Last week, I wrote about how I use my mornings to support my teachers as they implement our vocabulary building-wide strategy. This week I want to focus on partner reading to get students reading in all content areas.
A Little Background
During the last 2 years, my school district has partnered with our state’s TASN team to strengthen our MTSS procedures and provide continuity across all grade levels. With our secondary reading specialists being a new addition, my district wanted to make sure that all levels aligned their interventions in order to be as effective as possible. We put together an MTSS Reading Team for each school that would meet periodically with the TASN team. We would go over ways in which we could strengthen every level of our MTSS, not just Tiers 2 and 3. A strong Tier 1, or core, will benefit all students. The TASN team recommended that every building choose a building-wide strategy that every teacher is expected to know and use.
My principal (Have I mentioned how much I love her?) and I agreed that having one building-wide strategy was not enough. We didn’t like the idea of forcing our teachers to do this one thing. In order to create buy-in, we needed to provide choice. That’s why we picked two strategies to start with. Over time, we are slowly adding more “tools to the toolbox,” so that our teachers can pick and choose which strategy fits their needs.
Get Students Reading in All Content Areas
As mentioned last week, we have a vocabulary building-wide strategy that can apply to all teachers in every content area. The MTSS Reading Team also added a second option for partner reading that can be used to get students reading in any content area. Since our school colors are black and gold, we call them Black and Gold Reading Partners. Whenever there is something to read in a class, teachers can use this strategy to give all students access to their content. It’s not fair for a student to miss out on important information in science because their reading skills need practice. This partner-reading strategy allows stronger students to help support struggling students, so that everyone can comprehend the content.
When it’s time to read, each student takes a copy of the reading material and finds a spot to sit with their partner. The stronger partner reads first so that the lower reader can hear the text read before they try to read it on their own. This provides support for the lower partner so that they can understand the information being presented.
Setting up the Partners
Our Black and Gold partners are set up using results from our Fastbridge benchmark assessments. Only reading and math teachers have access to Fastbridge data, so this is another way that I provide support for my teachers. I use the Screening to Intervention Report to find the Lexile level for each student. I then take each teacher’s class list and record the Lexile level for the students in that class. Then I sort the names in order of the Lexile Level. Lastly, I copy the top half of the students and past them into the “Black Partner” column, and copy the bottom half to paste in the “Gold Partner” Column. I included a sample of the spreadsheet I created.
If there is an odd number in a class, I always make a group of 3 with two Black and one Gold partner. The Gold partner is the lowest reader in the class, so they get to hear the passage read twice before they try to read it on their own. This provides a little bit of extra support for that student.
Getting Buy-In from Teachers
It looks like a lot of work, but I’m able to get all the classes for one teacher done in about 20 minutes. I’d rather get it done for my teachers so that they can just “plug and play” so to speak. If I make the teachers do it, they might not be as motivated to implement the strategy. They have enough on their plates without me adding this. I have the time build into my schedule to provide this, so why not?
Have I mentioned how much I love my principal? She laid out the expectation that teachers need to choose at least one of our building-wide strategies. When we met for one of our professional learning days, she put us all in groups to discuss our efforts. This tuning protocol held teachers accountable without adding another thing for them to do.
Have I mentioned how much I love the teachers at my school? The TASN team came and visited our school recently. They observed our building-wide strategies in action and noticed how every teacher implemented at least one. Several teachers chose to implement both. When they asked what made even the electives teachers buy-in, my teachers responded with 2 reasons. One, our principal made it clear these weren’t going away. Two, I made it easy for them all to get on board.
Getting Buy-in from Students
Our students are bought in too. They know the routine, and many will ask when they will partner read again. It includes all students, not just the struggling readers. Even the stronger readers like to read with a partner. They like having consistency between classes. Its easy for a teacher to say, “Find your Black and Gold partner.” Students know who their partner is and transition easily. This allows for maximum use of instructional time. It also helps students focus on what they are reading, rather than how they are reading it.
How do you get students reading across content areas in your school? Leave a comment below:
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