Ms. Tovani makes a statement on page 24 "a reader's purpose affects everything about reading". Have you thought about it this way before? If so, what practices do you do to make sure the students have a compelling purpose. If not, how might this concept change your practice?
Do the complaints her students use sound familiar?
Thinking aloud is a commonly used strategy. React to her practice of modeling the think aloud process for her students.
What other strategies mentioned sound useful for your classes? Is modeling important in these strategies as well?
Page 24 really stuck out to me because it made me reflect on my own practices and made me question if I really give my students a purpose. I think I need to work on this the next school year. I think most of my students read because it is assigned and know that it will affect their grade. The complaints sound very familiar.mi do a reading inventory at the beginning of school. Every year the number one thing students say about reading is that it is boring. I have also had several students tell me that they only read in elem school for points referring back to AR. I try hard to show them that reading should take them to a new world. Each year I find with growing technology that it is getting harder and harder to convince students of this. I mentioned a "think aloud in a previous comment. I love this strategy! I start with this the first week of school. I also liked the double entry diary. I already use some of these thinking options with my journals, so I'm going to try this strategy with my journals this school year.
ReplyDeleteThe very last quote on pg 23, " Having a purpose helps readers determine what is important." is going to become a poster/quote in my classroom this year! I swear that quote jumped out at me. It is so very true and yet again something I never thought about. I too sat a thought about my practices while reading,(causing me to have to re-read). I will be honest I hated reading and mostly because it was assigned, so in Literature I found that allowing the students a little opinion works like magic. Now in Social Studies I can't quite do that, so I try to find interesting supplements that portray the same information.
ReplyDeleteAs stated on pg 27, " Content dictates which strategies to model. Background knowledge can be applied to any text." This is so very true. Something I think the teachers of other subjects (rather than Literature) need to realize. Not every strategy works for every subject. I think for Social Studies the Comprehension Constructors will work. I plan on using them in different ways this year in my classroom.
A 'Teaching Point' from page 34 is something I think the students should be aware of. " Good readers don't remember everything they read. They use tools to hold on to their thinking so they can return to it later." This is so very true.....I am going to use this....lots!
"What's the point? Reading is reading." (P. 23, student quote) This is a prevalent attitude for my students, too. When I think back (way back) to when I was their age, I didn't read with a purpose either; I just read it and completed the assignment. Now, I think we (teachers) understand better why there must be a purpose and how it helps. Certainly as adults we can think through why we do things because we understand the purpose.
ReplyDeleteI use think alouds for so many assignments; I think that not only does it help students access the text, but it also clears up confusion about what I want them to do for the assignment. I use annotation most of the time for my Pre-AP classes and as often as I can for my other classes, too. Teaching students how to annotate requires much modeling, but it works. I've not had as much success with the double entry diaries. I have more success with using comprehension constructors. I use these for different purposes depending on the passage/objective, but they help keep students focused.
On P. 33-34, Tovani says "Share real-world reasons for reading and why it is important to set a purpose." As the years go by and I learn more and more about students and teaching, I understand better why it helps motivate students if they can see a real-world purpose for the work I assign. I will continue to apply her suggestions.
I think many students read without a purpose.I think the real-world connections helps to motivate students.
ReplyDeleteAs an elective teacher, I will try to apply Tovani"s suggestions.
A purpose when reading is important just as Tovani states. This is why I encourage students to read the questions before reading the text (if possible) in order to provide a purpose. I also assign purposes for them. When the Pre-AP students are closely reading a text, they might end up reading the passage several times because each time they will have a different purpose. The first time might be just get an overall gist of the text. Next, they might look for sensory details that create the mood. Sometimes, students are assigned different purposes then share their findings with each other.
ReplyDeleteMy students use annotation throughout the year with a variety of text types. I also have them use sticky notes if we do not have actual copies to write on; however, I prefer to give them copies. We usually mark texts differently than discussed in the chapter, but the overall concept is the same. Annotation seems to really help the students understand the longer poems and more challenging texts. They don’t have to remember everything because they are jotting their notes and thoughts as they read.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is important for students to have a purpose. Many students probably feel that the purpose of reading the text is because it has been assigned and that they have to read it. It seems that students in my class struggle with why it is even important to study the subject of history. So in my opinion, finding a purpose for reading the text or completing an assignment is very important.
ReplyDeleteModeling seems to be a very effective strategy in the classroom. It shows the students how they should approach the text and what they should be looking for while reading. I think leading by example is one of the best ways to lead and instruct.
Reading for a purpose is not only important for our students, but it's important for me, too! Thinking back to college, I almost always knew what was going to be expected of me after I read the material, so I knew what to look for and hold on to as I was reading. This made all the difference in the world! I absolutely hated feeling like I was reading something simply because I was going to be tested over it, which was mostly my experience in middle school and high school. I think when students know ahead of time that they are going to be responsible for producing something (not just answering test questions) based on what they've read and how they relate, their is more value and effort put into the reading.
ReplyDeleteI love Teresa's strategy of making the students read passages a few times, each time with a different goal. I am definitely going to do that this year!!
I'm getting a lot of good suggestions from the book and from all of you! I haven't used many of these strategies in my science class, but I definitely see the value in them, especially establishing a purpose and thinking aloud. I appreciate Mrs. Johnson's comment that some methods require much modeling, but are worth it. I need to be sure to remember that and not to give up if it doesn't seem to be working at first. I also found the teaching point Mrs. Britton pointed out to be profound. I am looking forward to using annotation after the description in the book and the comment from Mrs. Ferguson.
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