My school ends off each week with Reading Buddies; the Grade 4's come in and read with the Grade 2's. It is always lovely to see and hear students reading to each other.
One week as I was walking around, supervising, I noticed two boys sitting in a corner not reading, but instead flipping through the pages, and looking at the pictures as fast as they could.
Well that would never due. I decided to walk over and ask, "Are you boys actually reading the book, or just flipping through the pictures?" The boys looked at me with wide eyes, knowing the jig was up they decided to be honest and just shook their heads.
I sat down with the boys and asked them to start from the beginning. Very shyly the forth grader began to read aloud. The boy read painfully slowly, and stumbled through the text. Honestly, he reminded me of myself, when I was younger I really struggled with reading. I knew exactly what to do, the only thing to do was:
· Be patient
· Gently correct him when he stumbled and encourage him to continue
When the boy finished reading the first page, I smiled. I told him that I did not understand why he had not been reading from the start, because he was a good reader. Then I stood up and walked away, but not before I saw the boy crack a proud smile.
After that, as I walked around, I kept an eye on the two boys. Every time I would look back to check on them I would catch them looking up to check on me, to see if I was still watching. Every time I caught them staring they would give the same sheepish grin, look down and continue reading. The boys kept checking to see if I still cared, and I did, so they did and they kept reading.
Interesting how all it takes to encourage students to do something is for someone to notice and to give some positive reinforcement. The smile that boy gave me when I told him that he was a good reader, told me that he didn't think he was and neither did anyone else. I guess he just needed to hear it to believe it.
One week as I was walking around, supervising, I noticed two boys sitting in a corner not reading, but instead flipping through the pages, and looking at the pictures as fast as they could.
Well that would never due. I decided to walk over and ask, "Are you boys actually reading the book, or just flipping through the pictures?" The boys looked at me with wide eyes, knowing the jig was up they decided to be honest and just shook their heads.
I sat down with the boys and asked them to start from the beginning. Very shyly the forth grader began to read aloud. The boy read painfully slowly, and stumbled through the text. Honestly, he reminded me of myself, when I was younger I really struggled with reading. I knew exactly what to do, the only thing to do was:
· Be patient
· Gently correct him when he stumbled and encourage him to continue
When the boy finished reading the first page, I smiled. I told him that I did not understand why he had not been reading from the start, because he was a good reader. Then I stood up and walked away, but not before I saw the boy crack a proud smile.
After that, as I walked around, I kept an eye on the two boys. Every time I would look back to check on them I would catch them looking up to check on me, to see if I was still watching. Every time I caught them staring they would give the same sheepish grin, look down and continue reading. The boys kept checking to see if I still cared, and I did, so they did and they kept reading.
Interesting how all it takes to encourage students to do something is for someone to notice and to give some positive reinforcement. The smile that boy gave me when I told him that he was a good reader, told me that he didn't think he was and neither did anyone else. I guess he just needed to hear it to believe it.