Meeting the Needs of High Achieving Readers

1. Meeting the Needs of High Achieving Readers Presented by: Christie McConathy, M.A.E. Jenny Schiltz, M.A.E. Gifted Education Consultants Des Moines Public Schools February 21, 2011

2. Goals & Objectives Debunk the myths surrounding high achieving readers Understand the characteristics and unique learning needs of high achieving readers Investigate strategies and resources to appropriately challenge high achieving readers

3. High Ability Readers

5. Common Myths about High Achieving Readers All gifted readers are high achieving. All high achieving readers are identified as gifted.

6. Common Myths about High Achieving Readers High achieving readers will learn on their own. High achieving readers do not require the same amount of teacher directed instruction as other students.

7. Common Myths about High Achieving Readers The brightest students in the classroom will bring up the slower learners.

8. Common Myths about High Achieving Readers Equity means equality.

11. 13,000 gifted children were asked to describe, in one word, their experiences in school. What was the most commonly used word?

12. WAITING

13. Characteristics and Unique Learning Needs of High Achieving Readers Research shows that holding an advanced reader to a grade-level curriculum negatively impacts his or her continued above-average reading development. (Gentry, 1999; Kulik and Kulik, 1996)

14. Characteristics and Unique Learning Needs of High Achieving Readers • Advanced intellectual and linguistic abilities • Read and comprehend text 2 or more years beyond grade level • Read easily and voraciously • Amazing speed and incredible comprehension • Passionate about reading • Intense need to explore, investigate, fantasize, and make connections with concepts and ideas. • Highly verbal • Use advanced language and vocabulary with ease.

15. Characteristics and Unique Learning Needs of High Achieving Readers • Exposure to challenging reading material • Deepen comprehension skills • Expand metacognitive processes during reading • Develop critical reading • Appreciation for multi-cultural literature across multiple genre • Opportunities for group discussion • Choice and self-selection

16. Books, to the reading child, are so much more than books – they are dreams and knowledge, they are future, and a past. -Esther Meynell, 1940

17. Common Practice • Reading practices and materials for advanced readers are the same as used for average readers. • Advanced readers are relegated to independent reading with very little teacher instruction.

18. As a Result: • Potentially undesirable outcomes: • Stagnant reading growth • Underachievement • Boredom • Low motivation for reading • Refusal to read

21. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers • All children need a teacher’s instruction and interaction. Without teacher feedback and guidance, reading is less effective (National Reading Panel, 2000). • To grow in reading proficiency, children require small group instruction at their ability/readiness level (National Reading Panel, 2000).

22. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers • Children continue to learn and grow toward their potentials when encouraged to stretch through tasks that are just a little too hard for them. • Exempt gifted children from work they already know, and guide their continued progress with alternatives that promote high levels of complexity.

23. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers ANALOGIES: • The most significant strategy for increasing student achievement (Marzano, 2001). • More complex system for relating similarities and differences Direct analogies: A triangle is to three as a square is to ______. Personal Analogies: I am like this main character when __________.

24. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers Try This: List one of each of the following: • An item in your purse/pocket • An animal • A machine • A busy place

25. Circle one of the words. Using the word you circled complete the following sentences: Instructing a wide range of students in my classroom is like ________ because _____________________________________. Advanced readers are like _________ when ___________________________.

26. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers Cube A Thought Who What Where Why When won’t How can’t should was will might

27. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

28. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers Spelling Extension – Word Hunt Example: OUTSIDEDOWNTOWNSIDEWALK Challenge: Find at least 9 words in this word hunt. 19 words: out, outside, side, sided, Sid, I, ID, do, down, ow, own, to, tow, town, towns, dew, walk, a, Al

29. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

30. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

31. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

32. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

33. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers Battle of the Books

34. Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers • http://grinchwiki.wikispaces.com/

35. Gifted Readers Bill of Rights* • I have the right to read at a pace and level that matches my ability, no matter what grade I am in. • I have the right to discuss what I read with my intellectual peers, regardless of their age. • I have the right to reread many books and not finish every book I start. • I have the right to use reading to explore new and challenging information and to grow intellectually. * Bertie Kingore, Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic, and Effective, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2004

36. Gifted Readers Bill of Rights* • I have the right to read in-depth about topics of my own choosing. • I have the right to learn advanced vocabulary and literary concepts. • I have the right to be guided toward the best literature rather than be told what I must read. • I have the right to read several books at the same time. * Bertie Kingore, Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic, and Effective, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2004

37. Gifted Readers Bill of Rights* • I have the right to discuss my reading choices with others, without having to defend those choices. • I have the right to be excused from reading material that I have already learned. * Bertie Kingore, Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic, and Effective, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2004

39. High Ability Readers

40. Nobody rises to low expectations. -Carl Boyd