Due March 4th:
Chapter 4 gives three strategies to help readers when they do not comprehend the text. Select one of the strategies and use in a lesson. Blog which strategy you selected and your student(s) response to using the strategy.
I used the activity discussed on page 41. My students love to use highlighters, so this was another good activity for them! I gave them a short passage titled "The Frogs Who Wanted a King". They read it alone the first time. I gave them a highlighter and told them to mark all the things they did not understand. Then I gave them a different color highlighter and told them to mark all the things they did understand. We made a list on the board of the things they did not understand and then I reread the story to them out loud. A lot of what they did not understand we figured out as we read. Most were vocabulary words that we derived the meaning from by using context clues. Some were words they could not pronounce and that affected their comprehension. Over all they felt they understood the passage. However, they did not get the meaning. It was somewhat if a trick because it was a story that had a moral! The moral was stated in the last sentence, but they still had to do some thinking on their own to figure out what it meant. I think a lack of background knowledge in reading and understanding morals/fables is part of it. But they did not know that they did not really understand what the story meant. That is what chapter 4 is about. I had a student in 6th grade math several years ago who wanted to do his assignment without help, so I let him. I did check his work before he turned it in and he had missed all the problems! He thought he knew how to do the assignment, he thought he was understanding the work, but he was not and he did not even know it! The activity I did about the frogs was similar. My students thought they understood the passage but they did not understand the meaning behind it and did not even know it! I did not give them a purpose for it other than to tell them the directions. If I would have told them it was a story that teaches a lesson and to find the lesson/moral in the end, the purpose would have probably helped them in their understanding, it would have at least given them a focus. I want to try it again later only add the purpose piece from chapter 3 and see if that makes a difference?! I think it will at least guide their reading more. I found it very interesting and so did they that they did not understand as much as they thought and did not even know it!
ReplyDeleteThe activity I choose to do with my students was to read the story." Mysteries of the Pyramids." I had each of my students read the story silently to themselves, stopping after each page. I then had my students write down what they read on that page and a connection they made with that page. I had my students continue this throughout the book. When the students were done. As a class we re-read the book and talked about what was on each page and then each student shared a connection that they had with that certain page. By doing this I was able to see what connections my students were making with the text. Some of my students made really great connections with the book, and others kind of stayed off from the book a little. By doing this activity I was able to see if my students really were comprehending the book, or if they were just reading the words in the book, because they had too. Doing this activity allowed my students to not only recite the words that they read, but it also allowed them to use their interacting voice to make connections to the book or distracting voice that allows them to make a connection that pulled them away from the book. A lot of my students who demonstrated a distraction voice was because they did not have enough background knowledge of the book to make a interacting voice connection. After my students shared their connections we talked about ways that we could better understand a story instead of just reading the words. Meaning is everything when we read. We have to be able to understand what we are reading and if we do not understand something, we need to find ways to help us better understand it. I think by making text connections to our students really help them when reading material they do not understand. I also think it helps with building background knowledge. A student has to have a little background knowledge on what they are reading or they will struggle with comprehension.
ReplyDeleteMarking text, think alouds, and using double-entry diaries are some of the strategies discussed in this chapter. I chose to use the highlighter method of pink/yellow with my reading group. I also demonstrated the 2 different types of voices that you should hear when you read and it was amazing how the 6th graders really picked up on that. Several of them made comments like the teacher in the book got. So I kind of adapted the highlighter strategy...not only were they to highlight but they were to write in the margins of the paper their questions or comments. Many of them figured out that when they came to a word they didn't know, highlight in pink and then write "what does ____ mean?" It was kind of neat to finally get them to realize that it's ok not to know a word and by highlighting it in pink, they think about it more. Plus we did a story just today on the Titanic and I had them all hold their papers up and look at each others to see that pink and yellow wasn't always in the same place and that it was ok that we all learn differently. We talked about how it was impossible to write in their text books, but they could take notes like that and somehow in pink highlight their notes so they can easily pick out what they don't know and need to study for a test or to complete a worksheet. My 6th graders (5 out of 6 ARE NOT sped kids) seemed to get this concept. I even had the older kids work with the younger kids in pairs today to help even model this concept more.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have students that feel confused. I have them try to talk through what they have read and discuss why they don't get it. Are words too hard? Text too difficult? What do they see as the problem?
ReplyDeleteI tried two different things: the sticky notes because who doesn't like sticky notes? and Highlighters.
Sticky notes: I had them mark when they are lost or feel they are confused. I had them write why they thought they were lost and what they thought was happening.
Highlighters: Marking what they knew and could teach in pink and what they did not know in yellow. It is amazing how much they know when they pay attention to what they are reading.
These are all great skills that kids can take with them when they go out into the real world. I love erasable highlighters and clear sticky notes that I can tape over the text and highlight right on top of. I also like the highlighter strategy for the words they don't know. If they highlight the unknown and continue reading, the come back and see if they were able to gain meaning from the remainder of the passage, that's what good reader do. If I still don't know the word, is it critical enough to look it up? Next skill is giving kids an easy way to do so. I have to go to the big dictionary sometimes and I hate it. Have got to find an easy electronic that I can pull up.
ReplyDeleteI gave my students a practice reading test. I gave them a print-off of the story "How the Chipmunk got its Stripes". I gave every student a stack of sticky notes. I asked them to read the story and as they read to place sticky notes on parts that they did not understand, words that they did not know how to pronounce, or words that they didn't know the meanings of. After they read silently and marked the difficult parts of the story, I read it aloud to them. We went over the parts that they had questions about. I let other students answer questions or explain meanings, like peer tutoring.
ReplyDeleteNext, I gave the students a copy of the story "Amazing Black Holes". I gave them each a highlighter. I did not give them two different colors like the example from the book, but instead asked them to mark the difficult parts from the story. When they were finished, we went over the story together again and I read it aloud. We stopped whenever a student raised a hand to discuss comprehension and word meanings. I asked the students which intervention they liked better. They all liked the sticky notes better. They felt they were easier to use, and they liked being able to write notes. They felt that it was too easy to get carried away with using the highlighters, and could be more confusing. I thought they did a great job with the sticky notes and using them to write notes and questions for themselves. I also liked that the students answered each others questions and explained the parts of the story to others that did not understand.
Many students don't know that they don't know. I bought highlighting tape to use on textbook pages and it works really well. The kids can highlight the text, go to their workbook or worksheet page and then use the textbook to find the answers. I also have them highlight in math what the story problem is asking. If students can key in on the basic information, the rest may seem easier. Then we use the mathematical symbols above the words to acheive an equation. For reinforcement, a daily word problem needs to be given and the strategy practiced over and over until it becomes a habit.
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