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Tamara, Thanks for your comments. I've experienced similar situations with students' "knowledge" and "understanding." I teach adult students (mid 20s-60s) and I find that many of them have reading problems. So, what I do is teach reading lessons to the entire class. I go through the five components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary). I use the course materials to create lessons that address the issues. I tell them the first couple of class meetings that I will be reviewing the reading components. I do a number of reading assessments with them individually to measure their competency of each component. This has made a world of difference with my students. They know "officially" what their issues are and I provide them with strategies to tackle and overcome them. I see my students with comprehension problems, for example, highlighting text, writing down questions, circling words they don't know, etc. The time I put into teaching the reading components pays off. I've experienced more student engagement with the text, with each other and with me; improved writing assignments; and I've seen an increase in student grades. Rebekah Dr. Rebekah McCloud Director, Upward Bound Program Student Development & Enrollment Services University of Central Florida Phillips Hall 208E P.O. Box 161920 University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 32816-1920 (407) 823-0344 >>> Nic Voge <[log in to unmask]> 1/8/2009 6:33 PM >>> Hello Tamara, I do a lot of work in this area myself with students. I don't refer to my work with students as "tutoring", but rather as "individual consultations". Students can seek out an individual consultation for any number of reasons, including, of course, reading. I can tell you that many of the sessions that I have that end up focusing on reading, do not start out having that aim. Often, students present the issue as time management or in some way course-specific, but upon discussion I judge it to be connected to reading. Having said that, I don't see reading as separate from other aspects of what might be called "academic work". When I work with students explicitly on reading individually, and when I address the topic in the courses that I teach, I often address the issue as "information management" or "reading efficiency". The issue is extremely common, but not fully understood, I don't think. On this campus, it is not unusual for students to be assigned 4-7 books (often scholarly books) and a several hundred page reader (course packet) comprised of scholarly articles, excerpted book chapters and the like. Though not fully appreciated, reading multiple texts of a variety of genres for various purposes requires different knowledges, skills and strategies than reading textbooks in isolation. So, I am skeptical of students' statements that you report that the "understand" the material. According to whose criteria of understanding? And, for many university courses, understanding is the bare minimum of the kind of knowledge students are expected to demonstrate about assigned texts. That students see merely understanding and "getting through the material" as the aim, may well be a major part of the problem. While I work with many students on reading, the vast majority of students on campus-- though often struggling with reading expectations and demands--do not seek me or anyone else out for assistance. So, I'm not sure how you would get students to use the services you mention. In my program, my our study strategies mentors will definitely work on reading, and I believe the writing program tutors work on reading-related issues, but we do not offer a specifically designated reading tutoring format of service. Nic On Jan 8, 2009, at 3:12 PM, Pratt, Tamara wrote: > Has any one offered a tutoring session that focused on reading > effectiveness and wasn't subject specific? What did you call the > tutoring i.e. Reading tutoring, Reading effectiveness tutoring, > Accelerated reading tutoring???? Reading skills tutoring ....please > note, this would not be for developmental reading.... > > Many of our intense reading courses seem to be high risk (for D, F, > or W) but when we offer tutoring, students aren't accessing it. > Those who do, say they understand the material but they just can't > get through the reading material to do well on the exams. Any > thoughts? > > Please reply to me privately. > > Tammy Pratt, Director > Assessment and Learning Center > University of Oklahoma > 270 Wagner Hall, 1005 Asp Ave. > Norman, OK 73019 > 405 - 325 - 4336 > [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> > http://uc.ou.edu/alc.htm > > University College is moving and has a new address beginning January > 1, 2009. Please note the change of address above. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your > subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your > web browser to > http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html > > To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________ The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy. --bell hooks The university...becomes subversive...when students are encouraged to learn how to learn. --Robin Lakoff ____________________________________ Dominic (Nic) J. Voge Study Strategies Program Coordinator University of California, Berkeley Student Learning Center 136 Cesar Chavez Student Center #4260 Berkeley, CA 94720-4260 (510) 643-9278 [log in to unmask] http://slc.berkeley.edu Nic*s Available Meeting Times Fall 2008 Office Hours After class Thursdays (4-5) and Fridays 4-5. By-Appointment Hours Mondays: 3-5 Tuesdays: 2-3 Wednesdays: 10-12 Thursdays: 10-12 Fridays: 1-2 & 3-4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your web browser to http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your web browser to http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask]