Teaching Reading: Strategies, Systems, Materials
Recently I attended a Vermont Council on Reading conference at the Stoweflake Inn. Marjorie Lipson a well-known professor/researcher in the area of reading, currently teaches at UVM and speaks to teachers around the country about her research and publications. Below are a few details I found most interesting from her talk.
- Basal readers are too formulaic for the reading to be generalized.
- Vocabulary does predict comprehension in third grade on up.
- Phonological awareness (the ability to flexibly work with sounds…words…sentences predicts second and third grade reading accomplishments.
- Fewer than a third of all fourth and eighth graders are consider proficient readers.
- Between one-fourth and one-third are below basic level.
- The teaching of phonics and syllabication determines one’s ability to recognize words.
- Development of word meaning is important in the acquisition of obtaining new vocabulary.
- A limited vocabulary entering fourth grade is likely to cause significant difficulties in reading comprehension.
- Prior knowledge of words and their meanings, helps the reader figure out new words.
- Teaching the habit of reading is paramount and should be accomplished by sustained silent reading at a time rate appropriate for the age level.
- Teaching phonics should be over by grade 2, decoding automatically, reading age and grade appropriate materials, and teaching fluency should be a focus for grade 3, working on syllabication and morphology, and having the habit of reading should happen from grade 4 on.
Just food for thought. I found it fascinating and affirming that vocabulary determines success in comprehension in the middle grades because it is a love and focus of my teaching. We just completed our cards for the songs we will be singing at the second assembly in November. Each person conducted his or her own research around his or her word of choice. Some chose to identify suffixes that could be used with the base word, wrote stories using the word properly, included the definition, the quote from the song, categorized, etc. It is definitely this type of work that will increase the learners understanding of the English language.
At the conference, I received some samples of short books that were recommended for increasing fluency and comprehension. I also order a few others when I returned home. The set of six books comes with a lesson plan and graphic organizers that help the reader understand the work. I am really excited to use them with the class.
