Reading Success in the Middle Grades

    by Laura Fortson

    Boston Middle School

     

     

          Incorporating all the mandated state standards during one school year can be challenging for middle school teachers.  Bethany Smith and I are seventh grade reading teachers at Boston Middle School in LaPorte, and we have an inter-grade-level coordination of instruction that utilizes materials from various publishing companies, state reading conferences, and our adopted basal reading series.  The combination of these materials has been developed into a working reading curriculum that meets the Indiana state standards, is skill-based, and is easy to progress through.

          Connecting Reading and Writing with Vocabulary from Curriculum Associates utilizes the various genres while incorporating multiple reading skills.  An example of this is demonstrated in one easy-to-follow, high-interest unit where a student reads both fiction and nonfiction stories and responds to a variety of questions.  There are content hints on each page to aid students in understanding the aim and expectations of the questions while allowing them to remain independent.

          Vocabulary Drills from Jamestown Education is a wonderful workbook!!!  It is set up with a series of thirty-two vocabulary lessons with every fifth one a review unit.  Each lesson has five vocabulary words (one for each day of the school week).  These words are introduced in a passage which varies in style: newspaper articles, magazine, fiction, nonfiction, or reference writings.   Each lesson also has four exercises that allow the student to explore the meaning(s) of each word.

           In Boston Middle School’s seventh grade reading curriculum, the Vocabulary Drills workbook is used daily.  There is a daily vocabulary practice termed W.O.D.—which stands for “Word of the Day.”  Each day a word (from that week’s Vocabulary Drills lesson) is written on the chalkboard.  Once students are in the classroom and have taken their seats, they are expected to record the word and the definition (utilizing dictionaries that are under each and every student desk) in their personal composition notebooks.  This aids in classroom control as well, since teachers are expected to remain in the hallway until the majority of students make it in to their classes.  Throughout the week students complete the workbook exercises, and then on Friday they take a W.O.D. quiz determining each individual’s comprehension of that week’s words.

           Boston’s seventh grade reading program also includes the weekly use of McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading to increase individual students’ reading comprehension.  This series is beyond wonderful!!  The series is leveled, so each student works at his or her own personal reading level and at his or her own pace.  Students get very excited to see their levels go up.  It is quick and easy to implement and a perfect way to settle a classroom.

          We both agree that teaching middle level reading is more exciting and that students are both more interested and more motivated when it is approached using these materials that have been eased into their curriculum.