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?
Our text provides a lot of great ideas for helping students like Marcus. On page 244, one strategy includes previewing the book to the students before reading it aloud. Allow the students to look at the title, cover, and pictures throughout the book to make predictions of what could happen. I would have this student work in a center with audiobooks and a copy of the text. Then the student could hear the words sounded out for them and they can associate the letter-sound patterns correctly. You could also provide handouts and worksheets in the center that go along with the text to be completed as the student progresses with their fluency to ensure comprehension is not lost. Buddy reading could also benefit Marcus greatly. I would partner him up with a student who is a stronger reader that will aid him.
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI too, referenced page 244. I think Marcus falls under one of the categories: "Readers who do not think reading should make sense". I have not used audio recordings in my classroom thus far, but after these two chapters, I am really considering it as a tool to aid my students. Also, buddy reading is a great tool as well. Again, it not something I have been big on, but collaboration among students is very important!
Using handouts to facilitate Marcus's reading is something that I hadn't thought of, but that's a great suggestion. No matter what the content or lesson entails, it seems like kids really apprecaite having a visual aid that they can hold in their hands. It's almost like it's comforting for them to have this, even if it doesn't actually include much information. In high school, we always fight kids saying, "Is this information on the blog?" or "Can I just take a picture of the board with my phone instead of writing it down?" I would love to find a way to combat this...if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, just like you and Anne, I also referred back to page 244 in Weaver’s text. I also suggested to preview books or do a “picture walk” with Marcus. This allows Marcus to become familiar with the book and hold discussions about the pictures and some vocabulary he might encounter while reading. Audiobooks are great ways to reinforce reading skills for students, like Marcus. Marcus could make the recognition of hearing the word and seeing the word. I rarely use worksheets in reading but if it was a graphic organizer that might be helpful to some students. I have students might look just for those basic questions on worksheets so I tell them they must “stop and jot” every few pages or paragraphs depending on their reading level.
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
ReplyDeleteI also checked out page 244 to respond to this challenge. I do like what you said about picture walks before shared reading. I think these are incredible tools to activate prior knowledge and activate schema allowing the student to retrieve vocabulary and concepts as needed. I also agree that a good strategy is to have them listen to audio books to model fluency and follow along to hopefully notice letter patterns in words. I would be careful, though about what kinds of worksheets I had available to go with the books. I think a carefully chosen graphic organizer like a story map, sequencing activity, or character analysis would really help because he can stop the tape and go back as needed. I would also have him begin keeping a reading journal to reflect on what he is reading.