Interventions and Support for Struggling Adolescents'

In this chapter Ivery and Fisher discuss how to support struggling readers. I appreciated how through out the chapter the authors continued to push for small group, data driven, intentional instruction while pointing out the flaws in many of the expensive "quick fix" reading programs districts implement at an attempt to raise standardized test scores.

One quote that I contemplated through out the text was "If schools are going to make a difference with struggling readers then they must make it possible for the best teachers to get up close and personal with  those readers on the individual level" pg. 73-74.  This quote reminded me of experiences I have had working at Hamilton STEM Academy in the city's South Linden neighborhood.

Last semester I worked with the two third grade teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Houltein, (yes, they are married) doing RTI with some of their students in both reading and math. Both teachers were extremely  good at what they did, Mr. Houltein taught reading and Ms. Houltein taught math. Mr. Houltein followed Ivery and Fisher's mantra to a T and the results were amazing. He divided his class of 26 into 5 small homogeneous groups based on reading level. He spent 30 minutes with each group each day working on specific reading skills that needed to be developed by the students in that group. While he worked in one small group the other four worked in stations of independent silent reading, essay writing based off of a daily story starter, a short history or geography passage with comprehension question that varied depending on a students' reading level and a computer station with a assigned short "research assignment" or computer game where the students worked in pairs.

What I just describe is a text book scenarios for how to run a reading curriculum, however, implementing the program is much more complex than it seems. There a are a number of reasons why Mr. Houltein's system was so effective, yet not every teacher could pull it off. Below I have briefly listed some of the components to his success and why this system could not be used by all teachers.

Data Collection: Mr. Houltein collected weekly data on each student's progress. He then used this data as the basis for the next's week instruction. Often teachers, especially general ed, do not take the time to collect data on their students, meaning they cannot actually show if their instruction is effective or not.

Phonics Knowledge: Mr. Houltein had extensive knowledge of phonics and how to implement it into classroom lessons. To be Highly Qualified in Reading in the state of Ohio, you simply need to take 12 credits on teaching reading, one phonics class and pass the Reading exam. Many programs provide these courses, but do not provide the proper instruction for teachers to actually master phonics. To be completely honest, I have taken the required Phonics course at OSU and learned little that could help me in the classroom, yet I received over 100% in the class. I learned academic buzzword definitions, but none of the specific sounds in the English Language, which not be helpful to any struggling readers.

Use of Direct Instruction: Mr. Houltein used DI in all of the small groups he worked with. Many districts and teachers shy away from this,yet Project Follow Through, one of the largest, most comprehensive studies on education found DI to be the most efficient program used in classrooms.

Classroom Management: Mr. Houltein had great command of his class, which is needed when you spend your morning interacting with small groups of students. He set very clear and very high expectations for his students both behaviorally and academically. He was also extremely explicit with his directions. At any moment one could walk up to any student and they would be able to tell you what they were expected to be working on at that time. A teacher would less classroom control could not pull this system off.

To close this extremely long post, these are just a list of things to consider when attempting to implement an effective reading program in your classroom. Our text books, courses and professors offer great advice and guidance as to how to be an effective teacher, but implementing this advice is not easy.