Erica, a fifth
grader, reads grade level passages at a rate of 177 words correct per minute,
or 30% faster than grade level norms. When asked to retell what she has read,
Erica struggles and is able to give little to no information from about the
text. Many other children in Erica's class also read well above grade level
expectations for fluency rate (or automaticity), but the teacher laments that
they struggle with comprehension and using appropriate expression and
intonation while they read. What is going on here? What advice can you offer
the teacher? Write a memo to the teacher from the viewpoint of the school's
Reading Specialist. Give the teacher and explanation for the phenomenon and
offer her advice on dealing with the situation. Please keep the memo to no more
than 400 words. Post it to your blog and name the posting "Module 3: Mock
Memo from a Reading Specialist."
It seems that the students in your
class are focusing on getting the words correct. They are not focusing on
gaining meaning from the text that they are reading. Your students’ do not
understand that the purpose of reading is to understand the text.
The “Think-Aloud” Strategy could be
used to help your class to begin to understand what they are reading. This
strategy is a way of discussing what is being read. For example, if you are
reading a text, you can model the “Think-Aloud” Strategy by stopping at a point
and thinking aloud of what is currently going on in the story, such as the very
hungry caterpillar is eating a lot of food. The students can contribute with
their thoughts as well. Once you have modeled how this strategy works, students
can be broken up into groups, in which they can implement the “Think-Aloud”
Strategy on their own. Doing this will enable children to process what they are
reading and truly understand the text.
Let me know how this strategy works
for you and if I can provide any further assistance.
Thank you,
Kimberly Wood
Reading Specialist
I suggested the "Think Aloud" strategy as well. I think this is such a great tool for teachers because it allows them to model good reading for their students. It also allows for students to discuss and give input which is so important during reading instruction. Also, it is our job as teachers to let students know what the true purpose of reading is- comprehension! We need to constantly remind them that this is what reading is about, not speed, accuracy or even fluency. While they are important, if you are not understanding then there is no purpose to reading.
ReplyDeleteHi Kim, I think the “think aloud” strategy could work great for this class as well and I also listed it in my response. Being able to stop and have the students discuss out loud what they just read gives meaning to the text. They can also hear different opinions and views from other students which could lead to a better understanding of the text. I think teacher modeling is very important also. The students can listen to the teacher read and they can hear voice intonation with the characters. It is helpful for the teacher to stop and discuss the characters emotions at this time as well.
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