Thank you. I really needed this discussion. I went down to 2nd grade
because I saw this with upper grade students. We have fluency tests
every six weeks and practice weekly. I think this makes us stress
decoding, without comprehension. I wanted to see if the reading
strategies taught early really made a difference and I have found they
do. I wish I could afford the Primary Tool Kit, but I have tried to
include all of the work without the Kit, not perfect, but the best I
can do.
On Apr 10, 2009, at 2:42 PM, K L wrote:
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
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