Reading Sage

"The Dyslexic Reading Teacher Sean Taylor" Literacy for me was almost an unrealized unattainable dream! As a dyslexic learner I was unable to read, write, or decode words as a child, p,d,b and q were all the same letter. Many classroom teachers assumed I would never read or write due to the severity of my dyslexia and this made me feel worthless. I am a dyslexic reading teacher that has built a reputation for finding innovative ways "FREE" to teach reading to all students!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Finnish Education Success | Why Finnish Schools Are Ranked Number One

What Makes the Finnish Educational System a Success | Why are Finnish Schools Ranked Number One? The Finnish schools are successful because they focus on educational equity, not ranking or competition, and amazingly they do not have the stated goal of academic excellence. Students, teachers and schools are not constantly being tested, evaluated and ranked on all aspects of the Finnish educational system system. Finnish schools have the amazing goal of education equity! Teachers are treated as professionals and amazingly they are supported by parents, students, and the nation. The YouTube videos below will give you an insight into the Finnish educational model that is # 1 in the world!

I attended Uppsala University in Sweden between 1998-1999, and studied for my E.U. masters in Multicultural education. I was fortunate enough to travel to Finland and 27 other countries during my studies in Europe, visiting students in my cohort, and learning about them and their educational systems. Most systems are very similar to the US and British systems. The Scandinavian and especially the Finnish educational model works far better than all of them, because of Scandinavian socialism yes, but they use a bottom up approach. The Finns use a model that is teacher centered (child centered) not top down, with the industrial book publishers, education reformers, test publisher, educational lobbyist, politicians, and top heavy administration dictating every aspect of the US education model!

The Finnish education system is an egalitarian system, with no tuition fees and with free meals served to full-time students. The present Finnish education system consists of well-funded and carefully thought out daycare programs (for babies and toddlers) and a one-year "pre-school" (or kindergarten for six-year olds); a nine-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (starting at age seven and ending at the age of sixteen); post-compulsory secondary general academic and vocational education; higher education (University and Polytechnical); and adult (lifelong, continuing) education. The Nordic strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on constructing a publicly funded comprehensive school system without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their common basic education. Part of the strategy has been to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes whenever possible or, if this is not feasible, e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed schools. Inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical of Nordic educational systems. Wiki

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Passing the Stanford 10 Reading Test | Stanford 10 Retest

Stanford 10 Reading Test Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 | How to pass the Stanford 10 test after failing the Florida FCAT is a challenge for many students. The Stanford 10 is more difficult to pass and students only have the summer to prepare for the Stanford 10 retest.

Stanford 10 test preparations that all students must do to pass the Stanford 10 retest.

Study, review and learn the Tier 3 Academic reading vocabulary for all previous grades including your testing grade. Each grade level has 20-25 Tier 3 vocabulary words per content are. Example | plot, character, theme, view point, anthology
Study, review and learn the Tier 2 Academic vocabulary for all previous grades including your testing grade. Each grade level has 15-25 Tier 3 key vocabulary per academic content are. Example | judge, reason, order, compare
Students need to practice test that are similar in scope an sequence. The FCAT released tests are good but the CRCT and the MCAS will be great test to study and review for the Stanford 10 retest.
Make your study sessions fun and focused.

Students needing to prepare for the Stanford 10 retest need to study the grade level academic testing vocabulary.

Example of Third Grade Tier 3 Testing Vocabulary | Reading

Grade level Tier 3 Vocabulary

atlas

A book of maps or a book of tables, charts, pictures on one subject.

Mr. Taylor has a world atlas in his classroom.

abbreviation

A shorter form of a word or phrase, i.e. AZ for Arizona.

The abbreviation for the United States of America is U.S.A.

adverb

A word that modifies a verb by identifying time, place, speed, etc.

Quickly is an adverb in the sentence "Jose quickly finished his homework. "

antonyms

A word opposite in meaning to another word.

Cold is the antonym of hot.

apostrophe

The mark used to show a letter or letters have been left out of a word or phrase or to show ownership. Example of letters left out: You've is short for "you have" and an apostrophe shows that "have" is missing two letters. Example of ownership: Mr. Taylor's class reads several books each year. Example of ownership: The apostrophe in the sentence "Mr. Taylor's class reads several books each year." shows the class belongs to Mr. Taylor.

Students preparing for the Stanford 10 to a leaser degree study the general question vocabulary known as Tier 2 Academic vocabulary.

Example of Third Grade Tier 2 Testing Vocabulary | Reading

NO EXCUSES TESTING VOCABULARY

mostly

Almost; for the most part; nearly.

My homework is mostly done.

mainly

For the most part; chiefly; primarily.

The band's members are mainly girls.

different

Not alike; dissimilar; not identical.

I didn't recognize her at first because her hair was so different.

based

The bottom support of anything; foundation; basis.

He based his answer on the dictionary definition.

order

The listing of things by some characteristic, eg., first letter; size, color, age.

The student names were listed in alphabetical order.

paragraph

The portion of written matter dealing with one idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line.

The paragraph had an excellent topic sentence.

routine

Regular; typical or everyday activity

Singing is part of the routine in Mr. Taylor's class.

speaker/s

A person who talks or is talking.

Mrs. Kuhn was the speaker at the school assembly.

most likely

Best chance of happening; highest probability.

If you don't do your homework, you will most likely get into trouble in Mr. Taylor's class.

More Ideas to help students get ready for the Stanford 10 retest.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

TCAP RELEASED TEST | TCAP Practice Test

TCAP Reading Test Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 | TCAP Released Reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies tests online. The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) is the standardized testing program used in public schools in Tennessee.

Tennessee schools administer a comprehensive exam to their students at the end of each school year beginning in the third grade. Tests are intended to reflect what each child learned in the past year of school. The tested areas include reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. The TCAP currently includes the Achievement Test (grades 3-8), the Writing Test, the Competency Test, the Gateway Tests and the End of Course Tests. The scores are returned at the beginning of the next school year and these scores help schools make instructional decisions. Special education and limited-English proficiency students are included in the testing and may be accommodated with modifications. This test was previously known as the Terra Nova test.


TCAP Test Sampler	TCAP Practice Test
Grade 3	Grade 3
Grade 4	Grade 4
Grade 5	Grade 5
Grade 6	Grade 6
Grade 7	Grade 7
Grade 8	Grade 8

TCAP ELA/Reading Vocabulary Games

Vocabulary Games

Alien Vocabulary Game (Tier 3 Testing Words) (or Chutes and Ladders) Use this free tier 3 academic vocabulary game to build test readiness. The game is designed to be a fun way to build academic vocabulary using a game students already know. A number of "CAMO Aliens" (ladders) and "Blues Aliens" (or "chutes") are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped or hindered by CAMO Aliens and Blues Aliens, respectively. Any time you land on an alien you have to draw a new card! If you land on the CAMO Aliens and answer the vocabulary question correctly you beam to the next highest CAMO Alien plus the move allowance on the card. If you land on the Blue Alien and get the question wrong you beam down to the next lowest Blues Alien. If you are on a Blue Alien and answer correctly you stay put until your next turn.

The game is a simple race to the top using the RBC Vocabulary Flash Cards, and is popular with children.

Complete Vocabulary Game Card Set

NO EXCUSES TESTING VOCABULARY

Vocabulary Game RULEs

Alien Vocabulary Game Board

Vocabulary Game Cards Reading

Vocabulary Game Cards 1st
Vocabulary Game Cards 1st B
Vocabulary Game Cards 2nd
Vocabulary Game Cards 3rd B
Vocabulary Game Cards 3rd
Vocabulary Game Cards 4th
Vocabulary Game Cards 4th B
Vocabulary Game Cards 5th
Vocabulary Game Cards 5th B

Vocabulary Game Cards 5th 6th

Math Vocabulary Game Cards
Vocabulary Game Cards1st
Vocabulary Game Cards 2nd
Vocabulary Game Cards 3rd
Vocabulary Game Cards 4th
Vocabulary Game Cards 5th
Vocabulary Game Cards 6th
Vocabulary Game Cards 7th
Vocabulary Game Cards 8th

HARD GAME CARDS
Power Words 4th Grade Reading Vocabulary
Power Words 4th Grade Reading Vocabulary II
Literary Device
Idioms
Metaphor and Simile
Poetry

Science Vocabulary Cards
Science 4th and 5th Grade

Monday, May 21, 2012

Parental Involvement vs. Parenthood by Proxy

Positive Parental Involvement Empowers Students' Learning and Teachers' Success. True or False?

Negative Parental Involvement Dismantles Students' Learning and Teachers' Success. True or False?

I recently read through an assortment of teacher interview questions, preparing for a hiring committee, this was one of the questions, “Parental involvement increases student achievement, how do you increase parental involvement? I had to laugh; I thought this is derived to find teachers that will motivate (push) the kids and the parents to succeed. Is this a new criteria that teachers should ultimately be responsible for, not only teaching and motivating 30 students, they must also motivate parents to get involved with their own kids? The parenting by proxy throng seems to be the new norm and is the bane of many schools. Imagine if teachers could speak freely and give real insight into parent’s and student’s ability! Report cards would be less politically correct language that makes even the most obnoxious kid sound great!

Is catering to these parents, which raise their kids by proxy, the reason our schools and our kids are failing? Are we falling behind socially, academically and emotionally because teachers are afraid to tell parents they are a big part of their child’s problem? Parenting is not a spectator sport and many parents are teaching their children the wrong educational values.

Parents are the first teacher; they shape a child’s values by their actions and words. Students without strong virtuous role models at home, school, and peers are doomed to failure. Parents teach by example either inspiring a passion for learning and school, or learn contempt for being sentenced to 12 years of school. The questions are, “how do you involve parents that are poor role models for their children? What do you do when your parent’s values are detrimental to a student learning? Learning values takes place at home first.

Please share your thoughts!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

How to Pass State Writing Test

How to Pass any State Writing Test: Tips on
Passing Writing Test Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

State standardized writing test are divided into two parts:
Writing test part one | Response to a prompt
Writing test part two | Multiple choice English Language Arts test

Students mast have time to prepare for state writing test, so if you are studying the night before your test, you need to study the ELA tier 3 academic testing vocabulary.

The fastest way to prepare for the multiple choice English Language Arts portion of the test is playing games.
Reading / ELA Vocabulary Games

Students must practice using a systematic graphic organizer that covers expository, persuasive, and or narrative writing. Students must also learn the critical tier 3 vocabulary that they will find on the multiple choice section of the writing test.

I use a STEAL Characterization chart to enhance the students understanding of the structures of writing whenever possible and to prepare students for state testing. My students have to take three normed writing assessment every year. Teaching them to use a systematic graphic organizer and sorry to say formulaic writing process has gained my students some of the highest writing scores in the state! Our class has the highest number of students that exceed and meets compared to other Title one schools. The past 4 years my students have had an amazing passing rate of 94% on state writing test. I also expose my students daily to the academic writing vocabulary.

Types of Writing Test

Narrative writing is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events in a story. The word "story" may be used as a synonym of "narrative", but can also be used to refer to the sequence of events described in a narrative. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative.

Expository writing is a type of writing where the purpose is to inform, describe, explain, or define the author's subject to the reader. Expository text is meant to deposit information and is the most frequently used type of writing by students in colleges, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and universities. A well-written exposition remains focused on its topic and lists events in chronological order. Examples of expository writing include driving directions and instructions on performing a task. Key words such as first, after, next, then, last, before that, and usually signal sequential writing. Second-person instructions with "you" are acceptable.However, the use of first-person pronouns should be avoided ( For example, I, I think etc...). Expository essays should not reveal the opinion of the writer.

Persuasive writing, also referred to as a creative writing or an argument, is a piece of writing in which the writer uses words to convince the reader of his/her view regarding an issue. Persuasive writing sometimes involves convincing the reader to perform an action, or it may simply consist of an argument(s) convincing the reader of the writer’s point of view. Persuasive writing is one of the most used writing types in the world. Persuasive writers employ many techniques to improve their argument and show support for their claim. Simply put, persuasive writing is "an essay that offers and supports an opinion".

Please use the sample STEAL chart below or design your own to start getting your students ready to pass the FCAT, CRCT, MCAS, PASS, CRT, AIMS, STAAR, TAKS, PAWS, STA 10, CSAP, CMT, ISTEP, SOL, NJ ASK, NC EOG, OAA, ... Writing Test this spring.

Academic ELA Vocabulary Tier 3 Writing Glossary

PDF
Word

Sample of one of my Graphic Organizers that students train on.

Develop your own graphic organizers that help your students master expository/personal narrative writing.

“The Silver Bullet” STEAL Students Graphic Organizer

WORD CHOICE Verbs and Adverbs	Topic Sentence W.W.W. Who, What, and WHY! What: My first roller coaster ride Who: I am Alone Why: My parents are afraid to ride the Matterhorn Topic Sentence It introduces the main idea of the paragraph	WORD CHOICE Nouns and Adjectives
Debated decided dedicated valued chose cleaned	S – Speech/ Speaking / Dialogue Speech What does the character say (YOU, FRIENDS, FAMILY)?	swift ancient modern bitter sweet alert sane
vaulted viewed visualized volunteered Captured cared for carried caught categorized challenged	T – thoughts/feelings/attitudes Thoughts What is important about the character’s thoughts and feelings (YOU, FRIENDS, FAMILY)?	attractive sticky fuzzy giant fresh graceful harsh whispering puny harsh noisy quiet shrill
championed changed checked cleared closed coached commanded commended	E – emotions/effects on others Effect How do other characters feel or behave or react to the characters?	teeny massive careful cheap expensive rainy crystal sore dangerous combative
concentrated confronted constructed consulted continued controlled convinced cooperated copied corrected counseled	A – actions Actions What does the character do? How does the character behave?	weary dull drab dim aggressive mellow fancy excited scared filthy superior lazy excited hungry crazy
created customized joined judged observed tackled talked targeted tasted taught obtained offered translated	L – looks/ settings/ imagery/ what Looks What do you see? What do the characters look like? How does the character dress?	poor rich busy anxious steep skinny petite tiny miniscule salty delicious terrible dead alive huge tremendous elderly handsome ugly beautiful shiny
WORD CHOICE Verbs and Adverbs	Topic Sentence W.W.W. Who, What, and WHY!	WORD CHOICE Nouns and Adjectives
	S – Speech/ Speaking / Dialogue
	T – thoughts/feelings
	E – effects/emotions on others
	A – actions
	L – looks/ settings
WORD CHOICE Verbs and Adverbs	Topic Sentence W.W.W. Who, What, and WHY!	WORD CHOICE Nouns and Adjectives
	S – Speech/ Speaking / Dialogue
	T – thoughts/feelings
	E – effects/emotions on others
	A – actions
	L – looks/ settings

Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer

HOTEL Chart
Prompt Topic	Should all kids go to academic summer camp?
Hook \| pester / persuade / plea	Academic summer camps increases academic performance, resiliency, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
Opinion \| judgment / attitude / belief	Giving all students a leg up is critical if we want to remain a first world nation not slide into a third world nation.
Thoughts \| thoughts/feelings/attitudes	We need to find a way that all students have the opportunity to attend summer camp or “SuperCamp” not just a very small percentage of rich children.
Emotions \| emotions/effects on others Effect	If we are going to sentence our children to 16 years of school we should have the decency to make it a truly amazing 16 years not just testing factories.
Logic \| deduce/convince/ reason	The new Common Core Standards are designed to help bridge the academic achievement gap and prepare US students for the increasingly complex information age but they are just words if students are not exposed to many academic opportunities.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Academic Summer Camps | Academic Summer Programs

Academic Summer Camps 2012

Academic summer camps or accelerated academic summer programs increases academic performance, resiliency, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. Academic summer school is not a new concept, but it has been out of bounds for poor and at-risk students. At-risk students that attend academic summer programs outperform their peers in all academic content areas, and attend college at far greater numbers. Giving all students a leg up is critical if we want to remain a first world nation not slide into a third world nation.

The most popular academic summer camp is SuperCamp and is run by the Quantum Learning Network (QLN). “The SuperCamp program aims to teach students skills which will make studying any subject a faster, easier, more enjoyable and less stressful process. The camp's life skills curriculum focuses on developing communication skills, building stronger personal relationships with family and friends, developing teamwork and leadership ability, boosting creativity and problem-solving ability, and setting clear goals. The camp uses metaphors such as an outdoor ropes course and board-breaking to help students develop strategies for overcoming barriers to success.” Wiki All students need to learn the skills that are taught at SuperCamp or for that matter any academic summer school that is designed to cultivate future leaders. We need to find a way that all students have the opportunity to attend summer camp or “SuperCamp” not just a very small percentage of children. The new Common Core Standards are designed to help bridge the academic achievement gap and prepare US students for the increasingly complex information age, but they are just words until educators transform them into success or failure. If we are going to sentence our children to 16 years of school we should have the decency to make it a truly amazing 16 years not just testing factories. We all know what we should be doing so lets get going!

Reading Boot Camp is a free teacher designed academic enrichment program designed to give at-risk student the academic summer camp experience. The lessons are fun, fast, and focused on building academic skills in a fun novel way. The only program cost is the teacher or free if done buy parents of volunteers. I have tried to make Reading Boot Camp a true camp that boosts a love of reading, learning and reasoning. Many school districts including my own are tied to the silver bullet treadmill, buying every new summer literacy programs or computer program that promises success. You can’t package nor can summer camp, and you can’t experience on your computer screen. Sean Taylor

SuperCamp

Reading Boot Camp

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Kids Read Alouds | Best Free Read Alouds

Read aloud books online | Free iPad childrens illustrated read alouds. Free or almost free read aloud books for students and adults. Spend the night curled up with your iPad and let James Earl Jones read aloud “To Be a Drum” to you and yours.

Onlinestorytime
Online Story Time By Barnes and Noble is a great free read aloud website to rediscover new and classic children's literature. A great collection of vivid illustrated childrens classics read by the author. A The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of my favorites.

Mightybook.com
MightyBook is an online publisher that specializes in children's illustrated, animated read-aloud eBooks and Story Songs for ages 2 to 10, plus children's sing-along songs. All eBooks have an original sound track, many with music and sound effects, and are created in Macromedia Flash animation. Words in the stories highlight as they are spoken by the story teller. It is truly entertainment that helps kids read.

Storynory.com
Storynory has published a free audio story every week since November 2005. All our stories are delightfully read by professional actors.

Storylineonline.net
Storylineonline.net lets students explore amazing read alouds. The stories are read by an amazing cast of actors from James Earl Jones to Betty White.

Wiredforbooks.org
Learn about the life and stories of Beatrix Potter, the author and illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many other children's books.

Starfall.com
Starfall opened in September of 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read with phonics. Our systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alernative to other entertainment choices for children.