Toni,
I am finding the same problem with my 3rd graders (and 2nd graders too). I
have found over the last few years that the students are coming to third grade
as good decoders, due to the intense focus on phonics in the lower grades. For
the most part, they are proficient with the basic sight words which is another
focus.
This year I picked up second grade as well (I am the only Reading Specialist
this year due to budget cuts in Title I funds). In addition, we decided to
assess all of the second graders using DIBELS at the beginning of the year,
mid-year, and at the end of the year. Normally, we only use DIBELS for
students that have been identified as below grade level by the classroom
teacher. I made an alarming discovery at the beginning of the year. The
"proficient" readers which were "more fluent" according to DIBELS (in the green
area) were not pausing when they missed a word or rereading if it didn't make
sense. There is no way some of them were comprehending what they were reading.
I brought this point up at grade level and we brainstormed some possible
ideas. My intervention program doesn't provide anything but phonics, decoding
strategies, and basic sight words. There isn't enough material in the little
books to work on comprehension strategies. The
second grade teachers commented that the program was successful with the
students in the past and that some of the students needed the decoding and
sight word recognition but they were addressing that in literacy centers. I
showed them the comprehension strategies that I had started two years ago with
my third grade students based on Mosaic of Thought and Stategies that Work. In
conclusion, I persauded the principal to purchase The Primary Comprehension
Toolkit and started using that as my intervention program after Christmas with
my second graders. So they had decoding/sight word intervention for the first
half of the year and comprehension strategies interevention the second half of
the year.
My experience with third graders in the past few years has been that
visualization is difficult for them to grasp at first. They don't understand
that when you read a book, it should be like watching a movie in your head. I
wonder if that has anything to do with the focus on phonics, decoding skills,
and sight words in the lower grades. I don't think that students see reading
as a form of entertainment much like watching a movie or TV show. I know from
experience with my own child, who is in 2nd grade, that is true. She chose to
read "picture books" over chapter books for at least the first half of this
year. She said that chapter books were boring because they were too long and
didn't have enough pictures. Many a night we would have a little discussion
about how there are more words (= longer text) and fewer pictures because the
author uses the words to help her paint the pictures in her head. And this is
my creative child with the great
imagination. My older child was a bookworm from the beginning and was reading
chapter books by the end of kindergarten because she chose them. My girls are
five years apart and the National Reading Panel's report came after my oldest
was in second grade and the focus in instruction changed after that report.
Coincidence or not??? I don't know for sure, it could just be a difference
between my children. The interesting thing is that I see the same thing with
my students.
Kate
________________________________
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Reading Comprehension
I am currently in the my fifth year of teaching and I have seen the same
thing. Our districts focus the last few years has been on Reading
fluency. This year I have had 3rd graders coming into my classroom, who are
trying to read so fast that they don't even realize when the decoding breaks
down and what they are saying doesn't make sense. I encourage my students to
stop reading periodically and think about what they just read about and
visualize "the movie in their head". If they can't, then they should go
back and reread. Also, have students draw a picture of what they read
about helps them with this. We spend the first few weeks of school
focusing on visualiztion. I would like to read that article, it sounds
interesting.
Where did you find it?
Have a nice day!
Tomi Dodson
_______________________________________________
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.
