Adolescent Reading Academy

Levels: 6–12
Length: 5 days (optional 6th day)
Audience: District and site administrators and teacher leader teams, with coaches as determined by the client

Description

The Adolescent Reading Academy targets teachers of language arts, interventionists, and special education staff in middle and high school settings. The content reflects the research on reading problems for struggling older readers and supports the recommendations of Striving Readers and Reading Next.

Note: Sessions 3, 4, 5, and 6 may be taken separately. Sessions 1 and 2 must be taken together.

Participant Outcomes

• Understand the research on the particular essential components of reading instruction.
• Gain clear and explicit models of instructional routines.
• Link research to practice.
• Learn about the skills needed to intervene with struggling adolescent learners.

Session Descriptions

Day 1: Overview and Linguistics

This session provides an overview of the scientific research on teaching reading, including basic linguistics: phonemes, morphemes, and phonic elements. (This session may not be taken separately; it must be combined with session 2.)

Day 2: Decoding Instruction for Adolescents

This session focuses on the decoding skills needed to support struggling adolescent readers. Topics include phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular high-frequency words, and multisyllabic word attack. (This session may not be taken separately; it must be combined with session 1.)

Day 3: Fluency

This session focuses on the development of fluency. Participants learn techniques to assess fluency and practical strategies to help students improve accuracy, speed, and prosody. Included are ways to increase time on text and resources for adolescent fluency development.

Day 4: Vocabulary

This session focuses on vocabulary development. Participants study word-learning strategies, specific word instruction, and experience active ways to promote “word consciousness.” The needs of English learners are addressed.

Day 5: Comprehension

This session focuses on the different ways to assist students to access both narrative and informational texts. Specific reading skills and strategies—including questioning, graphic organizers, and monitoring techniques—are presented using explicit instruction, with hands-on lesson models and practice.

Day 6: Reading Assessment for Effective Instruction (Optional)

This session guides participants through Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures and also lays out the basic principles and purposes of different types of assessments and what a comprehensive assessment blueprint and schoolwide literacy plan look like.

Reading Fundamentals

Levels: K–12
Length: 3 days
Audience: Administrators and teachers

Description

This three-session course covers the fundamentals of teaching reading. It is neither as extensive nor as deep as the Reading Academy; however, it can serve as a review or a short overview of five critical topics: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Participant Outcomes

• Understand the basic principles of five critical reading foundational skills.
• See models of instructional lessons.
• Practice specific routines.