For comments and questions, contact:
University School
20701 Brantley Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44122
|
 What is a "balanced reading program"?
When I was growing up, my mother always told me to eat a balanced diet. That meant having foods from all the basic food groups (something green, white, and brown, in her interpretation) at each meal. She must have been right, since she's still winning at golf at age 90! The concept of balance nowadays invades every aspect of our lives -- nutrition, athletics, fine wines, work teams, etc. -- and is nowhere no more important than in a good reading program. Many people interpret a balanced reading program as one that has oral reading, shared reading, individual reading, and small-group reading throughout the school day. While these are important facets of a balanced reading program, there are more aspects of balance in a strong reading program:
- Balance between teacher directed and student directed activities
In order for a student to be actively engaged in an activity, and thereby to derive the most learning from it, he must plan and direct his own learning much of the time. Research is one activity that forces students to take the initiative and follow through independently. Without teacher direction, however, the student is not stretched to think beyond his own capabilities, and learning can become stagnant. Therefore, it is important for a teacher to strike a balance between directing and allowing students to direct classroom work, so that optimal learning and individual motivation is achieved.
- Balance between whole group and individual instruction
In an optimal world, every student would receive instruction at the moment of impact -- that is, at the moment that the student needs the information in order to accomplish a task. Unfortunately, in a class of 20 or more students, that utopian ideal is not possible. Whole group instruction, then, becomes the only way a vast majority of instruction is delivered in the most efficient way. Realizing that a teacher is not always able to respond as well as possible to the needs of individuals, specifically those at the top or the bottom of the group, a good teacher balances the whole group with individual instruction in order to reach each student at his or her level.
- Balance between content and skills.
A content-rich environment is a wonderful place to learn. The study of themes or topics in depth encourages students to become engaged in their learning, and provides the purpose for learning. Engaging in theme studies to the exclusion of teaching skills, however, does not provide the academic skills that will be applied throughout schooling (and life.) Along with learning how to conduct inquiry, and learning about different cultures, environments, arts, and events, students must learn how to conduct research, read for information and understanding, and write and edit a sentence and paragraph. It is essential that the teacher achieve a balance between teaching the skills necessary at each level, and giving many opportunities to apply those skills in a meaningful content.
- Balance between ability groups and heterogeneous groups
Every classroom contains students of varying levels of proficiency in all subjects, sometimes a span of several grade levels. Hopefully, every student has some area in which he can contribute to the group; it is the teacher's job to help each student become a contributing member of the group. For many activities, students can be grouped heterogeneously, with a mixture of strong and weaker readers, leaders and followers, artistic and non-artistic, consensus-builders and entrepreneurs. For others, however, it is essential that the groups be determined by ability or skill level; the advanced students need to be challenged, and the weaker students often need a different kind of instruction. Nobody becomes a better reader by reading material at frustration level. At the same time, studies have shown that often times the weaker students are placed in groups that engage in less reading (and thus less practice) than those in advanced students, thereby continuing to stay in the lowest groups. The challenge for every teacher is to find the balance between giving instruction at an appropriate level in ability groups, and allowing each student to engage and learn from others in a group of mixed ability.
- Balance between meaning, syntax, phonics and sight recognition
A good reading teacher encourages her students to monitor his own reading by drawing upon the various cueing systems (meaning, syntax, phonics and sight words) simultaneously as he reads, and to cross-check one against another. Through her prompts as the student reads, she is drawing his attention to one or another cueing system. "Does that make sense?" directs the student to the meaning system, "Does that sound right?" directs his attention to the syntax, and "Does that look right?" directs his attention to the phonics and word knowledge system. The most effective readers are those who are flexible, moving quickly from one system to the other, attending to meaning, listening to the language, and looking at the print at the same time to see if they all match. It is the teacher's job to make sure the student is using all the cueing systems in a balanced way.
Answers to the FAQs about Reading have been prepared by Dozie Herbruck, former Learning Specialist at University School.
|
|
