reading

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Home : 2004 : November : 21

reading
By ms.w.

It seems like every grade for reading does pertain to comprehension: story tests, review questions, summaries, story maps, etc.

I use independent book reports as part of the reading grade. There are so many ways to do
reports; check online for ideas. You can do make a rubric or use points.
For oral reading, I was stumped in my first year, but now in my fourth, I'm pleased with how I grade oral reading. The series comes with a "formal" one minute oral reading assessment that breaks the students into quartiles. It's not very thorough. I listen to each student every week in a small heterogenous

group, or on a tape that they have recorded in a group, and assign a 0-10 point grade; 8 being C or average. For the quarter, I have at least 8 grades to average, and find it is a fair way to assess. It makes up for days when students are tired or have colds or whatever.

It is important to put your highest readers in a group with your lowest because then they can hear what better reading sounds like from students, not teachers. Also, using a microphone and tape recorder is well worth the investment of about $30. My bilingual students suddenly blossomed because they could hear themselves back and laugh and improve. The tape recorder and microphone also act as a monitor for a small group while you're with another group.

Also, an excellent reference is Dr. Fry's Informal Reading Assessments. If you haven't counted out one hundred word passages in college or high school to find reading levels on his graph, it's something you should do. You could do that as an assessment. Take three passages at different levels, and have students read them. I believe Scholastic publishes it.