"Reading in a timely manner"

hmm, this quote struck me as a bit odd.

but Im no teacher

seriously. this came from a 4th grade teacher. Im tutoring one of her students.

we keep notes going back and forth between us, she lets me know what he can use more help with, what tests are coming up, etc.

today one of her notes said "he needs to learn to read in a more timely fashion"..

now from everything else she has written, she is definitely a great, caring, and creative teacher. but these few words just made me because he really does try hard to read, and he may not comprehend it all at once, depending on the material being read, sometimes he gets it right away!...

am I over reacting? is there a "timely manner" in which to read something?

Message edited 2/6/2008 11:33:31 PM.

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

she's probably still in the mode of the ELA test, where time does count.

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

Also, maybe in school he doesn't concentrate during reading time. He may be easily distracted or waste time.

I have said this to my students, who are required to read 25 books a year outside of our classwoork (NYC), who do not use the time I give them to read.

If a student is on page 12 today, 13 tomorrow, and so on, I will tell them they need to read more, etc. My notes for that student will say does not read in a timely manner.

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

there is nothing wrong with the teacher writing that.

kids need to be able to read fairly quickly. they don't have all day to read a passage. assuming the child doesn't have a learning disability, he is probably either getting distracted or just taking his time reading--which doesn't help when something needs to be read and questions need to be answered in a certain amount of time. his fluency probably needs to be worked on as well

i tutor 8 children. i see them each once a week for an hour. the teacher sees the kid for 8 hours every day. what we see in an hour as tutors cannot compare to the teacher who has much more in depth knowledge of the student. i've learned never to question her judgements because how a kid acts one on one is usually very different than how he is in class.

work on his fluency and speed. it will only help him

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

thanks so much ladies.

I wasnt questioning her judgement at all. I was more questioning how to interpret this comment.

and all of your feedback was very helpful !

She is an amazing teacher, just judging from all the other feedback she gives me.

thanks everyone

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

another reading question.
how do you tell a student that a book is a bit too advanced for them without discouraging them or making it come across the wrong way ?

Re: "Reading in a timely manner"

Ask them to read a page outloud for you. If they miscue ten or more times on one page, it is too hard for them. You may say " I see you like fantasy, fiction, (whatever), can I show you a book I think you'd like better"

Have a book picked out for them and ask them to read a page from that too. Tell them (depending on their age you can play this up more or less) "WOW! You read that beautifully. I think you may like this book better? What do you think?"