How is Reading First working in your school? Are the teachers stressed over it?

Question

The school I am teaching in is under the Reading First Grant. We have many, many teachers leaving and more that are trying to. Is it really worth losing our best teachers due to the stress? Is it really improving how our students read? Comprehension is at a low, but they sure can call the words! Which one matters?!!

Answer 1

All components of reading (phoenimic awareness, comp, vocab, vluence, etc) are all equally important. Problem with reading first is that there is a lot of extra work, and teachers loose the individuality of teaching how they want or doing any cool units because they HAVE to follow the curriculum. We are thinking about it at our school, and I am pushing against it because it takes a lot of fun of teaching in your own style. That is why a lot of your teachers are probably leaving. Good luck.

Answer 2

I just left a Reading First funded school. It wasn't stress that left me so frustrated but the restrictions of the program. The new buzzword is "research based " reading programs. However almost any reading program can claim itself as " research based" . The only texts allowed had to be purchased from the publiishing company that won the contract from the school and had to be approved by Reading First. The only assessment allowed was the dreaded Dibels which is now under investigation because of a conflict of interest. Apparently the designer of the test is or was on the Reading First Committee.
Fortunately, I was hired to teach tier three students by the Orton-Gillingham method and was able to use a variety of materials as I saw fit. The classroom teachers were bound to follow the text whether the students knew the material or not and, if it's Wednesday, the teachers of a particular grade better all be on the same page.
The Dibels test was given every two weeks and if a student didn't do well they were tested weekly. It seemed that if it didn't work keep doing it more.
The money and politics involved in this program are just what you would expect when schools are willing to take a government handout. They would be better off if they spent less on reading"programs" and spent more time using common sense in teaching children to read.
Now that I am through ranting I'll answer your question.
I think a strong phonics background is essential and so is comprehension. After all what is the point of reading if there is no comprehension. I have had students come out very high on the Dibels oral reading test but their comprehension was zero.
They were just good at decoding words.

Answer 3

The ability to read is vital for success. It helps your child succeed in school, helps them build self-confidence, and helps to motivate your child. Being able to read will help your child learn more about the world, understand directions on signs and posters, allow them to find reading as an entertainment, and help them gather information.

Here you can find a step-by-step online program that can help your child learn to read: http://readingprogram.toptips.org

Learning to read is very different from learning to speak, and it does not happen all at once. There is a steady progression in the development of reading ability over time. The best time for children to start learning to read is at a very young age - even before they enter pre-school. Once a child is able to speak, they can begin developing basic reading skills. Very young children have a natural curiosity to learn about everything, and they are naturally intrigued by the printed texts they see, and are eager to learn about the sounds made by those letters. You will likely notice that your young child likes to look at books and thoroughly enjoys being read to. They will even pretend to behave like a reader by holding books and pretend to read them.

For more info visit http://readingprogram.toptips.org
Bye Bye

Answer 4

Best teachers will be noble enough to think of the students' benefit and will stay.