Term
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Definition
| "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer". Children who read well tend to read more. Conversely, children who struggle in reading read less and their skill level does not advance. The students who read less may do so because teachers assign less reading to such students. They read less because reading programs make fewer demands on the below-level students than on the above-level students. Finally, they read less because the process of reading is not rewarding, like playing golf without talent or practice. |
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Term
| Differentiated instruction |
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Definition
| An approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. This is a teaching theory based on the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in classrooms |
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Term
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Definition
| Is a process of providing increasingly more explicit and supportive instruction so that all students learn to read. |
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Term
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Definition
| The differentiation of instructional tasks by distinguishing between code-focused and meaning-focused tasks. Within each of these broad categories there are some additional distinctions that should be made. At any level of instruction and for any area of reading some tasks provoke more thought or depth of processing than do others. Some tasks can be completed in a short amount of time whereas others may take days |
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Term
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Definition
| Teachers need to make many important decisions about the texts that students read. One size does not fit all. The texts that students read should be matched to their reading level, their interests, and the skill teachers are seeking to develop. |
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Term
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Definition
| Teachers should devote more direct instructional time to struggling readers and less time to more advanced students. |
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Term
| Explicit strategy instruction |
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Definition
| Reading requires strategies for identifying words, determining a word’s meaning, or understanding a text. In an intervention program the teacher has to clearly explain the strategies and model them explicitly. It is not enough for students to know letter sounds; they must have a strategy or process to use that knowledge, just as they need a process for finding the main idea. |
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Term
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Definition
| The student needs support when learning new skills or strategies. Sometimes the support or scaffolding is provided by the sequence of tasks in a curriculum. |
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Term
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Definition
| Whereas curriculum and instruction break reading down into its constituent elements, students should always understand how the separate skills relate to the ultimate goal—constructing meaning. |
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Term
| Priming background knowledge |
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Definition
| Strong instruction requires that previous knowledge and skills be reviewed daily before new ideas are introduced. |
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Term
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Definition
| Students with reading problems need considerable review. Review needs to be cumulative, varied, and distributed over time. In a sense we cannot assume mastery of a skill. |
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Term
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Definition
| Strong intervention is well paced. |
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Term
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Definition
| Students need to be motivated. We can motivate students through the pace of the lesson, the engagement of the activities and text, and through their growing sense of efficacy. |
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