As I looked over the surveys, I decided that the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey was the best option to use with my Kindergarten students. I used it in a small group of struggling readers during our station time. We will call these students Boy 1, Boy 2, and Girl. Boy 1 and Girl completed this survey at the same station with folders between them so that they would not copy each others' responses. I assured them that this was not a test and that I just wanted to see how they felt about reading. I told them that I would read questions to them and they were to circle how they feel using the Garfield chart. I explained and reexplained the Garfield pictures throughout the survey. Boy 1 and Girl enjoyed taking the survey, and Boy 1 even said that this was "the best station ever." Boy 2 completed this survey by himself and was a bit bored by the survey. Halfway through the survey, he said "how long is this thing?"
The results of the three students test were about the same. I had a hard time understanding how to determine the results of the test so I determined them the best I could. I added up the scores for recreational reading, academic reading, and then the total score all together and then found the average score for each area. I used those scores to see where the students' attitudes fell on the Garfield scale.
Boy 1's recreational reading score was a 2.7 which falls between slight dislike and slightly happy. It leans more towards slightly happy with recreational reading. His academic reading score was a 2.9 which fell on the same scale. His overall score was a 2.8 which again fell on the same part of the scale. While completing the survey with him, I noticed that the questions that he labeled as unhappy or slight unhappiness were questions on reading instead of playing, reading during summer vacation, reading during free time, and receiving a book as a present. From listening to comments in class, I know he often likes to play video games and during stations, he loves the computer station. While he is at the reading station, he often gets distracted by watching the other students while they are at the computer station.
Girl's recreational reading score was a 2.8 which falls leaning more toward slightly happy. Her academic reading score was a 3.1 which falls between slightly happy and happiest. Overall her total score was a 2.95 which falls closer to slightly happy. While completing the survey with Girl, she labeled questions about reading for fun at home, reading on the weekend, and reading instead of playing with slight unhappiness or complete unhappiness. She does enjoy reading during free time at school, reading a new book, starting new books, and receiving books as gifts. From comments in class, I can tell that she sometimes gets frustrated when reading words she doesn't know, but does like to look at books with friends during free time.
Boy 2's recreational reading score was a 2.0 which shows that he slightly does not like to read for fun. His academic reading score was a 3.2 which shows that he is slightly happy about reading academically. The total scale score was a 2.6 which means that he falls between slight unhappiness and slight happiness. This means that he is indifferent overall about reading. For almost all the questions in the recreational category, he circled the slight unhappiness Garfield. For the academic category, he seemed to like to read in class, enjoy the stories that we read in class, be asked questions about the stories, and learn new things from the stories we read. From comments in class, I believe that his overall score of indifferent serves correct. He doesn't seem to care either way when it comes to reading. He does often answer questions during reading time, but doesn't get overly excited or overly upset about reading in or outside of school.
Hi Megan! I really enjoyed reading your post. I teach 2nd grade and wasn't fortunate enough to see a kindergarten class in action during my student teaching so it's neat to hear a kindergarten teacher's perspective! :) My WOW moment when reading your post was to see how well the surveys matched up to your observations in class. I think it's interesting that they are already begin to identify themselves as readers. I WONDERED if you let students choose their own books or if they have assigned books in kindergarten?
ReplyDeleteWhen reading during the reading station, we read our weekly decodable reader one day, leveled readers one day, and then I test them on fluency sentences that they practice at home on Fridays. During down time, I let them look at the books that I have in my classroom library to "read" with friends. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources in my classroom to allow them to pick books that are easy enough for them to read to me, but they do enjoy looking at books with friends during free time. During the warmer months, we walk down to the public library for Circle Time. The teacher there will read a book to them and allow them to check out books. This is a way for me to see what interests them and a great chance for those students who may not have books at home to read to get to read something that interests them. We also have an extra library time during the week (which allows the teachers to get an extra hour of planning a week) that the students get the chance to work on the computers and they also check out a book from the school library.
ReplyDeleteI love the Garfield survey for young students, I think it helps them have a visual of how they are feeling. My WOW moment was finding out that the survey results matched their attitudes in class. Several years ago I was a long term sub (for the whole year) in a kindergarten class. I imagine it is hard for them to determine how well they like to read since they are just learning. I know my students were often frustrated and I saw a complete turn-around by the end of the year with their attitudes toward reading. I WONDER if your students will feel differently at the end of the year when they are more proficient readers or if the results would stay the same.
ReplyDelete