Brilliant students

[schultzm]

When I listen to my 5-8th graders read I often find they aren't struggling with any of the CAFE strategies. How do you suggest a strategy to a child when they seem to have mastered all the strategies?

[srea]

I think the Vocabulary Strategies of Tune In to Interesting Words, Use Word Parts . . ., and Using Dictionaries (etc) are strategies that would still be important for these readers. I feel like I still grow with these, even as a proficient reader!

I would also think that many of comprehension strategies used with a variety of genres could be valuable for them to grow as readers. Gaining insights into author's purposes for writing, questioning while reading, inferring and supporting with text evidences are a few that jump out at me that readers use throughout their reading lives.

[schultzm]

This is awesome advice. Do you have any mini assignments you give to allow you to check their work?

[srea]

I don't really have any mini assignments, but might recommend that you look at the Assessing Student Learning--especially the rubric at the end. The easiest place to find these is to go to the Interactive CAFE Menu from the main page under the CAFE heading. Click on the strategy you're checking, scroll down to the Assessment and click to open. For myself, I went in and made copies of the rubrics and put them all together in a notebook that's easily accessed. Again, I just copy the rubrics, as I know where to find the lessons if I need them.

The students get used to the rubrics, too, and the kids you work with can begin doing some self-evaluation/reflection about their learning--which is a valuable skill to have :).

Here's a link to one of those, so you can see what I'm talking about: https://www.thedailycafe.com/app/webroot/uploads/files/E-Use_Word_Parts_to_Determine_the_Meaning_of_Words-Assessment.pdf