Engaging Readers

A Research Based Approach

Logic Model

Logic models are tools educators use to plan or monitor programs. They list the major components, activities, outputs and outcomes.

Resources

Core Lesson Plans

Daily lesson plans
Daily teaching and discussion slides are provided.
Mentor text lists
Book specific comprehension questions provided
Student response pages
Comprehension strategy anchor charts

Assessments

Comprehension specific student- friendly rubrics
Multiple choice student assessments
True/false student assessments

Activities

Whole Group Instruction

Teachers teach reading comprehension skills through explicit, direct instruction and modeled lessons.
Students analyze texts through peer-to-peer discussions.
Students expand their comprehension skills through peer coversations

Independent Practice

Students respond to the text by discussion, drawing, and/or writing.
Writing and sentence work is applied authentically
Teachers confer with students and individualize student support.t
Students participate in peer-to-peer feedback to improve comprehension skills

Outputs

Teachers save planning time with the provided explicit comprehension lessons
Teachers modify lessons to meet the needs of their students
Students apply comprehension and oral language skills daily
Student work on increasing their oral language and comprehension skills
Students learn to apply grade-level writing conventions in the context of their own reading responses
Students learn to apply grade-level sentence syntax in their own reading responses
Students learn to give and receive feedback
Students revise their schema and meta-cognition skills

Outcomes

Teachers cultivate self-assurance in comprehension instruction
Teachers observe improved student reading engagement
Administrators and parents observe greater gains in student reading engagement
Students increase their comprehension skills across other content areas
Students show improved conventions and syntax skills

Engaging Readers™ Interactive Read Aloud Comprehension Units is a research-based approach that provides explicit lessons to improve students’ reading comprehension. This includes clear and concise daily comprehension lessons, differentiation opportunities, assessments, and more.

The What Works Clearinghouse provided five recommendations for teaching reading comprehension to kindergarten through third-grade students. They are:

Recommendation #1- Teach students how to use reading comprehension strategies.

Teach students how to use several research-based reading comprehension strategies. (Activating prior knowledge/predicting, questioning, visualizing, monitoring/clarifying, drawing inferences, summarizing/retelling,
Teach reading comprehension strategies individually or in combination.
Teach reading comprehension strategies by using a gradual release of responsibility.

Engaging Readers™ supports these recommendations:

During each Engaging Readers™ text, students practice applying these six key reading strategies while discussing the book with their teachers and peers.
Engaging Reader™ uses a multiple-strategy instructional approach to reading comprehension for the week, focusing on one individual strategy per day.
Engaging Readers™ incorporates a gradual release of responsibility. Strategies are explicitly taught and then modeled by the teacher. Then, these strategies are used collaboratively and through guided practice.

Recommendation #2- Teach students to identify and use the text’s organizational structure to comprehend, learn, and remember content.

Explain how to identify and connect the parts of narrative texts.
Provide instruction on common structures of informational texts.

Engaging Readers™ supports these recommendations:

Narrative texts: The elements of narrative texts are discussed throughout the Engaging Readers™ lesson plans. These elements include but are not limited to, characters, setting, character motivation, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast.
Informational texts: The elements of informational texts are discussed throughout the Engaging Readers™ lesson plans. These elements include but are not limited to description, text features, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast.

Recommendation #3 -Guide students through focused, high-quality discussion on the meaning of text.

Structure the discussion to complement the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers’ ability and grade level.
Develop discussion questions that require students to think deeply about text.
Ask follow-up questions to encourage and facilitate discussion.
Have students lead structured small-group discussions

Engaging Readers™ supports these recommendations:

Texts have been selected that lend themselves to compelling discussions.
Higher-order questioning has been developed to prompt students to think deeply about the text.
Teachers use follow-up questioning to help encourage and facilitate peer discussions.
Students lead discussions with their partners or small groups through reflective conversations.

Recommendation #4 -Select texts purposefully to support comprehension development.

Teach reading comprehension with multiple genres of text
Choose texts of high quality with richness and depth of ideas and information.
Choose texts with word recognition and comprehension difficulty appropriate for the students' reading ability and the instructional activity.
Use texts that support the purpose of instruction.

Engaging Readers™ supports these recommendations:

Texts that reflect a variety of genres have been selected.
Texts that reflect a richness and depth of ideas and information have been selected.
As Engaging Readers™ is an interactive read-aloud resource, the texts have been selected to meet the students’ listening comprehension needs. This includes a variety of sentence structures and text vocabulary.
Engaging Readers™ follows the text recommendations of selecting a text that is well above the student’s reading level but is within their listening comprehension level.

Recommendation #5 - Establish an engaging and motivating context in which to teach reading comprehension.

Help students discover the purpose and benefits of reading.
Create opportunities for students to see themselves as successful readers.
Give students reading choices. •
Give students the opportunity to learn by collaborating with their peers.

Engaging Readers™ supports these recommendations:

Students actively engage with the text to extract and construct its meaning. The purpose for each day’s lesson is explicitly taught.
Instruction is scaffolding to support students’ comprehension. The goal is for each student to find success in thinking deeply about at text.
When responding to a comprehension prompt in writing, students can respond with pictures and/or words.
Students routinely learn through peer collaboration.

References:

Cunningham, Katie, et al. Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5. Taylor & Francis, 10 Oct. 2023.

Fisher, Douglas, et al. Text-Dependent Questions, Grades K-5. Corwin Press, 2 Sept. 2014.

Foorman, Barbara R., et al. “The Structure of Oral Language and Reading and Their Relation to Comprehension in Kindergarten through Grade 2.” Reading and Writing, vol. 28, no. 5, 28 Jan. 2015, pp. 655–681, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9544-5.

IES PRACTICE GUIDE WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade NCEE 2010-4038 U.S. DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION.

Thompson, Rebecca. “The Role of Oral Language in Kindergarten Students Comprehension.” Theses and Dissertations, 1 Jan. 2017, scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4129/.