"Pre-reading strategies that focus on active engagement with the text help struggling readers do what good readers do -- think all throughout the reading process, not just at the conclusion." p. 101
I am happy to finally read a chapter that will have some actual physical strategies I can try in the classroom. I have not heard of 3 out of the 4 strategies Beers listed in the book.
I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with the first strategy of the Anticipation Guide. Since I have a Social Studies background I found this strategy to be the most relate able and I would LOVE to use this in a classroom. The fact that the students will be able to question and think about the subject before it is even presented lets the students use their prior knowledge, opinions, and thought processes to work through what they will eventually be introduced to. To me this is awesome!!
KWL charts were introduced to me at the undergrad level, and I do find them useful in the classroom, but I find that a lot of students have done them in so many classes and so many times, that their thought process are kind of automatic. It is a good strategy for those students to chart and layout their thoughts, but I would rather use the other three strategies since they are new to me and I have never seen them used in a classroom.
Probable Passage is nice too, since it allows the students to set up a chart and really get a visual sense of the text they are about to read. This seems like a nice independent activity a student could do, if a teacher has a large class but only a small amount of dependent readers, or a group of small readers. Without the use of a KWL chart.
I think that the Tea Party strategy is a good strategy too, since the students will be able to get up and out of their seats and be physically involved in the classroom, however I do think this is the biggest activity that would take the most monitoring. Since the students are allowed to move around the room and talk. I would also like to use this in the classroom, but I would think that this would be a strategy that I could use a little later in the year, so I would know my students better, and be able to keep track of their progress of comprehension during the activity.
Overall, I thought that this chapter was pretty great, since I really enjoyed the fact we were finally given some really good strategies to use in the classroom. It was also really refreshing to me to learn new ones to use in the classroom.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension
"What doesn't seem to ever be confused, though, is every one's belief that the point of reading is comprehension." p. 59
I think this chapter really shows us something that we have all done as educators....confuse teaching comprehension with explaining what is happening in the text. I know I have done exactly what Beers talks about in the book, and thought nothing of it. She points out that we must show the students HOW to do it, and focus on being very direct and explicit while doing do. Her instructional practices really made me take notice, and it was nice to finally be able to see something that we can try to use in the classroom and how to use it. In a way I think that Beers is modeling how we can use these practices in the classroom with the six guidelines:
1. Decide on specific strategies you want to model and text you want to use.
2. Tell the student exactly the strategy you'll be practicing, before modeling.
3. Model the strategy.
4. Give the students multiple chances to practice.
5. Continue to model as student needs change or the genre changes.
6. Give the student a chance to complete without support from the teacher.
Beers also made it very clear that if we spend more time on strategies NOW then we will have to spend less time on them later....this being really important I think since once a student can use a strategy they will really be able to stick closer with the class as a whole, therefore increasing their confidence. Guided questioning was brought up all the time in my undergrad, and I will have to really try to focus with the struggling readers to guide my questions towards how to COME UP with the answers, not WHAT the answers are. This hopefully leading to my students gaining comprehension skills and making sense of the text.
Yours Reading,
Sara
I think this chapter really shows us something that we have all done as educators....confuse teaching comprehension with explaining what is happening in the text. I know I have done exactly what Beers talks about in the book, and thought nothing of it. She points out that we must show the students HOW to do it, and focus on being very direct and explicit while doing do. Her instructional practices really made me take notice, and it was nice to finally be able to see something that we can try to use in the classroom and how to use it. In a way I think that Beers is modeling how we can use these practices in the classroom with the six guidelines:
1. Decide on specific strategies you want to model and text you want to use.
2. Tell the student exactly the strategy you'll be practicing, before modeling.
3. Model the strategy.
4. Give the students multiple chances to practice.
5. Continue to model as student needs change or the genre changes.
6. Give the student a chance to complete without support from the teacher.
Beers also made it very clear that if we spend more time on strategies NOW then we will have to spend less time on them later....this being really important I think since once a student can use a strategy they will really be able to stick closer with the class as a whole, therefore increasing their confidence. Guided questioning was brought up all the time in my undergrad, and I will have to really try to focus with the struggling readers to guide my questions towards how to COME UP with the answers, not WHAT the answers are. This hopefully leading to my students gaining comprehension skills and making sense of the text.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Chapter 3: Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs
"As we teach necessary skills, we must also convince disabled readers that reading is an active process, one that requires their engagement, their active construction of meaning." p. 35
(Honestly I think I was a little overzealous with the last post, I'll try to calm it down this time....)
I really liked how this chapter talked about CONFIDENCE being important to a reader. Beers really made it clear that cognitive confidence and emotional confidence were both really crucial to becoming a good reader. This make so much sense, because think about the students in the classrooms that either read really quietly, refuse to read, or those who read...but very reluctantly.
Beers's list about What good readers do was pretty awesome. I really liked how in the book she listed what good readers do, and elaborated on each point. My personal favorite point was Monitoring Understanding. I thought this was vital because readers would be able to tell when:
Beers's section on Underlying Beliefs was also pretty influential on me. My favorite beliefs were:
2. Use a variety of methods
-learn how to TEACH methods, do not rely on programs
5. Fluent word recognition is super important
-if the student is spending most of their time figuring out the words then they won't have time to figure out what they mean
6. Teachers who encourage a wide range of reading
-this will improve fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
I am really learning a lot though reading this text, and am excited to try and apply some of the strategies in the classroom. I also feel that the way Beers writes is very personal for herslef and the reader, this has been helping me and the examples/scripts in the book are also very interesting to read.
Yours Reading,
Sara
(Honestly I think I was a little overzealous with the last post, I'll try to calm it down this time....)
I really liked how this chapter talked about CONFIDENCE being important to a reader. Beers really made it clear that cognitive confidence and emotional confidence were both really crucial to becoming a good reader. This make so much sense, because think about the students in the classrooms that either read really quietly, refuse to read, or those who read...but very reluctantly.
Beers's list about What good readers do was pretty awesome. I really liked how in the book she listed what good readers do, and elaborated on each point. My personal favorite point was Monitoring Understanding. I thought this was vital because readers would be able to tell when:
- they have stopped paying attention
- know when vocabulary is an issue
- know when the text confuses them
Beers's section on Underlying Beliefs was also pretty influential on me. My favorite beliefs were:
2. Use a variety of methods
-learn how to TEACH methods, do not rely on programs
5. Fluent word recognition is super important
-if the student is spending most of their time figuring out the words then they won't have time to figure out what they mean
6. Teachers who encourage a wide range of reading
-this will improve fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
I am really learning a lot though reading this text, and am excited to try and apply some of the strategies in the classroom. I also feel that the way Beers writes is very personal for herslef and the reader, this has been helping me and the examples/scripts in the book are also very interesting to read.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Chapter 2 : Creating Independent Readers
"Teaching reading to adolescents is both rewarding and frustrating; it's a science and an art." p. 22
I first have to start out by saying....Pshhhewww!! I am so thankful this book is written in the style that it is!! I have read so many books while getting my undergrad that were painstakingly hard to get through. I find myself really being able to relate to what the author, Kylene Beers is talking about.
I can't tell you how many times, while being a substitute teacher in the school system, I find myself in a Language Arts class with students telling me exactly what Beers starts out her chapter with. Asking me question after question, that to ME sounds exactly like the question they have just asked before. Beers defiantly points out that you have to 'begin to listen' to what the students are really asking, and sometimes the students will not always be able to articulate and explain, in the detail we are expecting, why they aren't grasping the text or concept.
The students which I have most come into contact with have been the students Beers talks about in 'Moving Dependent Readers Toward Independent Reading' section, the second area. The students who are often saying to me, "I don't know how to read" (sarcastically), "reading is boring", and/or "I don't like to read". I just encountered an 8th grade student who said all of these phrases to me in one week. It makes total sense for Beers to say that these students have SO many moments of failure that their opinion of reading is extremely tainted and consider it a hassle with extreme dislike. I do think that this second area is greatly influenced by the first (lack of cognitive abilities) and can be helped by the expansion of the third area (don't know what type of books they would enjoy).
Determining who the 'Struggling Reader' is was another very interesting section. It is extremely true that the majority of us only really consider the students that show physical and verbal disdain for reading. The example of the quiet girl sitting at the side of the classroom, the popular boy in the front of the classroom, and the international students may all be considered when looking for a struggling reader. While Beers example while working with Hayley was wonderful to read and to see the transition, I am glad the side note talked about how the transition and getting to the comprehension stage is sometimes like pulling teeth.
This example was great, but I have to sit and wonder when a teacher would really have a full amount of time to sit and work with students in this one-on-one setting. I would hope that intervention specialists would really read this book, so that the teacher and the intervention specialist would really be on the same page when working with a student who is a struggling reader. Beers makes is very clear that Patience, Repetition, and Understanding of the students confusion must be considered when working with these students.
Yours Reading,
Sara
I first have to start out by saying....Pshhhewww!! I am so thankful this book is written in the style that it is!! I have read so many books while getting my undergrad that were painstakingly hard to get through. I find myself really being able to relate to what the author, Kylene Beers is talking about.
I can't tell you how many times, while being a substitute teacher in the school system, I find myself in a Language Arts class with students telling me exactly what Beers starts out her chapter with. Asking me question after question, that to ME sounds exactly like the question they have just asked before. Beers defiantly points out that you have to 'begin to listen' to what the students are really asking, and sometimes the students will not always be able to articulate and explain, in the detail we are expecting, why they aren't grasping the text or concept.
The students which I have most come into contact with have been the students Beers talks about in 'Moving Dependent Readers Toward Independent Reading' section, the second area. The students who are often saying to me, "I don't know how to read" (sarcastically), "reading is boring", and/or "I don't like to read". I just encountered an 8th grade student who said all of these phrases to me in one week. It makes total sense for Beers to say that these students have SO many moments of failure that their opinion of reading is extremely tainted and consider it a hassle with extreme dislike. I do think that this second area is greatly influenced by the first (lack of cognitive abilities) and can be helped by the expansion of the third area (don't know what type of books they would enjoy).
Determining who the 'Struggling Reader' is was another very interesting section. It is extremely true that the majority of us only really consider the students that show physical and verbal disdain for reading. The example of the quiet girl sitting at the side of the classroom, the popular boy in the front of the classroom, and the international students may all be considered when looking for a struggling reader. While Beers example while working with Hayley was wonderful to read and to see the transition, I am glad the side note talked about how the transition and getting to the comprehension stage is sometimes like pulling teeth.
This example was great, but I have to sit and wonder when a teacher would really have a full amount of time to sit and work with students in this one-on-one setting. I would hope that intervention specialists would really read this book, so that the teacher and the intervention specialist would really be on the same page when working with a student who is a struggling reader. Beers makes is very clear that Patience, Repetition, and Understanding of the students confusion must be considered when working with these students.
Yours Reading,
Sara
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