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?
One of the first things Marcus should be introduced to is, to make sure that he knows reading is supposed to make sense. In this way Marcus will begin to see that reading is not just something that takes place in the classroom, but it is a way to learn new things.
If Marcus realizes he is supposed to read for meaning, he can then transition into learning letter-sound patterns found in reading. This can be done in shared reading. He can start making connections between the words he hears and the way they appear on the page. Then hopefully he will stop substituting words that only have the beginning sound(s), but try and include all of the word. However, it is important that he does not get bogged down by focusing on letter-sounds in all reading. Guided writing might also help Marcus. Guided writing will give him the chance to see how letters in words sound and work together. Again, he can use this strategy when trying to determine a word in the text.
Lastly, Marcus should be introduced to the "think ahead" strategy. In this way, Marcus will use cues that he sees in the text to determine what is coming next and what kind of word would best fit next grammatically. He should be introduced to pulling from his prior knowledge as well as knowledge he has learned from other strategies such as shared reading. This will help him narrow down the choices, so to speak, of words that would fit into the text.
If Marcus is familiar with how words in sentences should flow, he will be better able to guess what grammatically appropriate word is coming next. And if he is familiar with letter-sound patterns then he will be able to better determine what the unknown word is. Although Marcus could benefit from a variety of reading strategies, this would best fit his need at the time. It is also critical that Marcus be a part of all reading discussions in the classroom, both small group and whole group!
Making it clear to Marcus that the purpose of reading is to understand is an excellent start! If he does not understand that we read to understand, he is not going to be aware that he is not understanding. Therefore, making mistakes that are inhibiting him from doing so. In addition,your suggestion to "think ahead" will also greatly benefit Marcus. He will be able to apply his prior knowledge, and pull from his own schemas.
ReplyDeleteMary I absolutely agree with your comment, "One of the first things Marcus should be introduced to is, to make sure that he knows reading is supposed to make sense". As teachers, it is important to take a step back and help students understand what they are learning. An interactive activity would be to provide Marcus with sentence strips that he would have to fill in the missing word. This activity would allow Marcus to understand that as readers, we read to gain meaning from a text. You provided wonderful ideas for teaching Marcus.
ReplyDeleteI like that you bring it back to the basics of why students read. Maybe Marcus does need to have a teacher explain the purpose for reading. Knowing that reading is supposed to make sense could help him to correct himself as he reads. I also agree that the "think aloud" strategy is beneficial for Marcus. It will help him predict and correct himself as well. These are all great tools for helping Marcus become a more proficient reader.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea about teaching Marcus the real reason that we read. I would start by listing with the class why we read and the purpose of reading. It is good to get back to the basics of reading. That is the very beginning of what we should be teaching. I think that his teacher should tell him to slow down and look at all of the whole word not just the beginning letter.
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