Amy Hines

Content Literacy
Goodbye Round Robin
You are asked to respond to the following questions. Feel free to use your textbook as
you reflect on the information. The point of the assignment is to know what you have
learned from this text.
1.

Share in your own words the authors explanation of reading. Why is it

necessary to understand this?
Reading is comprised of three parts. It is language which includes semantics,
syntactics, and graphophonics, second it is a cognitive process where readers
predict what they think the text is about to convey, and third reading is a social
activity where readers use pragmatics. It is necessary to understand these
processes because this is how students will learn and determines the information
you will use to teach reading.
2. What is round robin and why is it used in many classrooms?
Round robin is simply moving from one child to the next and have the students
read aloud a portion of a text the entire class is reading. It is used in the
classroom because it is so prevalent. Others stated they used round robin for
classroom management issues.
3. Is oral reading important? Share the reasons discussed in the text.
Yes oral reading is important. Children need both types of reading oral and silent
reading to become strategic readersreaders who use linguistic cues, pragmatics
and cognitive cues to ensure that comprehension occurs. Some examples are
when oral reading is used in response to a request or those who share a poem on
Poets Night at the local bookstore or coffee house. Also as parents we are called
upon to read aloud to our children.
4. What are some of the problems associated with round robin reading?
Some problems with round robin reading is how it makes students feel. Some
students get sick to their stomachs when they are expected to read in front of
others, their hands and voices can tremble uncontrollably. By making children
feel this way it gives them the wrong idea about reading. Many children do not
follow along when round robin reading is taking place or they are reading ahead
to rehearse their part. The big problem with this is that if students are not reading
an entire text their comprehension of the content will be very low.
5. How can oral reading be used when working with struggling readers?
Describe two of the strategies shared and how you might use these in the
classroom.
One strategy that can help struggling readers by using oral reading would be to
develop their listening comprehension and vocabulary. The book states that
research suggest that children increase their vocabularies by merely listening to
stories read aloud, even without teacher explanation of word meanings. I would

use this in my classroom by having the students read a chapter in a content area,
then have the students get in groups of 2-3 and have them read aloud to each
other. A second strategy that can be used with struggling readers is a think aloud.
A think aloud helps students see that reading is about comprehension and that
readers can and do use a variety of strategies to overcome hurdles that interfere
with meaning. You could use a non-fiction text in your classroom, read the text
aloud and verbalize your thoughts while reading the text aloud. Since the teacher
is doing everything verbally the students are able to see how experienced readers
read to ensure comprehension.
6. Why is oral reading important for comprehension? Describe two strategies
you might use to develop comprehension.
Oral reading is important for comprehension because we need to teach students
how to use strategies that will help them convey the authors intended message.
Two strategies that you could use to do this is a think aloud that can be used to
show readers how background knowledge can help us understand a text, and a
second strategy is Look for the Signals that shows children how different marking
on a page can affect just how they read, what to emphasize, where to pause, where
to stopenabling them to interpret the authors intended meaning.
7. What are the key words to remember when using oral reading for sharing
and performance? Describe two of the strategies shared and how you might
use these in the classroom.
Preparation and audience are two key words to keep in mind when using these
oral reading strategies. Two strategies are Revised Radio Reading and Shared
Book Experience. In a Revised Radio Reading students perform preselected
portions of a text that they have had the opportunity to rehearse. While one reader
readstaking on the role of the radio announcerothers take on the role of
listeners in much the same way as people might listen to a story told over the
radio. In a Shared Book Experience the teacher reads a text to children and
invites them to read along when they can. Both teacher and students read orally
using a book large enough for all to see. The teacher can use the experience to
focus on reading left to right and reading top to bottom. Repeated readings and
discussions will help student learn to read with expression and allow for deeper
levels of comprehension.