I really liked the use of the KWL chart in this chapter. In school, I always hated filling them out, but now I see how they can help a student use the text to learn. Also, it can inspire a student to do outside research to answer the questions they have that were not answered by their reading.
The strategy that stood out most to me was the tea party strategy. I thought that this was such a good idea to help the students get ready for what they were about to read. While they may be wrong with their "We Think..." statement, this exercise still motivates them to think about the text they're about to read. I also liked how this offered them the opportunity to get up and move around the room and teach each other instead of the classroom being strictly teacher-centered. After they've read the text and find that their predictions were either wrong or right, I agree with Beers in bringing everyone together and going over the original phrases so the students can see how the author made the phrases make sense compared to how they made the words make sense.
Overall I think frontloading is one of the most important things a teacher can do for a student. It can be as complex as using charts, or as easy as having students share their experiences that you know will correspond with the text.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension
The story about Al really opened my eyes. "How do I know unless I already know?" Throughout school, we're told what to do, and most of the time we're not told how to do it. I really liked this chapter because it showed me how to actually teach the strategies that I'll be telling kids to use in order to read. I always thought that it was just common sense on how to read and how to pick up on different strategies, but I suppose it's not.
I liked that Beers put her interaction with Kate in this book. I can see myself in Kate's shoes making mistakes while teaching and then correcting them. I liked how she refined her technique and got the students involved with discussing by having them use strategies. Just by the simple change of having them tell her what they thought the story was going to be about based on the picture showed that she was teaching them a reading strategy instead of just expecting them to know to look at the picture. We know that some of the students probably already looked at the picture and figured out what the story was about, but for the few that didn't it brought them up to speed with the other students.
I liked that Beers put her interaction with Kate in this book. I can see myself in Kate's shoes making mistakes while teaching and then correcting them. I liked how she refined her technique and got the students involved with discussing by having them use strategies. Just by the simple change of having them tell her what they thought the story was going to be about based on the picture showed that she was teaching them a reading strategy instead of just expecting them to know to look at the picture. We know that some of the students probably already looked at the picture and figured out what the story was about, but for the few that didn't it brought them up to speed with the other students.
Chapter 3: Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs
First of all, I must say I would LOVE to have a chart like 3.1 and 3.2 for all the challenges in life! Something that these charts really made me see was that there is no set solution for any one problem. We start with saying that a kid "can't read" but then move into they "can't answer questions about the text" and we have to figure out why they can't answer these questions. So we have to help them with a multitude of solutions to see which one works. What overwhelms me is that we're not going to just have one child that needs help. We may have an entire class of thirty students that need help with reading, and with different aspects of reading.
The story of Mike warmed my heart. When he said "You know I can't read this stuff" showed to me that no one had ever really worked with him to give him confidence. This also shows why some students could be embarassed to read out loud in front of their classmates, and if they already have a hard time reading, being snickered at by their classmates will probably increase their reading anxiety, causing them to give up all together on learning how to read.
Through these different case studies presented in this chapter, Beers shows us that solving a reader's problem is never a simple step. We have to test out all different solutions and sometimes mix them together to get a result.
The story of Mike warmed my heart. When he said "You know I can't read this stuff" showed to me that no one had ever really worked with him to give him confidence. This also shows why some students could be embarassed to read out loud in front of their classmates, and if they already have a hard time reading, being snickered at by their classmates will probably increase their reading anxiety, causing them to give up all together on learning how to read.
Through these different case studies presented in this chapter, Beers shows us that solving a reader's problem is never a simple step. We have to test out all different solutions and sometimes mix them together to get a result.
Chapter 2: Creating Independent Readers
While reading chapter two, I realized something- Would I have passed my tenth grade chemistry class if I had become an independent reader when reading my chemistry book?
When I thought about this, I wondered if with some materials we're dependent, and others we're independent. I know that I always hated reading my math book, science books, and even some of the literature I was forced to read in school. It was hard for me because I was uninterested and I found myself in George's shoes saying "I don't get it." However, I always read outside of school; I was interested in novels, poems, even my cell phone manual, but because I knew I could get something out of these books. While I didn't care why I needed to know chemistry, I knew that I could change settings on my cell phone because I read the manual or receive the pure feeling of enjoyment from reading a novel.
I knew how to read, and I could understand what I read, but for me it was a matter of me wanting to read it. I find myself as a teacher (and a girlfriend) facing this problem with my boyfriend. I have a book I want him to read, that I know he'll enjoy, but he tells me how he hates reading because it's too hard. Does this mean that he's a dependant reader? I found myself asking him the same question that Beers brought up, "Have you ever tried to find a good book?" and I get the reply that books are boring. This brought me to the chart on page 18. The chart shows that when someone lacks social and emotional confidence in reading they cannot read for enjoyment. So I've come up with a challenge: I hope to continue reading and learn how to boost my boyfriend's confidence in his reading and maybe he'll pick up a book on his own and read!
When I thought about this, I wondered if with some materials we're dependent, and others we're independent. I know that I always hated reading my math book, science books, and even some of the literature I was forced to read in school. It was hard for me because I was uninterested and I found myself in George's shoes saying "I don't get it." However, I always read outside of school; I was interested in novels, poems, even my cell phone manual, but because I knew I could get something out of these books. While I didn't care why I needed to know chemistry, I knew that I could change settings on my cell phone because I read the manual or receive the pure feeling of enjoyment from reading a novel.
I knew how to read, and I could understand what I read, but for me it was a matter of me wanting to read it. I find myself as a teacher (and a girlfriend) facing this problem with my boyfriend. I have a book I want him to read, that I know he'll enjoy, but he tells me how he hates reading because it's too hard. Does this mean that he's a dependant reader? I found myself asking him the same question that Beers brought up, "Have you ever tried to find a good book?" and I get the reply that books are boring. This brought me to the chart on page 18. The chart shows that when someone lacks social and emotional confidence in reading they cannot read for enjoyment. So I've come up with a challenge: I hope to continue reading and learn how to boost my boyfriend's confidence in his reading and maybe he'll pick up a book on his own and read!
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