Helping Students in Reading

WHAT IS READING?

‘I define reading as a message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in

power and flexibility the more it is practised.’ Marie Clay Becoming Literate

Meaning facilitates reading; it is not just the outcome of it.

There are three cueing systems. We use all three simultaneously.

Meaning Structure

Visual

understanding the author’s message

Foundations for success in reading

• Confident users of language• Enjoyable and varied experiences with books• Understanding of concepts about print• Awareness of basic elements of stories• Expectation that books are a source of

pleasure and information which will help them

Reading independently

Students need:• Experiences and understandings of the world• Knowledge of the forms of language• Knowledge of directional or positional

language• Knowledge about visual details of letters or

words

Early reading behaviours

• Finger pointing• Voice pointing• Pausing• Hesitating• Repeating• Self-correcting• Omitting words• Substituting words

What can you see the reader doing?

Maddisyn – aged 6 years

Supporting the reader

• 3 P’s – pause, prompt, praise• Try that again• Does it make sense? Look right? Sound right?• Shadow reading• MP3 players – audio books• Choosing ‘just right’ texts • Using contextual clues• Reading for meaning• Scaffold tasks

Finding out what they can do-formative assessment-

• Running record

• Reading journal

• Individual conference

Running record

• The student reads aloud while the teacher observes and records what the student says.

• Omissions, substitutions and insertions are noted as well as repetitions and self-corrections.

• Once completed, the teacher analyses the running record and uses the information to decide what the student needs to learn next.

You try Y

Reading journal

• Students use reading journals to record what they have read, to respond personally to texts and to analyse their thinking.

• Reading journals require clear guidelines and regular opportunities to make entries during class time.

• Students need to be presented with a range of ideas for responding in their journals.

Individual conference

• Teacher and student sit and talk about the student’s reading.

• The teacher asks questions about the text to ascertain the students level of comprehension.

• The teacher listens to the student read a section of the text.

• They jointly develop a reading goal.

An effective reader• Maintains focus on meaning• Checks on understanding and print• Uses language structures to anticipate text• Processes print with fluency• Varies the rate of fluency• Uses many different sources of information together• Has questions in mind• Attends to important ideas• Recognises many words automatically• Uses a variety of strategies for solving words while reading for meaning• Extends the meaning of texts using synthesising and inferencing skills• Integrates information

Fountas & Pinnell

Try this

• Listen to at least one student read aloud and take note of their reading behaviours.

OR

• Have an individual conference with a student and find out what they can do well and what they need to work on.

Creating Thoughtful Readers

Thoughtful readers

• Think aloud• Monitor comprehension• Use their prior knowledge (or schema)• Ask questions (or wonder) as they read• Make inferences• Use sensory and emotional images• Determine importance in text• Synthesise

We need to show students how• Insert pic of teacher modelling

• Behavioiurs are obsrevable and strategies are things we cannot see that are occurring in the head.

Model of think aloud

• RMO and sticky notes

• Find examples on video clips

Model of predictogram

• Try and find the book David Hornsby used

Responses to text

• Examples of some

Modifying tasks

• What can we do to support struggling readers?