During Reading
Ways your students could read
How will you have your students read? How will you justify your choice of reading method to students, parents, observers, or administrators? Let's think through the possibilities below.
Round Robin reading/Popcorn reading (both universally condemned!)
If you don't know about Popcorn Reading, here is a short video demonstrating how it works:
Click Here to read what the International Literacy Association says about Round Robin Reading.
So, how can you run your classroom
without using Round Robin or Popcorn Reading?
Silent Reading
If your students are in the 4th grade or higher, most of them should be able to read silently.
Directed Reading Activity
- Preparation
- Developing Background, Concepts, Vocabulary, and Strategies
- Setting Purpose
- Building Interest
- Silent Reading
- Discussion
- Rereading
- Follow-Up Activity
The Crazy Professor Game
Forms of Partner Reading
Two videos demonstrate "Shrink it".
Click here to find out more about paragraph shrinking!
Prediction Relay is another partner reading activity
PREDICTION RELAY INSTRUCTIONS:
For 5 minutes, stronger reader reads new text
Makes prediction (1)
Reads half page (1)
Checks prediction (1)
States main idea (3)
Makes new prediction
Continues to read
Then for the next 5 minutes, weaker reader continues on in new text, with the same activities
Coach listens, corrects mistakes, and marks points
The Prediction Relay information was copied from PowerPoint found at Download PPT - Institute of Education Sciences
ies.ed.gov/director/conferences/10ies.../ppt/fuchs.ppt
Get the Gist
Could you please watch this video and improve it/adapt it?
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
Guided Reading Procedure
1. Set a purpose for reading.
2. Assign reading.
3. Students recall.
4. Students add, correct, clarify.
5. Use question to organize information.
6. Use questions to help students integrate the new material.
7. Check short-term recall.
KWL
1. Write the information brainstormed in column 1. Record ALL information presented.
2. Have students identify what they don’t understand. What do they want to learn more about? Put that information in column 2.
3. Teacher can have students categorize the brainstormed material.
4. After reading, complete column 3.
ReQuest
1. Students and teacher read a portion of the text. (For junior and senior high students one or two paragraphs.)
2. The teacher closes the book and the students ask the teacher questions about the passage.
3. The students close their books and the teacher asks the students questions.
4. Next, another section is read and the steps are repeated.
5. Continue until the teacher believes the students have the information to make predictions. The teacher asks, “What do you think the rest of the assignment is about” and “Why do you think so?”
6. Students read the rest of the material.
7. The teacher ends with a follow-up discussion.
ReQuest Video Even though the video shows 3rd graders, this can be done with ANY older grade level.
Reciprocal Teaching (Fab Four) from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching/
1. First, teach students how to summarize, question, predict, and clarify. This may take several sessions.
2. This is often done in groups of 4, but first work as a whole class how to do each step until they are confident enough to work in groups.
3. Students predict what the text will be about.
4. Students generate questions about the text and ask others in the group the questions.
5. Summarize the selection.
6. Model clarifying confusing sections.
7. Students take turns being the “teacher”. (Asking for predictions, questions, summarizations, and clarifications.
8. As you continue to read, talk about the schemata the text has triggered. If the story reminds you of particular people, events, scenes, or other stories, tell the students what you are thinking and why (making connections).
Think Alouds from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds/
1. Begin by modeling this strategy. Model your thinking as you read. Do this at points in the text that may be confusing for students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence construction).
2. Introduce the assigned text and discuss the purpose of the Think-Aloud strategy. Develop the set of questions to support thinking aloud (see examples below).
o What do I know about this topic?
o What do I think I will learn about this topic?
o Do I understand what I just read?
o Do I have a clear picture in my head about this information?
o What more can I do to understand this?
o What were the most important points in this reading?
o What new information did I learn?
o How does it fit in with what I already know?
3. Give students opportunities to practice the technique, and offer structured feedback to students.
4. Read the selected passage aloud as the students read the same text silently. At certain points stop and "think aloud" the answers to some of the pre-selected questions.
5. Demonstrate how good readers monitor their understanding by rereading a sentence, reading ahead to clarify, and/or looking for context clues. Students then learn to offer answers to the questions as the teacher leads the Think Aloud.
Inquiry Chart/I-Chart/Information Chart from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inquiry_chart/
1. The teacher provides each student with a blank I-chart and assists with topic selection OR provides the pre-selected topic.
2. The students engage in forming questions about the topic. Those questions are placed at the top of each individual column.
3. The rows are for recording any information students already know and the key ideas pulled from several different sources of information. The last row gives students the opportunity to pull together the ideas into a general summary.
4. Teachers may ask students to resolve competing ideas found in the separate sources or develop new questions to explore based on any conflicting or incomplete information.
The planning phase includes:
1. identifying the topic
2. forming questions
3. constructing the I-chart
4. collecting materials
The next step is to engage students in the interacting phase which involves:
1. exploring prior knowledge
2. sharing of interesting facts
3. reading and rereading
Finally, teachers guide the students through the integrating and evaluation phase by:
1. summarizing
2. comparing
3. researching
4. reporting
Reading aloud to class (see 12 benefits of reading aloud here: http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/02/07/reading-aloud-to-kids-the-12-benefits-of-reading-books-out-loud-to-children-of-all-ages.htm
• Readers Theater
• Choral reading
• Skimming, Scanning, Close Reading
Image from http://englishpintar2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/speed-reading-tips.html
Teach your students when to use each of these reading speeds.
Scanning means that you are looking for a particular word or phrase. Can be done very rapidly. Think telephone book. Roughly 550 wpm.
Skimming means you are rapidly reading for the overall meaning of the passage. You might skim through a newspaper to see what it contains. A bit like channel surfing. Roughly 400 wpm.
Close reading: Reading every word, reading for detail.
Sites on varying reading speed:
Reading Faster: http://www.school-for-champions.com/grades/reading_faster.htm
Fluency Standards Table from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/standard.html:
Recommended reading rates, or words read per minute, for grades one through six were examined from three separate research studies. The findings of these studies were used by Reading A-Z to establish an average early and end reading rate per grade level. Your student's reading rates can be compared to these average rates as a way to determine whether they are making progress in their ability to recognize words automatically. The comparison can also be used to determine whether a student's reading rate is near the grade level standard. For example, a beginning third grade student with a reading rate of 110 WPM can be considered on level. However, a third grade student with a reading rate of 60 WPM is recognizing words at a rate similar to a first grader and will likely need additional instructional support to increase his or her reading rate.