With our last meeting, I am convinced that my buddy has difficulty being able to focus. I would not say he has ADD or needs medication, but it is obvious he has trouble staying on task. This hinders his ability to comprehend what he reads. At our first meetings I thought he was a great reader. With our last meeting I was surprised at his reading speed. I already realized his comprehension was lacking, but he did not read as fast as I thought he would. This could be again because he has such a hard time staying on task. For our next meeting I will try the third grade texts. I will give him an option. He reads fast enough that I want to allow him to read silently if we have that option.
Last week in Science class, a co-teacher demonstrated a beautiful visualizing technique as a comprehension strategy. She asked kids to close their eyes to imagine what they just saw in their experiment. The red water, gently floating like a cloud, drifting upward. Try describing in vivid, colorful detail the last sentence or paragraph of what you just read together. Be outrageous in your comparisons to what the story reminds you of! Marshal (p 193.) tells a story of a Jersey cow named Georgette on top of the Empire State building, wearing yellow underwear, making a connect the dot drawing of Marylin Monroe with a pencil. An odd image to have stuck in my head.
ReplyDeleteWhat other information have you gained about your buddy across dimensions of reading? What are his interests and/or strengths? What kind of strategy (Tovani, Routman, Cooper) might you weave into a lesson to help improve is reading skills and comprehension? How might you use a think aloud?
ReplyDeleteHave you had a chance to do a reading assessment with a book of your buddy's choice or at least a book your buddy would be interested in? I wonder if the topic was more appealing to him that he might be able to pay more attention and then have stronger reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteAlso, were you able to develop a lesson based on your buddy's needs?