rica review seminar december 12, 2014. rica - premises effective reading instruction is based on...

RICA Review Seminar

December 12, 2014

RICA - Premises

• Effective reading instruction is based on ongoing assessment.

• …reflects knowledge of state and local reading standards.

• …represents balanced, comprehensive reading curriculum.

• …is sensitive to the needs of all students.

Five Domains of RICA

• Domain 1: Planning, Organizing, and Managing Reading Instruction Based on Ongoing Assessment

• Domain 2: Word Analysis • Domain 3: Fluency • Domain 4: Vocabulary, Academic

Language, and Background Knowledge Domain 5: Comprehension

RICA Overview

• RICA has 3 sections:– Multiple Choice Questions

• There are 70 MC Questions.• Suggested time: 90 minutes

– Focused Educational Problems and Instructional Tasks

• There are 4 of these: 2 @ 75-125 words and 2 @ 150-300 words.

• Suggested time: 15-15-25-25 minutes each

– A Case Study• Your response to this will be approximately 300-600 words. • Suggested time: 60 minutes

Multiple Choice

Overview

RICA Scoring and Passing Guidelines

• Multiple Choice– Total of 70 questions– Only 60 will be scored (10 are

experimental). – You need to get at least 40 of the 60

multiple choice questions correct.

Strategies: Multiple Choice

• All M.C. questions have two parts:– A stem, which is a phrase, sentence, or paragraph

that leads to the– Options– The stems of the questions are very long

• Two types of M.C. questions:– content questions – classroom/student scenario applications

• In answering:– Eliminate any answers that are clearly wrong.– Analyze remaining options and select best possible

answer.– No penalty for guessing.

Focused Educational Problems/Instructional Tasks

Overview

Focused Educational Problems/Instructional Tasks

• There is one problem or task for each of the following domains.

– Short Essays (75-125 words) - 15 min.• Fluency• Vocab, Aca Lang, Prior Knowledge

– Long Essays (150-300 words) - 25min• Word Analysis• Comprehension

RICA Scoring and Passing Guidelines• Responses to the Written Exam are evaluated on the

following criteria:– Purpose: The candidate demonstrates an understanding

of the relevant content and pedagogical knowledge by fulfilling the purpose of the assignment.

– Application of Content: The candidate accurately and effectively applies the relevant content and pedagogical knowledge.

– Support: The candidate supports the response with appropriate examples, evidence, and rationales based on the relevant content and pedagogical knowledge.

Strategies for Essay Writing

• Answer directly and to the point.

• Be sure to answer each part of the question.

Short Essay Practice

Fluency

Vocabulary, Academic Language, Prior Knowledge

75-125 words

15 minutes

Essay Response: Step One

• Address the prompt!

• You will most likely be asked to identify the area of need.

• You may also be asked to identify the area of strength

Essay Response: Step Two

• Describe an instructional strategy or activity to help address this need.– Explain precisely what the teacher

and student will do.– Don’t assume the reader knows the

instructional strategy.– Write 3-4 sentences describing the

activity.– Be explicit.

Essay Response: Step Three

• Explain why the strategy or activity you describe would be effective.– Rationale: How does this strategy help

the student? – Mention strengths of the strategy and

how the strategy addresses the student’s strengths and needs.

– If you can, cite theoretical or research foundation.

5th Grade – Domain IV

• Step 1– Identify strength/stretch in order to…

• Step 2– Describe instructional strategy.

• Step 3– Explain why instructional strategy

would be effective.

Possible Responses

• Go around and share your responses.

• What did you identify as the instructional strategy?

• How did you explain the efficacy of that instructional strategy and its appropriateness for the identified challenges presented by the prompt?

Long Essay Practice

Word Analysis

150-300 words

25 minutes

1st Grade – Domain V

• Step 1– Identify one reading comprehension

need demonstrated by this student.



would be effective.

Possible Responses


• What did you stength/stretch?


• How did you explain the efficacy of that instructional strategy and its appropriateness for the identified stength/stretch?

Long Essay Practice

Word Analysis

150-300 words

25 minutes

2nd grade – Domain II

• Step 1– Area of strength w/ evidence– Area of need w/ evidence



would be effective for this class.

Possible Responses


• What did you stength/stretch?


• How did you explain the efficacy of that instructional strategy and its appropriateness for the identified stength/stretch?

Case Study Practice

Isabel

300-600 words

60 minutes

Strategies for the Case Study

• Budget your time.

• Understand the tasks.

• Use the RICA content areas as criteria for analyzing the data.

• Organize your essay with clear subtitles.

Case Study

• Organize your essay with clearly stated subtitles:

• Strengths and/or Needs

• Instructional Strategies/Activities

• Explanation – of how each Strategy/Activity builds on

strengths and addresses needs

Case Study Response: Part 1

• Identify three of the student’s important reading strengths and/or needs.– You may identify three strengths, or three needs, or

two strengths and one need, or two needs and one strength.

– You must cite evidence from the documents provided to support each strength or need.

• This part should have three paragraphs. Each paragraph will:– Identify the strength or need– Cite the specific document that you used as

evidence.

Isabel: Part 1

• Read the case of Isabel and identify 3 strengths/stretches.

• Cite evidence!

Isabel: Part 1

• Word Identification (strength)– IRA

• Making Inferences (stretch)– Post reading conference

• Multiple Word Meanings (stretch)– Multiple Meanings worksheet

• Motivation (stretch)– Teacher’s Observation Notes– Parent Conference


• Describe two instructional strategies or activities that either address a need or build on a strength.

• This section should be two long paragraphs and should be longer than the first part. – Describe both what the teacher and the

student will do in each activity.– Write about what happens during each

activity.– Be very descriptive and explicit– Don’t explain why you chose the activity or

strategy.

Isabel: Part 2

• Describe 2 specific instructional strategies and/or activities designed to foster Isabel’s literacy development, adressing her assessed needs and/or building on the strengths you identified.

Isabel: Part 2

• Multiple Meanings Sorts

• Inference Charts

Isabel: Part 2

• Multiple Word Meanings– Explicitly teach multiple word

meanings• I made my bed.• I made money.• My friend made me do it. • I made a present for you. • This was made in China. • The pepper made my nose run.

Isabel: Part 2

• Multiple Meanings Sort Out– Read the sentences and identify the 2

sentences in which the word has the same meaning.

• I received a grade of B on my essay.• The car drove up the steep grade. • I want to get a good grade on the test.

• Will you run in the race on Saturday? • We had to run to catch the plane. • Does pepper make your nose run?

Isabel: Part 2



Isabel: Part 2


Background Knowledge

Questions

Clues from the Story

Inferences


• Explain how each strategy or activity helps the student.

• Should be two paragraphs: one for each instructional strategy/activity.

• Provide two types of explanations– First, write about the connection

between the student’s area of need and the activity.

– Second, explain the underlying rationale for the activity

Isabel: Part 3



Isabel: Part 3 - Connection

• On the worksheet on multiple meaning words, Isabel was only able to write sentences that demonstrate her understanding of multiple meanings for 2 of the 6 words (park and left). This suggests that she needs more experience and practice with words that have multiple meanings.

• Multiple Meanings Sort Out will help Isabel because she can begin to learn how to use context to determine (1) appropriate usage of the word and (2) how to use context to determine the meaning of the word

Isabel: Part 3 - Underlying Rationale

• Through analyzing sentences that use the same word to mean something different, Isabel can begin to learn how, where and in what way a word is used. She can also learn how to look for context clues (semantic and syntactic) that determine how a word is used as in the examples: – We use a ruler to measure things in math. – In social studies we learn that Caesar was a

powerful ruler in Ancient Rome.

Isabel: Part 3




• Isabel was able to correctly answer literal questions after reading, but not the one inferential question. It therefore would be important to teach her how to make inferences that are based on what she knows about the world (experiential background) and what she knows about the language (authors’ clues).


• As inferences are based on background knowledge and information embedded in the text, Isabel would read a text, then fill in an inference chart with the following information: – Background knowledge – Author’s clues– Questions that tie the two together

Isabel: Part 3 - Underlying Rationale

• Inference charts provide a visible organizational structure for making inferences. Isabel can literally see how inferences can be made as she learns how to recognize clues from the text and makes connections to what she knows about the world.

Final thoughts

• My responses to Isabel’s case study are different from those in the Ready for RICA text, which are different from those on the RICA website.

• There is no one right answer.

• What is important is that you organize your response so that it is clear and addresses the prompts.

More RICA Resources• RICA Home Page

– http://www.rica.nesinc.com/

• RICA Sample Written Exam Form (PDF)– http://www.rica.nesinc.com/RC_publicTF_opener.asp

• Rossi, J. & Schipper, B. (2011). Case studies in preparation for the California reading competency test. Allyn & Bacon: Needham Heights, MA.

• Zarillo, J. (2013) Revised Ready for RICA, 4th edition

http://www.rica.nesinc.com/

http://www.rica.nesinc.com/RC_publicTF_opener.asp

rica review seminar december 12, 2014. rica - premises effective reading instruction is based on...

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