Has anyone used PAL. The school is thinking about sending me for
training?
PatK
On Mar 10, 2010, at 9:20 AM, Randal Lichtenwalner wrote:
We're about to begin a new program developed by IBM called Reading
Companion; it is a web-based voice recognition software that allows
a student to read online "books" into a microphone and get instant
feedback as to the accuracy and fluency of their
reading. I think it is designed for lower elementary, but could
prove useful for older strugglers. I think it is only available as
a grant from IBM, but you can check out the website to learn more
(just google "Reading Companion").
I think the best thing is to design a program that allows for
teacher-modeled fluent reading through daily read-alouds, low-risk
opportunities to practice fluency through daily shared reading, and
frequent partner reading where students read, re-read and
re-read again short text to one another, using a rubric to assess
improvement from the first reading, to the second reading, to the
third. I have one where students check off boxes if their partner
read faster, read smoother, read with expression, and
read accurately with the second and third try at the same text.
Reader's Theatre, Poetry Slams, etc. are also often helpful as they
are more fun and engaging, and give students an authentic purpose
for attempting/practicing to read fluently.
It's also important to understand within which component of fluency
the child is more/less successful: is it mostly automaticity,
parsing, or prosody?
I have to remind people from time to time that we don't teach
fluency just "to improve the number" on fluency assessments, but
because fluency (or actually, the lack of it) can really impact
comprehension. So it isn't just about "faster, louder,
righter", its about what they're trying to say as they read, too.
Randy Lichtenwalner
Elementary ELA Developer
Public Schools of the Tarrytowns
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