RMSE-LA 4-5 students’ oral reading of their writing

In RMSE-LA 4-5 after the students have written, the teacher calls on a few students to read what they have written. The teacher will point out specific problems and engage the class in attending to mistakes as well as to aspects that are good. The rules to follow are:

1. The teacher calls on a mix of higher and lower performing students.

They do not call on lower performers unless they know that there are very few mistakes.

2. The teacher makes sure students attend to the passage that is being orally read.

They direct students to raise their hand if they hear a problem. The teacher models the behaviour that they want students to follow by raising their hand when they hear a problem.

3. The teacher establishes the rule that students are not to make fun of another student’s writing.

They also reinforce with students that making mistakes is a part of the writing process. Making mistakes is an important part of the learning process and should not be thought of as a bad thing.

4. The teacher makes sure that students receive specific information about their mistake and how to fix or revise all mistakes.

5. As the student reads aloud the teacher determines if the student followed the given directions and if the sentences are correctly worded.

The teacher praises or gives corrective feedback for not following directions. For specific wording problems the teacher provides alternative wording or calls on a student for their suggestion.

6. The teacher reminds students they are working on difficult materials and that within this context, mistakes are not a symbol of failure.

Turn to page 30 in RMSE-LA 4 Teacher’s Guide and page 18 in RMSE-LA 5 to review student’s oral reading of passages and sentences.