Using Basals: Determining How to use Basals Effectively

1. Used in 9 to 10 primary classrooms in the U.S.2. Used in 85% of the intermediate classrooms3. Have come in several forms forms over time:

The first was the hornbook 1830 The McGuffey’s Eclectic Reader 1812 The Beacon Street Readers: Strong phonics

and articulation drills 1941 Dick and Jane New Basic Readers: Supported

sight reading and repetition

Understanding the basal

Anatomy of the Basal Reader

Composed of a group of core materials

1.Student text

2.Teacher’s edition

3.Students’ and teacher’s workbooks

4. Supplemental practice and

enrichment exercises

Teacher’s Edition

Instructional guide and in-service support Three important features

1. Scope and sequence chart

2. Reduced version of the student’s text

3. Suggested lesson plan for the teacher

The Student’s text In some basals, the beginning readers are

called primers. They often contain decodable text: text where 90% of the words have been previously learned or the phonics rules for them have been previously learned. (10% new words)

????? What are some important problems with controlling vocabulary in early basal readers???

Workbook

The workbook: Designed to provide independently practice of skill instruction provided by the teacher

The cost of workbooks has in some cases, displaced the purchase of good books and the time spent working on them has replaced time for reading.

Strengths of Basals

Strengths Basal Readers A sequenced or spiral curriculum Saves teacher’s time Student texts are in ascending difficulty Skills gradually introduced and reviewed Lesson plans provided Helpful to beginning teachers Assurance that reading skills are being covered

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Limitations of Basal Readers

Editing stories (both text and illustrations) removes support

Basal’s lesson design is questionable Stories may not relate to students’ interests Often less appealing than trade books Censorship comes into play Seldom contains directions on how to teach reading Leaves little room for creativity and decision making Promotes the use of traditional grouping Management becomes time consuming

Organization of the Basal

Designed to take students through a series of of books, experiences, and activities toward increasingly sophisticated reading behaviors (SCOPE AND SEQUENCE)

Important feature in the teacher’s edition is the scope and sequence chart

Some are organized in themed units

Instructional Beliefs and Basal Readers

The philosophical underpinnings of different basal series varies with respect to the author’s beliefs about how children should be taught to read.

There are skills based basals and literature based basals.

Adopting Basal Readers

Most states have adopted some form of highly centralized, state level-control the selection.

The remaining states select basals at the district leveled

Texas uses elements of both The average amount of time textbook adoption

committee members spend is approximately one minute per page. This is often referred to as “Flip Test”.

Guidelines for Evaluating Basal Readers

Selection of basals should not be the same as the selection of the reading curriculum

Reviewers should be the teachers who will work with that basal

Establishing Criteria

Taking Control of the Basal

Reading to,with, and by children – Called a “Balanced Approach to Reading”

Reading TO Kids

Set the stage: Why are we doing this? Where are we going?

1. Introduce the selection – discuss the cover and title, discuss the topic and how it might apply to the kids, …

2. Read the selection – PRACTICE FIRST

3. Focused or Open Discussion

Read WITH Kids

1. Echo Reading – repeated reading (I say – you say)

2. Choral Reading – reading as a whole3. Antiphonal Reading - a collaborative

dialogue 4. Guided Reading – Children read in group

at instructional level (mumble voice) with teacher’s individualized feedback

Reading BY Kids

Independent Reading In groups – predetermined stopping point

each session with end of reading response. Meet and set next goal

Sustained Silent Reading – student selected materials read for student determined purposes

Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA): Used in almost all Basals

Pre-Reading Discuss cover (or first page) and the title Predict what will happen in the book (story)

During Reading Read to a predetermined place Review previous predictions Make new ones Read on to next stopping point

Reconciled Reading Lesson

Pre-Reading Teach reading skills before reading Relate them to the section to be read

During Reading Model using skill at beginning of the reading Have students monitor their own use of the skill

Post-Reading Discuss use of skill

Language Experience

1. What I think I can say

2. What I say, I can write, or someone can write for me

3. What I write, I can read

Roach Van Allen

ReQuest Lesson Reciprocal Questioning

Pre-Reading Carefully select “non-negotiables” Preview piece (see DRTA)

During Reading Read together to a stopping point Teacher asks questions of students Students ask questions of teacher Read on to next stopping point

Analyzing a Basal Selection of Skills to Include in a Mini-Lesson

Select and Analyze a skill Introduce the Skill to be learned in the

context of a “Whole” Students Practice and Follow-up Return to the “Whole” Assessment Supplies Needed

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Skills Based Basals emphasize breaking reading into a series of individual skills. These skills are taught in isolation and then brought into the reading process. These basals are of the “decodable” type so that the words in the stories will match the skills being taught a t the time.

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Literature based basals use literature acquired from trade books and written for literary value, not for being decodable. Reading strategies are taught within the context of the stories as they are being read and as they come to be needed,, rather on the curriculum’s schedule.

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Evaluating Basals: Guidelines1. _Is extensive and user-friendly

2. _Supports curriculum standards/goals/objectives

3. _Offers teaching/grouping choices

4. _Provides multiple tasks to meet individual needs for prior knowledge, literacy support, writing options, etc.

5. _Highlights skills/strategies for vocabulary, decoding, comprehension, study skills, graphics, and technology at point of use

6. _Includes intervention strategies/lessons

7. _Traces skills/strategies (Scope and Sequence chart)

8. _Incorporates varied assessment options 9. _Enhances cross-curricular connections 10. _Heightens cultural perspectives 11. _ Demonstrates process writing/leveled projects 12. _ Integrates spelling and grammar instruction 13. _Implements charts, report utility, Internet

capability 14. _Has theme organized/utilized 15. _Suggests classroom library/complete lessons

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Spiral Curriculum

spiral curriculum - 'A curriculum as it develops should revisit this basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them'

Jerome Bruner. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm