About Selecting Books

Multiple copies are needed of Guided Reading books and these need to be kept for Guided Reading activities. Generally speaking, Guided Reading books need to be unfamiliar to students to increase their motivation and allow them to use prediction strategies.

c) Independent and Home Reading

Independent and Home Reading provide opportunities for students to practice and apply reading skills and English Language they have learned in the classroom and at home by themselves. Students will probably need to be supervised and may need the support of a teacher or parent to help with difficult words.

When choosing readers teachers will need to consider that:

• the readers are at the Independent Level of the students, i.e. they can read approximately 95% or more of the text

• there is a variety of subject matter and text type.

There needs to be a variety of Independent Reading books available in the classroom at all times. There also needs to be a variety of books available for students to take home to read. It is a good idea for schools to have separate collections of books available for Guided, Independent and Home Reading.

d) Reading Aloud and Storytelling

Readers are a very important part of the reading programme and have been carefully designed to help develop a child’s reading ability. They have a specific purpose.

However books of ‘literary worth’ should also be considered as part of the reading programme.

Such a book has:

• text that uses English in clever, humorous or interesting ways, e.g. use of descriptive adjectives, more complex sentences

• text that uses literary devices, e.g. metaphors, similes, alliteration

• pictures that support the text in an original, humorous or interesting way

• pictures that tell more of a story or provide more information than the text provides.

These books of literary worth have other important purposes. They can be to inspire Storytelling or for Reading Aloud to students Also as soon as students have achieved a certain amount of reading ability students should be exposed to more books of

‘literary worth’ to read themselves.

Teachers are advised to go to book shops and libraries and select books that they like and they think their students would enjoy. They could ask other teachers for recommendations. You could ask a book shop to order in a recommended book, a library if they have it or you could try the internet.

7.3 Matching Students to Book Levels

1. Selecting and using the text

a) The 15 graded texts with comprehension questions for each will be used.

b) The student will begin by reading a Level 1 text.

c) The cumulative number of words to 100 and/or at the end of the text has been identified (see Matching Students to Book Levels CD ROM). These are needed to help calculate the reading levels.

2. Preparing students

a) One or two teachers may be needed to administer this exercise. If there are two teachers, one teacher will be the instructor; the other will be the recorder/ observer.

b) Fill in the school’s name, student’s name, class level, the name of the book and its level on the Student Recording sheet (see Matching Students to Book Levels CD ROM).

c) Put the student at ease.

d) Introduce yourselves if necessary.

e) Ask the student his/her name.

f) Give the student instructions, if necessary, in Cantonese.

g) Show the student the book. Briefly discuss the cover and what the book may be about. Together read the title, e.g. This book is called ‘The Party’.

Can you read that? It is about a birthday party. Tell me what you see here.

3. Listening to the student read

a) After discussing the book cover, say to the student, Now I would like you to read the story to me.

b) Listen to the student reading the text.

4. Checking Word Accuracy

1. Selecting the text

2. Preparing the student

4. Checking Word Accuracy

5. Checking Comprehension Accuracy

Record last successful level achieved

3. Listening to the student read

≥ 90%

< 75%

≥ 75%

Stop if reading

level below Level 1

Stop if reading level is above 11 Harder

text

< 90%

Easier text

To establish a Word Accuracy percentage, listen to and observe a student reading a text. Count the number of miscues. Miscues include:

• incorrect words (then instead of there)

• substitutions (big instead of large)

• omissions (leaving out a word)

• insertions (adding an extra word)

• words told by the teacher

• no response.

Make sure:

• each word is read correctly, but allow for a variation in pronunciation, as English will be the student’s second/foreign language

• that proper nouns misread, are only counted as one miscue, no matter how many times they occur again in the text

• words the student self-corrects are not counted as miscues.

a) If the student asks for help, say, What do you think it might be? Try it again. What would make sense? Can you sound it out? Will the picture give you a clue? Only say the word as a last resort. Told answers count as miscues. No teaching is needed.

b) Count the miscues and record the results on the Student Recording sheet at the end of the reading.

c) If the student reads at least ≥ 90% words accurately, they should also be able to answer at least 3 questions correctly to try the next level, i.e. ≥ 75%.

d) Use progressively harder texts until the student has reached frustration level (< 90% word accuracy or answers < 75% comprehension questions).

e) Record the Word Accuracy results on the Student Miscue Sheet for each book read. Use the Word Accuracy Table to calculate the Word Accuracy percentage.

f) Make sure the student leaves feeling positive about the experience.

Praise his or her efforts.

5. Checking Comprehension Accuracy

Use the Questioning sheet as a guide for asking questions. Students are required to answer one question from each of the four levels.

a) When asking a specific comprehension question, go to the relevant page and give the student a moment to revisit the text.

b) Ask the questions provided for each text (see Matching Students to Book Levels CD ROM). Repeat the question to make sure that it has been heard correctly and understood.

c) Ask the questions without any prompts or scaffolds (you may rephrase the question). This is to ensure the student’s comprehension level is determined as precisely as possible. It would be preferable for students to answer correctly Level One and Level Two questions before moving on to the higher levels.

d) Focus on the student’s understanding of the text. Accept answers which are grammatically incorrect. Sometimes a gesture will provide an answer.

e) Mark questions answered correctly on the Student Miscue Sheet.

f) Calculate the Comprehension Accuracy percentage. Use the Word Accuracy Table and the Student Recording sheet.

g) If the student has difficulty answering in English, Cantonese may be used to ask questions and may be used by the student to respond.

6. Interpreting the Results

The Word Accuracy and Comprehension Accuracy are used to indicate Reading Levels for students. The Reading Levels can then be used to help with the selection of books suitable for Independent, Guided and Home Reading. When the student’s Instructional and Independent Level are identified, record these on the Student Record Sheet.