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INDEPENDENT READING
1.5 hours
GOALS: To guide tutors on how to provide appropriate texts and strategies to
enable learners to read independently.
MATERIALS:
• Story Puzzler handout
• Matching Books to Learners handout
• Miscue handout
• Training session evaluations
AGENDA:
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Matching books to learners (30 min)
It is extremely important that you provide your learners with books that are the
appropriate reading level.
A.
Ask tutors to complete the Matching Books to Learners handout. Then
have a discussion about each of the text choices listed on the handout –
Too easy, easy, a little challenging, too hard.
[A good resource is Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (1999). Matching books to
readers. Using leveled books in guided reading, K-3. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.]
1.
Too easy – If you provide books that are too easy, learners may
become bored or disinterested. Learners may be insulted if you
continuously ask them to read books that are too easy. Avoid
using these texts in your tutoring sessions.
2.
Easy – If you provide books that are easy, learners will be able to
build their confidence and work on their fluency. Using easy
books sets learners up for success. Choose books where the
learners can read 95-100% of the words. Use these texts at the
beginning of your tutoring session, so the learners will start with a
task they can do well.
3.
A little challenging – If you provide books that are a little
challenging, the tutors will be able to help the learners improve
their reading skills and move to the next level. Choose books
where the learners can read 90-95% of the words. Use these texts
at the end of the tutoring session during a guided reading
component. “Guided reading enables [learners] to practice
strategies with the teacher’s support, and leads to independent
silent reading.”1
1
Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided reading. Good first teaching for all children (p. 1).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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4.
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Too hard – If you provide books that are too hard, learners will
expend all their effort on decoding words and will not be able to
focus on the meaning of the text. Books that are too hard may
frustrate the learners and cause them to give up or avoid reading
altogether. Avoid using these texts in your tutoring sessions.
B.
How to recognize if a text is appropriate
1.
Choose a text and count the total number of words. (Matching
Books to Readers contains a children’s book list that has the total
number of words recorded for each title.)
2.
On your lesson plan form, keep a tally of the miscues the learner
makes while reading a text. If the learner self-corrects or repeats
himself, do not tally these as miscues. To calculate the total
accuracy
a)
Subtract the total number of miscues from the total number
of words in the text to get the total number of words
correct.
b)
Divide the total number of words correct by the total
number of words in the text to get the accuracy percentage.
3.
Tutors will not need to determine the accuracy percentage every
time they work with a learner. This should be done occasionally to
make sure they are choosing texts at an appropriate level.
C.
After discussing how to determine if a text is appropriate, give the tutors
practice in figuring out if a text was too easy, easy, a little challenging, or
too hard.
1.
Scenario 1: Book contains 270 words. John made 37 miscues. Is
this book appropriate? (270-37=233/270=86% accuracy – This
book is a little too hard.)
2.
Scenario 2: Book contains 40 words. Theresa made 4 miscues. Is
this book appropriate? (40-4=36/40=90% accuracy – This book
would be good for guided reading.)
3.
Scenario 3: Book contains 105 words. Brian made 4 miscues. Is
this book appropriate? (105-4=101/105=96% accuracy – This book
is easy and might be appropriate to help the learner with fluency.)
4.
Scenario 4: Book contains 25 words. Kate made zero miscues.
She has been reading books with 95 words at 92% accuracy. (This
book is too easy.)
Can you help me? A Story Puzzler (20 min)
from LEARNS Training Activities Resources
http://www.nwrel.org/learns/trainingopps/training/CanYouHelpMe/index.html
A.
This activity is a series of pictures and text that tells a story. However, the
words are not written using the standard, English alphabet. Distribute the
story to your tutors, and ask them to read it aloud with a partner. While
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they are working, pay close attention to their comments and body
language. When they have finished, ask the following questions:
1.
How did this make you feel?
2.
What strategies did you use to figure out unknown words? (Scribe
their responses. They probably used picture cues, re-read, skipped
words, looked for patterns or “letters” they recognized. Point out
that none of them sounded it out.)
3.
How will this experience help you as a tutor?
4.
Was this text an appropriate choice for you as a learner? (No, it
was too hard.)
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Identification of learners’ reading strategies (15 min)
A.
There are several strategies a reader can use when coming to a word he
does not know. What is the first strategy that pops into your head when
you think about helping a learner who stumbles on a word? Many people
say “sound it out.” Phonics is an important part of learning to read. But
because the English language is so complex and has many exceptions to
the rules, it is difficult for people to learn to read if they rely solely on
sounding out the letters.
B.
Why sounding it out doesn’t always work: Write ch on the board and ask
your tutors, “What sound does ch make?” If they respond “ch,” write
chorus on the board. If they respond “k,” write chair on the board. In
other words, you write the word that has the opposite sound of what they
say. The goal is to demonstrate that letters can have more than one sound,
and their sound is dependent upon the letters that surround them in the
word. So, encouraging learners to sound it out can be a tricky strategy.
Do this activity with the following letters: ch, h, ea, c.
ch? chorus/chair; h? horse/hour; ea? meat/great; c? cat/cedar.
C.
The tutors need to teach the learners that there are multiple strategies they
can use to figure out unknown words. Encourage the tutors to first focus
on the strategies that maintain the meaning of the text. Strategies 1-4
focus on meaning. Strategies 5-6 focus on the word, and strategy 7
focuses on the letters.
Strategies:
1.
What makes sense?
2.
Re-read
3.
Skip it and keep reading
4.
Look at the picture
5.
Look for smaller words/chunks you know imbedded in the word
6.
Sound out the first part of the word and try to think of the rest of
the word
7.
Sound out all parts of the word
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D.
Learners’ dominant strategy
You can tell a lot about a learner’s dominant strategy based on his
miscues. Write the following sentence on the board: “He rode the horse to
town.”
1. The first learner reads, “He rode the pony to town.” The tutor should not
interrupt this learner because the meaning was not disrupted. Wait until
the learner has finished the story and ask him to re-read this sentence. If
he self-corrects, move on. If he again reads, “He rode the pony to town,”
say, “Yes, that makes sense. But look at this word (horse). What letter
does it start with (h)? What’s another word like pony that starts with the
letter h?”
a. What we know about this learner: He is reading for meaning,
which is a good thing! He needs help focusing on the letters
(graphophonics). Encourage him to use strategy 6 (above) when
he comes to a word he does not know.
2. The second learner reads, “He rode the house to town.” The tutor should
interrupt this learner because the meaning of the text was disrupted. The
tutor should ask the learner to read that sentence again. If the learner selfcorrects, move on. If she again reads, “He rode the house to town,” say,
“He rode the house to town. Does that make sense? What’s another word
that starts with h that would make sense?”
a. What we know about this learner: She is focusing on the letters
inserting the word house for horse. She needs help focusing on the
meaning of what she is reading. Encourage her to use strategies 14 (above) when she comes to a word she does not know.
E.
What to do after a miscue (20 min)
Discuss this handout with the tutors. Have tutors divide into pairs and role
play a tutoring session using this handout as a guide.
1.
Sometimes when a learner gets stuck, you should just tell him what the
word is. For example, if the learner is struggling with a character’s name
(e.g., Mr. Snuffaluffagus), you should just tell him to pronounce it
however he wants or just say Mr. S. Why? It is not important that the
learner know how to read Snuffaluffagus at this point. Taking too much
time to decode this word will draw the learner’s attention away from the
meaning of the text.
F.
Question and answer (5 min.)
1.
Ask if anyone has any questions about the training session.
2.
Distribute the session evaluations.
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