Shared Reading
Teachers can use shared reading to help students learn to engage, interact, and make meaning from text. During shared reading, teachers read with students, pausing often enough to allow the student to take the lead and minimizing questions until the student is interacting and initiating their own comments or asking their own questions. To learn more about shared reading in DLM, complete the DLM module on Shared Reading and explore other modules and supports at https://sharedreader.org.
Shared Reading Vignettes
Are you having a hard time imagining what shared reading might look like using these books with your students with more complex needs? Here are some vignettes that describe what interactions between teachers and students with the most significant cognitive disabilities might look like. They are arranged by grade level because they link to specific books at each grade level, but read some at the grade levels above and below the levels you teach to get more examples.
3rd Grade Shared Reading Vignette My Father’s Dragon Unit – “Wild Island”
4th Grade Shared Reading Vignette The Birchbark House Unit – “Omakayas”
5th Grade Shared Reading Vignette The Secret Garden – “Families”
7th Grade Shared Reading Vignette Hatchett – “Moose”
9th-10th Grade Shared Reading Vignette The White Heron – “Making a Dress”
11th-12th Grade Shared Reading Vignette To Kill a Mockingbird – “Dad Loved the Farm”
Teaching Comprehension
There are three modules that will help you learn to use Anchor-Read-Apply to teach students to comprehend text through listening or reading. Completing these modules will help you take advantage of the documents below that offer specific lesson ideas linked to each of the DLM Essential Elements in Reading Literature and Reading Information Text. The modules are:
Teaching Text Comprehension: Anchor-Read-Apply
Participants will learn to identify the components of an Anchor-Read-Apply text comprehension lesson, match purposes for reading with anchor activities, and describe the difference between asking question to assess comprehension and teaching students to understand text in increasingly complex ways.
- Teaching Text Comprehension: Anchor-Read-Apply Online Self-directed Module
- Teaching Text Comprehension: Anchor-Read-Apply Facilitated Module Materials for Groups
Generating Purposes for Reading
This module reviews the Anchor-Read-Apply framework for reading comprehension. Participants will learn how to generate purposes for reading using the DLM Essential Elements and review activities to help students activate background knowledge.
- Generating Purposes for Reading Online Self-directed Module
- Generating Purposes for Reading Facilitated Module Materials for Groups
DR-TA and Other Text Comprehension Approaches
Participants will briefly review the anchor-read-apply framework and will be introduced to the DR- TA, KWL, and Yes/No comprehension instructional strategies.
- DR-TA and Other Text Comprehension Approaches Online Self-directed Module
- DR-TA and Other Text Comprehension Approaches Facilitated Module Materials for Groups
Anchor-Read-Apply Lesson Supports Linked to DLM Essential Elements
3rd Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
4th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
5th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
6th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
7th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
8th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
9-10th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
11-12th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply
All Grade Levels Combined
Familiar Texts
The DLM Alternate Assessment supports students with the most complex disabilities by providing them with the texts they will encounter in the English Language Arts assessment before they encounter them in the assessment. The FAMILIAR texts will be released as they are available. In addition, when there are specific objects called out for the assessment, those are described.
The familiar texts for are available through the Educator Resource Page for your state. If your state participates in the Year-End assessment only, the familiar texts are here: Educator Resource Page YE. If your state participates in the Instructionally Embedded Assessment windows, the familiar texts are here: Educator Resource Page IE.
Other Texts
One of the challenges in providing students with the most significant disabilities with access to the general curriculum is finding materials that link directly to the grade level content but are written at a level that is accessible. As part of the DLM project we have been building a library of companion texts that align with the novels and other books that are generally taught as part of the general education curriculum across the grade levels.
The books can be accessed at Monarch Reader and read online, on a reader that uses epub files, or offline as Powerpoint files or printed versions of the books. Most of the books on the Monarch Reader site were written by teachers, students, parents, and others from all over the world. Some books are “Rated M/Mature,” and others may not be appropriate for your students or classroom. Teachers can avoid books that they might find offensive by limiting their search to books that are “Rated E/Everybody” while avoiding books “Rated M/Mature.” You can find links to the library of “other books” at https://www.dlmpd.com/exemplar-text-supports/