Good to see many are thinking through the same issues we have been as a
building. DIBELS is a tool to measure one student's skill level at one point
in time. Good test taking skills, and the ability to demonstrate them under
the pressure of a timer certainly helps sort those who have it and those who
may or may not have mastered a given phonemic or fluency strategy. I have
further tested kids who can put the tested skills together on an alternate
assessment, or maybe a different day or time (not when they were called from
a movie that just got to the good part - or not on a day when their Mom is
going to the hospital, etc. I have also further tested students that test
well when they don't have to integrate the skills and add meaning. There are
kids out there, at least at our school, that can read like the wind, but it
is word calling (and yes, they even use punctuation to make it "sound"
good.). We use multiple sources of information to determine who needs more
intensive instruction.
Making a child who has already demonstrated they don't learn effetively with
phonics based instruction, spend more time on skill and drill doesn't make
sense. (We do use Saxon Phonics for K1, and early 2) By the time they get to
3/4 and up, I find chunking is much more effective fluent problem solving
strategy. We have gone through growing pains - and still struggle with
deciding how much time should be spent each day with Saxon. As a Reading
Recovery teacher I see kids that sound out words, like the or and, because
they don't trust that they can read without sounding out. I spend my time
reminding them they can figure words out, sometimes more quickly, by looking
at the first part and thinking about what would make sense and sound right.
Kids need to be comfortable with multiple ways to get at a new word, and
keep going. Teachers that model, model, model different ways as they read
aloud will reach most kids.That is hard to do when you are reading something
you have read many times, or language that is not challenging. It is
important to decide on a couple words you could demonstrate with before you
share a given book. (If you have a vocabulary word you know will take more
work, prepare them ahead of time, so when you get to it, you don't have to
take away the meaning you get from fluent work to problem solve.)
I like the reminder to use choral reading or plays to build fluency. Thanks
whoever posted that!! I try to take that a step further at least once a year
by writing a play or story (usually based on something we have read)
together, then perform it for their peers - all the groups want to add
interesting vocabulary and themes when they are going to take it beyond our
four walls. And it evidently isn't so difficult to read if they have come up
with it.
All reading for/by learners should have purpose (get that meaning going),
some challenge that gives practice with a variety of strategies, and lots of
success so it can reach fluent reading with a little rehearsal. Book choice
was brought up in an earlier posting is huge, teachers can control book
options so the kids can make the choice, therefore have ownership in the
process. (That is on all reading except when testing with DIBELS!)
Thank you very much for the book suggestions, too!
Beth (Reading Recovery, Title 1)
On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 11:00 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
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