Paired Reading: How To Beat The Summer Doldrums

Summer vacation is quickly coming to a close and by now many parents are ready to pull their hair out, because their little darlings have used the phrase "I'm bored" one too many times. My usual response to that statement is "go find a book to read." However, I have rediscovered the value of reading stories and books online. There are thousands of virtual books and stories that can be accessed on a computer or tablet. Many of them are animated and reading books on the computer is a wonderful way to combine learning, spending time together and fun.

I rediscovered this resource last week when I was blessed to spend time with my young nephew. He has some neurological concerns that make holding a book challenging. In spite of that, as soon as he uttered the word "bored" I opened up my laptop and we started reading. I pulled up a popular children's educational website, with animated story characters and the time flew by! We had so much fun that he did not want to stop reading. I can still hear him laughing at the animated characters each time we reread the short story.

What made our time together even more significant, was that I was able to use the same reading strategies that I've used in the classroom with actual books. We were able to work on his vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and pacing using the computer. I was even able to conduct an informal reading assessment, to gage his independent reading level. The computer has many amazing applications such as a highlighting tool to emphasize unfamiliar words, and audio devices to read stories out loud. These mechanisms can be quite effective to use when implementing reading strategies, and thankfully most of them are quite simple to use.

Here are some tips that will not only help beat the summer doldrums, but will enable you to spend some quality time with your children. When new stories are introduced, these strategies will help prevent stress during reading sessions and promote good reading habits.

1. To avoid frustrating struggling readers, choose stories that are on or slightly below the student's independent reading ability. (Once the student gains confidence in their reading ability, the level of difficulty can be gradually increased.)

2. Make sure struggling reader1s have a buddy when reading stories on the computer. This can be a parent, or older sibling. (If you don't have the time or the patience, consider hiring a college student in the neighborhood to sit and read with your child for no more than ninety minutes per session.)

3. Have students look at the pictures first, and ask them to make a prediction about what is going to happen in the story.

4. Next identify any sight words or vocabulary that might be challenging for the student. Say the word and ask the student if they can find the word on the page.

Example: soft 

Parent Asks: Can you find the word soft? 

Parent sounds out the word: s-o-f-t

If the story is appropriate for the child's reading level there should not be many difficult words.

5. Parents or buddy readers should read each new sentence at least two times while the student listens. Place your finger on the screen and tap under each word as you read. Next, read the sentence two more times along with the student. Finally, allow the student to read the sentence independently. The next time the story is read the student should be allowed to read to the parent or buddy reader.

If this article has been helpful to you, or if you know anyone who struggles to read, please feel free to pass it on.

Happy Reading! 

Nori

New Teacher Tips on How to Use Jigsaw Reading Activities to Cater to Mixed Ability Classes | Reading Comprehension Stories

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Jigsaw (I and II) 

In Jigsaw I, the teacher divides a reading comprehension into four or 5 components. The teacher should check that that every a part of the text may be scan and understood severally from the remainder of the text. the category is split into teams of 4, (ideally) referred to as the skilled teams. every cluster is then given one a part of the text to find out severally. The task of those teams is to make sure that every member of the cluster understands his/her a part of the fabric which s/he are going to be able to teach it to others in his/her cluster. the scholars ought to be to blame for each vocabulary and content and a worksheet ought to be ready by the teacher so as to assist the scholars.

The next step involves redividing students into their HOME teams. In every of those teams, there'll be one student representing every of the skilled teams. every member of the cluster currently teaches the remainder of the cluster concerning the section s/he simply examine. solely in the end the members have reportable to the cluster do the scholars apprehend what the passage is concerning. the scholars will then either answer the queries within the book or work on a worksheet ready by the teacher.

Since this methodology of cluster work involves peer teaching, even all-time low activity student will actively participate, whereas the stronger students reinforce their data by teaching it to others. every student, notwithstanding what his or her level of English is, includes a very important piece of data, required by the opposite members of the cluster. This issue contributes to the student's confidence and vanity. 

Jigsaw II
The same text is used by all the students. Each expert group is assigned a different topic which the text relates to. For example, if the text is a short story which has been read in class, then different topics could include:
a) scan text/story for people, places and number and then categorize into groups. (lower performing students)
a) to summarize the content (middle group)
b) to write about the different characters (middle to strong)
c) to find out information about the author (strong)
d) to look up background information about the place
where the story takes place or historical background
As in Jigsaw I, after completing the task in the EXPERT groups, the students are redivided into the HOME groups, where they each report back to the group and then complete a task prepared by the teacher, requiring the students to relate to all of the topics.

S.T.A.D.(Student Teams Achievement Division)
STAD is another cooperative learning technique which is made up of five components: class presentation by the teacher, teams for peer teaching, quizzes based on group scores, individual improvement scores which allow the lower performing student to contribute as many, if not more points than the stronger students because the points are given for improvement, and team recognition.

The idea behind STAD is that the teacher divides the class into mixed groups of ability. He or she teaches the material (ie. a grammar point) frontally. Then, in groups, the students practice the material based on worksheets prepared by the teacher or exercises in the students' textbooks, with the students helping one another, and/or re-teaching the material when necessary. The students are then tested individually. Each student is given improvement points and the total number of improvement points for each group is calculated. The teacher then informs the class of the results. STAD can be a very beneficial learning experience as students can help one another, practice together and become very involved in the inter-group competition.