In the Classroom

Xtreme Reading is a structured year-long course that allows for highly individualized instruction in targeted strategies as well as large-group activities. Depending on the needs of students, instruction involves teacher-led whole-group discussions and guided-practice activities as well as lessons in which students work independently at stations set up throughout the classroom. Station activities might include the following:

• At one station, the teacher may meet with one student to measure his or her progress while a pair of students practice a targeted reading strategy aloud.
• At a second station, students work individually at computers using the interactive hypermedia programs that support reading instruction.
• At a third station, pairs of students engage in fluency activities.
• At a fourth station, students design memory aids and study cards for vocabulary words and test each other over the words.
• At a fifth station, students practice a strategy independently, take a test, or complete another activity related to integrating several strategies simultaneously, adapting a strategy, or applying a strategy to subject-area assignments.

All instruction involves high-interest reading materials that have been chosen to ensure that they engage students and address their academic needs.

Progress measures are gathered as part of instruction for each strategy. These data allow the teacher to make decisions with regard to when a student has mastered a strategy. Scores for each practice session are plotted on a progress chart graph, and the student and teacher discuss the student's progress and goals for future practice attempts.