Tucson TAWL Spring Workshop
Our 2010 TAWL Spring Conference was a fantastic success!
Thank you to all our speakers and participants.
If you attended, and even if you didn’t, and are interested in a follow-up study group on miscue analysis, please contact Deb Jacobson at
“Understanding Reading: What We Learn from Listening to Readers”
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Borton Primary Magnet School
700 E. 22nd St.
Tucson, Arizona
8:30 - 1:30
Opening Session with
Kenneth Goodman and Yetta Goodman
and small group sessions with
Sarah Costello
Caryl Crowell
Wendy Goodman
Deb Jacobson
Koomi Kim
Prisca Martens and Michelle Doyle
to receive a flyer via email contact djacobson@tuscontawl.org
Like many educators, you have probably come to realize that multiple choice tests of discrete skills and individual races to see how many words a student can read in one minute don’t tell you much about what any student knows about making sense of texts. So how can we find out about our readers’ abilities, about what strategies they use or don’t use, and about how we can help them become proficient at making sense, the real purpose of reading?
In the early 1960’s, Ken Goodman began a life-long study of readers in an attempt to discover what people really do to make sense as they read. Supported in this journey by his colleague and wife, Yetta, and a lengthy list of teachers, graduate students, and other researchers, a comprehensive theory of reading emerged that is grounded in the real world and has been tested and confirmed in thousands of studies in dozens of languages with readers of all ages and abilities.
The tool for these studies is Miscue Analysis, a way to examine the unexpected responses, or miscues, of readers’ oral reading of written texts. Miscues provide “windows on the reading process at work” and a way for us to support the literacy development of the readers we teach, from young children’s first experiences with written language to adult readers.
In our opening conference session with Ken and Yetta Goodman, you will have an opportunity to examine the reading process for yourself and learn how to conduct and interpret a miscue analysis. Our small session presenters will share a range of possibilities for using miscue analysis procedures within a classroom or tutoring context. Whether you’re new to Miscue Analysis or an experienced “miscueteer,” you’ll leave the day with lots to think about, new ideas to try, and a powerful tool to inform and ground your literacy teaching.
Opening Session
Ken and Yetta Goodman: “Understanding Readers through Their Miscues”
Ken and Yetta will provide a brief history of the development of miscue analysis and its use to understand how people make sense of print. THen they will engage the participants in listening to a prerecorded reader. Together we will evaluate the reader’s miscues and discuss the reader’s strengths, as well as how to organize a reading instruction program for the reader based on an analysis of the reader and the text. Other session leaders will be available to help participants consider how to analyze the reading.
Ken Goodman is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Arizona and a world-known researcher and author on reading, language, and literacy. Yetta Goodman is a Professor Emerita and Regents’ Professor from the University of Arizona and is widely known for her work in miscue analysis and early literacy.
Small Group Sessions
Sarah Costello: “Using Miscue Analysis to Unravel the Reading Process for Adolescent Readers” In this session, Sarah will share how she taught miscue analysis procedures to her middle school language arts students as a tool for understanding their own reading process and how to improve as readers. Students worked collaboratively in groups to analyze their own and their classmates’ reading. Sarah has worked as a teacher and curriculum specialist for over 30 years and is currently a TUSD administrator at the middle school level. She did her dissertation work at UA on Retrospective Miscue Analysis with adolescent readers.
Caryl Crowell: “A Modified Miscue Analysis within a 15-minute Reading Conference” While miscue analysis can be a lengthy procedure, teachers with a knowledge of miscue analysis can learn a lot about the strategies readers are using just by listening for a brief period of time. In this session, participants will learn how to use miscue analysis as a tool for teaching and assessing during a short reading conference with individual students, a process that’s very workable in a busy classroom setting. A simple recording form will be shared. Caryl learned to do miscue analysis as part of her Reading Specialist program and UA. She has been using miscue analysis to inform her literacy teaching for over 20 years with both English, Spanish, and bilingual readers.
Wendy Goodman: “I Already Know How to Read: Discovering What Preschoolers Know about Reading” Wendy will share how her knowledge of miscue analysis helps her understand what her young students know about how print works. She and the participants in this session will discuss young children’s book handling, responses to environmental print, and writing attempts and how these early experiences reveal the children’s developing literacy. Wendy literally grew up doing miscue analysis: she is the daughter of Ken and Yetta. Wendy is currently an early childhood teacher in TUSD, but has taught for many years throughout the grades.
Deb Jacobson: “Using Retrospective Miscue Analysis with Adult Readers: A Tool for Developmental Reading Instructors and Literacy Volunteers” Public school students are not the only ones who benefit from miscue analysis. Deb will share about her work with adult learners at the community college level who often have struggled for years as readers. This session would be very helpful for anyone who is working with adult readers. Deb learned miscue analysis in 1979 and has been using it and Retrospective Miscue Analysis ever since with diverse students including first graders, tutees, elementary and middle schoolers, Pima College Developmental reading students, teachers, and friends.
Koomi Kim: “Collaborating with ELL Adult Readers through the Application of Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA)” Koomi will share how RMA and in-depth reading interviews create critical dialogues with adult ELL readers to reflect on their native and English language learning processes and perceptions. She’ll talk with participants about how ELL readers become more aware of the reading strategies they use as they analyze their own miscues. Koomi is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at New Mexico State University. She teaches miscue analysis to pre-service and in-service teachers to help them understand and explore how readers construct meaning of what they read and is also experienced in more recent eye movement-miscue analysis (EMMA) studies that confirm what miscue studies of the past have shown us about the reading process.
Prisca Martens and Michelle Doyle: “What Miscue Analysis Reveals about Readers That Other Assessments Don’t” In this session participants will examine how information from miscue analysis profiles contrasts with the information from district-mandated reading assessments that ask multiple choice and short answer questions. Participants will help analyze students’ miscue patterns and discussion will explore what these patterns reveal about the students as readers. Strategy lessons for helping the students become more proficient will be shared. Prisca is a Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at Towson University, Towson, Maryland, where she teaches courses in literacy and children’s literature. She has been using miscue analysis for 19 years in her work with readers and research related to reading, retrospective miscue analysis, picturebooks, and early literacy. Michelle Doyle has been a primary grade teacher in the Baltimore County Public Schools for 12 years. Her interests include early reading and writing and picturebooks. Though new to miscue analysis, she learning and incorporating it more in her classroom in her work with her students.
Our presenters have published articles and books about their work that you may be interested in reading. For a beginning reading list, follow this link.
