Read Naturally Live is a cloud based program that would be used as a supplemental curriculum for some of our most struggling readers. By the time students reach 7th & 8th grade they are reading to learn rather than learning to read. The problem is that many of our students are not reading at grade level and still need time to practice and learn strategies to improve their reading. Read Naturally live is an online program that tailors to the individual needs of students. It begins with the teacher's assessment of a student's current reading level to gain a baseline. From there, students are placed on a specific level and given a selection of non-fiction text to choose from. In those text, they practice vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. The students can access the program from their chromebooks and teachers can monitor and check progress as they go. They do a cold read and a hot read with each text and in my experience their fluency level significantly increases just after a few minutes of practice activities. Read Naturally s a research based program that tracks student progress so teachers can see clear results and create goals for students to strive to reach. A child cannot move on to the next level until the teacher reviews their work and passes them. It is a highly motivating program for students because they love seeing charts of their progress.
There are several key benefits of this program. First, it is individualized so a teacher is able to meet the needs of a room full of students at different reading levels simultaneously. Also this program provides clear data and tracks student progress. Teachers can see where a student started and finished a year, what progress they have made and what skills they still need help on. As previously stated this is also highly motivating for students. Finally since it is mostly student driven and independent, a teacher can use the data they receive from the program to perform direct instruction on specific students while others are engaged with the Read Naturally Live.
This program will be assessed in a variety of ways. On-going progress monitoring by teachers will evaluate students’ reading progress. As well, assessments are built into the program and students are required to master concepts before moving on to future levels.
Read Naturally Live is an easy-to-implement program for both teachers and aids. Many programs are difficult to implement and require many hours of training and follow-up training. Implementation is flexible and individualized with Read Naturally Live. Students can work at their own pace and can work on the program as much or as little as needed.It would be used with students reading below grade level. Students would be taught how to access the program and walked through the steps of it. From there, it becomes primarily ndependent besides for the initial and reread that are conducted with a teacher. While students are working on this program it would free up the teacher to conference individually with students on their reading and work one on one on specific skills
I am requesting 30 subscriptions. I currently work at ACMS at DTE as the Resource Specialist. I would use this program at both sites for my most struggling readers. This program would also be shared with the 6th and 7th grade resource classes or any other teacher with an at risk student that this could benefit.
There are currently no other funds that I am aware of to fund this project.