High School Dropout Prevention: Lost Battle?
Raison d'etre is French for "reason for being," and students who can’t read feel
they have no reason for being in school. Students will start thinking school is a
prison and will behave and act institutionalized towards teachers, peers and
academics. Students get more cynical when the gold stars lose their luster,
and teachers' mendacity about their performance start showing through the
insight of their poor skills and inability to perform academic tasks. It’s a small
death suffered every day by these students, as they see their dreams crashed
on the rocks of reality. We ask students to come to school daily and give
100% to what they believe is an intolerable humiliation, and we get angry
when they don’t smile and take school more seriously. We scratch our heads,
wondering what we can do when half of our kids drop out of school. If
students can’t read, every thing else is moot. Reading Boot Camp is not a
twenty day miracle; it’s a way of being a teacher. My raison d’erte is to never
let a student pass through my class without teaching them to read period.
Twenty days may not do the job; you may need forty or eighty to get the job
done. We can use the One Star Fish analogy, but that sacrifices too many
students to a devastating future. Students are not going to change unless we
devise an effective way to change their outlook. The idea of doing nothing in
class for twenty days except reading may appear bizarre, ludicrous, like child
abuse, impossible, or asinine; yet, it works for my kids. Students see it as
perfectly logical and 'buy in' almost immediately when they see their reading
progress or realize they can actually read. Give a child the most complex
video game and they will go without food, sleep, bathing, and talking to
master the first level. They will spend the next day, week, and month with
the singular preoccupation to master the game. Third-world students
who receive the XO laptop teach themselves to read and write without
a teacher because of their incredible desire to learn. I just focus that
same incredible drive and perseverance into Reading Boot Camp.
Motivating Students!
The Secret To Building Reading Comprehension Fast
Learn the 1000-2000 most used words or characters using sight/auditory methods.
Learn the 200 most used sayings, metaphors, expressions, cognates, and phrases.
Learn the words and phrase by sight, sound and articulation through repetition.
Reading Boot Camp is used during the first 20 days of school to teach the
basics of English literacy. We spend 120 hours reading, singing, articulating,
writing, and focusing on building the foundations in word and phrase knowledge.
The Program is fast, rigorous, challenging, and fun.
Reading Comprehension Results: 20 Days!
Raison d'etre is French for "reason for being," and students who can’t read feel
they have no reason for being in school. Students will start thinking school is a
prison and will behave and act institutionalized towards teachers, peers and
academics. Students get more cynical when the gold stars lose their luster,
and teachers' mendacity about their performance start showing through the
insight of their poor skills and inability to perform academic tasks. It’s a small
death suffered every day by these students, as they see their dreams crashed
on the rocks of reality. We ask students to come to school daily and give
100% to what they believe is an intolerable humiliation, and we get angry
when they don’t smile and take school more seriously. We scratch our heads,
wondering what we can do when half of our kids drop out of school. If
students can’t read, every thing else is moot. Reading Boot Camp is not a
twenty day miracle; it’s a way of being a teacher. My raison d’erte is to never
let a student pass through my class without teaching them to read period.
Twenty days may not do the job; you may need forty or eighty to get the job
done. We can use the One Star Fish analogy, but that sacrifices too many
students to a devastating future. Students are not going to change unless we
devise an effective way to change their outlook. The idea of doing nothing in
class for twenty days except reading may appear bizarre, ludicrous, like child
abuse, impossible, or asinine; yet, it works for my kids. Students see it as
perfectly logical and 'buy in' almost immediately when they see their reading
progress or realize they can actually read. Give a child the most complex
video game and they will go without food, sleep, bathing, and talking to
master the first level. They will spend the next day, week, and month with
the singular preoccupation to master the game. Third-world students
who receive the XO laptop teach themselves to read and write without
a teacher because of their incredible desire to learn. I just focus that
same incredible drive and perseverance into Reading Boot Camp.
Motivating Students!
The Secret To Building Reading Comprehension Fast
Learn the 1000-2000 most used words or characters using sight/auditory methods.
Learn the 200 most used sayings, metaphors, expressions, cognates, and phrases.
Learn the words and phrase by sight, sound and articulation through repetition.
Reading Boot Camp is used during the first 20 days of school to teach the
basics of English literacy. We spend 120 hours reading, singing, articulating,
writing, and focusing on building the foundations in word and phrase knowledge.
The Program is fast, rigorous, challenging, and fun.
Reading Comprehension Results: 20 Days!
Students growth, 31% POINTS in reading(NWEA MAP), Boot Camp ran longer than
normal, twenty five days because I had more students on IEPs and English Language
Learners than last year and the behavior was far from ready for instruction. The class
is know 74% at or above the mean in reading in all domains, and 87% of students are
reading at grade level in the domain on reading comprehension (NWEA MAP)!
Reading Boot Camp Overview
Purposes 1) Launch students into the rigorous and intensive
reading and writing program that is taught throughout the year:
2) Accelerate the closure of the academic achievement
gap in lowest quartile students; and 3) Teach the students
school etiquette, classroom manners, discipline, responsibility
and a foundations in classic children’s literature...
The 20 Day Intervention Is Fast, Rigorous, Enriching, and Fun.
Quick Look
reading and writing program that is taught throughout the year:
2) Accelerate the closure of the academic achievement
gap in lowest quartile students; and 3) Teach the students
school etiquette, classroom manners, discipline, responsibility
and a foundations in classic children’s literature...
The 20 Day Intervention Is Fast, Rigorous, Enriching, and Fun.
Quick Look
Vocabulary Games
Reading Vocabulary Word Walls
Academic Vocabulary Word Walls
Poetry Reading
Buddy Reading
Music and Lyrics
Chapter Books
Whiteboard E-books and Librivox Audio Books
Fluency Drills
Comprehension Building Games
American Juku
Recitation
Peer Tutoring
Fireside Book Club
Reading Master By Grade Competition
Reading Journals
Expecting A World Class Education!
Students and parents may not expect much from public school these
days, my class is the exception, studensts receive a world class
college preparatory experience from the rigorous demanding
curriculum to the high expectations of meticulous manners and
politeness.
Teaching Old School Decorum!
We teach old school social etiquette and manners as soon as students
enter the class. We start with students standing for visiting dignitaries
(parents or teachers), cordial professor and student salutations, and
professor-student colloquy. Students are looking for direction and
purpose in life and learning social etiquette, manners, and protocol
give them a sense of honor and virtue. Sorry for the multisyllabic
verbiage but we are talking old school decorum. Students who
shine and take to the superior manners are given the job of class
prefect to help students acquire needed politeness.
Teach students school etiquette, classroom manners, discipline
and responsibility during literacy instruction by literary examples
and class modeling. Students begin reading manors and etiquette
stories within minutes of entering class the first day. They
learn very quickly that the purpose of school is reading,
writing, character, manners, and Literacy. The first four
weeks are dedicated to teaching the reading and writing process
and studenting skills needed for success. We select an award--winning,
high-- interest book for the entire class, usually one grade above
what is normally taught, to insure all students are challenged. Begin
by pairing a high-quartile student with a low-quartile student
( sometimes the groups must include three or four students to
ensure a high performing student in every group). The class is
introduced to the book and given instruction on the process of
journaling. The teacher reads the first two pages, stopping to
show the students the Metacognition of reading and the analysis
that competent readers demonstrate. Students always have a
book in hand when the teacher is reading, to ensure that students
see and hear the words. Students are never read to. They must
have the book to read along with the teacher or their partners.
The teacher rereads the two pages to the class, then to identify and
review interesting vocabulary, and to explain complex passages.
Student volunteers are asked to follow the teacher’s example
and read and then reread with comprehension checks. The
paired students are always looking to see if their partners
are on task and following the reading. The entire chapter is read and
reread in this exemplar by the class and teacher before students are
dismissed to follow the teacher’s example in their paired reading groups.
Getting Results!
Reading Vocabulary Word Walls
Academic Vocabulary Word Walls
Poetry Reading
Buddy Reading
Music and Lyrics
Chapter Books
Whiteboard E-books and Librivox Audio Books
Fluency Drills
Comprehension Building Games
American Juku
Recitation
Peer Tutoring
Fireside Book Club
Reading Master By Grade Competition
Reading Journals
Expecting A World Class Education!
Students and parents may not expect much from public school these
days, my class is the exception, studensts receive a world class
college preparatory experience from the rigorous demanding
curriculum to the high expectations of meticulous manners and
politeness.
Teaching Old School Decorum!
We teach old school social etiquette and manners as soon as students
enter the class. We start with students standing for visiting dignitaries
(parents or teachers), cordial professor and student salutations, and
professor-student colloquy. Students are looking for direction and
purpose in life and learning social etiquette, manners, and protocol
give them a sense of honor and virtue. Sorry for the multisyllabic
verbiage but we are talking old school decorum. Students who
shine and take to the superior manners are given the job of class
prefect to help students acquire needed politeness.
Teach students school etiquette, classroom manners, discipline
and responsibility during literacy instruction by literary examples
and class modeling. Students begin reading manors and etiquette
stories within minutes of entering class the first day. They
learn very quickly that the purpose of school is reading,
writing, character, manners, and Literacy. The first four
weeks are dedicated to teaching the reading and writing process
and studenting skills needed for success. We select an award--winning,
high-- interest book for the entire class, usually one grade above
what is normally taught, to insure all students are challenged. Begin
by pairing a high-quartile student with a low-quartile student
( sometimes the groups must include three or four students to
ensure a high performing student in every group). The class is
introduced to the book and given instruction on the process of
journaling. The teacher reads the first two pages, stopping to
show the students the Metacognition of reading and the analysis
that competent readers demonstrate. Students always have a
book in hand when the teacher is reading, to ensure that students
see and hear the words. Students are never read to. They must
have the book to read along with the teacher or their partners.
The teacher rereads the two pages to the class, then to identify and
review interesting vocabulary, and to explain complex passages.
Student volunteers are asked to follow the teacher’s example
and read and then reread with comprehension checks. The
paired students are always looking to see if their partners
are on task and following the reading. The entire chapter is read and
reread in this exemplar by the class and teacher before students are
dismissed to follow the teacher’s example in their paired reading groups.
Getting Results!
2009/2010
Reading and Language Percentile Growth:
READING(from 31.7% to 67.9%),
LANGUAGE (from 38.8% to 72.3%),
and stanine growth READING (3.8 stanines),
and stanine growth LANGUAGE(3.5 stanines).
This is for a population where 86% of the students
were SLL, SEI, LD, and at-risk.
Reading and Language Percentile Growth:
READING(from 31.7% to 67.9%),
LANGUAGE (from 38.8% to 72.3%),
and stanine growth READING (3.8 stanines),
and stanine growth LANGUAGE(3.5 stanines).
This is for a population where 86% of the students
were SLL, SEI, LD, and at-risk.
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