To 5th Grade Teacher,
I have found that Erica’s situation
to occur quite often with several of my students during my third grade
placement. Often time’s my students were so focused on reading every word
correctly that it took away the focus of gaining meaning from a text. If
students are focusing more on saying each word correctly, their use of other
reading strategies and cues such as prior knowledge and content is being used
inadequately. If students are
having a difficult time recalling details from a story or comprehension
questions, the teacher can use the shared reading and constructive reading
approach. This allows the teacher to either work one on one with a student to
read a story or work with a small group of students. While using this strategy,
the teacher can reread favorite selections from the passage together as a
group, which will in effect excite students in reading and recall main details
from the story. It is also helpful
to run a finger under the words while reading the text, focus on reading
strategies and important points from the text through a group discussion, and
have independent rereading of the texts. These are a few approaches that will
help students that struggle with comprehension just as Erica has.
While reading through a story with
a group of students, it is important to stop and ask questions to evaluate
whether or not students understand the story. I always found that my students
liked stories where they were able to personally relate. It is important to get
to know your students on a personal level rather than just an academic level in
order to provide lessons where students can form a connection and grow excited
about the lesson. One activity that I completed with my class was for them to
read the beginning and middle of a story, and then they were allowed to create
a new ending on their own. Students loved being able to feel as if they were
authors and use their imagination to come up with a different ending then the
story. After students shared their endings with the class, we went back and
read the real ending to the story. These are just a few insights and ideas to help Erica with
comprehension strategies.
Sincerely,
Taylor Gonzalez
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment that even though Erica seems to be a proficient reader, she is spending too much time and mental energy pronouncing the words correctly. What is reading words correctly, if we are gathering no meaning from the text. The methods you described within your post are similar to the activities I suggested. Erica needs to be put in situations where she is able to interact with the text in order to understand that there is indeed meaning behind the words. Interacting with the text can be with a group or individually with a teacher, as you said. However, while she is reading, not just after, she needs to be using different reading strategies in which she is answering questions throughout the passage not just at the end.