I've been doing a lot of reading about reading over the summer in an attempt to get better at doing this "Reading Specialist" thing. I was a classroom teacher for many years before I became a reading specialist, and I've tried to do a lot of research to learn about the wide range of grade levels and skills with whom I now work. I have tried to jot down a few "maxims" that I've gleaned from the literature. I thought I'd share it with you:

• Students having difficulty reading will either have decoding problems, comprehension problems, or both.
• If students have both, address the decoding first, since improved decoding skills automatically improve comprehension.
• Kids with decoding problems need help developing their phonemic awareness (PA), which is the ability to hear the similarities and differences between sounds. Phonemic awareness ONLY has to do with a person's ability to hear sounds, it does not have to do with letters at all. Even older students (4th, 5th grade) may have phonemic awareness problems that may be at the root of their frustration with decoding words.
• Kids with comprehension problems need instruction on comprehension strategies:
  connecting to text (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world)
  asking questions
  visualizing
  drawing inferences
  determining important ideas
  synthesizing information
  monitoring comprehension - if it doesn't make sense, try to: reread, retell, paraphrase, read on, discuss with friends
• Maintain a 80/20 balance between discussing/enjoying/responding to literature and direct strategy instruction.
• Use the "Gradual Release of Responsibility" approach, where every strategy is
  1) explained and its importance discussed
  2) modeled by the teacher (more than once)
  3) applied in guided practice with students being given more responsiblity
  4) applied independently by students

This information isn't rocket science, and I know I've heard it all somewhere before, but it really helps me to write it all down in one place. I share it with you in the hopes that some of it may be useful to you in the classroom.

~ Heather Wall