Running a School Wide Reading Program

This year I took over as leader of the school's reading incentive program. It has definitely been a learning experience, but I would like to share some of the things I have learned along the way

Build a Strong Team

Maintaining a program for the entire school requires a lot of manpower. Take all of the help you can get. For something that involves the entire school, you need the entire staff to make it successful. Some might be hesitant at first, but it is important to always emphasize that this is a community effort.

Build Excitement

The key to getting kids motivated to read is building excitement. You need kids to be excited about reading and excited about participating in your program. Which leads me to my next point...

Focus on Non-Monetary Incentives

Kids do NOT need expensive things to get excited. This is about the experience. Really, students should not need to be rewarded for reading, but there is no denying that rewards can be motivating. We have chosen to do a monthly raffle. When students read a certain amount, they get a raffle ticket. This goes into our "gumball" machine. Once a month, I draw 15 winners for some sort of "experience-oriented" prize. Some of our prizes have included: reading outside, free play in the gym, extra computer time, and lunch with the principal. Kids have LOVED this aspect of the program.

Steps are equivalent to a certain amount of hours in our district.

This is one of the ways to really get school-wide support. Initially, a few teachers were hesitant to give out the tickets. It was just one more thing to do. When their students did not win any prizes, though, they quickly changed their minds. Students talk to each other, and momentum grows quicker than you can imagine! Excitement is key! It really is the small things that matter!

A Little Healthy Competition

The key here is a little. Do NOT get carried away! This sort of thing isn't meant to have winners and losers. By being part of a team though, classmates can motivate those students who might be more reluctant readers. For March, we are having a reading tournament. The class that reads the most this month will advance to the next round. The winning class gets a pizza party!

Recognize Student Achievement

Unfortunately, as a first time leader of the reading program, I inherited a purchased program. There are some aspects of the program that I like, but next year I will change more. This first year, I felt I had to follow the program for the most part. One thing I like about the program is that it recognizes student achievement at an assembly. Students get to stand in front of their peers and be recognized for how much they have read. Students really enjoy this. 

Set Goals

We set a schoolwide goal for a certain percentage of students to read a certain amount. Halfway through the year, we had a movie and hot chocolate party to celebrate those students that were halfway towards meeting the goal. At the end of the year, we will have some sort of outdoor party.

Like I said, I am no expert, but I have certainly learned a lot this year. This is a big responsibility to take on, but it makes a huge difference to the kids. The key is working together as a school and inspiring kids to read!

Pull Out vs. Push In Intervention

Today I am posting about an issue that is very near and dear to my heart: pull out vs. push in intervention. Throughout my four years as a reading specialist, I have done both forms of intervention. This post centers around my experiences and opinions of these two structures of intervention with some insight from other professionals.

Pull Out:
First, let me share my opinion on pull out intervention. For my first three years as a reading specialist, I primarily pulled out my students. This was a decision made by administration.

Pros:

• For the most part, I had control of the environment. We had plenty of space with few distractions in the room. Many of the students receiving intervention services struggle with attention. The quiet environment separated from the busy classroom helped my students focus. Students were able to attend to concepts they might have missed in the classroom. 
• I had the resources I needed at hand. I had room to put up anchor charts and a dry erase board. There was space for sets of leveled readers, notebooks, and a variety of other supplies. I never had to worry if I had left a supply behind. I also did not need to buy additional sets of supplies to store in multiple rooms.
• A change of environment is refreshing. Students enjoyed leaving their classroom and going to a new place. The movement is also beneficial.

Cons:

• Travel time. Students must travel from their classroom to the intervention room. (In my case, however, it has never been more than 2-5 minutes.)
• Some students might feel embarrassed leaving the classroom. (In my experience, we have had all the students go to different locations for reading groups and services at their level. When we did this, we eliminated the stigma because all the students were going somewhere. It might be to intervention or to a higher level group with another grade level teacher.)
• Less time with the classroom teacher. The intervention teacher must find time outside the intervention block to communicate with the classroom teacher. (However, when I push in, my schedule is so packed that there is not time to communicate with the classroom teacher during that time, anyways.)

Push In

While I have done push in intervention all four years I have been a reading specialist, I used this form of intervention primarily this past school year. Once again, this was a decision made by administration. 

Pros:

• Less time lost during transitions. When I switch groups, the students are able to come to me quickly because I am already in the classroom. Time is still lost in my schedule, however, because I have to travel to the different rooms. I don't doubt that I travel faster than the students, though! 
• The intervention teacher is able to interact more with the teacher in the classroom. He or she is able to witness the teacher's instructional style first hand. 
• A more united front is presented for behavioral issues. It is very easy to use the same behavioral system. (Ex. Change clip, flip card, etc.)

Cons:

• More distractions. This will depend greatly on class size. With classrooms of 30 children, I had to deal with the distractions of other reading groups, centers, and general classroom interruptions. At some points, I was even distracted hearing other teachers lead their groups! I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the students.
• Time wasted putting materials away and setting them up. Once again, this depends on your situation. I was required to store my materials on a shelf and then set up on a group of student desks.  I had to clear the students' desks, set up a foldable board, and set up any other reading materials. Then, I had to clean all of these up. This time had to be scheduled into my overall schedule. Time that could have been used for instruction.

As I write this, I realize that these are my opinions based upon my experiences. Other teachers will have different experiences based upon the structure of their schools and classrooms. This past school year, I found that of all my groups, the group that I pulled out grew significantly more than any of my other reading groups. 

I find it very interesting that many of the popular names in education advocate for push in, including the well known Richard Allington, but when I looked at popular teaching forums, such as Pro Teacher, the majority of teachers seemed to be in favor of pull out. 

After my research, I think this fact illustrates the problem. There is a disconnect between administration and teachers. While teachers should always do what they believe is best for their students, the structure of the school plays a crucial role in the success or failure of the intervention system. Most of the success stories I have heard for push in intervention centered around a strong school wide approach. 

As a result, I believe that until all school systems are run exactly the same (which will never happen!), the model that works best for one school will not work best for all. Many factors determine whether push in or pull out is best for your students and your school.

What are your thoughts on pull out vs. push in intervention?

What Really Matters for Struggling Readers

For the opening speaker at my district's big back-to-school kickoff, I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Richard Allington speak. If that wasn't enough, I was able to meet with him in a small group for discussion after the presentation! It was a very exciting and rewarding experience for me. I am a big fan of his work and really enjoyed speaking with him.

Dr. Allington is the author of several books, including his What Really Matters series. Some of his titles include:

As an intervention teacher, I find his work with struggling readers particularly inspiring. His presentation provided some important food for thought. Some of his major beliefs about working with struggling readers include:

1. Match readers with the appropriate text level and include choice

• This might seem obvious. We are constantly running guided reading groups with leveled text, but he also means matching students to appropriate science, social studies, and math texts. This means doing away with the one textbook for the entire class. The struggling readers need to be able to access the information from another source. Students will also be more motivated to read if they are able to select among different texts.

2. 1-to-1 tutoring is ideal, but if that is not possible, groups of 3 or less

• The smaller the group, the better! This can be difficult with school budgets, but the smaller the group, the more intensive the intervention.

3. Gradual Release of Responsibility Model

• All lessons should gradually release independence towards the students. Lessons should begin with modeling by the teacher, move towards guided practice, and finish with independent practice. Many times we rush through the guided practice, or do not give students enough practice working with the skill independently.

4. Coordinate intervention with core curriculum

• This can be especially difficult in large schools. The best interventions align with the core curriculum in the classroom. Students will get very confused if they are learning several different ways to write summaries. Teachers need to collaborate and teach consistently across the board.

5. MORE reading

• It seems like common sense, but the more you read, the better you get! Dr. Allington compares reading to any other sport. You have to practice to get better. Unfortunately, he says many interventions or RTI centers focus too heavily on worksheets and paperwork. Dr. Allington says 2/3 of every day should be spent reading. This means that 2/3 of the intervention block should be spent reading, NOT doing worksheets.

6. Expert teachers

• Dr. Allington truly believes in the power of the teacher. He believes schools should be investing in quality professional development for their teachers instead of purchasing packaged programs. He also believes that the most expert teachers should be working with the struggling readers. During his presentation he discussed how he is against the use of paraprofessionals to instruct the most struggling readers. 

7. Metacognition  and Meaning Making

• Students should be taught to think about their own thinking when they are reading. They should be aware of the strategies they are using and what to do when they are struggling. Students should constantly be reflecting on their reading and pausing to make meaning. Dr. Allington believes the core of comprehension instruction is the teaching of strategies. 

Dr. Allington believes the key to RTI is the strengthening of Tier 1 classroom instruction.

How is RTI run in your school? What strengths do you see in your program? What weaknesses?