Using the Model to Improve My Interactions with Kids
When kids are learning to read, they need a lot of help. Reading is hard and it only gets harder as kids move up to new texts at higher reading levels. To make consistent progress, kids need a lot of coaching. But it’s not always easy to know how to help them.
We know we don’t want to correct every error they make. But we don’t want them to repeat the same mistakes over and over either. And we certainly don’t want them to get frustrated or fatigued. At the same time, we know they need constant and consistent feedback to make progress.
To improve the comments I give, and to increase the efficiency of my reading conferences, I use the six qualities to structure my interactions as follows:
- Speed. If kids are reading too quickly, I remind them to slow down to a normal talking speed. If that doesn’t work, asking them to concentrate on phrasing and expression usually does the trick. If kids are reading too slowly, and they can’t seem to speed up, I suggest an easier book or more frequent re-reading with increased attention to phrasing and expression on subsequent passes.
- Accuracy. If kids are missing too many words, I ask them to slow down, practice the tougher words, and re-read. To help them work through words they’ve never seen before, I show them how to sound things out by breaking words into logical pieces. If accuracy doesn’t improve, the text may be too hard and the student may need to find something else.
Assessing speed and accuracy is the easiest way for me to know if a book is too hard. But often, kids don’t want to give a book up. So I make a deal with them: they can keep it, and read it at other times, if they’ll choose another book for reading time that’s a little easier. However, they have to promise me that when they read the hard book, they’ll slow down and work hard to improve their accuracy by using the sounding out strategies we’ve covered along with reasonable amounts of re-reading. At some point, I tell them they will need to show me that they can read the hard book just as well as they can read the “just right” book—albeit in smaller chunks and with more practice.
- Phrasing. If kids are reading word by word, stopping and starting in odd places, or if their reading is accurate but not smooth, I’ll show them how to group words into phrases. I do this by reading a line for them and showing them where the breaks in the phrases go. They follow my example to get the hang of it and continue on their own. Periodically, I check back to see if they’re still doing it.
- Expression. Expression puts the feeling into reading, and working on it is a good way to make reading more fun. As with phrasing, I’ll demonstrate first by reading a line or two from the student’s book. As I read aloud, I’ll show them specific ways I change my voice as certain words go by. Most kids don’t realize that they can hear expression even when they read to themselves, and that even when reading silently, expressing a text to a small degree as they sub-vocalize improves their enjoyment and their comprehension.
In my experience, kids get very little explicit instruction in phrasing and expression. But I have found that working on these two qualities gives me some of my best results. Over the years, I have come to believe very strongly that these neglected qualities provide an essential bridge between reading words and understanding ideas.
- Understanding. If readers have speed, accuracy, phrasing, and expression under control, I ask them literal questions about what’s going on in their text. I focus on questions that I, as a reader who hadn’t read the book, might want to know the answers to. I do this to make the discussion feel natural and to model the kind of curiosity I want kids to bring to their reading. I also ask kids about the meanings of particular words as they are used in context.
- Thinking. If a reader’s understanding checks out, I engage them in a more reflective discussion. I might ask about their reactions to certain events and ideas. Or, if I can spot an opportunity where they’re reading at the moment, I’ll ask them to make an inference, prediction, or connection. I also look at their journal responses and try to use these as departure points for deeper discussions.
By identifying one of the six qualities to work on, I find a focus for the conference. This tells me—and the reader—what we need to do. The fact that the student understands the model just like I do makes conferencing easier for both of us. And when I’m done, the student and I can usually agree on a goal that we write in the student’s reading journal. Then, when we meet again, I’ll have a complete record of what the kid was reading, what we worked on in conference, and what we’re trying to improve.
As we get farther along into the year, I want the kids to be practicing all six qualities in every text they encounter. They won’t practice all of them all the time. But each time I give a comment or have a formal conference, I’ll refer to one or two of them as the focal point of our work at that time. By teaching kids what these six qualities are, why they’re important, and how to work with them to develop reading skills, my interactions with students improve and so does their reading.
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