Redefining “Just Right”

Using the Six Qualities of Good Reading to Make Better Book Choices

To help kids find “just right” books, I start by telling them to find a book they like and can read well. But I don’t stop there. Having defined good reading as reading with the six qualities, the kids and I can use this as a more detailed way of determining whether a particular book is easy, hard, or “just right”.

I’ve always had trouble using grade level or other numeric designations to predict whether a particular book will work for a particular reader. This data is a reasonable guideline but I’ve always felt more comfortable looking at the book myself during a conference and listening to kids read.

One of the things I like most about using the six qualities is that the model simple enough for kids to use as a tool for self-assessment. With a little practice, and some coaching from me in conferences, kids can use the qualities to monitor their own reading. This comes in handy when they have to figure out whether a book is at the right reading level.

Having already talked about what a “just right” book looks like, feels like, and sounds like, I tell kids we’re going to go into more detail using the six qualities of good reading and use that as our guide:

• Speed. Reading too slow is an easy way to identify a book that’s too hard. Reading too fast may be an indication that the book is too easy. But I’ll want kids to read with phrasing and expression, which slows them  down a bit, before they make that determination. If the book is just a bit too easy, that’s fine by me. I’d much rather have kids reading below their level than above it. Ideally, when they read aloud to me, I want to hear kids moving along at a comfortable conversational pace without frequent stops and starts. Names of people, places, and things that are not part of the reader’s normal vocabulary may slow them down a bit, but since these elements are often used repeatedly in a text, they won’t slow kids down for long. In general, a “just right” text is one in which the reader can maintain a comfortable reading speed almost all the time.

• Accuracy. If a kid can read without errors or even a tiny hiccup here and there, the text may be too easy; stumbling over words every sentence or two suggests that the text is too hard. Occasional decoding and pronunciation problems are fine. But what do we mean by “occasional”? Three or four per page (or about one every 75-100 words in a typical novel) is tolerable as long as kids can and will correct themselves. If they miss more words than that, or if they come upon many words they can’t correct, the book is probably too hard. In general, a “just right” text is one in which the reader can read almost all the words and correct their own mistakes.

More often than not, kids pick texts that are a little too hard for them. In some classrooms, I’ve found every kid reading above their independent reading level. If I’m going to make mistakes with reading levels, I want to err the other way and have kids reading books that are just below their level. At least they won’t be developing bad habits this way. But since I know that kids are inclined to pick books that are too hard, I make sure to get around to every kid for a quick “level check”, and to send those kids who’ve chosen books that are too difficult back to try again.

Using just speed and accuracy alone, I can make a good guess about the fit between a reader and a text. But using phrasing and expression helps me, and the student, make an even better determination:

• Phrasing. Some kids can decode fairly accurately, and even achieve reasonable speed, but their reading still doesn’t sound quite right. This makes reading level judgments harder. But by paying attention to a reader’s phrasing, I can get the additional information I need. If a kid can phrase a text naturally without practice, it might be too easy. At the other extreme, if a kid can’t phrase a long sentence, even with repeated practice, it’s probably too hard. If the text is “just right”, students can usually get their phrasing down much of the time, and can fix any sentence with a little practice, especially after hearing me read a few lines and mimicking what I do. In general, a “just right” text is one in which a reader can read with phrasing most of the time and correct phrasing problems easily when they occur.

• Expression. I don’t need to hear the full-throated expression of an actor on a stage but I do like to hear basic elements of expressive reading. Can the reader pause appropriately at periods and commas? Does the reader’s voice drop down a bit when sentences end with periods and up a bit when sentences end with question marks? Does the reader raise the pitch of her voice slightly higher for dialog to contrast the words of the speaker with the words of the narrator? If kids can do these things, even slightly, the text is probably within their range. In general, a “just right” text is one in which the reader can read with a small amount of expression related to ending punctuation, commas, and dialog.

Using speed, accuracy, phrasing, and expression, I can judge the reading levels of most kids. But sometimes there are other kids whose book choices require more careful assessment. Some kids, especially older ones we often classify as reluctant readers, have spent a lot of time in school trying to look like they’re reading when they probably aren’t. For kids who don’t read well, or who don’t like to read, “fake reading” is an essential survival skill that keeps them from getting into trouble. I certainly don’t want to punish these kids, or make them feel bad in any way, so I’ll need to take some time to learn more about their abilities and their feelings about reading before I know exactly what to do. I’ll let them know that my goal for them of finding a “just right” book isn’t going to change, and that I know it might take a little while for that to happen. I will also make sure they know that not reading during reading time is not an option and that I’ll be coming by to hear them read on a regular basis. In the meantime, I’ll encourage them to pick easier books so I can assess their reading ability in an authentic way.

• Understanding. Some kids can decode fairly accurately and even achieve reasonable fluency, yet have little understanding of what they read, even on a literal level. In this situation, the trick is for both reader and teacher to be able to talk about this without embarrassment. I do this by asking the kid to tell me what’s happening in their book where they are. Meanwhile, I look over their shoulder so I can read the book, too. As our discussion proceeds, I ask more and more detailed questions about things I notice in the text. I focus on literal comprehension. If a student can answer all the questions, I know they’re at least understanding things on a basic level. But if they give several wrong answers or, more commonly, if they shrug and say “I don’t know” a little too often, we can begin a discussion about whether or not they’re really reading and what we can do, by way of finding other books, to improve the situation. In general, a “just right” text is one in which the reader has an easy grasp of events and ideas at a literal level.

• Thinking. Most readers who understand a text on a literal level will be able to do some thinking about it after the fact. To assess this quickly in a reading level conference, I’ll try to get the reader to make inferences, predictions, connections, and other responses associated with higher-level thinking. I also like to have kids pose a question or two. This isn’t always natural for them, so I often prompt them by saying, “What do you wonder about?” and then I point them to a specific character or occurrence to focus their effort. In general, a “just right” text is one in which a reader can respond with a valid inference, a reasonable prediction, a connection to themselves or some aspect of life, or other evidence of higher-level thinking.

My intention here is not to tell kids which books they can read and which ones they can’t, though at first, this is often what I have to do. It’s to teach kids a process for making choices that will help them become better readers. The first time we pick books, I give them more latitude. I know most of them will pick books that are too hard. But I want them to experience what that’s like the first few times we conference. As we head into our second book, I’ll be more insistent. My goal is that every reader will be able to reliably choose a “just right” text during the first month we work together, and that as we head into the second month, kids will be able to use the six qualities to distinguish easy, hard, and “just right” texts almost as accurately as I can.