BrightFish Reading

BrightFish ReadingData Chat Guide: Comprehension & Writing

©2019, BrightFish Learning Inc.

Let’s Take a Closer Look

BrightFish Reading

• What are the key components of the program ?

• What are the student activities for this skill area?

• How do I monitor student progress?

• How do I intervene when students are struggling?


Data Chat Guide

Data Chats offer teachers and students the opportunity to review progress in BrightFish

• Chats can occur at any time during the school day. Many teachers prefer to use the beginning of a class period to work with individual students and review their performance using the Student Progress page.

When meeting with a student, together you can:1. Assess the Problem

• View the Current Story and the progress of the student.• View the type of errors made. Have the student state the type of

error he/she is making.• Determine if the student understands the task at hand.

2. Plan an Intervention together.3. Observe and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention – continue to

monitor the student’s progress.


Fidelity Checklist

❑ Have goals been set?

❑What does the classroom/lab environment look like?

❑Have you scheduled computer and instructional time?

❑ Are you achieving at least 30 minutes of TOT per week?

❑ Are you monitoring student training data?

❑What strategies are you using to assist students?

❑Do you have a motivation program in place outside of BrightFish Reading?


Key Components

Build Word Recognition, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension Skills

➢ Comprehensive fluency practice that builds reading proficiency

➢ Direct vocabulary instruction that links to comprehension

➢ Scaffolded comprehension instruction that leads to independent reading

➢ Writing instruction that reinforces the reading-writing connection


Layering key skills

• Combining word recognition and comprehension training is significantly more effective than word recognition or comprehension training alone

• Improvement found in both phonological decoding and reading real words

(Berninger et al 2003)


During reading

• Text broken down into paragraphs –manageable chunks

• Students answer questions about facts and details

• Builds upon repeated exposure to text from fluency and vocabulary “pre-reading”


Post-reading

• Students read the full text and apply knowledge about main ideas, author’s purpose, cause and effect

• Builds test-taking skills that require inferencing and evaluation


Graphic Organizers

• Sequencing, story maps, main ideas and details, cause/effect, opinions/facts


Reviewing Progress Reports


Class Report -Trends

Class Progress – Story Units

• Filter by story to see results from all students who completed the story

• See common errors and missed learning objectives for each unit


Student Progress Report -Summary

Student Progress – Comprehension

• Comprehension: Averagefor scored activities – expand plus sign to see activity scores

• Essays: Average for completion and “pass criteria” (require scoring)

• Prioritize “red” blocks –average score below 50% or one subskill under 50%

• View missed learning objectives by story


Let’s take a closer look at “Rogue Waves”

Click on links to see

answer details


Hint: Encourage students to scan for

key words in the story to complete

the sentence.

Facts and Details: Fill in the blanks

Facts and Details:Cloze

Hint: Information may be

condensed or paraphrased.

Students can scan for key words.

Facts and Details: Similes

.

Hint: Review concept of a simile

with students. Key words from the

question – “select all” means there

is more than 1 correct answer.©2019, BrightFish Learning Inc.

Key Ideas and Meaning –Word Usage

. Hint: Key words from the question –

“select all” means there is more

than 1 correct answer.

Key Ideas and Meaning:Author’s Purpose

Hint: Students should re-read text

looking for details to support the

author’s perspective.


Key Ideas and Meaning: Supporting Evidence

Hint: Look for relevant details

to support the author’s

conclusion.


Key Ideas and Meaning:Sequencing Events

(Video question)

Hint: Encourage students to refer back to the

video when completing the organizational chart.

Key Idea and Meaning:Short Answer

Hint: Ask students to start by

rephrasing the question as a complete

sentence and then continue with

evidence from the story.

Example: If someone has gone rogue it

means….


Essay Writing


Open response questions

• Two types of “open” or “constructed” response questions: short answer and essay

• Short answer – there is a set response based on the use of keywords; students must also answer in a full sentence to get 1/1

• Essay – no set response; a “completion” score of 4/4 is given if students write at least two sentences and use capitals and punctuation

• Essay questions scores must be adjusted in the student progress report; supplied rubric based on accuracy, relevance and length – score of 0 up to a maximum of 4


HINT: Students should refer back to the story when completing comprehension and essay questions. Remind students to write all essay responses in complete sentences and set expectations for achieving the maximum score.

Writing:(Essay(Responses

Hint:&Encourage&students&to&locate&relevant&details&&to&support&both&perspectives&and&determine&which&

perspective&is&more&supported&in&the&story.

Writing: Essay Responses

Hint: Encourage students to locate relevant details to support “yes” and “no” perspectives, determine which one is more supported in the story, and supply those details in the answer.

Worksheet Templates• Graphic Organizers can be printed and copied to reinforce

work done online

• Writing GO can be used offline to help students organize their thoughts for essay responses

State your opinion/position clearlyI think that…

Yes, I agree with the author that…

Reason 1

Example:

Reason 2

Example:

Reason 3

Example:

W

Restate your opinion/position:

Opinions

Facts

Sequencing

Documents

BrightFish Reading