intervention

Soar to Success

Instructional Plan

The following changes have been made to the
Soar to Success instructional plan:

PROGRAM AREA CHANGE RATIONALE
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. Basic Lesson
•  Revisiting
•  Reviewing
•  Rehearsing
•  Reading/Reciprocal
    Teaching
•  Responding/Reflecting
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. None .
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. Lesson works grades   3-8 .
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. Revisiting
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. Students now asked to develop a model for one strategy as they reread previously read book .
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. Work with students showed this to be a more effective way to maintain high student involvement .
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. Reviewing
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. In addition to what is normally done in this part of the lesson, students share the model for the strategy they developed during Revisiting .
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. Helps students apply strategies more effectively .
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. Rehearsing
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. After cooperative and independent previews, students are directed to find key vocabulary in text .
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. Work with students showed this to be an effective way to emphasize key vocabulary in context and avoid ineffective procedures like reading isolated word lists, looking up definitions, or use of flashcards .
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. Reading and Reciprocal Teaching .
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. After silent reading a pattern is followed in modeling strategies: .
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. 1.  Check PREDICTIONS or answer QUESTIONS posed before reading .
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. 2.  SUMMARIZE chunk of text .
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. 3.  Other strategies in any order .
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. Try to include all 4 strategies everyday .
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  • Work with students and teachers revealed that teachers often overlooked checking predictions or answering questions posed before reading
  • Summarizing was often skipped if a model was not given in the manual
  • Steps 1 and 2 are critical to students' success
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. Responding/Reflecting .
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. No changes in Levels 3-6 .
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. Levels 7 & 8:
Short homework assignment for each lesson.
Focuses on:		 .
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. •  connecting personally to the book .
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. •  focused research assignments .
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. These are not checked during the 40-minute lesson .
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  • Middle School teachers, in particular, asked for some type of homework

  • Emphasis on research skills meets new local and state guidelines, and assessments
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. Home Connection .
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. No changes in Levels 3-6 .
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. Levels 7 & 8: .
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. •  Either books or Student Guide pages sent home .
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. •  no return signature required from family member .
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. Work with teachers and students revealed that Middle School students often respond negatively to returning letters/papers requiring a home signature .
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. End of Book Optional Lesson .
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. NEW .
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. Focuses on: .
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. •  Summarizing book (scaffolded across books) .
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. •  Making Words Lesson .
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. •  Decoding Longer Words Lesson .
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  • Original Project SUCCESS research required most books to be summarized

  • Summarizing difficult to teach; scaffolds modeling from oral to written summaries

  • Provides a time to incorporate decoding extra support

  • All based on work with teachers and students
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. Section 4 in Teacher's Manual – ORGANIZING AND MANAGING SOAR TO SUCCESS .
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. No changes in Levels 3-6 .
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. Levels 7 & 8:
Options specifically appropriate for Middle School		 .
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. All Middle Schools are different, more options for use are needed .
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. Assessment .
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. •  Timed Fluency Test .
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. •  Phonics/Decoding Screener .
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. These assessments added to provide further teacher support in the selection process .
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  • Provides additional information to aid in selection process

  • Helps determine which students need further phonics/decoding support

  • Supports Middle School teachers who may not have strong reading backgrounds

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