Reading Recovery

[Darrell Hershberger]

After reading this article, I am intrigued by “Reading Recovery,” a reading intervention program that seems to really work. Here’s a video that shows a teacher working on fluency.

But how do we get trained in Reading Recovery? The program and training seems only to be offered in public schools.

Any thoughts?

[Jonas Sauder]

Darrell’s reference to “reading recovery” cites two very helpful resources: an article and a video.
The video is one of several easily available on the subject of reading fluency. For example, a lecture by Dr. Timothy Rasinski’s on “The Essentials of Developing Reading Fluency” provides the following suggestions:

a. Fluency is the bridge between decoding words and reading comprehension. Students must develop “automaticity” (ability to read most words with minimal effort) so they are free to comprehend. They cannot effectively multi-task, which would be required if they are to labor over individual words and also comprehend accumulated content.
b. Prosody is his turn for expressiveness. Developing prosody is the key step between fluency and comprehension. Robotic, word by word reading is associated with poor comprehension.
c. The teacher’s modeling effective reading is critical to student learning. Talk about how you read it aloud to convey meaning. The reader must develop voice.
d. To develop prosody, students should repeatedly read a well-chosen selection until they can read it aloud effectively, with a fluency that illuminates the meaning. Poetry reading can be quite effective for developing fluency.
e. Finding one’s voice for effective reading is also key to developing writing skills—one must also write with voice.
In summary, for developing reading fluency, students should spend more time with fewer selections, developing the ability to read them with fluent expression rather than routinely plodding their way through new selections.

[Carolyn Martin]

I’ve heard of Reading Recovery from a former public school teacher, but don’t really have experience with it myself. I did find a book on Amazon that looks like it is a textbook for Reading Recovery by Marie M. Clay. It does say access codes and supplements not guaranteed for used copies.

I am thinking that any child who is having difficulty with reading would benefit from one-on-one strategic reading practice whether is was done according to approved methods or not. However, if one knows and understands a few key ideas to encourage the reading experience, the child may gain more benefit.

[Author]

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