Transcription
Hello. Thanks again for joining the Falling for Learning podcast. I am the host, TD Flenon. I am a parent, and I'm a national board-certified teacher. I am a veteran educator, and throughout my career, I have been very concerned by the trend that certain parents didn't have the strategies, skills, or access to resources to make sure that their children were on track for learning, and then to stay on track for success. This podcast has been established to address the need and to make sure that we have guests on that I provide the information and that they have the strategies and resources that they need to make sure the next generation is ready to shine in either being an entrepreneur, in either getting a trade, or going the college route. Thanks for tuning in every Saturday, and let's get this show started.
Today, we're really going to delve into how to help your child, your middle school child, get into reading. So, with reading, we know that at this point in their education careers, children should be far into advancement in their reading development. However, we know that because of the pandemic and other factors, their reading level may not be on grade level. So, our children are going to fall into a couple of different categories. So, they'll fall into the category of reading on grade level, reading below grade level, or reading above grade level. And we know from statistics that a lot of our children, especially African-American children, and children, um, from diverse backgrounds often are not reading on grade level. A majority of them are not.
>> [clears throat] >>
And so, this podcast will really address what we do when our kids are below grade level in reading. So, when you want to have them reading regularly to increase their reading development, but you need to make sure whatever they're reading is at an independent level. So, the independent level is where they're going to be practicing on a regular basis, a lot of it on their own. And that means whatever text that they have in front of them needs to match their independent reading level.
Independent reading level is defined by a couple of different factors. Number one, what they're reading as far as the words are familiar. Over 90% of what they're reading is very clear. They're familiar with all of the words and terminology except for less than 10% of what they're reading. So, that's how we get to the independent level. They could understand what they're reading as well. They have adequate background knowledge. They have, um, you know, enough background knowledge to understand exactly what they're reading. So, even with those couple of words, they still know what's happening in the story. So, they have full comprehension.
So, you also should know what are the other levels that you need to avoid. So, the instructional reading level is when 10% is unclear or unfamiliar. And then they have adequate background knowledge, meaning about 60% of what they're reading is clear to them. And so, teachers, or if you're the instructor, are giving them, filling in some of that background knowledge for them, um, and you're also giving them some instruction or support on those 10% of words that are unfamiliar or unclear in meaning for them.
Frustration level. So, I'm going to bring up frustration level because I believe that a lot of our kids are reading at the frustration level. That means a text that's put in front of them, over 10% of what they're reading is unclear. Remember, independent is less than 10%, instructional is 10%, and then frustration is above 10% of what they're reading is unclear. They're having a lot of problems understanding about what they're reading. And then they do not have the background knowledge to connect to what's being read, what they're reading, and to get understanding of what they're reading. So, they can't comprehend it, and they don't know the words either through decoding or the meaning of it. So, they're frustrated.
And I think a lot of our kids are reading there because the evidence suggests this: The kids don't like to read. They may get irritated or frustrated when you ask them to read. Uh, they have an attitude, a negative attitude, when you want them to read. They really have a negative viewpoint of reading. And that's probably because what they're reading most of the time is at that frustration level.
Because we're called Falling for Learning, we really want to focus in on how to get kids to love whatever they're doing, right? Love to read in this case. And one way that they could learn to read, uh, learn to love reading is really to make sure that they're reading texts that are on topics that interest them. Something that they love to talk about or to watch or to engage in is an excellent topic for them to be reading about. If they're into basketball, find books about basketball or about basketball players, or something related to basketball will be perfect for them to read.
Another way to entice them to learn how to read is to make sure what they're reading is very relevant to them. So, let's say that they want to be starting businesses when they get older. They have that entrepreneurial bug. And so, you want to look into reading text or news articles that are related to business and what it means to start a business or strategies or tips, information that's very relevant to what they have going on in their lives, in their near future, or maybe their present lives. Um, if, for example, that they want to become a doctor, you're looking for text that relate to, uh, what doctors might be interested in: anatomy, or, um, new research, or new, um, inventions or breakthroughs, uh, medical technology that again is very relevant to their present life or their future. So, relevant and really based on their interest.
Um, so, you want to think in terms of that as far as giving them reading, um, materials. You also want to give them a choice, right? When we're talking about interest, sometimes it's just fun reading topics. I know that I have talked to many adults who said that their parents really restricted them from reading certain things. They couldn't read comic books because when they got a certain age, they should have been reading more challenging books. So, although we don't want them reading comic books all the time, if that's something they're interested in reading, have them read it some of the time. And that is a way to make sure that they're enticed to fall in love with reading because they have some freedom, some creative freedom, about what to choose and why to choose it. But, of course, introduce them to other topics that are really directly related to their future goals and, um, those other types of aspects.
Another aspect that we need to think about when it comes to reading is, again, what I said at the beginning: is having a regular practice of reading. And so, the very minimum, I would say, is to make a schedule, right? We know that if we don't plan, we plan to fail. We fail to plan, we plan, we, we plan to fail. Yes. So, we want to make sure there we have a calendar to put it on our schedule. Actually, those dates and times, those days of the week that we're going to be reading, the time that we're going to be reading, and give them 30 minutes.
Now, if you have one of those students that are really not into reading, really get irritated when you ask them to read, or whatever the case may be, then let's work up to that. Start with 10 minutes, maybe five, and get them to reading more. If you have a constant, just like an attitude from the jump with the reading, then you want to make sure that you make an effort to reset their relationship with reading. Let's reset that relationship. Let's figure out why they feel the way that they do about reading, and it may be you, parents. Again, look into see what you have been doing. Have you been turning reading into a punishment? Have you been setting the tone by talking very negatively about reading? "I'm not reading all that mess. That's too much to read. Reading is boring," or whatever the case may be. I know that I had some people in my family that were really toxic about reading or academics in general, and it could be you as a person or seeing that that's the environment that's set in your home. So, you want to look into that and make sure that you're addressing that and helping kids to have a more positive outlook on reading.
You want to be next to them when it's reading, and you want to set that positive scene for reading. So, is it that they want to be sitting at a table reading? Do they want to be, uh, curled up on the couch or a special, a special place by the window, or a special chair, or a bean bag, or whatever? Try to figure out how you can set that scene for them. Think about your child. Think about what works for them and really try. I...
>> Listen, parents. It's summer time. The days are flying by, and you still haven't buckled down yet. >>
...regular day, it's part of their schedule. It's not...
>> It's okay. >>
...arbitrary because I know that some parents forget the heck...
>> Go get it in here. www.tinyurl.com/learn10way. Learn the number 10 way. >>
...that we have some parents who really are, uh, very strong thing.
>> 10 ways to make learning fun and to build your day. >>
It really...
>> Don't let another day go by without providing >>
And then...
>> learning activity that will give your child perspective. >>
I'm in the middle playing my video game, and you're like, "You know what? Get off that video game and go read." It really sets a negative relationship up with reading. So, again, making sure that they know the schedule. At 4:00, you're going to be reading. And so, make sure whatever you do, get your schedule prepared for it. So, it's not an arbitrary like, "I'm mad at you because you're playing your video game. You look like you have nothing to do. Guess what? You need to go get to reading right now." Um, so, really be careful about how you do that and how you're pitting different activities against each other.
There's nothing wrong with playing video games in moderation. And, you know, you want it to be a range of activities that they do, and don't shame them for the different things that they're interested in. As a parent, you have, you, you know, you have that magic sauce. We, we like all the time they're training teachers to do culturally responsive teaching and all of that, but obviously as a parent, you, you know, you are the culture. You are bringing the culture to them, but don't forget the aspect of culture that is hard for you to touch, which is their youth culture. Every generation has their own youth culture, and don't shame them about that aspect of their culture that is different than yours, right? And be aware of that, be sensitive to that, and be respectful of what they have going on in their youth culture. Um, you know, to a certain extent, give them some parameters, but don't just shame everything about their culture and their youth and their age group, because that is their age group and it is an integral part of who they are, um, growing up in these days and age. This is their time.
Um, so, to review, something that we, the things that we need to do to make sure our kids are on track and hopefully being enticed, not hopefully, they will be enticed to fall in love with reading is to make sure that they have a choice of what they're reading. Make sure that they are reading at their independent level, right? Less than 10% of what they're being read is, uh, clear. They, sorry, less than 10% is, um, unfamiliar words or, you know, something that they don't know the meaning of. And they have very clear background knowledge on what's going on, so they understand everything going on, even though there may be a couple of words that they don't know in the text. So, being very clear that that's their independent reading level, whatever they're reading.
And number three, making sure that you're scheduling that time for them to be reading regularly, um, so that it is not a, um, uh, an arbitrary time, that it's not set up as a punishment, um, that it's very clear when they're reading. We want a minimum of three times a day. We want to work up to the five times a day that they're, five times a day, five times a week that they're reading, correct? And making sure they have that regular practice at the independent level so that they are slowly but surely building up their reading development.
Um, making sure that finally, if you have a very resistant reader, that you're very clear with them about resetting the relationship with reading and being very intentional about, uh, setting up a positive environment for reading and helping them out.
Now, one last thing that we did not address yet, but we'll bring up right now, is the child's reading level. Like, what level are they reading? Are they reading at the third grade level and they're in seventh grade? Are they reading on a, um, a fifth grade level? Uh, maybe they're reading at a tenth grade level. They're ahead of the curve. Uh, how do you figure that out? Sometimes your school, uh, your child's school, provides that, but if again, if you're a home school parent or if you're feeling like it's inadequate at your school, you may want to give some type of diagnostic for your child. Um, there are, there are, uh, different resources online to figure out your child's reading level.
A couple places I can direct you are, for example, Newsela, uh, can give them different text at different levels, and you could kind of check out manually, like, does this level work? Does this level work for them? And kind of count how many mistakes they're making in a minute, and that's one way you can see like, is this their independent level? What level is this for them? Um, um, more formal, um, there is IXL provides a diagnostic. Um, it's an online tool, uh, IXL. And then there is also, uh, ReadWorks provides, uh, some kind of diagnostic to help the children with their reading. Uh, NoRedInk as well helps them, you know, identify where their reading is. There is also CommonLit.org also provides some information about reading, uh, their reading levels. So, there's different ways and different resources out there. So, take a look and explore and see what works for you.
You may again be able to talk to the school or to the teacher, English language arts teacher, about reading levels and some, you know, reports on assessments. Or again, you might need to use these outside resources such as Newsela, CommonLit.org, ReadWorks. Um, those are just a few of the places that you can go to look for this information. Um, so, I would say, go forth and read.
Again, none of what we're talking about happens overnight. You need to put in the work, parents. Uh, be patient with your child and help them build up into better readers and know that it is possible. You have that special sauce, parents, that no other teacher has a relationship with your child like you do, and make sure you give them that competitive advantage.
Again, I'm T. D. Flynn, the host of Falling for Learning. Thank you for joining us, and please like and subscribe. We are found on podcast, um, platforms such as iHeartRadio, Audible, Amazon Music, and many different podcast platforms. As well as we have our YouTube channel. Please join us every Saturday at 5:00 p.m. when we release our new episodes. This is TD Flenaugh. Have a great week. Thank you.
>> Saturdays at 5:00 p.m. is when we drop our new episodes. Please listen in every week for those strategies and tips to keep you and the next generation on track for success. You can also find us on YouTube by going to youtube.com/atfall4learning. Again, that's youtube.com/fall4learning. We really appreciate you, and we are here on a mission and to make sure that that next generation is on track for success and on track for learning. Thanks again. I'm TD Flenaugh. Have a wonderful week.