“LEECTURA 10” Methodology: What is laterality for second graders?

Abstract

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado School is located in Bogotá, in a low socioeconomic area with a 24 % Venezuelan population and an average age of 7.7 years. The school is divided into three academic periods. The second grade, with 78 students, begins the school year in the afternoon on Campus B. The performance report for the first period of Spanish showed a failure rate of 45.5 % of the total number of second year students, divided into two classes: 201 with 29.5 % and 202 with 15.5 %. From these results, the methodological proposal "LEECTURA 10 for the leveling of students with reading delay" was born, which consists of 10 steps distributed in 4 phases: diagnosis, immersion, exposure and evidence. The diagnostic phase included a reading test and a laterality test. For the latter, the adapted version of the Harris Test of Lateral Dominance was used to assess laterality. The diagnostic results show that the 15 highest performing students out of 78 have crossed laterality. An interclass game plan (201 and 202) has been developed with activities related to laterality that are played every three weeks during recess: mini-tejo, mini bowling, ping-pong piquis, and mini basketball.  Families are invited to encourage their children to practice at home. In the second period, the failure rate was 40.5 %. Classes 201 and 202 each had a failure rate of 20.2 %. The partial results for this last period show a failure rate of 36 %: Class 201 has 15.2 % and 202 has 20.8 %. Absenteeism has also decreased, the willingness to attend classes has increased, and coexistence has improved. At the end of the course there are 72 students. The results show an 8.9 % improvement in academic performance in Spanish.