CONDITION
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GENERAL PRINCIPLE
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SOME POSSIBLE CLASSROOM STRATEGIES
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| Immersion | • Visual saturation with print/ text
• Aural saturation of sounds of written texts |
Wall Print, Print Walks, SSR, Shared Book (Big Books)
Teacher Read-Aloud, Shared Reading, Taped Books, Chanting, Choral Reading |
| Demonstration | • Model the process, make explicit the invisible processes that make reading possible
• Collect and display models (examples) of different kinds of texts |
Teacher Read-Aloud, Shared Reading accompanied by ‘think-alouds’
Joint construction of texts accompanied by ‘think-alouds’. Focus can be on processes, knowledge and understandings that make effective spelling, reading, writing possible. |
| Engagement | • Communicate a set of reasons for becoming powerful, critical readers. These reasons must be relevant to the students you teach. | Propagandize the value of reading through constant messages, explicit reasons, personal stories, ‘nagging’, posters, models, demonstrations of power and value of reading |
| Expectations | • Communicate message through language and behavior that every student is capable of learning to read, and that you expect every child to become a reader | Avoid ability grouping, ‘put down’ language.
Use flexible, mixed ability groups which continually change. Make explicit the processes, knowledge, understanding that effective readers use. Constantly remind them that they all learned to talk - a much harder task. |
| Responsibility | • Encourage students to make some decisions about what/how they learn. Make explicit the idea that good learners know how to make learning decisions. Model and demonstrate examples of ‘taking responsibility’ or ‘ownership’ of learning. | Devise activities which don’t have simple ‘right-wrong’ answers. Insist that comments and judgments are justified wherever possible. Set up support structures, processes that allow students to ‘take responsibility’ for learning.
Use language of speculation, eg “What else could you do? Why would you do that?” |
CONDITION
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GENERAL PRINCIPLE
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SOME POSSIBLE CLASSROOM STRATEGIES
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| Approximation | • Communicate that:
- ‘having-a-go’ ie making an attempt and not getting it perfect first go is fundamental to learning. - ‘mistakes’ are our friends in that they help us adjust and refine our knowledge, understandings and skills so that next time we do better. - ultimately our approximations must become conventional (Expectations) |
Share stories of how we learn to do things outside of school - like learning to talk, learning to skate, play tennis etc. Highlight the role that approximations and responses play.
Model and demonstrate good/bad miscues as approximations that help/hinder reader. Discuss spelling approximations as ‘temporary spellings’ (not 'invented') and study similarities/differences to conventional spelling. Model/demonstrate how effective readers deal with approximations. |
| Response | Pay close attention to learners’ approximations and re-cycle demonstrations, models which contain information, knowledge they’ve not got under control.
Draw explicit attention to salient features of demonstrations/models that will help learner modify approximation. |
Set up structures/processes which make it possible for learners to receive feedback (responses) from multiple sources eg other students as well as teacher.
Constantly model how effective readers use various cues available to create/understand meaning. |