Over the Shoulder Miscue Analysis (OTSMA), I hadn't even heard of this when it was on my syllabus to do. Every classmate nodded their head, oh yeah, we got that. I sat there just thinking how out of my realm I was. How was I going to do this well if I didn't even know what it was to start with? So I did what every good student does, I read all of my material, I asked every teacher I knew questions about the process. When I started comparing it to my work on assessments I felt much more confident. That was something I had experience with. I have taken multiple classes on how to do that. I forgot the important part where assessments aren't in reality helping the student at all. They are looking for what they know or don't know. This analysis was to actually help the student with what they are making mistakes on and helping them to figure out how to fix them. What a novel concept!!
I was able to work with a student in the Behavior Focus program at the school I am at. My hope eventually is to be a teacher in this program so I'm trying to work with as many students there and get as many experiences as possible. Both teachers in the program are my friends so it is fairly easy to set up experience. That didn't really change the fact that I was worried I would make a mistake. Upon reflection what was the worst that I could do? She was willing to read for me and we were going to work together to find some strategies that would be best for her future reading. This was going to be a success no matter what we did.
She chose the book she wanted to read. Of Mice and Men, this is a hard book under any circumstances, I was hesitant for sure. I read the book myself in high school and had no idea with the limited knowledge I had of her if she was going to be able to get through this book at all and understand anything she was reading. I explained to her what we were working on. This was more a test of me and not of her. Those reassurances seemed to put her at ease. My office is set in a quiet place so I knew we should be good to go.
Within about five words from starting, she had made a mistake. She didn't slow down though so neither did I. I promptly wrote the mistake on my sheet, what the correct word was and what the mistake one was. Before I knew it she was doing it again, and again, and again. I had no idea now what I was supposed to do. I was trying to fake that I had some clue and some authority, that's harder than a person thinks, and here she was making errors and I didn't know what I was supposed to do.
I was able to write quickly, trying to assess why she was making the errors that she was making. I had some vague recollection that I was supposed to be making lessons along the way, how was I going to add that in? I knew the errors that she was making, she was reading way too fast. So I casually said, "let's slow down just a bit" she heard me, didn't make much of an adjustment though.
At this point we were nearing the end of ten minutes. I found a wrapping up point and then we sat down to figure out what we had come up with. The first thing we did was talk about what had happened. I was interested in hearing from her what her take was on the information portrayed in the opening scene. It is a picturesque opening and tough to grasp all of the concepts. She was very clear about what had happened, when pushed a bit she mentioned that it was similar to a park she knew in her own life. I was impressed. We presented with some techniques of slowing down a bit, making sure she truly knew the word before she moved on to the next one.
I am excited to use this assessment format in my own classroom. As with most anything that I do I suspect I will be nervous the first 100 times but I know that will practice comes comfort and ease. This is such a great way to include the student in the learning process!!
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