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現代教育通訊 70期 前期教訊:
從教改精神看 —— 延伸閱讀、系統評估初探:Shared Reading and Supported Reading
Shared Reading and Supported Reading
◎Lynn Taylor-Roehm
  Ms Taylor-Roehm shares her expertise in a Read Smart Workshop on 15 May 2004

Speaker: Lynn Taylor-Roehm
Lynn Taylor-Roehm is currently an independent educational consultant working with Mimosa Publications. Her experience has included classroom teaching in Canada with children ages 5-12, acting as the Literacy Consultant for a large Canadian School Board and conducting in-service session for many teachers across Canada and the United States on both literacy and learning. Lynn has also worked on the development of several published literacy programmes for young children and worked in Australia for two years with noted New Zealand educator Margaret Mooney. She has spoken at International Reading Conferences in New Orleans, Saskatoon, Regina, Halifax and Vancouver and is an active member of IRA and ASCD.

Being an ESL teacher
In Canada we have a bilingual education system where the children receive literacy instruction in both English and French. For several years I was the English teacher at a French Immersion school where we did similar things to what you are doing - 30-45 minutes a day of English instruction for the students in the French Immersion setting. With this combination of things, I would say that I can relate to the directions you are taking with new material and your method of teaching English to your students.

Developing a literacy programme
I think the goal, for all teachers, is to develop a successful literacy programme, and to that end, I would like you to try an activity that I have used with a number of children. That is to use a KWL chart. The 'K' in KWL stands for things you 'know' about the topic, the 'W' stands for things that you 'want to know' and the 'L' stands for the things that you have 'learnt'. So, would you take a piece of paper, and just take a minute to write down two things that you know about a successful literacy programme.

One of the concerns about starting a new programme is implementation. I would suggest going slowly, step by step. Once I worked with an early-childhood educator, and she used the analogy of a staircase. When you jump in and try to get to the first step; you are bound to fall back. Start thinking about what is the one step that you can work out. Stop where you are comfortable, then take the next step and move on.

I would say that a successful literacy programme basically consists of four major components:

  1. Different teaching approaches included in a programme;
  2. Opportunities to link subject information and literacy across curriculum areas;
  3. A wide range of different genres and text types;
  4. An awareness of the needs of students providing materials that students can read and the opportunity to work with these materials.
  Incorporating teaching approaches
The five teaching approaches that are already incorporated in the 'Read Smart' materials, are one of the ways that I see to meet that goal we all have the goals of getting our students to move from a level of reading and writing where they need a lot of support to independent reading.

There is a continuum on which children learn. Children move from 'supported' to 'independent' through the 5 teaching approaches. We begin with'reading aloud' and 'storytelling', which are followed by 'shared reading', 'supported reading', and ' independent reading' accordingly.

Reading Aloud
In 'reading aloud', we can do a lot of things to support the readers. Notice how much of the support is from the teacher in this teaching approach but we also can give the children the opportunities to be part of the reading. Children need to have those demonstrations of what fluent language is and they need to see people read fluently with expression.

As we look at the other teaching approaches - shared, guided and independent - you are going to find that if children do not have the background experiences, any material is not going to be that easy for them. 'Reading aloud' gives children an opportunity to understand and for us to get their interest in reading. After time, if the teacher reads a story aloud, it will be the first book the children choose when it is time for independent reading.

Storytelling
'Storytelling' is actually an excellent way of teaching children about language. When I began my talk with a story, I was able to give you an opportunity to do some kind of internal understanding of language, making it a part of your own experience and to begin predicting what might happen next. We know that good readers always predict and use their knowledge to confirm. That is the strategy of predicting and confirming.

Shared reading
Now, look at 'shared reading'. What is the difference between 'reading to children' and 'shared reading'? 'Shared reading' still has a lot of support from the teacher but the children are beginning to take more responsibility for getting the meaning from the text and they are beginning to take part in the idea of comprehending words and reading along.

'Shared reading' is simply the teacher and the children interacting with the text and being engaged in things that are meaningful and enjoyable, such as the stories about Mrs. Wishy-Washy. When we do 'shared reading', we are working with larger groups of children. With a big book, the text is enlarged so that every child can see the text themselves and is able to follow along. Shared reading takes place over several days. You come back to the book again and again and in every reading you are looking at another aspect of the text. Shared reading is excellent for children who are learning English as a second language because they are being supported in an environment where their teacher and their peers are reading with them.

'Shared reading' is the opportunity for teachers to actually model the strategies that readers are going to use. Much of the research now is talking about the metacognition - simply 'how we know what we know'. Teachers needed to actually articulate that concept to the children. While you are doing 'shared reading', you really have that opportunity to share with your students what you do when you come to word that you do not know.

Before you begin reading the story, you will do things like predicting and getting the kids familiar with the kind of text that they are reading as well as making some predictions. But you also want to make sure that you have that opportunity to come back to the text while you are doing the reading. The first reading should always be for pleasure. Read the story as naturally as you can without stopping. As you do this, encourage the children to join in. One of the reasons that books today are so highly and so carefully illustrated is to really make sure that the children can see all the pictures and be able to use them to help get the meaning from the text.

In subsequent re-readings of the text, there are many, many ways in which you can get the children to come back to the text. For example, The Fisherman and His Wife has lots of opportunities. While you are simply reading the story, then the children follow along with you. You might have the kids just read the repeated words. You could have two groups of children reading alternative pages. The class could be divided into two groups , one reads one page, and then the other reads the next page. You might have the children try reading just the direct speech, so you have the direct words of the wife to the fisherman. Another method would be to have a narrator reads the words that are not actual speech. You can have it as the boys being the fisherman and the girls being the wife. Then, obviously you flip that all around, so that we would not get any stereotypes going in your classroom.

The point is - you can use a 'shared reading' book over and over again. You can also do a lot of writing with it, many different kinds of activities that get children thinking about expressing themselves through writing.

Supported reading or guided reading
In'supported reading', children are now becoming more independent, more self-sufficient as they look at a text. But the teacher is always there to provide that scaffolding. 'Supported reading' is sometimes called 'guided reading' and there teachers work with children in groups of 6-8 children depending on what age level or key stage level they are at. When using this approach, it is best to use a book that can be anywhere between 90-96% successfully read.

Why would we use the'supported reading' strategy? We look at it as the second opportunity to model or to demonstrate good reading strategies for children to learn reading skills and strategies in smaller groups. By working in a supported reading environment, we really are giving children the opportunity to become confident and capable readers.

As we prepare for a 'shared reading', there are really three things that we need to do in a supported reading class. First of all, know the text; next they need to know their students; and third they need to understand the reading process. If you are familiar with the continuum that I showed - that represents a part of the knowledge of understanding the reading process. When you look at the text, each book needs to be looked at in terms of what you know about your students. You want to look at the book and see what are the things in that book that would support the readers. There are many things and features of the texts that will make it easier for children to read the materials. But there are also things and features of the books that will make it more difficult or more challenging. As you read the text becoming familiar with the book itself, you can determine what are the things that will make it easier for the children to read the text and what are the things that will make it harder for them. Once you know what things are the challenges, then you build your lesson around making sure the children have the knowledge they need to overcome those challenges.

You know your children as well, and will know which book would be right for them. Some of you are familiar with taking running records, and looking at how to match children to a particular level of book. But you can also use an oral reading sample. If you are worried whether your children can meet that level, you have them simply read a page or two from one of those texts which would give you an idea whether they would be comfortable in that book as well. So there needs to be some planning on your part to get started on the 'supported reading' session.

In the 'Kites' books, you will find that there is always information to help you know 'which are the features that will be difficult for your students and which will be a little easier'.

If you think your students will not be familiar with the vocabulary in a text, you will begin by preparing an activity that will look at that. You choose a text; focus the children on the meaning of the words and the vocabulary. You may do some activities like brainstorming, or learning a new song.

One of the first things that I learnt when I started doing 'guided reading' or 'supported reading' is that the most important part of that approach is the pre-reading. Make sure the children have all the information they needed, that they have the oral vocabulary and that you help them build the necessary background experience. One example might be to do some predicting about the text based on the title or the cover illustration.

Independent reading
The last of the five teaching approaches that 'Read Smart' supports is 'independent reading'. Again, what you know is that children need the opportunity to practice, to have the opportunity to read materials themselves. As you think about the continuum which moves from lots of support from the teacher to being more independent, children need time to practice. So the fifth approach in the 'Read Smart' collection is that children will read independently.

Integrating language instruction
Research is really saying that language instruction needs to be integrated. Children need to have the opportunities to hear the language, to use it orally, to speak and to talk. They need opportunities to see writing coming out of their reading, so that reading, writing, speaking and listening are all integrated. Research also support the notion that 'time on the task' relates to success. It is something that I found really important when I worked with my English students in a French Immersion setting. Children needed to spend time on task, meaning they have to spend a lot of time in the English class simply talking and reading and using literacy materials, so that they could become successful readers and writers.

Using the right materials
Interesting, motivating and, engaging material is another critical aspect to having a successful literacy classroom. I think, with the materials that are pulled together in a 'Read Smart' programme, you are going to find that everyone of the books is motivating, engaging and exciting for children. We need to make sure that the activities and the things that we do with children are interesting and purposeful.

Children also need to know what their goals are. If we are to actually 'read smart' and help children become successful, we have to make sure our language instruction is integrated, engaging and that children want to work.