Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Reading aloud fluency issue

In my experience, elementary teachers as a population do not do well with change. They struggle when new curricula are introduced, they get anxious when asked to do new class/school-wide assessments, even asking them to write their lesson plans in a new format throws them for a loop.

This thread began with the comment that your school had recently changed to IRLA as its reading leveling system. I would suspect that the teachers in your son's school are not completely comfortable with using the leveling system, and consequently can't explain how and why it is supposed to work, because they don't fully understand it themselves. Like many people who are insecure, but feel they have to present a front of authority, they may bluster or handwave through initial questions, and then backpedal or "reframe" (aka, lie) when confronted with inconsistencies.

Knowing that insecurity is probably playing a major role in the decision-making of the people involved, it may help to find ways to allow them to keep "face"(the illusion of competence and authority) while steering them toward appropriate placements and instruction for your child.

Thanks so much , Aeh! I sent an email to the teacher to clarify for sure that all other requirements were more than met... Once she answers and if she answeres yes, as I am pretty sure she will as that is what she said at the meeting, I think I am going to ask if we can explore ways to address that issue without holding him back ... I sat down and 'taught' him how to read with expression (I'm pretty sure that is the majority of the problem as he tends to read as its run-on sentence). I bet if she retests him with a new read he'll do fine. He just had to be taught ... I remember being taught explicitly hoe to read aloud... It seems he's never been "taught" and he needed to be 😊

So, just to let you know how it all turned out, I emailed teacher to clarify for sure that all other requirements were more than met... And, she responded that DS is actually on the higher level, that fluency is only one piece of reading, and that she will continue to check in with DS on the fluency piece to make sure it is not impacting his comprehension down the road. She said his strengths in comprehension and vocabulary showed that the higher level is a comfortable level for him. She said that regarding the misunderstanding that DS had been moved/placed on the lower level, she had just wanted to make sure that he was still open to reading lower level text as he continues to build comprehension skills and strategies in all areas of reading comprehension, depending on the skill being worked on but that he is not actually or officially on that lower level.

???

So odd... I am not sure what the heck gets lost in translation but now it's all been a sort-of misunderstanding and he can read the higher level books and he is on the higher level. I end up wondering if I am getting dementia or something because clearly I missed/misheard/misundertood something. Or I hope she didn't just move him to higher level because I started asking about it. I really just wanted to know where he is suppose to be, if that is truly the proper level for him based on how he tested and if not, what is causing regression. I did not want her to move him just because I started asking questions . The only thing that helps me feel slightly more sane (but not much) was DS got the same impression - i.e., that he was not on the higher level due to his testing and was not permitted to read the books labeled as that level.

Interestingly, DS just found out today that two other children who had thought and who had told him were on the same level as he are now on the lower level... The children seem reluctant to discuss why they are no longer on the higher level (were they moved down? why? or were they never really on that level in the first place?) So, he is not sure if they were moved down or if they were never on the level to begin with or what. Also in library or something the librarian told him no one in his class is above black level (grade level) on reading - he responded that he is and he is pretty sure at least one other student is and she responded that she would check but that she is pretty sure that all children in his class were reported as being at the grade level and not above.

I am suspicious. I wonder if she really did just want all the kiddos "on grade level" (not above) for some reason... or if she is being encouraged to do that by administration.

Anyway, I guess all is well that ends well. But wow... I feel like someone of my intelligence (not that I am discovering cancer or anything by any means but I have graduate level education and am pretty strong in verbal intelligence and communication) should not have this much trouble understanding 4th grade reading system.

I doubt they understand either, they are probably just making things up as they go along. I found out at conferences last spring that DS hadn't even been doing his reading assignments in class. He was spending all of his time reading his own books that he brought in from home. Then when he went to go meet with his reading group, he had no idea what anyone was talking about and therefore didn't participate and he didn't have his sheets/reports filled out. And no one thought to intervene? (the reason he didn't do the reading assignments is because he thinks the passages are short, silly, and babyish, although supposedly they were two-three grade levels ahead, so who knows).

I guess. This teacher is new to this grade this year (formerly was a second grade teacher)... And the IRLA system is new to the school as a whole (just started last year). So, quite possible she is still finding her way ... Still. Looks like her first way of getting a handle on things is to make sure all of her students are right on grade level...

That seems to be a common theme at the schools. God forbid you give a student reading material that might be too challenging.