I just love all the thoughtful comments on book selection. First of all, I agree that in actuality saying a kid has a single reading level is a fiction. It depends on genre, it depends on schema, it depends on text structure, figurative language, the use of flashback...for little kids whether or not there are pictures, whether or not the text is read orally or silently, how long the text is...and on and on and on. When I write an assessment report for an IRI I have done on a particular student, I always list the independent, instructional and frustration levels as ESTIMATED! Naturally interest and motivation also play a role. To be a devils advocate though, I think we do have to consider readability in a broader sense AND we need to consider what our purpose is for using a particular book with our students. I work with a lot of older struggling readers whose text books AND often their literature is well beyond their decoding abilities. When they struggle continually, not only can they not comprehend, their lack of fluency means they read more slowly and then read less. And then the Matthew Effect comes in to play...the poor get poorer...they read less, have less practice and then the gap between the strugglers and the rest of the students widens. Teachers for years at my school put their entire class in the same book, and the strugglers, with only books at their frustration level fell further and further behind. We don't do reader's workshop so there was only SSR time for kids to get choice and not wanting to look stupid, these same kids STILL would pick books well above their level. It was not good for these kids at all. Kids need a high volume of easy reading in order to develop fluency. Research (See Dick Allington; What Really Matters for Struggling Readers) When we are helping a child to improve fluency, we absolutely ought to make sure we give them books at their independent level. Ellin argues in To Understand that kids ALSO need to have practice in challenging text also. Kids need to experience the thinking...the rigor... and the intellectual struggle. She suggests that there are scaffolds in place...the child has listened to the book being read aloud several times, there is a coach there to help the child through...etc. SO...what do I make of all this? It is, once again, about balance. We need to think about the needs of the kids and make sure that the books the kids read will move them forward as a reader. The schools that require kids to stick to a particular level may be helping kids move forward in some aspects of their development...that is assuming that they are looking at multiple assessments---including teacher observation and judgment to determine the right levels for kids. But we need to keep thinking big picture. They need both the challenge AND the easy reading...at high volumes! Jennifer In a message dated 4/23/2008 10:16:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
With all the talk about leveled books I am interested in another perspective on matching kids to books. I use QRI to determine instructional and independent levels and use this information with kids for SRI and novel groups or guided reading. 9sixth grade) I know of experts and colleagues who believe we have over emphasized the need for this and feel that kids can handle books that may actually be above their instructional level when they are engaged in book groups, and in fact benefit from the challenge....and amaze you with their level of comprehension in discussions. Then again I remember reading once that you have to be careful because frustrational level material can be more than frustrating...it can be damaging. Just reopening the subject in my own mind. **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
