#miscueanalysis

[missdbridges]

fewer miscues has traditionally been taken to indicate a better reader, it could also indicate a reader who goes so slowly to avoid miscues that efficiency is sacrificed

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 9  A Portrait of the reader

This really made me think about when I was working one on one with my small teacher.  The student was reading slowly and never making a miscue.  I never thought about why that was until now.  If a student is going to slowly to try to get everything correct, then something will be missed.  This was so helpful to learn about but even if you have a student that you think can read very well, they might not be because they are loosing the efficiency that they could have.  If a teacher does not have any miscues to code after a reading then that will deteriorate the ways that we can get to understand the "strengths, strategies, and possible future growth" of the student (Wilde pg. 80). 

- Quote on pg. 84 -

[missdbridges]

Self-correction is a tool for preserving or regaining meaning after it's been compromised by a miscue, a tool that good readers use productively.

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 8  Coding Miscues

There were so many great great quotes this week. This one was one of my favorites.  I never thought of self correcting while reading as a tool.  After i read this i started to realise that students self correct without even thinking about it.  Not only that but they also do it to help preserve meaning of the text. This also relates back to the quote that "All readers make miscues, and error-free reading comes only at the cost of sacrificing speed and efficiency." (Wilde pg.74).  Students are always going to make miscues.  They are making miscues to preserve that meaning, and if they aren't making those miscues then they are sacrificing those two components of reading and those two components are essential to meaning making as well.  

- Quote on pg. 63 -

[missdbridges]

Retrospective Miscue Analysis - it consists of asking readers to listen to the tape of their own miscues and helping them think about what they hear and further develop their strategies.

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 7 Conducting Good Retellings

Reflecting back on Chapter 6, "it never hurts to have the reading available on tape" definitely correlates with retrospective miscue analysis (Wilde pg. 37).  I think this is such a great idea!  Actually getting the students to see what miscues they make and to let them hear how they sound when they read would be such a great idea to get them to take control of their own reading and learning and to help themselves think of strategies.  It also is such "a powerful tool since the reader chooses miscues to think about" (Wilde pg. 60).  What the reader sees as a miscue might be something totally different from what the teacher would notice.  The reader might hold more accountability when seeing their own miscues in front of them.  Then as a team the teacher and the reader could discuss strategies that would correlate well with the miscues that are made.  I would just love to do this!  Then the students would actually see what the teacher sees.

- Quote on pg. 60 - 

[missdbridges]

I can't emphasize too strongly that the most important aspect of miscue analysis is it's influence on teachers' thinking, and that you need to have implemented the entire procedure, not just read about it, to truly understand it.

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde 

Chapter 6  Recording What Readers Do

This quote, just like the previous quotes from previous chapters in this book really hit hard on the fact that you need to really know the entire procedure in order to understand what and why you're doing it in the first place.  It also related to another quote in this chapter " it never hurts to have the reading available on tape" (Wilde pg. 37).  If you have the entire miscue recording on tape, then you will be able to understand the process even more.  You will have documented proof of the miscues and you will be able to pick up on so much more than without a recording.  You would be able to go back and really think about what miscues are being made and how significant they are.  I feel like that is a great idea and resource for a teacher as well as the student.  

- Quote on pg. 37 -

[missdbridges]

The point -of a miscue- is to explore the reader's pattern of miscues, not to establish a reading level by counting the number of miscues

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 5.  Choosing Reading Material and Getting Started

I feel like this is the most common thought that teachers come to when they think about miscues.  Even I thought that this was what miscues were all about.  After reading for this week and especially reading this chapter I have come to notice the importance of miscues.  They are not just some mistakes that students make.  They are used to find that pattern and to help them with strategies to continue strengthening their reading.  I know from last semester that we were taught how to conduct miscues, but again, never really understood how or why or what the purpose of it was.  This book has opened my eyes to so much more than I thought.  In order to establish a reader's pattern with miscues you need to get to know the students as a reader.  Getting to know them involves giving a burke interview, or an interest inventory.  But then you would need to think about making the student feel comfortable with you.  You can accomplish that with a variety of ways.  You could let the students give you an interest inventory, or make connections with favorite childhood books - like I plan to do when I get to meet my small teacher this week- or even by asking more personal questions about their life outside of school.  For me and what I have come to understand with reading is that miscues are not mistakes, they are a resource for the teacher as well as the student to learn from.  

- Quote on pg. 31 - 

[missdbridges]

Not all miscues are equal; some are better than others

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 4  Aren't Errors Bad?

This chapter definitely got me thinking.  We learned last semester that miscues were mistakes that students made while reading aloud.  We learned that students can replace words with other words, sound out words, and take long pauses.  One thing I never fully understood was what do we do after we take the miscues?  We gathered the data, made a plan, and gave new strategies?  but what was the importance of all this.  Not all miscues are the same.  It's quality over quantity.  You could have a student that makes ten pauses during a reading, but does that student still retain the meaning?  A meaning making miscue would be more important to the teacher than a miscue of a student pausing.  Meaning making is the most important thing to focus on for a student and a teacher.  

[missdbridges]

The most important reason to learn miscue analysis is to better understand what readers are doing, which then helps inform instruction

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 1 Honoring What Readers Do

After reading this short chapter, I have come to realize just how greatly important miscue analysis is.  It is a tool to use to help students and help yourself in your own teaching.  Miscue analysis is, to me, the best and most efficiently learned tool that you can use to help your students succeed.  Not only can they help you with the students reading, it also "helps us understand what strategies struggling readers are using and how effective those strategies are being" (Miscue Analysis Made Easy p. 5).  This really just made me think and reflect back on last semester when we really studied miscues.  I never quite got the grasp as to WHY we are using miscues to learn from our small teachers.  Now I can understand just how helpful it really is.  It was never about how many miscues or oh, that small teacher had miscues.  Its all about "what miscues we make" (Miscue Analysis Made Easy p. 2).  It can tell a huge story behind why one student made a miscue and what that miscue is.  It can help us as teachers greatly in supporting our small teachers in their learning. 

- Quote on pg.4 -