Week 9 - Comprehension Instruction and Read Alloud

Thinking back on my own elementary school years - I am not sure any of my teachers gave comprehension instruction. I was definitely one of those students that just read the words on the page and did not get anything from it, but I thought I was reading! So, when reading the Gill article I was not surprised that research showed that teachers did not know how to instruct students on how to comprehend what they were reading. "We test comprehension, but we don't teach it." This quote speaks volumes to me. If we, as teachers, want our students to do their very best on standardized tests we make them take, we must prepare them for what will be on them. This article also helped me to realize that comprehension is a form of top-down processing. We use our prior knowledge to understand and comprehend passages and stories. I really like the 3 tier matrix for comprehension. Pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading makes comprehension much easier. Pinterest has a ton of pre-reading activities that teachers can gain access to called 'Book Bits' these activities get students interested in what they are going to read by activating their prior knowledge. I think these kind of activities are great for comprehension because as they are reading they will continue to connect their own experiences to what is happening in the book and that always help you to remember things.

Week 8 - Comprehension

While I was reading the Pardo article, I kept relating it back to things we have talked about in class, like, the definition of reading. There are many different definitions of what people perceive reading as, and along with that there are many different definitions of fluency and comprehension. Being able to comprehend a story or an article for elementary school children is the ultimate goal. Sure, they may be able to read every single word very quickly, but are they really comprehending and understanding the message the combination of all the words is trying to convey?

Pinkalicious True or False Game

While searching on Pinterest for comprehension activities, I noticed that a lot of the Comprehension exercises were True/False games. At first, the True/False games did not appeal to me, but I took a closer look and I began to realize why there were so many! This is an easy game that gets the point across. Yes, you have a 50/50 shot at answering the correct answer even if you did not comprehend the book or story, but I believe an attentive teacher would be able to tell the difference.

 

Week 7 - Fluency

I had not heard of one minute fluency measures before reading the Deeney article. I think it is nice to have a reliable tool to measure students that are at  risk for reading difficulty.  However, it repeats that it is very important to define reading fluency. The article says, The Literacy Dictionary (Harris & Hodges, 1995) de- fines fluency as “freedom from word-identification problems that might hinder comprehension...; automaticity” and a fluent reader as “any person who reads smoothly, without hesitation, and with comprehension” (p. 85).  I really like what this definition says about fluency, but I believe a teacher is the true judge of a students fluency level, and hopefully as a teacher you are not too quick to judge and place students into classes or groups that make them feel inferior. 
While I was browsing Pinterest for fluency activities, I found this video that exemplifies reading fluency builders. The teacher has made a few different cards with 'a' patterns on them. He has one copy that is just black and white and another copy that has the 'a' patterns in red, and the student tries reading the black and white copy first, then if he or she is having trouble, he gives them the copy with the red coded patterns. I have posted the video below, and I really believe this exercise would be helpful in assessing fluency. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o1JmK1Ui750  

I also really liked this activity below. The student roles the dice and whichever number they land on is the emotion they have to read their book or assignment in. This would be fun and gives students something different to do.

Week 6 - Book Clubs

Last week was the first week we met with our book clubs. I personally, have never done a book club before, so I was unsure of what it would be like once we actually met with our groups. I was pleasantly surprised with our first meeting, and I really like the structure we used - assigning everyone to their own specific job for things to run smoothly. I definitely see myself using the book club format we use in my classroom one day, and as I was browsing Pinterest I came across two pins about using sticky notes while reading. I even used these pins for one of my assignments this week! They are very helpful, and I could see them being very helpful for students who are doing their first book club or while doing a reading assignment. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/375698793884736629/ and http://www.pinterest.com/pin/375698793884795223/ .
I am looking forward to meeting with our book clubs again soon!

Week 5

Week 4 - Constructing Meaning

When we talked about constructing meaning last week it really hit home for me. I was definitely a sound-it-out type of reader. As long as I could sound out the word and get through it I though I was reading - until I came to college. Yes, it took me this long to realize that all I was doing was going through the motions of what I thought was reading even though I was not taking anything away from

books. Just looking at the words and saying them to myself as I read was what I did. I did not come away with any type of meaning whatsoever. Constructing meaning is more than just reading words and turning each page. I finally realized that I needed to pay attention to what I was reading. I know this blog is more of a personal reflection and not about the readings but I really felt that I needed to share this, and open up about the struggle I had reading. Since I have become more attentive while I read I have learned  to enjoy books now. So I ask myself this - what is a better way to teach our students to think about what they are reading? How should we as educators imply that our students do not need to read books just to take AR tests? We want them to think of reading as a skill they can both use and enjoy.

Week 3 - The Jones Family

After reading about the Jones family, I started thinking about how culture and the region you grew up
in have an affect on your own literacy. I grew up in Bristol, TN, which is a relatively small town, with good public schools. Both of my parents worked so my older sister was usually the one who helped me with my homework. While I consider myself well educated, a lot of people in my high school did not go on to higher education. My older sister is doing an internship in rural Wisconsin this fall, and she said that the schools there do not start back until after their crops were harvested because the families need their children to help out on their farms during this time. Kind of like an all hands on deck type of thing. I never thought about cultural and regional differences affect schooling like this until after Erin had told me this, but it makes so much sense. With these types of families you also have to think, will their children want to move on to higher education? Or will they continue farming with their families? Just something that was on my mind while I was reading about the Jones Family.