I have a group of students in my class who I would describe as the weakest students. In light of our classes on ebooks I have allowed this group of students to explore level F on the site www.raz-kids.com, it is a great site and it is under the umbrella of learninga-z.com which includes site such as readinga-z.com which offers a plethora of books that you can download and print for your children there are also projectable books. I encourage anyone to subscribe to these sites, however, if you have a child at home I recommend raz-kids.com since it offers a host of ebooks along with questions. My group of weak students I allowed to explore their level, initially the children rushed at the activity every evening they would ask for the computer to work on their reading and time would be of no consequence. However, after some time their excitement ceased, they rarely ask for the computer and I had to ensure that it was done.
I was also beginning to feel that may be I was wasting time but from my readings the authors have always insisted that continuous reading will develop fluency which improves comprehension. I really hope this works because I really do not have the time to give them that they really need to improve drastically, in time for the exam.
Open to ideas that would not be a time constraint; a site I can perhaps allow students to use to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Take into consideration that these students have an exam to take next year.
Hi Teachermali
ReplyDeleteReading rockets has seven strategies for improving comprehension at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3479
I, particularly, like the final strategy of giving explicit instruction which involves a four stage process of
1. Direct explanation
2. Modeling
3. Guided practice
4. Application
Try practicing these 4 steps as well as the other 6 strategies, you should see some improvement in no time.