RN Bookmark

To the inspiring educators who make our students' futures brighter: Thank you for everything you do! We hope you get the opportunity to celebrate this week. You deserve it!  Read more

How do we teach students to comprehend what they read? Educators have explored this question for decades. They've implemented strategies, developed lessons, and gained insights into what seems to work and what doesn't. Until recently, however, the question of comprehension was not explored in terms of what happens in our brains when we understand what we read. Today, thanks to advancements in neuroscience, we’re able to add this piece to the puzzle. Read more

To engage struggling readers, we need to provide interesting content written at their level. Unfortunately, most articles in the mainstream news don’t meet these criteria. Does this mean struggling readers won’t be able to read about current events? Not anymore. Read more

Male and female brains are different. It’s a scientific fact, yet you probably don’t need science to believe it. You observe it every day in how your students interact, how they play, maybe even how they learn. Have you ever wondered what these differences mean for struggling readers?

A recent study conducted by neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center considered this question through a study of dyslexia. The study compared the brain anatomy of people with dyslexia to the brain anatomy of people without it. Unlike similar studies, the Georgetown study separated males from females and looked for differences between the two groups. Read more

As you gear up for a productive winter season, let’s take a minute to think about spring. We recommend using benchmark assessment data to compare the average weekly improvement of your students to the norms in the Average Weekly Improvement (AWI) table. Additionally, this data can help you set spring targets for your students.

Comparing your students’ weekly fluency gains to national norms provides a useful snapshot of how they measure up to their peers, but it’s equally important to determine whether a student is making the right amount of growth compared to him/herself. Some school districts have predetermined spring targets for students. If your district does not have predetermined targets, you can set them yourself. Read more

The ground is covered in snow here in Minnesota, which reminds us of many things. Bundle up, drive carefully, and don’t forget those winter benchmark assessments! The recommended testing window is December 19 – February 6. Once the testing is complete, how can you make the most of the data you collect?

When you have data from both fall and winter assessments, you can analyze the student’s week-by-week growth in fluency. This growth can be compared to the Average Weekly Improvement (AWI) table to give you a more complete picture of the student’s progress. Read more

Every word has a story. The more pieces of the story you know, the more likely you are to remember the word’s meaning. For example, during this high season of political discourse, consider the word ballot. This word originated in Italy and translates to “small ball or pebble.” Italians once voted by casting a small ball or pebble into a box, which explains why, in English, a ballot is a device for casting a vote. To students learning the word ballot, the story of the ancient Italian voting system, as well as the connection to the word ball, will likely help them retain the meaning of the word better than if they were asked to simply memorize the definition. And wouldn’t it be fun to teach them these little clues and bits of trivia? Read more

Since the original study in 1989, independent researchers across the country have conducted well-designed control group studies using the Read Naturally strategy. These studies validate the effectiveness of the Read Naturally strategy on improving students’ fluency. A recent study published in the National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal (Volume 28, Number 1) is no exception. This study, entitled “Response to Intervention: Increasing Fluency, Rate, and Accuracy for Students at Risk for Reading Failure,” conducted by Drs. Christine Tucker and Don Jones, concluded that at-risk students using a Read Naturally intervention made significantly greater gains than at-risk students receiving only general reading instruction. Read more

If you've ever completed the Read Along step of the Read Naturally strategy with a student, you've probably noticed that the narrator reads the stories slowly. Some teachers have wondered if this rate is too slow. After all, our goal is fluency. Shouldn't the stories be modeled at a rate that matches the speed of normal conversation?

Not exactly. When designing the Read Naturally program, Candyce Ihnot did extensive research into modeled reading rates for developing readers. She discovered from published studies, as well as her own experience, that slower rates resulted in improved accuracy for students. Read more

Do you ever feel like you’re assessing all the time? You’re assessing the weather and the traffic. You’re assessing what to say and how to teach. You’re assessing all the information that comes across your desk and computer screen. You’re even assessing whether or not to continue reading this post, aren’t you?

Oh yeah, and you’re assessing your students. There are benchmark assessments, progress monitoring assessments, and Read Naturally-specific placement assessments. What’s the difference? Is anyone confused? Read more