Meeting the Needs of High Achieving Readers Presented by: Christie McConathy, M.A.E. Jenny Schiltz,...

Meeting the Needs of High

Achieving Readers

Presented by:Christie McConathy, M.A.E.

Jenny Schiltz, M.A.E.Gifted Education Consultants

Des Moines Public SchoolsFebruary 21, 2011

Goals & Objectives

Debunk the myths surrounding high achieving readers

Understand the characteristics and unique learning needs of high achieving readers

Investigate strategies and resources to appropriately challenge high achieving readers

Traits: Possibilities:

Needs: Issues: High

Ability Readers

Common Myths about High Achieving Readers

All gifted readers are high achieving.

All high achieving readers are identified as gifted.


High achieving readers will learn on their own.

High achieving readers do not require the same amount of teacher directed instruction as

other students.


The brightest students in the classroom will bring up the slower learners.


Equity means equality.

13,000 gifted children were asked to describe,

in one word, their experiences in school.

What was the most commonly used word?

WAITING

Characteristics and Unique Learning Needs of High Achieving Readers

Research shows that holding an advanced reader to a grade-level curriculum negatively impacts his or her continued above-average reading development.

(Gentry, 1999; Kulik and Kulik, 1996)


• Advanced intellectual and linguistic abilities

• Read and comprehend text 2 or more years beyond grade level

• Read easily and voraciously

• Amazing speed and incredible comprehension

• Passionate about reading• Intense need to explore,

investigate, fantasize, and make connections with concepts and ideas.

• Highly verbal• Use advanced language

and vocabulary with ease.


• Exposure to challenging reading material

• Deepen comprehension skills

• Expand metacognitive processes during reading

• Develop critical reading

• Appreciation for multi-cultural literature across multiple genre

• Opportunities for group discussion

• Choice and self-selection

Books, to the reading child, are so

much more than books – they are

dreams and knowledge, they are future, and a past.-Esther Meynell, 1940

Common Practice

• Reading practices and materials for advanced readers are the same as used for average readers.

• Advanced readers are relegated to independent reading with very little teacher instruction.

As a Result:

• Potentially undesirable outcomes:– Stagnant reading growth– Underachievement– Boredom– Low motivation for reading – Refusal to read

Strategies & Resources for Working with High Achieving Readers

• All children need a teacher’s instruction and interaction. Without teacher feedback and guidance, reading is less effective (National Reading Panel, 2000).

• To grow in reading proficiency, children require small group instruction at their ability/readiness level (National Reading Panel, 2000).


• Children continue to learn and grow toward their potentials when encouraged to stretch through tasks that are just a little too hard for them.

• Exempt gifted children from work they already know, and guide their continued progress with alternatives that promote high levels of complexity.

ANALOGIES:• The most significant strategy for increasing student

achievement (Marzano, 2001).• More complex system for relating similarities and

differences

Direct analogies:A triangle is to three as a square is to ______.

Personal Analogies:I am like this main character when __________.


Try This:List one of each of the following:• An item in your purse/pocket• An animal• A machine• A busy place


Circle one of the words.Using the word you circled complete the

following sentences:

Instructing a wide range of students in my classroom is like ________ because _____________________________________.

Advanced readers are like _________ when ___________________________.

Cube A Thought


Who

What Where Why When

How

shouldcan’t

won’t

might

was will

amt c b f r s h


Spelling Extension – Word Hunt

Example:OUTSIDEDOWNTOWNSIDEWALK

Challenge: Find at least 9 words in this word hunt.

19 words: out, outside, side, sided, Sid, I, ID, do, down, ow, own, to, tow, town, towns, dew, walk, a, Al



Title Author Genre

15 Minutes Steve Young Science Fiction39 Clues: The Maze of Bones Rick Riordan MysteryThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain ClassicAl Capone Shines My Shoes Gennifer Choldenko FictionAlso Known As Harper Ann Haywood Realistic FictionThe Aurora County All-Stars Deborah Wiles SportsThe Cay Theodore Taylor ClassicDefiance Valerie Hobbs Realistic FictionEggs Jerry Spinelli FictionEvery Soul A Star Wendy Mass Realistic FictionEverything For a Dog Ann M. Martin Animal FictionExtra Credit Andrew Clements FictionFaith, Hope and Ivy June Phyllis Reynolds Naylor FictionHana's Suitcase Karen Levine Non-FictionHighway Cats Janet Taylor Lisle Animal FictionThe House of Dies Drear Virginia Hamilton ClassicThe House on the Gulf Margaret Peterson Haddix Mystery

Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Monitor and the Merimac Avi Historical FictionThe Magician's Elephant Kate DiCamillo FantasyMarley, A Dog Like No Other John Grogan Non-FictionMasterpiece Elise Broach FictionThe Missing Manatee Cynthia DeFelice MysteryThe Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg Rodman Philbrick Historical FictionOld Yeller Fred Gipson ClassicOut of Order Betty Hicks FictionThe Puzzling World of Winston Breen Eric Berlin MysteryRiding Freedom Pam Munoz Ryan Historical FictionRoll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred Taylor Historical FictionRunaway Twin Peg Kehret AdventureSatch & Me Dan Gutman SportsThe Seer of Shadows Avi Science FictionSkinny Dipping at Monster Lake Bill Wallace MysterySmall Steps: The Year I Got Polio Peg Kehret AutobiographyThe Thief Lord Cornelia Funke Fantasy

The Trouble Begins at 8, A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild Wild West Sid Fleischman BiographyWait Till Helen Comes Mary Downing Hahn MysteryWhat I Call Life Jill Wolfson FictionWild Girl Patricia Reilly Giff FictionYes I Know the Monkey Man Dori Hillestad Butler FictionZoobreak Gordon Korman Fiction

Battle of the Books


• http://grinchwiki.wikispaces.com/

http://grinchwiki.wikispaces.com/

Gifted Readers Bill of Rights*

• I have the right to read at a pace and level that matches my ability, no matter what grade I am in.

• I have the right to discuss what I read with my intellectual peers, regardless of their age.

• I have the right to reread many books and not finish every book I start.

• I have the right to use reading to explore new and challenging information and to grow intellectually.

* Bertie Kingore, Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic, and Effective, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2004


• I have the right to read in-depth about topics of my own choosing.

• I have the right to learn advanced vocabulary and literary concepts.

• I have the right to be guided toward the best literature rather than be told what I must read.

• I have the right to read several books at the same time.



• I have the right to discuss my reading choices with others, without having to defend those choices.

• I have the right to be excused from reading material that I have already learned.


Traits: Possibilities:

Needs: Issues: High

Ability Readers

Nobody rises to low expectations.

-Carl Boyd

Meeting the Needs of High Achieving Readers Presented by: Christie McConathy, M.A.E. Jenny Schiltz,...

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