5 Strategies for Monitoring and Self-Correcting

In order for a reader to be able to read and understand a text there is a great deal of work that they must do in their head. As shared in The Importance of Strategies, readers use a variety of strategic actions and strategies to process what they are reading. Monitoring and self-correcting is one of twelve strategic action we will explore in this Strategic Action Series.

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Strategies Change Over Time

When young children begin reading, they may use very simple strategies like memorizing or remembering the words in a story and reciting them as they see the pictures. As they learn more about letters, words, and books, they will begin using strategies like:

Pausing when something doesn’t make sense (self-monitoring)
Looking at the picture, thinking about the sentence, and looking at the first letters to make sure what they have read “looks right,” “sounds right,” and “makes sense.” (cross-checking sources of information)
Reread a word to read it correctly when they misread the word the first time. (self-correcting)

As young readers have more and more time to read and experience books, they develop their ability to use more sophisticated strategic actions as they read.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

It is important to note that readers use strategic actions simultaneously. Unfortunately, many children view them as separate actions or even as their goal of their reading. This may be the case if you’ve ever heard your child say, “This week I am inferring.” This happens when strategies are talked about in isolation or if your child does most of their strategy work with worksheets. Even though we may attempt to strengthen a strategic action by talking about it in isolation, it is always important to remind your child that they use many strategic actions and strategies to understand what we are reading.

Here is an example shared by Fountas and Pinnell in Guided Reading (2e)

A child who is monitoring her understanding of key words might solve one by taking it apart by syllables, connectto known words, gain insight into or infer the motives of a character, and predict what the character will do to resolve the problem she has analyzed.

Even though these actions are listed in a sequence, many take place simultaneously. Our brains can work so quickly and can do such much.

Now let’s take a look at Monitoring and self-correcting, a strategic action identified by Fountas and Pinnell (Literacy Continuum, Expanded Edition, 2017).

Monitoring and Self-Correcting

As your child reads, they should make sure they understand the text and fix-up any misunderstandings or words they misread. “Reading is a problem-solving process and readers need to develop awareness of when they are inaccurate or don’t understand what they are reading” (Fountas and Pinnell, Guided Reading, 2017, p. 197). When your child self-corrects, they are also self-monitoring (making sure what they are reading “looks right,” “sounds right,” and makes sense) and searching. When this whole process comes together seamlessly, it improves and refines your child’s reading process.

As your child becomes more proficient, he/she will develop sophisticated ways of using:

Content knowledge
What they know about complex language
Their knowledge of literary features of specific genres
Insights into literary elements (plot, character, and setting)

CAUTION: Be careful that your child is not self-correcting too much. Self-correction should take place occasionally within accurate reading. You do not want your child to work at nearly every word – that would be frustrating and comprehension would be limited. If your child is having to work at too many words in the text, the text is not a good fit for him. Read here about Good Fit Books.

Check out the Reading Level Specific Posts to see questions you can ask or prompts you can give to support your child’s use of this strategic action.

5 Fantastic Strategies to Encourage Monitoring and Self-Correcting

1. Back Up, Fix Up

Great for any Reading Level

Strategy Steps

Pay attention as you are reading.
While you are reading, if you realize that you don’t understand what is happening or if what you said doesn’t make sense – pause.
Think about what is confusing.
Back up to the part before.
Look at the words on the page before or the sentence before.
Look at the pictures or images or charts (if available).
Think about what is happening or what the author is describing in this part.
Change what you said before or revise your thinking.
Think, “does it make sense now?”

You can prompt your child to back up and fix a part they misread by asking the following questions:

Does that go with what you just read? Let’s back up and think about what might be happening here.
Do those pages connect?
What was confusing here?
What made that fact confusing? (nonfiction)
Based on what you just read, do you think you read it incorrectly the first time?

2. Think About “Who’s Telling the Story?”

Great for Reading Levels H and up

Strategy Steps

Pay attention to the narration of a story.
Pay attention to any dialogue tags (“Charlie said”or “Callie exclaimed”)
If a character is telling the story you will see words like I, me, we, my
If a narrator is telling the story you will see words like he, she, they, and character’s names.
Think about who is telling the story to keep track of what is happening in the story.
Consider who is telling the story as you get to know the character(s).

You can prompt your child to think about who is telling the story by asking the following questions:

Can you tell who the narrator is?
Do you see any pronouns or words that can give you a clue?
When someone is talking, look at the dialogue tags – what is the relationship between the speaker and the narrator?
Do you see a place where there is a description? Look at the words used.

3. Refocus a Wandering Mind

Great for any Reading Level

Strategy Steps

Notice that your mind has wandered and you are no longer thinking about what you are reading.
Say to yourself, “I am not going to think about that right now.”
Retell what you remember about your book.
Think about whether you need to back up and reread a part.
Begin reading again in a spot where you know what is happening or what the author is explaining.

Note: Remind your child that everyone’s mind wanders from time to time – the important thing is they refocus on the text.

You can prompt your child to refocus by asking the following questions:

Tell me what you remember?
What part seems fuzzy/unclear? Can you go back and retell that part?
When do you think your mind started to wander?

4. Insert a Synonym

Great for any Reading Levels H and up

Strategy Steps

When you come across an unfamiliar word (even if you can pronounce it), pause.
Think about a word you know that would fit into the sentence and the text as a whole.
Put the word you thought of in place of the unfamiliar word as you reread.
Does it make sense?

You can prompt your child to use a synonym by asking the following questions:

Think about what’s going on so far – what might this word mean?
Try a different word. Does that make sense?
Does that word keep the meaning of the sentence?
What’s another word the author could have used that would make sense here?
Do you think you are reading too fast to catch the words you don’t know?
Do you know how this word is being used here?

5. Make a Map

Great for Reading Levels P and up

If a character travels from place to place or if an author is introducing multiple places in a text, you can make a map to keep track of what you are reading.

Strategy Steps

As you read, draw a map based on the details the author gives you.
Refer to the map as you read.
(fiction) Visualize the character moving from place to place as you read.
Think about why the author chose to set the story or introduce each of the places. How does it impact the text?

You can prompt your child to make a map by asking the following questions:

Think about the places you’ve read about. Can you draw (sketch) a map to show all of those places.
Where is this place compared to that one?
Where, on your map, is the character in this scene?
Can you tell me about how the character travels from place to place?
What’s important about each of these places?
How does each place impact the text or character?

For my all-time favorite monitoring and summarizing strategy, check out Read, Cover, Remember, Retell.

Check out these posts for more strategies to support strategic actions:

Resources:

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2017). Guided reading: Responsive teaching across the grades. Heinemann.
Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (2007). The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-8: Behaviors and Understandings to Notice, Teach, and Support. Heinemann.
Serravallo, J. (2015). The reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled readers (Vol. 11). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.