I've been having a wonderful time getting to know my buddy, E. He has welcomed my partner and I with smiles and loads of information each time we've been able to visit with him. He shares his interests, skills, and strengths willingly. In school, he likes math the best, although he excels in all subjects that we've seen. His communication is entertaining and exciting; I'm always looking forward to what things I will learn of him next! Amongst his many talents, his reading and writing are exceptional! Although he doesn't claim it's his favorite, he does spend a lot of time immersing himself in both. His favorites are fantasy, fiction, and futuristic style of reading and writing.We were able to get through both the 4th grade reading passages and he scored solidly in the 75th percentile! Only making one or two miscues in each passage! His comprehension is good, and his retell is impressive. Details of the text stay in his memory seemingly effortless.
This last session with E finally revealed something we can work on with him. His comprehension was excellent with explicit questions; however, the implicit questions strained him. He was able to get about half of them right without looking back into the text. When able to look back he found implicit answers quickly and used good strategies to look through the text quickly to help him find the place of interest to the question.
I would like to work with E on his implicit comprehension. Inference skills are always in need for improvement with readers of all levels. I would like to work with E in a book that is favorable to him; a fantasy or futuristic style book would probably be the best. I would like to take the time to slow his reading down and prompt his thinking of the text. E's reading is fast and he is usally eager to hear the story, so he might be missing key parts of the text that allow inference to be embedded. Using prompting questions, predictions, and slowing him down would help him grasp the hidden, deeper meanings that texts can hold.
What have you learned about your buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?
As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your lesson?
This last session with E finally revealed something we can work on with him. His comprehension was excellent with explicit questions; however, the implicit questions strained him. He was able to get about half of them right without looking back into the text. When able to look back he found implicit answers quickly and used good strategies to look through the text quickly to help him find the place of interest to the question.
I would like to work with E on his implicit comprehension. Inference skills are always in need for improvement with readers of all levels. I would like to work with E in a book that is favorable to him; a fantasy or futuristic style book would probably be the best. I would like to take the time to slow his reading down and prompt his thinking of the text. E's reading is fast and he is usally eager to hear the story, so he might be missing key parts of the text that allow inference to be embedded. Using prompting questions, predictions, and slowing him down would help him grasp the hidden, deeper meanings that texts can hold.
What have you learned about your buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?
As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your lesson?
Caliber,
ReplyDeleteAs we share a buddy, my thoughts on E mirror your own. We agree that inferencing is this area he most needs work on. Questions I am currently thinking about: Why is inferencing the most important reading skill for us to teach him right not? What text will we use - using a futuristic style book (which he loves) may be challenging for inferencing depending on the content? Also, how will we get him excited about the lesson and have him "buy in" to the importance of inferencing when he has mentioned his distaste for it?
It sounds like inference is a good place to focus a lesson. It also seems that text selection is crucial--an interesting topic with lots of intriguing things to have to infer! A short story? Something with a startling ending similar to that of The Censors?
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have benefited from knowing his interests, that's great! It gives you a place to start when planning your lessons with him. I agree with you that for many people, making inferences can sometimes be the most difficult part when reading. I think that you are right about stopping him when he's reading to check on his inferences and/or predictions. This will hopefully get E to slow down, if that's what it takes to comprehend whatever he is reading.
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