Design Solution

Overview

Reading Buddies is an in-school literacy support program designed for 2nd grade students to build reading fluency, comprehension, problem-solving skills, and confidence through peer collaboration and repeated, situated practice. Reading partnerships, including audiobook workshops that enhance storytelling and expressive reading, strengthen students' reading skills while developing social skills such as empathy, teamwork, and social-emotional learning in a supportive environment.

What is Reading Buddies?

Reading Buddies focuses on helping students build key reading skills through collaborative reading partnerships.

Pair reading is divided into three sections:

Reader-Mentor pairs, where they work with older students who model and guide the reading process;
Reader-Mentee pairs, where they read to and work with younger students to build confidence and leadership; and,
Peer-to-Peer pairs, where they build and practice teacher-guided fluency and comprehension strategies.

It includes SEL-based activities and an extracurricular audiobook workshop to promote autonomy, creativity, and social-emotional growth through repeated, meaningful practice.

Reader-Mentor

Reader-Mentee

Peer-to-Peer

Audiobook Workshop

Prototype: Reading Buddies Unit

Lesson Plan

Unit: Reading Buddies Literacy and SEL

Lesson: Teamwork Through Reading

Pairing: Reader-Mentee

Learning Objectives:

Read aloud a story with a partner. (Fluency and stamina)
Identify story elements such as characters and setting. (Reading comprehension)
Demonstrate understanding of the theme of teamwork in a story. (Reading comprehension)
Engage in collaborative discussion with a reading partner. (Social learning)
Reflect on personal experiences and behaviors connected to teamwork. (Self-awareness and metacognition)

NYS_Lesson_Plan_Reading_Buddies.docx

Monitoring Key

The Monitoring Key contains:

Agenda
Questions for Yourself (the facilitator)
Lesson Framing
Checks for Understanding
Procedural & Conceptual Laps
Student Differentiation Chart
Data Collection Chart
Back Pocket Questions

As this is an additional program, not part of the core curriculum, the Monitoring Key emphasizes the process of obtaining intentional data, both qualitative and quantitative. It supports teachers in recording mistakes, engagement, and other key program details, in order to track effectiveness both for students and for educators.

It also provides guidance on potential discussion questions to prompt metacognition, recall, and engage students in discussion.

Monitoring_Key_Reading_Buddies.docx

Class Materials: Reading Passport & Book List

For each unit, the Reading Passport contains:

Story Map
Character Reflection
Make a Story
Self-Reflection sheets (2x)

These worksheets reinforce comprehension through collaborative and individual activities. Students engage in creating learning artifacts and self-reflection through pictorial rating scales.

Prototype : LMS Module : Reading Passport

Teacher-Support Module

Although we intend for this lesson to be mostly technology-free, we wanted to ensure that teachers and facilitators who want to integrate this program into their class or school have access to all the planning and tools.

We created an online module via the Nearpod LMS system, a common classroom LMS, to host materials and provide guidance and tips to future facilitators.

Module containing lesson plans and materials for teacher support hosted on Nearpod.

Audiobook Workshop Storyboard

The Audiobook Workshop is a supplementary, after-school program that encourages kids to interact with reading and text in a multi-sensory manner. Students take part in project-based design to practice fluency, performance, and oral communication skills, and create a tangible result--an audiobook--that can be celebrated by those around them, creating a meaningful, engaging learning experience.

In the future, student-created audiobooks may also be used to support students who cannot engage in traditional reading, creating an intra-school community resource.

Assessment

The Reading Buddies program was constructed to aid 2nd grade students’ literacy process, including fluency, comprehension, vocabulary development and social-emotional growth through collaborative ready activities. The assessments will serve both formative and summative purposes, ensuring that students receive feedback while also monitoring their overall progress throughout the program.

Types of Assessments

Formative Assessments

Orientation & Baseline Assessment: Teachers introduce the program to students to gather background information from students. This serves as a form of baseline assessment for educators as they familiarize learners with the curriculum and process

Weekly Observation Logs: Teachers monitor each student's progress on fluency, comprehension, and social-emotional development, noting any challenges or improvements.

Journal Entries & Story Maps: Reflective writing helps assess comprehension, vocabulary usage, and the ability to articulate personal learning. The story maps also provide a visual representation of how well students can synthesize and organize narrative elements.

Summative Assessments

Pre-/Post-Reading Fluency Checks: These checks are conducted at the start and end of the program to quantify improvements in reading speed, accuracy, and expression.

Audiobook Recordings: Students' final audiobook projects serve as a cumulative assessment of their fluency, expression, and comprehension, showing how well they have internalized the skills taught throughout the program.

(Bates, 2019)

Assessment Purpose

Monitor Progress: The primary purpose of the assessment is to track individual students' reading growth—particularly fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition—over the 6-8 week period. By using a combination of observation logs, peer feedback, and fluency checks, the program ensures that each student is making steady improvements.

Promote Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): In addition to academic skills, the assessment also captures the students' social-emotional growth. Activities like Teamwork Island and reflection journals help measure the development of confidence, empathy, leadership skills, and collaboration through peer partnerships.

Provide Feedback and Adjustments: The formative assessments help inform the teacher about each student's learning journey, allowing for adjustments to be made in real-time. For example, if a student is struggling with fluency or comprehension, targeted support or additional practice sessions can be offered.

Key Learning Outcomes

The following are measured learning outcomes that assessment seeks to track:

Reading Fluency: The ability to read smoothly and expressively, with appropriate pacing and intonation, is assessed through pre- and post-fluency checks as well as during audiobook rehearsals and recordings.
Comprehension: Students’ understanding of texts is assessed during peer reading activities, through journal reflections, and in group story creation.
Vocabulary Development: The program tracks vocabulary acquisition during peer reading and audiobook workshops. Specific vocabulary words are incorporated into discussions, reflection journals and the creation of story maps.
Social-Emotional Learning: The development of empathy, teamwork, leadership, and confidence is assessed through student participation in SEL activities.
Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking: Through collaborative reading, students practice problem-solving strategies for decoding words and making meaning from texts, which is monitored during mentor-mentee sessions and peer interactions.

References

Bates, A. W. (2019). A.8 Assessment of learning. In Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-of-learning/

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