Client Request: How do I respond when teachers struggle: We can't use those passages in x book. They are just too long and hard.

 We can't use those passages in x book. They are just too long. 

That just didn't sound right to me. I chose a 6th grade passage from The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. Chapter six in this text is after the main character's father has been put in prison. Her older brother has been murdered. Since they are living in a refugee camp in Afganistan during the Taliban's rule, no one can go outside to buy supplies or bring in money. 

This text has 1,955 words. For comparison, 6th grade STAAR has 3,700 words plus questions. Students must finish in four hours. The Hasbrook and Tindall chart has the median speed for oral reading at 150 words per minute. At that rate, it should take about 13 minutes to read the text. I read it, slowly and with expression in about 11 minutes. This text is NOT too long. Even with other activities,  it should take a maximum of two class days to read and discuss. 

Why is it taking so long to read texts? My hypothesis is that teachers are pausing too frequently to question students through the text. Remember, we are teaching students to listen, speak, read, write, and think. We are not teaching the text. When the teacher interrupts the reading, the students lose their own sense of the connections, comprehension, and engagement in making meaning. They get bored and hate reading because the approach sucks the joy out of reading. And most of the time, they can no longer complete the tasks if the teacher isn't asking the questions. 

While I have written before about why this is a bad idea, I think time is better spent here in brining a vision of a lesson plan where the students are making meaning of the text instead of the teacher asking questions where the students guess what the teacher wants them to say. 

Hook: What if only boys/men could go outside? What if only men could shop? (Discuss the outrage.) 

Objective: Today, we are going to set a purpose for reading (what) that helps us analyze a character (why). We are going to use a character sociogram to keep track of character interactions that reveal conflict, character motivation, and character traits (how). We will also use a sentence starters of "I noticed x in the text..." and "That means..." (how). Notice that Break out the what, why, and how to make sure students are secure in the relevance, the clarity of the objective, and the methods and activities we will be using during the lesson. 

Model: (I DO) 

Quickly, give the background of the story. Let's put the information we know into our sociogram. 

Today, my reading partner is Sherella. Between us, we have our note-taking guide with the character sociogram. I have also marked places in the text where you can collect data about the characters. As Sherella and I read, we are going to pause at certain places to ask questions that help us monitor our comprehension and to collect data about what kind of people our characters are and how they are reacting to the conflict. 

As Sherella and I buddy read today, we are going to trade readers at punctuation because we have been working on noticing comma use for reading fluency and expression. 

I'll begin: They were going to turn her into a boy. (Oh! What? I'm not sure she will like that.)

Sherella: "As a boy,

Me: "you'll be able to move in and out of the market, 

Sherella: "buy what we need, 

Me: "and no one will stop you,"

Sherella: Mother said. 

Me: Now I  have some important information to add to the chart. Parvana will be in disguise so that her family can have food. And we can add the mother as a character to the chart. 

Let's continue reading from paragraph 1-13 to model. I begin to collect data about Parvana and the other characters. I use a format of what I notice and then make a statement about what that means about the character: I notice...that means. I can also ask questions. 

I notice that she glares at Nooria. That means there must be conflict there. 

In paragraph 11, Parvana notices her mother looks better. That means must care for and have compassion for her mother. 

In paragraph 11 Parvana is glad that her mother looks better but states that she is not ready to give in. This means that Parvana might be stubborn and likes to make her own decisions. 

I learn that in two places (7 and 13) Nooria says cruel things to Parvana and taunts her with the scissors. That means Nooria is picking on her sister. I wonder why? 

Mother's voice "caught" when she mentioned Hosssain. She must still be grieving for her son. 

We DO: Let's look at paragraphs 14-19. What do we learn about Parvana and her sister? Sammy and Allen have prepared an oral reading of this section for us today. Let's listen to their performance. 

When the reading is completed, have students turn and talk in small groups of four to explain what they have learned. Challenge students to examine the word responsibility (using dictionary) and why Nooria can't take on the responsibility at this point. 

Bring the class back together. What text evidence did you notice? What did that reveal about the characters and their situation? Validate, extend, or refine student responses. Add new data to sociogram. If students are not successful, model the next chunk of text. If students are successful, move on to the next phase of the gradual release model. 

You Do Together: With your buddy reader, read through to paragraph 55, collecting data and making decisions about the characters. We'll come back together as a class to discuss ideas. I want you also to look for the cues that Nooria isn't as mean as she appears. 

Monitoring: As students are working in partners, move about the class with the clipboard, noting what students are doing and saying. This will help you know what discussions and questions to pose in the next phase. Pause to have a few conversations and probe their thinking. Ask students if they will share that insight with the whole class when we pull back together. If you see the same mistake the third time, freeze the class and correct the misconception for the whole group. Use the ELL and other supports to guide your interactions. 

We Do  - Check for Understanding: Meet back with the class, adding their observations to the class chart and notes. Extend, refine, and validate student responses. If students have missed a critical component, option one: model how you think through those concepts; option two: pose the text evidence and ask what students make of the information; option three: give the insight/inference about the character and ask what evidence supports that idea. This is also a good time to address vocabulary/context/connotation that support the inferences about the characters. 

Choices: If students are successful, you can allow them to continue with the collaborative reading. Or you can assign the remainder of the text as independent reading. You can also ask students to prepare a similar task from their independent reading. 

Closing: Then, you could move into closure. 

Writing to Reading in 2023 STAAR

Writing to Reading

Caution: This year, 2022, is NOT the time to be teaching this for test prep. It's time to wait and see what the data says and final decisions by TEA. Now is the time to think, reflect, and develop our own knowledge about reader response. 

In 2023, students will be writing extended constructed responses (multiple paragraphs) based on what they read, "writing to reading." In other words, students will be writing in response to what they are reading: "writing in response to reading." 

This means that students will not be receiving a prompt that asks them to write an informational or argumentative essay. It means that they will be writing using informational or argumentative techniques to respond to a prompt about a text they have read. (Decisions have not yet been made on what genres will be assessed for each grade. Decisions have yet been made if the genres will be different each year. Decisions have not been made if the genres will be announced before the test.) As you know, all genres listed in the TEKS are available for assessment purposes. I can't see how they'd ever ask kids to write poetry or drama, but I do think we could see them writing in response to those genres. My opinion only. 

Caution: Just because students will not be asked to write from an informational or argumentative prompt, it does not mean that students should not be asked to write them in class. Just because it isn't assessed doesn't mean that we shouldn't be doing it. 

Hypothetical Examples

For example, in third grade, students learn about argumentative texts (9E). They also learn to distinguish facts from opinions in (9Ei). Students may (remember - the jury and field test data are still out) be asked to read a passage and answer a prompt explaining their opinion about something in the text. Their opinion becomes their claim (9Ei). Then students must use facts and details (9Eii) to support their claim. Students take a point of view and attitude (9Eiii) and pull support from the reading to justify their claim. 

4th grade students may read a personal narrative or story and be asked to write an informational essay comparing and contrasting the characteristics or actions of two characters. 

Students may read a paired passage about a topic and be asked to write a problem-solution response to the information presented in the article. 

The prompts are carefully designed with the information in the passage to ensure that students know the expectations to pull from the prompt and structure their writing response appropriately. We will know more about this after field testing. 

Why is persuasive still on the blueprint? What will we be writing in 2022? And my other random confusions about STAAR

What Genres will we Read?      

When the blueprints came out for STAAR, I was SO confused. I guess I was a bit dense, but I couldn't understand how persuasive genres were still assessable on STAAR. After several back and forth conversations, trying to explain my confusion, Chelaine Marrion and Valerie Pannell finally penetrated my skull with wisdom about what this means. 

Here's what Chelaine said - she makes it very clear: 

Students can be and are exposed to multiple genres of text in the classroom. Teachers are continuing to have students read persuasive and literary nonfiction (also no longer mentioned in the TEKS) texts. Those genres still exist. The difference is that there are no SEs in the TEKS that specifically address the characteristics of persuasive or literary nonfiction texts. Therefore, students will not be asked questions on STAAR that ask for their knowledge of the characteristics specific to those genres. There is nothing that prohibits a student from simply reading a literary nonfiction text and being asked vocabulary questions, inference questions, author’s purpose of including photograph questions, or text evidence questions, etc.. As noted, teachers across the state overwhelmingly requested these genres still be available to students.

And, because their customer service is so prompt, Chelaine asked Valerie to give me a phone call. I met Valerie during a TEKS guide evaluation session and came to admire her reasoning there. As we talked, I felt more and more confident in how persuasive will be addressed. Valerie explained that they are being very careful about text selections. Guidance to folks writing the questions for the passages explains that a variety of unique items should be crafted for passages. For instance, it would not be appropriate to develop six inference questions or four vocabulary questions. They don't want questions to "overlap." This is what we usually see with passages - the questions assess many different SE's. Since there are few TEKS that can be aligned to persuasive and literary nonfiction, they are being very careful about the quality of these passages and the variety of questions. I think we can all feel confident about that decision. 

What Genres will English I and II Write this Spring (2022)? 

As we talked, I had to add in another question. What genre will students this spring be writing in? English I will be writing expository. English II will be writing persuasive. Nothing has changed. It will not be until 2023 that we see the full switch to informational and argument. 

(We talked some more about item development for the new constructed response. I'll write about that later. We have to remember that all of those decisions are made after the field test data comes back in. And we want decisions to be made on data, right?) 

ASK them for Clarification

Valerie and Chelaine are always so appreciative of questions. They want us to ask when we hear things that don't quite sound right to us. People are already writing test prep materials and are doing workshops about the test redesign. Ultimately, it is TEA's interpretation of the standards that we should follow. If you go to a training and hear something that sounds wonky to you, look at TEA's presentations on video and ppt's that communicate the reality. Look at the released item types. And if it still doesn't make sense, it is better to call and ask the experts at TEA than following someone else. They would rather talk to you personally than have you believe things that are not true. 

The students are just reading as fast as they can without pausing for punctuation. That messes up comprehension in my eyes. What do you think?

 From a client: We are using x to improve our fluency. I don't understand why we would want to improve fluency when we can't read with correct punctuation. The students are just reading as fast as they can without pausing for punctuation. That messes up comprehension in my eyes. What do you think? 

Well. I agree. Timothy Rasinsky has written about this and is the gold standard of all things fluency. Based on his work, Emma, Mom, and I applied the following steps to help her improve her Fluency AND Comprehension. 

I'll lay out the steps we used and then give you some links of Emma's Exemplars. I have more if you need them. 

1. Students read the text, recording themselves and their time. They are NOT to rush. The benefit for fluency practice is NOT for speed, it is for repetition. 

2. Students rate their understanding of the text. 

• 1. I have no idea what I read. Or, I remember a fact or two.
• 2. I can recall a number of unrelated facts of varied importance.
• 3. I can recall the main idea and give a few supporting details.
• 4. I can recall the main idea with some fairly robust supporting ideas, but I am having trouble organizing them logically or in the sequence of the passage.
• 5. I can give a comprehensive summary of the passage in logical order, with robust details, and can give a statement of the main idea.
• 6. I can give a comprehensive summary in logical order, with robust details, and can give a statement of the main idea. In addition, I am able to make reasonable connections to my own life or other texts I have encountered. (Directly from Rasinsky)

3. Students listen to the recording. They mark the text for any errors. 

4. Students calculate words correct per minute. 

5. Students use the rubric to evaluate the four components of fluency: Expression and Volume, Phrasing, Smoothness, Pace. Students can write a reflection about their performance and understanding. 

6. Students practice the words or phrasing that they missed. They select one area of the fluency rubric to improve. 

7. Students reread the passage, recording themselves again, calculating the words correct per minute and evaluating the performance with the fluency rubric. 

8. Students reflect on their performance. Ultimately, we want them to see that we slow our reading to monitor comprehension and make self-corrections. Then, we practice what got in the way so that we can read more fluidly and with greater expression the next time. Fluency practice is never about reading fast. Fluency practice is about adjusting reading processes (rate, expression, volume, phrasing, smoothness) to aid our comprehension and communication. 

9. Students set goals for the next performance and grade level norms from the Hasbrook and Tindall research. 

My niece, Emma, models the fluency process here and here. 

Here is a training with more links, including the rubric. 

Sourdough Poolish and THE Science of Teaching Reading, Programs, and Teaching Anything Where it Can Be Learned

 The other day, I tried to make some "real" sourdough bread - the stuff with an ear and open crumb. It took 42 hours. I followed the instructions to a T. Minute by minute. Step by multimillion step. The result:  a huge mess and inedible disappointment. By the next day, that stuff had hardened into a flat, cracked, dusty rock similar to the stuff the Red River couldn't wash away under the Palace Aides in the Palo Duro Canyon. About as tasty as sandstone and red clay too. 

What did I do wrong? They guy with the recipe didn't have my four, Amarillo water, the Panhandle climate, my culture, my baking equipment, or Mom's oven. I knew everything was going pretty well until it was time to shape the loaf. I knew that the lazy spreading mass didn't have enough structure, but I had followed the program, you know? I marched on with the "expert's" solutions and steps. The dough smelled wonderful...up until it didn't. I followed the instructions for the cut with the lam (found out later, this guy was plain wrong about how to do it). Mom stood there, shaking her head as she chunked that hunk of concrete into the trash can. 

Y'all. We are trying to make "real" readers and writers with the kids we have in front of us. That brings more variables and issues than sourdough. To be successful, we need to know the science behind the processes of reading and writing. Then, we need to combine that with what is happening with the individual kids in front of us. That takes a reasoned response that is more than following a curriculum, a narrow view (often misguided or flat out misleading about the truth of how reading and writing are learned) of teaching. That kind of teaching is more than what some are proposing and preaching right now. Of course we believe in phonics and all that jazz. That's not even the point. This isn't about whole language or balanced literacy or reading academies. 

There are many sciences of reading. None are settled. There is no programmatic panacea or pedagogy. If you only follow, overemphasize, or neglect any component, the results won't (and haven't historically) be what you want. The only solution comes from allowing teachers the freedom to make informed decisions that fit the nuances of the kids in front of them. 

What is meant by multiple sound patterns in the TEKS for elementary?

This is a racent question from a client. The TEKSGuide really is your friend. 

2nd grade mini unpacking of 2.2Civ

Requirements: 

1. one to two syllable words

2. of vccv, vcv, and vccv words

3. connected to word structure (phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology) 

4. purposes are to communicate, decode, and encode (spell) So this is for spelling and reading/decoding) 

5. must be able to break down into smaller parts

6. Examples

Second Grade example: multiple sound patterns would be long (in open and vcve patterns, short (in vcv closed syllables in multi syllable words) schwa (and the unaccented, final stable syllable in multi-syllable words like -ble) You'll need to check the phonics sequence to check which specific syllables and vowel patterns are connected to 2nd. 

Third Grade example: dinosaur - three syllables

sound patterns are: 1) the long i in the first open syllable 2) the long o in the second open syllable 3) the vowel team

au in the third syllable (can be pronounce /sahr/, /sowr/ or /sor/ depending on dialect. https://www.howtopronounce.com/sauros. This is also connected to meaning, vocabulary study - saur means lizard.  

Four Grade examples
Drowsy - drow - ow as a diphthong; sy - y as long e at the end of a word (two sound patterns) 

Compound - com - o as short vowel in closed syllable; ou as diphthong in closed syllable (two sound patterns) 

Royalty - oy as diphthong in first syllable; al - a as third sound of a - father; y as long e at the end of a word (three sound patterns) n

mermaid - r controlled syllable, ai as long a phonogram - two letters working together to make one sound; (two sound patterns

gurgle - r controlled syllable; unaccented syllable - stable final syllable - every syllable has to have a vowel; (two sound patterns) 

charcoal - r controlled syllable or ar as a phonogram, depending on how you consider it; oa as two letter phonogram for the long o sound (two sound patterns) 

marshmallow - r controlled syllable or ar phonogram - ar of car; mal -as a short a sound - but in Texas we say meh; ow as phongram with long o (three sound patterns) Origin - it was originally made from the mallow plant that grows wild in the marshes of Egypt. That's why it is mal/mallow. The treat was made from the herb: mallow. 

I can  go on, but I think you get the picture. Each syllable has different sound patterns because of the type of phonogram (vowel team, digraph, diphthong, or phonogram), the type of syllable - 6 types (open, closed, vowel r,  vowel consonant e, doubled letters,  consonant l) , and the word origin (root meaning). All three parts - phonogram, syllable type, and word origin - are a part of sound spelling types. 

Here are the other words in fourth grade listed in the TEKS guide:  

• Enormous
• Sanitize
• Underneath 
• Employee
• Ointment
• Dominate
• Remainder
• Consonant 

5th grade examples are not given in the TEKS guide. The alignments end in 5th grade.