When reading with a child with the intention of instruction in the act of reading, it is vital that the book or reading material be at the proper instructional level for the child. Many teachers will put together reading groups in their classroom to help provide proper reading level instruction to each child, but for new teachers or parents attempting to help their child, it is important to understand how to choose the appropriate level for a child.
Using a Running Record to Find the Frustration Level for Reading Material
If the reading material used for instruction is too difficult for the child to read, the text is at a frustration level. It is important to avoid this frustration level as it will actually hinder the child’s ability to improve his or her reading skills.
The formal way to determine if a child is reading at an instructional level or a frustration level is to perform a running record. This does not require the use of a formal running record assessment such as the QRI-3, but if a teacher is familiar with this assessment, it can be helpful.
To perform a running record, the teacher needs to simply listen to the child read aloud and keep track of any miscues or mistakes made. It can be helpful to note down exactly what the child said, for example:
- Mouse instead of house
- Misery instead of Mississippi
- Sow instead of Slow
The pattern of mistakes can help a teacher determine a direction for further instruction. For the sake of determining instructional level text, though, this is not necessary.
There are three basic categories that any individual reading material might fall into for one child: mastery, instructional and frustration level. Mastery level is a book that the child can read easily without any help. Frustration level is too difficult and instructional level is right where a teacher wants a child to be in order to improve reading skills.
According to the QRI-3, if the child misses 8-15 meaning-changing words for a 288 word passage, it is at an instructional level. This averages out to 19-36 correct words per meaning-changing miscue. This means any additional miscues would constitute a frustration level text.
Using Informal Assessment to Find Appropriate Reading Level Books
When reading with a child, it often becomes clear when frustration level is reached and the resulting understanding that the text is too difficult. Basically, if a child becomes frustrated while reading, this is a good clue that the material is too difficult. That said, some children simply do not wish to attempt what they perceive as difficult reading material and will act frustrated before reading for very long.
It is important that the teacher or parent be aware that some mistakes are necessary for the text to be at an instructional level. If the child makes no mistakes, this leaves no room for instruction and is considered mastery level. While it is important for the child to read mastery level books, this is not what reading instruction is for.
Understanding Miscues in Reading Text
While the simple definition of a miscue is a mistake while reading, there is more to understanding this word when it comes to determining the instructional level of a text for an individual child. Not all miscues are created equal and those that do not change the meaning of the text should not be counted against the child when determining instructional level.
Examples of non-meaning changing miscues:
- A instead of An
- Home instead of House
- Any mispronounced name, providing the pronunciation of the name is not central to the meaning of the story.
When teaching a child to read it is important to use text that is on the child’s instructional level in order to have the biggest impact upon the child’s reading ability. Reading a book at a level the child has already mastered will not provide enough instructional opportunities, while reading a book at a frustration level will prevent valuable learning from taking place.
Resources:
Leslie, Lauren and Caldwell, JoAnne, Qualitative Reading Inventory-3, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 2001
Related Information:
How to Do a Running Record - Step-by-step directions for how to preform a running record assessment on a child.
How to Teach Reading - Tips on teaching reading using before, during and after reading strategies with students.
Strategies for Improving Fluency - Average fluency rates and strategies for improving student reading fluency.
Improving Reading Comprehension - Ideas on how to use questions to improve reading comprehension.
Jennifer Wagaman - Jennifer is a mother of 2 and has both public, private and administrative experience in the education field.
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