When I researched, I focused on finding strategies that enhanced students’ comprehension abilities. I was looking to see if there were specific strategies to implement with below level readers to help them grow in their reading ability and comprehension skills.
I found that Fountas and Pinnell’s Intervention program Leveled Literary Intervention (LLI) benefited my students because it is specifically designed for students who are below grade level. When researching, I also found support for the strategies of rereads, vocabulary practice, phonograms, and graphic organizers. Each of these strategies were also used throughout my research period.
I selected the strategies above because when researching for my literature review, these were the topics that came up the most with adequate research to back them up. I narrowed it down to these strategies because they were strategies that I easily implemented into the scheduled intervention time. I also tried to pick a variety of different strategies so students were exposed to various ways to build their reading and comprehension skills.
My main intervention item I focused on was the Fountas and Pinnell Intervention program (LLI). Each week, my students were given a leveled LLI lesson. I followed the lesson plan in the manual with fidelity. The students received a word work lesson, key vocabulary words, reading of the leveled reader, and then they wrote about what they read. I also gave them a purpose for reading before they started reading. This took place over two instructional periods. When they were working, I listened to them read and helped them decode words they got stuck on. I completed a running record for each student. The purpose of a running record is to determine if students are able to gain a level. The running record consists of determining the students fluency, accuracy, and comprehension skills. As students are reading their leveled book I am tracking their accuracy and fluency. At the end of the book, I ask students 10-12 questions over what they read. I listen for their response and document it on the running record. Since my study involved reading comprehension, I made sure that my students were able to get six or seven out of seven before I moved them to the next level. I collected running record for each of my students for six weeks.
For supplemental strategies, my research showed that graphic organizers help students who are below grade level because they allow students to organize their thinking as they are reading or writing. I found numerous comprehension graphic organizers that helped my students organize their thoughts during their reading. I used these during my guided reading rotation as well as during some of our LLI lessons. My research also mentioned using more vocabulary instruction to help students learn more words and their meanings. It is important for students who struggle with reading to be exposed to a variety of words. To help my students with vocabulary, each student received a vocabulary booklet. They wrote down a given word, its definition, synonyms/antonyms, and drew a picture that goes with the word.