Intervention That Works for Your Students

No matter what skills your students need support with to achieve, your instruction and materials will impact student interest, motivation, and success at these grade levels.

Deliver Intervention That Works for Your Students

Whether your Grades 6–8 students require support in word recognition or language comprehension, three things are true for all of these students:

They are below-grade level readers, not below-grade level thinkers.
Reading has been frustrating for them in the past.
With the right instruction, they can become stronger readers.

It is important that teachers be judicious in planning interventions and selecting materials to support these students. Focus on delivering interventions that:

Are developmentally respectful—honoring these students’ maturity levels and interest in complex ideas

Make reading instruction manageable—showing these students that they can be successful

Address the needs and inherent strengths of MLs

Build Motivation with Instruction That Makes Students Feel Successful and Seen

Intervention should focus on building intrinsic motivation so students are more engaged in their learning.
Consider these research-backed motivational levers as you plan your interventions:

Lever	Teacher Action	Why It Works
Autonomy	Provide opportunities for students to have choice in what they read.	When students feel they have autonomy, they have positive feelings about the task and are more likely to value the task.
Relevance	Use texts that address topics and themes that are age appropriate and thought provoking. Select materials with visual elements that honor students’ maturity (not designed for younger learners).	Students are more engaged and satisfied in reading experiences when content feels relevant and developmentally appropriate to them.
Competence	Select texts and tasks that are rigorous, with appropriate level of challenge and provide scaffolding as needed.	Working at the right level of challenge builds a growth mindset, and positive feedback provides affirmation for students that they can be successful.
Purpose	Give students the “why” behind their assignments.	Giving students context increases the likelihood that they will value the task.

Support English Learners

English Learners (ELs) benefit from systematic and explicit instruction that leverages their inherent strengths and addresses their specific needs. Follow this guidance for supporting your students:

Start with what ELs can do.
An asset-based approach to instruction allows ELs to sustain and build upon their existing strengths. Leverage the language repertoires, knowledge, and experiences students bring with them. Support students in making connections to new skills and languages.
Focus on oral language development, meaning-making, and cross-linguistic connections.
Provide opportunities for students to rehearse and apply newly learned language. Support meaning making with research-based vocabulary instruction. Guide students to make cross-linguistic connections, building on what they already know.
Scaffold instruction to provide grade-level access.
Scaffold instruction to provide grade-level access for students with a range of English proficiency levels. Use best practices, such as grouping students strategically, providing visuals and graphic organizers, offering sentence frames and word banks, and using manipulatives or hands-on activities within lessons.

(Alexandrowicz, 2023) | (Muñoz-Muñoz et al., 2023)

Check out this podcast for strategies and insight on supporting oral reading fluency, especially with ELs and MLs.