Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Getting them to read (,) right (?)

Getting them to read right. As in correct.

Getting them to read, right? Like, at all.

Right now, our biggest hurdle is getting kids to read.

They are still reading the questions and scanning.
Or they are just reading the questions and choosing an answer.
Or they are reading, struggling to make it make sense.
Or they start reading and get tired.
Or they look at it, and realize they are bored already.

None of our lessons and reviews on TEKS and questions are going to amount to a hill of beans - or even cow patties - if they aren't even reading. On all the days ending in y or on the test day.

Here's some ideas:

Show me your screen:

Have kids open up their screens and show you what they do first, second, and third. Have them show you what they do with the tools. Then tell them to stop all that crap, expand the text, turn on the damn line reader, and actually read the thing.

Manage your energy:

Look. On test day, we get tired. It makes sense to start with the hard stuff first. Use the next key to next all the stuff until you see the pencil. This is the icon that tells you that that passage has the long text you have to write. Start there. Read the second paragraph in the prompt and use that to set your purpose - reason - for reading.

Then find the questions that ask you to use two passages. Now read the first passage and answer those questions. Then read the second passage and answer those questions. Then use both passages to answer questions about both of the passages.

Then go back to number one on the test and do those parts after you take a break.

Stop Boring Yourself

Guys, when I listen to kids read...it's torture. As teachers, we have to back up and teach people how to stay interested in a text by reading with prosody. The voice in their head - their reader's ear - can't be boring. There must be emphasis, tone, phrasing, soft and loud...an actor reading lines in their head, a grandma reading a story, a newscaster explaining a disaster, a podcaster on a true crime series, a youtuber unveiling a toy or doing a game walkthrough, some crazy-Texas-accented-eccentric-white-lady-who-overdoes-it-all... Something interesting. Anything but that monotone bored teenager in the seat and stuck in a room for five hours. Seriously, why would they torture themselves like that? Stop the madness.

Point of Difficulty

There's a lot involved in reading. And kids need a strategy for each component when they struggle.

Decoding - try breaking up the letters, three at a time and stacking them on top of each other

con

trib

ute

Say each line one at a time. Then put it all together. If it sounds like a word you know, you are good to go. If you don't know the word, have the dictionary tool say it for you so you can figure out the meaning that goes with the sounds.

Purpose - Decide what genre it is. That helps you know what to expect and the voice you need to hear in your head. Are you grandma reading a story, a slam poet, or a documentarian?

There's more to say...but our instruction has to help kids know what to do when stuff doesn't make sense.

Understand Why

Most kids think they have to do well to pass the grade or to graduate. That's actually not why. The real why is that Texas wants to know that they aren't releasing a giant population of fools into the world. And people who can't read something and use it to make decisions -well, they are easily fooled. The world will take advantage of folks like that. The point of all the assessment is to determine if learners are capable of making decisions that make their lives better. Sure - the test isn't really gonna make life better. But knowing the true purpose and showing competence to get the thing over with sure does make the retesting pain shorter.

NOTE- I'm working with some specific lessons to resolve these issues with Unity Learning Communities - we'll be trying them out and reporting on the impact.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Documenting Process for ULC: Assessing Learners in the Beta Group

Reading Test: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DZdSND6n3wvdwFBm3mDSDH2tSu8OZGmvfqyXt4kSPw0/edit?usp=sharing

This used to be a purple ditto. Mom had it in her notebook of quick assessments she used at Humphrey's Highland. I have no idea where it came from. But... it's short. It's accurate when I've used it with longer comprehension assessments- and I have no idea why.

Here's what I'm playing with. We give assessments to figure out what we are supposed to teach but we don't know. I'm not sure that is working. These errors/miscues tell us what they know about the reading process - their beliefs about what reading is. So - for the first time, I'm looking at the errors with a different lens. What do these behaviors mean in terms of their approach cognitively to reading? What do they actually think they are doing? Because they aren't TRYING to make errors. They believe something that causes these choices that aren't just related to what they don't know.

G -

3.8 - abo... (self corrected) approve

4.4 -hesitation, quite...I don't know. (quality)

4.8 - that's hard too! (grieve)

5.1 - k...I don't know how to say that (quarrantine)

5.2 - con...contay...looks up and moves on

5.3 - glol...gloltten...glulton

5.4 - ex...hah...uh...I don't know

G is solid with decoding and vocabulary until about the fourth grade level (4.3). Her vocabulary seems to be at a similar level. Once she gets to multiple syllable words, g/c combos, and advanced vowel patterns, she doesn't seem to know what to do to solve the words. She stops and just explains that she doesn't know how to approach the word. She can begin the first three to four letters, but does not go much beyond the beginning for most words.

For the spelling assessment, she spelled "tran" for train, "fram" for frame, "chouch" for couch, and "squiril", suggesting that she may be between within word and syllable juncture.

Emerging theory of reading:

I don't expect words to make sense.
I don't know a lot of vocabulary.
When I come to a word I don't know, I don't really know what to do. Words baffle me.
I look at the initial parts of the words and scan through. If the initial sounds don't make sense, I realize that I did something wrong and move on.
I hear and represent syllables and sounds in my writing, but I'm not sure about the letters for vowel sounds.
I remember visual things about some words and try to write them down like I remember them.

Ae-

1.6 - block for book; self corrected

4.1 - spilt for split

4.6 - yurge for urge

4.7 - collapson for collapse

4.8 - grinnive for grieve

5.1 - kwaratine for quarrantine

5.2 - corage - for contagious

glooton - glutton; implee for imply; three hold for threshold; eethics for ethics (SC); deslot for desolate

I should have stopped Am earlier, but she was so energetic and positive (3.9). She doesn't seem to understand that the words she is reading don't make sense - which suggests a lack of vocabulary as well as a theory of reading that things just don't make sense. She's using the initial visual and some of the ending of words. She is not smooth tracking through words, and misses the penultimate syllable, suggesting a lack of understanding of syllables as well. The lack of knowledge regarding syllables is also causing problems with vowel sounds.

For the spelling assessment, she was able to spell all words except for the last one - sqirl for squirrel, suggesting that she may be between syllable juncture and derivational constancy.

Am's Emerging Theory of Reading

I know that words are supposed to make sense.
I don't know a lot of vocabulary.
I look at the beginning and end of words but skip the middle.
I don't know the sounds of some vowels.
When I spell, I try to represent all the sounds, but I don't understand how words are made.

Ad -

4.6 - yurg for urge; syllabication; vowel sounds, g2; vocabulary

4.7 - cospsand for collapse (SC) - There's some internal processing here to get from the s to the ll in the middle of the word; vocabulary

5.1 - quarnaty for quarrantine - syllabication; did he see the end of the word? sounds a bit like warranty - vocabulary?

5.3 - glooton for glutton - syllabication in doubling; vocabulary

5.5 - im plee for imply - vocabulary; knows common y ending as in friendly

5.7 - cometery for contemporary - syllabication, initial and final; not smooth tracking through the whole word; vocabulary - perhaps he knows commentary

5.9 - thersold for threshold -reversals in tracking; sh in syllabication; vocabulary

6.2 - dis o late for desolate - vocabulary

Ad has an approach to words that suggests many gaps in word knowledge and sounds. (6.2?) He never misses three words in sequence. He has an approach to sounding out words, but does not seem to notice that they don't make sense, suggesting a problem with both vocabulary and his theory of reading.

For the spelling assessment, he spelled fram for frame, struggled with hoping - marking out the e. He spelled squirrel as squrel. He also lets his descending letters sit on the line. This suggests a problem with visual acuity misconceptions during decoding print. Taken with the decoding assessment - Ad seems to be between syllable juncture and derivational constancy. Review for cvce words in syllable juncture is also warranted.

Ad's Emerging Theory of Reading

I have some strategies to figure out words, but the gaps in my knowledge are causing problems.
I don't know a lot of vocabulary, but I try to make unknown words match the words I do know.
When I write, I try to represent all the sounds in words, but I don't really know what to do with vowels.
I expect words to make sense, but I make a lot of mistakes and get the wrong idea about meaning.

I didn't listen to Zi read words.

He spelled "squrrel" for "squirrel"

4.4 - qu...hesitation...quality

5.2 - coura gioust for contagious

5.3 - glooton - for glutton

5.9 - theres hold for threshold

6.1 - ethic for ethics

6.2 - dis so lit for desolate

I should have stopped him after glutton but didn't. He topped out at 4.4, but was able to read several words successfully after that. It appears that he is trying to sound out words, pausing to think silently. He tries to say words that he knows, but they don't match the syllables. He has gaps in phonic and syllable knowledge.

He spelled clouchk for couch, and spurall for squirrel. He doens't close the loops on the a. To make an f, he makes a t and then adds the curve.

Au's Emerging Theory of Reading

I know a lot of words.
I look at the visual elements of the words until it sounds like a word I know. I do not always look through the whole word.
I expect words to make sense.
When I write, I try to make all the sounds.
I am still confused by the direction the q should go.

2.4 - hisself for himself - probably dialect

4.1 - slip for split

4.8 - Griver for grieve

5.1 - hesitation - guarrn...quaranikity for quarrantine

5.5 - implee for imply

5.7 - contemporly - contemporary

5.9 - ther sold for threshold

6 - patience for participate

6.1 - emphasis for ethics

6.2 deslate for desolate

Sbe spelled squarl for squirrel

Yi's Emerging Theory of Reading

I look at the word as a whole and make a guess about what I think the word it.
I don't expect the words to be ones I know.
I don't know a lot of words.
When I write, I try to use all the syllables and sounds.
When I write, I do not know the letters for the sounds I want to use. I don't know how to represent syllables yet.

3.8 approv for approve

5.3 - glooten for gluton

5.5 - apply for imply

5.7 - con...for contagious

5.8 - theo for theory

5.9 - three hold for threshold

6.1 - ee thics for ethics

6.2 - de sol ate - for desolate

She spelled sqruell for squirrel

Ka's Emerging Theory of Reading:

I don't expect words to make sense.
I don't know a lot of words.
I have strategies for some words, but words like contagious are overwhelming.
When I write, I try to represent all the sounds and syllables, but I get confused about the order. I know the letters that should be there, but I don't get them in order.

3.5 - Flit - sc

4.7 h - collapse

4.8 h receive for grieve

5.1 quality for quarrantine

5.2 conjurious for contagious

5.4 extreff for exhaust

5.5 implee for imply

image SC

complementar - contempora

thers hold for threshold

h pur...?

enfluences vs ethics

desclorate vs desolate

He spelled fram for frame; chouch for couch; makeing for making; hopeing for hoping; nashioun for nation; sqirr for squirrel

Ke's Emerging Theory of Reading

I don't expect things to make sense.
I look at the beginning and scan through to the end of a word and make up something that makes sense to me.
I don't know a lot of words.
I have gaps in my phonic and syllabic repertoire.
Sometimes, I don't pay attention to the initial visual and make something that seems to fit what I know.
When I write, I look to see what others are doing and copy them (Ga, chouch).
When I write, I try to represent all the sounds, but I don't know the rules for syllables and some sounds. I leave off the ending of words because I scan over them and use all my energy on the beginning.

2.7 - spill for spell

4.7 collopset -collapse

5 resentir - residence

5.1 qalentin - quarrantine

5.2 - hogerous - contagious

5.3 gloo - glutton

5.4 excaust - exhaust

thero

ther should

paticoppit tate

exuslusive

deloalate

Decoding at 4.9

She spelled freme for frame; spruell for squirrel

Li's Emerging Theory of Reading

I don't know a lot of words.
I don't expect words to make sense.
I try to sound out words, but I say sounds that don't match the letters.
When I write, I still get my letters backward. I'm trying to do the sounds that match the letters.

1.3 reed for red

4.1 slip for spilt

5.2 conflu for contagious

5.3 - gloot for gluton

5.4 extinguish for exhaust

He spelled fram for frame; coach for couch, hopeing for hoping, going back to add the e after finishing the word; squirrl for squirrel

Decoding - 5.1

Is Emerging Theories of Reading

I expect words to make sense.
I know a lot of words.
I try to sound out words, but the sounds get our of order and trigger other words that I think I know.
When I write, I try to represent all the sounds, but I get confused when we start to add endings.

Monday, February 17, 2025

Changing Reader Theories/Beliefs of Reading: Scenario One: Text Structures of Assessment

I've been spending some time with 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th grade folks. We talked. We laughed. I listened to them read and write. I watched them form letters with pencils. I watched them type. We talked about their thinking and how they made decisions.

Basically - I learned their theories of reading. Their beliefs. And in almost every case, I can pinpoint an assessment practice, curriculum, or pedagogical approach associated with the timeline of legislation or the pendulum of popular thought on how we are supposed to teach. We - the political engine, the commercialization and big business of curriculum, the teacher-pipeline, the assessment-data-standards regime, war, and the cultural-historical approach to teaching how we experienced and were taught - we did this. So did poverty and trauma (Dr. Paul Thomas). And so did too much data. See previous post.

Enough on the problems.

When you listen to a kid read, you get a pretty good idea of what they believe about reading.

Scenario One:

2024 English I STAAR

"H" read aloud for me...He began..."I must admit..." and immediately, I stopped him. You see, he - and every child we talked to that day - had skipped the italicized introduction.

The italics ARE a key part of understanding the context and trajectory of the story he was about to read.

In addition, "H" missed that"from"in the title meant that what he was to read was only a small portion of a larger text. "H" did not read the title; therefore, he had no context of the topic, genre, or importance of the text in general. Essentially, "H" does not understand the text structure of digital assessment and excerpts. Any problems with answering questions and overarching considerations about success on the multiple choice are now invalid. The data from his assessment don't mean much, and now his response has also skewed the collective item analysis for the whole data set.

Most of the time during our data dialogues, we'd look at the items "H" missed and say that he needed work on 6A, 4F, 6D, 8A, 8D, 8B, 4E, 8E, 5B, including SCR, and Multiple Select items.

Um. No. The gatekeeper to comprehension on this piece is the italicized context. The solution has nothing to do with teaching more lessons on any of those TEKS. The solution stems from contextualizing the characters, setting, and motivation of Mr. McGill.

And we figured it out by asking some kids to read to us and show us what they do when they take the assessment.

The Problem with Data is Itself

STAAR, MAP, DIBLES, Dabbles, Dribbles...

The problem with data is itself. (Caveat - I do love a significant item analysis paired with their stimulus.)

There's just so much data. And we collect more of it before we can do anything with what we already have.

And...none of it tells you why there's a problem. We never know what really caused the results.

And...none of it tells you what we can do about it.

Ah. Kid - you failed STAAR again. Kid, you passed that test, but you didn't show growth. Kid - you are a hopper -you moved from one data bucket to another: GOOD JOB. Kid - you are in the low approaches bucket. Teacher - your kids aren't on track to pass this year. Let's have a data-dig-dialogue and talk about all the data that shows we aren't where we want to be. Teacher, looks like your kids need more on 13A.144.56F. What did you do wrong to teach that?

Um. Y'all. This discussion is nuts. We waller around in statistical **** that doesn't tell us what we are using it for. (I've blogged about that before...for example, STAAR isn't meant to be a single TEK focused instructional tool. It's to be considered as a holistic view of whether or not a kid is on grade level.)

If we haven't acted on the data we have, new data isn't really going to tell us something we didn't already know other than there are kids rising and falling for some invisible reason. We can't show causality or even correlation with instructional/programmatic/curricular actions.

If the data don't tell us why, then we probably aren't making good instructional decisions for anyone.

If the data don't tell us why, then we certainly can't tell how we should respond to individuals or collections of them.

Honestly, the problem with data is that it is legion (Mark 5:9). Ubiquitous. And most of the time absolutely a waste of time and money. Unless you talk to the human that took the assessment.

Only then, can the teacher as scientist and artist, master of the instructional craft and relationship with the learner, make powerful decisions about what that person needs next. Understanding why and how requires a transaction (Vygotsky - sociocultural acquisition) with the learner about their transaction with the text (Rosenblatt) and the author and their own learning processes (Hattie). Data can't do that. The master teacher - in relationship with the learner and with deep instructional pedagogical prowess - the teacher can do what no data can.

(I'll be writing next about how we can listen to kids read, talk to them, and understand what causes their responses to reading, writing, and thinking.)

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Vouchers: A Conversation with Representatives

Follow the sequence with me. And then I'll share some insights.

I posted this on Facebook:

Then I wrote to my representatives.

Subject:
Vouchers: No

Message:
I don't guess you need a long email of reasons. I encourage you to go against anything about vouchers disguised as school choice. I encourage you to fund - fully fund all state mandates and support teachers and schools with living life in this century. Sincerely, Shona Rose, PhD Texas Tech, West Texas A&M, Unity Learning Communities

I received this response on Feb 10th. I did not hear from my senator. Probably because the bill has already left that side of congress.

Dr. Rose,

Thank you for reaching out to our office and letting Representative Fairly know about your stance on school vouchers. I am sorry to hear that you are worried about the potential impacts of the bill, but I can promise you that Representative Faily is dedicated to the Panhandle and wants to make sure that if vouchers pass, they do not harm rural school districts. She understands the vast importance of public schools, and what they mean to local communities, the communities she represents most of all. We will make sure that she is aware of your position and your reasoning! Please never hesitate to reach out in the future, whether you have questions, a policy preference or anything else in between!

Take care,

Michael Davis

Legislative Director

State Representative Caroline Fairly

Capitol: 512-463-0470

Insights

Representatives are listening and responding.

They are looking at your social media and digital presence.

The language of "if vouchers pass" does not make me feel better.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Page to Pixel: Reading Digitally; Assessment Success

A while ago, I worked on a project with Sirius Education Solutions to explain some strategies that were helping kids read online. And, we looked at how we use some of those strategies for online assessment.

There are several lessons, each with a description, lesson, video, and TEKS commentary.

Here's what we have for you so far: