Respond to discussion 6
Respond with at least 100 words
Beverly
After taking the CLOZE test, my results showed that I am reading at instructional level. I asked my twin sister, who works in banking, to also take the test and her results indicated that she is reading at frustration level. In my opinion, just because a person is reading at frustration level doesn’t mean that they are going to be difficult to teach. The key is to know your students and what they may need help on. Some of their reading levels could be hereditary or lack of exposure to reading at home. If a student is living with a parent or guardian that is always at work and never have time to check homework or ask the kid about their day at school, that kid is going to just enough to get by.
As a kid, I loved reading from the time I was able to read until right after completing high school. During college, I never had much time but I committed to always reading the newspaper at least weekly. By doing so, it helped me a lot with my vocabulary and how to determine what words to use. For my sister, it was much more difficult for her to because she hated reading and did not have a clue as to how to look for simple basic words to fill in the blanks. To help with this in class, I would provide weekly activities that consisted of crossword puzzles and filling the blanks with the correct word. After looking at the scoring, I found that many of the words were in the text and most students would assume that it may be a word that they may not know or even understand. Being creative in the classroom and understanding the needs of your students will help them tremendously in the future.
The Bible tells us in John 14:12, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” We have to believe that our students will try their best, especially if we do our best to provide the tools that they need to help them to become better readers.
Waudeen
Taking the CLOZE test was fun for me because I love word puzzles. The results indicate my comprehension level is independent, higher than 60%. A previous instructor suggested I try word puzzles to help with my reading comprehension, and after taking the CLOZE test and seeing the results, he advised me correctly. I would teach a student like myself how I arrived at my answers. The title expresses the storyline. Previewing the text activated my background knowledge about the war and the content area topic to be studied. Demonstrating self-questioning throughout the reading of a text helps to make inferences. Mapping techniques allowed me to participate in activities that introduce similarities to help students make connections. For example, certain clues helped to understand the phrases in 1776, George Washington, the language spoken then, and the words used about the army. I would first define the meaning if I were teaching a student at the independent level. The level of independence means there is a problem and a solution.
The text provides specific details about a topic, people, and events. Looking for keywords and phrases signals a cause-and-effect relationship structure. The text uses common causal indicators such as because, for, since, as, the, and many to help the reader detect the following sentence. The text is organized utilizing lists and by collecting together like items. Explaining narrative text structures to students will help them focus on story grammar, including characters, settings, themes, conflicts, plots, and resolutions.
I chose a next-door neighbor to take the test. I set the text the same as mine. She scored 42% on an instructional level. In her confused state, she asked numerous questions. I realized that she was not understanding or remembering what she had read. Specifically, they can clarify the purposes for reading, identify the critical information in a text, and engage in self-questioning about the text. Her prior knowledge about the content area topic needs some assistance. I would use mapping techniques that enable students to see relationships among their ideas about the subject and that introduce material to help them make connections between the topic to be studied and their background knowledge. She needed to participate in activities that developed the prerequisite background knowledge and vocabulary about content-area issues. Therefore, I would teach her self-questioning activities that require them to clarify and monitor their comprehension as they proceed through the text. For example, students might be prepared to ask themselves questions such as, “Do I understand what I just read?” I would also help them review and summarize the text. Once accomplished, I would retest her abilities with the same CLOZE test to see if her scores improved.
Ashley
A cloze test is an exercise or assessment / test that consist of a portion of language with multiple words or signs removed from the text. You are to read the article and test your comprehension by paying close attention to other text in the paragraph. If the teacher provides her students with a cloze test that is to easy, then each student would push right through the answers and not learn anything.
My results of the Cloze test were 26/44X100= 59.09%. This score shows me that my reading level for this article is at an instructional level. The first 22 questions I struggled with but the second half I was able to look back in the text and understand some of the answers. I am not a history buff and do not know much about Valley Forge. To have guessed at most of these answers I still feel like I did “okay”. Some of the words that I missed were still very similar to what the actual word was and could have meant the same thing also.
I also tested Brother Hudson from church on the cloze test. He is probably in his 80’s, a retired Vet, and a history buff of all things. I knew going into this he would score well. The results from his test were 40/44×100= 90.90% which puts him at an independent reading level. The time it took him to also take the test was a lot shorter than the time it took me.
There are three levels: independent, instructional, and frustration. The highest level a student can get is independent (like the one who took my test received). The readers in this level have background knowledge of the topic, they access text quickly, and they read with no assistance from the teacher. There may be a few errors, but it is minimal. The second level is instructional (which is what I scored). Students on this level have adequate knowledge of the topic at hand, can read and access text, and have a few errors in the score. The lowest level is the frustration level. This level the reader doesn’t have much background knowledge on the topic and usually doesn’t meet requirements on a certain level, such as accuracy or speed like the other two levels.
I think to teach someone about a cloze test they must learn to pay full attention to the text at hand. A test like this usually has answers in the text somewhere. Also, to not overthink the answers. Some of the answers I provided, that I missed, were simple answers like “for, him, or the”.
