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.
Dear
teacher,
I
want to start by applauding your attentiveness to Erica and her reading
skills. It can sometimes be difficult to
draw connections between reading fluency and reading comprehension. I’m glad that the disconnect led to you
further investigate what might be going on.
With that being said, it appears that Erica might be reading in order to
identify words instead of reading for meaning.
Although Erica can read quickly, the quality of her reading is not as
impressive.
It’s
interesting that many other students in the class are experiencing similar
issues when reading. A good idea might
be to pull Erica and the students that are showing similar qualities in their
reading and work in a small group. Some
students may also require some individual work.
One
thing I would encourage you to tell these students is first to slow down. It’s okay if they take a few more seconds to
read the text, because we want students to know that the intention of reading
is to gain meaning. Let your students
know it’s okay to make mistakes as they read, so instead of focusing on the
words, focus on the ideas represented through the words. A good idea might be for you to model how you
process what you are reading. Try doing
a think-aloud with your students, and maybe your modeling will make more sense
to your students as they read.
Another
strategy to consider using is each student’s writing. Ask them to pull a writing that they really
enjoyed. Have them read the writing
aloud. When the student is done reading
their own writing, ask them what it was about.
This should be easy for them because they formed the ideas, wrote them,
and then read it. Talk about how that
student, the author of the writing, expects the person reading to gain
meaning. Maybe they want to inform,
entertain, or explain something to the reader.
Talk with your students about how when we write things, we want relay
our ideas to readers, and as readers, our job is to find meaning in the
words. It may take a little longer, and
that’s okay. Good readers aren’t just fast
readers, but those who understand the text as well.
Try
starting with these strategies and let me know how things work. We can develop some new strategies and talk
about more specifics that pertain to individual students.
Mackenzie
Hull
Reading Specialist
Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteWell done! I too suggested a Modeled Think-Aloud. I really like your idea about the students sharing their writing. Another way I thought about sharing the writing could be to have students partner up. The reading student could read the writing and the author student could ask the comprehension questions. The author student would know the answers and be able to point it out in their writing to the reading student.
Hi Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteI like that you suggested the teacher to encourage her students to slow down when reading the text.I suggested in my memo all these strategies but I forgot this is actually a strategy to teach the student to slow down and reflect on what they are reading. I also suggested the think-aloud strategy in my memo. I really like that you suggested using the students' personal writing as a strategy to help them with comprehension skill. This is an excellent way to show students the purpose for reading is to get meaning from the text.