Digesting and Digging Deeper

I signed up for the Reading Endorsement class, because I wanted to thoroughly understand how students develop the skill of reading, how to determine what a child needs when they struggle to read, and be able to implement effective strategies to increase their reading skill.  However, sometimes I have to do things the hard way to truly learn.  Every article I read must be marked up and summarized in my own terms.  While I may be the only person who learns this way, I thought I'd share some articles that I found helpful to me this week as I was reviewing the material from last week.  These helped me to explore the concepts Barb has been addressing in class.

Rapid Naming and Reading
http://www.learninginfo.org/rapid-naming.htm

Functional Brain Imaging in Studies of Reading and Dyslexia
 http://literacyencyclopedia.ca/index.php?fa=items.show&topicId=281

What Neuroscience Really Tells Us About Reading
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb07/vol64/num05/What-Neuroscience-Really-Tells-Us-About-Reading-Instruction@-A-Response-to-Judy-Willis.aspx

Two GREAT INTERVIEWS:
http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/wolf.htm
http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/shaywitz.htm

DIAGNOSIS: The Missing Ingredient in RTI Assessment by Lipson

This article was well written and entirely accurate.  I could not agree more with Lipson's assertion that teachers lack focus and intensity when it comes to the nature and quality of instruction.  In order to truly address deficit areas, instruction must be individualized and purposeful in response to a student's strengths and needs.  All too often, we offer grade level "interventions", which may or may not address the needs of students at that particular grade level. 
Often, we rely too heavily on shallow feedback that screenings provide.  Screenings should be used as red flag detectors that require more digging through more specialized and specific forms of assessment.  Screenings to me are no different than the nurse taking your temperature at the doctor.  A temperature is an indicator that something is going on in your body. The cause of the temperature is not detected in the thermometer.  The doctor's expertise is needed to dig deeper through a problem solving process to get to the bottom of the elevated temperature (red flag).
I especially like the Template for Analyzing Student Data and Creating Profiles.  This tool could help teachers and administrators look for critical areas of reading.  I was very impressed with the data reported in which most students not only showed improvement but were released from the intervention!  Now, that's success.  The key to this success is that students did not receive MORE instruction on top of what they were getting.  Rather, they received "tailored" instruction to meet the needs outlined in the comprehensive assessments administered after the screenings.