There are two possibilities I am thinking about for a reading lesson for S-.
First, I have noticed that he tends to read without fluency and prosody. He reads quickly, ignoring punctuation and reading without emotion. I would like him to learn to slow down and read with an eye on periods, question marks, commas, and exclamation points. I would also like him to learn to add emotion and feeling to his reading. I think both of these skills would improve his fluency and, ultimately, his comprehension.
Second, after reading the "The Lifeline of the Nile" with him this week, I could envision a lesson which focuses on how to read non-fiction. Namely, we could talk about underlining or highlighting unfamiliar words, slowing down, and/or backing up and re-reading to help with comprehension.
I am leaning towards the first lesson as I believe it will help him the most with his overall reading. Here is a potential objective:
Student will be able to use punctuation and phrasing to improve fluency and prosody.
For the materials, I am considering using any or all of the following: a piece of poetry (maybe from a Shel Silverstein collection), an appropriate picture book (that could hold a 6th grader's attention and has emotion expressed in pictures, words, and punctuation) and a book that S- is reading on his own. I think I might start by reading and re-reading a poem. First, I would read it without thought to punctuation or intonation. Then I would reread it using phrasing, punctuation and intonation. I would have him share what he noticed about the different readings. I would state how I have noticed what a good reader he is but that one thing I have noticed is that sometimes he reads quickly ignoring punctuation. My thought is we would then talk about the purpose of punctuation and how reading with an eye on punctuation and intonation can help improve our comprehension and enjoyment of reading. We would then move on to practicing using different types of texts.
Any ideas or additional thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
I think punctuation is the more doable lesson, given our time constraints (which you pointed out in your comment to me, and I forgot that we'll only have half an hour!). I like the idea of reading aloud to him as if no punctuation were present.
ReplyDeleteI suggest a few more (concise) steps to discuss the purpose of punctuation: What do quote marks, for example, represent? How does reading them potentially alter our expression when reading aloud? Maybe give a few examples of the same sentence, punctuated differently. You might have time for only a couple of other texts to work with, so I don't know if the best use of your time is on one text, going deeply into it with examples, or practicing on a few additional texts.
There's a fun book called Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, the very title of which is a play on what happens when someone uses punctuation incorrectly. You might find some funny examples in that book or some other way to use it as a resource.
First thought - Reading with emotion is directly tied to comprehension. Punctuation are our clues and exposure/familiarity with text is necessary to develop the skill.
ReplyDeleteWith those ideas in mind, a lesson focusing on puncuation and how it influences the meaning of the text would be a great start. I love the idea of reading without using the in text clues and then again with. Will you be tying this to comprehesion in anyway or is that too much for our time constraints?
Shel Silverstein is such a unique style of writing. Although fun and possibly more interesting to your student I question it's usefullness with this particular lesson. Practicing with text that is typical seems more appropriate for this lesson. Is there a topic he is interested in that could be the hook? Poetry seems an odd place to start for teaching punctuations.
I din't see any mention of his comprehension capabilities. I'm curious if his inattention to punctation and prosody is affecting his ability to retell/comprhend what he is reading.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the idea of working on reading nonfiction text, I have a few comments.
Nonfiction in the narrative form that is well written and presents the narration in a manner enjoyed by your student can go a long way in creating interest in reading nonfiction text. Not all nonfiction is dry boring facts presented in an expository text.
I won't comment on your first lesson idea because it appears you have given it some thought. I say the lesson is a good one as is. Excellent work.
My thought is that he needs a purpose to read with expression. Since we no longer favor the idea of "round robin reading", it seems that reading aloud to others is an activity primarily reserved for teachers. Does he have a younger sibling, cousin, niece or nephew? Then maybe try giving him a real audience by having him create a Voicethread of a story for the younger child. (OH... integrating technology here-- Jane will like that!). I just think that if he has a reason to read with expression, he might be more inclined to attempt it wholeheartedly.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of modeling!
~Shelley