Program Overview Introduction This guide provides an overview of the instruction, assessment, and components of Camino a la Lectura, a Tier 3 Spanish intervention program for struggling readers. Tier 3 Intervention Following the Three-Tier Response to Intervention model, Camino a la Lectura, addresses Tier 3 students needs. Tier 3, or intensive intervention, is generally needed when a student is two grade levels below in reading. The program focuses on accelerating acquisition of priority skills in oral language, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. You can use Camino a la Lectura during small-group time in a regular classroom, as a pull-out intervention program, or as a before- or after-school program. Program Description Camino a la Lectura provides authentic Spanish intervention for struggling readers. Rigorous instruction and practice help improve students reading comprehension and inspire confidence. The focus is on basic priority skills in oral language, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Oral Language is developed through in-class discussions and the retelling of stories. The engaging activities are designed to match students unique learning styles and provide multiple exposures to words and concepts that Tier 3 students need. Vocabulary instruction focuses on words that are thematically related to the unit s concept. These vocabulary or concept words are developed through the exploration of SUPERpalabras or power words. Instruction includes multiple exposures to each word in context, visual support, and multiple opportunities to practice words in meaningful activities. Fluency instruction in Camino a la Lectura includes teacher modeling, student practice with repeated readings, and teacher feedback. Comprehension lessons focus on those skills that readers need to become proficient reader such as finding the main idea, comparing and contrasting, sequencing, and drawing conclusions. Strategy instruction includes previewing, setting purposes, asking and answering questions, and summarizing text. Students read every day in Camino a la Lectura, because the better they read, the more they learn. 1
Program Authors The two program authors, Kathy Escamilla and Peter Afflerbach, bring a unique strength to the comprehension story of Camino a la Lectura. With their valuable input, Camino a la Lectura is a manageable program that you can integrate into the limited time students have for Spanish reading instruction in the school day. Kathy Escamilla, PhD Professor of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder Kathy Escamilla, PhD, is one of the nation s leading authorities in the areas of literacy and biliteracy for Spanish-speaking children. She has published two books and more than fifty research articles. Dr. Escamilla served two terms as the president of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), and she is coeditor of the Bilingual Research Journal. Peter Afflerbach, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Peter Afflerbach specializes in the areas of reading comprehension, verbal methodology, and reading assessment. He is widely known for his research expertise and is the author of numerous books, including Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K 12, the Adolescent Literacy Inventory 6 12, and the fourth edition of the Handbook for Reading Research. Instructional Design Camino a la Lectura provides instruction with a focus on the priority skills of oral language, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. These skills are delivered in thirty to fortyfive minute lessons, four times a week, and are intended for small groups of two to five students. Each week of instruction is tied to a unit concept. As students progress through each unit, they read related texts and explore vocabulary to build lasting knowledge about the unit s concept. Each lesson is composed of activities in oral language, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The activities in each priority skill area last only five to ten minutes and are organized around a carefully planned sequence of skills. 2
Program Hallmarks and Highlights Camino a la Lectura possesses these distinguishing characteristics: An emphasis on oral language, vocabulary, and concept development is central to instruction. Lessons are designed to develop deep meaning for key concepts and vocabulary and to elicit and extend language. Camino a la Lectura addresses the fact that students comprehension is inextricably tied to their vocabulary knowledge. Students experience multiple exposures to words through routines, visuals, physical movement, and experiences. Oral vocabulary cards (Fotopalabras) in the Student Worktext provide visual stimulation for daily language production. Each day there are multiple engaging vocabulary activities that match Tier 3 students learning styles. Highly specified instruction provides a clear lesson focus. The Teacher s Guide features explicit, consistent, easy-to-follow lessons. Frequent progress monitoring keeps learning on track. In Camino a la Lectura, you monitor students progress daily, weekly, and at the unit level. Assessment informs instruction. Students exit the program when they are able to read classroom materials with ease and understanding. Integrated instruction meets the needs of all learners who need to hear and practice oral language, read and write words and sentences, and experience language devoted to exploring concepts. Camino a la Lectura supports the implementation of these effective classroom practices in the following ways: Fast-paced, systematic instruction: Students should be on-task throughout the lesson. Planning is key to keeping students actively engaged in learning. The daily lesson plans in Camino a la Lectura offer suggested activities to help keep the instruction focused. Explicit instruction: Camino a la Lectura had predictable, explicit instructional routines that incorporate practices such as connecting what students know to build on prior knowledge, breaking tasks into smaller steps, and modeling a new skill before asking students to do it. Scaffolding for student learning: Teachers model, use think- alouds, and prompt frequently to provide support. Establishing routines: Routines are used so that students know what you expect them to do. These routines are located in the back of the Teacher s Guide. Providing time for reading: Students should read for approximately half of the intensive intervention time block. Effective instructional practices: Progress monitoring, providing immediate corrective feedback, creating high expectations, reinforcing achievement, and encouraging selfregulation are effective practices that are embedded into the lesson plans. Assessment The goal of the Camino a la Lectura program is to enable struggling readers to succeed with the reading material used in their regular classrooms. To achieve this, the focus of the program is on accelerating students acquisition of priority skills in oral language, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The assessments provide tools to gather information about students understanding of the priority skills. This involves a three-step plan for assessment. 3
Step 1: Monitor Progress You can monitor progress daily, weekly, or at the unit level. Forms for recording progress are located in the Camino a la Lectura Assessment Handbook. You can record anecdotal observations about students progress each day. Use the assessments found on Day 4 to identify individual needs and to provide appropriate support. Weekly and unit charts are provided so that you can track progress in each priority skill area. Step 2: Evaluate Progress Administer the Unit Tests to check mastery of unit skills. To make instructional decisions at the end of a unit, use the end-of-unit assessment results. To gather complete end-of-unit information about students, use the Oral Language Behaviors Chart, the Fluency Progress Chart, and the Record Chart for Unit Tests. 4
Step 3: Exit the Program There are two opportunities for exiting the program at midyear and at the end of the year. To exit the program, a student must show progress toward grade-level goals. The Mid-Year and End-of-Year Exit Criteria can provide guidance when making decisions about students exiting the program. Program Components Camino a la Lectura provides the following materials and resources to support you as you plan for and implement instruction: The Teacher s Guide contains easy-to use lesson plans that provide explicit and systematic instruction that focus on the critical strands of oral language, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. To make your daily preparation simpler, each week starts with an overview of the objectives, activities, materials, and vocabulary for the lesson. You can find descriptions of routines in the back of the Teacher s Guide. The User s Guide provides an overview of the program and suggestions for maximizing instruction and efficiency in teaching and learning. The Student Worktext contains reading passages, picture cards, vocabulary cards, and comprehension and vocabulary practice pages. The Teacher Worktext is the answer key to the Student Worktext. The Read Aloud Anthology holds weekly read-aloud passages for introducing selection vocabulary and the weekly comprehension skill. There are twenty-four picture cards, one for each week of instruction, to help students visualize the week s vocabulary words and improve their understanding. The Assessment Handbook contains checklists, rubrics, and progress monitoring tools to help assess students and identify instructional needs. Activities at Home is a five-day plan to keep parents involved and allow them to evaluate and comment on their children s progress. You can copy the Observing My Child s Reading and Vocabulary form for parents to guide them in noticing reading and vocabulary behaviors as they work with their children on the activities. Five Important Sentences is a feature of Camino a la Lectura that helps students build comprehension over time with selection-based activities. Every student selection provides five sentences that represent key ideas. Students use these sentences in a variety of activities that focus on recalling facts and details, arranging events in sequence, identifying the main idea and supporting details, and identifying characters and setting. 5