Marcus frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of a word. His substitutions do not sound grammatically correct or make any sense. Based on this information about Marcus, I have a few suggestions as to how a teacher can best help him make fewer miscues and become a more accurate reader.
Guided Reading is a wonderful way to help a student like Marcus. Guided Reading refers to placing students into groups based on their reading needs. In a class, Marcus would be placed with other students having similar reading troubles, and the teacher would focus on working with beginning sounds and possibly chunking words. The teacher could also focus on comprehension strategies since his substitutions do not make sense in the story. If he has a better understanding of the text, he will catch himself making substitutions that do not go along with a story. For example, if the story was about Cinderella, Marcus might catch himself reading carpet instead of carriage. They have the same first three letters, but Cinderella wouldn't get into a carpet. These strategies could help Marcus immensely.
I would also provide a listening center where Marcus can follow along in a book while listening to a recording of the text. By listening to the text, Marcus can hear exactly how each word is pronounced and catch himself if he was reading it incorrectly. Weaver also discusses the importance of providing a reading tape that is slightly faster than the readers abilities. I would encourage Marcus to listen to the tape multiple times while following along, in order to practice fluency. Once Marcus feels confident in the story given to him, I would ask him to read a few pages to me. I would listen to see if any miscues still exists and listen for the improvement in his reading ability. I would also ask him comprehension questions. He struggled with comprehension since he substituted words that don't make sense in the story. I would want to ensure that he is comprehending and not just fixing the miscues he was making.
Lastly, I think Marcus could benefit from reading with a buddy. When two students read together, they can help each other with words they are not familiar with. They will catch each others miscues and help one another with comprehending the story. I would ask that the students pause after every one to two pages and discuss what has occurred so far. I believe this strategy will help Marcus with this understanding of letter sounds as well as reading comprehension.
Madison, I thought your strategies would be very helpful for Marcus. I thought a conference would be the best fit for the first comprehensive literacy strategy. I believe the teacher should have an in depth conference with him so that she could intervene in the best way. I agree with him partner reading because that will allow him to hear someone else read. I would assign Marcus to a listening center too. Since he is having trouble with miscues, listening to a story read without miscues would benefit him greatly.
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