The Khan Academy bills itself as "The free classroom for the world." This useful website has video lessons and interactive exercises galore - math is highlighted, but there are lots of lessons in other disciplines (science, economics, history...) and they range from introductory to advanced. Take a look at this PBS NewsHour feature, then then go check it out yourself!
I tried out a few of the interactive math exercises - addition and multiplication. There's a helpful map on the first screen that organizes the math exercises, so students can see the progression of math concepts and select the appropriate exercise. The math exercises I investigated were all drills, so they would mainly be useful for children who just needed to bone up on their math facts. It could be that other exercises are more sophisticated, but I haven't delved deeply into the exercises section. Of course, those kids with comprehension problems can take a look at the lessons, too.
The main drawback of this site is that it requires a computer with internet access to utilize. While we assume that everyone is wired in this day and age, I have found that a lot of kids in my main placement school face significant challenges gaining access to computers. For your kids who do have computers, I'd recommend taking a look at this helpful site.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
chunking
While we're having a great time with our second grade buddy, Lisa*, Susan's and my session with her didn't go as smoothly as it could have last week. Our buddy just doesn't seem to enjoy reading. She likes books, loves talking about books, and clearly enjoys being read to. However, when reading a book herself, she frustrates easily and doesn't make sustained attempts at decoding unknown words. After a sentence or two, she's ready to move on to something else and has an arsenal full of diversionary tactics waiting to be deployed. As a result of this, our attempt to do a running record with her wasn't successful -- even though we had selected easier books for our session than the ones we looked at the week prior. Lisa was still struggling or still reticent to read, or a little of both.
On more than a few occasions, when encouraged, Lisa would try chunking the words she didn't know. She wasn't always successful, even with words that seemed particularly amenable to a chunking strategy, like compound words. Reading Fox, and looking back at a specific instance where Lisa was trying to decode by chunking, I think I might see why she was unsuccessful. On one occasion, she wanted to decode a word by chunking it, and wanted Susan to cover one portion while she decoded the other. I can't recall the exact word, but her strategy progressed along the lines of taking a word such as "nothing" and trying to chunk it into "not" and "hing" or "no" and "hing," ignoring the "t". (Susan, if you're still reading my blog, correct me in the comments!) Fox said something that seems to make sense of what was going on here.
Fox (2008) states that using "the multiletter strategy hinges on identifying chunks" in words (p. 180). However, when using this strategy, readers have to know which letters form viable chunks and which do not. Readers, Fox tells us, "use their knowledge of letter-sound patterns to determine the letters in new words that are most likely to belong in groups" (p. 180). This is a skill that must be practiced. I had a bit of an "aha moment" when I read this, because it seemed to identify why Lisa was struggling when attempting a chunking strategy. Either she has not had enough practice honing her chunking skills, or she hasn't yet mastered letter-sound and analogy strategies.
I am curious whether Lisa receives extra reading help. It's clear she's been taught strategies to help her decode new words, and while she both tried and experienced a level of success with of some of these strategies during our time together, her stamina is low. I am not sure if offering an even easier book to read will spark a desire to read more, but I'm hoping so, and will try some easier books when we meet tomorrow.
*pseudonym
On more than a few occasions, when encouraged, Lisa would try chunking the words she didn't know. She wasn't always successful, even with words that seemed particularly amenable to a chunking strategy, like compound words. Reading Fox, and looking back at a specific instance where Lisa was trying to decode by chunking, I think I might see why she was unsuccessful. On one occasion, she wanted to decode a word by chunking it, and wanted Susan to cover one portion while she decoded the other. I can't recall the exact word, but her strategy progressed along the lines of taking a word such as "nothing" and trying to chunk it into "not" and "hing" or "no" and "hing," ignoring the "t". (Susan, if you're still reading my blog, correct me in the comments!) Fox said something that seems to make sense of what was going on here.
Fox (2008) states that using "the multiletter strategy hinges on identifying chunks" in words (p. 180). However, when using this strategy, readers have to know which letters form viable chunks and which do not. Readers, Fox tells us, "use their knowledge of letter-sound patterns to determine the letters in new words that are most likely to belong in groups" (p. 180). This is a skill that must be practiced. I had a bit of an "aha moment" when I read this, because it seemed to identify why Lisa was struggling when attempting a chunking strategy. Either she has not had enough practice honing her chunking skills, or she hasn't yet mastered letter-sound and analogy strategies.
I am curious whether Lisa receives extra reading help. It's clear she's been taught strategies to help her decode new words, and while she both tried and experienced a level of success with of some of these strategies during our time together, her stamina is low. I am not sure if offering an even easier book to read will spark a desire to read more, but I'm hoping so, and will try some easier books when we meet tomorrow.
*pseudonym
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