Summer 2005 Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 2
Inside This Issue
- New Version 4.0
- Calling All MVPs!
- Frequently Asked Questions: What Are the Components of a Successful Reading Program?
- Success and Self-Esteem
- Upcoming Workshops in Utah!
- 60-Day FREE Trial
New Version 4.0
Our Development and Curriculum personnel have spent thousands of hours over the past two years developing version 4.0 of the Reading Horizons software as well as a new version of the direct instruction teaching materials that accompany it. Those of you who qualify for an upgrade to version 4.0 will need to call to make a formal request. If you're not sure you qualify, please call and ask. A $25 fee for shipping and handling (slightly more for standalones) will be assessed. Read on for a description of the new features included in this latest release.
Spanish Narration
Reading Horizons version 4.0 showcases a Spanish narration that will allow students with limited or no English comprehension skills to use the software to learn to read, write, spell, and pronounce English. Where desired, administrators and teachers can choose to allow individual students to use a Spanish button at the bottom of the screen. As students move through the program, they will have the option to click the button to hear the previous English instructions repeated in Spanish. Students who have the Spanish option activated also see the Spanish equivalent of each English word in the Word Study section of our Mastery, Drill, and Practice (MDP).
Improved Student Features
Additional features students will enjoy are a new Lesson Manager interface that is more engaging, easier to interpret and allows for improved navigation and interlinkages, as well as pictures depicting words in lessons. They will also discover that the decoding instruction has been moved up from lesson 26 to lesson 20, allowing students to begin reading multi-syllable words much sooner.
Easier Administration System
Instructors will find the new Administration System more user-friendly and replete with options that further customize the lessons to meet student needs. Enhancements include an Add Student Wizard option that will help the instructor know which lesson to start a new student on, an option that requires students to choose their markings in the Phonics section of the MDP, an option to override the Most Common Words sections of the early lessons (2-19), and controls that allow instructors to enforce the completion of specific amounts of each MDP section. New reports will show student progress through the MDP and expand the data available on the pre- and post-test reports. It is now also possible for an instructor to print reports for multiple students at one time!
Expanded Testing
Version 4.0 also includes an expanded version of our pre- and post-tests. Instructors can choose to test students' word recognition skills and, in addition, their understanding of the Most Common Words and their decoding ability. This helps the courseware adapt to the needs of each student. Please call your Account Manager or local distributor for additional information.
New Intermediate and Adult Teacher's Kit
Three exciting modifications have been incorporated in the latest revision of the Discover Intensive Phonics Intermediate and Adult direct instruction materials. Want a sneak preview of these effective alterations?
No alterations have been made to the excellent methodology, but a significant change in structure has enhanced the effectiveness of the decoding skills and allows older students to begin decoding multi-syllable words following the introduction of the Five Phonetic Skills. As each of the subsequent 42 sounds is taught, initial instruction is given using one-syllable words, following which students decode multi-syllable words that incorporate the sound they've been learning.
The new intermediate and adult manual will have the benefit of an appendix that will include games and activities, black-line masters for 42 Sounds cards and Most Common Words cards, and a correction guide. In addition, the teacher's kit will include a Vowels chart, Five Skills poster, and two sets of flip charts.
As part of our new manual, each lesson features special help for ESL instruction. Since learning phonology is an essential part of learning English as a second language, and because the logical format of Discover Intensive Phonics helps ESL students break the code to English, we are pleased to offer this indispensable addition. ESL instructions include pronunciation guides, minimal pair activities, and additional teacher information. All ESL instruction within the manual is boxed and identified with an ESL icon.
A new ESL Student Workbook with Sound CD completes this effective addition. It has been constructed to coordinate exactly with the Discover Intensive Phonics lessons. The Sound CD provides students with practice in hearing and saying sounds as they are taught. Student flashcards and coordinating jumbo teacher flashcards provide word meaning in incremental steps, while selected reading materials reinforce usage. Culture lessons include practice with common greetings, currency, budgeting, days, months, holidays, transportation, etc.
We hope you are as excited with these changes and enhancements as we are! Best of all, only the ESL Student Workbook and flashcards require an additional purchase! All other changes and additions are included in the current price of the intermediate and adult teacher's kit.
Calling All MVPs!
We are excited about our new MVP program and are adding to our ranks! Thank you to all our great, successful users who have responded to the call. By now, you should have received your first monthly installment of our MVP Update, and we hope this will be a great connecting resource for you.
You may have noticed that Corey Triassi, an MVP in Arizona, wrote our FAQ article for this quarter's newsletter, and Brian Brown, a Washington State MVP, has shared an awesome success story in this issue also. Thank you, Brian and Corey!
If you have questions about the MVP program, or are interested in finding out how to become an MVP, please contact your Reading Horizons Account Manager at 800-333-0054.
Frequently Asked Questions: What Are the Components of a Successful Reading Program?
When you are pondering the question, "What are the components of a successful reading program?", your ultimate goal should be to have star readers by the end of the school year. The reason you need to focus on a star is because a star has five points and there are five components that are necessary for effective reading instruction to occur in your classroom. These five components are phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to isolate and manipulate sounds of language. Phonics is "the alphabetical principle," which is mapping sound to print. Vocabulary is the ability to understand and use a broad variety of words. Fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, automaticity and expression. Comprehension is the ability to understand what is read by applying appropriate strategies. Each component builds on the next for effective instruction.
Systematic and explicit instruction is essential when instructing students in the five components of reading. Discover Intensive Phonics is a very systematic and explicit program. The skills are taught step by step in a sequential format. One skill builds upon the next skill and each lesson provides various examples of words for practice and reinforcement of the concepts. The teacher models very specifically to the students how to mark each word in order to discover the pronunciation of the word. As the students work at the board or on small slates at their desks, the teacher can clearly see the level at which the students understand the concepts. In my classroom, I teach remedial reading students in the first through fifth grades. To reinforce the decoding skills, I have the students become "Teacher for the Day" after I have modeled a specific skill. As "teacher," students write the word, then verbally explain each marking code to the class. The word is then read and placed into a meaningful sentence.
Scientific research emphasizes the importance of the five components of reading so that every child will become a successful reader. It is important that Discover Intensive Phonics be taught starting in kindergarten and continue to explicitly be taught until third grade. After third grade, the concepts should be reinforced to ensure that students are applying their previously learned knowledge.
Students cannot move on to the components of vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension unless they can unlock the door to decoding. Ask yourself these questions: "Am I giving my students the necessary foundation to become successful readers? What would the world be like if every child was a reader?"
Let your star shine as an educator and provide your students with effective instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
Corey Triassi
Remedial Reading Teacher, AZ
Success and Self-Esteem
By Brian Brown
Teacher, WA
Josh* was 12 years old when he arrived for the first time at the Skagit County juvenile detention center in Mount Vernon, Washington, where I work as a teacher. In school, Josh was a troublemaker and a failing student, and educators concluded that he was mildly mentally retarded. He was in sixth grade and he could not read at all. Over the next several months, Josh was in and out of our short-term facility repeatedly. Then there was the day he arrived beaming. "Hey, Mr. Brown," he said. "My teachers know I can read now."
What made the difference for Josh was Reading Horizons. Josh's story is not an unusual one at our detention center. Almost all the detainees are failing in school. I see the whole gamut of special situations-ADD, ADHD, semantic-pragmatic disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome, sexual abuse, and drug abuse. Almost all of our detainees are reading well below grade level, and roughly half read below a sixth-grade level. Because illiteracy poses the greatest barrier to successful re-entry to the community, we place a strong emphasis on reading intervention.
Once students begin using Reading Horizons, they quickly buy into it. They get immediate feedback about their progress, so they see their growth and accomplishment. After 20-40 hours with the program, it's not unusual to see improvements of one or two full grade levels in reading ability.
Because students at our center work at a wide variety of levels and paces, the computerized version of the program is very effective. These students have not succeeded in traditional classrooms, where they fear embarrassment and ridicule because of their learning problems and reading deficiencies. With the computerized phonics program, there is no risk of humiliating themselves in front of their teachers or peers.
Another reason for the success of Reading Horizons at our center is its emphasis on rules and patterns. The students I work with come from chaotic backgrounds; often they get in trouble because they cannot interpret contextual cues about acceptable behavior. For these kids, an approach to remedial reading instruction that uses a small set of consistent phonetic rules is more likely to meet their needs than reading programs that expect students to decipher meaning through context.
As students progress through the program, their self-esteem improves along with their reading ability. These kids have always felt left out because of their poor reading skills. They can't talk with their classmates about the new Harry Potter book. If they go to a restaurant they always order a hamburger because they can't read the menu. But suddenly they're reading and proud of it. They go from picture books to chapter books, and they ask me what books I read.
As for Josh, he recently returned to the center and told me he wanted to get his GED. Thinking of his reading problems and his classification as mildly retarded, I encouraged him but told him it would be difficult. By the time Josh left two months later, he was almost there; he had passed the social studies, science, and English requirements, and was just a few points shy of meeting the math requirements and earning his diploma.
For this young man, Reading Horizons' fundamental approach to reading instruction brought new hope.
*Name changed.
Upcoming Workshops in Utah!
If you are interested in registering for a workshop in Utah,* you can do so online. Just visit our Web site and choose "Products and Services," then "Professional Development." Then select the training and date you'd like to attend. You can also call your Account Manager at 800.333.0054 to sign up.
H410: Two-day workshop
June 23-24, 2005
August 15-16, 2005
(To be held at the U of U Reading Clinic)
H440: Instructor Certification
June 16-17, 2005
* To be conducted at our offices in North Salt Lake
60-Day FREE Trial
Find out what an Internet connection and our software can do for your below-grade-level reading students at NO CHARGE! We are offering a 60-day FREE TRIAL of our phenomenal reading program — Discover Intensive Phonics for ages 4-10 or Reading Horizons for ages 10-adult!
Call 1-800-333-0054 and see how easy it is to raise your reading scores in just 60 days!
