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Glossary & Related Lecture Notes on Literacy Topics
by
Carol Nichols
Metropolitan State College of Denver
nicholsc@mscd.edu
Academically-oriented Postreading
Activities (See Postreading Activities)
Analytic Skill Lesson
The printed text used as the
basis of the skill lesson is text familiar to the learner. For example, if
the analytic skill lesson is a letter-sound association of "b," the
teacher would do the following:
1) Provide a passage containing several samples of words with the
sound of "b." The passage could be:
Bill and Ben went to the park to play.
Ben took his bat.
Bill took his ball.
Another boy saw them and played ball, too.
2) After helping the children become familiar with the passage, the
teacher could take out sentences which contain the "b" words.
3) Then the teacher could take out the "b" words and list them.
4) The skill lesson to
teach the sound of the letter "b" would then be taught using the
familiar "b" words in the list. The following steps could be
followed: The teacher may do the following in teaching a synthetic
skill lesson:
a) The teacher could write the following words from the passage on the
board in a list-- Ben, ball, boy, bat, Bill.
b) The teacher asks the children how all of these words are
alike.
c) After the children respond, the teacher writes B, b at the
top of the column of words.
d) The teacher reads the words emphasizing, but not distorting, the
sound of the "b." The teacher asks the children to listen to the
sound of the "b" as the words are read.
e) The teacher asks the children to join in the reading of the
words and to listen again to the sound of "b."
f) The teacher asks the children to read the words again and this time
to put their fingers on their lips to feel what their mouths do when they make the
"b" sound.
g) The children are asked to say other words that have the
sound of "b" and these words are added to the written
list.
h) The teacher and the children read the whole list of
words.
i) The teacher reminds the children that when they see a word with
"b" they should try making the sound they hear in "Ben,"
"ball", "boy," "bat," and
"Bill."
5) After the lesson has been taught the teacher helps the learners return the "b" words to the sentences.
6) The sentences are returned to the whole passage.
7) The teacher reminds the children that when they see a word with "b," use the sound they hear in "Ben," "ball," "boy," "bat," and "Bill."
8) The teacher and the children then reread the passage together.
Balanced Literacy Program
There are six components to the
balanced literacy program and all six are recommended for all classrooms.
These six components are divided into two categories. The two categories
and the three components in each are: Balanced Reading which
includes Reading TO, Reading WITH, and Reading BY the students; and, Balanced
Writing which includes Writing TO, Writing WITH, and Writing BY the
students. Reading TO involves the teacher orally modeling the
use of strategies as he/she reads to the students. For example, the
teacher may say, "If I look at the picture on the next page, it may help me
with the words on the page. I see the girl has many trees around
her. So I can predict that now the story will tell me that the girl is in
the forest. Now I'll read this page and see if my prediction was
right." Reading WITH includes shared reading and
guided reading. Shared Reading: Sometimes the teacher
will use an enlarged text book (a big book) during shared reading. During
shared reading the teacher models the use of the strategies but invites the
involvement of the students. For example, the teacher may say, "Let's
look at the picture on the next page. It may help us with the words on the
page. What do you see in the picture on this page?" (Students say
they see a girl and trees.) The teacher may ask, "What is a word that
describes a place with many trees?" If the children say
"forest," the teacher could say, "Yes, so maybe when we read this
page we'll see the word forest." The teacher may then ask, "What
do you predict this page will tell us?" Then after a verbal
prediction the teacher reads the page. Guided Reading: Guided
reading is an extremely important part of the classroom literacy program.
It is during guided reading that the students' literacy skills will grow.
The teacher carefully selects material that is at the students' instructional
level. The material should offer a challenge, but not so much of a
challenge that the students will be frustrated. The teacher gives before
reading structure to the lesson by activating schema, discussing pictures,
getting predictions, and generally setting the stage for the students to
silently read an appropriate-size chunk of the printed text. The teacher
guides the students through the reading of the text - chunk by chunk.
After the story has been completed the teacher has a discussion, some oral
rereading for specific purposes, a postreading activity to enhance
comprehension, and an analytical skill lesson, if appropriate.
Basal Approach to Teaching Reading
Many classrooms in the United
States use the basal approach to teaching reading. This approach uses
instructional materials produced by major publishing companies. Most
of the companies publish materials appropriate for pre-kindergarten through
middle school grades. The materials are comprehensive and include the
following: 1) Basal textbooks are provided for the students to
read. These textbooks contain fiction, nonfiction, and poetry selections.
The text of the books is designed for the various grade levels. Print
size, amount of space between lines, topics, etc. are based on research results
indicating what is most effective for the various grade levels. 2) A
detailed teacher's guide or teacher's manual is provided for each grade
level. These guides give the teachers detailed directions for presenting
the selections in the basal readers. They also give detailed directions on
how to teach skill lessons and how to introduce vocabulary. 3)
Student workbooks and/or worksheets provide skill practice. 4)
Assessment materials are provided. 5) Most basal series provide
enrichment materials.
Comprehension
Comprehension can be defined as a
process in which the reader interacts mentally with the printed text. The
reader's prior knowledge plays a big part in this mental interaction with the
printed text.
There are levels of
comprehension. Literal level comprehension is the understanding of what is
stated directly in print. A literal level question about the story
"The Three Little Pigs" would be: What kind of animal was
it? (pigs) Inferential level comprehension is understanding meaning
that is not directly stated in the print. This is meaning that is suggested in the
print, but not stated directly. "The little boy put on his boots, got
the umbrella, went outside and splashed in the puddles." An
inferential level question about this would be, "What kind of weather was
it?" It was never stated directly that it was wet, rainy weather, but
it was suggested by the print. Critical level comprehension is where the
reader is able to apply the information or is able to evaluate the
information.
Context
Personal background experience and
the words surrounding the unknown word make up context. Context (personal
experience and surrounding words) helps the reader predict an unknown
word. See Interrelated Use of the Linguistic Cueing Systems for
more information.
Guided Reading - Also
see
Balanced Literacy Program above.
Steps in a Guided Reading Lesson
Plan
1. Introduce the
book (title, author, illustrator, publication date, and dedication page.)
2. Have the students look at the cover picture and the pictures on
the first several pages.
3. Ask for some predictions about the content of the material to be
read.
4. Record the students' predictions.
5. Remind the students about the use of a specific strategy, etc.
when they read silently.
6. Assign an appropriate-size selection to be read silently.
7. When the selection has been read silently, ask if any predictions
were correct.
8. Briefly discuss what was read silently.
9. Look at and briefly discuss the pictures on the pages of the next
pages that will be read silently.
10. Ask what they think the next pages will be about. Do NOT record this
prediction.
11. Remind them to use
a specific strategy as they read silently.
12. Assign the next part of the story to be read silently.
Continue to repeat these steps until the entire selection has been read.
After the entire selection has been read silently, follow these steps:
13. Have some oral rereading by individual students for
specific purposes.
14. Participate in a discussion of the selection--their reactions,
opinions.
15. Provide a post-reading activity to help deepen comprehension of what
was read.
16. If appropriate, have an analytical skill lesson based on part of the
printed text.
17. If appropriate, integrate art and have a "just-for-fun"
activity related to the topic of the printed selection read.
Here is a sample of a guided reading plan written in detail. At various points in the sample plan I have included notes to help you. These notes are in bold type.
Detailed Guided Reading Lesson Plan
on the children's book, BECAUSE A LITTLE BUG WENT KA-CHOO!
1. Introduce the title: BECAUSE A LITTLE BUG WENT KA-CHOO!
author: Rosetta Stone
illustrator: Michael Frith
publishing date: 1975
dedication: There was no dedication. (Note: If there is a
dedication in the book you have chosen, write the dedication in the plan.)
2. Reread the title and have the students look at the pictures on the first three pages.* Discuss the pictures. (*Note: The teacher will divide the selection into appropriate-size pieces. If the whole story is assigned to be read at once, it would be overwhelming. The size of the pieces of the selection that you have chosen for the students to read will vary and is dependent on the difficultly of the text and the ability of the students. The size you select will NOT necessarily be the same as the ones I have in this sample plan.)
3. Ask for three or four predictions.
4. Write their predictions.
5. Remind the students of a strategy they could use during the silent reading. (Note: Call this a "Teaching Point Reminder" in your plan. For example, in reminding students of a teaching point, the teacher could say: "While you are reading the first three pages to yourself, don't forget, if you come to a word you don't know you can go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread or you skip over the unknown word and read to the end of the sentence. Then you could go back and see if that helped you figure out what the word is." )
6. Have the students read the first three pages silently.
7. Briefly discuss the written predictions.
8. Briefly discuss the content of the first three pages.
9. Look at and briefly discuss
the pictures on the next two pages.
10. Get an ORAL prediction. (Note: Do not take the time to write
the predictions from now on in the lesson.)
11. Remind them of a strategy: Teaching Point (TP)
12. Have silent reading of the next two pages.
13. Check the oral prediction
14. Brief discussion of the content of the two pages.
15. Look at and briefly discuss the pictures on the next four pages.
16. Get one oral prediction about what they think will happen next.
17. TP reminder
18. Silent reading of the next four pages
19. Check oral prediction
20. Brief discussion.
21. Discuss pictures on the next 4 pages.
22. One oral prediction
23. TP reminder
24. Silent reading of the 4 pages
25. Check prediction
26. Brief discussion
27. Discuss pictures on the next 6 pages.
28. Oral prediction
29. TP reminder
30. Silent reading of the 6 pages
31. Check prediction
32. Briefly discuss
33. Discuss pictures on next 5 pages
34. Oral prediction
35. TP reminder
36. Silent reading of the six pages
37. Check prediction
38. Briefly discuss
39. Discuss pictures on the next 6 pages.
40. TP reminder
41. Silently read the 6 pages.
42. Check prediction
43. Briefly discuss
44. Discuss pictures on the next 9 pages.
45. Oral prediction
46. TP reminder
47. Silently read the 9 pages which will be the end of the story.
48. Check prediction
49. Briefly discuss
(NOTE: The teacher has now guided the students through the silent
reading of the entire story. Now the plan includes the post-reading
activities.)
50. Some oral rereading by individual students for specific
purposes. (Note: In the plan include three actual questions you
could use to have the oral rereading. I have done this in this sample
plan.)
a. Think about the part of the story you think is the funniest. Who
can find that part in the book and can read it out loud to us?
b. Who can find and read out loud the part where the farmer got
scared?
c. Who can find and read out loud the part in the story where the
whole town was upset?
51. Discussion of the story. (Note: Include literal-level
questions to cover any content that was not covered during the short discussion
during the silent reading of the story. Also, include higher-level
questions--inferential and critical-level questions. Don't have too many
questions as you don't want a discussion that lasts too long. In the plan
you are writing, include three or four questions.)
a. Do you think it is possible for all of the things that happened in
the story to really happen?
b. Which part do you think is not possible? Why?
c. Why do you think the author started all of this with a bug sneezing?
Why didn't the author use something like an elephant sneezing?
52. Analytical skill lesson using part of the text of the guided reading
story. (See Analytical Skill Lesson in the glossary.)
53. Academically-oriented, post-reading activity (See Postreading
Activity in the glossary.)
54. Analytical skill lesson using part of the text of the just-for-fun
activity directions.
55. Just-for-fun activity
Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)
An Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) is a non-standardized assessment
administered one-to-one. The IRI enables the teacher to identify seven functional reading levels:
oral independent reading level, silent independent reading level, oral
instructional reading level, silent instructional reading level, oral
frustration reading level, silent frustration reading level, and the listening
level. (The listening level is sometimes called the Comprehension Level,
the Capacity Level, or the Potential Level.)
You find out where the student IS reading both independently and instructionally and where the student IS frustrated in reading and you can also get an idea of where the child SHOULD BE reading. The first six functional reading levels (oral and silent independent levels, oral and silent instructional levels, and oral and silent frustration levels) indicate where the student IS reading. The student IS reading independently at the ___ level orally and at the ___ level silently. The student IS reading with instructional help at the ___ level orally and at the ___ level silently. The student IS frustrated if given ___ level material to read orally and IS frustrated if given ___ level of material to read silently.
Determining the Listening Level indicates where the student SHOULD BE reading. The listening level indicates that if the student had all the literacy skills necessary, he/she is mentally capable of reading at the ___ level. The listening level is a rough indication of the student's potential reading level.
Theoretically, the student should be reading up to his/her capacity. In other words, the student's instructional reading level should be the same as his/her Listening (Potential) level.
Thus, you can compare what is with what should be and see if there is a discrepancy or gap. If there is a gap between where the student is actually reading and where he/she should be reading, the teacher needs to figure out what is causing the gap.
The teacher can use a modified miscue analysis to look at the miscues to see what is causing the gap. Then instruction can be modified to meet the needs you identified using the modified miscue analysis.
Administration of an IRI: There are many commercial IRI's on the market. Most have the student read orally and silently increasingly more difficult lists of words to help the teacher determine which level of passage to start the student in the oral and silent reading. After the starting passage level has been determined, the teacher has the student read passages at increasingly more difficult levels. After the reading of each passage comprehension is checked either through retelling or through the use of comprehension questions. After the comprehension has been checked, the teacher goes into a scale and determines if the passage read was at the student's independent, instructional, or frustration level. The student continues to read until the frustration level passage has been reached orally and silently. The teacher then administers the Listening Level assessment by starting at the student's frustration level and reading increasingly more difficult passages TO the student. After the passage has been read to the student, comprehension is checked. If comprehension is 70% or higher, the teacher reads the next level in difficulty and checks comprehension. This continues until the student's comprehension drops below 70%. The highest level passage with 70% comprehension or higher is the student's Listening Level (Potential Level).
Interrelated Use of the Linguistic
Cueing Systems
The efficient, effective reader
uses the linguistic cueing systems in an interrelated way. The following
example illustrates the interrelated use of personal background knowledge,
syntactic and semantic context clues, and graphophonics to figure out an unknown
word.
Example: The printed sentence is "The wild duck was swimming in
the _ _ _ _." In this example, the reader is able to read the
first seven words of the sentence, but is unable to read the last word. He
then uses the cueing systems to help figure out what the last word is.
The syntactic cueing system lets the reader know that the unknown word is
a noun. Use of a noun at the end of the sentence would "sound
right" - it would be grammatically correct.
Personal background knowledge would help the reader know the kinds of
places in which wild duck would likely be swimming.
The semantic cueing system along with the background knowledge helps
the reader select nouns that would make sense. The nouns "lake,"
pond," and "river" would all sound right (syntactically
acceptable) and would all make sense (semantically acceptable).
Graphophonics allows the reader to put a sound to the printed letters in
the unknown word. If the first letter of the unknown printed word is
"p," the reader is able to select the right printed word from the list
of words that sound right and make sense. The reader predicts the unknown
word is "pond."
In this example the reader uses the linguistic cueing systems in an interrelated
way.
Just-for-Fun Activities
This is an activity conducted
during the last ten minutes of the one-hour literacy tutoring session after the
guided reading, skill lessons, and diagnostic assessment has been completed.
The purpose of this activity is to change the "tone" of the lesson
from very academically-oriented activities to a "lighter"
activity. Students usually view this activity as a
"just-for-fun" activity, but the activity is more than just a
motivational activity. Literacy skills will benefit,
too. The activity must be related to the theme of the guided reading
selection and the printed directions for the activity must be used as the basis
for an analytical skill lesson. For example, after reading a book about friends, the teacher had the
students use a simple weaving technique and they wove friendship
bracelets which they then traded with each other. The directions for
how to do this weaving technique were printed in enlarged print and the teacher
used the print to teach or reinforce specific literacy skills needed by the
students.
There are many sites on the Internet containing activities which could be used for just-for-fun activities. One is Discovery Channel School site, www.puzzlemaker.com. This has puzzles, mazes, etc. which you can customize by using vocabulary from the material the students are reading.
Linguistic
Cueing Systems
Orthographic cueing system
- The spelling system of the language
Pragmatic cueing system - The purpose of the printed text may have
influence on the visual format of the text and the sound of the text.
Examples: A list is written in list format and reads like a list. A
sign is written in the format of a sign and when read, it sounds like a
sign. Personal and business letters are written in the formats of personal
and business letters and when read sound like letters.
Syntactic cueing system - The structure of the language - the grammar of
the language. How the words are organized within the context of the
language.
Semantic cueing system - Meanings of words - What makes sense in the
context of the language.
Graphophonics - Letter-sound association - Association of a piece of
print with a sound. For example the printed letter "B" is
associated with the sound "buh."
Also see Visual information which is a broader category that includes
graphophonics as one component. Related information can also be found in Interrelated
use of the linguistic cueing systems.
Literature-based Approach to
Teaching Reading
The use of high-quality
children's or adolescent literature for the reading materials in the balanced
reading program. There are several ways to organize a literature-based
program. 1). Core Book - The teacher has multiple
copies of one title. Everyone reads the same book. This organization
saves on teacher-planning time and preparation, but limits the students' exposure to
a wide variety of literature. Class discussions are one-dimensional
because everyone has read the same piece of literature so everyone is coming to
the discussion from the same point of reference. Also, core book
organization does not accommodate the wide
variety of reading skill levels of the students. 2). Literature Unit or Text-Set Unit - The teacher has multiple copies of several
titles - each on the same topic. All students are reading about the same
topic, but since there are three or four different titles, the teacher can
accommodate the wide variety of reading levels more effectively than in the Core Book
program. Class discussions are multi-dimensional since students are coming
to the discussion from several points of reference. 3). Self Selection/Self Paced
- In this form of a
literature-based program, the teacher provides many high quality pieces of
literature. Students make their own choices about what they will read and
they read at their own paces. Advantages include the motivational factor
of being able to make a choice about what you will read, the exposure to a wide
variety of literature, and the potential of accommodating a wide variety of
reading levels. Disadvantages include the challenge the teacher faces of
monitoring the reading of the students, keeping track of skill needs, and
being able to accumulate the many pieces of high quality literature necessary
for this type of literature-based program. Regardless of how the program is
organized, the teacher must provide the guided reading, skill instruction and
reinforcement, vocabulary development, and all of the other parts of a high
quality literacy program.
Metacognition
Metacognition is the cognitive
awareness readers have of their own thinking processes. It's a sensitivity
to what their own abilities are, recognition of what the task at hand is, knowledge of
a plan for
completing the task successfully, and ability to self evaluate to make sure they
are doing what they need to be doing and doing it correctly. Readers with
metacognitive skills are aware if they are comprehending or not and they know "fix-up" strategies
to help themselves if they are not comprehending. Readers use their metacognitive
knowledge before reading, during reading, and after reading. (See Strategies
in the Glossary for specific "fix-up" strategies.)
Miscue
A miscue is a deviation from
the print. The reader says something different from the word in
print. Example: The duck was swimming in the pond. If the
reader says "lake" instead of "pond," then "lake"
is a miscue. Poor use of or failure to use the appropriate linguistic
cueing system can result in a miscue.
Modified Miscue Analysis
Overview/Background
A modified miscue analysis is a one-to-one, informal assessment of oral
miscues and comprehension. The administrator of the modified miscue analysis has the
student orally read a passage at his/her instructional level. Miscues are marked
by the examiner on a copy of the text the student is reading. For this
class, use the same "shorthand, coding system for marking oral miscues that
you learned when we talked about giving an informal reading inventory.
Comprehension is checked through the use of unaided and aided retelling.
(See Glossary under "Retelling to Check Comprehension.") After
the assessment session with the student is over, the examiner analyzes the
miscues in terms
of syntactic and semantic acceptability, the amount of graphic-sound
similarity, and the accuracy of the student's use of graphophonics at the
beginning, middle and end of the text word. Finally, the examiner uses the
analysis of the miscues to determine what instructional steps need to be taken
to enhance the student's literacy development.
A modified miscue analysis is taken on a one-to-one basis, just like the running record and the IRI. It is an assessment technique. It is not a teaching technique. So, the teacher is a "neutral observer," no prompting or teaching is done if the modified miscue analysis is being used as a pure assessment tool.. If you are using the modified miscue analysis as a true assessment tool, even though there may be "teachable moments" now and then, you don't take advantage of them. You don't use this as a chance to teach. You use it as a chance to assess the student's ability to use the cueing systems..
Material to use for the student to read: The passage the student reads should be long-- two or three double-spaced pages and it should be somewhat challenging, but not so difficult that it is frustrating for the student. To identify a pattern of miscues to analyze, you generally need about 25 miscues. If the material is too easy, the student will not make enough miscues to analyze and you will need to continue to give the student more and more passages to read until 25 miscues have been made. If the material is too difficult, the miscues the readers makes will not be typical of the miscues he/she usually makes. Analyzing miscues from material that is very difficult will not give you sound information to use to plan future instruction for that student. Try to use material that is at the student's instructional reading level or material that you would select for this student to read during guided reading. One source of material would be the passages in the QRI or some other informal reading inventory that has long passages.
During the administration of a
modified miscue analysis:
For this class, use the same "shorthand, coding system for marking oral
miscues that you learned when we talked about giving an informal reading
inventory.
There are three permissible teacher interventions the examiner can make during a modified miscue analysis: 1). You can tell the student the title of the story. 2) If the student reads something and gets it so muddled up that you know he will lose context, you could say to the student, "Try that again." But, you shouldn't give him any instruction other than telling him to try it again. 3). If the student comes to a word and stops and then asks you to tell him the word, you can say, "You try it." OR If the student comes to a word and asks you what the word is, you can say, "You try it." In either case, mark an A above the word to indicate that the student made an "Appeal for Assistance." Some professionals say to wait 5 seconds and then tell the student the unknown word. Others say the word should not be supplied. For this class, we will not supply the unknown word. Just tell the student, "Just skip over that and keep reading." (The student waited for assistance or asked you for assistance. Any "Appeal for Assistance" is counted when determining functional levels.
After coding oral miscues check the student's comprehension of what was read. After the student has read the passage orally and the examiner has coded oral miscues on a copy of the text the student read, the comprehension is assessed using unaided and then aided retelling. (See the Glossary under "Retelling to Check Comprehension."
Analyzing oral miscues to determine
strong/weak linguistic cueing systems (syntactic, semantic, and graphophonic)
After the assessment session
has ended, the examiner analyzes each miscue in terms of sources of information the
student used
or misused when making the miscue. A worksheet can be used to help the
examiner determine linguistic patterns of the reader. A copy of the
worksheet can be seen below. On the analysis worksheet, each miscue is analyzed in terms of the syntactic and
semantic cueing systems and in terms of graphophonic information used. The
examiner looks at each miscue and determines which cueing system was strong and
which was weak. For each miscue the examiner compares the "text
word" (the word printed in the text of the story) with the miscue (the word
the student read instead of the text word).
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Use the following sentence with miscues marked when reading explanations of the analysis of the syntactic, semantic, and graphophonic cueing systems:
Dad
bickle
A
Father told her to
buckle her seat belt.
Analysis of the student's ability to
use the syntactic cueing system (grammar)
First, the examiner determines
if the syntactic cueing system was used accurately in making the miscue.
When analyzing the miscue for use of the syntactic cueing system, the examiner
is looking at each miscue in terms of grammar. Is the student's
miscue grammatically acceptable? Even with the miscue, does the
sentence sound right? If the answer is "yes," then the
miscue is syntactically acceptable or syntactically correct indicating the
syntactic cueing system was used in making the miscue.
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Father
Dad yes
_buckle
bickle no
belt
A no
Explanation:
"Father" and "Dad" are both nouns. "Dad" is
a grammatically-correct substitute for "Father." "Dad"
is "Syntactically Correct." The student used the syntactic
cueing system when making the miscue.
In the example "bickle" was substituted for "buckle."
"Bickle" is a nonsense word and meaning is always altered when a
nonsense word is used. "Bickle" is not syntactically acceptable.
Finally, the student did not every try to pronounce the word
"belt." Instead, the student made an appeal for help -- asked
the examiner what the word is. The examiner coded the word "A"
for "appeal." The examiner told the student to try it and
then go on. Because the student did not come up with a word at all, the
examiner knows the syntactic cueing system was not used. "No" is
marked under syntactic acceptability.
If the "Syntactically Acceptable" column has mostly "yes" written in, the student is probably using the syntactic cueing system successfully. You could say the syntactic cueing system is strong. If the "Syntactically Acceptable" column has mostly "no" written in, the student is probably not using the syntactic cueing system successfully. You could say the syntactic cueing system is weak.
Analysis of the student's ability to use the semantic cueing system (meaning)
Dad
bickle
A
Father told her to
buckle her seat belt.
Next, the examiner determines if the semantic cueing system was used
accurately in making the miscue. When analyzing the miscue for use of the
semantic cueing system, the examiner is looking at each miscue in terms of
meaning. Even with the student's miscue is the meaning still
acceptable? Even with the miscue, does the sentence make sense?
If the answer is "yes," then the miscue is semantically acceptable or
semantically correct indicating the semantic cueing system was used in making
the miscue.
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Father
Dad
yes
yes
_buckle
bickle
no
no
belt
A
no
no
Explanation:
"Father" and "Dad" have the same meaning. When
"Dad" is substituted for "Father" the meaning of the
sentence does not change. "Dad" is a semantically acceptable
miscue. The semantic cueing system was used in making the miscue
"Bickle" is a nonsense word and meaning is always altered when a
nonsense word is used. The miscue "bickle" is not semantically
acceptable.
The student did not come up with a word at all for the text word
"belt." The examiner knows that the semantic cueing system was
not used to help the reader predict a word that has the right meaning. An
appeal for help is not semantically acceptable.
Self Corrections
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Father
Dad
yes
yes
no
_buckle
bickle
no
no
no
belt
A
no
no
no
Explanation: The student
did not self correct any of the miscues. In the miscue "Dad" for
"Father" the examiner probably wouldn't be too concerned since
"Dad" for "Father" is syntactically and semantically
acceptable.
The miscue "bickle" for "buckle" with self
correction is serious. The reader should have been aware that the text did
not sound right (syntax) or make sense (semantics).
If the reader had metacognitive
skills he should have heard that his reading did not sound right and did not
make sense. He should have stopped and gone back to try to come up with a
word that sounds right and makes sense.
Analysis of the student's ability to use the graphophonic cueing system (phonics or letter-sound association). (Analysis of which parts of the print word were used accurately)
Dad
bickle
A
Father told her to
buckle her seat belt.
Next, the examiner determines if the graphophonic cueing system was used
accurately in making the miscue. When analyzing the miscue for use of the
graphophonic cueing system, the examiner is looking at each miscue to see how
much of the visual information in the printed text word was used in saying the
miscue and how accurately was the print used.
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Father
Dad
yes
yes
no
no
no no
_buckle
bickle
no
no
no
yes
no yes
belt
A
no
no
no
no
no no
Explanation: When
analyzing miscues for use of the graphophonic cueing system, you want to see if
any of the text word was used. You are asking yourself if the beginning of
the text word was used accurately when pronouncing the miscue. In the
example "Dad" for "Father" you can see that the
"F" in "Father" was not used in coming up with the
substitute word "Dad." Therefore, "yes" is written
under "Graphic/Sound Similarity" "Beginning."
Then look at the middle of the text word "father"
("ath."). Some may say that the "a" may have been
used, but it probably wasn't a factor in coming up with the miscue
"Dad." So, I would write "no" under
"Graphic/Sound Similarity" "Middle."
Finally, look at the end sound of "Dad" (d) and compare it with the
letters that make up the end sound of "Father" (er). The student
did not use the "er" in print to come up with the miscue
"Dad." So, "no" is written under "end."
Analysis of the student's ability to use the graphophonic cueing system (phonics or letter-sound association). (Summary of the level of use of the graphophonic cueing system)
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Father
Dad
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
none
buckle
bickle
no
no
no
yes
no
yes
high
belt
A
no
no
no
no
no
no
none
Explanation: Look at the word in print (the word in the text) as having three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Look at the miscue. If the reader uses any two or three parts of the print word in coming up with the miscue, the summary is high. If the reader uses any one part of the print word in coming up with the miscue, the summary is some. If the reader did not use any part of the print word to come up with the miscue, the summary is none.
In the example above, no part of the
print word "Father" was used in coming up with the miscue
"Dad." Therefore, the summary in "none."
Comparing the miscue "bickle" to the text word "buckle" you
can see that the beginning sound of "buckle" was used and the ending
sound of "buckle" was used. Therefore, the summary is
"high."
When the reader appealed for help with the word "belt" he did not use
any of the letters in print to help him try to figure out the word. The
summary would be "none."
Notes: Omission of a word in
print
When filling out the miscue analysis worksheet you may need to indicate that
the reader skipped a word when reading orally. Here is an example of an
omission: The printed sentence is, We have a blue car.
The student, when reading orally read, We have a car. The student
omitted the word "blue." This is how you would fill out the
worksheet for this omitted word:
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_blue_____________yes_________yes*_________no___________no_____no____no________none
The above shows that there was a word in the text (blue) and that the miscue was that nothing was said for the word blue - it was omitted. The sentence would still sound right even without the word "blue" so you would write "yes" under syntactically acceptable. Under semantically acceptable I put "yes" with an asterisk. I would put "yes" because I don't think that omitting the word "blue" has changed the basic meaning of the sentence significantly. However, some teachers would say "no" the meaning of the sentence has changed because you don't know the color of the car. This is a decision you would need to make for yourself.
Inserting (or adding) a word that is
not in the print
When filling out the miscue analysis worksheet you may need to indicate that
the reader added a word when reading orally. Here is an example of inserting,
or adding a word: The printed sentence is, Look at that dog.
The student, when reading orally read, Look at the brown dog. The
student added the word "brown." This is how you would fill out
the worksheet for this added word:
Text
Miscue Syntactically
Semantically
Self
Graphic/Sound Similarity
Summary:
Word
Acceptable
Acceptable
Correct
Beginning Middle
End Graphic/Sound
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______ brown______yes___________yes *_______no__________no______no___no_______none
_____
The above shows that the reader added the word "brown" to the text. There is no text word where the reader said "brown." The sentence would still sound right even with the word "brown" so you would write "yes" under syntactically acceptable. Under semantically acceptable I put "yes" with an asterisk. I would put "yes" because I don't think that adding the word "brown" has changed the basic meaning of the sentence significantly. However, some teachers would say "no" the meaning of the sentence has changed because of this additional word. This is a decision you will need to make on your own.
Miscue Analysis Report In writing the Modified Miscue Analysis Report, you would first need to write statements that describe the unaided and aided retelling.
Syntactic Cueing System
Then you would need to write a
description of the student's use of the syntactic cueing system. If the
student typically made miscues like first one "Dad" for
"Father" you would need to say that the syntactic cueing system was
used and is strong.
If the student typically made miscues like the second one where a nonsense word is substituted for a real word, you would need to write that the syntactic cueing system was not used and is not strong.
If the student typically made miscues like the third one, you may have a serious problem. There are two possibilities. 1) The student may have "learned helplessness" and is afraid to try to pronounce a word about which he is not sure. If you suspect this, you will need to help the student gain self confidence. 2) The student may not have the ability and knowledge to use the syntactic cueing system. This may happen, too, if the student has English as a second language. Other languages may have a different grammatical system, so the use of syntax would be very difficult for this student.
Semantic Cueing System
Then you would need to write a
description of the student's use of the semantic cueing system. If the
student typically made miscues like first one "Dad" for
"Father" you would need to say that the semantic cueing system was
used and is strong.
If the student typically made miscues like the second one where a nonsense word is substituted for a real word ("bickle" for "buckle", you would need to write that the semantic cueing system was not used and is not strong. The student should have "heard" that what he was reading was not making sense.
If the student typically made miscues like the third one (made a appeal for help with the word), you may have a serious problem. There are two possibilities. 1) The student may have "learned helplessness" and is afraid to try to pronounce a word about which he is not sure. If you suspect this, you will need to help the student gain self confidence. 2) The student may not have the background to enable him to use the semantic cueing system. This may happen, too, if the student has English as a second language. The student may have a strong vocabulary in his first language, but a weak English vocabulary which would make it difficult to predict a word for an unknown print word. He may not know the English word "buckle."
Graphophonic Cueing System - General
Summary
Even though there is no use of the print in making the miscue
"Dad" for "Father" and the summary is
"none," the student who typically makes a substitution of a
syntactically and semantically acceptable miscue, may not have a serious reading
problem and may not even need to have additional graphophonics
instruction. Many times experienced, mature readers will substitute one
word for another. One time when I was reading to a class, the word in the
print was "pupil" and I heard myself reading out loud
"student." This miscue wouldn't mean I need work with
graphophonics. Since I rarely, if ever, use the word "pupil,"
I probably automatically substituted the word "student" because
this is a word I do use often.
The second sample miscue is "bickle" for "buckle." If this is a typical type of miscue for the student, there will be many "yeses" under "beginning," "middle," and "end" and many "highs" written under the summary. There are two important points here. 1) One is that even though with the word "high" use written many times under the summary column, that doesn't indicate that the student is strong in graphophonics. Look to see what parts of the print word are being used successfully. If this example is typical, you can see that this student doesn't need help using the beginning and the ending of printed words, but he does need help with the vowels in words. You would start first by seeing if the student knows what letters are called vowels and then see if he knows the short sounds of vowels and the long sounds of vowels. Then you could assess further to see if the student knows the vowel generalizations. 2) The second important point is that the student was not aware that what he was reading did not make sense. He should have heard that, stopped, gone back and repeated in order to try to find a word that did sound right and make sense.
The third sample miscue is an appeal for help. If the student typically appeals for help instead of trying to figure out the unknown word, this could be a serious problem The student is not trying to use any graphophonics to identify the unknown word. Again, this could be caused by "learned helplessness" causing the student to be afraid to try or it could be that the reader doesn't have the knowledge to use graphophonics.
Next instructional and/or assessment steps:
If the first miscue is typical for the student, the next step may be to point out that while the word sounded right and made sense, it wasn't the text word. Ask the student to read the word that was in the text-- "father" instead of "dad." If the student is an older student -- upper intermediate or higher, you may want to just ignore this. The next step for the student would be to help him continue to develop his reading skills.
If the second miscue is typical for the student, you would start first by seeing if the student knows what letters are called vowels and then see if he knows the short sounds of vowels and the long sounds of vowels. Then you could assess further to see if the student knows the vowel generalizations. 2) Then you would need to plan instruction to help the student become aware of what he is reading. He needs to be aware that what he reads needs to "sound right" and "make sense." He needs your instructional help to know that when something doesn't sound right and make sense, he needs to stop, go back and repeat to try to self correct.
If the third miscue is typical and the student generally won't even try to figure out an unknown word the next steps would include further assessment. The examiner would need to find out if the student has the knowledge and ability to use the three cueing systems. The examiner would also need to find out if the student knows how to use the three cueing systems, but lacks the self confidence to try to use them on an unknown word.
Oral Reading and Silent Reading Also listed as "Silent Reading and Oral Reading.
Postreading Activities
Any activity that takes place after
the completion of the reading assignment technically is a postreading activity. Some
postreading activities
consist of basal series workbook or worksheet pages which have the student
practice skills. Other postreading activities, which I call
"academically-oriented postreading activities," are focused on
enhancing comprehension of what was read. These activities require the
reader to go back into the printed material for more in-depth thinking about some
element of the print. For example, some academically-oriented
postreading
activities focus on further, more in-depth thinking about the characters, some
focus on events. Examples of academically-oriented, postreading activities
include story grammar, plot profiles, character ratings, literary report cards,
and character webs. There are many other postreading activities which will
enhance comprehension. See the Power Point presentation titled Academically-Oriented
Postreading Activities to Enhance Comprehension for samples of post-reading activities which focus on more
in-depth thinking and thus enhance comprehension.
QAR (Question Answer Relationship)
QAR is an activity which
involves sensitizing students to the sources of information available for
responding to questions. The use of this activity helps students realize
that the answers to questions can come from different sources. QAR helps
students to realize the need to consider both information in the text and
information from their own background knowledge. QAR gives students the
ability to look for answers to questions based on their knowledge of what type
of questions they are asked. In QAR instruction, students learn that
questions are classified according to the relationship between the questions and
the sources of the answers given. The strategy was developed by Raphael in
1982. There are four question answer relationships that could be taught to
the students. They are called "right there," "think and
search", "the author and you," and "on my own."
In my classes we will use three questions answer relationships. The three
question answer relationships we will use are listed and explained below:
Question Answer Relationship l: Right There
Right There - The answer is right there in the story and is usually
easy to find. Many times the words used to make up the question and words
used to answer the question are right there. Example: The
little boy put on his boots and raincoat. Then he went outside to
walk to school. He put up his umbrella and jumped in puddles all the way
to school. A "right there" questions would be, "What did
the little boy put on?" The relationship of the question to the
answer is "right there." The answer to the question (boots and
raincoat) is "right there."
Question Answer Relationship
2: Think and Search
Think and Search - The answer is in the story, but it is a little
harder to find. You probably won't find the words in the question and
words in the answer in the same sentence. Instead you will need to
"think and search." You will need to look for clues
in more than one sentence or paragraph to find the
answer.
Example: The little boy was getting ready for his first day of
kindergarten. He and his mother were going to walk to school
together. The little boy's older brother, Pete, was going to walk with
them. Pete, who was eight years old, was going into third
grade. A "think and search" question would be, "How
old is the little boy?" The answer is harder to find. You need
to look in (or search in) several sentences to find information to help you
answer the question. You find out that Pete is eight years old in one
sentence. You find out that Pete is the older brother. You
find out that Pete is eight years old. From searching out the information
you can figure out that the little boy is six years old.
Question Answer Relationship
3: On My Own
The answer won't be told by words in the story. You must find the
answer in your head from what you already know.
Example: The little boy was getting ready for his first day of
kindergarten. He and his mother were going to walk to school
together. The little boy's older brother, Pete, was going to walk with
them. Pete, who was eight years old, was going into third grade. An
example of an "On My Own" question would be, "How was the little
boy feeling about going to kindergarten?" It doesn't say in the text
how he was feeling. There isn't even a hint about the answer to the
question. The answer to the question comes from what you already know
about how the little boy might feel in this situation. You have to come up
with the answer on your own.
Research related to the
effectiveness of QAR: Comparison of two groups - one group had QAR
instruction, one group did not have QAR instruction.
Results where the students had QAR instruction:
High-ability readers had little difference in "Right There" and
"Think and Search" questions. There was improvement in their
answer to "On My Own" questions. It was decided that the
high-ability readers were probably already answering "Right There" and
"Think and Search" questions without too much difficulty. The
improvement in answering "On My Own" may have come from emphasizing
that there are questions where the answers aren't in the text and that it is
"OK" to use what you already know to answer some questions.
Average and low-ability readers who had QAR instruction improved
significantly with "Right There" and Think and Search"
questions. With QAR instruction, only minor improvement was seen in
"On My Own" question answering. One possible explanation was
that some of these students may not have had rich background knowledge.
Afterward, one student was asked why he didn't go "into his head to find
the answer to an "on my own" questions. The students said,
"I did go into my head to look for the answer, but there was nothing
there."
Reading Strategies
Reading strategies are methods readers can use when text meaning has not been achieved. If a reader
comes to an unknown word, or if he/she is aware that a word read doesn't
sound right or make sense, the reader needs strategies to help "fix up"
the reading. Most teachers use the following strategies or some
combination of them to teach their students how to achieve meaning. The
teacher would emphasize and model these "fix-up" strategies.
If you come to a word you don't know, try the following:
1. Look at the picture.
2. Look at the beginning of the word and get your mouth ready to say that
sound.
3. Skip over the unknown word and read to the end of the sentence.
4. Go back and reread.
5. Ask yourself, "Does the word I said sound right?"
6. As yourself, "Does the word I said make sense?"
7. Look at the letters at the end of the word.
8. Break the work into parts.
9. Use a dictionary.
10. Ask a friend.
Many teachers will put these reading strategies on a big wall poster.
Some will put them on bookmarks which they copy and give to students to
remind them of what to do when they come to words they don't know. Below
are samples of two posters made by students in RDG 4250.
Retelling (unaided and aided) to Check Comprehension
"Retelling" is a method of assessing
comprehension. It is done on a one-to-one basis, but some teachers have
developed very effective ways to use retelling in small groups. Retelling
is used after the student has finished reading a selection. The teacher
simply says, "Now tell me everything you can remember about what you
read." This is called unaided retelling because the teacher
does not give any prompts or help to the student. After the student has
told the teacher everything he/she can remember, the teacher then does aided
retelling. In aided retelling, the teacher repeats part of what the
student said during unaided retelling and asks the student if he/she can expand on
it. For example, the student reads the following text:
Joan was so mad at her brother, Tom.
Tom had taken Joan's doll with the pretty blue dress.
Then Tom threw the doll in a mud puddle.
Now the doll was all wet.
The doll's blue dress was dirty, too.
To check comprehension using retelling, the teacher would first say, "Tell me everything you can remember about the story." This is unaided retelling. In this example, let's say the student tells the teacher the following:
The girl was mad.
Her doll got wet and dirty.
The student knows some about what was read, but did not relate details during the unaided retelling.
The teacher would now want to see if the student comprehended any of the details. Now the teacher would use unaided retelling to see if details were comprehended. The teacher would take parts of what the student already said and see if she could expand on it. Here is what the teacher could say for aided retelling:
"You said the girl was mad. Do you know the name of the girl? Do you know why the girl was mad?"
"You said the girl's doll got wet and dirty. Do you remember how the doll got wet and dirty? Do you remember what was special about the doll?
Running Record
A running record is a modified miscue analysis
designed to be used with readers at the early stages of literacy
development. The administrator of the running record has the child orally
read a passage or story at his/her instructional level. Miscues are marked on a
blank sheet of paper. Miscues are examined in terms of syntactic and
semantic acceptability and use of visual information (use of pictures on the
page and graphophonics). The teacher attempts
to identify patterns which will lead to information about the use/misuse of
cueing systems.
Lecture notes on Running Records:
The Running Record is a miscue analysis, but it was developed for a specific population. The Running Record was designed to be done with the very early reader. It doesn't matter the age of the student. If you are a fifth grade teacher and you have a student who is just starting to learn to read, then you can do a running record. But usually teachers are using the Running Record on the youngsters in the latter part of kindergarten and in first grade who are just beginning to learn to read. It is taken on a one-to-one basis, just like the modified miscue analysis and the IRI. It is an assessment technique. It is not a teaching technique. So, the teacher is a "neutral observer," no prompting or teaching is done if the Running Record is being used as a pure assessment tool. If you are using the Running Record as a true assessment tool, even though there may be "teachable moments" now and then, you don't take advantage of them. You don't use this as a chance to teach. You use it as a chance to assess.
There are, however, four permissible teacher interventions: 1). You can tell the student the title of the story. 2). You can tell the student a word if he/she comes to an unknown word and stops. After waiting five seconds, you can pronounce the word for the student. 3). You can request that the child "Try that again." If the child reads something and gets it so muddled up that you know he/she will lose context, you could say to the child, "Try that again." But, you shouldn't give him/her any instruction other than saying to try it again. 4). If the child comes to a word and stops and then asks you to tell him the word, you can say, "You try it." Then after waiting five seconds, you can tell the child the word.
The Running Record was designed to be used without a script (a printed copy of the text the student is reading). The teacher does not have a copy of the text the child is reading. The teacher has a blank sheet of paper instead. One of the reasons this is a convenient assessment to do is that you don't have to type copies of the text of all of the books the children will be reading during the administration of the running records. Because the teacher is using a blank sheet of paper, a Running Record can be done on any piece of print the child has at any time. The teacher just needs to pull up a chair by the child, have the child read orally, and by looking over at the text of the child's book, miscues can be coded on the blank sheet of paper. The teacher also records all behaviors of the child - how the child is handling the reading situation, things the child says, etc.
Before beginning the Running Record, many teachers will put a word at the top of the blank sheet of paper indicating if the text the child is reading is: "Familiar" or "Unfamiliar." Familiarity with the book will make a difference in how the text is read.
You can figure what percent of the words were read accurately and, using these percents, determine if the text was at the child's independent, instruction, or frustration level. Most teachers do not take the time to figure percents. Teachers can usually tell the level of the text for the child without figuring percents.
After the miscues are coded, the teacher analyzes each miscue in terms of sources of information the child used or misused. Each miscue is analyzed in terms of the syntactic and semantic cueing systems and in terms of visual information used. The teacher looks at each miscue and determines which cueing system was strong and weak and, finally, the next instructional steps are planned.
Marking Miscues and Analyzing Sources of Information:
The teacher analyzes each miscue in terms of the cueing systems. The
teacher looks at each miscue as related to each cueing system.
Did the
miscue sound right (syntax)? If it did sound right, the reader used the
syntactic cueing system.
Did the miscue make sense
(semantics)? If it did, then the reader used the semantic cueing
system. To what extent did the miscue look and sound like the text
word? Did the reader look at the letter(s) at the beginning of the
text word to help make the sound at the beginning of the miscue? Did the
reader use any of the letters in the middle and at the end of the text word to help
make the sounds in the middle and at the end of the miscue?
The
teacher is attempting to find out if the reader used the syntactic cueing
system, the semantic cueing system, and or the graphophonic cueing system
correctly.
Example #1: Assume the text sentence is: "The horse ran down the
road." Also assume the child reads it as, "The house ran down the
road." As the child reads, the teacher makes a check mark for each
word read correctly. These marks are made on a blank sheet of paper. The teacher would write a check mark for
"The," "ran," "down," "the," and
"road." For the miscue of reading "house" for
"horse," the teacher would write the miscue "house"
over the text word "horse." See below.
Analysis of Example #1: In this case the reader was using
the syntactic cueing system because "horse" is a noun and the miscue
"house" is the right kind
of word
grammatically..
However, the reader did not use the semantic cueing system because the sentence, "The house ran down the road." does not make sense.
The reader did make high use of graphophonics because the text word "horse" and the miscue "house" begin and end with the same letters. The reader used two of the three parts of the printed word. The reader used the beginning sound of "h" and the ending sound of "horse" the "s" sound. In other words, the reader could have been using the printed letters at the beginning and at the end of "horse" to cause him/her to say "house."
Example #2: Assume the student read the sentence in this way, "The house ran down The horse ran down the road." In this example, the student stopped after the miscue and went back, repeated, and corrected the miscue. If the student goes back and repeats, an arrow indicates where the repetition was made. If, during the repetition, the miscue is corrected, write "SC" for "self corrected." This sentence would be marked like this:
Conventions of Running Records: The marking system is a little different from the IRI and miscue analysis. If the word is accurate, put a check mark. Look at the Conventions of Running Records to see the coding system to use for giving a Running Record. As I said earlier, the Running Record was designed to be used with the student who is just learning to read. The reason the Running Record is not used with more fluent readers is that it is almost impossible for most people to code miscues fast enough to keep up with more mature, fluent readers.
There are several purposes for giving Running Records. 1). Evaluate the difficulty of a text. Most teachers do not use Running Records to do this. 2) To group students. 3) Monitoring progress of an individual child. 4) Looking at an individual child and identifying difficulties in order to change instruction in order to eliminate these difficulties. Most teachers use Running Records for reasons #3 and #4.
There is one big difference between the Modified Miscue Analysis and the Running Record in the analysis of the miscues. They use the same definition of the cueing systems that we have been using. But, when administering a Running Record, use "S" for structure or grammar (syntax) and "M" for meaning (semantics). Graphophonics is not looked at exclusively as a category by itself. Because this assessment is meant for the very immature reader, graphophonics is included in a larger category called Visual Information. Visual Information is represented by "V." One component of Visual Information is graphophonics. If the reader used two parts of the text word to help him/her say the miscue, then there was "High" use of graphophonics. An example of this would be the miscue "house" for the text word "horse." If the reader used one part of the text word to help him/her say the miscue, there would be "Some" use of graphophonics. An example of this would be the miscue "hay" for "horse." In this case only one part of the text word (the beginning "h") may have been used). Other visual information the child can use are the pictures on the pages, punctuation, and possible capital letters. So, for each miscue the teacher asks, "Did the child use structure (syntax)?" If so, circle the "S." If the child used meaning (semantics), the teacher circles "S." If the child used graphophonics, the teacher circles "V" and "H" or "S." Ask yourself if you think the child used the picture. If you think the child did, circle the "P." Then determine if there is "high" use or "some" use of graphophonics. Finally, decide if the child used the picture, and if so, circle the "P."
Below is a short passage in its original form. Below that is the passage with miscues as they were read. The miscues are written in bold print. Following that is the way a running record would look showing these miscues. Finally, is a description of what you find out from an analysis of the miscues.
Sample of a short passage and the analysis of the results of the oral reading:
We went for a ride.
Dad drove the car.
My sister and I were in the back.
My sister saw a man.
Dad stopped the car.
The man said, "The horse ran down the road. Did you see it?"
Dad said, "No, but we will look."
Dad drove the car and we looked.
We never did see it.
Passage as read. The miscues are printed in bold type.
We all went for a ride.
Dad drove our car.
My sister and I were in the black back
My sister saw a man.
Dad stopped the car.
The man said, "The house ran down The horse ran down the road. Did you see it?"
Dad said, "No, but we will look."
Dad drove the car and we looked.
We never did see it.
Sample of how the passage above with
the oral miscues would be written by the examiner:
Sample of how the miscues in the passage could be analyzed: Remember
"S" means structure or grammar (syntax). You would circle the
"S" if you think structure (syntax) was used by the reader in making
the miscue or was used when making a self correction. "M" means
meaning (semantics). Circle the "M" if you think the reader was
tending to meaning and that "triggered" this particular miscue or it
"triggered" the self correction. "V" means visual
information. Circle the "V" if you think what the reader saw on
the page "triggered" the miscue or the self correction. Then
indicate what exactly you think the reader used "visually." Was
it the picture on the page that "triggered" the miscue or the self
correction? If so, circle the "P" for picture. Did
the reader use any of the printed letters in the printed text word to
"trigger" the miscue? Did the reader use two of the three parts of the
print word (beginning, middle, end) in making the miscue? If the child did use
any two parts, circle "h" for "high use." Did the
reader use
one of the three parts of the print word? If so, circle "s" for
"some use."
Evaluation of the Analysis:
Syntax
The reader used syntax in three of the four original miscues and possibly in
one of the two self corrections. Adding the word "all" in
the first line created a sentence that still "sounded right."
Substituting the word "our" for the text word "the" resulted
in a sentence that "sounded right." Substituting the word
"house" for the text word "horse" was syntactically
acceptable because "house" and "horse" are the same kind of
word. They are grammatically the same kind of word and the sentence would
"sound right." In the self-correction of the use of
"black" for the text word "back," the reader may have used
syntax to make the self correction, but probably was using semantics (meaning) instead.
Syntax seems to be a strong cueing system for this reader.
Semantics
The reader used meaning in two of the four miscues. This means that
even though there were miscues, in these two cases the meaning of the sentence
was not changed significantly. Adding the word "all" resulted in
a sentence that "made sense." Substituting the word
"our" for the text word "the" results in a sentence that
"made sense." Substituting the word "black" for
the text word "back" results in a significant change in meaning.
In this case, meaning (semantics) was not used by the reader. However, the
reader probably self-corrected this miscue because he/she knew that the word
"black" did not make sense. The substitution of
"house" for the text word "horse" did not result in a
sentence that made sense. Therefore, meaning (semantics) was not used by
the reader. However, again the reader probably realized that
"house" did not have the right meaning for the sentence and used
meaning (semantics) to make the self correction.
Visual Information
In this particular example, we don't have an illustration, so the reader
could not have used any picture clues in making the miscue or in making the self
corrections.
Visually comparing the text word "horse" with the sound of the miscue
"house" we can see that the reader could have been using the beginning
and ending sounds of the text word "horse" to bring about the miscue
"house." Because the reader used two of the three parts of the
text word in making the miscue, we would say there is "high" use of
graphophonics.
Schema Theory
Schema is the background the student
brings to the reading task. This background can include the attitudes and
prejudices the reader brings to the reading. It can include the information
already known about the topic in the text reading. It can also include the
knowledge the reader has of how to carry out the reading task successfully.
Research results indicate that the reader's schema should be activated before
the reading task begins.
There are three benefits to the
reader if schema is activated prior to reading: 1) The reader will
comprehend better; 2) The reader will retain information gained from the
reading longer; and, 3) Recall of the information gained is easier.
The benefit to the teacher is finding out where the students are in terms of
background. The teacher can find out if the students have adequate
background to read the material.
Self Monitoring of
Time
The ability to plan and effectively use time is an
important skill for everyone. In addition, students need to be able to
self evaluate to determine if the time spent was used correctly and
effectively. One technique used by some teachers is to have each student
plan which activities (within parameters given by the teacher) he or she will
accomplish during a specific time period in the day. For example, the
teacher could have each student fill out a plan for how time will be spent
during the literacy block. Each student would have his or her own
plan. At the end of the literacy block, each student could self evaluate
his/her success in carrying out the plan. When designing a form for students
to use as a self monitoring technique, some or all of the following
questions should be considered as self-monitoring and self-evaluating
questions: What is my goal for the day (week)? What do I plan to do
with my time? Did I do what I was supposed to do? Did I
reach my goal? Did I use my time well? What did I learn from
this? How could I do better next time?
Dr. Elena Bodrova (McREL) and Dr. Debbie Leong (Metropolitan State College of
Denver) have both helped teachers implement plans such as the ones described
above.
Dr. Leong told me there is an additional benefit to having the plan to focus and organize time with the written plans. She said the written plan serves as a positive source of communication about misuse of time. If the student is not on task, the teacher can ask, "What does your plan say you should be doing?" Then the teacher can remind the student to go back and follow the plan. Reminding the student what he/she should be doing is more positive and more effective than telling a student to stop doing something. The samples have come from teachers in the Denver area including Greenlee Elementary School.
Silent Reading and Oral Reading Listed as "Oral Reading and Silent Reading."
Standards
For a copy of the Colorado
Model Content Standards, go to the Colorado Department of Education website
at http://cde.state.co.us/ then click on
"Standards" and "Reading and Writing."
For a copy of the Teacher Performance Standards, go to the Colorado Department of Education website at http://cde.state.co.us/ then click on "Educator" tab at top, then click on "Performance-Based Standards for Educators.
In classes taught by Dr. Carol Nichols, many time students are asked to identify Colorado Model Content Standards and Teacher Performance Standards which are addressed by specific assignments. While you must be familiar with both sets of standards as written, for these assignments you may identify standards by numbers and letters I have used on abbreviated lists provided below. This will save you much time on these assignments.
Below is the abbreviated list of Colorado Model Content Standards for Reading and Writing with the numbers and letters you can use in assignments in Dr. Nichols' classes. Remember, these lists have been abbreviated. If you don't understand the standard or some of the subsections, read the original version of the standards.
The numbers and letters to use to identify standards are written in bold print. In matching an instructional activity to standards, keep in mind there could be several subsections of a standard that would apply to the activity. There could also be several standards (with some of their subsections) that would apply to one activity. When identify the standards related to an instructional activity, write the number of the standard and the letter or letters for all appropriate subsection of the standard.
1. Students read and
understand a variety of materials.
a. Students use comprehension skills such as
previewing, predicting, inferring, comparing and contrasting, re-reading, and
self-monitoring.
b. Students make connections between their
reading and what they already know and they identify what they need to know
about a topic before reading about it.
c. Students adjust strategies such as reading
carefully, fitting materials into an organizational pattern, finding a sequence
of steps, etc.
d. Students use word recognition skills and
resources such as phonics, context clues, picture clues, word origins, and word
order clues; reference guides; roots, prefixes, and suffixes of words for
comprehension.
e. Students use information from their reading
to increase vocabulary and enhance language usage.
2. Students write and
speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.
a. Students will write and speak for a variety
of purposes.
b. Students will write and speak for audiences such
as peers, teachers, and the community.
c. Students will plan, draft, revise, proofread,
and edit written communications.
d. Students will use a variety of devices such as
figurative, symbolism, etc. to convey meaning.
e. Students will use handwriting and at the most
appropriate time, word processing to produce a product that is legible.
3. Students write and
speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation,
capitalization, and spelling.
a. Students will know and use correct grammar in
speaking and writing.
b. Students will apply correct usage in speaking
and writing.
c. Students will use correct sentence structure in
writing.
d. Students will demonstrate correct punctuation,
capitalization, and spelling.
4. Students apply thinking
skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
a. Students will make predictions, analyze, draw
conclusions, and discriminate between fact and opinion.
b. Students will use reading, writing, speaking,
listening, and viewing to define and solve problems.
c. Students will recognize, express, and defend
points of view orally and in writing.
d. Students will identify the purpose, perspective,
and historical and cultural influences of a speaker, author, or director.
e. Students will evaluate the reliability,
accuracy, and relevance of information.
5. Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant
information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources.
a. Students will select relevant material for
reading, writing, and speaking purposes.
b. Students will understand the structure,
organization, and use of various media, reference, and technological sources as
they select information for their reading and writing.
c. Students will paraphrase, summarize, organize,
and synthesize information.
d. Students will give credit for others' ideas,
images, or information.
e Students will use information to produce a
quality product.
6. Students read and
recognize literature as a record of human experience.
a. Students will know and use literacy
terminology.
b. Students will read literature to investigate
common issues and interests.
c. Students will read literature to understand
places, people, events, and vocabulary, both familiar and unfamiliar.
d. Students will read literature that reflects the
uniqueness and integrity of the American experience.
e. Students will read classic and contemporary
literature, representing various cultural and ethnic traditions from throughout
the world.
f. Students will read classic and contemporary
literature of the United States about the experiences and traditions of diverse
ethnic groups.
The Teacher Performance Standards produced by the Colorado Department of Education are written with standard numbers with each subsection also numbered. Use these numbers when working with assignments in Dr. Nichols' classes.
Strategies
An individual's approach to
completing a task. The way an individual organizes and uses a particular set
of skills in order to accomplish a task as effectively and efficiently as
possible. (From "Learning Strategies" ERIC Clearinghouse on
Disabilities and Gifted Education, Digest #E577, Daniel J. Boudah and Kevin J.
O'Neill, August 1999) Learners who use mental plans to accomplish the task
are strategic readers. In the area of reading, the learners who use
strategies are using a plan or plans to construct meaning from what they are
reading. Some strategies are more beneficial than others.
Strategies that are considered to be beneficial include self monitoring,
summarizing, and question generating. The strategies that are taught should be
the ones which have the greatest long-tem applicability. Strategies are
also the procedures readers use to "fix up" their reading when they
realize they do not comprehend the text. (See Reading Strategies in
the glossary.)
Synthetic Skill Lesson
Students are taught a skill
using text which may or may not be familiar. For example, if the synthetic
skill lesson is on the letter-sound association of "b," the teacher
would list several words containing the sound of "b." These
words would be used to teach the sound of the letter "b." The
words used to teach the lesson would not necessarily come from
printed text that is familiar to the learner as it is in an analytic skill
lesson. The teacher may do the following in teaching a synthetic skill
lesson: 1) The teacher could write the following words on the board
in a list-- Ben, ball, boy, bat, Bill. 2) The teacher asks the
children how all of these words are alike. 3) After the children
respond, the teacher write B, b at the top of the column of words.
4) The teacher reads the words emphasizing, but not distorting, the sound
of the "b." The teacher asks the children to listen to the sound
of the "b" as the words are read. 5) The teacher asks the
children to join in the reading of the words and to listen again to the sound of
"b." 6) The teacher asks the children to read the words
again and this time to put their fingers on their lips to feel what their lips
do when they make the "b" sound. 7) The children are asked
to say other words that have the sound of "b" and these words are
added to the written list. 8) The teacher and the children read the
whole list of words. 9) The teacher reminds the children that when
they see a word with "b" they should try making the sound they hear in
"Ben," "ball", "boy," "bat," and
"Bill."
Text Structures: Expository
(Nonfiction or Textbook Material)
One of the areas that needs to be
investigated under the category of task knowledge is the structure of the text
the reader will be reading. The structure is how the author of the
material "set up" or organized the information in the text.
The structure of nonfiction text found in social studies and
science textbooks is usually much more difficult for students. For one
thing there are at least six different structures the author could use when
writing nonfiction information found in social studies and science textbooks.
The author could use any of the following text structures: cause/effect,
time sequence, enumeration of steps to accomplish something, compare/contrast,
problem/solution, or definitions/explanations. Within any one chapter the
author could present the information in several of these organizational ways.
A second explanation for why nonfiction text structures are more difficult for
students is that many teachers do not teach the structures of expository text.
Some students never have instruction in identifying and using text structure to
help them comprehend nonfiction.
These expository text structures should be taught. Graphic organizers or
frames are used successfully by many teachers. These frames show
graphically how the text is structured. A frame can be designed to
"show" the student "cause and effect," "steps to
accomplish something," or "compare and contrast" structures in
concrete ways. They can be presented to the student before the
reading starts to show how the information they are going to read will be
presented. Graphic organizers can then be using during the reading as an
organizational structure for note taking by the student. The graphic
organizers can also be used after the reading is completed as a means for
structuring the postreading discussion.
Text
Structures: Narrative
(Fiction)
One of the areas that needs to
be investigated under the category of task knowledge is the structure of the
text that the reader will be reading. This is how the author of the
material "set up" or organized the information. If the
student is reading narrative or fiction, the structure is typically the one that
includes the following: characters, setting, events, problem and solution.
This text structure is usually easier than the expository text structures for most students because they read so much
fiction and because many elementary teachers teach their students the structure
of fiction. Teachers teach that fiction in our culture usually has a character
or characters. It will have a setting which may indicate where and when
the story took place. Fiction will have events that happen in a certain
order. Finally, within those events there will be a problem or goal the
main character has and there will be a solution to the problem or the goal will
be attained or not.
Visual Information
This includes all of the visual
information that is available for the reader to use to get cues to the printed
text. The following are generally included as potential visual information
sources of information for the reader:
Graphophonics - Letter-sound association - Association of a piece
of print with a sound. For example, the printed letter "B" is
associated with the sound "buh."
Picture clues - The pictures included on the pages of printed text can
help the reader figure out an unknown printed word.
Print conventions - Capitalization, punctuation, and spacing can help the
reader figure out an unknown printed word.