Professor and researcher Kristin Conradi-Smith from episode 143 says, “We lack research for differentiation by text levels.There's simply no support for it.” Teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes known as guided reading, approach isn’t the most effective way to teach or learn to read.
Instead, we can
Support students’ access to complex texts through scaffolds and building knowledge using language comprehension.
Use students' prior knowledge and match that knowledge to text topic demands.
Read text sets - a group of texts on the same topic - to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary.
Practice and model oral reading fluency, rearead, and use comprehension strategies.
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Speaker 1:
Hi teacher friend. This is Lori from Melissa and Lori Love Literacy. Today I'm going to answer the question why shouldn't we level students and what should we do instead? So why shouldn't we level students? We'll keep this response short and sweet.
Speaker 1:
Professor and researcher Kristin Conradie-Smith from Episode 143 says we lack research for differentiation by text levels. There's simply no support for it. This topic came up in our top episode of 2023, number 143, maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction. The authors of an article about how to maximize small group instructional time explain that teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes also known as a guided reading approach, isn't the most effective way to teach or learn to read. There's an abundance of evidence that supports this idea and there are lots of links in the show notes for you to explore. In a presentation titled Science of Reading Levels, also linked to the show notes, tim Shanahan explains that no studies have found instructional level placements to be beneficial in grades 2 through 9. Older students preferred more challenging texts, though they do need more help with these. Studies either found no benefits to instructional level placement or that instructional level placement hindered learning.
Speaker 1:
So what can we do? We can support students access to complex texts through scaffold and building knowledge using language comprehension, for example. Familiarize students with print and genre features, teach complex syntax and vocabulary and teach text organization. Use students prior knowledge and match that knowledge to text topic demands. That's a great way to connect. We can also do this through the use of text sets a group of texts about a topic to build students knowledge and vocabulary, practice and model oral reading, fluency, rereading and using comprehension strategies. These are helpful tools as well.
Speaker 1:
Hopefully this helped to shed some light and insight on what to do instead of leveling students. Remember for more information, check out all of the notes and resources in our show notes. We can't wait to keep learning with you. Thanks for listening. Literacy Lovers, to stay connected with us, sign up for our email list at literacypodcastcom. Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests of the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast are not necessarily the opinions of Great Minds PBC or its employees. We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to learn with us.