Kids Who Call the Words

by
Cheryl M. Sigmon

Have you ever had a child read aloud to you, calling all of the words perfectly? You're proud that
you've brought this child from being a non-reader to reading so fluently! Just as you're given
yourself a pat on the back for all of your hard work, you begin to talk with the child about what
he has just read--only to discover that he's totally and absolutely clueless about what he has just
read! How can this be?

Second grade teacher, Sharon, writes that, "I have a 2nd grade reading student who struggles
with reading words that he can spell and read individually but when it comes to reading those
same words in the context of a story he goes blank. He doesn't use the letter patterns he knows.
He stutters and struggles with the very same words he can spell and write fluently when looking
at the words individually. I'm confused. What can I do to get him to use what he knows when
reading the words in context? Please help. He's frustrated and so am I."

If this has happened to you, don't feel all alone! This word-calling practice is a rather common
occurrence that is not isolated to the lower grades. Many children develop the ability to decode
words as a fairly singular operation. Some may do this with a synthetic blending of sounds; some
learn to apply their knowledge of patterns and chunks to decode the words (which is the way
they'll do it in a 4-Blocks class). However they've learned to do it, they do it skillfully.

The big question that remains, however, is... Are these word-callers REALLY READING? If
you believe that reading is gathering meaning from printed words, then NO they aren't really
reading. They're doing one part of the complex process of reading which is decoding, but they
haven't achieved the most critical part of reading-comprehension.

Why has this happened to these children? There could be any number of reasons. One could be
something we've done. With good intentions, perhaps we've used running records or similar
methods of gathering information about a child's fluency level. We've sat beside a child and have
coded each error, correction, omission, and insertion. Kids are often painfully aware that their
oral reading is being scrutinized. Could it be that this practice of marking each utterance and our
attention to word-calling is translated by some kids as, "Hey! I must be very careful to say every
word carefully and correctly. That's what my teacher thinks is most important." We must be
careful not to over-emphasize precision and correctness in oral reading.

Another common practice associated with running records is over-administering this diagnostic,
evaluative tool. Some teachers attempt to complete running records as often as each week. Kids
just don't change that often in their fluency level or in their application of reading strategies.
These teachers are working way too hard and, most likely, for little if any benefit. Don't get me
wrong, though. Running records are great and can provide much useful documentation for
students' growth and for planning more effective lessons for individuals and for the whole class.

Over-emphasis and over-administration of running records certainly aren't the only reason why
kids learn to call words and not to comprehend text. Some kids actually don't understand that
their minds need to be engaged as the call the words. They don't know that they must actually be
thinking! Sounds so simple! They haven't grasped the intricacies of reading--the metacognitive
processes. Many students don't know that they must bring something to the text; they think that
they are to gather everything from the print itself. They don't understand how inferences are
made, how context clues are gathered, how syntax helps the reader derive meaning, and how
many other relationships are formed between the reader and the text. Once students come to
realize that all of these processes are occurring simultaneously as they call the words, then
making it all happen isn't easy either!

Just discussing what may have happened to these students won't help them develop as readers
rather than merely as proficient word-callers. We definitely have to find a solution. What can be
done for these students so that they won't be stuck in the word-calling stage? Here are several of
the ways that we address this in 4-Blocks:

First, we devote at least a quarter of our 4-Blocks time daily to comprehension. We emphasize to
kids that understanding the text is what reading really is all about. Each day we teach a
comprehension skill or strategy to kids during the pre-reading segment and then we allow them
time to practice and apply what we've taught them. They definitely learn how to engage in text
rather than merely call words. Hopefully teachers are guided in their classrooms by up-to-date
curriculum guides, offering the comprehension skills and strategies that are important to teach
kids at their grade level. (A great publication for teachers that will tell the valuable
comprehension skills and strategies, activities for teaching comprehension and diagnostic
information related to comprehension is the book Teaching Comprehension, A Handbook of
Strategies by Jerry Johns and Susan Davis Lenski.)

Second, besides teaching kids decoding skills in the Words Block, we have activities that will
teach kids how to process text. A good example of this would be Guess the Covered Word.
Several sentences (or a paragraph) are shared in which one word in each sentence is covered.
This should be a word about which kids can gather some contextual meaning. The students make
reasonable guesses about what they think the word is. Then, the teacher reveals the onset of the
word (every letter before the first vowel). Although some of the words make sense in the context
of the sentence, they may not start with that onset of letters, and so those guesses are eliminated
and more guesses are made. Once more guesses are made, the whole word is revealed. With this
simple activity, students come to realize that this is a process that they should use as they
read-"When you come to a word you don't know, ask yourself what makes sense in this sentence.
Then look at the first chunk of the word and get your mouth ready for this sound. Then look at
the whole word." They'll come to realize that a reader has constant choices to make as he reads
and that he must be thinking the whole time.

The Writing Block is another time that students are putting all of their knowledge about reading
together. Here they find that they can't put down a string of words disconnected from meaning.
They learn about many important connections between their ideas and the words that represent
those ideas.

In Self-Selected Reading, students will listen as the teacher models that connection again during
the read-aloud, read purely for the enjoyment of the students. It's all about meaning! Then, the
students will simulate what the teacher has done for them by choosing their own books for
enjoyment. Whether they can actually read all of the words in the beginning is not critical. They
can look at pictures and begin to gather meaning and can gradually add their knowledge of words
to do the same.

So, let's not panic when we notice that our students can call the words but don't have a clue what
they've read. Let's teach in 4-Blocks so that students will clearly understand what reading is all
about--meaning.

Training Opportunities:

Below are seminars (some 1 day and some 2 day ones) that I have coming up in the future.
Notice that I have a couple scheduled for "Beyond the Basics of 4-Blocks" where we'll look
closer at grading, conference skills, plugging in lessons, curriculum planning and other items.
That's in response to your requests.

Please know that I have a small group of really excellent folks who work along with me, too. We
do site-based work in schools and districts at your request. For their services, you can simply call
843-549-2684 and speak with Cathy Bell or visit her website at www.ergsc.com. We offer
various types of staff development: classroom demonstrations, on-site presentations, classroom
observations and feedback, and exploring 4-Blocks in more depth, among other offerings.

Location Date Sponsor

Carmel, IN October 25 ERG (1 day primary
advanced)
Batavia, NY October 27 ERG (1 day primary
advanced)
Portland, OR November 2 SDR
Seattle, WA November 3 SDR
Collinsville, IL November 9 ERG (upper grades, 4-6)
Boston, MA November 14 SDR
Cherry Hill, NJ November 15 SDR
San Francisco, CA November 28 SDR

Sacramento, CA November 29 SDR

Louisville, KY December 5 SDR
Atlanta , GA December 6 SDR
Orlando, FL February 13 SDR
Lexington, KY March 6 SDR
Minneapolis, MN March 7 SDR
Albuquerque, NM March 27 SDR

Phoenix, AZ March 28 SDR

Houston, TX April 3 SDR
San Antonio, TX April 4 SDR
Chicago, IL April 24 SDR
Detroit, MI April 25 SDR
Anaheim, CA May 9 SDR
Ontario, CA May 10 SDR

For ERG workshops, call 843-549-2684 or go to www.ergsc.com.

For SDR workshops, call 800-678-8908.

Hope to see you at a workshop soon!

Personal:

The draft of the upper grades 4-Blocks book has gone to the publisher at last! I'll keep you
posted on projected date of release. We still have revisions and editing to do-just like the kids
who publish in our 4-Blocks classrooms!

I had the pleasure of visiting a school in Huntington, IN, under the principalship of Jim Hollar.
Great things are happening there with 4-Blocks-upper and lower grades. It was wonderful to see
the "fruits" of our labors from the Indiana statewide training as these teachers were implementing
in their classrooms. I even had the opportunity to meet with a group of parents one evening to
talk with them about the model. What fun! Thanks to Jim for a great visit!

After a wonderful birthday celebration for my husband and me at Kiawah Island for a weekend
with friends and family (got to spend time with my grand-daughter!), I traveled on to
Gainesville, GA for 4 days of training with upper and lower grades. This Hall County district
likes to do things the right way. We had a great time together at the Community College. On my
numerous visits, I've learned many things about their local sites and culture (i.e., the chicken
statue in the middle of town, the entrepreneurial enterprise of poop-scooping! Ha!). Thanks to
Martha, Ann and a fabulous group of "good-hair" curriculum coordinators for their hospitality
and professionalism!

I'm off to Ohio to work with two school systems tomorrow and then right on to Germany to
spread 4-Blocks in that country! I'll send postcards! Have a great week!

Cheryl