Remedial Reading Chatboard

Susan Are you referring to the Rigby PM Benchmark Assessments? If so, these are extremely unscientific and do not provide an accurate assessment of students' reading levels. If you're simply looking for a quick ballpark level it's fine. The test is very subjective, especially on the comprehension section. What one teacher would not accept as a correct an...See MoreAre you referring to the Rigby PM Benchmark Assessments? If so, these are extremely unscientific and do not provide an accurate assessment of students' reading levels. If you're simply looking for a quick ballpark level it's fine. The test is very subjective, especially on the comprehension section. What one teacher would not accept as a correct answer, another teacher might give full credit. Also, the teacher administering the assessment must be able to take running records proficiently because, again, what one teacher may count as an error in the student's oral reading, another teacher might not even notice! You must administer it individually....if you do it within the classroom other students will hear the stories along with the answers given by the student being tested. You don't need any special skills or training to administer the assessment but you should be able to take a running record proficiently. If you have never seen it, it consists of a passage which the student reads aloud while you take a running record of his errors. If he did well on the oral reading, continue to the comprehension section; if he did poorly on the oral reading, drop down a level....don't even bother to do the comprehension section. The student does a retelling of the story and answers five comprehension questions about the story. He may look back in the story. If the student's final score is 95% or above, this is his "easy" level and you may continue on to the next level (this is up to you). If he scored between 90-94% that's his instuctional level....this is usually the level you are looking to find. If he scored below 90% keep dropping until you find his instructional level (90%-94%). If you want an accurate assessment for students with dyslexia, you might try the Woodcock Mastery Tests....there is a number of sub-tests that combine to provide a reading level. The Slingerland is a good assessment but does not give a reading level; it focuses on the student's strengths and weaknesses so you can plan instruction or remediation.

On 5/31/12, Gilda wrote: > Will someone please give my a quick PM Benchmarking for > dummies? I am the 5th and 6th grade dyslexia > interventionist. I have never taught outside of 5th and 6th > grade other than to teach my own children. Our district > feeds from 4 elementary campus' to one Intermediate School > 5th and 6th and then on to a Middle School 7th and 8th > before High School. > > The elementary schools monitor their students with PM > benchmarking. Since I am not familiar with PM benchmarking, > the numbers I get from the 4th grade don't mean a whole lot > to me. I am required to do QRi-5 and Bader with a fluency > rate from the Bader. I have the impression that the PM > numbers may or may not be accurate of how the student's > perform. I am going to have to serve 33 5th graders in > three groups and 15 6th graders in two groups. The students > will be placed in a class in the next week. It's hard to > make changes when we get back in August. The whole > situation is less than ideal. I don't know anything about > the 33 upcoming 5th graders other than their last PM > benchmark. > > My main question is, "How scientific is PM benchmarking?" > And if there is something better out there that can be used > K-8 for monitoring dyslexic students and sharing > information from school to school, what is it?

Jun 3, 2012

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Teaching Reading

by lostsubteacher

Jun 10, 2012

Hi again,

I did really well in my English courses, and, to me, a lot of the literature and reading assignments are just common sense, and I've found it very difficult to slow down and explain key concepts when I'm reading to the students. I don't know if it's because I'm not preparing enough or if I simply do not know how to prepare to te...See More

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Retired Reading Teacher If you're working with remedial readers don't assume that they understand. They most likely lack critical thinking skills such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, thinking outside the box , etc. The first thing I would suggest is giving them a purpose for reading. In other words, tell them you want them to read up to page 7 to find out why M...See MoreIf you're working with remedial readers don't assume that they understand. They most likely lack critical thinking skills such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, thinking outside the box , etc. The first thing I would suggest is giving them a purpose for reading. In other words, tell them you want them to read up to page 7 to find out why Mr. Smith left the light on. As they're reading they will be searching for the answer. It keeps them focused and thinking. When they finish reading you can listen to their answers and have a discussion. Also, they should always be able to support their answers. They should be able to go back into the story and find evidence to spport their answer, otherwise they will just be pulling answers out of the air. They should also "make movies in their minds". They should "see" the characters, setting, etc....it will help them remember. You can also have them use post-its as they read. When they come to something they don't understand, something they wonder about, something they enjoyed, something that reminds them of something, etc. they stick a post-it on the page. You can include the questions or comments that are written on their post-its in your discussion. This is a start...hope it answered your question. Good luck!

ou are having your discussion yOn 6/10/12, lostsubteacher wrote: > Hi again, > > I did really well in my English courses, and, to me, a lot > of the literature and reading assignments are just common > sense, and I've found it very difficult to slow down and > explain key concepts when I'm reading to the students. I > don't know if it's because I'm not preparing enough or if I > simply do not know how to prepare to teach reading. I find > that frequently I skip over key points that need to be > explained, because I don't even recognize that they need to > be explained. Working with a class full of students is very > different than helping students one-on-one, because I don't > get instant feedback, and there's not a lot of questioning. > What should I do to make myself more clear? How do I figure > out which parts of a text need to be summarized and > explained for the students? What should I do to develop > this technique?

Jun 10, 2012

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Nicole/MO There is a great book that you can download for free that really goes over the latest effective, research based approaches to reading instruction very well. It is over 120 pages, however. I usually don't print out a publication so long, but this was a great review before my Reading Specialist certification exam. I used the lowest print setting and ...See More

Aug 29, 2012

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Advanced DRP

by PA SPED

Jun 16, 2012

I am looking for a sample of the Advanced Degree of Power Reading assessment(6-12), but cannot find anything on the www, except a few references that this assessment exsists. The DRP is included in the Language! Reading program which I am currently using, but I'd like to see this advanced assessment for comparison. The product website only includes...See More

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Spanish bilingual reading teachers in demand in IL?

by Lola

Jun 29, 2012

Are Spanish bilingual reading teachers in demand in IL? I'm considering getting a masters in reading or becoming reading specialist.

I have 10 yrs. of exp. as a Spanish and l.a. teacher, so it seems like a natural transition. It would def. be a sacrifice (time and money), so I need to get some idea as to how in demand this would be in ord...See More

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Simple, fast and free litersacy support for any text

by Stephen

Jul 1, 2012

Hi LessonWriter.com is the only service in the world that automatically creates reading support material (vocab, pronunciation, word-building and grammar) from any text in minutes. Just paste the text into LessonWriter and follow the simple step-by-step process. I hope it makes your life easier! Thanks Stephen

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