Marcus
is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with
the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his
substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they
neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching
strategies would you suggest to help Marcus?
I
would suggest guided reading for Marcus.
In guided reading, I like to have students whisper read the passage at
the same time. A great aspect to all
students in the group whisper reading is that when Marcus miscues, he will hear
the other students’ reading. When he
says the wrong word, he is hearing the correct word read aloud by other
students. He isn’t being corrected and
no attention is drawn to the fact that he miscued, but he is hearing that
immediate correction.
I
also think that shared reading would be a great strategy to implement with
Marcus, and his class as a whole. Big
Books are a great resource for shared reading, and students love reading a big
book with their teacher. The teacher
will read aloud, and the students will join in at predictable moments in the
text. The Big Book is read frequently
throughout the week, and the students get more comfortable with the words. This will help Marcus to recognize unfamiliar
words, and the constant repetition could help with his miscues.
Marcus
may benefit from partner reading as well.
Having a proficient reader in the classroom, or maybe a mentor student
from another grade might make Marcus feel more comfortable reading and even
less embarrassed miscuing. With a reading
buddy, Marcus can work on reading for understanding and fluency.
Great strategies! Whisper reading is a strategy I use in my class with my students, and I can see the benefit it has on my students' reading. It would be a great strategy for Marcus to use as well. Like you said, "He isn’t being corrected and no attention is drawn to the fact that he miscued, but he is hearing that immediate correction." This not only helps him with his miscues, but also his self-confidence, which is very important in reading. One strategy I thought would he would benefit form is Retrospective Miscue Analysis. This strategy will help Marcus hear his miscues and realize his word choice doesn’t make sense in context to the story. Once he realizes it doesn’t make sense, he will have the opportunity to reread with the teacher offer reading strategies as needed. This strategy will also help him to “think ahead” and learn to use prior knowledge to deal with problematic words in the text.
ReplyDeleteI have not tried whisper reading, but I definitely will this upcoming year. I could see this really helping Marcus. I like how you mentioned implementing partner reading. I love doing this in my classroom, especially pairing a child who is a advanced reader and a child who needs support. I think that Marcus would really benefit from reading with a more advanced reader. I think he would see his mistakes, and he would be able to improve upon his reading the next time he reads the text.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of whisper reading. I have not tried it myself but can see how it could really benefit a student like Marcus. It sounds like a great way for Marcus to hear the miscue without drawing a lot of attention of making him feel self conscious. I think partner reading would also be a good strategy. I didn't think to ask a student from another grade. Marcus would get great experience reading with a more proficient reader and would learn a lot that way. You have some great ideas!
ReplyDelete