Return-Path: <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id iAOGo6Q09957; Wed, 24 Nov 2004 11:50:07 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 11:50:07 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <BAY22-F67E48B2B675FF6B9448BDCFB80@phx.gbl> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Eileen Eckert" <eileeneckert@hotmail.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:773] RE: 2nd-3rd GE plateau for ABE? X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 2319 Lines: 55 Jean, What a fascinating question. I know I've also heard that there's a qualitative shift around 3rd-4th grade in kids' reading. I thought it was something to do with kids' development, but I wonder if it has to do with reading skill. This is purely conjecture, based on observation of my daughter Emma and her friends (she started 4th grade this year), but it seems to me that in the past few months to a year, there has been a change in the way she reads. She's always loved reading and been a good reader in English and in Spanish, but now she loses herself in her books. Could it be that reading skill/fluency and the motivation provided by enjoyment of a good book reinforce each other, so that once you cross that threshold of being able to enjoy reading enough to stop noticing the mechanics (or being able to read fluently enough to let the decoding area of the brain go and enjoy it), reading skill starts to take off, and you start to improve more rapidly because you practice more because you enjoy it, in a spiral of increasing proficiency and love of reading? Just a thought, and a hypothesis that might be tested by helping people find reading materials they'd enjoy and practice reading for pleasure as homework, instead of practicing discrete skills. Maybe reading a really interesting book along with the same book on tape could help. Eileen Hi colleagues. Last night I was reading an article by a tutor who commented "People who can't read well consistently test at the second or third grade level regardless of age or schooling." Do you see validity in that? Have you seen that in your centers? I know as a past elementary teacher that there's a huge step up in that level. I'm wondering what the barrier could be for our students if this is indeed the plateau they hit the wall at. The article isn't from a scholarly publication, but one I found on a database (maybe even Google Scholar--check that out if you haven't yet) so I'm not sure who validated this besides the author, but it does seem to be a plausible hypothesis. I'd love to know what you think. The article: McKinney, Martha. At a loss for words: The desperate world of adult non-readers. ETC. Summer 2001, p 168-171 Thanks! Jean Marrapodi Providence Assembly of God Adult Learning Center Providence, RI
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