Running Records Using PM Benchmark Kit What are

Running Records Using PM Benchmark Kit

What are Running Records? O A running record is a record of errors, or miscues, that readers make as they are reading. Running Records were developed by Dr Marie Clay as a way for teachers to quickly and easily assess their students’ reading behaviours “on the run”, so to speak.

Why do them? O Running Records capture what the reader did and said while reading. They capture how readers are putting together what they know in order to read. They allow teachers to describe how children are working on text. They allow teachers to hear how children read – fluent, phrased, word by word, acknowledging punctuation, or on the run. O (Further reference: Clay, M “Running Records for Classroom Teachers)

Running Records are intended to: O Ascertain a child’s instructional book level (IBL) O Monitor ongoing student progress in reading O Find out which particular skills and strategies students are using O Establish specific needs of the children (goals) O Group together children with similar needs for reading instruction O Choose books at an appropriate level for your students

Recording Conventions

Miscue Analysis Structure Cues meaning Meaning Cues Visual Cues

Meaning (semantic) cues O This is the child’s prior knowledge, their knowledge of the world. O When they use meaning (M), they are thinking about the story and predicting what may happen next. O They may look at the pictures, as these help to provide context. O When they use meaning, the story ‘makes sense’.

Syntactic (sentence structure) cues O applying what is known about how our language goes together to identify words. O They may substitute a word with another word that ‘sounds right’. This information is based on their oral language structures. O Children who come to school with very poor oral language often use this structure (S) very rarely or poorly.

Visual (graphophonic) cues O applying what is known about letter-sound correspondences to decode words. O They may substitute a word with another that makes no sense at all, but has the same beginning letter or chunk of letters. O We would say they were using visual information (V), but not sampling sufficient visual information to solve the word effectively. O When they are using this source, they are making it ‘look right’.

Using PM Benchmarks O Give the book to the child and let them read it by themselves. O Get the child to retell the story & record what they say. O Get the child to read the book aloud to you (Running Record). O Ask the child questions about the text to check for comprehension.

Meaning Cues Text: I like to see horses at the farm. Child: I like to see ponies at the farm. Analysis: • There were pictures of horses and colts on the page. • The intended message is almost the same. • The substitution is not visually similar, but is an acceptable language structure. • There is often an overlap of meaning and structural cues.

Meaning (cont. ) Pictures, previous text and/or general meaning of the story are sources of meaning cues. Text: I like to see horses at the farm. Child: I like to see houses at the farm. Analysis: • The substitution is visually similar and creates an acceptable sentence structure. • However, it is doubtful if meaning cues were used. Check the previous text to help determine the use of meaning cues.

Self Corrections O In analyzing a running record, it is important not only to determine what cues were being used when a substitution (error) was made, but also what cues were probably used when a self-correction was made. O Both the original error and the self- correction are analysed.

Text: I like to see horses at the farm. Child: I like to see horses at the fair/farm. Analysis: • Analyse the cue(s) that most likely contributed to the original error. The words are visually similar and the structure is intact. The child used structure and visual cues. • Analyse the cue(s) that most likely led to the self-correction. The child probably realized that the book was about a farm, not a fair, and used meaning as a cue to self-correct.

Structure Cues O The structure of the text (up to and including the substitution) should make an acceptable English language construction. O Would it sound right to say it that way? O Would it create an acceptable English language construction?

Structure Cues Text: I like to see horses at the farm. Child: I like to fly horses at the farm. Analysis: • “I like to fly…” This is a good English language construction. Analysis for use of structure cues should only take into account the text up to and including the error. Structure cues were used. • It is not visually similar and does not fit the meaning of the total text. Meaning and visual cues were not used.

Visual (graphophonic) Cues The visual cues in the text are what the letters and words look like. • Does the substitution (error) look like the word in the text? • Some letters /words have very little differences. They have high visual similarity. –Examples: h/n/r, b/d/p saw/was, but/put

Visual Cues (cont. ) Text: I like to see horses at the farm. Child: I like to see here’s at the farm. Analysis: • The substitution looks similar. The child used a visual cue. • It doesn’t sound right. • It is not an acceptable English sentence. Structure was not used. • It doesn’t make sense. Meaning was not used.

Cues as a Strategy Independent readers monitor their own reading and have a strategy for using the cueing systems. • Meaning, structure, and visual cues are used in an integrated fashion and when confusions arise, information is cross-checked using the three sources of cues and the background experience that the reader brings to the reading process. • This strategy of integrating and crosschecking cues results in accurate reading and/or self-corrections.

Where to next? “I’ve done the Running Record… …What now? ” -Assign Guided Reading groups based on similar levels. -Set goals (individual/group) *See handout “Change over time” -Fountas & Pinnell, 1996.