This week’s reading was great review. I remember last year having to put together a portfolio for my TE and CEP 301 class. This portfolio was of a number of reading assessments, many of which were mentioned in Tompkins chapter 3.
If I were going to use one form of assessment for the students in my classroom I believe I would use the good ol’ running record. I would use this type of assessment to focus mainly on fluency. I have noticed and have been told by my MT that some of the students in my placement struggle with fluency. For this reason, I believe I will be developing my mini lessons based on a fluency running record assessment.
I of course have not yet seen or taken part of any formal reading assessment for students in my classroom, so to judge their development in word identification and fluency is strictly opinion based, and not backed by any assessment evidence. That being said, I believe that most students’ would be considered to be at grade-level in regards to their word identification and fluency development. However, I can think of at least four students who struggle in this area. These three “target” students all seem to have trouble reading words smoothly and accurately when I help them during their small reading circles that occur when the students have independent reading time. This is not to say that they are “bad” readers or below grade level, but they simply may be reading at what Tompkins refers to as their “frustration level.” My goal would be to assess their actual fluency and word identification knowledge to help get them to their “instructional level.” This will be my overall goal for my mini lesson. I know that I may not be able to get students to that level with just one lesson, but I can hopefully gather some useful information for my MT that she can then assess and handle appropriately to ensure these students are getting the most out of their reading time.
Before I write a brief mini lesson, I wanted to mention something I really liked about the Tompkins reading. I liked how Tompkins gave an example of the teacher sticky notes. This was a great idea from the teacher to help keep her on track with what was happening during her lesson time. It was a great way to remember her informal assessments as she monitored student’s progress. I know that in one of my classes, either my special ed class, or this one, we have talked about similar methods. I just think something like this is a great idea in order to keep track of your students and your individual teacher progress. It is a great way as a teacher to make sure that your lessons are benefiting students, by forcing yourself to write down what things stand out to you during a lesson. I think reading examples of things like this are good examples of ways to continuously push ourselves to be the best teachers we can. If we continue to strive for improvement, not only will we benefit, but our students will benefit as well. Great stuff….
Alright, now back on track. I am not sure how long this is supposed to be, so I am going to make it brief, and to the point.
The following is a quick lesson plan to test fluency using a passage from the book “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Lesson Topic/Goal- Smooth reading,
1. This lesson will be to assess student’s fluency by performing a running record from the book “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” (Curtis, 1995).
Rationale- Three target students’ have been selected based on the need to test their fluency and word recognition ability. It is my belief that this three students may not be at their “instructional level” for reading, and as a result their ability to read with fluency is being hindered.
Lesson Procedures
1. Students’ will be given the following passage from The Watsons Go to Birmingham
“I could have done a lot of stuff to him. If it had been me with my lips stuck on something like this he’d have tortured me for a couple of days before he got help. Not me, though, I nearly broke my neck trying to get into the house to rescue Byron. As soon as I ran through the front door Momma, and Dad and Joey all yelled, “Close that door!”
2. Students’ will be given one minute to read the above passage.
3. A running record will be kept based on the number of words they read correctly. Self corrected or omitted words will not be scored against them.
4. The number of words read correctly will be calculated with the total number of words to discover the student’s fluency level.
Findings
Based on the results of the assessment, students should be given the appropriate text that fits their reading level.
I also really enjoyed the Tompkins reading for this week. I thought the review was helpful, and it really made me excited to enter the classroom and try out some of the chapter’s ideas, as well was some of my own! I can really see how these techniques will allow students to build accuracy, reading speed, and prosody. I also am hoping my mentor teacher next year is open to new ideas of ways to incorporate this kind of instruction outside of mini-lessons and lessons... my current mentor teacher is great with transitions. She seems to not let a single teachable moment go by, and I can see her using these elements and ideas as ways to transition into the next activity, or as a way to get kids ready to learn in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI’m a little fuzzy on 4th graders knowledge, so I would hope that Matt took my (hopefully constructive!) criticism with a grain of salt. He knows his students much better than I do, but I will, of course, provide ideas. Collaboration never killed anyone!
I think choosing the running record for your struggling students is an excellent way to gauge their “level” of instruction or frustration, and be able to provide your mentor teacher with feedback. Obviously, if the book is too hard for them, they aren’t going to learn, so really assessing their abilities within the book will be able to help her (and you!) see what kind of help they need to finish the book, and perhaps select a better choice book next time around. I know that my teachers in elementary school would often come up with “reading groups” with, unbenounced to me at the time, different levels of books. Perhaps this could be something you could suggest to her once you have results!
While I mention that I like your use of the running record, I must ask if the students are reading this book. I know that the assignment was to indicate a passage in our books, but I have a bit of a problem with that. I seem to remember that running records were to be performed by using a brand new text that the students have never seen before. I can understand why you would want to use something that they are familiar with, but in order to get a true result, they must not have yet had exposure to the passage. With that said, it is important for the passage to be relevant to the students. I find no problem in using a passage from a book that they are reading, but I would suggest using a passage they have not gotten to, that doesn’t give anything away! That way, they are still situated within the book and the book’s themes and characters. That connection may help them do better!
I’d also be interested to see how you incorporate your findings in a follow-up lesson, sans assessment! What would you do with this passage, and what would you do with this knowledge? :)
Hey Matt!
ReplyDeleteI think your lesson sets up a way to test your students' fluency. Based on the three students you described, a running record is a good start to testing their reading level. Then, as you said, the students can be given the right books for their personal scores. As you and I talked about yesterday in class, it would be good to tweak this lesson and make it more individualized for each student, because, although they may all require extra instruction, even their ability levels will be slightly different as well. Having them all go at once would be crazy for you and them!
Like Devon said, I would also consider using a passage of the book that they have never read before to properly and effectively gauge their level. Luckily, the Tompkins reading provided several different fluency assessments that you can look into if you are in need of further information/ data on your students. Likewise, it would also be good to have additional lessons after this to promote other areas of fluency, such as prosody, and not focus entirely on accuracy and reading speed. But, it sounds like your students should first gain confidence reading before you focus on things such as prosody.
Fluency is such an important part of comprehension so this is a good way to give further support to your students who may be struggling. I'm sure they will greatly benefit from this extra help from you! You're awesome, Matt!