Blog: Elda Hymas
September: Laying the Foundations (from “One Child at a Time”)
By P. Johnson
In this chapter, the author looks as
unique difficulties and needs of readers to help teachers understand the
reading process with ways to help children learn.
1. Sources of Information: (A misconception of
teachers is that students should sound out words they do not know. English is
only about 60% phonetic.) Readers use 3
sources to get meaning, language structure, and visual cues.
A. Background knowledge,
B. Knowledge of spoken language,
C. Meaningful information, and Structural
information
Proficient reader can quickly process this information. Teachers should be careful in how they prompt
students during reading.
2. Network of Strategies: There is difficulty in
knowing what strategies are going on in the head of readers. “Sustained Reading Strategies” divide into:
A. Letters/pictures
B. Background knowledge
C. Context
D. Prediction
E. Cross-check meaning
F. Self-monitoring
And “Expanded Reading
Strategies”
G. Ask questions
H. Visualize or make connections
I. Infer
J. Pick out information
Proficient readers use several of these strategies each time
they read to form a network of understanding or comprehension. For struggling students “most are having
trouble putting together the complex network of strategies needed to solve
print and understand text. (Clay 2001)
I know that we have all had
difficulty getting students to understand or comprehend. We struggle to make reading fluent and
comprehensible let alone fun for some students.
I too am guilty of telling students to sound it out. Maybe not the best thing to do when you are
trying to get them to understand.
Through read aloud time, shared
reading, guided reading and on to independent reading. Using observation, participation, practice, and strengthening, teachers assist
students in becoming good or better readers.
You make a good point. It's important to utilize several strategies when trying to help students decode unfamiliar text.
ReplyDeleteHi Elda,
ReplyDeleteYou did a thorough summary of the Johnson chapter for our required reading for September. You shared some strategies from the text you learned such as the importance of focusing on comprehension with students' reading instead of only focusing on decoding. I have been guilty of this myself and these chapters were helpful at reminding all of us to keep our focus on meaning. Thank you! Dawn