Okay . . . so students need to be reading at their
Instructional Level in order to learn new skills. How do I know what their
Instructional Level is?
Trust me . . . this is not a dumb question! Most primary
teachers assess their own students reading levels. Intermediate teachers (say 3rd
-5th grade) most likely assess their own students or have a Reading
Specialist or a Literacy Coach who helps assess students. Beyond that – in Middle
School and High School – the vast majority of teachers probably have no idea
about their students’ reading levels. This makes no sense, as those grades are
significantly important for increasing reading strategies. If students leave
high school with little or no help, they are not likely to get help. Ever. So,
once a child hits middle school, we only have a few years to help them put more
strategies in their toolbox . . . yet, those are the very years that most
teachers don’t know their students’ reading levels and don’t know how to help
students who are reading below grade level. Help!?!
I’m going to fill my blog with strategies to increase
students reading skills and help . . . but first things first: You have a
struggling reader or a resistant reader. How do you assess the student’s
Independent, Instructional, and Frustration reading levels so you can help him
move forward? Here are a few ideas . . .
1 – Get ahold of the student’s elementary teachers and ask
for the most recent reading assessments, including grade levels. Every student should
have records somewhere. Depending on the school district, some students may
have been assessed as recently as 5th or 6th grade . . .
other students may not have had a reading assessment (to determine grade level)
since 3rd grade. But track down the most recent records possible.
Scour the records for grade-level, reading-level, and the reading strategies
the student was most recently working on.
2 – If your district has a Reading Specialist or a Literacy
Coach, ask this person to assess your struggling student(s) and give you a copy
of the results in writing. Even if the person in this position does not work in
your building or with your grade level, (s)he may be willing to help. Approach
this from a student-centered perspective: “I have some students who seem to be
reading below grade level. I want to help them, but I need to know what level
they’re reading at so I know the best way to help. I know you are beyond busy,
but this is out of my area of expertise. Can I recruit you to help me assess
their reading levels so I can help these students make greater progress this
year? I’ll do all the work afterwards . . . I just need to know their current
reading levels so I have a place to start.”
Be the squeaky wheel until you get a reply. Of course, it
may help to accompany your request with a couple of nice tea bags, a pack of
colorful sticky notes, a mini candy bar, or a can of soda. Something that
communicates to this teacher, “I know you’re busy and I’m asking you to go out
of your way to help me help my students. I really appreciate your willingness
to help. Here’s a small token of my appreciation.”
3 – Find a reading tutor who may be willing to volunteer to
assess your students and give you the results in writing in exchange for a
recommendation letter for his or her tutoring business.
4 – Contact a local college or university and ask if their
education students – those who are in a course on literacy or teaching reading
-- can come to your class for half a day to help assess your students’ reading
levels. Many college professors would jump at the opportunity to give their
students such real-world practice.
5 – If all else fails, you can try to on-line assessment
available through Reading A-Z, found here:
One thing to keep in mind with on-line assessments or
do-it-yourself assessments is that you really need to understand how to
complete a Running Reading Record. There is a skill to completing these
accurately. The above website has a link to help you review or teach yourself .
. . however, if you have not been formally trained in Running Reading Records,
your results will not be completely accurate. If you’re in a position in which
you really have no other resources, then a close approximation of a student’s
reading level is better than no knowledge whatsoever.
Don’t be overwhelmed or intimidated! It takes a bit of time
and effort to learn your struggling readers’ instructional reading levels . . .
but the payoff is HUGE! Once you have answers, you can meet your student where
she is at . . . which means you can help her move forward and actually learn
new skills and strategies to increase her reading ability! Nothing is more
rewarding for a teacher or more life-changing for a student than that!
Photo used with parental permission
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