Marcus is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching strategies would you suggest to help Marcus?
In order to help Marcus, I would figure out if there are other students who have the same issue as he does. I would pull them in a group together and do a shared reading. I wouldn't want to do this activity with him one-on-one unless I had to in fear it might hurt his self esteem or make him feel devalued as reader.
I would choose a picture book and conduct a picture walk and discuss with him or the group, the pictures, title, cover and allow him to predict what the book will be about. I would read the book and discuss it with him or his small group.
I might also try to tape record Marcus and play it back and stop the recording at places where he has miscued and as him if that makes sense and offer him the chance to re read.
I would also provide a copy of a passage and omit key words and have him read the passage aloud and try and fill in the blanks with words that might make sense. I would make sure Marcus has enough background knowledge of the topic in the passage so that he could replace the blanks efficiently.
I would also set Marcus up with a buddy to read. I would have to chose a buddy for him that wouldn't just tell him the words but would offer valuable suggestions to him when he stumbles upon a word he doesn't know and replaces it with a word that doesn't make sense.
Finally, I would allow Marcus ample amounts of time to read independently reading a book of high interest.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of allowing Marcus' to listen to himself read via a tape recorder. As readers, it is important to detect miscues we hear in our reading. I too agree that setting Marcus up with a reading buddy would be very beneficial. Allowing time for one reader to model reading fluently to another reader is very important for their reading growth. As teachers, it is important to allow opportunities for students to engage in reading independently as well as to a friend. Great post!
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI think of all of these ideas the one that would help him the most is giving Marcus a buddy. When I have students who struggle with reading I find it most rewarding(for them) when they can work through their struggles with another student. Giving Marcus the opportunity to work and talk through his book with a buddy would help him so much. I use buddies in reading almost everyday and they love being able to work together to complete an assignment. For struggling readers I often make them a graphic organizer to keep them on task and to find just the "meat" of a story.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas that help Marcus become a more fluent reader and help him understand the text better. I also thought picture walks would be a strategy to use in order for him to better construct meaning and know where the text is going. I think taking a passage and omitting words from it and having him fill in the blanks is a great idea. I didn’t think of that. It would help him recognize the structure of the sentence so he is able to include words that would make sense.