Reading Instruction in Upper Grades & Why there is No Silver Bullet Answer

This year, my class showed tremendous growth. While I do have a record of strong growth on measures like iReady and State Tests- even I haven't seen growth quite like this.

On Twitter I simplified it all to a point of - "I used novels." - but wow was it so much more than that. So here is a brain dump of this year, what it was, the supports we had and how to maybe replicate it (**Maybe as every great educator knows results are hard to replicate and are so dependent on the year, the kids and what they need.)

Here's a look at my class- simplified into one chart based on one test. We had a new student join us in April- she scored "light green" in the end of the year and is the one untested in the beginning of the year.

Top look- Beginning of the year results and bottom- end of year placements.

The Key to Results

If I had to quickly summarize what all went right this year... it feels impossible to do. That said, I would name the following as key to amazing results.

• Direct, explicit instruction for the entire class
• A healthy balance of short passages, fiction, non-fiction, texts connected to other content area and of course... novels.
• Small Groups focusing on applying skills learned in whole class and/or small group interventions to novels
• Ensuring every kid was getting what they need while also ensuring every kid in intervention had access to grade level reading material with proper scaffolds to ensure access. No leveled readers.
• A district that prioritizes funding student facing staff (for us this meant grade level access to two interventionists using Orton Gillingham for kids who needed it via assessments) In January we also had two paras to help with small groups. This went down to one in March.
• A school and district that allows for teachers to use their knowledge base to adapt to student need
• A strong team that collaborated often and switched kids during small group instruction to ensure every kid in the grade level was getting what they need
• The time to ensure kids in intervention small group had a second small group where they were engaged in grade level novels
• A strong K-3 teaching team that set us up for success. Because of our K-3 teachers... we had an amazing starting off point and could push our students far. Students new to the school were embraced with supports and peers that helped model expectations.

Moving Kids Out of the Red - Scaffolds for the Win

4th Grade is a scary time to be far below grade level. I firmly believe that to catch kids up and get them to grade level they need intervention per whatever their gaps are after assessing AND they need access to grade level texts. Holding them back in leveled readers will never catch them up and in 4th grade we do not have time to wait and see.

This year I tried something new... with my far below grade level group, I started off with leveled readers despite my disdain for them (but put them in just below or right at grade level texts) This group would come literally dragging their feet to my group after their intervention. So one day I looked at them and asked... Do you guys want to read a book instead?

Cheers of Yes. Joy. Glee, Excitement.

So I put away the leveled readers (for good) and pulled out Wild Robot.

For many in this group, this book was far above their ability so... I used AI to give me lists of words that might be challenging to decode and/or were vocabulary words that might need preteaching.

I chose 5 words and pretaught them using OG syllable divide methods. I let students guide this as they also have an OG intervention and were stoked to be the ones at the whiteboard.

Since they were already getting intervention that's all I did. Of course we stopped to discuss a lot. Of course I snuck in applying skills and strategies. But mostly the focus of this group was to build confidence, give them access to grade level texts, and build a love of reading.

We then read a chapter or two and wow... magic. Even my lowest kid started running to the group. All of them volunteered to read out loud and many would beg to read multiple paragraphs out loud.

Their comprehension and fluency started jumping. All because they wanted to be there and they wanted to read.

They finally were able to read something other than the OG decodable (which have their use too!) and they were no longer stuck in (rather boring) leveled readers.

This is where I will insist until forever that the social/emotional pieces involved in reading need to be addressed. Kids need to want to read. They need to be motivated to read. They need to feel the excitement of being fully involved in a novel.

The Year Summarized in a Long Post

This is the year of the Bloated Basal. My district adopted Into Reading per state mandates and boy do I have things to say about that program but thats for another day and another post.

The beginning of the year, as "early adopters" we were asked to follow with strict fidelity. So I tried to. Given the composition of my class with 60% below grade level proficiency.... this proved to be a horrible fit. But the district insisted so I pushed on with - 45 minutes of Whole Group reading. This looked like reading the same passage together for 4 days. Picking it apart. Mostly me talking at kids. Lots of annotating in their books (oh we loved this part though) and lots and lots of analytical writing about the short passage we focused on for 4 to 5 days.

My kids hated this and quickly began to moan every time I asked them to take their MyBooks out.

Nevertheless.... We pushed on.

Our reading block looked like this

• Whole Group Direct/Explicit Instruction 45 minutes
  • From August to December - this was me attempting to both follow Into Reading with fidelity while also attempting to make it work for the kids in front of me. This task nearly broke me as it was impossible.
  • From January on - I moved to teaching with integrity over fidelity. I used the stories and the scope and sequence of Into Reading but did not follow the script. I still followed a direct, explicit instruction model but supplemented to ensure skills and strategies were more deeply taught. We stopped reading the same story over and over again and instead read it once or twice. 
• Small Group/Intervention/Enrichment time 50 minutes 4x a week (in January changed to 60 minutes)
  • Well Funded Support - Our grade level had access to two interventionists. One did intensive Orton-Gillingham (she saw two of my students 4x a week, four students in all) One did less intensive OG based group using Really Great Reading (she saw 6 of my kids - 4x a week - 8 students in all. We also had access to an online class for the Really Great Reading intervention. 10 kids from other classes participated for one semester based on need.)
  • The Insanity of Making Small Groups Work - From August to January I was running 7 groups. In the beginning,  I was mostly using Rigby (leveled) Readers per following the new adopted curriculum. Four groups saw me three days a week.  Two groups saw me one day a week and the other three days read a novel together. Some weeks I had a parent come in to read the book with them but this was inconsistent. The two groups were on or above grade level. One small group of two of the kids were in a far above grade level group with a para doing deeper enrichment with other kids from other classes 2x a week. After January... we received more para support and changed things up. Will discuss that later. This change up was huge for our grade level.
    
• Writing - 45 minutes - I used Into Reading's Writing program for one module and then went back to something more explicit and rigorous. (Self created)
• Foundational Skills and Vocabulary - 15 - 30 minutes a day depending on what Into Reading was having kids do. In January I dropped into reading a switched to Morphology Based instruction that focused on learning spelling and vocabulary via morphology.

It Takes A Village

Attempting to juggle 7 separate reading groups proved to be too much for one person. In January, we somehow got funding for one more para for our grade level for 35 minutes. With this we decided to change things up.

• Each teacher had three 20 minute blocks
• Paras and interventionists pulled kids for 35 minutes
• Kids who were below grade level met with a teacher in addition to an interventionist. The kids read novels with the teacher small group after their intervention.
• For kids who tested out of official interventions, I created a morphology intervention to continue to support what they learned. I saw two groups a day.
• Our farthest below students met with me to do a mix of Orton Gillingham preteaching of words that would show up in the novel we are working on.
• Kids who were showing mastery of grade level concepts did novel groups with paras, but only two times a week.

Working collaboratively as a team was huge in making sure all kids were able to get what they needed while also ensuring kids had access to grade level texts (novels) with scafolds (teacher guidance and supports as needed) to ensure they were able to access texts.

Nonsense Things that Shouldn't Matter But Do

Kids HATE iReady. Teacher's hate iReady. The results are nationally normed so this one small snapshot still can be used to inform instruction and decision making. It shouldn't be used to evaluate teachers but it is. So to nuetralize the disdain for iReady Testing Week here's some things I did.

• My class insisted state testing was fun *because of the snacks* So,... I gave them snacks for iReady too.
• I told my class if they try their hardest they could pie me in the face (Joke is on them, they would have been able to pie me in the face regardless as it was part of a school wide Rube Goldberg building assembly.)
• We took the test in chunks and I told the kids if they weren't feeling it that day just shut their computer and try again the next day (**knowing there was a deadline)
• Reiterated if they rush through they will have to take it again so they might as well try their hardest.

And they did.

Test Scores and Why they Don't Matter (But Do)

I have a love hate relationship with assessments like iReady. On one hand, I appreciate the date and firmly believe that when taken with a grain of salt, as a small snapshot, it can be useful in reflecting on instruction and what a child might need to ensure success.

On the other hand, these tests put kids through unnecessary pressure cookers and the frequency and length of the tests, in my humble opinion, take away from precious instructional time which proves to be detrimental to students. These tests in no way shape or form should be used as a single measure to evaluate student or teacher success. Scores should instead be carefully interpreted. Sometimes they truly are invalid. Sometimes they truly do not reflect student learning. But, when used as a small piece of evidence within a larger body of evidence, I find them to be useful when discussing and planning best approaches to ensure success of students in the class.