As I've done reading conferences and IRI's in my classroom, I have noticed that a lot of my students are great work callers, but did not comprehend what they were reading. I knew I had to do something about this.
While I read this chapter, I realized that I use several of the strategies talked about on my own when I read. (Rereading, writing in margins, highlighting, etc.) I just needed to explain how to use these strategies to my students. Through this class I have learned several new things to use in the classroom and one thing was talked about in this chapter as well. I have begun to model what my students can do as readers. I have used several articles with in the classroom. I have modeled how you can write in the margins of the text, highlight important or interesting things, circle unknown words, etc. I have really tried to get my students to focus on this. I have noticed though that most of my students seem so uninterested in this. They would much rather just read the article and move on to the next thing. I will have to continue working on this, and maybe even choose more engaging articles. Another strategy that I've been working on with my students is understanding the text. I have been working with my students and getting them to ask questions as they read. Does this make sense? Do I understand what's happening? If not I need to go back and reread. One point that I need to make with my students is are the questions meaningful. I like the chart on p.125 of how to understand what I'm reading.
A new strategy to me was surveying texts. This was something that I never thought to model for my students, but it something that I noticed that I just do naturally when reading. This strategy requires the reader to preview the text, preview the cover, check out the illustrations, make predictions within the text, even check out headings and captions. This is something that I did as I read this chapter! I think my students would like this idea of skimming over the text. I am excited to being this strategy in my classroom to help my students work to better comprehend instead of just word calling!
Ashleigh, you've done a great job of assessing your students and determining their needs. A lot of third graders are at the level of being excellent word callers and having little to no true comprehension. Using this understanding, you've catered your instruction to meet their needs. That's good teaching! Your strategies of helping them reread and question their understanding are right on track. It will likely take many times before they internalize this lesson and use it independently so don't give up! Young students often don't see the need in rereading a text. Elda pointed out the same idea. Your plan of helping them see the importance and finding articles they find interesting is a great idea. I suggested a site to Tina, Newsela, which may be a good resource for you as well. It has a lot of current event, highly readable articles that you can find on the levels that will be great for your kids!
ReplyDeleteHi Ashleigh,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you are using what you know about your students as readers and writers to guide your own professional learning. Knowing what they need has helped you determine what you want to focus on. You shared how this led you to want to focus on using self-monitoring strategies with your students on the articles that they are reading, providing them with opportunities to survey the text, and to utilize questioning during reading to help build comprehension. Thanks, Dawn