Developing Comprehension

I never realized that reading comprehension is a process that has to be taught and especially modeled by teachers.  We want students to automatically use comprehension strategies while reading. But this isn't an automatic process, it has to be taught. Teachers gradually transfer the responsibility of thinking onto students. Eventually students are able to comprehend readings on their own as their teacher watches. This gradual process can take a week or a year. I especially liked the sequence provided by the book. I found a video that represents most of the steps in the sequence. 

1. I do, you watch
2. I do, you help
3. You do, I help
4. You do, I watch

Rick's Reading Workshop: Mini-Lesson

This is a great video showing a 5th grade teacher modeling thinking aloud during a focus lesson http://www.pinterest.com/pin/59813501274339560/

What steps did the video represent?
How would you model these steps?
What activities can you do while modeling these steps? 

Reading Fluency

Growing evidence shows that reading fluency greatly influences a student's reading success. One-minute fluency measures can get quick results and are valid and reliable. This type of assessment sounds great, but I believe quick assessments can be too stressful for some students thus affecting performance. We should be less concerned about assessments and start thinking about incorporating more fluency exercises throughout the school day. This is important because students need practice in order to improve.  Practice is the only method that is beneficial to both high and low achieving students. I found that Pinterest is a great site for ideas. The number of fluency activities alone are overwhelming. I have included some of my personal favorites below: 

Sight Words Candyland

Website

            
                    

        Cookie Thief Game                                        Sight Word Bingo    

Questions:
Would you use one-minute assessments in your classroom?
How would you incorporate fluency exercises throughout the school day?
How would you differentiate exercises for student's varying needs?

Making Words

Cunningham and Cunningham made it clear that invented spelling is essential.  I've seen 1st graders do this and I always wondered why teachers were not concerned with the spelling. It finally makes sense! If children are freely choosing to write to express themselves then why should we stop them?  The Making Words activity that the authors provided seemed very challenging to me.  Teachers would need to dedicate a lot of time to plan the activity and come up with all the possible words. Personally, I found it challenging to come up with words with only a handful of letters.  The activity is challenging but I can see how students could enjoy it.  The internal rewards from working so hard can be very encouraging to young children. This article made me wonder about strategies that other teachers use to teach this material. Below is a video where a teacher turns a spelling lesson into a game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=qh0Sb2SC_38

Questions to Consider: Can you come up with another activity that is just as effective?