As someone who taught Reading Mastery and now trains and consults on these programs I can share that in all my schools, we have never boxed up trade books or classroom libraries. Children need the experience of reading trade books. Indeed, I think we all agree that students should read and be read to from a variety of books. The goals of teachers who thoughtfully use Direct Instruction programs are the same as the goals of teachers who use Guided Reading or any other methodology or pedagogy. We all want to teach children to read well and to love reading. To do this effectively, students should have access to a rich variety of books. Here are some insights on what Beverlee is referring to below. Again, please know that I do not personally or professionally advocate the boxing up of any trade books. If administrators are concerned about confusing the students because trade books are in the room where Reading Mastery is being taught, the answer is to provide more top quality staff development and classroom coaching- not to remove the books. There are differences to how early reading is taught in DI vs. a Guided Reading approach (for example). Is there potential for confusion if primary students are getting lessons in both? Yes. Can that be overcome? Yes. But it takes training and a willingness to make some changes in how the GR lesson is taught to the fragile learner or very young learner. The teacher's guide for Reading Mastery (RMI classic) does not advocate mixing RM with other forms of instruction. Having said that, Trade books and DI can and should happily co-exist. There are two big differences that come to mind when thinking about Trade books and the storybooks used in Reading Mastery levels 1 and 2. To begin with, K, 1st and 2nd grade students who are in Reading Mastery levels 1 and 2 are reading material that is written with a modified orthography. That means that the print looks different. The students are taught to sound out words as their first way of approaching an unfamiliar word. To make this easier for the students, the 40 sound symbols in the English Language are written in such a way that they look visually different. Each sound/symbol is explicitly taught and practiced. Spelling always remains correct. Letters that are not pronounced when a word is sounded out are written smaller. Beginning in RM2, the print begins to transition back to "normal". By the end of RM2, students are reading stories written with regular print. Another significant difference between trade book and the storybooks in RM1: the pictures in the storybook are intentionally put on the 2nd page. They are hidden from view while the children are reading the story for the first few times. The purpose of this is to help the students focus on the text. The story is read 2 to 3 times before the picture is given attention. The goal is to get the students to be accurate, appropriately fluent, then ask comprehension questions-- and finally to enjoy the picture. It may also be relevant to point out that the text of these stories is intentionally controlled so that students experience high levels of success continuously. I am only scratching the surface of the details and procedures in RM. My hope is that you can see, with the vast knowledge base on this site, a few of the difference between a balanced lit approach to early reading and what happens in an early RM lesson. The fact that there are differences between the two approaches is ok because some kids need the design of RM to become successful readers. With all this in mind, I have found that children in Reading Mastery 1 and 2 benefit from taking what they are learning to do very well-- and practicing/applying these skills while reading thoughtfully chosen trade books or leveled readers. When done well, this type of practice only reinforces the transfer of skills from Reading Mastery to all types of reading material. This is the goal. My own experience is that primary kids in RM confidently pull high interest books off the shelves and give them a try. Reading Mastery has empowered them. They see themselves as readers because they are. I hope this information helps. Amy McGovernEducational ConsultantDirect Instruction Trainer and Coach since 2001.> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:46:55 -0700> From: [email protected]> To: [email protected]> Subject: [MOSAIC] Reading Mastery, etcetera> > Hi all - I'd like to ask a question that affects everyone interested in> teaching comprehension, especially in a release to independence format. Do> any of you know of any instances where schools have adopted Reading Mastery> or another Direct Instruction program and have been forced to eliminate the> use of trade books in classrooms (or, alternately, very limited> participation in a library program) in order to use comprehension strategies> (or other strategies, actually) in the classroom? I think I remember> someone on this list serve saying that the principal and curriculum director> came by and loaded up all the trade books so they didn't "confuse" the K,> 1, and maybe 2 grade students. Help, please. Bev> _______________________________________________> Mosaic mailing list> [email protected]> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.> > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.> _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®…more than just e-mail. http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_hm_justgotbetter_howitworks_012009 _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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