Rapid Reading Cards

Introduction

It seemed like a treadmill, year after year testing adolescent struggling readers and placing them at the appropriate reading instruction levels. Too often, placement ended with students commenting, “I don’t like this baby work”.  Placing students at their instructional reading levels deflated them, and they lost motivation. Following the zone of proximal development did not work well for middle school and high school students who were out of the zone years ago.  The author tried a new approach.  The new approach uses rapid reading word cards based on brain research to help struggling readers read the big words, multisyllable words.

 

Using Brain Research to Master the Big Words author, Matthew J. Glavach, Ph.D., offers a reading instruction approach especially for adolescent struggling readers, based on core classroom curriculum.  The approach, which he calls parallel reading intervention, organizes important content area vocabulary words into logical brain efficient word lists that make learning the words much easier.  The rapid reading word cards develop automatic reading skills.  Students improve word attack and vocabulary skills while improving their ability to succeed in the content area classes.  The article describes the approach, presents teaching ideas, provides brain efficient rapid reading word cards for English classroom vocabulary, and gives content area examples.  (The approach also works well in other content areas, for which teachers can use the article as a model.)

 

The Rapid Reading Word Cards Are Based on Brain Research

-Multisyllable words are like music, they have natural rhythms that can make learning them easier.  “Accent structures in words naturally make a sort of melody”.₁ The rhythmic feature creates less demand on the brain. ₂

-Brain research shows that a similar word pattern can prime the next word if it has a similar pattern and can accelerate reading.  Rhyming words are especially powerful.₃ (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1.  Rhyming Word Examples

narration –  abbreviation –  punctuation

-Even when the words do not rhyme but have the same ending spelling patterns, reading time is accelerated.  (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2.  Spelling Pattern Examples

language passage usage

-The brain’s neural networks respond in patterns and store language in patterns.  Longer words offer more patterns to strengthen connections to and to decode smaller and longer words.

 

-The brain tends to group together the letters that make up a syllable. ₄ (Students do not divide words into parts by using complex rules. They decode longer words by looking for familiar patterns.)  (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3. Syllable Pattern Examples

news pa per                            re por ter                    pub lish er

Why looking for familiar syllable patterns is important?  The following example serves as a demonstration. (See Figure 4.)

Figure 4. Syllable Pattern Examples

newsp  ap er                           rep or ter                    publ is her

Struggling readers need practice in identifying syllable boundaries.

Also, presenting words by syllables helps students break words into manageable parts.

 

-The sounds in suffixes do not have to be pronounced separately, they should be pronounced as one unit. This will speed up reading. (See Figure 5.)

Figure 5. Suffix Examples

debate dictate translate

-If decoding is slow, not automatic, students will have a difficult time comprehending what they read.  “High speed word recognition frees a reader’s cognitive resources so that meaning of the text can be the focus of attention”.₅The rapid reading word cards focus on developing automatic recognition of multisyllable words.

 

RAPID READING WORD CARDS

Instruction 1.  VOCABULARY

Ask students to tell about words that are familiar and to discuss them.  (It is not necessary that students know all of the word meanings. Teachers determine how much vocabulary to study based on their groups. By improving word attack skills, students gain more information from textbooks and classroom lessons, and they improve general reading ability.) (See Figure 6.)

 

Instruction 2.  SYLLABLE ACTIVITY

Students draw an arc under each syllable as the teacher reads the words at  a quick, challenging pace.  (See Figure 6.)

 

Instruction 3.  TIMED READING

Beforethe timed reading, the teacher reads the words aloud while students follow.  Then individually, students read as many words as they can in one minute aloud softly to themselves, to the teacher, or to a student partner.  If students finish reading the words, they start again at the beginning and add to the total number of words they have already read.  One point is subtracted for each missed word.  Students write their scores at the bottom of the page.  (Limit or have no interruptions of oral timed reading.  If students need help the teacher says the word and lets them continue reading.)  (See Figure 6.)

Figure 6.  Rapid Reading Word Card Example

 

VOCABULARY WORDS FOR RAPID READING WORD CARDS

Rapid Reading Word Card 2:  Word Endings – ure, age, ise, ize

 

fu ture fea ture                                    lec ture

 

ad ven ture                              sig na ture                               lit er a ture

 

lan guage pas sage                                  u sage

 

re vise ad ver tise                               ex er cise

 

or gan ize cap i tal ize                             gen er al ize

 

sum mar ize                            em pha size                             cri ti cize

 

Rapid Reading Word Card 3:  Word Endings – ic

com ic top ic                                       lyr ic

 

ep ic                                        eth nic                                     clas sic

 

ar tis tic                                   dra ma tic                                em phat ic

 

her o ic                                   iI tal ics                                   scho las tic

 

ac a dem ic                              op ti mis tic                            re a lis tic

 

un re a lis tic                           char ac ter is tic                      pho net ic

Rapid Reading Word Card 4:  Word Endings – ent, ant, ance, ence

state ment in dent                                     cur rent

 

ex cel lent                               doc u ment                              ar gu ment

 

con so nant sig nif i cant                            re sis tant

 

ro mance tol er ance                               per for mance

 

sen tence ev i dence                                in tel li gence

 

se quence                                ref er ence                               con se quence

 

Rapid Reading Word Card 5:  Word Endings – ate

 

de bate dic tate                                                trans late

 

cre ate                                     nar rate                                      re late

 

ed u cate                                  punc tu ate                              du pli cate

 

com mu ni cate                       e val u ate                               a bbre vi ate

 

in ves ti gate                           par ti ci pate                           lit er ate

 

il lit er ate pre di cate ac cur ate

 

Rapid Reading Word Card 6:  Word Endings – ation

cre a tion nar ra tion                                 re la tion

 

ed u ca tion                             punc tu a tion                         du pli ca tion

 

com mu ni ca tion                   e val u a tion                            a bbre vi a tion

 

in ves ti ga tion                       par ti ci pa tion                       dic ta tion

 

trans la tion

 

Rapid Reading Word Card 7:  Word Endings – sion, tion, ation

 

dis cu ssion ex pre ssion                             con clu sion

 

com pre hen sion                         re vi sion                                 per sua sion

 

cap tion fic tion                                     in struc tion

 

des crip tion                               e di tion                                    com po si tion

 

in vi ta tion grad u a tion                             con tin u a t ion

 

rec o mmen da tion                   ex pla na tion                           ex am i na tion

 

Rapid Reading Word Card 8:  Word Endings – ery, ary, ory, nym

 

mys ter y bra ver y

 

li brar y lit er ar y                                 dic tion ar y

 

sum mar y                                           di ar y                                         glos sar y

 

cat e gor y al le gor y                           au di tor y

 

ex pos i tor y                                       ex clam a tor y                                in tro duc tor y

 

sat is fac tor y

 

an to nym syn o nym                               hom o nym

 

Teachers can modify or add to the vocabulary lists.

 

Making Rapid Reading Word Cards for Class Trade Books

Teachers can make rapid reading word cards based on chapters in trade books for students to practice word study for the big words, the multisyllable words. Below are common suffixes to use to make words for the rapid reading word cards  (See Figure 7.)

Figure 7. Suffix Examples

 

-s, -es, -ed, -ing, , -ar  -er, -or, -ion, -tion, -ation, -ition, -able, -ible,

-al, -ial, -y, -ly, , -ity, -ty, -ment, -ic, -ous, -eous, -ious, -en,  -ive,

-ative, -tive, -ful, -less -ness, -est

 

Students responded positively to the rapid reading word cards,  The author also developed rapid reading word cards for United States history, world history, and science classes.  Students enjoyed the challenge of reading words that were more adult, and often they commented on how knowing the big words helped them succeed in content area classes. Content area  teachers commented on the students improvement.

 

 

References

(1) Levitan, D.J. (2009). The World in Six Songs (p.25).  New York: Penguin Books.

(2) Levitan, D.J. (2009). The World in Six Songs (p.172). New York:  Penguin Books.

(3) Dehaene, S.D. (2009). Reading in the Brain (p. 29). New York:Viking/Penguin Group.

(4) Dehaene, S.D. (2009). Reading in the Brain (p. 24). New York:Viking/Penguin Group.

(5) National Reading Panel (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read. Report of the subgroups. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.

 

 

Currently a download copy of the book Success in Academic Content Classes, English Classroom Vocabulary is available at the author’s website  www.StrugglingReaders.com

 

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