Module 2 Instructional Challenge

Take a look at the following examples of children's dialect-based miscues while reading and the difference between the child's original response (OR) and expected reponse (ER). Then answer the questions that follow.

OR: It my little monkey here.	ER: Is my little monkey here?
OR: We got to tell.	ER: We've got to tell.
OR: Frog look at Toad calendar.	ER: Frog looked at Toad's calendar.
OR: A word what sounded good.	ER: A word that sounded good.
OR: hisself	ER: himself
OR: I can come to your party?	ER: Can I come to your party?

Are these children's miscues evidence of proficient or non-proficient reading? Explain. If you were teaching children who made these miscues, what, if any, assistance or teaching would you offer? Post your thoughts to your blog. Name this blog posting "Module 2: Instructional Challenge."

            I do not think that the miscues that these children are making make them any less of a proficient reader. I think that they are just reading in a way that they would talk. These students are just used to the dialect that they talk in. Thinking about the reading from this module we read that students in order to be a proficient reader do not necessarily have to read every single word on the page just right. They just have to gain meaning from what they read. If I am talking to a child in proper English it is possible that they may not understand what I am talking about if they are used to another dialect. 

             When I think about teaching students that may make miscues like this I do not think that we as teachers should stop them in the middle of the reading just to correct something that is in their dialect  If they understand what they are reading and they are comprehending it then I do not see a problem with it. 

             At the school that I work at we have a large number of Hispanic children. Many times when they are reading they will reverse words. They sometimes put the adjective last. They may read a sentence "She has a car red." The student will gain meaning that she has a red car but it may come out in a different way but I do not think it makes them a non-proficient reader. 

          I think that reading the way that they speak will go away as the students grow and I do not think that it is something that we need to dwell on in the early years. I think with experience they will read what is on the page and not what they would say themselves.