Chapter 6 was all about creating meaning and inferences. One of my favorite quotes was on page 141 and it states, “They need to know that they aren’t “wrong” if their inferences are different from those of their teachers or classmates.” I think that this is very important when trying to get children to make their own interpretations. I think that too often students shy away from speaking up in class because they are afraid that they will be wrong or that their answer doesn’t match someone else’s answers. Growing up I was very shy and I too felt that I did not want to volunteer an answer in fear of it not being correct. I was afraid that I would get into trouble or that everyone would think I was wrong. As teachers, I think it is our responsibility to make our students feel comfortable in the classroom environment. I think that our students need to first feel that they can share anything and then they need to know that everyone is going to have a different view on things. They need to be aware that everyone is different and that we all have different views and opinions. Once students can realize that there may be more than one right answer or that no one’s answer is right or wrong, then I feel that students will be comfortable enough to make these important inferences. I also liked the quote found on page 146 that states, “To push beyond a dry, literal understanding, to add our own opinions, knowledge and ideas-that is to infer.”I think Ellin creates a great understanding of inference through this quote. I think that in order for people to have a great understanding of something they need to be able to add their own ideas and prior knowledge. If students are only getting the literal understanding of things then they are not applying it to their lives. They need to be able to apply what they are reading to what they already know. Then they need to add their own interpretations and ideas. The book also said that think-alouds are one of the most important tactics at our disposal. They provide students with a real world example of how someone uses their thoughts and prior knowledge to infer about a particular reading selection. I really liked how this chapter gave us multiple examples of using think alouds and how in the beginning they struggled but after a short while they became successful in executing great think alouds that intrigued the students. I think it is great that this book highlights not only examples of how to do strategies correctly but, also what to do when strategies do not work out the first time. Another quote that I found interesting was on page 152, “Too often we leave a child who pauses or blurts, I don’t know!” I can see this happening a lot in classrooms all over. Instead of doing this they suggest to encourage these students to take the time they need. As a teacher we can reread a portion of the book or restate what the child has said to help them remember what they were trying to say. I think it is extremely important that we do not give up on our students and that we help them along every step of the way.
Picking up where the last chapter left off (questioning), this chapter now takes it a step further. Inferring, after reading this, means trusting what your thinking, and "questioning". It important to let kids know that there is NO wrong way to think. How else are they going to think and "infer" if they feel bonded or feel they have to censor their thinking. It should be free of this. It will only open the mid for more possibilities. How do we get this "freedom" into their heads, lives, and experiences? A lot of infereing comes from draws on past experiences.I think this is the point the first few pages are trying to make. And they may change. outside influence has a lot to do with it When I infer, i think about myself in that situation, if it is a fiction story. If it is a expository text, i try to think of connections in my life. Say, I'm learning about Abraham Lincoln. i would be thinking about the trips i have taken to Gettysburg and how i felt when i was there. My mood at the time may influence how i feel or what i think about. Inferring means, loosly, making assumptions. The middle paragraph on page 145 says it best: "Inference is part rational, part mystical, part definable, and part beuond definition. Individuals' life experiences, logic, wisdom, values. creativity, and thoughtfulness, set against the text they are reading, form the crux of new meaning." It's rational because it's dependant on other factors. It's mystical becuase you are imagining and putting yourself in others' shoes. It both definable and not, because sometimes you just can't pin point why you feel a way about something, but other times, it's explainable. The best way to help chideren infer is to think aloud. I have always been an advocate for this for a few reasons: 1. because I have always been taught, at my work, to "Model the Way", meaning, model what you want them to do, and then practice it with them. What better way to show a comprehenssion stratagy that works and is effective!? They know examples or what to ask. It's catchy! 2. (less related to this) Because it helps with fluency. When I was in school, i don't remember ever having my teacher explain what she was thinking, or what she was infering. I did a lot of Basal Readers and worksheets, and reading in silent. It wasn't as engaging. I want my students be be engaged in their thinking and active listeners and readers. One of the best ways, and this text reassures it, is Thinking aloud. IN figure 6.1. i fee lthese arethe "vitals" for deepening thinkning and thus infering: Show how to think, show how to behave as a reader and a writer, and teach them how to interact and work with ideas they understand. You are the "teacher', to the children, you are "all knowing". They WILL listen, i feel like. To differentiate: The children who are quick readers and learners, i would like to NOT, leave them be and say, "They get it so they can hold on". I feel that you need to keep challenging them. Put them in a small group and ask them to talk about their different inferences, feelings, experiences, etc. This collaboration will deepen their thinking and continue to rise them to higher levels of thinking.
With a huge focus on standardized testing, as much as i think it is over thought of, the children are still not very good at "inferential thinking". As it says on page 148, Their difficulties come from lack of clarity FROM TEACHERS of what good inferring looks like. This generation of teachers need to put an end to this. How else are kids suppose to THINK? Do kids learn from worksheets and lectures? No. As a matter of fact, lectures only give the least amount of retention on a subject or topic. It's sad that we see this more often in classrooms, than not. I know that's how i learned. I think lectures and such should be a SMALL supplement to the big picture. We need kids visually representing, and inferring and asking self questions on a regular basis. How else are they going to learn it except from TEACHERS who know how to model it?
I like how on page 151, Ellin ASKED why he thought that way and how it came into his head. This alone, I think deepens thinking, AND, if you handle it the right way in the class, will give more opportunities for other students in the class to learn from a peer, not just the teacher anymore! This is powerful stuff. A good point: "Trust children to pick up on the more obvious points in the text." We should be challenging the children at all times. I think the teachers who do the above are taking the "easy way" to thinking aloud. It's not an easy think to do, as I'm sure may people think so. We need to dig deeper with the kids. Sometimes, if there is silence in the class, this may mean they are really thinking about it, hard. This is a good thing. Other times, we may need to rephrase, which will all-in-all, help to better understand and help them come up with inferring questions they are asking on their own. This may be a challenge to figure out what kind of silence is going on. Just reading figure 6.2 about conferring gives great examples of what we want to say, and eventually what we want our kids to say about their thoughts. Encouraging to let them think out loud themselves is good to do. Better retention, more exposure for peers, and better confidence in speaking and thinking in the future, are just some of the benefits. One aspect of this I think we need to be careful and cautious about, is going back to making the "classroom conferring and inferring environment" one that is OPEN, and FREE of ridicule and censorship, to a point. No ones inferences are wrong! Everyone draws on different experiences and has a different way of interpreting their questions and thinking and making assumptions. This is the biggest part of the chapter I got, and the fact that I need to reflect and model this to the kids as their teacher.
“Questions lead me to unexpected places and keep me intrigued. For me, questions are the glue of engagement ( Keene and Zimmerman, Susan’s Reflection, 105).” I absolutely love this quote in Susan’s Reflection; it made an instant personal connection. Often during my days in the classroom, I notice the students intrigued while reading, with somewhat of an in depth thought connected to a question. I feel as though it is vitally important to allow children to ask any/all questions that they may find of interest. Visiting my childhood, I remember being that student that was too timid to ask questions because of the fear from other students who would chuckle if the question seemed “awkward” to them. Asking questions should always be addressed as an “open door” policy…I recall a famous quote: “No question is a dumb question. You are most likely asking a question that your peers are thinking, but too afraid to ask.” I think that our students learn from their peers thoughts, ideas and most importantly questions. We as future educators must dispel any/all confusion to an “idea” that a student may not fully understand. It is our responsibility to encourage independent thinking and strengthen our students understanding in the classroom. Another quote that caught my attention was “We can never underestimate the importance of questions, real questions, not the prepared questions at the end of the story or chapter, but questions that arise from a true desire to know more, to probe deeper. After all, the root of question is quest (Keene and Zimmerman, The Quest, 107).” I love this one! I think that this thought is a phenomenal approach to allowing our children to explore the “world of education” at their fingertips….thirsty to learn more and understand the “whys” in their world. We must advocate for our children to want to go beyond our expectations in order to become responsible learners. In regards to my special education students, they are always in the “I want to know more mode.” They may not wholly understand the content, but find it important to initiate further learning. I adore my ASD students because they are always asking, “WHY”, which I know is a part of their disability, but it tickles my heart to know that they internally have a passion to learn more. Another idea in the chapter that caught my attention was the sticky notes being used while reading. I have used this concept in the past and have found it to have its pros and cons. However, the pros definitely outweighed the cons because my students enjoyed using these sticky notes as not only a way to ask themselves questions, but to be able to revisit the text/assignment and become confident during class discussions. I hope to utilize these techniques someday in my classroom. During chapter 6, I found numerous ideas and made text to self connections, but am confident in the strategies that were discussed (my school currently uses some of them). I really enjoyed chapters 5 and 6 and am looking forward to class on Monday!
To infer or not to infer that is the question. Undoubtedly, when one is able to infer while reading a text they are making a meaningful connection to some aspect of their life as they are taking such an active role in reading. As Keene states at the beginning of the chapter she was writing, then she was interrupted and came back to writing and she was writing about the same literature in a totally different way. She states that her responses always chance "depending upon current events, what I'm reading, what has been happening in my life"(Keene 141). She goes on to discuss the role that inferences make in her reading and how important of a tool this can be when taught to students. The ability to make inferences while reading is what should make reading such an amazing experience for everyone. It allows the reader to take part in the story to dive in and see, feel, and sense things which not everyone else experiences from the same passage. As Keene also says it is important that these differences are enjoyed and accepted and not pushed away for being different; that is what makes inferring such an important part of reading. Too often we focus only on the parts of the text that are important to the district or state but what about the life long readers we are hoping to create? As Keene states on 146 "How often do we create classroom environments in which they (students) discuss, evaluate, ponder, argue, restate, reflect, persuade, relate, write about, or otherwise work with the information we consider critical for them to recall?" How true, the primary focus in many classrooms is to open the basal reader three or four times a week and at the beginning of the chapter or story it tells the teacher what is important for the student to learn.......but when we as educators or even adults read a book, regardless of purpose, who tells us what is important? No one. Further into the chapter I found the brief discussion on conferences to be very beneficial, especially when a new comprehension strategy is taught in the class, because it is so important that we assess on a student-by-student basis what is actually being taken from the strategies which are presented. As Keene says "Conferences are lifeblood to comprehension teaching" (Keene 154). Finally, I really enjoyed reading how Ellin was instructing the students by using think-alouds (big surprise) about the inferences she was making while reading. This is such a great way to show students what good readers do when they are reading. Following the instruction and think-aloud she jumped into the workshop and gave students the chance to select literature (with guidance and recommendations) which they could use to make their own inferences. Overall this is a strategy that I had never been exposed to, and never really heard anything on before. How truly important is it that we get students inferring whenever possible during reading and writing workshop. It is just another great part of a curriculum that hopefully will contribute to building a solid learning community where everyone's opinion is valued, and where reading is viewed as something more than just an assignment but perhaps a door to better things.
Chapter 7- This chapter really sheds some light on bringing text to life; creating vivid images about a story in your head. As I read The Cough which was the introduction, I tried to vision what was going on; the setting, the characters, etc. I also used background knowledge to help me with creating an image while reading that piece. I thought to myself how could I create a better image than before. Do I need to reread the piece? Do I need to slow down in order to create a better image? This quote on page 174 really opened my eyes and helped me with the understanding of creating my image. It says, “In the same way, each image created in the mind while reading has little meaning unless we associate it with words on the page and with other images and memories in our lives”. If we can’t relate to the piece that we read or see then we really can’t create an image that will help us better understand. Before reading this piece, I couldn’t really tell you the last time I actually envisioned what I was reading, I just read what I needed to get through what I was doing. This chapter made me realize that if I envision what I read, I will understand what I am reading better. I think that today a lot of children do not have to create sensory images because of technology just like the text said. Children are so caught up in television and computers that they don’t need to create images in their head because those devices give it to them. There are many ways that teachers can help children with this by having them read and write, have conferences with the teacher and work in groups. There are many other ways to help but the things listed are a good start. For me, I hope that I can take this to an inner city neighborhood and help children create images because they see so many things that young people should not see. I would probably ask the children to think about something magical, a place that takes them away from their problems and write about it. I think doing that will help them with creating images. In fact, I think that idea will help all children with creating images. Thinking about something they like or imagine would really help.
Chapter 8- This was a really good chapter because I think that I could relate to this one so far out of all the readings that have been done. Determining importance is very important because there are so many ideas floating. When reading, we come across so much information that we want to include everything but we can’t. We need to determine what is important and what strikes our attention the most. When we summarize something or choose something to write about we have to think about what we feel is the most important. We can do that by using our background knowledge and knowing how certain readings effect us while reading them. In this age we are given way too much info considering the many different ways we can access it through the internet. We must know how we can narrow down information and pick what is best. We must know what is essential and what is not. A lot of times it is difficult for students to determine what is important because the text is too difficult to read. There are three ways that help with determining importance: whole text or idea level, sentence level, and word level. Whole text involves our background knowledge and how we always make decisions about what we are reading while we are reading. At the word level, eyes focus on the wording and find meaning. Contentives are very important at this level because they hold the meaning in the sentence. The sentence level helps determine the overall meaning of the passage or reading using repetition and text features. Being able to understand the whole text level and word level helps with the sentence level. While reading this I thought about how I highlight a lot of key ideas and what I do with them. I thought about how I could narrow down some of the things I highlight. One question that crossed my mind was, Do I highlight enough or too much? I think that if I focus on the main ideas and the things I relate to, it will help me with determining the importance. When I think about my future students, I think about how I could help them with this. One way to start this is by giving them a friendly piece to read, something that is not filled with unfamiliar topics. Then I would allow us to read together and think about the key ideas as a class. We could work on determining what is important. If I were to do this with the group I am working with right now, I would most definitely have to model this more than once.
My first thought on this chapter was that I would have a great opportunity to utilize this strategy in the way Ellin presents it in my present position, as a resource room teacher. Whole group discussion to develop inferences is talked about extensively and this strategy would be ideal in a resource room because of the small number of students working together at any given time. This would not only allow time for each student to share their thinking, but the setting would encourage it. Plus, the majority of students I see would benefit immensely from its use. She mentions using it with book clubs, during invitational groups, and during conferences, which I believe would also make it easier to focus on the message each child is trying to convey. I understand how all children would benefit from the discussion, but to make this work on a regular basis, a classroom teacher would probably need to incorporate multiple subjects. In depth discussions are known to use a lot of time and with twenty-seven thoughts to be heard, it may be difficult to do this frequently. I think inferring is an important reading strategy to develop so it is well worth the time and effort. It would just take using all the different discussion opportunities that are available to be able to incorporate it as often as she advises. In elementary classroom, I worked on inferring daily and we did have discussions as a class, with partners, in groups, and while conferring, but I really never stopped to think about how important these discussions were. This strategy helps them pull the other strategies together. While inferring, students are personally making predictions, conclusions, connecting, using background knowledge, and using their inner thoughts to make sense of what is happening. Finally and probably most important, they pull all of this together to make an important judgment or decision about what they have just heard or read. The information that Janet, Becky, and Ellin gained when working with children at the low income Alabama School is relevant even in higher income schools. It is beneficial for all children. I agree that sometimes teachers spend too much time having students retell what they have just read and that sometimes the real “guts” of the story get left behind and never talked about. I like the way Ellin says to just trust that they will get those obvious points. To be continued...
Part 2 Also, the use of think aloud is a great technique. I think this is a skill that practice will help to make perfect or closer to perfect. Each time we do a think aloud, the students will gain new insight, but we as educators probably will too. As we conduct these experiences, I think we will come to understand how to highly develop discussions to a level that encourages students to become the higher level thinkers that they are capable of being. It also allows students to gain confidence since everyone may have a different insight into the same passage and their thoughts should not only be accepted, but encouraged. For this reason, this strategy is powerful. I was also excited to see her thoughts on the use of rich books as a means to advocate and promote these rich discussions. The Other Side is such a good example. I have known children to not only share their beliefs and insights, but also those of the adults they live with. These books do lend themselves to great discussions, and to not use them in this way would be a missed opportunity. The last important section I want to mention is the amazing key idea list she has created for conferring. Most teachers I know do most of these things, but not all of them. I have not seen or tried announcing to students that I will confer on deep structures or surface structures. Usually I allow the student to guide the conference, but I really like her idea. I think it will encourage them to try some things that they may not be as sure of, along with helping them to develop their higher level thinking skills. The more practice we have with it, the more comfortable we will both become in using these techniques.
Creating meaning through the art of discovery Chapter 5 and 6 of the mosaic readings really stress that as educators we must teach our students to be actively thinking as they read. Questioning and conferring are the two strategies that are the main points of focus. Going more in depth is the next thing students must do in order to comprehend what they are learning. To learn is an ongoing never ending cycle of asking questions and making inferences. In the text the author tells us about a student that rereads a book called “The Other Side”. The problem the educator faced was that the student had already read the story and already knew what would happen therefore she could not predict what would happen next, the lesson here is that learning is never ending. To continue to challenge the student more you must ask them to make inferences why this problem occurred? Can you relate to it how? The definition of inference from the text is the process of creating a personal and unique meaning from text. When all the questions about the text have been answered look into your own understanding to the text and discover the text in a new light. Another thing l like about this portion of the text is it emphasizes on speaking up and out on what you think. One of the authors Ellin Keene used an interesting technique to break a child out of his mental shell saying that it is better to give students time to think about what to say. One of her student Remy was asked to explain how he came up with his answer and he answered rashly with”I don’t know”. Ellin thinking he just said that as a defensive method asked him “Well if you did know, what would you say?” Too often are we quick to give up on a child because they don’t produce an answer fast enough.
Chapter 5 The Art of Discovery The Quest, I thought was very intersting beasue I was that student who stuggled to read , I was a passive reader. Just as the author found in her research those who struggle to read submit to the text never questioning its content, style, or intent. I found this to be very true. The root of questioning is quest and as children we are always asking our parents why, mom why, dad why, and how many times did they because. Why do we stop all those questions in school, is it because students don't want to be seen as stupid or is it becasue of another reason. We as teachers need to make sure these questions continue on and have the students feel comfortable and relaxed where they can ask questions.
Chapter 6 Creating Meaning Celebration of the Human Voice What an amazing passage, this is the first time I read this and was truly touched. So many things went through my head as I read it and as I read Elin's refelction so much more went through my head. I recently saw this documentry about Autism called Wretches and Jabbers, this documentry travels with 2 Autistic adults as they travel around the county in persuit of educating others about Autism and Communitcation. I believe it was Larry who responds to a question from a women in Asia, do people want to communicate and his response is yes everyone wants to communicate and it is our fundemental rights as a living being to communicate. With this having a student create meaning from anything is easier said then done. I was working with second graders and i wanted they to write about a time when someone was mean to them. The school had just had an assembly about bullying. I thought it was a farely easy topic to write about, the students did not. There were several students who had no problem and there were many who struggled with finding an idea. I had to walk them through it step by step, I aksed them questions that helped them come up with a time when they had been treated unfairly. I wish I had the thinking out loud method, I feel that is truly the best method to be used with youn students. Older studerns also benifit as well, as well as anyone else. I know myself I learned better with an example.
Chapter 7: When students infer, they go beyond a literal understanding of a text to actively make meaning using their unique thoughts, feelings, and life experiences. As the authors state, “We build meaning by doing something with the text.” It fascinates me how Ellin had vastly different responses to “Celebration of the Human Voice” in two readings; this illustrates how every person and every reading creates something different with a text. These ideas are not explicit, so as teachers, we cannot decide for our students whether their responses are right or wrong; they just are. From my experience, some students do a great deal of inferring as they read. In my social studies classes, these students often have thoughtful questions and comments that reflect the extensive thinking they have done in relation to the text. (These questions are often difficult for me to answer!) I agree with the authors that we don’t always give students adequate amounts of time to make inferences about what they read, and then we are disappointed that they do not develop this skill. Many teachers, and I would have to include myself here, are uncomfortable with long periods of silence. Like the students we teach, we like to keep things moving along. I agree with the authors that it is more important to ponder higher order questions with students, and that the literal details will come along. Helping students to become active readers who make many inferences will help them to identify concepts throughout their lives.
The Real Chapter 7 (my last post was for Chapter 6): I love the comparison of reading to looking at an impressionistic painting; the authors write that “if you stand very close … we see a blur of dots and abrupt brushstrokes that leave us with no sense of form or character. As we move back, we gain perspective and clear images emerge for our interpretation.” I think this is a wonderfully apt analogy for using sensory and emotional images to understand a text. We need to take time and look at a reading in different ways to fully comprehend it. I have used a strategy called sketch-to-stretch, learned from Professor Phyllis Whitin, in which I ask students to draw simple lines, shapes, and colors to relate the concepts and images they perceive from a book. This can be modeled first, and students can discuss their ideas in a pair-and-share activity before they draw something. I also like the idea of asking students what they see, smell, taste, touch, and feel as they read. Some senses are easier to call on then others; it might be difficult at first for students to come up with tastes and smells, but many of us have these types of sense memories (remember what your grade school smelled like?) The critical extension is to understand and be able to explain how using sensory and emotional imagery helps our understanding of a text. This may be an unfamiliar skill for many students, but one that, with practice, can be developed to improve comprehension. Some students do it automatically; others can develop the skill through modeling and practice. I like the idea that Todd used to have students mark the text with sticky notes when they created mental pictures as they read their books. I also like and hope to incorporate the strategies in Figure 7.2 on how students can record they thinking about books, including double-entry journals and letters to other readers and authors.
As I look forward to my first classroom, I think about how I want it to be. I want it to have all of the hallmarks of a well-organized ship. The room to be immaculate and uncluttered, I want my community of learners to understand that we have a schedule to keep, because their teacher believes that children thrive on order. I want the room to be well organized so that I can manage almost anything. In addition to all of the above I want a community of learners, a community of boys and girls who feel safe and valued. In order to do that, I believe it is essential that children, with some controls in place, be taught to question, to step out there and ask a question. Questions are born in thoughts, wondering's. I want them to be able to think. The authors bring wonderful strategies to the table with the think aloud, asking questions, or state wondering's while reading a story or other text to your students. The crafting sessions, setting the tone for a lesson. I did this while teaching a lesson on cardinal directions, by setting up a small tent in the woods, (our classroom) donning a camping backpack and getting lost. The students had to use cardinal directions to help me “find my way back”. And the reflection sessions, here the students take over, they use their knowledge to teach the class. However, the point the authors made that just grabbed my heart was, if we teach them the facts and nothing but the facts. If we teach them to just give us back a block of information. If we teach them to only look for the answer,the students really have not learned anything. What is really happening is that we are robbing them of the ability to think. The authors put it this way, “of all qualities, questioning is fundamental to being human. It is how we dispel confusion, probe into new areas, strengthen our abilities to analyze and deduce.” In my years as a parent and now ten years in education, I know that children need to feel safe in order to learn. They need to know that when they give an opinion about something in class that they will not be seen as silly or off task. Chapters five and six are not just about reading and comprehension strategies, they are about building a community of thinkers and thus learners. All of the strategies are about meeting the students where they are, teaching them that it is okay to have their own thoughts and opinions. Students have to feel safe and secure in order to open up and say what's on their mind, especially if it is not an echo of the class. Questioning, being brave enough to ask a question, letting the other students in the class understand that they don't know something. Invitational meetings, being brave enough to be the kid picked to be in “the group” because he might not quite get it. All of these strategies, teach the student to think, to use the tools in the room to seek answers to their questions. I think that as we establish what rules of engagement are in our community, that while we may produce a well-organized ship, that we can make it a well-organized ship of learners. Each one, like a sailor, with a job to do, thinking, asking questions, wondering why, discussing things with his/her peers. At the end of the day, the students will take away from the classroom a skill that won't diminish over time... the ability to think.
Chapter 6 I believe I’ve posted about Chapter 6, but certainly didn’t cover all the great information it contains. Another important topic is conferencing with students. When I’ve taught writing, I spent a lot of time going over students’ writing with them. I found these one-on-one meetings to be extremely helpful because we could focus on one student’s specific needs. I agree with the authors that it’s important to keep a narrow focus and not to try to force the student to work on more than one or two aspects of their reading or writing. I circulate when students are reading independently in my social studies classroom, which gives me the chance to check in with individual students if they are struggling with any part of the text. I would like to do more conferencing on the writing students do in my social studies class, but haven’t figured out a way to carve out time for it. I have helped students individually after school, but have not led a writing workshop during class time. Students usually write their papers at home, not in class, although they do write in journals in class. Another important section for me was the discussions on helping students select good books for independent reading. I teach social studies, not language arts, but I’m dismayed by the choices students make for their independent reading. While a few pick a variety of books and some challenging texts, many pick the same kinds of books all the time, either science fiction or “chick lit.” Young readers need more variety and they need to be challenged, even by their independent reading books. I’ve lent history books to my students, including American Lion about Andrew Jackson, Gangleader for a Day, a study of gang culture, and Persepolis, a graphic novel about growing up during the Iranian revolution. I think it’s a good idea to encourage students to move out of their reading comfort zone. It’s great to read a lot, but if they read the same things all the time, they are not really growing in terms of learning new ideas and perspectives.
BLOG POST for week of June 13: After reading the Chapter 7, in Mosaic of Thought, It is amazing to me how two people can realize so much about the importance of background knowledge and its role before, during, and after reading to improve reading comprehension and memory. I actually enjoyed the little boy’s knowledge on the Anasazi. I have had children in classes I’ve taught in, that have had as much or more knowledge of topics (of interest to them, but not particularly to me) than I have. I worked in a 3rd grade classroom that had a high level autistic boy, who could wrap circles around my knowledge of dinosaurs. It did not take any effort to activate his schema on dinosaurs. Everything else was an effort for him, just not dinosaurs. The Gradual Release of Responsibility model is what teachers incorporate in our district, but I am not sure if they label it by that name. I believe they refer to it as simply scaffolding, but in a broader sense of the word. They have book collections and access to a teacher resource room library with amazing books that are useful for modeling and using during think-alouds. They also each have the “Making Meaning” series that not only employs activating prior knowledge, but also works using both nonfiction and fiction texts. The Making Meaning series has all the mentor texts included. Teachers often share other quality literature with students so that students can see how different authors incorporate different text features. The authors began with planning. Next they use modeling and then they implement the partner “turn and talk” procedure allowing children to become more involved along the way. We too use these procedures and have seen much success with implementing these procedures. I do like how Debbie makes it seem so natural to pull that book off the shelf and remember where she wanted to pause and think aloud, but I prefer sticky notes to guide me through my lesson. I probably have not used the same book enough to know exactly when and where in the book I would want to stop and think aloud. Children seem to understand the text-to-self and text-to-world connections quicker than the text-to-text, in my opinion, so this is another reason it is so important to have quality mentor texts available to elementary students. When Debbie taught the word schema to the children, it caused me to reflect back on my amazement the first time I heard a first grader use the word. Now, I hear it so often it is not nearly as astonishing. I have used the chart idea quite successfully. Debbie listed the “text-to-self” books she read. In addition, I added a shrunken copy of the actual cover of the book and examples of connections students had made to our chart. Since it was early in the year in a first grade, I also made quick sketches and included them with labels. I agree that it is important to use books that the teacher loves. Not only will his/her enjoyment of the book be conveyed, but he/she will know the book well. It is easier for a teacher to find an example if one is comfortable with the content of the book. I also love how the kindergarteners in that school were exposed to the word metacognition, just as our kindergarteners are. Prior to exposing students, our district provided the parents with the necessary background knowledge so that they would understand what their children were talking about when they tried to share their metacognition at home.
Part 2 of chapter 7... I like how over and over in the chapter, she tells children that the strategies are all aimed at helping the reader understand the book better. I say that over and over with each mini-lesson I present on comprehension. I found it important and insightful how she talks about introducing the idea to students to sort out the important experiences and connections they’ve had. This way they can concentrate on the experiences that help them understand the book better. Some children get lost in making connections to connections and don’t actually understand that there is a reason for sharing them. I like the examples of using the strategies in other subject areas. The use of “way in” texts seems to be quite valuable in building schema. Students could be guided or encouraged to select at least one “way in” text when shopping and making choices for new books. This way they could still feel some empowerment with making choices, while gaining background knowledge that will serve to make future connections. I also thought it was insightful when Kathy allowed Max to read Through My Eyes at independent reading time, by adding some conditions. I was excited to see a compromise to the dilemma that I often face with students wanting to read books not yet at their level. I felt like it gave me an option, but gave the students some power. I can’t wait to try this.
BLOG post for week of June 13... Chapter eight explores determining what is important in a passage and how readers need to make comprehension decisions at the word, sentence, and the whole text or idea level. It looks into how good readers focus on contentives or key words in sentences. Since this was a new concept for me, I had to try it out. It did seem that in their example, I focused on the contentives so there seems to be some validity to this statement. I am thinking that I might be able to use this with some of the struggling students that I work with. A good starting place with students might be to pose the question what are the important words in that sentence that help you understand what it means. We might have to look at isolated vocabulary first and make sure they understand any challenging words along with concepts. This chapter includes specific text features for students to look for, which we begin teaching in first and second grade. One idea I found useful in this chapter is the way the author breaks down understanding by making sure students comprehend at the word and sentence level. We do use “stop and jot”, but generally stop at the paragraph level. It may be helpful to break the passages down into sentences first. I also like the way the authors talk about the main idea being found on standardized tests rather than in everyday nonfiction writing. This is so true and is probably why I have been in classrooms where we are working on selecting the main idea from a passage and students present good strong cases for a couple different main ideas. Sometimes we determine that there is more than one main idea or we look closer into the author’s purpose. Occasionally, I see situations where students read their own beliefs into what the author is saying. They change the author’s ideas so much that it modifies the message that he/she is trying to convey. This chapter could also be useful for writing. It would help students to learn to write with a main idea in mind. The example of Rachel deciding what fourth graders needed to know could be used as a mini-lesson for writing. It is a great example of writing or developing a presentation for what the reader or audience need to know. Sometimes children forget to think about their audience and including this can make the difference between a boring and a great piece. At my son’s recent honors night, a speech was given by one of his peers. He drew everyone in to his ideas by comparing his education to the nachos that the cafeteria served each Thursday. He compared the nachos themselves to the foundation of the salad, just like his education has provided him with a foundation for life. Even the principal commented on how he will now look at those nachos differently than he ever did before. I also think the paragraph on skepticism is important. I think we spend so much time filtering what children can read and accepting only certain sources as reliable that some of the children’s job as decision makers is taken away. Unless we talk to children about what makes information questionable and give them opportunities to decide, they will be less equipped to determine these things for themselves when they have the need. Lastly, I think the determining importance in text ideas, which is discussed at the end of the chapter, could be used with students. I would go through each of these strategies as individual mini-lessons and begin a reference chart to serve as a reminder to students of what great non-fiction readers do to understand main ideas.
Infotext BLOG for week of June 13… Vocabulary comprehension is an important concept to understanding the content. Feathers strongly substantiates the idea that having students look up definitions for words is not an effective method for children’s learning. It discusses that memorizing definitions does not mean the student understands. It further indicates that children learn words by experiencing and using the concept. The example she uses is water and how young children make discoveries about it. When we label concepts with young children, those words make sense to them. The vocabulary labels we teach in school are typically not taught this way. I agree that we would do better to teach the concept by exposing children to activities and other information that would allow them to understand the concept and then introduce the word. This reminds me of a math lesson I taught in a fourth grade classroom about factoring. We worked on what we know about numbers and actually discovered how numbers could be related by factoring, before the actual word factoring was introduced. Students worked in pairs to factor all numbers up to twenty-five and we discussed all the factors so they had a good working understanding of the concept, prior to learning the word. I thought the section on “Learning Vocabulary Many Concepts one Label” was interesting. The many concepts for one vocabulary word make me think of the difficulty this could present for ESL students. This makes a good case for learning and teaching vocabulary in context. This section also advises against just teaching vocabulary that are subject related terms by using text features, context clues, or reading on. These are all strategies that can help for some students, some of the time, but not all the time or for all students. The text talks about how again there are obstacles that can interfere with learning when these strategies are relied on. It offers options that seem to make more sense for vocabulary comprehension. Feathers emphasizes the use of making predictions, sticky notes for trouble spots and discussing them later if they remain troublesome, and writing a summary of the book as strategies, which will allow the student to understand the concept in the context, rather than the vocabulary word in isolation. She endorses the use of charts and sematic maps to aid in comprehension. All these ideas seem not only reasonable, but also worthwhile to me because here as in other strategies, the ultimate goal is to promote independence in reading. This is so important if children are to be able to experience the joy of reading for the rest of their lives.
BLOG FOR 6/13/11 (I had already started on chapters 7-8 for this blog so I have included chapter 6 at the end)Chapter seven focuses on bringing the text to life and enhancing comprehension. I enjoyed reading about creating sensory images when reading. Page 176 states, “Text comes alive through the creation of sensory images.” This means that we are able to better connect to the text when we are create images as we read. I know that this is something that I tend to do a lot as I read. No matter what type of book I am reading I find myself creating images in my mind as I go along. I know that this helps me understand better because I am able to create a picture in my head and visualize the words. In a way the text is coming alive, just as this chapter stated. I also enjoyed reading about the different ways that children can record their thinking about books. The book listed multiple written means, artistic means, oral means, and dramatic means for children to express their thoughts. I really liked this section because it made me think of how different everyone really is and how one thing may work for someone and not another person. As a teacher, I am going to have to keep this in mind so that I can reach all of my students and all of their styles of learning. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because I feel that it made me realize the importance of teaching to multiple abilities and styles.
Chapter eight is all about determining importance, separating the essential from the nonessential. One quote that I found interesting can be found on page 208 and it states “Thinking about how the text reminds you of your own life is one way to decide what’s important.” I never really thought too much about this until just now and it makes perfect sense. I tend to get more out of reading that I am interested in and that matters in my life. When I am reading something that does not mean as much to me I tend to zone out and not really comprehend fully. However, when I come across something relevant and exciting I tune in more and am able to recall it later. I enjoy reading these chapters because they make me stop and realize the simpler things. The Infotext reading selection discussed the importance of understanding vocabulary. I learned that there are six types of vocabulary knowledge, production, recognition, organized, unorganized, immediately learnable, and potentially learnable. We learn vocabulary in all different types of ways and this is something that I did not think about. I think that it is important that students have experience with words both inside and outside of school every day. When students read different types of books they will be exposed to different vocabulary and this will hopefully expand their own vocabulary knowledge.
For week 6/13/11 This is probably my favorite chapter in the book so far. Because this is what I LOVE to do. I love, almost, making up my own characters in stories. Even in expository text, I am able to comprehend the facts by relating them to something else, by giving it images, by making it come to life! One thing I want to comment on before I get deep into the text is the argument that, in today's age, we can simply put on an "audio tape" and get real images in our head and think and make the characters up in our heads just the same as we can with reading a book. Well, for all those who think that way, think again. Half of reading is for enjoyment, but when we are talking about our students, it is about the "READING" too. Are they "reading" the text? Comprehension and reading go hand in hand. You can comprehend without reading (Listening) but you cannot read without comprehending, this is bad. Reading is essential; you are not always going to have a play button to hit. Anyways, When Ellin is talking about her reflections; again, just as the whole book does collectively, she goes back to the basics and then catches up to the chapter. Meaning, she is still "asking questions' and "drawing on past experiences". Now she is adding in "what would I see, what would I smell, what would I taste etc." In a sense, this book is like Math. You learn how to add and subtract, then, with those basic skills you can learn and do algebra, then trig and so on. Like this, reading and comprehension is not something that is going to develop over night. It is our job to see to it that the students recognize what they are doing, how they are progressing, learning, and knowing what we can do to propel them further. We can always go back to basics and build if need be, but we should always be looking ahead to grow. Creating sensory images reminds me of that fabulous book that Kevin brought in. We can take away so much from that book, and like reading, we can see something different every time. We can feel a different vibe every time. I remember in the last chapter, Ellin talked about how her feelings and past experiences were totally different from someone else’s. I think this is very important to keep in mind when talking about sensory images. We need to apply the same principals to this. No one’s images are wrong! We should encourage students to share how they view something. Everyone can benefit from it. Ellin gives examples like "thinking-aloud". This is honestly one of my favorite things to do with students. (However, we must caution the pure reason for reading as noted in prior chapters: Enjoyment). This is the best strategy to use for the students who just "can't get a VIVID image in their heads." I love how on page 179, Ellin is successful with getting ideas and images out of children’s heads and out in the open. However, the best part: She does not stop there...she asks "probing questions". We could literally do this for hours and hours, and what is cool is that it just makes the reading and comprehending experience richer and fuller for not just the two people discussing the images, but for the whole class too! This may jog others' memories and feelings to alter and make THEIR mental images stronger and MORE vivid. The power of asking more questions and EXPLORING is so powerful! (see next)
At the top of page 187, something stuck out for me. The text says: "He had noticed too many of his students didn't stick with a book long enough to develop an interest in it, and if they did, didn't notice much more than the most literally stated events." This was me when I was growing up. We would go to the library and pick out books and I would loose interest. I still kind of do. I am the same with video games. My friends think I am weird because I do not finish a game, or a book, that I started. If you asked most people, they would say I am the most creative person they know, and is always looking for fun ways to do things. I am always thinking. How is this possible if I cannot finish a game or a book? According to this book, I lack ways of vividly interpreting text and getting deep into reading. Doesn't that compromise imagination? Just something, I was thinking about. I found it interesting how much different it can be for young students in primary grades, to students in Intermediate grades. One thing that they focus on is the whole modeling factor. I think this would be more of a challenge to do since many of the books are longer and more detailed. Sometimes, the books are so open that it up to you to determine what something looks like. I think this is a major difference. On the contrary, there are many similarities, such as "thinking aloud", I wouldn't think to use this as much in the higher grades, but I now see that it can be used more than I ever knew. Even though the books are longer and take more at it, there are defiantly many opportunities to insert our ideas and feelings. We can paint a picture with anything. What do you think about the setting? Where can you think of a place that is similar around here? Picture yourself there. What do you see/ what do you smell? Is it nice outside? On the other hand, is it gloomy? Just like before, asking probing questions is one of the best things we can do. I think it takes harder work and more MODELING to do this with higher grades. I think this because like said a few pages earlier, the students will say, "why are we doing this?' "We know how to read!” yes, but how much MORE could you ENJOY the reading and take something from it you’ll remember and appreciate? With the higher-grade kids, we can do more, as far as classroom management goes. Of course, we would probably have to do mini lessons and establish how it is going to work, but we have more opportunities. With that said, I LOVE the idea starting on page 190, and will DEF use it in the future. The theater, book talk zone, artist's studio and writers den. You are pretty much covering ALL forms of Language arts in a collaborative classroom. This just builds and builds and builds upon all of the imagery you are getting from multiple angles! I love this too because I think we can adapt it for a broad range of learners and be able to teach differentially without a sweat. This can also be a very good 'self-running" apparatus that will allow us as the teachers to walk freely and participate, model, scaffold, help, fix, answer, question, and explore. I think the best thing to do is to keep relating the information they are learning to what they know, what they are asking about and what they are learning. Link these to sensory. The whole point is to be absolutely immersed into the text and activities to give you the skills and mindset to do it with ALL book and readings. Lastly, on the last page of chapter 7, there is a great list of ways we can evoke images. The first one is great and is what we should all aspire to do: "Proficient readers spontaneously and purposefully create images while and after they read. If we can get kids to do this all the time, at any level, we are doing something great. (Chapter 7 done, chapter 8 follows)
POST for 6/13/2011 Chapter 6-Creating Meaning was a very intriguing read. I was very interested during Ellin’s Reflection that she stated “I’m struck by how different my responses are several months apart and realize that each time I read, “Celebration of the Human Voice,” my response will change, depending upon current events, what I’m reading, what has been happening in my life (Keene and Zimmerman, 141).” On a personal level, I was able to relate to this occurrence while revisiting a previous read text. I have been in this same situation numerous times, when the text takes on a different effect depending on what may be currently taking place in your life. This being said, my students have had this same thing happen when we read a book in class, then may eventually reread it. They always love to reread books and hold grand conversations, mentioning the things that they notice this time around that may have been previously missed. Next, I was very intrigued by the story of Katherine. WOW! I cannot express in words how touching this piece was only because I work the ESY program during the summer which has SXI/SCI students. I have personally witnessed this same form of “language-a lifetime of inferences that have led them to know someone who will never speak (Keene and Zimmerman, 143).” There are numerous students in our world that go unnoticed everyday because they do not have a “verbal voice.” However, they have their own form of communication; it just takes someone special to take the time to learn their individualized form of communication. Love my ESY students! Then chapter 6 moves into “think alouds.” I have had the opportunity to see this exact thing take place in a classroom and it has made me realize that the dynamic built in a class through the “give and take” approach is awesome. I think it is a great idea to allow the students to make inferences while reading and give them the opportunity to share them with their peers. I believe that students “learn” from one another; builds classroom collaboration. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lessons Along the Way guidelines that were provided in this chapter. Next, another favorite part of chapter 6, was the mentioning of “conferences are the lifeblood to comprehension teaching (Keene and Zimmerman, 154).” This is a vitally important statement to stand true as a future educator. We must strive to lead our students to CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING WHILE READING! If they do not understand what they are reading, they are basically wasting their time and getting cheated of a wondrous world of discovery! Chapter 6 was an interesting read and I am looking forward to class discussions on Wednesday!
(6/13 cont.) That really is the number one questions isn't it? Determining the importance of reading. I like how they related it to today’s world with all of the choices we have in the world. So many options. What is important is that students need to realize when something is important, and furthermore, recognize when it may be a good idea to "re-read something" and ask, "Why is this important?" After time, we can do this all at the same time. Building blocks my friend. Building blocks. When determining what is important, I think part of it is determined upon what kind of text you are reading. Use the text factors, which we have all learned about. Determine the importance of the words; find the bold ones. Chances are, it is an important word. This is for expository text however. What about narratives? Characters names, places we feel we need to remember, etc. Other than this, they say these decisions are influenced by our background knowledge, our purpose for reading, what we find pleasing, and how often or much the author repeats something. This is a good outline to determine what is important and knowing what to pay attention to. How do we portray this to our students? Think alouds! Get them to talk about their choices (pg 211 bottom). Something as simple as taking a break and doing a comparison. This will give meaning. We are relating text to self, text to text, and text to world. What better way to find meaning and getting to the heart of the matter? The info text sort of ties a lot of the reading in, and has some underlying meanings to the above readings: 1) Vocabulary, I believe, is best learned and recorded in the brain by experience. I am a firm believer that the more you read, the better your vocabulary. So really, "searching for importance", and "thinking about what you are thinking" are just ways we get experience. When you are searching for meaning and self-questioning, you are going to naturally look for context clues for a word you do not know and not even realize you are doing it. 2.) Furthermore, the books both talk about what seems to be text factors: highlighting passages or sentences of meaning, recognizing bold words. Are these not important words to pay attention to and half of the time they are meant to build vocabulary? 3) The info text says that we need to anticipate the problems so they can read independently with fluency. I am also a believer in if someone asks a question, give them time to REALLY think about it. In my mind, how are kids going to LEARN if we just GIVE them the answer? Make them think. Have them ask the question, give them clues, and let them think. I call this time for them to think, "Quite time". This is the part where the teacher does not say anything and lets them ponder, and ponder and ponder. It is not cruel, because what is really going on in their heads? They are DIGGING! I think this can be very beneficial to vocabulary learning, on top of everything else and all the other strategies in the info text, such as context clues, reading on, textual aids, and consulting another source. Many of these can be done on the independent level too, again, provoking thinking and digging in their heads. (6/13 end)
Post for 6/13 "Picture this," "Imagine for a second," "Just imagine," Three of many expressions we have all used as an attempt at enhancing the quality of a story we are telling to a friend. If one is unable to picture how something is when they are hearing about it or reading about it; how much life do the words still have? As a lover of all literature it has been my experience that if I am not creating images than I am not interested. This thought I have is most likely shared by many individuals; think about the last time you watched a movie after you read a book, not that good, right? The imagery one creates while reading cannot be duplicated, not even with top rate actors and all the special effects in the world; generally the actors are not the same and the special effects are not special enough :-) The problem is many students are not creating images, they are not diving in the text deep enough, "The fact is many children spend a lot of time in front of screens - movie, television, video, and computer...........they don't realize they have the ultimate computer between their ears and enormous capacity to create their own images"(Keene 177). How do we change this and help students make the realization that when they create their own imagery from involving themselves in a text "those images take on a three-dimensional quality in our minds and connect us personally, often permanently, with the text"(Keene, 176). The reiterated method of choice for Keene is thinking aloud, sharing the images which are coming up when good readers read. This, like questioning and inferring can be nurtured if students only see how important it is to create your own images in making text-to-self connections and comprehending what is being read. I found it amazing the images which were developed by Ciella during the think aloud Sabrina conducted with her students while reading Remember by Toni Morrison. How incredibly moving is it that Ciella used the stories of her grandmother to create her own images which related to the story which was being read to her. The only way this child makes that connection is through a classroom environment where her unique thoughts and images are valued and encouraged as a member of the learning community. This event resulted in the evolution of the reading and writing workshop into the Composing Session and how amazing is it that the acts and decisions of one student made the instructor aware that some changes were necessary. When teachers make adjustments to accommodate and support interests of individual students that alone can make the difference between getting a student to read because he or she has to but because he or she wants to. Further into the chapter the same thing could be noticed in Todd's fourth grade class.
6/13 cntd. One student (Kent) hates reading and is never engaged.....but following some think alouds and reading time focused on visual imagery that is created by capable readers Kent begins to open up with the imagery which he had been creating. From here Todd developed the four "capture thinking" areas where students could explore all of their strategy studies (theater, book talk zone, artist's studio, and writer's den). Each area had something unique to offer each reader and by allowing students the power to choose exactly which area they felt driven towards it really gives those students a sense of ownership and undoubtedly much pride in the work which they are creating.......because it is authentic and not forced. Too often students are made to work on stuff which is not of interest, not valid, and honestly boring; what quality of work do we expect when students are pushed into it under these circumstances? Altogether the goal in any literacy instruction should be to create lifelong readers who are capable of creating images which validates what they are reading. The only way to do this is to teach students how good readers create images, give them time to create images, and finally to support them regardless of whether or not their images are what we expect but instead whether or not the images are what comes to mind when the student is reading.
Chapter 6 was all about creating meaning and inferences. One of my favorite quotes was on page 141 and it states, “They need to know that they aren’t “wrong” if their inferences are different from those of their teachers or classmates.” I think that this is very important when trying to get children to make their own interpretations. I think that too often students shy away from speaking up in class because they are afraid that they will be wrong or that their answer doesn’t match someone else’s answers. Growing up I was very shy and I too felt that I did not want to volunteer an answer in fear of it not being correct. I was afraid that I would get into trouble or that everyone would think I was wrong. As teachers, I think it is our responsibility to make our students feel comfortable in the classroom environment. I think that our students need to first feel that they can share anything and then they need to know that everyone is going to have a different view on things. They need to be aware that everyone is different and that we all have different views and opinions. Once students can realize that there may be more than one right answer or that no one’s answer is right or wrong, then I feel that students will be comfortable enough to make these important inferences. I also liked the quote found on page 146 that states, “To push beyond a dry, literal understanding, to add our own opinions, knowledge and ideas-that is to infer.”I think Ellin creates a great understanding of inference through this quote. I think that in order for people to have a great understanding of something they need to be able to add their own ideas and prior knowledge. If students are only getting the literal understanding of things then they are not applying it to their lives. They need to be able to apply what they are reading to what they already know. Then they need to add their own interpretations and ideas. The book also said that think-alouds are one of the most important tactics at our disposal. They provide students with a real world example of how someone uses their thoughts and prior knowledge to infer about a particular reading selection. I really liked how this chapter gave us multiple examples of using think alouds and how in the beginning they struggled but after a short while they became successful in executing great think alouds that intrigued the students. I think it is great that this book highlights not only examples of how to do strategies correctly but, also what to do when strategies do not work out the first time. Another quote that I found interesting was on page 152, “Too often we leave a child who pauses or blurts, I don’t know!” I can see this happening a lot in classrooms all over. Instead of doing this they suggest to encourage these students to take the time they need. As a teacher we can reread a portion of the book or restate what the child has said to help them remember what they were trying to say. I think it is extremely important that we do not give up on our students and that we help them along every step of the way.
ReplyDeletePicking up where the last chapter left off (questioning), this chapter now takes it a step further. Inferring, after reading this, means trusting what your thinking, and "questioning". It important to let kids know that there is NO wrong way to think. How else are they going to think and "infer" if they feel bonded or feel they have to censor their thinking. It should be free of this. It will only open the mid for more possibilities. How do we get this "freedom" into their heads, lives, and experiences? A lot of infereing comes from draws on past experiences.I think this is the point the first few pages are trying to make. And they may change. outside influence has a lot to do with it When I infer, i think about myself in that situation, if it is a fiction story. If it is a expository text, i try to think of connections in my life. Say, I'm learning about Abraham Lincoln. i would be thinking about the trips i have taken to Gettysburg and how i felt when i was there. My mood at the time may influence how i feel or what i think about. Inferring means, loosly, making assumptions. The middle paragraph on page 145 says it best: "Inference is part rational, part mystical, part definable, and part beuond definition. Individuals' life experiences, logic, wisdom, values. creativity, and thoughtfulness, set against the text they are reading, form the crux of new meaning." It's rational because it's dependant on other factors. It's mystical becuase you are imagining and putting yourself in others' shoes. It both definable and not, because sometimes you just can't pin point why you feel a way about something, but other times, it's explainable.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to help chideren infer is to think aloud. I have always been an advocate for this for a few reasons: 1. because I have always been taught, at my work, to "Model the Way", meaning, model what you want them to do, and then practice it with them. What better way to show a comprehenssion stratagy that works and is effective!? They know examples or what to ask. It's catchy! 2. (less related to this) Because it helps with fluency. When I was in school, i don't remember ever having my teacher explain what she was thinking, or what she was infering. I did a lot of Basal Readers and worksheets, and reading in silent. It wasn't as engaging. I want my students be be engaged in their thinking and active listeners and readers. One of the best ways, and this text reassures it, is Thinking aloud. IN figure 6.1. i fee lthese arethe "vitals" for deepening thinkning and thus infering: Show how to think, show how to behave as a reader and a writer, and teach them how to interact and work with ideas they understand.
You are the "teacher', to the children, you are "all knowing". They WILL listen, i feel like. To differentiate: The children who are quick readers and learners, i would like to NOT, leave them be and say, "They get it so they can hold on". I feel that you need to keep challenging them. Put them in a small group and ask them to talk about their different inferences, feelings, experiences, etc. This collaboration will deepen their thinking and continue to rise them to higher levels of thinking.
With a huge focus on standardized testing, as much as i think it is over thought of, the children are still not very good at "inferential thinking". As it says on page 148, Their difficulties come from lack of clarity FROM TEACHERS of what good inferring looks like. This generation of teachers need to put an end to this. How else are kids suppose to THINK? Do kids learn from worksheets and lectures? No. As a matter of fact, lectures only give the least amount of retention on a subject or topic. It's sad that we see this more often in classrooms, than not. I know that's how i learned. I think lectures and such should be a SMALL supplement to the big picture. We need kids visually representing, and inferring and asking self questions on a regular basis. How else are they going to learn it except from TEACHERS who know how to model it?
ReplyDeleteI like how on page 151, Ellin ASKED why he thought that way and how it came into his head. This alone, I think deepens thinking, AND, if you handle it the right way in the class, will give more opportunities for other students in the class to learn from a peer, not just the teacher anymore! This is powerful stuff.
ReplyDeleteA good point: "Trust children to pick up on the more obvious points in the text." We should be challenging the children at all times. I think the teachers who do the above are taking the "easy way" to thinking aloud. It's not an easy think to do, as I'm sure may people think so. We need to dig deeper with the kids. Sometimes, if there is silence in the class, this may mean they are really thinking about it, hard. This is a good thing. Other times, we may need to rephrase, which will all-in-all, help to better understand and help them come up with inferring questions they are asking on their own. This may be a challenge to figure out what kind of silence is going on.
Just reading figure 6.2 about conferring gives great examples of what we want to say, and eventually what we want our kids to say about their thoughts. Encouraging to let them think out loud themselves is good to do. Better retention, more exposure for peers, and better confidence in speaking and thinking in the future, are just some of the benefits. One aspect of this I think we need to be careful and cautious about, is going back to making the "classroom conferring and inferring environment" one that is OPEN, and FREE of ridicule and censorship, to a point. No ones inferences are wrong! Everyone draws on different experiences and has a different way of interpreting their questions and thinking and making assumptions. This is the biggest part of the chapter I got, and the fact that I need to reflect and model this to the kids as their teacher.
“Questions lead me to unexpected places and keep me intrigued. For me, questions are the glue of engagement ( Keene and Zimmerman, Susan’s Reflection, 105).” I absolutely love this quote in Susan’s Reflection; it made an instant personal connection. Often during my days in the classroom, I notice the students intrigued while reading, with somewhat of an in depth thought connected to a question. I feel as though it is vitally important to allow children to ask any/all questions that they may find of interest. Visiting my childhood, I remember being that student that was too timid to ask questions because of the fear from other students who would chuckle if the question seemed “awkward” to them. Asking questions should always be addressed as an “open door” policy…I recall a famous quote: “No question is a dumb question. You are most likely asking a question that your peers are thinking, but too afraid to ask.” I think that our students learn from their peers thoughts, ideas and most importantly questions. We as future educators must dispel any/all confusion to an “idea” that a student may not fully understand. It is our responsibility to encourage independent thinking and strengthen our students understanding in the classroom. Another quote that caught my attention was “We can never underestimate the importance of questions, real questions, not the prepared questions at the end of the story or chapter, but questions that arise from a true desire to know more, to probe deeper. After all, the root of question is quest (Keene and Zimmerman, The Quest, 107).” I love this one! I think that this thought is a phenomenal approach to allowing our children to explore the “world of education” at their fingertips….thirsty to learn more and understand the “whys” in their world. We must advocate for our children to want to go beyond our expectations in order to become responsible learners. In regards to my special education students, they are always in the “I want to know more mode.” They may not wholly understand the content, but find it important to initiate further learning. I adore my ASD students because they are always asking, “WHY”, which I know is a part of their disability, but it tickles my heart to know that they internally have a passion to learn more. Another idea in the chapter that caught my attention was the sticky notes being used while reading. I have used this concept in the past and have found it to have its pros and cons. However, the pros definitely outweighed the cons because my students enjoyed using these sticky notes as not only a way to ask themselves questions, but to be able to revisit the text/assignment and become confident during class discussions. I hope to utilize these techniques someday in my classroom. During chapter 6, I found numerous ideas and made text to self connections, but am confident in the strategies that were discussed (my school currently uses some of them). I really enjoyed chapters 5 and 6 and am looking forward to class on Monday!
ReplyDeleteTo infer or not to infer that is the question. Undoubtedly, when one is able to infer while reading a text they are making a meaningful connection to some aspect of their life as they are taking such an active role in reading. As Keene states at the beginning of the chapter she was writing, then she was interrupted and came back to writing and she was writing about the same literature in a totally different way. She states that her responses always chance "depending upon current events, what I'm reading, what has been happening in my life"(Keene 141). She goes on to discuss the role that inferences make in her reading and how important of a tool this can be when taught to students. The ability to make inferences while reading is what should make reading such an amazing experience for everyone. It allows the reader to take part in the story to dive in and see, feel, and sense things which not everyone else experiences from the same passage. As Keene also says it is important that these differences are enjoyed and accepted and not pushed away for being different; that is what makes inferring such an important part of reading. Too often we focus only on the parts of the text that are important to the district or state but what about the life long readers we are hoping to create? As Keene states on 146 "How often do we create classroom environments in which they (students) discuss, evaluate, ponder, argue, restate, reflect, persuade, relate, write about, or otherwise work with the information we consider critical for them to recall?" How true, the primary focus in many classrooms is to open the basal reader three or four times a week and at the beginning of the chapter or story it tells the teacher what is important for the student to learn.......but when we as educators or even adults read a book, regardless of purpose, who tells us what is important? No one. Further into the chapter I found the brief discussion on conferences to be very beneficial, especially when a new comprehension strategy is taught in the class, because it is so important that we assess on a student-by-student basis what is actually being taken from the strategies which are presented. As Keene says "Conferences are lifeblood to comprehension teaching" (Keene 154). Finally, I really enjoyed reading how Ellin was instructing the students by using think-alouds (big surprise) about the inferences she was making while reading. This is such a great way to show students what good readers do when they are reading. Following the instruction and think-aloud she jumped into the workshop and gave students the chance to select literature (with guidance and recommendations) which they could use to make their own inferences. Overall this is a strategy that I had never been exposed to, and never really heard anything on before. How truly important is it that we get students inferring whenever possible during reading and writing workshop. It is just another great part of a curriculum that hopefully will contribute to building a solid learning community where everyone's opinion is valued, and where reading is viewed as something more than just an assignment but perhaps a door to better things.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7- This chapter really sheds some light on bringing text to life; creating vivid images about a story in your head. As I read The Cough which was the introduction, I tried to vision what was going on; the setting, the characters, etc. I also used background knowledge to help me with creating an image while reading that piece. I thought to myself how could I create a better image than before. Do I need to reread the piece? Do I need to slow down in order to create a better image? This quote on page 174 really opened my eyes and helped me with the understanding of creating my image. It says, “In the same way, each image created in the mind while reading has little meaning unless we associate it with words on the page and with other images and memories in our lives”. If we can’t relate to the piece that we read or see then we really can’t create an image that will help us better understand.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this piece, I couldn’t really tell you the last time I actually envisioned what I was reading, I just read what I needed to get through what I was doing. This chapter made me realize that if I envision what I read, I will understand what I am reading better. I think that today a lot of children do not have to create sensory images because of technology just like the text said. Children are so caught up in television and computers that they don’t need to create images in their head because those devices give it to them. There are many ways that teachers can help children with this by having them read and write, have conferences with the teacher and work in groups. There are many other ways to help but the things listed are a good start.
For me, I hope that I can take this to an inner city neighborhood and help children create images because they see so many things that young people should not see. I would probably ask the children to think about something magical, a place that takes them away from their problems and write about it. I think doing that will help them with creating images. In fact, I think that idea will help all children with creating images. Thinking about something they like or imagine would really help.
Chapter 8- This was a really good chapter because I think that I could relate to this one so far out of all the readings that have been done. Determining importance is very important because there are so many ideas floating. When reading, we come across so much information that we want to include everything but we can’t. We need to determine what is important and what strikes our attention the most. When we summarize something or choose something to write about we have to think about what we feel is the most important. We can do that by using our background knowledge and knowing how certain readings effect us while reading them. In this age we are given way too much info considering the many different ways we can access it through the internet. We must know how we can narrow down information and pick what is best. We must know what is essential and what is not. A lot of times it is difficult for students to determine what is important because the text is too difficult to read.
ReplyDeleteThere are three ways that help with determining importance: whole text or idea level, sentence level, and word level. Whole text involves our background knowledge and how we always make decisions about what we are reading while we are reading. At the word level, eyes focus on the wording and find meaning. Contentives are very important at this level because they hold the meaning in the sentence. The sentence level helps determine the overall meaning of the passage or reading using repetition and text features. Being able to understand the whole text level and word level helps with the sentence level.
While reading this I thought about how I highlight a lot of key ideas and what I do with them. I thought about how I could narrow down some of the things I highlight. One question that crossed my mind was, Do I highlight enough or too much? I think that if I focus on the main ideas and the things I relate to, it will help me with determining the importance. When I think about my future students, I think about how I could help them with this. One way to start this is by giving them a friendly piece to read, something that is not filled with unfamiliar topics. Then I would allow us to read together and think about the key ideas as a class. We could work on determining what is important. If I were to do this with the group I am working with right now, I would most definitely have to model this more than once.
My first thought on this chapter was that I would have a great
ReplyDeleteopportunity to utilize this strategy in the way Ellin presents it in my
present position, as a resource room teacher. Whole group discussion to
develop inferences is talked about extensively and this strategy would
be ideal in a resource room because of the small number of students
working together at any given time. This would not only allow time for
each student to share their thinking, but the setting would encourage
it. Plus, the majority of students I see would benefit immensely from
its use. She mentions using it with book clubs, during invitational
groups, and during conferences, which I believe would also make it
easier to focus on the message each child is trying to convey. I
understand how all children would benefit from the discussion, but to
make this work on a regular basis, a classroom teacher would probably
need to incorporate multiple subjects. In depth discussions are known to
use a lot of time and with twenty-seven thoughts to be heard, it may be
difficult to do this frequently. I think inferring is an important
reading strategy to develop so it is well worth the time and effort. It
would just take using all the different discussion opportunities that
are available to be able to incorporate it as often as she advises.
In elementary classroom, I worked on inferring daily and we did have
discussions as a class, with partners, in groups, and while conferring,
but I really never stopped to think about how important these
discussions were. This strategy helps them pull the other strategies
together. While inferring, students are personally making predictions,
conclusions, connecting, using background knowledge, and using their
inner thoughts to make sense of what is happening. Finally and probably
most important, they pull all of this together to make an important
judgment or decision about what they have just heard or read.
The information that Janet, Becky, and Ellin gained when working with
children at the low income Alabama School is relevant even in higher
income schools. It is beneficial for all children. I agree that
sometimes teachers spend too much time having students retell what they
have just read and that sometimes the real “guts” of the story get
left behind and never talked about. I like the way Ellin says to just
trust that they will get those obvious points.
To be continued...
Part 2
ReplyDeleteAlso, the use of think aloud is a great technique. I think this is a
skill that practice will help to make perfect or closer to perfect. Each
time we do a think aloud, the students will gain new insight, but we as
educators probably will too. As we conduct these experiences, I think we
will come to understand how to highly develop discussions to a level
that encourages students to become the higher level thinkers that they
are capable of being. It also allows students to gain confidence since
everyone may have a different insight into the same passage and their
thoughts should not only be accepted, but encouraged. For this reason,
this strategy is powerful.
I was also excited to see her thoughts on the use of rich books as a
means to advocate and promote these rich discussions. The Other Side is
such a good example. I have known children to not only share their
beliefs and insights, but also those of the adults they live with. These
books do lend themselves to great discussions, and to not use them in
this way would be a missed opportunity.
The last important section I want to mention is the amazing key idea
list she has created for conferring. Most teachers I know do most of
these things, but not all of them. I have not seen or tried announcing
to students that I will confer on deep structures or surface structures.
Usually I allow the student to guide the conference, but I really like
her idea. I think it will encourage them to try some things that they
may not be as sure of, along with helping them to develop their higher
level thinking skills. The more practice we have with it, the more
comfortable we will both become in using these techniques.
Creating meaning through the art of discovery
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 and 6 of the mosaic readings really stress that as educators we must teach our students to be actively thinking as they read. Questioning and conferring are the two strategies that are the main points of focus. Going more in depth is the next thing students must do in order to comprehend what they are learning. To learn is an ongoing never ending cycle of asking questions and making inferences.
In the text the author tells us about a student that rereads a book called “The Other Side”. The problem the educator faced was that the student had already read the story and already knew what would happen therefore she could not predict what would happen next, the lesson here is that learning is never ending.
To continue to challenge the student more you must ask them to make inferences why this problem occurred? Can you relate to it how? The definition of inference from the text is the process of creating a personal and unique meaning from text. When all the questions about the text have been answered look into your own understanding to the text and discover the text in a new light.
Another thing l like about this portion of the text is it emphasizes on speaking up and out on what you think. One of the authors Ellin Keene used an interesting technique to break a child out of his mental shell saying that it is better to give students time to think about what to say. One of her student Remy was asked to explain how he came up with his answer and he answered rashly with”I don’t know”. Ellin thinking he just said that as a defensive method asked him “Well if you did know, what would you say?” Too often are we quick to give up on a child because they don’t produce an answer fast enough.
Chapter 5 The Art of Discovery
ReplyDeleteThe Quest, I thought was very intersting beasue I was that student who stuggled to read , I was a passive reader. Just as the author found in her research those who struggle to read submit to the text never questioning its content, style, or intent. I found this to be very true.
The root of questioning is quest and as children we are always asking our parents why, mom why, dad why, and how many times did they because. Why do we stop all those questions in school, is it because students don't want to be seen as stupid or is it becasue of another reason. We as teachers need to make sure these questions continue on and have the students feel comfortable and relaxed where they can ask questions.
June 3, 2011 1:36 PM
Chapter 6 Creating Meaning
ReplyDeleteCelebration of the Human Voice
What an amazing passage, this is the first time I read this and was truly touched. So many things went through my head as I read it and as I read Elin's refelction so much more went through my head.
I recently saw this documentry about Autism called Wretches and Jabbers, this documentry travels with 2 Autistic adults as they travel around the county in persuit of educating others about Autism and Communitcation.
I believe it was Larry who responds to a question from a women in Asia, do people want to communicate and his response is yes everyone wants to communicate and it is our fundemental rights as a living being to communicate.
With this having a student create meaning from anything is easier said then done. I was working with second graders and i wanted they to write about a time when someone was mean to them. The school had just had an assembly about bullying. I thought it was a farely easy topic to write about, the students did not. There were several students who had no problem and there were many who struggled with finding an idea. I had to walk them through it step by step, I aksed them questions that helped them come up with a time when they had been treated unfairly.
I wish I had the thinking out loud method, I feel that is truly the best method to be used with youn students. Older studerns also benifit as well, as well as anyone else. I know myself I learned better with an example.
Chapter 7:
ReplyDeleteWhen students infer, they go beyond a literal understanding of a text to actively make meaning using their unique thoughts, feelings, and life experiences. As the authors state, “We build meaning by doing something with the text.” It fascinates me how Ellin had vastly different responses to “Celebration of the Human Voice” in two readings; this illustrates how every person and every reading creates something different with a text. These ideas are not explicit, so as teachers, we cannot decide for our students whether their responses are right or wrong; they just are.
From my experience, some students do a great deal of inferring as they read. In my social studies classes, these students often have thoughtful questions and comments that reflect the extensive thinking they have done in relation to the text. (These questions are often difficult for me to answer!) I agree with the authors that we don’t always give students adequate amounts of time to make inferences about what they read, and then we are disappointed that they do not develop this skill. Many teachers, and I would have to include myself here, are uncomfortable with long periods of silence. Like the students we teach, we like to keep things moving along.
I agree with the authors that it is more important to ponder higher order questions with students, and that the literal details will come along. Helping students to become active readers who make many inferences will help them to identify concepts throughout their lives.
The Real Chapter 7 (my last post was for Chapter 6):
ReplyDeleteI love the comparison of reading to looking at an impressionistic painting; the authors write that “if you stand very close … we see a blur of dots and abrupt brushstrokes that leave us with no sense of form or character. As we move back, we gain perspective and clear images emerge for our interpretation.” I think this is a wonderfully apt analogy for using sensory and emotional images to understand a text. We need to take time and look at a reading in different ways to fully comprehend it. I have used a strategy called sketch-to-stretch, learned from Professor Phyllis Whitin, in which I ask students to draw simple lines, shapes, and colors to relate the concepts and images they perceive from a book. This can be modeled first, and students can discuss their ideas in a pair-and-share activity before they draw something. I also like the idea of asking students what they see, smell, taste, touch, and feel as they read. Some senses are easier to call on then others; it might be difficult at first for students to come up with tastes and smells, but many of us have these types of sense memories (remember what your grade school smelled like?) The critical extension is to understand and be able to explain how using sensory and emotional imagery helps our understanding of a text. This may be an unfamiliar skill for many students, but one that, with practice, can be developed to improve comprehension. Some students do it automatically; others can develop the skill through modeling and practice. I like the idea that Todd used to have students mark the text with sticky notes when they created mental pictures as they read their books. I also like and hope to incorporate the strategies in Figure 7.2 on how students can record they thinking about books, including double-entry journals and letters to other readers and authors.
As I look forward to my first classroom, I think about how I want it to be. I want it to have all of the hallmarks of a well-organized ship. The room to be immaculate and uncluttered, I want my community of learners to understand that we have a schedule to keep, because their teacher believes that children thrive on order. I want the room to be well organized so that I can manage almost anything. In addition to all of the above I want a community of learners, a community of boys and girls who feel safe and valued. In order to do that, I believe it is essential that children, with some controls in place, be taught to question, to step out there and ask a question. Questions are born in thoughts, wondering's. I want them to be able to think.
ReplyDeleteThe authors bring wonderful strategies to the table with the think aloud, asking questions, or state wondering's while reading a story or other text to your students. The crafting sessions, setting the tone for a lesson. I did this while teaching a lesson on cardinal directions, by setting up a small tent in the woods, (our classroom) donning a camping backpack and getting lost. The students had to use cardinal directions to help me “find my way back”. And the reflection sessions, here the students take over, they use their knowledge to teach the class.
However, the point the authors made that just grabbed my heart was, if we teach them the facts and nothing but the facts. If we teach them to just give us back a block of information. If we teach them to only look for the answer,the students really have not learned anything. What is really happening is that we are robbing them of the ability to think. The authors put it this way, “of all qualities, questioning is fundamental to being human. It is how we dispel confusion, probe into new areas, strengthen our abilities to analyze and deduce.”
In my years as a parent and now ten years in education, I know that children need to feel safe in order to learn. They need to know that when they give an opinion about something in class that they will not be seen as silly or off task. Chapters five and six are not just about reading and comprehension strategies, they are about building a community of thinkers and thus learners. All of the strategies are about meeting the students where they are, teaching them that it is okay to have their own thoughts and opinions. Students have to feel safe and secure in order to open up and say what's on their mind, especially if it is not an echo of the class. Questioning, being brave enough to ask a question, letting the other students in the class understand that they don't know something. Invitational meetings, being brave enough to be the kid picked to be in “the group” because he might not quite get it. All of these strategies, teach the student to think, to use the tools in the room to seek answers to their questions.
I think that as we establish what rules of engagement are in our community, that while we may produce a well-organized ship, that we can make it a well-organized ship of learners. Each one, like a sailor, with a job to do, thinking, asking questions, wondering why, discussing things with his/her peers. At the end of the day, the students will take away from the classroom a skill that won't diminish over time... the ability to think.
Chapter 6
ReplyDeleteI believe I’ve posted about Chapter 6, but certainly didn’t cover all the great information it contains. Another important topic is conferencing with students. When I’ve taught writing, I spent a lot of time going over students’ writing with them. I found these one-on-one meetings to be extremely helpful because we could focus on one student’s specific needs. I agree with the authors that it’s important to keep a narrow focus and not to try to force the student to work on more than one or two aspects of their reading or writing. I circulate when students are reading independently in my social studies classroom, which gives me the chance to check in with individual students if they are struggling with any part of the text. I would like to do more conferencing on the writing students do in my social studies class, but haven’t figured out a way to carve out time for it. I have helped students individually after school, but have not led a writing workshop during class time. Students usually write their papers at home, not in class, although they do write in journals in class.
Another important section for me was the discussions on helping students select good books for independent reading. I teach social studies, not language arts, but I’m dismayed by the choices students make for their independent reading. While a few pick a variety of books and some challenging texts, many pick the same kinds of books all the time, either science fiction or “chick lit.” Young readers need more variety and they need to be challenged, even by their independent reading books. I’ve lent history books to my students, including American Lion about Andrew Jackson, Gangleader for a Day, a study of gang culture, and Persepolis, a graphic novel about growing up during the Iranian revolution. I think it’s a good idea to encourage students to move out of their reading comfort zone. It’s great to read a lot, but if they read the same things all the time, they are not really growing in terms of learning new ideas and perspectives.
BLOG POST for week of June 13:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the Chapter 7, in Mosaic of Thought, It is amazing to me how two people can realize so much about the importance of background knowledge and its role before, during, and after reading to improve reading comprehension and memory. I actually enjoyed the little boy’s knowledge on the Anasazi. I have had children in classes I’ve taught in, that have had as much or more knowledge of topics (of interest to them, but not particularly to me) than I have. I worked in a 3rd grade classroom that had a high level autistic boy, who could wrap circles around my knowledge of dinosaurs. It did not take any effort to activate his schema on dinosaurs. Everything else was an effort for him, just not dinosaurs.
The Gradual Release of Responsibility model is what teachers incorporate in our district, but I am not sure if they label it by that name. I believe they refer to it as simply scaffolding, but in a broader sense of the word. They have book collections and access to a teacher resource room library with amazing books that are useful for modeling and using during think-alouds. They also each have the “Making Meaning” series that not only employs activating prior knowledge, but also works using both nonfiction and fiction texts. The Making Meaning series has all the mentor texts included. Teachers often share other quality literature with students so that students can see how different authors incorporate different text features. The authors began with planning. Next they use modeling and then they implement the partner “turn and talk” procedure allowing children to become more involved along the way. We too use these procedures and have seen much success with implementing these procedures.
I do like how Debbie makes it seem so natural to pull that book off the shelf and remember where she wanted to pause and think aloud, but I prefer sticky notes to guide me through my lesson. I probably have not used the same book enough to know exactly when and where in the book I would want to stop and think aloud.
Children seem to understand the text-to-self and text-to-world connections quicker than the text-to-text, in my opinion, so this is another reason it is so important to have quality mentor texts available to elementary students. When Debbie taught the word schema to the children, it caused me to reflect back on my amazement the first time I heard a first grader use the word. Now, I hear it so often it is not nearly as astonishing.
I have used the chart idea quite successfully. Debbie listed the “text-to-self” books she read. In addition, I added a shrunken copy of the actual cover of the book and examples of connections students had made to our chart. Since it was early in the year in a first grade, I also made quick sketches and included them with labels.
I agree that it is important to use books that the teacher loves. Not only will his/her enjoyment of the book be conveyed, but he/she will know the book well. It is easier for a teacher to find an example if one is comfortable with the content of the book.
I also love how the kindergarteners in that school were exposed to the word metacognition, just as our kindergarteners are. Prior to exposing students, our district provided the parents with the necessary background knowledge so that they would understand what their children were talking about when they tried to share their metacognition at home.
Part 2 of chapter 7...
ReplyDeleteI like how over and over in the chapter, she tells children that the strategies are all aimed at helping the reader understand the book better. I say that over and over with each mini-lesson I present on comprehension. I found it important and insightful how she talks about introducing the idea to students to sort out the important experiences and connections they’ve had. This way they can concentrate on the experiences that help them understand the book better. Some children get lost in making connections to connections and don’t actually understand that there is a reason for sharing them.
I like the examples of using the strategies in other subject areas. The use of “way in” texts seems to be quite valuable in building schema. Students could be guided or encouraged to select at least one “way in” text when shopping and making choices for new books. This way they could still feel some empowerment with making choices, while gaining background knowledge that will serve to make future connections.
I also thought it was insightful when Kathy allowed Max to read Through My Eyes at independent reading time, by adding some conditions. I was excited to see a compromise to the dilemma that I often face with students wanting to read books not yet at their level. I felt like it gave me an option, but gave the students some power. I can’t wait to try this.
BLOG post for week of June 13...
ReplyDeleteChapter eight explores determining what is important in a passage and how readers need to make comprehension decisions at the word, sentence, and the whole text or idea level. It looks into how good readers focus on contentives or key words in sentences. Since this was a new concept for me, I had to try it out. It did seem that in their example, I focused on the contentives so there seems to be some validity to this statement. I am thinking that I might be able to use this with some of the struggling students that I work with. A good starting place with students might be to pose the question what are the important words in that sentence that help you understand what it means. We might have to look at isolated vocabulary first and make sure they understand any challenging words along with concepts.
This chapter includes specific text features for students to look for, which we begin teaching in first and second grade. One idea I found useful in this chapter is the way the author breaks down understanding by making sure students comprehend at the word and sentence level. We do use “stop and jot”, but generally stop at the paragraph level. It may be helpful to break the passages down into sentences first.
I also like the way the authors talk about the main idea being found on standardized tests rather than in everyday nonfiction writing. This is so true and is probably why I have been in classrooms where we are working on selecting the main idea from a passage and students present good strong cases for a couple different main ideas. Sometimes we determine that there is more than one main idea or we look closer into the author’s purpose. Occasionally, I see situations where students read their own beliefs into what the author is saying. They change the author’s ideas so much that it modifies the message that he/she is trying to convey.
This chapter could also be useful for writing. It would help students to learn to write with a main idea in mind. The example of Rachel deciding what fourth graders needed to know could be used as a mini-lesson for writing. It is a great example of writing or developing a presentation for what the reader or audience need to know. Sometimes children forget to think about their audience and including this can make the difference between a boring and a great piece. At my son’s recent honors night, a speech was given by one of his peers. He drew everyone in to his ideas by comparing his education to the nachos that the cafeteria served each Thursday. He compared the nachos themselves to the foundation of the salad, just like his education has provided him with a foundation for life. Even the principal commented on how he will now look at those nachos differently than he ever did before.
I also think the paragraph on skepticism is important. I think we spend so much time filtering what children can read and accepting only certain sources as reliable that some of the children’s job as decision makers is taken away. Unless we talk to children about what makes information questionable and give them opportunities to decide, they will be less equipped to determine these things for themselves when they have the need.
Lastly, I think the determining importance in text ideas, which is discussed at the end of the chapter, could be used with students. I would go through each of these strategies as individual mini-lessons and begin a reference chart to serve as a reminder to students of what great non-fiction readers do to understand main ideas.
Infotext BLOG for week of June 13…
ReplyDeleteVocabulary comprehension is an important concept to understanding the content. Feathers strongly substantiates the idea that having students look up definitions for words is not an effective method for children’s learning. It discusses that memorizing definitions does not mean the student understands. It further indicates that children learn words by experiencing and using the concept. The example she uses is water and how young children make discoveries about it. When we label concepts with young children, those words make sense to them. The vocabulary labels we teach in school are typically not taught this way. I agree that we would do better to teach the concept by exposing children to activities and other information that would allow them to understand the concept and then introduce the word. This reminds me of a math lesson I taught in a fourth grade classroom about factoring. We worked on what we know about numbers and actually discovered how numbers could be related by factoring, before the actual word factoring was introduced. Students worked in pairs to factor all numbers up to twenty-five and we discussed all the factors so they had a good working understanding of the concept, prior to learning the word.
I thought the section on “Learning Vocabulary Many Concepts one Label” was interesting. The many concepts for one vocabulary word make me think of the difficulty this could present for ESL students. This makes a good case for learning and teaching vocabulary in context.
This section also advises against just teaching vocabulary that are subject related terms by using text features, context clues, or reading on. These are all strategies that can help for some students, some of the time, but not all the time or for all students. The text talks about how again there are obstacles that can interfere with learning when these strategies are relied on. It offers options that seem to make more sense for vocabulary comprehension. Feathers emphasizes the use of making predictions, sticky notes for trouble spots and discussing them later if they remain troublesome, and writing a summary of the book as strategies, which will allow the student to understand the concept in the context, rather than the vocabulary word in isolation. She endorses the use of charts and sematic maps to aid in comprehension. All these ideas seem not only reasonable, but also worthwhile to me because here as in other strategies, the ultimate goal is to promote independence in reading. This is so important if children are to be able to experience the joy of reading for the rest of their lives.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBLOG FOR 6/13/11
ReplyDelete(I had already started on chapters 7-8 for this blog so I have included chapter 6 at the end)Chapter seven focuses on bringing the text to life and enhancing comprehension. I enjoyed reading about creating sensory images when reading. Page 176 states, “Text comes alive through the creation of sensory images.” This means that we are able to better connect to the text when we are create images as we read. I know that this is something that I tend to do a lot as I read. No matter what type of book I am reading I find myself creating images in my mind as I go along. I know that this helps me understand better because I am able to create a picture in my head and visualize the words. In a way the text is coming alive, just as this chapter stated. I also enjoyed reading about the different ways that children can record their thinking about books. The book listed multiple written means, artistic means, oral means, and dramatic means for children to express their thoughts. I really liked this section because it made me think of how different everyone really is and how one thing may work for someone and not another person. As a teacher, I am going to have to keep this in mind so that I can reach all of my students and all of their styles of learning. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because I feel that it made me realize the importance of teaching to multiple abilities and styles.
Chapter eight is all about determining importance, separating the essential from the nonessential. One quote that I found interesting can be found on page 208 and it states “Thinking about how the text reminds you of your own life is one way to decide what’s important.” I never really thought too much about this until just now and it makes perfect sense. I tend to get more out of reading that I am interested in and that matters in my life. When I am reading something that does not mean as much to me I tend to zone out and not really comprehend fully. However, when I come across something relevant and exciting I tune in more and am able to recall it later. I enjoy reading these chapters because they make me stop and realize the simpler things. The Infotext reading selection discussed the importance of understanding vocabulary. I learned that there are six types of vocabulary knowledge, production, recognition, organized, unorganized, immediately learnable, and potentially learnable. We learn vocabulary in all different types of ways and this is something that I did not think about. I think that it is important that students have experience with words both inside and outside of school every day. When students read different types of books they will be exposed to different vocabulary and this will hopefully expand their own vocabulary knowledge.
For week 6/13/11
ReplyDeleteThis is probably my favorite chapter in the book so far. Because this is what I LOVE to do. I love, almost, making up my own characters in stories. Even in expository text, I am able to comprehend the facts by relating them to something else, by giving it images, by making it come to life! One thing I want to comment on before I get deep into the text is the argument that, in today's age, we can simply put on an "audio tape" and get real images in our head and think and make the characters up in our heads just the same as we can with reading a book. Well, for all those who think that way, think again. Half of reading is for enjoyment, but when we are talking about our students, it is about the "READING" too. Are they "reading" the text? Comprehension and reading go hand in hand. You can comprehend without reading (Listening) but you cannot read without comprehending, this is bad. Reading is essential; you are not always going to have a play button to hit.
Anyways, When Ellin is talking about her reflections; again, just as the whole book does collectively, she goes back to the basics and then catches up to the chapter. Meaning, she is still "asking questions' and "drawing on past experiences". Now she is adding in "what would I see, what would I smell, what would I taste etc." In a sense, this book is like Math. You learn how to add and subtract, then, with those basic skills you can learn and do algebra, then trig and so on. Like this, reading and comprehension is not something that is going to develop over night. It is our job to see to it that the students recognize what they are doing, how they are progressing, learning, and knowing what we can do to propel them further. We can always go back to basics and build if need be, but we should always be looking ahead to grow.
Creating sensory images reminds me of that fabulous book that Kevin brought in. We can take away so much from that book, and like reading, we can see something different every time. We can feel a different vibe every time. I remember in the last chapter, Ellin talked about how her feelings and past experiences were totally different from someone else’s. I think this is very important to keep in mind when talking about sensory images. We need to apply the same principals to this. No one’s images are wrong! We should encourage students to share how they view something. Everyone can benefit from it. Ellin gives examples like "thinking-aloud". This is honestly one of my favorite things to do with students. (However, we must caution the pure reason for reading as noted in prior chapters: Enjoyment). This is the best strategy to use for the students who just "can't get a VIVID image in their heads."
I love how on page 179, Ellin is successful with getting ideas and images out of children’s heads and out in the open. However, the best part: She does not stop there...she asks "probing questions". We could literally do this for hours and hours, and what is cool is that it just makes the reading and comprehending experience richer and fuller for not just the two people discussing the images, but for the whole class too! This may jog others' memories and feelings to alter and make THEIR mental images stronger and MORE vivid. The power of asking more questions and EXPLORING is so powerful!
(see next)
At the top of page 187, something stuck out for me. The text says: "He had noticed too many of his students didn't stick with a book long enough to develop an interest in it, and if they did, didn't notice much more than the most literally stated events." This was me when I was growing up. We would go to the library and pick out books and I would loose interest. I still kind of do. I am the same with video games. My friends think I am weird because I do not finish a game, or a book, that I started.
ReplyDeleteIf you asked most people, they would say I am the most creative person they know, and is always looking for fun ways to do things. I am always thinking. How is this possible if I cannot finish a game or a book? According to this book, I lack ways of vividly interpreting text and getting deep into reading. Doesn't that compromise imagination? Just something, I was thinking about.
I found it interesting how much different it can be for young students in primary grades, to students in Intermediate grades. One thing that they focus on is the whole modeling factor. I think this would be more of a challenge to do since many of the books are longer and more detailed. Sometimes, the books are so open that it up to you to determine what something looks like. I think this is a major difference. On the contrary, there are many similarities, such as "thinking aloud", I wouldn't think to use this as much in the higher grades, but I now see that it can be used more than I ever knew. Even though the books are longer and take more at it, there are defiantly many opportunities to insert our ideas and feelings. We can paint a picture with anything. What do you think about the setting? Where can you think of a place that is similar around here? Picture yourself there. What do you see/ what do you smell? Is it nice outside? On the other hand, is it gloomy? Just like before, asking probing questions is one of the best things we can do. I think it takes harder work and more MODELING to do this with higher grades. I think this because like said a few pages earlier, the students will say, "why are we doing this?' "We know how to read!” yes, but how much MORE could you ENJOY the reading and take something from it you’ll remember and appreciate?
With the higher-grade kids, we can do more, as far as classroom management goes. Of course, we would probably have to do mini lessons and establish how it is going to work, but we have more opportunities. With that said, I LOVE the idea starting on page 190, and will DEF use it in the future.
The theater, book talk zone, artist's studio and writers den. You are pretty much covering ALL forms of Language arts in a collaborative classroom. This just builds and builds and builds upon all of the imagery you are getting from multiple angles! I love this too because I think we can adapt it for a broad range of learners and be able to teach differentially without a sweat. This can also be a very good 'self-running" apparatus that will allow us as the teachers to walk freely and participate, model, scaffold, help, fix, answer, question, and explore. I think the best thing to do is to keep relating the information they are learning to what they know, what they are asking about and what they are learning. Link these to sensory. The whole point is to be absolutely immersed into the text and activities to give you the skills and mindset to do it with ALL book and readings. Lastly, on the last page of chapter 7, there is a great list of ways we can evoke images. The first one is great and is what we should all aspire to do: "Proficient readers spontaneously and purposefully create images while and after they read. If we can get kids to do this all the time, at any level, we are doing something great.
(Chapter 7 done, chapter 8 follows)
POST for 6/13/2011
ReplyDeleteChapter 6-Creating Meaning was a very intriguing read. I was very interested during Ellin’s Reflection that she stated “I’m struck by how different my responses are several months apart and realize that each time I read, “Celebration of the Human Voice,” my response will change, depending upon current events, what I’m reading, what has been happening in my life (Keene and Zimmerman, 141).” On a personal level, I was able to relate to this occurrence while revisiting a previous read text. I have been in this same situation numerous times, when the text takes on a different effect depending on what may be currently taking place in your life. This being said, my students have had this same thing happen when we read a book in class, then may eventually reread it. They always love to reread books and hold grand conversations, mentioning the things that they notice this time around that may have been previously missed. Next, I was very intrigued by the story of Katherine. WOW! I cannot express in words how touching this piece was only because I work the ESY program during the summer which has SXI/SCI students. I have personally witnessed this same form of “language-a lifetime of inferences that have led them to know someone who will never speak (Keene and Zimmerman, 143).” There are numerous students in our world that go unnoticed everyday because they do not have a “verbal voice.” However, they have their own form of communication; it just takes someone special to take the time to learn their individualized form of communication. Love my ESY students! Then chapter 6 moves into “think alouds.” I have had the opportunity to see this exact thing take place in a classroom and it has made me realize that the dynamic built in a class through the “give and take” approach is awesome. I think it is a great idea to allow the students to make inferences while reading and give them the opportunity to share them with their peers. I believe that students “learn” from one another; builds classroom collaboration. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lessons Along the Way guidelines that were provided in this chapter. Next, another favorite part of chapter 6, was the mentioning of “conferences are the lifeblood to comprehension teaching (Keene and Zimmerman, 154).” This is a vitally important statement to stand true as a future educator. We must strive to lead our students to CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING WHILE READING! If they do not understand what they are reading, they are basically wasting their time and getting cheated of a wondrous world of discovery! Chapter 6 was an interesting read and I am looking forward to class discussions on Wednesday!
(6/13 cont.)
ReplyDeleteThat really is the number one questions isn't it? Determining the importance of reading. I like how they related it to today’s world with all of the choices we have in the world. So many options. What is important is that students need to realize when something is important, and furthermore, recognize when it may be a good idea to "re-read something" and ask, "Why is this important?" After time, we can do this all at the same time. Building blocks my friend. Building blocks.
When determining what is important, I think part of it is determined upon what kind of text you are reading. Use the text factors, which we have all learned about. Determine the importance of the words; find the bold ones. Chances are, it is an important word. This is for expository text however. What about narratives? Characters names, places we feel we need to remember, etc. Other than this, they say these decisions are influenced by our background knowledge, our purpose for reading, what we find pleasing, and how often or much the author repeats something. This is a good outline to determine what is important and knowing what to pay attention to. How do we portray this to our students? Think alouds! Get them to talk about their choices (pg 211 bottom).
Something as simple as taking a break and doing a comparison. This will give meaning. We are relating text to self, text to text, and text to world. What better way to find meaning and getting to the heart of the matter?
The info text sort of ties a lot of the reading in, and has some underlying meanings to the above readings:
1) Vocabulary, I believe, is best learned and recorded in the brain by experience. I am a firm believer that the more you read, the better your vocabulary. So really, "searching for importance", and "thinking about what you are thinking" are just ways we get experience. When you are searching for meaning and self-questioning, you are going to naturally look for context clues for a word you do not know and not even realize you are doing it. 2.) Furthermore, the books both talk about what seems to be text factors: highlighting passages or sentences of meaning, recognizing bold words. Are these not important words to pay attention to and half of the time they are meant to build vocabulary?
3) The info text says that we need to anticipate the problems so they can read independently with fluency. I am also a believer in if someone asks a question, give them time to REALLY think about it. In my mind, how are kids going to LEARN if we just GIVE them the answer? Make them think. Have them ask the question, give them clues, and let them think. I call this time for them to think, "Quite time". This is the part where the teacher does not say anything and lets them ponder, and ponder and ponder. It is not cruel, because what is really going on in their heads? They are DIGGING! I think this can be very beneficial to vocabulary learning, on top of everything else and all the other strategies in the info text, such as context clues, reading on, textual aids, and consulting another source. Many of these can be done on the independent level too, again, provoking thinking and digging in their heads. (6/13 end)
Post for 6/13
ReplyDelete"Picture this," "Imagine for a second," "Just imagine," Three of many expressions we have all used as an attempt at enhancing the quality of a story we are telling to a friend. If one is unable to picture how something is when they are hearing about it or reading about it; how much life do the words still have? As a lover of all literature it has been my experience that if I am not creating images than I am not interested. This thought I have is most likely shared by many individuals; think about the last time you watched a movie after you read a book, not that good, right? The imagery one creates while reading cannot be duplicated, not even with top rate actors and all the special effects in the world; generally the actors are not the same and the special effects are not special enough :-) The problem is many students are not creating images, they are not diving in the text deep enough, "The fact is many children spend a lot of time in front of screens - movie, television, video, and computer...........they don't realize they have the ultimate computer between their ears and enormous capacity to create their own images"(Keene 177). How do we change this and help students make the realization that when they create their own imagery from involving themselves in a text "those images take on a three-dimensional quality in our minds and connect us personally, often permanently, with the text"(Keene, 176). The reiterated method of choice for Keene is thinking aloud, sharing the images which are coming up when good readers read. This, like questioning and inferring can be nurtured if students only see how important it is to create your own images in making text-to-self connections and comprehending what is being read. I found it amazing the images which were developed by Ciella during the think aloud Sabrina conducted with her students while reading Remember by Toni Morrison. How incredibly moving is it that Ciella used the stories of her grandmother to create her own images which related to the story which was being read to her. The only way this child makes that connection is through a classroom environment where her unique thoughts and images are valued and encouraged as a member of the learning community. This event resulted in the evolution of the reading and writing workshop into the Composing Session and how amazing is it that the acts and decisions of one student made the instructor aware that some changes were necessary. When teachers make adjustments to accommodate and support interests of individual students that alone can make the difference between getting a student to read because he or she has to but because he or she wants to. Further into the chapter the same thing could be noticed in Todd's fourth grade class.
6/13
ReplyDeletecntd.
One student (Kent) hates reading and is never engaged.....but following some think alouds and reading time focused on visual imagery that is created by capable readers Kent begins to open up with the imagery which he had been creating. From here Todd developed the four "capture thinking" areas where students could explore all of their strategy studies (theater, book talk zone, artist's studio, and writer's den). Each area had something unique to offer each reader and by allowing students the power to choose exactly which area they felt driven towards it really gives those students a sense of ownership and undoubtedly much pride in the work which they are creating.......because it is authentic and not forced. Too often students are made to work on stuff which is not of interest, not valid, and honestly boring; what quality of work do we expect when students are pushed into it under these circumstances? Altogether the goal in any literacy instruction should be to create lifelong readers who are capable of creating images which validates what they are reading. The only way to do this is to teach students how good readers create images, give them time to create images, and finally to support them regardless of whether or not their images are what we expect but instead whether or not the images are what comes to mind when the student is reading.