CorrectiveReading.org

CR and Reluctant Students

Recently, one of the CR teachers at our site had some concerns about reluctant students in her Decoding C class. She’d had a student come forward and tell her, “Many of the kids in class feel stupid. We don’t like the class.” Without a doubt, this required a quick response by team leaders to insure [...]

The Visiting Teacher’s Guides to CR (by level)

by dmortimer

Why write a Visiting Teacher’s Guide for CR? Well, it comes down to two things. Competence and pacing. Competence is the most important issue for me when I am absent from class, as I want someone coming in to teach my kids who can ‘deliver’ without me having to resort to a video as an [...]

The Teacher Student Game

by dmortimer

This unique game (a classroom behavior strategy) serves as a way for teachers to build routines to perfection as students are matched against the teacher. The game works best when the teacher targets behaviors that the group needs to improve upon. The ‘BARF’ rules are used. This explanation is supplied courtesy of Dr. Almitra Berry, SRA’s [...]

Our Newest Form: Decoding C Reading Checkout form

by dmortimer

Our latest form is designed to help students in the Reading Fluency portion of the lesson when students pair up and read to one another. The info captured on the form will provide feedback to other students in a professional fashion, rather than students simply saying, “You had 5 mistakes.” With the process we use, [...]

VIP Club for Corrective Reading Professionals

by dmortimer

Sign up now for our FREE VIP Club Membership for all Corrective Reading Professionals. All Corrective Reading professionals worldwide can sign up for free. Your free membership will expire at the end of the 2011-12 school year (June 15, 2012). Take advantage of this offer while you can! Click here for more info. ***No gimmicks [...]

Comp B1 and B2: Sentence Combining Using ‘Because’

by dmortimer

I noticed that kids were struggling with sentence combining when having to add the word ‘because’ and determine if one of the sentences tells why. Their first exposure to this exercise began in Lesson 58 in Comp B1. So I went into the Teacher’s Presentation Guide and began looking for some commonality that would provide [...]

Your School’s CR Lenses: Are They Foggy or Clear?

by dmortimer

One of the things that we have noticed is the maintaining of Corrective Reading is perhaps the most important aspect of the program. It isn’t just ordering materials, creating sections of students by level, or finding the staff that are passionate enough to teach CR. It’s the stuff that occurs after all of that is [...]

Comp: Comp B2 Not an Entry Point

by dmortimer

Our school was in its first year of Corrective Reading last year, and we ended up having a very solid year, experiencing a lot of success. However, when it came to the logistics of what level to move our Decoding C students who had mastered Decoding C, it wasn’t that simple. Fortunately for us, we [...]

Comp: Controlling Overly Motivated Students

by dmortimer

One of the things that teachers appreciate are motivated students. However, in the event that students’ motivation begins to affect the outcome of instruction, then teachers have to create rules and procedures that correct the problem. As an example, my Comp students try and do their workbooks while we are going over the instructions. The [...]

Decoding: Buildup/Boardwork

by dmortimer

Corrective Reading requires the teacher to write words on the board in order to show students how the specific changes in the letters of a word change the pronunciation. This phase occurs prior to the Word Attack portion of the lesson. However, there is one slight variation we’d like to propose that might help students [...]

Decoding Alert: Words Ending in ‘ED’

by dmortimer

This is a very common mistake that seems to have surfaced in the last five years. Today in my Per 1, Decoding C class, several students were mispronouncing words that ended in “ed,” in one case a verb which formed its past tense by adding ‘ed’ (i.e. ‘watched’). As a result, I quickly stopped the [...]

Bonus Points in the CR Classroom

by dmortimer

Use bonus points to target what you want your students to improve upon as a group: target group behaviors only. One of the things that Corrective Reading teachers must deal with is awarding bonus points. The biggest issue related to bonus points is the criteria used to reward them. Today, in a Comp B-2 class [...]

Decoding C: Week One Overview

by dmortimer

In the event you have already taught Corrective Reading, you most likely have a routine down. Otherwise, you are brand new to the ‘business’ of teaching CR, so you could use some help with organizing your first week in your Decoding classes. First of all, following the guidelines created in the management system offered here [...]

Praise Stems in the CR Classroom

by dmortimer

It’s crucial with students in Corrective Reading to give them credit where credit is due. This helps with their self-esteem and gradual development within the program. So, one of the things that we can do as CR professionals is to offer them feedback for the job they’re doing in the class. Here is a selection [...]

A Corrective Reading Syllabus

by dmortimer

One of the requirements that every teacher experiences each year is the creation of a syllabus, or at least the modifications of one in the event the same course is taught. Last year’s experience at Roosevelt High School leads us to include more in our syllabus this year, including our Discipline and Excessive Absence policies. [...]

Grading Your Students Using FUSD’s ATLAS Interface

by dmortimer

With FUSD having used Atlas last year, most teachers went through an extensive learning curve. Many of us in the district vented our frustrations with the new system. However, for the most part, grading student work was not difficult. SRA recommends the following: Teachers grade based on daily results using group and individual points. How each [...]

Decoding: Entering Data During Class

by dmortimer

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES (DECODING): Data Management: Decoding A (65 lessons) Points are recorded by blocks consisting of 5 lessons (15 blocks); TOTAL = sum of 3 boxes A, B, and C for a possible 20 point total; Word Attack: up to 6 points go into Box A; Workbook: up to 8 points go into Box B; Story Reading: up to 6 points go into Box C; first [...]

A Corrective Reading Discipline Policy

by dmortimer

Secondary schools all across the country have different discipline policies due to varying demographics and other factors which affect a school’s population. At Roosevelt High School (Fresno Unified School District) in Fresno, CA., our school’s discipline plan was revised at the beginning of the ‘2010-’11 school year after a majority of our staff members attended [...]

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Student Transfer Forms: On Site/Within District

by dmortimer

Below, you will find the links for both the district and site forms that we created for Corrective Reading students who are transferring from one school to another within a district (school-to-school) or remaining on the site but switching teachers (teacher-to-teacher). If a student informs the teacher-of-record of his/her potential transfer to another teacher on [...]

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Fact or Fiction: Creating an Effective Excessive Absence Policy

by dmortimer

YES, DEFINITELY. Many factors contribute to student absences. Illness. Doctor appointments. Extended vacations. Assorted family business. Peer influence. Students ditching class. Regardless of the reason, a student cannot reach a mastery level in Corrective Reading if absences become excessive. PERIOD. At Roosevelt High School, the discussions between Admin and CR staff over the excessive absence [...]

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Pacing: A Practical Method for Charting Progress

by dmortimer

While many of us have different methods to track our pacing in the classroom, I used a method this year that I think has some real advantages to it. The method was used only for Dec B2 and Dec C, not for any other levels. However, it should work irrespective of the level. First of [...]

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Placement Testing Tips

by dmortimer

One of the most crucial elements for any school or district’s success with Corrective Reading relies on professionalism during placement testing, ultimately resulting in continuity/consistency throughout the process. This post’s purpose is to point out things that promote a higher success rate throughout the placement testing process. Key factors that might create a higher percentage [...]

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Q&A-Got Any Questions

by dmortimer

This post is for any questions and answers concerning any questions that you might have. We will do our best to offer timely responses to any questions that are posted.

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What’s Your Opinion?

by dmortimer

Members. Please give us a ‘shout out’ and let us know what you think about our site. This post has been created just so you can voice your first impressions about our site. Remember, this is an opportunity for us to develop as a Corrective Reading community. Few sites on the internet are doing this [...]

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CR’s Key to Success: Passion Is Everything

by dmortimer

Correction: It was not Dumbledore who said, ‘Do or do not. There is no Try.” Instead, it was Jedi Master Yoda delivering that advice to Luke Skywalker. He really meant to say, “Passion is everything.” Let’s examine more closely the title of this post. Like I do most of the time, I found these insightful [...]

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A Must-Do Year End Task: Removing Students from Info Station

by dmortimer

Information Station requires some ‘housekeeping’ at the end of the year that some schools or districts not familiar with CR for more than one year might fail to realize. When first inputting students into Info Station, it requires one to build classes using the available student names on the left side of the Group Builder [...]

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CorrectiveReading.org

by dmortimer

Who are we? We are CorrectiveReading.Org, an organization dedicated to improving the level of success of educational professionals teaching SRA’s Corrective Reading program. Our location is kept secret to prevent our competition from discovering our valuable tips, tricks, and strategies that we offer to our members. Perhaps in the future, we may offer tours of [...]

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The CR Experience: Attitude is Everything

by dmortimer

Recently, I rented A-Team, a movie made from the TV series (1983-’87) that starred George Peppard and Mr. T. The new movie definitely eclipses what the TV series attempted to do. As I was watching the scene where the former Col. Smith (stripped of his commission for supposedly having stolen gold plates for counterfeiting money) [...]

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Using Anecdotes in the CR Classroom

by dmortimer

As most of you know, Corrective Reading routinely teaches vocabulary, at least in the Decoding classes. In one of the recent lessons we worked on, the students were introduced to the word “tides.” I took the time for a brief, anecdotal story about living off the coast of Maine on an island during the ages [...]

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Unbelievable Means Not Believable

by dmortimer

It was a day when everything was in order, after kids had finished taking their first semester final exams. I decided to let my students in one class see a few minutes of ‘Megamind’ as a reward for their hard work. Little did I know that would lead to a validation for what we do [...]

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On the Road to Mastery: Administering Reading Checkouts

by dmortimer

Decoding B2 and Decoding C require a reading checkout be done after the reading of the story to determine a student’s reading fluency. The Decoding B2 checkout offers the CR student a chance to practice on the first try, then a second checkout is timed. Depending on the lesson number, students are required to read [...]

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In the Classroom: 10 Must Do’s to Make it Run Smoothly

by dmortimer

Attention: Implementing these ten things from our ‘CR Manual for Success’ will result in an effective maintenance program, thus leading to ultimate success for you and your Corrective Reading students. If maintained, no matter what level of Corrective Reading, no matter what age group, SUCCESS should follow. Those educators and para-professionals serious about having kids [...]

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