For the Love of Progress Monitoring

For the Love of Progress Monitoring

The child in the clip art above looks excited to be reading, but a lot of students do not look forward to reading -- especially when they are being assessed on their fluency, accuracy, and retelling abilities(DIBELS, Etc.).

How do we get our students excited about reading and performing well on these types of reading assessments?  

I struggled with this!  I knew the kiddos needed to get excited to show growth, but I couldn't figure out how to get them there. Then...it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Kiddos LOVE honesty and openness.  

The students needed to know the goal they needed to reach.  So, I told them.  Each student (who payed attention lol!) knew that by the end of the year they needed to read 47 WPM, have 90% accuracy, and needed to retell three details in order back to me (1st grade goals). I know! That is a lot, but the students loved knowing! I then began being asked, "Mrs. Summers! What was my score!" This is where you can't be afraid to say, "You could have done better with _______" BUT! Do not just stop there.  You need to follow this up with HOW to fix it.  They want to please you, and the only way they can is if you give them the tools and resources to do so.

1. Show them how many words they need to have read in one minute. (In 1st grade they must read 47 WPM by the end of the year.)

This is a great visual and they loved getting to use highlighters! During intervention time, I always gave my students three turns.  Each time they read they put the number that corresponded with that read above their stopping place. So, they stopped at the word "practice" on their first read -- put a number one above that word.  This would also show me if their was inconsistency within their reading.  If the student's numbers were in order, it shows growth -- if not in order, it shows the inconsistency. 

2. Teach the students tracking!!!!  

This sounds silly, but it is a life saver for them when it comes time for testing.  Students lose their place while reading...if they aren't tracking.  Have the students use their dominant hand.  Place their pointer finger on the first word.  Say the first words as a whole group, then whisper the first word as a whole group, and then altogether say "Track!" This is their cue to start reading and your cue to get up and monitor their tracking.  TIP: Do not let students use other classroom objects to track.  They will not have these materials available to them when progress monitoring. BUT, they do have their fingers!

3. What does a minute feel like?

Give the students an opportunity to see what a minute feels like.  Set a timer for one minute, but do not make it visual to them. (They won't be able to view the timer during their test.) Give them a simple task, like draw a picture on their whiteboard.  This provides them with a concrete feeling of a minute of time for a task.  Then, expose reading for a minute.  I did this during my intervention time, while the students did their three reads.  Each read was a minute long.  As the teacher, you should read for a minute in front of the students...its actually not that easy -- and good for the students to see you struggle!

I begged, borrowed, and stole some of these tips and tricks.  All for the love of progress monitoring! Use and accommodate what you want!