Why use leveled reading material?
Imagine walking into a foreign language class for the first time. The teacher passes out a book in that language and expects you to read it. Then, she asks you question after question about the reading. Would you be successful in this environment? Probably not!
And yet..we do this to our students. We give them reading material that is not on their level and expect them to comprehend it. According to Marie Clay in her book entitled, An Observation Survey in Early Literacy Achievement, "The primary consideration in reading instruction should be the needs and strengths of each child.." If we only provide students with reading material that is above or below their level, how are we considering their needs and strengths?
Similarly, in the article, "Intervention All Day Long, New Hope for Struggling Readers", author Richard Allington explains that no matter how effective a lesson is, struggling students will be unable to master the content if they are not provided opportunities to practice skills in instructional level text. In other words, you may have the best lesson in the world, but if your students can't practice those skills and strategies in a meaningful way, they won't be successful.
So what does this mean for us? We need to find a way to put instructional level reading material in our students' hands. Need help finding this?
You've come to the right place.
And yet..we do this to our students. We give them reading material that is not on their level and expect them to comprehend it. According to Marie Clay in her book entitled, An Observation Survey in Early Literacy Achievement, "The primary consideration in reading instruction should be the needs and strengths of each child.." If we only provide students with reading material that is above or below their level, how are we considering their needs and strengths?
Similarly, in the article, "Intervention All Day Long, New Hope for Struggling Readers", author Richard Allington explains that no matter how effective a lesson is, struggling students will be unable to master the content if they are not provided opportunities to practice skills in instructional level text. In other words, you may have the best lesson in the world, but if your students can't practice those skills and strategies in a meaningful way, they won't be successful.
So what does this mean for us? We need to find a way to put instructional level reading material in our students' hands. Need help finding this?
You've come to the right place.
