Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning

"For too long we've told them to "think carefully" about what they've read without showing them how to do that thinking." p. 137

This chapter was a nice link to Chapter 5, since we were actually able to read strategies to help students with the ability to inference while they read.  The idea that Beers presents about beginning to inference before the reading even starts is a very good point.  How should we expect students to comprehend and predict what will happen without even knowing a basis about the text. 

The examples I really liked were Say Something, which just happens to be one of the strategies my group is working on in class.  The chart with the stem starters was a really good idea to place in the classroom or on the overhead during a Say Something activity. 

The Rereading section of the chapter really made an impact on me, and I was actually able to implement it into a classroom today.  One of the volunteers in the Kindergarten class I was subbing in began talking about how the students had already had a book read to them the day before, and I was able to talk about Beers's book and how rereading can actually be beneficial to students.  I LOVED  the example Beers gave about her daughter and reading To Kill a Mocking Bird through the different school years.

The post-it notes activities I have used frequently in the classroom with my students during my student teaching and practicum. It was very nice to know I was doing something in the classroom, which was reinforced in Beers book to helping students with comprehension and the ability to inference. 

Yours Reading,
Sara