I have a student that reads choppy. He reads “The dog ran into the house and sat down on the couch. The spaces are where he pauses and seems to collect himself to go on. I’ve tried Fry phrases, having him repeat after me as I read it and he still reads like that. Any help would be great.
Hi Theresa!
This is going to sound really weird, but I had a student who was doing a very similar thing. I tried all of the “tricks” and such and basically ran out of ideas – kind of like where you are.
At one point I asked him “Why do you stop in between each word?” and he said, “My 1st grade teacher told me to take a breath before each word and so I do.”
It was a “DUH!” moment for me.
So…I know this is super simplistic, but have you asked him why he does this?
I have found (in my own teaching and in others who teach beginning readers) that sometimes we do these dramatic things like pausing after every word in the beginning of teaching reading to create a big emphasis as kids are learning something new, but then we forget to tell them to stop doing it. Or, as teachers, we forget to remove the crutch we put in in the beginning.
What do you think?
J
I have a student that reads choppy. He reads “The dog ran into the house and sat down on the couch. The spaces are where he pauses and seems to collect himself to go on. I’ve tried Fry phrases, having him repeat after me as I read it and he still reads like that. Any help would be great.
Hi Theresa!
This is going to sound really weird, but I had a student who was doing a very similar thing. I tried all of the “tricks” and such and basically ran out of ideas – kind of like where you are.
At one point I asked him “Why do you stop in between each word?” and he said, “My 1st grade teacher told me to take a breath before each word and so I do.”
It was a “DUH!” moment for me.
So…I know this is super simplistic, but have you asked him why he does this?
I have found (in my own teaching and in others who teach beginning readers) that sometimes we do these dramatic things like pausing after every word in the beginning of teaching reading to create a big emphasis as kids are learning something new, but then we forget to tell them to stop doing it. Or, as teachers, we forget to remove the crutch we put in in the beginning.
What do you think?
J