My name is Tracie Morris.  This is my fifth year as ARI Reading Coach at OES.  My job includes supporting teachers as they teach boys and girls to read, and to work with students individually and in small group. 

Before becoming reading coach I taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, all in the St. Clair County School System.  I also attended St. Clair County High School from 1st grade all the way through high school.  I met my husband, Frank, in 4th grade here, and my daughters finished here just a short time ago.

My goal is for students at Odenville Elementary to develop a love of reading and to be the best readers they can be.  I used to make a poster at the beginning of every school year with my students that told “10 Ways to Become a Better Reader”. 

They are: 

READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ!!! Research shows that the best way to become a better reader is to read more.  If we want to get better at anything, we must practice.

My favorite book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  He has written some really cool poems, too.  Be sure to try them out.  Another favorite is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.  Parents, can you read it without crying?  Kids, can you read it without laughing?

  Alabama Reading Initiative

What is ARI?

The Alabama Reading Initiative is a K-12 comprehensive strategy to bring the best

research on reading instruction and the best teaching practices to classrooms in Alabama.

The Alabama Reading Initiative is targeted ont hree fronts: Strengthening reading instruction in the early grades, Continuously expanding all students’ reading power and comprehension levels, Intervening effectively with struggling readers. ARI moves beyond the debate about phonics and “whole language”strategies to promote what research proves to be effective:a balanced approach to reading instruction. Research tells us that a “balanced approach” to reading is not a compromise. It combines the explicit teaching of skills needed to decode words(phonics, phonemic awareness)and language-rich, literature-richinstruction. But, as ARI’s success demonstrates, a single teaching method is not enough. Under a one-size-fits-allapproach, some children simply will not learn to read. Success requires addressing children as individuals and meeting their specific needs for reading instruction.

This is not a “program” or curriculum that schools purchase, nor is it a “flavor of the day” approach that will fade as a new fad emerges. It is a research-driven process for developing and maintaining an expert corps of reading teachers across Alabama – and producing permanent improvements in the academic performance of all our students. ARI is designed to create systemic change. Achieving the goal of 100% literacy for all school children is very ambitious. It is a complex challenge involving hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers. ARI is designed for systemic change and lasting impact. It is an example of public education putting proven, forward-thinking principles to work.

What is DIBELS?

Has your child come home telling you that he’s been DIBEL’d at school?  You may wonder what in the world he means.  I hope to explain what DIBELS testing is and what it means for your child’s future success as a reader.  The information that I am sharing with you is from the book, I’ve DIBEL’d, Now What? by Susan L. Hall, Ed. D.

Each fall, winter, and spring students in kindergarten through third grade participate in state mandated testing known as DIBELS.  DIBELS is an acronym for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.  The DIBELS is an assessment instrument that measures how well a child is progressing in the specific early reading skills which are most highly predictive of reading success (Hall, pg. 32).  While the assessment does not tell everything about a student’s reading development and skills, it does give critical information about the overall progress the student is making toward becoming a successful reader. 

DIBELS data is analyzed to determine whether all the major skills are in place for a student to read on grade level by the end of third grade.  A child’s score in each skill area falls into one of three levels: benchmark, some risk, or at risk of reading difficulty.  Classroom teachers use the data gathered from the DIBELS to identify student error patterns in reading and to plan sound, small group instruction.   Students who are “at risk” participate in 30 minutes of intensive intervention each morning during our protected reading time (8:00 AM-9 AM) and their progress is routinely monitored by the teacher.

At Odenville Elementary an assessment team consisting of the reading coach, interventionists, and other specialists administer the DIBELS one-on-one with each child in our school.  The assessment is brief, taking approximately 5 to 10 minutes per student.  Data on each student is reported to the State Department of Education where the scores are compiled and compared with other school in the state. 

Below are the five skill indicators which are measured in the DIBELS assessment:

• Initial Sound Fluency (ISF) is the ability to recognize and produce the beginning sound in  words.
  

• Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) is the ability to recognize and name a random mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters on a page.
  

• Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) is the ability to segment or “breakdown” a short, spoken word into the individual sounds.
  

• Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) is the ability to read two letter or three letter “nonsense” consonant-vowel-consonant words.
  

• Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) is the ability to fluently (smoothly) and accurately read a grade level passage aloud as measured by words read correctly per minute.
  

Reading Coach