No staff? No budget? No problem! Learn Tier 1 Instructional Moves Every Teacher Can Implement
Dr. Stephanie Stollar is founder of Stephanie Stollar Consulting LLC and the creator of The Reading Science Academy. Dr. Stollar is a part-time assistant professor in the online reading science program at Mount St. Joseph University, and a founding member of a national alliance for supporting reading science in higher education. As a board member for the Innovations in Education Consortium, she collaboratively plans the annual MTSS Innovations in Education Conference. Dr. Stollar has worked as a school psychologist, an educational consultant, and as vice president for professional learning for Acadience® Learning Inc. She has provided professional development, conducted research and published in the areas of assessment, early intervention, and collaborative problem-solving. She is passionate about aligning practice to research and designing school systems to prevent reading failure.
Each year, teachers are asked to do more with less. At the same time, as teachers are learning more about evidence-based reading instruction, they feel compelled to do more for their students.
Listed here are five no-cost actions teachers can take during Tier 1 reading instruction to improve results without buying new programs or adding staff.
Increase Opportunities To Respond
The one doing the talking (or writing or thinking) is the one doing the learning. Active responding has been linked to improved learning. You can increase the number of times students respond by no longer asking the whole class a question and calling on one student with their hand raised. Instead, use choral responding (when answers are brief and the same), echo reading (you read, then the students repeat), cloze reading (you pause while reading and students read the next word, phrase, or sentence), partner responses, hand gestures (thumbs up, down, or sideways), and written responses displayed on mini white boards.
Practice to Mastery
When students learn new information and skills, they must first acquire the skill. In this phase of learning, the goal of instruction is accurate responses. But accuracy is not enough. Automatic and effortless performance is needed when the information or skill is required for higher-order tasks like reading and writing. Once students are accurate, the goal of instruction becomes fluent and effortless responses. Moving students to the fluency phase requires practice. For some students, it requires a great deal of practice. Don’t be tempted to move on to the next skill before students are automatic. Find ways to build in additional practice during transition times, before or after school, and when you are working with a small group.
Prompt Students To Say the Sounds in the Word They Want To Spell
One of the most frequently asked questions in the elementary classroom is: “How do you spell _____?” Busy teachers are tempted to provide the spelling of the word. Instead, prompt students to say the sounds in the word they want to write. If needed, have them put a dot or underline on their paper for each sound in the word to give them a place to write the letter or letters that spell each sound. Even young students can be trained to prompt their partners to use this strategy when they aren’t sure how to spell a word, saving the teacher from multiple interruptions each day.
Immediately Correct Errors
Anita Archer reminds us that “practice makes permanent.” Uncorrected errors may be inadvertently practiced and difficult to undo. Therefore, it is important to correct errors as soon as they occur. The sooner an error is detected, the easier it is to correct. So, be sure to monitor student responses carefully. The general procedure for correcting errors involves telling the student the correct response, supporting them to produce the correct response with you, and then asking the student to respond independently. You might even drop back a couple of items in the lesson so you can repeat the item that was previously incorrect and confirm all students can respond correctly. Make sure all students in the group can produce correct responses before calling on individual students.
Reduce Transition Time
One way to increase the amount of time available for reading instruction and intervention is to reduce the time students spend transitioning between classes and between activities within classes. It is worth spending time training students how to move from one activity to the next during times of the day when there is a high probability of something going wrong. Key transition times include entering the classroom, packing up to go home at the end of the day, and completing assignments. Just like teaching academic subjects, it is beneficial to model the correct transition behaviors, have students practice them, and provide immediate corrective feedback. Count down timers and music can be used to gradually reduce the time it takes to make the transition and to cue transitions. Don't forget to revisit the training and practice of transitions following school breaks.
When you are ready to move beyond Tier 1 instruction, consider implementing an intervention from Voyager Sopris Learning. Voyager Passport® is a comprehensive reading intervention for K–5 students that aligns to Tier 2. For more intensive or Tier 3 intervention, LANGUAGE! Live® offers adolescents a blended approach to both foundational skills practice and instruction in age-appropriate, authentic text, accelerating students to grade-level success.
References
Anderson, L. W. (1981). Instruction and Time‐on‐ Task: a Review. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 13(4), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022027810130402
Van Camp, A. M., Wehby, J. H., Martin, B. L. N., Wright, J. R., & Sutherland, K. S. (2020). Increasing opportunities to respond to intensify academic and behavioral interventions: A meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 49(1), 31–46.https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1717369
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