Module 3: Mock Memo from a Reading Specialist

Erica, a fifth grader, reads grade level passages at a rate of 177 words correct per minute, or 30% faster than grade level norms. When asked to retell what she has read, Erica struggles and is able to give little to no information from about the text. Many other children in Erica's class also read well above grade level expectations for fluency rate (or automaticity), but the teacher laments that they struggle with comprehension and using appropriate expression and intonation while they read. What is going on here? What advice can you offer the teacher? Write a memo to the teacher from the viewpoint of the school's Reading Specialist. Give the teacher and explanation for the phenomenon and offer her advice on dealing with the situation.

I hear that you are having a hard time with your students' comprehension of what they are reading in class. As fluency is important for reading, it shouldn't be our focus anymore in the fifth grade. There is a great quote I would like to share with you on this topic, "Various studies (e.g., Stanovich, 1986) indicate that children placed in higher-achievement groups have more actual opportunities to read, especially to read silently; their instruction is more often focused on comprehension after reading than on the pronunciation of words during reading; they are encouraged to use cross-checking strategies to identify and verify unknown words instead of just being told "to sound it out" or being given the word; they are asked more thoughtful questions about what they read, rather than mostly literal recall questions, and so forth. In contrast, children in the lower groups are kept busy with more round-robin oral reading peppered with interruptions focused on sounding and matching, more isolated skills and drills, fewer comprehension-stimulating activities, and more dependency-creating instruction; because of this they also do less reading and writing (Allington, 1983.)" I think this explains your situation very well. Erica and your other students can obviously read the words on the page so having them read out-loud in a group setting isn't going to take their reading to the next level. I think that if you give the students some guiding questions to think about before they start reading can help guide their own instruction. Once they students have finished reading on their own, ask open-ended comprehension questions, go through the original assigned questions along with other questions, and let the students discuss with each other what they found particularly interesting in what they read. The students are putting too much focus on the word-by-word reading and less focus on the big picture. It seems that your students are reading well but haven't become "proficient" because they aren't being "effective" and "efficient" in their reading. I want to stress that students "they need not be be word-perfect readers in order to be good readers. They need to understand that the purpose of reading is to construct meaning and gain understanding from what they read" (Weaver, 216). My advice to you this week in your guided reading groups or however you structure your reading block, have your students read silently a selected amount by you with some guiding questions prior to reading. Then meet with the students individually to discuss these questions. As a final exercise have the students journal about what they read today. Have the students write a question or two about what they predict might happen next or something they want to learn the next day. 

Another strategy to use with these students could be using a "think-aloud" process. As the teacher you read aloud a passage you think will be of high interest to the students. Have the students follow along with you and not just listening to you. When you come across a trouble spot, stop and think it through aloud while your students listen to you. When you have completed the passage ask the students to provide their own thoughts on the trouble spots and how they might have handled this themselves. After modeling this process, pair the students up to practice this process with each other. This will hopefully transfer into their silent reading of passages and help them understand it's fine if you come across a trouble spot, but you must work through the trouble spot in order to not lose meaning over it.

I hope you have found some of my suggestions helpful and I hope the comprehension in your classroom improves with your readers.

Sincerely,
Your reading Coach