Early+reading+and+assesment

When learning to read children can go through what is called a "scaffold approach" in which teachers go from being in full control to having children participate in both reading and writing. There are different stages to the scaffold approach and they are the same for both reading and writing. Firstly there is modelled reading this is were a teachers models how to read by doing so aloud to the class. The selected texts for modelled reading are usually texts that are more complex than children can read but the idea is to engage at such a level as to introduce the idea of character development, plot setting in fiction stories and how information is formed in factual texts. "Apart from allowing children to engage with powerful literature and information texts, teacher read aloud provides syntax models, vocabulary and meanings that children may not hear in everyday conversations but which then become part of their talk and writing. They begin to speak and write using the figurative language and complex sentence structures they have heard when the teacher reads aloud" ( Hill, 2006, pg73). The shared reading experience gives more oppitunity to the children to participate in the reading process although it will still be mainly dominated by the teacher. The teacher may choose to focus on one key learning area for the text whether it be the use of puncuation or grammer, identifying particular words or perhaps they might focus on how a particular text type is read. Below is a link to a clip from the youtube website that demonstrates how the shared reading experience can be used within the classroom environment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP0bh55hfBk

The next step in the scaffold approach is guided reading. Guided reading takes place in smaller groups of around 4-6 children who will all have a copy of the text and will usually begin with a discussion of the text and what they think the text is going to be about. That is usually followed by everybody going through the book and talking about any new words that they come accross. While going through the book the teacher may discuss with the children things such as the storyline, the illustrations and what they might be saying the teacher may also ask questions regaurding to things such as sentence structure. Once all this has been done it is then time for each student to read the text individually aloud and the teacher can move slowly through the group taking note of each persons reading capability and assessing progress. It's a good oppitunity for teachers to pick up any students that are having particular difficulty with the text and can then allow some one on one time with that particular student in order to help them out.

Independent reading follows guided reading and this is the stage in which children are encouraged to read texts at their individual level for sustained periods of time.

Obviously assesment of childrens reading is something that must be done in all stages of the scaffold approach and is something that must be regulated in order to maintain fair levels of assesment thoughout the class. Running records are one way to moniter learning and can also be used to see if a particular text is at the right level of difficulty for a child. They are also very good when used over time as a way to record student progression and how they go about takling words not known to them yet. below is an example of how running records may be used with children.

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