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.
I really enjoyed the section too much information. Everywhere you look these days we are constantly recieving information. In fact as I type this I have 5 other windows open, cell phone close by, and am monitoring what's on my email. It is not possible for us to process all of this at once and not good brain based practices. Our brains can not multitask, that has been proven by research. We have to figure out what is important and filter through the information. Having students learn and practice determining the importance is such an important skill, even in this digital age.
I agree completely, Jennifer! Perhaps with "close readings" students can begin to focus more on rereading and delving into deeper meaning of the text rather than just jumping from one text to the next. I loved your personal analogy of having several windows open, e-mail, cell phone, etc. So true!
Jennifer and Marilyn, I loved your comments!!! As a mother of five daughters who are CONSTANTLY "multi-tasking", Tom and I have to make them turn a few of their devices off in order to have a "real conversation"...a lost art these days! As I reflect on your posts....just finished grading some SFA reading tests.....our kiddos are definitely struggling with the ability to "filter through information and finding the important information" within the text. The virtual world our kids live in outside the class room is impacting their ability to read and interpret informational text. They want to be entertained or find the "answer" within the "black and white" of the printed material. A fine example is the skill of inferencing! Marilyn, the students love the "close readings"; they can identify with the author and the characters when they are given the opportunity to role play, re-read and re-create the authors "intentions" throughout the text- a great tool for inferencing and identifying with the text and the characters.
I completely agree with all of you about informational text and the fact that we must prepare our students to discriminate among the many sources of information they are exposed to in order to determine importance (and truth!) Another aha moment for me was the impact of technology on the images students are able to create when reading a text. I never had thought about the fact that some students have difficulty in creating their own images, or mind movies, because they are exposed to so many images throughout the day that they don't have to create on their own via internet, television, etc. This really makes it critical that we model these strategies for students! I really love Shannon's idea of having students draw or write what they are picturing as they read...I think I will try this during read aloud.
I enjoyed reading all the different ideas given on this comment. I would have never have thought to have the students rol play the authors intentions. I think I will try this idea next quarter to introduce the different types of intent. I will have the student role play each one and then have the other students guess which author's intent they are acting out. I also plan to try the idea of having the students draw out their mind movie. Thank you for sharing your great ideas.
SHANNON: can't access my account so publishing under Jennifer's account.
Bringing text to life is an important thing for my second graders. This is all about gaining the big image of the book and making those mind movies. In my classroom I have them keep sticky notes in the book about what they are seeing or writing a jouurnal entry about the part they are reading. I have them draw a picture and write about what they are reading. Daily 5 is another connection for me with this chapter.
Great idea to have the students keep track of their images by drawing or writing about them. I'm sure it helps them provide evidence for their "thinking" or why they are changing their thinking along the way.
Shannon, It's funny that you mentioned having your kiddos draw a picture about what they are reading. In our reading class today, I had the kids draw a picture of what they thought the farm and family in Sarah, Plain and Tall look like. We are getting ready to compare and contrast the book and movie, and I wanted them to have a picture in their minds before the movie. It was fun to see the different interpretations.
While reading Chapter 7, "Bringing Text to Life", I was reminded of how creating images is not only important for student engagement but just as vital for children comprehending what they read -- especially for students who struggle. As the author stated, many children have not had experiences in creating images; however, we can do a lot to remedy that problem by thinking aloud about our images and inviting children to talk about, write about, draw, or perform theirs. I loved the idea on page 190 where the teachers created four "capturing thinking" areas including the theater, book talk zone, artist's studio, and writer's den. What a fabulous way for students to express and share their "thinking"!
Also, I feel that our Common Core Standards tie in well with the information presented in Chapter 8. Not only are students determining the importance at the word, sentence, and whole-text levels, as far as main ideas and key details are concerned, they are also using the author's craft and structure of the text to determine meaning. This chapter is a great resource for the type of "close readings" that students will be doing.
I love the capturing thinking areas also! Not only do they allow kids to express themselves in a multitude of ways, but the focus is moved from telling about the book to telling about their thinking related to the story. The process this teacher went through to introduce the centers was wonderful...really taking the time to let every student experience each area before releasing this task to the class.
Marilyn, I appreciated your comments about Chapter 7.."Bringing Text to Life"...I love that!! If you look back at "Susan's Reflections", page 171, she was able to envision the scene and interpret their situation: "There are no options for this young couple. They are trapped". She was able to identify with the authors message due to her back ground knowledge as a youngster growing up in Southeatern Ohio (p. 173). As I continued to read in chapter 7, I appreciated the authors message in regard to "knowing if a student has comprehended". I could identify with the comment; "others seemed to have a difficult time following the plot as well as, he (Todd) wished more children had found depth and meaning in the book (an aha moment!). Todd also mentioned (another aha moment) the "lethargy students had shown toward their projects. The reality Todd faced when he realized that the middle school kids are "still very much learning to read" struck home with me.....we "all need to realize this and ensure we teach this". Just as you mentioned Marilyn, making the characters and events real in our students minds as well as encouraging them to be able to share their interpretations with others I feel with enhance their ability to understand the text better. (another plus for the close reads!)
AHA! I loved the comments made on page 218: "The Importance of Determining Importance". (p.218) The first line grabbed my attention immediately...maybe it is the age factor, while I do appreciate technology...I do feel their is a fine balance!!! "Determining importance is a more critical life skill now than it was ten years ago. The complexity of the situation has been compounded by the excess of the information available on the internet." (p.218) The aha moment I reflected on was the comment made about spending more time conferencing with our students in order to discover how they approach different types of nonfiction. Comments made about how we teach our kids-"determining importance as a valuable tool" (pp.218-219)caused me to reflect on the strategies within the SFA program. We are "teaching the kids that sometimes they need to turn up the volume on a particular strategy and turn down the volume on others". It is significant to re-iterate the significance of identifying what is most important. Chapter 8 is a wonderful chapter to reflect on!!
An aha moment for me was the reminder in chapter 7 to take time to observe. I certainly feel I am constantly running around, trying to meet needs of students and checking things off my list. The reminder to give students the opportunity to try what we have modeled for them instead of sending them off to their work with a list of ten things to remember to do was much needed for me! My turn is over after I model, now it is their turn to try...and okay if they make mistakes, they will learn from them. :)
As Jennifer and Cathy made reference to the mulit-tasking and informational overload that surrounds us in our daily lives it is difficult to dicipher between what is real and what is virtual. The overload can be cumbersome and inhibit our thinking in that it is difficult to decide what is significant or important for our students to discuss. Can they make sense of all the information that surrounds them.
Chapter 7 helped me to see the irony in life at times. The visual imagery was very strong in "The Cough." The wife could see her husband dying before her eyes, he was a walking black cough. My heart sadden for them as the men worked to make their "good money," but yet they barely survived or had the neccessitites for living. They worked to support their families on their meager wages, but their job was robbing them of their lives. I enjoyed the 'aha' moment of reminding us that simple print on simple paper can provide for us "...sensory and emotional images that surface as we read are a kind of Impressionism in the mind." Just as the Impressionist painting becomes clearer as we move back and study the painting we have a more profound response to the images in front of us. This was a great comparison to how we respond to a text with rereading, writing about and discussing the text especially after the first reading. Our students need the first read to have contact with the vocabulary, and then future readings help clarify those words that may have been stumbling blocks the first time around.
Paulette, I appreciated the way you reminded the readers how significant it is for our students to read and reread. I think sometmes we are more focused on having them reread for comprehension verses that "profound response to the images" in front of the reader via text. If the students can become emotionally tied to the text through sensory and emotional images comrehension will be enhanced. Just as Harry Humes depicts the images and characters in "The Cough", the reader becomes emotionally tied to the characters in the short story.
Stockings gave me an opportunity to reflect on those Vietnam days and other military experiences of our military during days of conflict. Many have heard of the solider whose life was saved by the bullet to the heart that was embedded in the rectangular New Testament he carried in his pocket. As I read the "Stockings" I was thinking negative and thought, "What happens if she sends a "Dear John" letter. Will he die. It was as if I had a personal relationship with this regular guy. I just knew he would fling off the stockings, maybe burn them, and then he would perish in battle. I was so glad the author surprised me. I liked the real ending better. This piece of literature would be great to make perdictions and to help students understand the importance of good-luck charms in some cultures and how they carried over to our culture especially from the past. Reading can be an escapism from our chaotic lives and gives us time to ponder over others' troubles and an opportunity to record part of history just as the cave dwellers did. Literature gives us a peek back into time as language of the time is used, dress is described, and the values of mankind portrayed. Just as stated in an earlier post that our students are given a plethora of information it is important to model how we determine importance. Hopefully, our students will experience and see beyond the obivious, because there is so much more.
When I was reading Chapter 7 I was struck by the comment: " . . .we cant' take for granted that students create images spontaneously as they read. Many don't. They don't realize they should." This makes me very sad. I have always been an avid reader, and I think it is such a fabulous "escape" from the real world. One of the things I love most is picturing the story in my mind. I'm a little embarassed to admit that it didn't occur to me that this isn't something everyone would naturally do. It makes me look at instruction in a whole different light.
To add to what I said above, I've always had my students make mind movies, but I guess in my mind we were looking closely at the thoughts that they already had. It surprises me that they wouldn't spontaneously picture things as they read.
I too agree! I read a ton too, I just assumed that everybody could do it but that is not true. Sometimes coming up with images from reading can be tough, especially if a child does not understand what is going in the story.
My aha moment came as I was reading Chapter 7, I was hit with almost the exact feelings as Kerry expressed about not thinking about everyone naturally being able to make those mental pictures as they were reading. In my classroom we talk everyday about ways to read a book (reading the pictures, reading the words and retelling) and although we use the book's pictures daily, as I reflect on the kiddos creating their own pictures, I realized that I don't spend much time at all talking about the pictures they are creating. That is something that I can change and plan on doing immediately. I do read alouds as well to my kiddos (they LOVE Junie B. Jones) and I think that would be a perfect text to have the kiddos share their mental pictures. I really enjoyed this chapter quite a bit.
While reading chapter 7 I thought about how recently I was reading aloud a chapter book to my class. One of the students kept asking for me to show the picutres and I had to explain how there were not any pictures in this book and they had to use what they were hearing and turn it into a picture in their head. I was reading a Junie B. Jones book outloud, and it dealt with a monster under her bed and what the monster was going to do to her. The kids could tell me all about what they thought would look like! It was amazing to see that they could turn things into pictures in their heads!
I agree Katie, I am also reading a chapter book aloud to my class. I think I will add to our morning work to not only journal about what we are reading but also, draw a picture of what they are seeing. We are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I would be curious to see their mind movies of the chocolate room.
Great example Katie. I loved the idea in the book that students were given four different ways to share their meaning of the books instead of just writing. The challenge with Tiffany's class with Charlie and the Chocalate Factory might be that students have seen the movie. I hope you share your insight with staff!
I feel that my aha moment as well, was the dicussion of multitasking. I think as a parent and a teacher I have gotten in a bad habit of always trying to multi-task I have forgotten that this is not best practice for reading. I think I do need to go back and teach how to filter the information that is needed and how to decide what is an important detail from the text.
I agree that I think it's like everything else, as we have so much to do, we just want to complete our lists. The challenge with teaching reading, all students are at different places and the only way to really reach them is through conferencing and modeling. Maybe the common core will allow us to slow down and dig deeper.
In the chapter of Evoking Images, I loved how the teacher set up his classroom to encourage his students to describe their thinking about books as to reporting on them. I wonder if we give much time in our reading instruction to this strategy. I think it’s fun to see the different ways one might comprehend a passage.
In the chapter, Heart of the Matter, I think the strategy of determining importance will be a helpful strategy as we move to more challenging texts including inconsiderate nonfiction with the Common Core. It is crazy all the information that is accessible to us and how important it is to teach students to identify factual information.
I really enjoyed the section too much information. Everywhere you look these days we are constantly recieving information. In fact as I type this I have 5 other windows open, cell phone close by, and am monitoring what's on my email. It is not possible for us to process all of this at once and not good brain based practices. Our brains can not multitask, that has been proven by research. We have to figure out what is important and filter through the information. Having students learn and practice determining the importance is such an important skill, even in this digital age.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, Jennifer! Perhaps with "close readings" students can begin to focus more on rereading and delving into deeper meaning of the text rather than just jumping from one text to the next. I loved your personal analogy of having several windows open, e-mail, cell phone, etc. So true!
DeleteJennifer and Marilyn, I loved your comments!!! As a mother of five daughters who are CONSTANTLY "multi-tasking", Tom and I have to make them turn a few of their devices off in order to have a "real conversation"...a lost art these days!
DeleteAs I reflect on your posts....just finished grading some SFA reading tests.....our kiddos are definitely struggling with the ability to "filter through information and finding the important information" within the text. The virtual world our kids live in outside the class room is impacting their ability to read and interpret informational text. They want to be entertained or find the "answer" within the "black and white" of the printed material. A fine example is the skill of inferencing!
Marilyn, the students love the "close readings"; they can identify with the author and the characters when they are given the opportunity to role play, re-read and re-create the authors "intentions" throughout the text- a great tool for inferencing and identifying with the text and the characters.
I completely agree with all of you about informational text and the fact that we must prepare our students to discriminate among the many sources of information they are exposed to in order to determine importance (and truth!) Another aha moment for me was the impact of technology on the images students are able to create when reading a text. I never had thought about the fact that some students have difficulty in creating their own images, or mind movies, because they are exposed to so many images throughout the day that they don't have to create on their own via internet, television, etc. This really makes it critical that we model these strategies for students! I really love Shannon's idea of having students draw or write what they are picturing as they read...I think I will try this during read aloud.
DeleteJennifer,
DeleteThis is so true. As a working mom I am constantly mulit-tasking. After awhile, you start to feel crazy!
I too agree with the too much information. We often take in too much and then can't process what is relevant and what can be put on the back burner.
DeleteI enjoyed reading all the different ideas given on this comment. I would have never have thought to have the students rol play the authors intentions. I think I will try this idea next quarter to introduce the different types of intent. I will have the student role play each one and then have the other students guess which author's intent they are acting out. I also plan to try the idea of having the students draw out their mind movie. Thank you for sharing your great ideas.
DeleteSHANNON: can't access my account so publishing under Jennifer's account.
ReplyDeleteBringing text to life is an important thing for my second graders. This is all about gaining the big image of the book and making those mind movies. In my classroom I have them keep sticky notes in the book about what they are seeing or writing a jouurnal entry about the part they are reading. I have them draw a picture and write about what they are reading. Daily 5 is another connection for me with this chapter.
Shannon,
DeleteGreat idea to have the students keep track of their images by drawing or writing about them. I'm sure it helps them provide evidence for their "thinking" or why they are changing their thinking along the way.
Shannon,
DeleteIt's funny that you mentioned having your kiddos draw a picture about what they are reading. In our reading class today, I had the kids draw a picture of what they thought the farm and family in Sarah, Plain and Tall look like. We are getting ready to compare and contrast the book and movie, and I wanted them to have a picture in their minds before the movie. It was fun to see the different interpretations.
While reading Chapter 7, "Bringing Text to Life", I was reminded of how creating images is not only important for student engagement but just as vital for children comprehending what they read -- especially for students who struggle. As the author stated, many children have not had experiences in creating images; however, we can do a lot to remedy that problem by thinking aloud about our images and inviting children to talk about, write about, draw, or perform theirs. I loved the idea on page 190 where the teachers created four "capturing thinking" areas including the theater, book talk zone, artist's studio, and writer's den. What a fabulous way for students to express and share their "thinking"!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel that our Common Core Standards tie in well with the information presented in Chapter 8. Not only are students determining the importance at the word, sentence, and whole-text levels, as far as main ideas and key details are concerned, they are also using the author's craft and structure of the text to determine meaning. This chapter is a great resource for the type of "close readings" that students will be doing.
I love the capturing thinking areas also! Not only do they allow kids to express themselves in a multitude of ways, but the focus is moved from telling about the book to telling about their thinking related to the story. The process this teacher went through to introduce the centers was wonderful...really taking the time to let every student experience each area before releasing this task to the class.
DeleteMarilyn, I appreciated your comments about Chapter 7.."Bringing Text to Life"...I love that!! If you look back at "Susan's Reflections", page 171, she was able to envision the scene and interpret their situation: "There are no options for this young couple. They are trapped". She was able to identify with the authors message due to her back ground knowledge as a youngster growing up in Southeatern Ohio (p. 173). As I continued to read in chapter 7, I appreciated the authors message in regard to "knowing if a student has comprehended". I could identify with the comment; "others seemed to have a difficult time following the plot as well as, he (Todd) wished more children had found depth and meaning in the book (an aha moment!). Todd also mentioned (another aha moment) the "lethargy students had shown toward their projects. The reality Todd faced when he realized that the middle school kids are "still very much learning to read" struck home with me.....we "all need to realize this and ensure we teach this".
ReplyDeleteJust as you mentioned Marilyn, making the characters and events real in our students minds as well as encouraging them to be able to share their interpretations with others I feel with enhance their ability to understand the text better. (another plus for the close reads!)
AHA! I loved the comments made on page 218: "The Importance of Determining Importance". (p.218) The first line grabbed my attention immediately...maybe it is the age factor, while I do appreciate technology...I do feel their is a fine balance!!! "Determining importance is a more critical life skill now than it was ten years ago. The complexity of the situation has been compounded by the excess of the information available on the internet." (p.218) The aha moment I reflected on was the comment made about spending more time conferencing with our students in order to discover how they approach different types of nonfiction.
ReplyDeleteComments made about how we teach our kids-"determining importance as a valuable tool" (pp.218-219)caused me to reflect on the strategies within the SFA program. We are "teaching the kids that sometimes they need to turn up the volume on a particular strategy and turn down the volume on others". It is significant to re-iterate the significance of identifying what is most important. Chapter 8 is a wonderful chapter to reflect on!!
An aha moment for me was the reminder in chapter 7 to take time to observe. I certainly feel I am constantly running around, trying to meet needs of students and checking things off my list. The reminder to give students the opportunity to try what we have modeled for them instead of sending them off to their work with a list of ten things to remember to do was much needed for me! My turn is over after I model, now it is their turn to try...and okay if they make mistakes, they will learn from them. :)
ReplyDeleteAs Jennifer and Cathy made reference to the mulit-tasking and informational overload that surrounds us in our daily lives it is difficult to dicipher between what is real and what is virtual. The overload can be cumbersome and inhibit our thinking in that it is difficult to decide what is significant or important for our students to discuss. Can they make sense of all the information that surrounds them.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7 helped me to see the irony in life at times. The visual imagery was very strong in "The Cough." The wife could see her husband dying before her eyes, he was a walking black cough. My heart sadden for them as the men worked to make their "good money," but yet they barely survived or had the neccessitites for living. They worked to support their families on their meager wages, but their job was robbing them of their lives. I enjoyed the 'aha' moment of reminding us that simple print on simple paper can provide for us "...sensory and emotional images that surface as we read are a kind of Impressionism in the mind." Just as the Impressionist painting becomes clearer as we move back and study the painting we have a more profound response to the images in front of us. This was a great comparison to how we respond to a text with rereading, writing about and discussing the text especially after the first reading. Our students need the first read to have contact with the vocabulary, and then future readings help clarify those words that may have been stumbling blocks the first time around.
ReplyDeletePaulette, I appreciated the way you reminded the readers how significant it is for our students to read and reread. I think sometmes we are more focused on having them reread for comprehension verses that "profound response to the images" in front of the reader via text. If the students can become emotionally tied to the text through sensory and emotional images comrehension will be enhanced. Just as Harry Humes depicts the images and characters in "The Cough", the reader becomes emotionally tied to the characters in the short story.
DeleteStockings gave me an opportunity to reflect on those Vietnam days and other military experiences of our military during days of conflict. Many have heard of the solider whose life was saved by the bullet to the heart that was embedded in the rectangular New Testament he carried in his pocket. As I read the "Stockings" I was thinking negative and thought, "What happens if she sends a "Dear John" letter. Will he die. It was as if I had a personal relationship with this regular guy. I just knew he would fling off the stockings, maybe burn them, and then he would perish in battle. I was so glad the author surprised me. I liked the real ending better. This piece of literature would be great to make perdictions and to help students understand the importance of good-luck charms in some cultures and how they carried over to our culture especially from the past. Reading can be an escapism from our chaotic lives and gives us time to ponder over others' troubles and an opportunity to record part of history just as the cave dwellers did. Literature gives us a peek back into time as language of the time is used, dress is described, and the values of mankind portrayed. Just as stated in an earlier post that our students are given a plethora of information it is important to model how we determine importance. Hopefully, our students will experience and see beyond the obivious, because there is so much more.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading Chapter 7 I was struck by the comment: " . . .we cant' take for granted that students create images spontaneously as they read. Many don't. They don't realize they should." This makes me very sad. I have always been an avid reader, and I think it is such a fabulous "escape" from the real world. One of the things I love most is picturing the story in my mind. I'm a little embarassed to admit that it didn't occur to me that this isn't something everyone would naturally do. It makes me look at instruction in a whole different light.
ReplyDeleteTo add to what I said above, I've always had my students make mind movies, but I guess in my mind we were looking closely at the thoughts that they already had. It surprises me that they wouldn't spontaneously picture things as they read.
DeleteI compeltely agree with that! I didnt think about the kiddos not being able to do the same thing that I do so naturally!
DeleteI too agree! I read a ton too, I just assumed that everybody could do it but that is not true. Sometimes coming up with images from reading can be tough, especially if a child does not understand what is going in the story.
DeleteMy aha moment came as I was reading Chapter 7, I was hit with almost the exact feelings as Kerry expressed about not thinking about everyone naturally being able to make those mental pictures as they were reading. In my classroom we talk everyday about ways to read a book (reading the pictures, reading the words and retelling) and although we use the book's pictures daily, as I reflect on the kiddos creating their own pictures, I realized that I don't spend much time at all talking about the pictures they are creating. That is something that I can change and plan on doing immediately. I do read alouds as well to my kiddos (they LOVE Junie B. Jones) and I think that would be a perfect text to have the kiddos share their mental pictures. I really enjoyed this chapter quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading chapter 7 I thought about how recently I was reading aloud a chapter book to my class. One of the students kept asking for me to show the picutres and I had to explain how there were not any pictures in this book and they had to use what they were hearing and turn it into a picture in their head. I was reading a Junie B. Jones book outloud, and it dealt with a monster under her bed and what the monster was going to do to her. The kids could tell me all about what they thought would look like! It was amazing to see that they could turn things into pictures in their heads!
ReplyDeleteI agree Katie, I am also reading a chapter book aloud to my class. I think I will add to our morning work to not only journal about what we are reading but also, draw a picture of what they are seeing. We are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I would be curious to see their mind movies of the chocolate room.
DeleteGreat example Katie. I loved the idea in the book that students were given four different ways to share their meaning of the books instead of just writing. The challenge with Tiffany's class with Charlie and the Chocalate Factory might be that students have seen the movie. I hope you share your insight with staff!
DeleteI feel that my aha moment as well, was the dicussion of multitasking. I think as a parent and a teacher I have gotten in a bad habit of always trying to multi-task I have forgotten that this is not best practice for reading. I think I do need to go back and teach how to filter the information that is needed and how to decide what is an important detail from the text.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I think it's like everything else, as we have so much to do, we just want to complete our lists. The challenge with teaching reading, all students are at different places and the only way to really reach them is through conferencing and modeling. Maybe the common core will allow us to slow down and dig deeper.
DeleteIn the chapter of Evoking Images, I loved how the teacher set up his classroom to encourage his students to describe their thinking about books as to reporting on them. I wonder if we give much time in our reading instruction to this strategy. I think it’s fun to see the different ways one might comprehend a passage.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter, Heart of the Matter, I think the strategy of determining importance will be a helpful strategy as we move to more challenging texts including inconsiderate nonfiction with the Common Core. It is crazy all the information that is accessible to us and how important it is to teach students to identify factual information.