In the comment section below, share at least one "aha" moment (evidence) and "why." Read comments by other group members and respond to posts by at least two other teachers.
While reading chapter five an "aha" moment I had was "we want to hear the questions your mind creates about your book" pg 124 I also liked how she modeled putting a sticky note with a ? on it wherever words or pictures had caused them to ask a question. In roots we have them use a sticky note but it is more for if they don't understand a word or know what the word is. I really liked how this shows that the reader is asking questions in their heads and also helps teachers identify if or where a student is not comprehending in the story. The students also get to share with their partners or whole group the questions that their brains came up with. I also liked how the questions should be different then mine and their partners. It is ok to have different questions. I really liked this strategy and want to teach it tomorrow. :)
Nicole, I agree. Since this quarter in SFA we are covering questioning, I kept thinking I can't wait to try this! I think this is a great way to make another connection between what we taught with clarifying and using the sticky notes and now to make that connection with questioning. Love it.
I had thought about using the sticky notes in SFA for the questioning portion and now I really think I will start that. I think the kids will love it and that way they will remember where they for sure found their question. They had a lot of fun using them during clarifying, so I think they will have just as much fun using it for questioning!
Nicole, I definitely agree that this questioning strategy is excellent and truly gives readers the "tools" necessary to deepen their comprehension. Also, as readers hear others' questions, "new" questions are inspired in their own minds. Sometimes too a reader's own question can cause him/her to generate more................
"Using Writing to Kick Off a Comprehension Strategy Study" (p.118) brought several aha moments to mind this evening, especially after our SFA visit this morning: "starting with questioning". I think we all agree that the students "are the true participants in the class room" (or should be) Yes, "kids are great questioners", however, getting them to understand the relevant questions in order to comprehend what they are reading can sometimes be a challenge (p.125). Utilizing "roles" in a "team talk setting allows the students the opportunity to "be aware of what goes on in their minds as they read so they can create an ongoing dialogue with the print" (pg 123) The teacher, Char, creates an environment (p.123) conducive to the setting of the story in order to promote a buy in of student interest. I think as edcucators we all need to reflect on that important aspect of facilitating a successful learning environment.
HI Marilyn and Kathy I agree with you both! Yes, it is the domino effect. Mariyln, I loved your comment: " as readers hear others' questions, "new" questions are inspired in their own minds". We wittness this in class as the students T-P-S either in reading or writing.
While reading Chapter 6, I think my "aha" moment was realizing the "power" of individual conferencing with students when more direct instruction is needed. I liked the way the teacher spoke with her student, Chrystal, talking about how readers infer when they read and how they know more in their "minds and hearts than the author puts on the page" -- the teacher emphasized that you need to pay attention to the voice inside your mind in order to listen to any inferences you may have. Another major point addressed in Chapter 6 that goes right along with the Common Core standards is using books rich in ideas that inspire think-alouds about content that matters in the world, focusing on ideas rather than only on events and characters. When sharing inferences with students, teachers should focus on how their "think-aloud" will influence how children might think, believe, and act in their world. This book has many strategies that will definitely help us be more dynamic language arts teachers in the future.
I agree Marilyn. A lot of this book makes me think about how we can use these strategies to help students with close reading. The deep questioning and inferring that the book talks about seems so closely tied to the strategies for close reading that the common core talks about. We need to allow our students to do their own "think alouds" so that we can understand their abilities to comprehend the text that they are reading.
Teaching the strategies really inspires the students to think deeply and the conferencing piece allows me to get to know my students and their thoughts even more closely! I used the Reader's Workshop format for my student teaching. I taught four types of questioning strategies, and read my 5th grade students’ notebooks each week. Their questions, diagrams, lists, connections they made, etc. really helped me get to know them, and I enjoyed taking the time to write my own responses to their entries.
I really agree with your Marilyn!!! Inferences are so important and I always tell my kiddos when I am doing a read a loud that I am letting them get a peak at my brain and how I am interpreting or inferring the story. I know that this book has definitely made me think more about how my brain operates, the questions I ask myself during the reading or inferences that I am making about a piece of literature.
I really enjoy reading this book. Although it has a lot of ideas that are the same as the earlier version of the book, I think that a lot of the newer ideas are closely tied to the ways that we will need to teach with the common core. Allowing students time to make their own meaning from text will be important. In Chapter 5, the authors talk about students creating their own questions as they read. These directly lead to making inferences as they try to answer their questions. "Thinking aloud" by the teacher helps students understand what 'good readers' naturally do as they read. I remember a student that I had that truly didn't know that she should be 'thinking' or listening to the voice in her head as she read. Explicitly teaching these strategies helped her to become a much better reader.
I think that this type of reading really does make reading more enjoyable for our students ~ rather than just answering questions that are created by the authors of the basal reader.
I agree! I think this could bring life back to reading classrooms if students are unmotivated and uninterested. I really connected with what the author had to share in Chapter 5 about young children coming into school brimming with questions, then passivity creeping in as they progress through elementary school. Letting them select their own texts and teaching them how to question deeply beyond the simple, boring questions that are sometimes asked is a great way to bring back the motivation!
What a great comparison of their desire to learn. They enter with the enthusiam of questions and only to passively creep through elementary school. Creep, gives me the visual image of, "Oh, don't notice me, I have changed my mine, I'll sit here quietly and slide into or under my desk instead of sitting tall and proud waving my arm in anticipation of sharing and learning."
I love that this text encourages us as teachers to give ownership of the learning to our students! Allowing students to select their own texts, formulate their own questions, and even teach their fellow students about the questioning strategies is such a great way to increase motivation and the responsibility students have within the classroom. To me, it is all about preparing students for life beyond the classroom and it is so necessary that we give children the opportunity to explore and ask questions about the world around them in a safe environment.
I totally agree with you! I am going to start stressing to my students to ask themsevles questions about the text that they are reading at that point. I really think that will help them understand the book more to throughly enjoy it. It gives them so much responsibility to be able to figure out themselves what is going on in their book. They need this freedom!
I enjoyed both chapters, but I think I had more "aha" moments in the questioning section as well. As I read I just kept thinking I can't wait to use that in my classroom. I had been making the connection between questioning and clarifying but I had been missing so many other connections I could be making. I had not even thought about connecting our questioning to predictions and intent. I kept thinking to myself I have been teaching these three things separately but I should be showing my students how they connect as well. I had not even thought about going deeper and discussing what happens when you have a question that does not have a certain answer.
I agree Tiffany, Chapter 6 had more meaning for me too. I kmow I have caught myself saying, "I don't know the answer to that question." Sometimes I have said, "I will look that up and see if I can have the answer tomorrow." I have suggested they search their computers and find the answer when they were at home. Predicting is a skill we often use before beginning a book and sometimes throughout the story, since predictions may change while reading. It's like using the clues to a great mystery to discover the whodunit.
After reading chapter 5, I felt like the author was in my classroom during SFA instruction of the skill questioning! I love how it talks about how students question what they are reading by making up their own questions about the text. I love how it talked about how the students were asking questions in small groups and had conferences. Since this 3rd quarter has started, I have seen many students questioning themselves and their peers while reading certain passages. It is amazing to see them do it!
I really enjoyed the examples of questioning about the author's style and technique. This is an area that we have to think more about with common core standards, and I enjoyed "listening in" on an example of these types of questions. The teacher in the book made it seem so simple.
As I was reading the questioning chapter, I kept asking myself why don't I do this more? I know that I am very guilty of asking quetions and then turning right around and answering them for the the kiddos when they have any kind of pause. Questioning should be a part of every single day of my reading instruction, not just a skill to be taught and then occasionally reviewed now and then. I think that by doing the Daily 5 incorporating questioning would be one of the easiest things to do because the kids are reading books on and above their reading level and I know for a fact that they have questions they are asking themselves, but no one else. This would be a perfect opportunity for me to conference with kiddos during their independent reading time and see what kinds of questions they are asking and help them realize how important questions are to comprehension.
I agree with you how easy it could be to incorporate into the classroom and reminding ourselves how important it is to provide student wait time. Like the author shared, we know how nervous we get when asked a question on the spot, let alone the students. :) Good luck in incorporating it into your lessons.
Invitational groups I really connected this with what I am doing in my classroom with Daily 5. They are a chance to work with a flexible group of children based upon what they need. It isn't always because they are all on the same level it might be because of a skill they aren't understanding or a chance to practice something they aren't strong at. What I like about these groups is that they are flexible and are constantly changing. They don't make kids feel shameful when they are recieving help or coaching.
When I was reading the section on selecting books I felt this de ja vu feeling because it is what I teach my children during the IPICK lessons of the beginning of DAILY 5. Research has shown when children get to choose their own books they are more motivated to read and with the right strategies to choose their own book they can do this successfully.
The Quest..the quest for questions. The aha moment/s of realizing that 'questioning is fudndamental to being human,' made me feel normal. It is one of my ways of learning and clarifying for myself that I understand 'YOU.' Some may take is as being obstinate or not a team player, but in reality it is my way of accepting and understanding your idea/s. I enjoyed reading the statement, "It is how we dispel confusion, probe into new areas, strenthen our abilities to analyze and deduce. I think we need to be reminded sometimes that our students do need an opportunity to ask questions just as much as we feel as if we should check their understanding with questions. During my first years of teaching I had a student say to me, "Mrs. Clark you sure don't know anything, do you?" I asked her why she would make such a comment and her reply was, "You ask us for all the answers." Maybe we should give them the opportunity to share answers with them, and for them to question each other.
Chapter 5 – I love the quote from Einstein, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” I thought it was a perfect way to summarize the chapter. The transformation that took place in Char’s classroom as she went from direct instruction to having students ask questions and dialoguing about texts. How much time do we allow for this in our classrooms?
Chapter 6 – The question was asked, “Do we provide time for students to discuss, ponder, argue, restate, reflect, persuade and write about what they read?” This question fits right into what we should be expecting when we transition into the common core standards. Last I loved the questions that were asked if it was an inference statement, “Is it written on the page or illustrated on a page?” and “Is it something the author may or may not have thought about when writing the book?”
While reading chapter five an "aha" moment I had was "we want to hear the questions your mind creates about your book" pg 124 I also liked how she modeled putting a sticky note with a ? on it wherever words or pictures had caused them to ask a question. In roots we have them use a sticky note but it is more for if they don't understand a word or know what the word is. I really liked how this shows that the reader is asking questions in their heads and also helps teachers identify if or where a student is not comprehending in the story. The students also get to share with their partners or whole group the questions that their brains came up with. I also liked how the questions should be different then mine and their partners. It is ok to have different questions. I really liked this strategy and want to teach it tomorrow. :)
ReplyDeleteNicole, I agree. Since this quarter in SFA we are covering questioning, I kept thinking I can't wait to try this! I think this is a great way to make another connection between what we taught with clarifying and using the sticky notes and now to make that connection with questioning. Love it.
DeleteI had thought about using the sticky notes in SFA for the questioning portion and now I really think I will start that. I think the kids will love it and that way they will remember where they for sure found their question. They had a lot of fun using them during clarifying, so I think they will have just as much fun using it for questioning!
DeleteNicole, I definitely agree that this questioning strategy is excellent and truly gives readers the "tools" necessary to deepen their comprehension. Also, as readers hear others' questions, "new" questions are inspired in their own minds. Sometimes too a reader's own question can cause him/her to generate more................
ReplyDeleteMarilyn--it's like the domino effect.
Delete"Using Writing to Kick Off a Comprehension Strategy Study" (p.118) brought several aha moments to mind this evening, especially after our SFA visit this morning: "starting with questioning". I think we all agree that the students "are the true participants in the class room" (or should be) Yes, "kids are great questioners", however, getting them to understand the relevant questions in order to comprehend what they are reading can sometimes be a challenge (p.125). Utilizing "roles" in a "team talk
Deletesetting allows the students the opportunity to "be aware of what goes on in their minds as they read so they can create an ongoing dialogue with the print" (pg 123)
The teacher, Char, creates an environment (p.123) conducive to the setting of the story in order to promote a buy in of student interest. I think as edcucators we all need to reflect on that important aspect of facilitating a successful learning environment.
HI Marilyn and Kathy
DeleteI agree with you both! Yes, it is the domino effect.
Mariyln, I loved your comment: " as readers hear others' questions, "new" questions are inspired in their own minds". We wittness this in class as the students T-P-S either in reading or writing.
Thank you Kathi for getting me back in to the blogging site!!! I fortunately had saved my blogs in a word doc...word to the wise. :)
DeleteWhile reading Chapter 6, I think my "aha" moment was realizing the "power" of individual conferencing with students when more direct instruction is needed. I liked the way the teacher spoke with her student, Chrystal, talking about how readers infer when they read and how they know more in their "minds and hearts than the author puts on the page" -- the teacher emphasized that you need to pay attention to the voice inside your mind in order to listen to any inferences you may have. Another major point addressed in Chapter 6 that goes right along with the Common Core standards is using books rich in ideas that inspire think-alouds about content that matters in the world, focusing on ideas rather than only on events and characters. When sharing inferences with students, teachers should focus on how their "think-aloud" will influence how children might think, believe, and act in their world. This book has many strategies that will definitely help us be more dynamic language arts teachers in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree Marilyn. A lot of this book makes me think about how we can use these strategies to help students with close reading. The deep questioning and inferring that the book talks about seems so closely tied to the strategies for close reading that the common core talks about. We need to allow our students to do their own "think alouds" so that we can understand their abilities to comprehend the text that they are reading.
DeleteTeaching the strategies really inspires the students to think deeply and the conferencing piece allows me to get to know my students and their thoughts even more closely! I used the Reader's Workshop format for my student teaching. I taught four types of questioning strategies, and read my 5th grade students’ notebooks each week. Their questions, diagrams, lists, connections they made, etc. really helped me get to know them, and I enjoyed taking the time to write my own responses to their entries.
DeleteI really agree with your Marilyn!!! Inferences are so important and I always tell my kiddos when I am doing a read a loud that I am letting them get a peak at my brain and how I am interpreting or inferring the story. I know that this book has definitely made me think more about how my brain operates, the questions I ask myself during the reading or inferences that I am making about a piece of literature.
DeleteI agree Marilyn on how powerful conferencing can be when working with individual students. How can we get teachers see the importance of conferencing?
DeleteI really enjoy reading this book. Although it has a lot of ideas that are the same as the earlier version of the book, I think that a lot of the newer ideas are closely tied to the ways that we will need to teach with the common core. Allowing students time to make their own meaning from text will be important. In Chapter 5, the authors talk about students creating their own questions as they read. These directly lead to making inferences as they try to answer their questions. "Thinking aloud" by the teacher helps students understand what 'good readers' naturally do as they read. I remember a student that I had that truly didn't know that she should be 'thinking' or listening to the voice in her head as she read. Explicitly teaching these strategies helped her to become a much better reader.
ReplyDeleteI think that this type of reading really does make reading more enjoyable for our students ~ rather than just answering questions that are created by the authors of the basal reader.
I agree! I think this could bring life back to reading classrooms if students are unmotivated and uninterested. I really connected with what the author had to share in Chapter 5 about young children coming into school brimming with questions, then passivity creeping in as they progress through elementary school. Letting them select their own texts and teaching them how to question deeply beyond the simple, boring questions that are sometimes asked is a great way to bring back the motivation!
DeleteWhat a great comparison of their desire to learn. They enter with the enthusiam of questions and only to passively creep through elementary school. Creep, gives me the visual image of, "Oh, don't notice me, I have changed my mine, I'll sit here quietly and slide into or under my desk instead of sitting tall and proud waving my arm in anticipation of sharing and learning."
DeleteI love that this text encourages us as teachers to give ownership of the learning to our students! Allowing students to select their own texts, formulate their own questions, and even teach their fellow students about the questioning strategies is such a great way to increase motivation and the responsibility students have within the classroom. To me, it is all about preparing students for life beyond the classroom and it is so necessary that we give children the opportunity to explore and ask questions about the world around them in a safe environment.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! I am going to start stressing to my students to ask themsevles questions about the text that they are reading at that point. I really think that will help them understand the book more to throughly enjoy it. It gives them so much responsibility to be able to figure out themselves what is going on in their book. They need this freedom!
DeleteI enjoyed both chapters, but I think I had more "aha" moments in the questioning section as well. As I read I just kept thinking I can't wait to use that in my classroom. I had been making the connection between questioning and clarifying but I had been missing so many other connections I could be making. I had not even thought about connecting our questioning to predictions and intent. I kept thinking to myself I have been teaching these three things separately but I should be showing my students how they connect as well. I had not even thought about going deeper and discussing what happens when you have a question that does not have a certain answer.
ReplyDeleteI agree Tiffany, Chapter 6 had more meaning for me too. I kmow I have caught myself saying, "I don't know the answer to that question." Sometimes I have said, "I will look that up and see if I can have the answer tomorrow." I have suggested they search their computers and find the answer when they were at home. Predicting is a skill we often use before beginning a book and sometimes throughout the story, since predictions may change while reading. It's like using the clues to a great mystery to discover the whodunit.
DeleteAfter reading chapter 5, I felt like the author was in my classroom during SFA instruction of the skill questioning! I love how it talks about how students question what they are reading by making up their own questions about the text. I love how it talked about how the students were asking questions in small groups and had conferences. Since this 3rd quarter has started, I have seen many students questioning themselves and their peers while reading certain passages. It is amazing to see them do it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the examples of questioning about the author's style and technique. This is an area that we have to think more about with common core standards, and I enjoyed "listening in" on an example of these types of questions. The teacher in the book made it seem so simple.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the questioning chapter, I kept asking myself why don't I do this more? I know that I am very guilty of asking quetions and then turning right around and answering them for the the kiddos when they have any kind of pause. Questioning should be a part of every single day of my reading instruction, not just a skill to be taught and then occasionally reviewed now and then. I think that by doing the Daily 5 incorporating questioning would be one of the easiest things to do because the kids are reading books on and above their reading level and I know for a fact that they have questions they are asking themselves, but no one else. This would be a perfect opportunity for me to conference with kiddos during their independent reading time and see what kinds of questions they are asking and help them realize how important questions are to comprehension.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you how easy it could be to incorporate into the classroom and reminding ourselves how important it is to provide student wait time. Like the author shared, we know how nervous we get when asked a question on the spot, let alone the students. :) Good luck in incorporating it into your lessons.
DeleteInvitational groups I really connected this with what I am doing in my classroom with Daily 5. They are a chance to work with a flexible group of children based upon what they need. It isn't always because they are all on the same level it might be because of a skill they aren't understanding or a chance to practice something they aren't strong at. What I like about these groups is that they are flexible and are constantly changing. They don't make kids feel shameful when they are recieving help or coaching.
ReplyDeleteBY: SHANNON STILL CAN'T ACCESS HER ACCOUNT!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading the section on selecting books I felt this de ja vu feeling because it is what I teach my children during the IPICK lessons of the beginning of DAILY 5. Research has shown when children get to choose their own books they are more motivated to read and with the right strategies to choose their own book they can do this successfully.
The Quest..the quest for questions. The aha moment/s of realizing that 'questioning is fudndamental to being human,' made me feel normal. It is one of my ways of learning and clarifying for myself that I understand 'YOU.' Some may take is as being obstinate or not a team player, but in reality it is my way of accepting and understanding your idea/s. I enjoyed reading the statement, "It is how we dispel confusion, probe into new areas, strenthen our abilities to analyze and deduce. I think we need to be reminded sometimes that our students do need an opportunity to ask questions just as much as we feel as if we should check their understanding with questions. During my first years of teaching I had a student say to me, "Mrs. Clark you sure don't know anything, do you?" I asked her why she would make such a comment and her reply was, "You ask us for all the answers." Maybe we should give them the opportunity to share answers with them, and for them to question each other.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 – I love the quote from Einstein, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” I thought it was a perfect way to summarize the chapter. The transformation that took place in Char’s classroom as she went from direct instruction to having students ask questions and dialoguing about texts. How much time do we allow for this in our classrooms?
ReplyDeleteChapter 6 – The question was asked, “Do we provide time for students to discuss, ponder, argue, restate, reflect, persuade and write about what they read?” This question fits right into what we should be expecting when we transition into the common core standards. Last I loved the questions that were asked if it was an inference statement, “Is it written on the page or illustrated on a page?” and “Is it something the author may or may not have thought about when writing the book?”