I chose an article called Individualizing Guided Oral Reading Fluency Instruction for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders by Stephanie Al Otaiba and Mabel O. Rivera.
In the article they gave some specific advice for students with E/BD. Since almost every teacher will encounter students with E/BD I think this is a very important article for everyone to read. It describes something called "Matthew Effects." Matthew Effects is the phenomenon that makes it almost impossible for low achieving readers to catch up to high achieving readers since the high achievers are constantly learning and growing in their reading skills. I thought that was really interesting and an important issue to figure out how to address in your classroom.
They also emphasized that immediate reinforcement is what makes the crucial difference in repeated readings and guided readings. One suggestion that I really liked was to have a chart to encourage students to "beat their own time" on reading a passage.
I think its important to understand that all kids will be at different levels, regardless of whether they have a "disability/disorder" or not. I also think that while it is important to know each students' strengths and weaknesses, it is important that we are treating each child with respect, regardless of their ability. You have to be really careful of thinking of someone as a "good reader" or "bad reader" because kids will be able to very easily catch on to who the advanced and low level readers are in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think the "Matthew Effects" issue is important to think about when it comes to the way in which you instruct reading in class. I think this is where it is important to think about grouping in reading lessons. It is beneficial to group children based on their reading abilities and change your level of instruction.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the lower achieving students will most likely never be on the same level as the higher achieving students, but that is okay. It is important however that each child makes gains in their reading ability and that we as teachers support each one of them. Having ability based groups for guided reading is one of many ways to help every child in our classrooms.
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