Accordion
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between reading instruction and literacy instruction?
Historically there has always been some level of debate about the best ways to teach reading and literacy, giving rise to multiple theories and strategies. While reading instruction focuses on the ability to decode and understand written text, literacy covers a broad range of skills where students apply their ability to read. Acknowledging the difference between these skills is imperative to determining instructional strategy, selecting curriculum, and offering students personalized support.
What are some frequently used terms in reading/literacy instruction?
- Decoding- The ability to translate written words into sounds and meanings, allowing the reader to “sound out” unknown words and recognize words more quickly.
- The Five Pillars of Reading- Five components of reading instruction necessary for successful oral and silent reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension).
- Balanced Literacy- Reading instruction that uses various teaching methods, including read-alouds, independent reading and writing, and small group instruction.
- Structured Literacy- Instructional approaches that emphasize highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy. These include both foundational skills and higher-level literacy skills.
What are each of the five pillars of reading?
- Phonemic Awareness- The ability to recognize “phonemes” the smallest unit of sound in a word. For example, understanding that cat is made up of three distinct sounds /k/ /a/ /t/.
- Phonics- The ability to match the sounds of words (phonemes) with the letter or letters they represent (graphemes). For example, knowing that the sound for /k/ can be represented as c (cat), k (kite), ck (duck), or ch (school).
- Phonological Awareness: The ability to recognize and manipulate the parts of sentences and words said aloud. For example, a student with acquired phonological awareness can identify words that rhyme or count the number of syllables in a word.
- Alphabetic Principle: The ability to associate the letter names and their distinct sounds to the uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Fluency- The ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Reading fluency serves as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.
- Vocabulary- The ability to know what words mean and how to say and use them properly in context.
- Text Comprehension- The ability to understand what the text means. This may involve determining the author’s intent, the responses it evokes in the reader, and how the text relates to the broader body of knowledge in the world.
How does SoR apply to secondary students and what programs support these efforts?
Secondary students need to build and practice fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Science of Reading requires direct instruction and independent practice on these skills, and personalized reading intervention programs like DreamBox Reading Plus offer support to secondary students by assessing students’ current reading ability and offering individualized instruction to close the reading achievement gap for all students.
To support the development of comprehension skills, Reading Plus offers personalized scaffolding to build independent reading skills. The Reading Plus program automatically customizes lesson features including content level (based on an initial assessment), reading rate, opportunities to reread texts, and questions interspersed throughout each lesson. The program also allows students to self-select reading texts that further build content knowledge and vocabulary while individualized choice increases student engagement.
The vocabulary component in Reading Plus teaches students a research-based compilation of highly valuable, cross-curriculum, general academic vocabulary. Students master words through activities such as matching a vocabulary word with its synonym, selecting sentences where it is used properly, and completing sentences with members of its word family.
How can teachers in all content areas support students’ reading skills?
Reading is a cross-curricular skill, so students need opportunities to build their literacy skills in all content areas! Finding places in existing Science, Social Studies, or Math curriculum where students can practice active reading will help non-reading teachers feel prepared to offer their students opportunities to strengthen their literacy skills.
Collaboration with other teachers is a great way to open the doors between reading and non-reading classes. Allowing time for teachers to plan cross-curricular units can help make lessons that build meaningful vocabulary and background knowledge that can be applied in other lessons.
How can teachers engage a class full of readers with different skill levels?
Teachers need support to accommodate content and lessons to match their students’ needs, whether that be through a variety of text levels, unique modalities and supports for the reading process, or ways for students to explore words they are unfamiliar with.
During independent practice time, educators can have students work in DreamBox Reading programs, so they can receive personalized reading support and intervention in real time, regardless of their reading level. DreamBox programs measure students’ current reading ability, offer individualized instruction, and close the reading achievement gap for all students. With adaptive, engaging resources, DreamBox Reading Plus addresses silent reading fluency and measures motivation, helping students become proficient, lifelong readers.
Educators can also integrate teaching strategies that meet students’ needs during small-group instruction.
How can leaders support teachers and ensure their preparedness?
Teachers need support to accommodate content and lessons to match their students’ needs, whether that be through a variety of text levels, unique modalities and supports for the reading process, or ways for students to explore words they are unfamiliar with.
During independent practice time, educators can have students work in DreamBox Reading programs, so they can receive personalized reading support and intervention in real time, regardless of their reading level. DreamBox programs measure students’ current reading ability, offer individualized instruction, and close the reading achievement gap for all students. With adaptive, engaging resources, DreamBox Reading Plus addresses silent reading fluency and measures motivation, helping students become proficient, lifelong readers.
Educators can also integrate teaching strategies that meet students’ needs during small-group instruction.
Historically there has always been some level of debate about the best ways to teach reading and literacy, giving rise to multiple theories and strategies. While reading instruction focuses on the ability to decode and understand written text, literacy covers a broad range of skills where students apply their ability to read. Acknowledging the difference between these skills is imperative to determining instructional strategy, selecting curriculum, and offering students personalized support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Discovery Education Science Techbook for Florida cover 100% of the Florida State Academic Standards for Science (formally known as NGSSS)?
Yes! This program was built exclusively for the Florida State Academic Standards for Science.
In the accompanying print Teacher Editions, instructors will see standards at point-of-use within the lesson. Print Student Editions and Teacher Editions include standards in the concept openers as an additional reference point.
Digitally, standards are included in the Table of Contents, lesson pages, and within teacher planning and support resources. From the standards page, you can search by standard code or language.
Within the course, students authentically engage with Nature of Science benchmarks as they interact with the curriculum.
How does Discovery Education incorporate phenomena?
Yes! Students are introduced to a real-world science phenomenon in the Engage portion of the 5E instructional model. Phenomena are introduced in one of four ways – hands on activities, video, images or scientific text. This relevant phenomena-based activity excites students as they get ready to explore the upcoming science concept.
Students gather evidence to make sense of the phenomenon through hands-on activities, interactives, videos, and grade-level appropriate scientific texts. There are multiple opportunities that support students’ meaningful sensemaking through reading, writing, thinking, and acting as scientists and engineers. Students revisit the phenomenon while completing Phenomenon Check-ins throughout the program, giving them opportunities to develop understanding of the science concepts.
Is Science Techbook for Florida available in Spanish?
Yes! Science Techbook for Florida provides a complete science curriculum in English and Spanish. We also support English Language Learners with embedded listening, reading, writing, and speaking supports to help students meet grade-level science content expectations. Students will benefit from features like Immersive Reader, Interactive Glossary, authentically translated lessons, summative and formative assessments in English and Spanish, and more. Teachers can access point-of-use English, Language Development Support strategies for multiple proficiency levels to meet the needs of their learners and use student data to inform and differentiate instruction.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I attend this event?
This event will be held virtually using Zoom webinars and meetings. You can join via your calendar invite or by clicking the Join Event button at the top of this page.
Does it cost to attend this event?
No, this event is free to attend.
Is this event being recorded?
Yes, portions of the event will be recorded and shared with registered participants after the event. Due to the collaborative nature of the event, we will not record it in its entirety.
What do I do if I need technical assistance?
If you are unable to join the meeting, please visit the Zoom Support Center for useful information.
Reminder: before the event, we highly recommend you test your connection by joining a test meeting at https://zoom.us/test.
I have a different question about this event, who should I ask?
Please contact Paula Taylor at PTaylor@discoveryed.com