Due Mary 23rd:
Share on the blog what method you have observed or used in determining which students need additional instructional strategies.
What methods would you use to determine if students were able to integrate the strategy into their reading process?
To determine which students need additional instructional strategies I have used the Jerry Jones testing. Oral discussion. Written responses. Sometimes I like to pair students and let them discuss and just listen to their responses. I have used the thinking maps to help organize thought and help students know what they have said or not said.
ReplyDeleteI think the best method to determine if students are integrating comprehension strategies into their reading is oral discussion. That way you stay away from confusions of writing and organizing thoughts and handwriting. Playing games with questions and letting them lead the discussion of part of a book helps them be in charge and challenges them.
I don't really use a particular method of determining which students need additional instructional strategies. Mine is more of an informal observation as we discuss what we've read. I'm not sure if my instruction completely stays in the "spotlighting" category or tends to be more heavy-handed. I think it's somewhere in the middle because i can get a little too focused on a particular strategy, such as visualizing. I think you can tell when a student is integrating strategies because they will talk about it. For example, if I've done a think aloud about visualizing, the student might volunteer how he/she visualized something in a later reading. Or they might start making predictions as we read different books and then either confirm of change their prediction as they go.
ReplyDeleteDot,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about using oral discussion to determine their use of comprehension strategies. For most of our kids that is the best way to check their understanding and skills. I like playing games with comprehension questions or the dice that have guided reading questions. Too bad I don't do it more often!
Dot, I agree with you about using oral discussions to determine if students are using their comprehension strategies.
ReplyDeleteRae Lynn, I think that playing games for comprehension is a good way to also determine what kind of comprehension strategies are being used.
Rae Lynn and Dot I agree with you both the informal observation can tell you so much about a student and where they are. To become one of our students, we analyze so many different tests that I think just sitting down and reading with a student and asking questions can tell us so much.
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes we over think assessment. Just listening to a child and asking questions can tell us where some of the holes are for a student.
I found one interesting way of assessing comprehension from a student who read with us, and followed along, but was a pre primmer reader. He did alternate reading programs, but I also began putting him with his age group to do group read alouds with us too. I made a scene from the book and he had to add characters and elements from the book in the right places in the scene as well as exclude other elements I added randomly. This was a good assessment because he enjoyed it, it didn't recreate pictures from the story but rather an event and it excluded writing, which this student was not able to do yet because of fine motor issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dot that letting students lead discussion is very beneficial. As teachers we do sometimes have to step in to help guide student response, but overall all students get a lot more out of having a discussion within their peer group.
ReplyDeleteThis year I have relied on the results of the SFA assessment given at the beginning of the school year and then after each quarter. This assessment shows where students have their biggest struggles. I am able to see if they need to work on sight words, fluency, comprehension, phonics, and/or phonemic awareness. It sure helps to drive my instruction when I have assessment data to show me where my focus needs to be for each individual student.
ReplyDeleteEach day in the classroom, ,through observation and interaction, I am able to see if students are integrating the strategies they have learned. When teaching I call things by name - even for K/1 students. By the end of the year they all know what fluency is and that we all need to practice becoming fluent readers. We practice the other areas of reading too and then discuss what we can do in order to become better in all the areas of reading. Students are taught to give this same feedback to their partners or group members throughout class each day.