Chapters 8 Summary
Nathan L. Tamborello
few cases of reading problems, which introduces real-life scenarios of reading diagnoses and
tutoring for six students in grades 3-8. A majority of the chapter is designated as “corrective
cases,” which Morris defines as “garden variety” cases of reading disability in the following
areas: word recognition, comprehension, and fluency. Each case includes 3 facets: 1) an initial
reading diagnosis for the child based on available testing data; 2) a lesson plan specifically
created for the individual child that utilizes tools from the toolbox of teaching techniques; and 3)
an in-depth description of the child’s first two tutoring lessons followed by a 2-month follow-up
The first case introduces Walter, a fourth-grade child reading at a second-grade level.
This is an instance of word recognition problems in the early grade. Walter shows particular
difficulty with his knowledge of word patterns and is inconsistent in spelling short-vowels and
lacks knowledge of low-frequency vowel patterns. His plan includes word study as a major
component – in particular, reviewing short-vowel patterns. The second case follows Wendy, who
is a seventh-grader reading at a fourth-grade level at best. Like Walter, Wendy also has an
underlying problem of word recognition, but hers is more severe. In word study, her correction is
centred around decoding multi-syllable words by introducing closed and open syllable patterns
Morris continues on to present the cases of Cory and Carol, who have a comprehension
problem in the early and late grades, respectably. Both of their lesson plans include guided
reading, both silent and orally, to measure for comprehension and writing in order to put their
The last two cases are of Faye and Frank, who both have problems with fluency. Their
main plans included guided reading and repeated reading especially to play a major role in their
fluency.
The main thing that I found Morris repeating over and over through each cases was the
importance of two things: the use of guided reading and the use of repeated readings. In the early
and later grades, Morris used guided reading to allow the tutor to demonstrate for the child how
the fluency of the author’s prose should be read – to allow the child time to figure out the pattern
of the words and rhythm of the works. He also utilized a 1 + 1 + 1 scenario to demonstrate the
reading, have the child read orally, and have the child read silently. Morris stated that not only
did the demonstration allow the child to follow along with the tutor, but it sped up precious
instructional time to allow the tutor more time for other activities instead of progressing slowly
Morris frequently used repeated readings in his tutorings to allow the child to read
through the passage, reflect on their missed/skipped words, and read more slowly the second
time around. The student’s fluency always increased upon the second reading, whether the child
slowed their pace down or had become more familiar with the words and rhythm of the reading
Throughout the tutoring cases, we are shown rather specifically how to allow children to
increase fluency and comprehension through the use of games and exercises. However, I think
the main takeaway of the games is that the child was interested in the content of the exercises –
the tutor played to the child’s interests to get the child into the activity. Morris also used a lot of
pre-teaching and prediction strategies in topics the children were interested in to get them more