Good information so far, wouldn't you say. I wish I knew this when I was teaching 8th graders science 18 years ago.
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What has been your experience with what Ms. Tovani describes as resistive readers and word callers? What strategies have you found successful?
Do you agree, based on your experience, with the seven strategies used by successful readers as proposed on page 17? If you are not a reading teacher was this new to you?
What did you learn or what did have reinforced to you from pages 19-20 with regards to our students' elementary reading experience as compared to what they experience with us in the middle school?
The section “Shouldn’t They Have Learned This in Elementary School?” (pp. 19-20) reminded me that just because a student can read a text does not necessarily mean the student truly understands it. Some students lack a variety of strategies to use in order to comprehend text. Many of them just want to quickly read it and give up if they do not immediately comprehend it. Another problem is that some of them are so used to instant gratification that they do not want to take the time and effort required to understand what they are reading. It will be up to us to show them a variety of strategies to use and to help them overcome these problems.
ReplyDeleteTovani also mentions that reading requirements for middle school students are more complex than the earlier years. One thing I don’t believe the author mentioned is that the tasks and comprehension required to complete those tasks are also more complex. Secondary teachers should still use reading strategies to help students understand what they are reading and to gain a deeper understanding so that they can complete the assignments. After all, I can’t expect a student to determine a theme or analyze how setting affects the plot of a story if the student does not comprehend the text beyond the basic recall level.
I have found that a student can be a great reader and can't tell you anything they just read. I think some of this goes back to dibel testing in elem school. They want to read fast and get it over with. Also, if they don't get it the first time, they won't go back and reread until then understand it. I constantly remind my students that good readers know when they are not understanding and go back and reread for understanding. I do agree with the 7 strategies on pg 17. I think it is important that we model these strategies for our students on a regular basis and don't assume they already know these things. I find that "think alouds" work great with modeling a lot of these strategies. I use these a lot in my classroom.
DeleteI have found that the attitude toward reading is drastically different in Social Studies coming from Literature. In Literature the students expected to HAVE to read and thought it was limited to that subject..... reading in Social Studies seems to blow them away. I am finding more and more students who have no idea how to read with a purpose. I agree with Krista, the students want to read fast and get it over with; and have absolutely no intention of going back to re-read anything they didn't get. I think a 1 reason for this is the age we live in; anything can be found within a few seconds on a phone or computer. So roping them in to learn how to read with a purpose takes some work.
ReplyDeleteI think students still have to be taught how to do these strategies. "Shouldn't they have learned this in Elementary School" opened my eyes to the more complex information presented to them. Again like Teresa stated " Just because a student can read a text does not necessarily mean the student truly understands it." That is so very true.
It is difficult to reply to the comments previously made because I do completely agree with the points made in each one. However, I will add an additional point, and that is I have found students really don't have much background knowledge to help them connect to the text (P. 19). I think part of this is their age because they do live in their small middle school world. Regardless of the reason, this has become something I've tried to put more emphasis on and have seen it help some students as the year progresses. Strictly by coincidence, I had done an activity with a passage about pharaohs at the same time Monte had done a project on them. It was amazing at how much more they comprehended because they got excited that they knew about this. It reinforced to me the need to give them some/more background information and really focus on helping them connect to things they know.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of the points mentioned above. I think Mrs. Johnson makes a good point about the background knowledge of middle school students. This seems to hinder some students especially in social studies classes. I also agree with the point mentioned above in regards to students reading just to get finished. I think we all struggle with this element. I think the student daily objective is good for combating this habit. Students need to know it is more important to comprehend and apply the text rather than just check it off their list.
ReplyDeleteAll of you make good points, and I'm sorry to be so late in posting. Tovani does an excellent job describing middle school students. I especially identified many former students in Mike, who "hated thinking on his own" and, when confused, "thought it was the teacher's job to fix it." I will admit that I have been guilty of "eventually feeding information" to resistive readers. The strategies are not new to me, but I acknowledge that I have not focused enough on them in my class. I plan to take to heart the suggestion to "search for interesting text and get it into the hands of your students." I think that will make a huge difference.
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