Read 180 Summer Institute - First Impressions Count! Move Beyond Rules and Procedures

Presenters: Cathleen Mattia, Agatha Taylor

Used the "Numbered Heads" routine as an opener. Demonstrated it as a way to hold all students accountable for discussion.

Agatha used a pyramid model to structure her presentation: Community building; positive tone; motivation; buy-in; teaching and learning

Community building used a theme to create a classroom community structure:

• Theme tells a story
• The students are active participants in developing the theme.

Theme example: a ship

1. Students are given a ticket and welcomed aboard as they enter the room the first time
2. The ship becomes the symbol of the environment and the community
3. A passenger analogy is used to establish relationship and create motivation
4. The destination represents the goals and successes

Setting a positive tone

1. Environment must be warm and inviting (She plays soothing music as students enter the room on the very first day.
2. Safe environment. Make it clear that no put-downs are ever allowed. The students feel that they can take risks with learning.
3. She used a lifeguard metapho
   

Read 180 Summer Institute - Day 2 Opening Session

Keynote – Scholastic VP asked audience to think of a student whose life they had helped changed through R180.

I choose AQ, an 8^th grader. Her initial SRI showed a Lexile in the low 200’s. She was failing other academic subjects and particularly pre-Algebra. AQ ended the year on the Principal’s honor roll with a Lexile in the high 600’s. She discovered S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders through Read180 Audiobooks. She went home and talked about what she was reading only to discover that S.E. Hinton had been one of her mother’s favorite authors as a teenager. AQ went on to read two more of Hinton’s novels before the year was out.

“Brain research tells us that practice makes permanent.” Patrick Daley

Audiobooks contain a Reading Coach voice that provides metacognitive think-alouds at various points in the reading.

Brian Chernow – California Director for Scholastic Education gave a sneak preview of a new Scholastic product called System 44 which is designed to address the needs of students who need help with decoding and phonics. The program is targeted at grades 4-12. It uses an adaptive technology similar to that in Read180 (adapts to each reader’s needs). It features the Decoding Proficiency Assessment or DPA which provides data to determine the appropriate intervention for each student.

“I don’t mind reading now because the computer doesn’t embarrass me.”

Idea! Use the on-line fluency recording as a student portfolio item to demonstrate progress over time to parents and others.

Idea! The reading area can be formed using inexpensive lawn furniture.

Read180 Summer Institute - Day 1

Look at the Institute website

Keynote speakers - Kate Kinsella, Kevin Feldman, Ted Hasselbring

50% of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans do not graduate from high school. 25% of all h.s. students do not graduate.

only 43% of college students are prepared for college.

Reminder: check out Kevin Feldman's listserv
(It turns out Kevin has a cool web presence )