age eight. w

With these thoughts in mind, following are the stages of reading development.

Birth to Kindergarten

Children learn to understand the spoken word, speak learned vocabulary, enjoy looking at picture books, having books read to them, and naming pictures  found in books. 

Kindergarten and Grade One

Students learn the names of the letters and the concepts of sound/symbol and symbol/sound relationships, linguistic patterns, the blending of sounds, and the recognition of certain sight words.

Grads Two and Three

Students expand decoding skills and deriving meaning from text as well as  increase reading fluency.

Grads Four Through Eight

Students learn information that goes beyond their life experiences. They apply expanded vocabulary to interpret and analyze points of view in a variety of contexts.

Grads Nine Through Twelve

Students develop complex language structures, interpret multiple points of view, learn advanced vocabulary and construct their own meanings through analysis and synthsis.

Additional Resources

Please click the redirect page below the title.

The Four Stage approach Here

Center for Improving Literacy

Fact Sheet