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.
The poem, "Girl" made me aware of our reading being 'surface' at the initial encounter of some writings. Often we may be able to pronounce a word, but the unfamiliar text with its written structure confused the reader. As I have noted in my own students, they may pronounce a word, but have no idea as to its actual meaning. I try to familiarize my students with the different meanings of words, but stress the meaning in the current text. The 'aha' moment was the realization that this poem was a great example for the importance of reading again. It made me revisit some of the 'viewpoints of correctness,' for a young southern girl and what the expectations were for her and the similarites and differences compared to the rules for this 'girl.' Another aha moment was the comparison of proficent readers to surgeons. Proficient readers must be flexible, adaptive, and independent in monitoring their understanding. I would have never made the comparison to the tools of the surgeon. Would you?
Your reflection reminded me how important it is for us to model for students how we comprehend passages and the importance of discussing passages. Like you, I didn't quite get the same meaning as the author did when reading the poem so I reread it too.
I too agree with this. I read the poem and on the surface of it, I kind of understood what was going on, however, when I went back throught it it was so much more apparent that what I had previously thought was not the correct meaning of the poem. Rereading was very important with the poem!
I liked the surgical reference too! I think it would help students see themselves as capable readers who have all the tools they need to understand what they are reading.
I agree with Paulette that our "first reading" of a text is often times just "surface" reading, trying to retrieve the key ideas and general understanding. It's only when we "reread" multiple times are we able to delve into the text and figure out how the text works and what it truly means. This reminds me of what we are trying to achieve with our "close readings" -- we are guiding our students to monitor for meaning, making adjustments and becoming aware of how meaning evolves. Also, the author states that monitoring is the umbrella under which the other comprehension strategies fall. He goes on to say that monitoring emphasizes the importance of revising our thinking as we read, knowing when we're understanding and when we are not, and what we can do to get our comprehension back on tract. This truly emphasizes the importance of teaching the strategy of clarification, particularly as it applies to meaning as a reader develops, and to the extreme importance of "think alouds" during our listening comprehension component so that "students have the opportunity to listen in as we reveal how and when our comprehension is thrown off track and how we get back on track". I agree, Paulette, that the surgeon analogy was quite interesting!
I thought exactly the same thing as I read these chapters. It so closely aligns with what the Common Core is asking us to do with close readings ~ help the students understand the value of re-reading text to find a deeper meaning and to really examine what an author is trying to say. If we don't take the time to help guide our students through this process, some of them may never truly understand what proficient readers do to make meaning of a text. Those "think alouds" are so vital for some students.
I really liked the passage on page 49. "Proficient readers listen to their inner voices as they read, make ongoing corrections and adjustments, and are aware of how meaning evolves." This is the goal that we want our readers to obtain. This does not come natural to all of them!! We need to break this down and monitor this and this is very important to their comprehension.
I agree, without the skills of ongoing corrections and adjustments we are leaving studens stuck in their intial read. They are working on reading the words correctly and not digging deeper. I also agree with one of your later posts that this can be modeled in reading of books related to other subject areas as well. We can model as we read as well.
Your description of ongoing corrections and adjustments made me think of the times when I perceived a reading or even a visual cue one way, and when I was able to think, rethink, and grasp a different viewpoint, I would ponder, "How in the world did I see or understand this to be so different." It makes me think of when we do something incorrectly, and then do it the right way, and when we go back just for trial and error or to test our thinking, we are unable to do the act the wrong way again. I know within my own learning experiences, I may read and think about the reading one way, but with experiences and other references, I may read the same passage again, and think, "Wow, why couldn't I see/understand this before?"
The classroom stories(like Anne's experience reading The Secret Garden) shared in this text not only keep me engaged, but offer real life examples that are so helpful as I develop a deeper understanding of how to teach comprehension strategies. An aha moment for me had to do with the importance of challenging our students and allowing them to face adversity in the classroom. Reading a difficult text at a young age allowed Anne to have a valuable life experience that not only increased her ability to use comprehension strategies, but also allowed her to experience success in the face of difficulty. Isn't that exactly what we want for our students? For them to learn to use the tools necessary to rise above struggles throughout their educations and lives? I love that the text encourages us to help our students see the adversity they face as "intellectual opportunities."
I agree completely with you. That is exactly what we want for all of our students. I also enjoyed this section. This example was able to really get through to me. I think I liked this one better than "Girl".
I agree with your statement as well. It is important to give our students the tools that are needed to rise above. But also, it is important to remember that sometimes we might not have to give them the tools, instead we give them the encouragment to know they had the tools the whole time. They just needed someone to believe that they could rise above.
I wrote about the same thing! I was in totaly awe when I read about Anne's challenge. I was so happy to read about how to challenge a student and how well the teacher worked with her to do so. I can see one of my students in Anne's shoes. Wanting to read a challenging book and getting the help they need.
I liked the part about seeing challenges as opportunities as well. It's nice to put a positive spin on the struggles we face when learning something new and challenging.
Thank you Beth for this reminder that adversities are intellectual opportunities. We may remind students that we can learn from the mistakes we make, but I wonder if they truly believe us. I appreciate the term, 'intellectual opportunities,' even more so. Great post. Thank you. Paulette
Blogging for November 28th Mosaic book study I agree Kerry. I too had "aha" moments throughout the text. The more I read about the influence of our prior knowledge and/or experiences and their effects on understanding text validated my approaches in regard to the use of strategies which enhance student comprehension. However when she stated that her schema was changed as she read, it made me reflect on my instructional practices and approaches while instructing students in reading comprehension. We may think the students comprehend the text, text features, plot, events etc., however, they may be lost in the "style" of the text. This causes some students to have to "work hard to understand it". In many cases we lose our readers because they do have to work hard to understand what they are reading. This brings up a point made about “monitoring the text? She talks about “monitoring being quite simply vital to comprehension". It is a task we need to teach our students how to do as they read various texts for surface or deep meaning. As our readers become more proficient they need to be able to read for meaning in a natural and subconscious manner. The ability to do that promotes the ability to self-correct and become aware of how meaning evolves throughout the text. I think our students would become more successful if they could develop that skill. They would also become more confident and enjoy reading.
Awesome post Elizabeth! I loved your response to Annes experience reading the Secret Garden. I could not agree with you more. The ability to guide our students through tough situations either academically or socially is truly teaching them a life lesson. Your comment; "allowed her to experience success in the face of difficulty", provided me with aha moments in regard to situations in my class room that have promoted self confidence in my students. I appreciate your input!
I loved the example of how the teacher worked with Anne to read and comprehend a story outside of her reading range. I can think of many students who wanted to read the higher level books but wonder if I provided the guidance for them to be successful. I believe this strategy will be helpful in helping students increase their reading levels as we move to the common core standards.
I meant for the above comment to be a reply to Elizabeth's post. Meantime, this will be my "aha" from reading the chapters. On page 62 it said, "No program or prescription, no set of materials or student activities can ever substitute for the deep knowledge and caring that knowledgeable reading teachers can bring to their teaching and which enables them to respond in such individualized ways to the range of students in their classrooms." I truly believe that statement, and wonder how we can get a mobile staff to that level as a depth of staff development would be needed. I know SFA has included important components of best practices in reading but until a teacher knows the "why" we do it and "how to respond" to individual students will we ever be able to have our own reading program in the building or district. I loved how the idea of implementing the reading strategies into other content areas. Maybe a teacher could start during independent reading time or in a content area??? Thoughts??? The book gets me so excited about reading instruction. I loved the book selections they mentioned in the chapters.
I do agree. I think that you could implement into other content areas. In writing I always start out with reading a book. This is a perfect time to also hit home on some of those strategies. I think science, social studies and even in math. There are a lot of books that have the skill built in that we teach in first grade. It can be done!!! So far I feel like this book is opening up my eyes and implementing some of the strategies into S.F.A and into my writing time. More professional development will be needed for us to get to the "Why"!
My "aha" moment relates to what Nicole was dicussing above. That our role as a teacher in the process of modeling to our students how to be aware of what they are thinking as they read is a key component to becoming a better reader. That we have to teach them to monitor and adjust when they are reading. We much also teach them to understand when they are not comprehending what they are reading to stop, adjust and also take a moment to look at the details in the illustrations.
Yes! We can't just expect students to be thinking about their thinking and know when to stop and reevaluate. I have been modeling sticky situations with my Roots group, and feel this is a good beginning introduction to this process. SFA does a good job of incorporating opportunities to model our thinking as we read a text to prepare students to do the same.
I really enjoyed reading about Anne's reading and discovering different strategies to understand what was going on in the book. I was so into reading the entire passage. I could imagine myself doing the same with one of the children in my class who is an excellent reader and would enjoy reading a book above and beyond her level. I would totally encourage it and hope to do the same as the teacher did to help her. It was amazing to see the work the child put in because of her love of reading and love of the movie. I really enjoyed that the teacher pushed for her to do this because every child deserves to be challenged or helped out when needed. Another thing that popped out to me, being a first year teacher myself, was in chapter 4 when they talked about activating prior knowledge. I often wonder if I am doing the right thing when I do it too. I try to add as much as I can in SFA to make images pop into their head about things they might have done that relate to the story we are about to take on.
I loved the passage about Anne, as well! I like how this text gives both examples from real-life classrooms and examples of how we as adults use the comprehension strategies in our own lives. The classroom examples are not only inspiring, but show me how to teach the strategies with my own students. It is easy to relate to the explanations of how the author used comprehension strategies to delve into the passages at the beginning of each chapter...it gets me thinking about how I processed the passage as I read through it. It also helps me be aware of the metacognition that is taking place as I read...which is something that I am always doing, but I do not always realize that it is taking place since as an adult it comes more naturally.
My "aha" moment came when I read "She made two clear points each time: exactly how her own knowledge or experience helped her understand the book better, and how her schema was changed by what she read." I think we all do a good job of helping our students think about how their prior knowledge helps them understand what they are reading, but I think I could spend more time focusing on how our schema changes as we read. I have a few students who do not like to be wrong, and I think this would be a good way to show that we are all wrong or unsure sometimes, and we learn as we go. It's not a bad thing to be wrong or unsure about something as long as we are searching for answers. I liked the idea of applying these strategies across the curriculum, to remind students that we have to think about our reading outside of the reading block.
My aha moment came when I realized how important it was for the kids to think about what they are thinking about when they are reading. I don’t think that I do a good enough job of showing the kids exactly how even an adult reader can change their schema as they are reading, and it doesnt mean they are wrong (like Kerry mentioned above), but in fact means they are practicing a skill that all good readers use. We have conversations in our classroom about what readers are thinking about at any particular moment, but after reading, realizing we could have had even more indepth conversations about how their thoughts had changed. This is something I intend on implementing in my class immediately.
My aha moment came when I was reminded about how students should be flexible, adaptive, and independent in their reading. We can't always be scaffolding and rescuing readers when it comes to their comprehension. I believe we need to help and give readers the tools but eventually we have to stop rescuing and letting find their own way in reading. It is ok for readers to have several options when it comes to having strategies for comprehension, this is the flexibility piece. Adaptive means they are able to problem solve quickly and know what tool they need to have. In regards to independently we need students to do this on their own without us constantly telling them what skill to utilize when they aren't comprehending.
From Shannon: I am unable to access my account!!!!
My aha moment came when I was reminded of the importance of schema. Schema sheds light on ways students connect to the knew information that is presented to them. Often misconceptions come in to play when students have prior knowledge and it isn't always accurate or doesn't connect with the reading in the way we want it to. Schema can't be built it isn't like background knowledge. Scheme comes from what we experience personally not from what the teacher tells us.
The poem, "Girl" made me aware of our reading being 'surface' at the initial encounter of some writings. Often we may be able to pronounce a word, but the unfamiliar text with its written structure confused the reader. As I have noted in my own students, they may pronounce a word, but have no idea as to its actual meaning. I try to familiarize my students with the different meanings of words, but stress the meaning in the current text. The 'aha' moment was the realization that this poem was a great example for the importance of reading again. It made me revisit some of the 'viewpoints of correctness,' for a young southern girl and what the expectations were for her and the similarites and differences compared to the rules for this 'girl.' Another aha moment was the comparison of proficent readers to surgeons. Proficient readers must be flexible, adaptive, and independent in monitoring their understanding. I would have never made the comparison to the tools of the surgeon. Would you?
ReplyDeleteYour reflection reminded me how important it is for us to model for students how we comprehend passages and the importance of discussing passages. Like you, I didn't quite get the same meaning as the author did when reading the poem so I reread it too.
DeleteI too agree with this. I read the poem and on the surface of it, I kind of understood what was going on, however, when I went back throught it it was so much more apparent that what I had previously thought was not the correct meaning of the poem. Rereading was very important with the poem!
DeleteI liked the surgical reference too! I think it would help students see themselves as capable readers who have all the tools they need to understand what they are reading.
DeleteI agree with Paulette that our "first reading" of a text is often times just "surface" reading, trying to retrieve the key ideas and general understanding. It's only when we "reread" multiple times are we able to delve into the text and figure out how the text works and what it truly means. This reminds me of what we are trying to achieve with our "close readings" -- we are guiding our students to monitor for meaning, making adjustments and becoming aware of how meaning evolves. Also, the author states that monitoring is the umbrella under which the other comprehension strategies fall. He goes on to say that monitoring emphasizes the importance of revising our thinking as we read, knowing when we're understanding and when we are not, and what we can do to get our comprehension back on tract. This truly emphasizes the importance of teaching the strategy of clarification, particularly as it applies to meaning as a reader develops, and to the extreme importance of "think alouds" during our listening comprehension component so that "students have the opportunity to listen in as we reveal how and when our comprehension is thrown off track and how we get back on track". I agree, Paulette, that the surgeon analogy was quite interesting!
ReplyDeleteI thought exactly the same thing as I read these chapters. It so closely aligns with what the Common Core is asking us to do with close readings ~ help the students understand the value of re-reading text to find a deeper meaning and to really examine what an author is trying to say. If we don't take the time to help guide our students through this process, some of them may never truly understand what proficient readers do to make meaning of a text. Those "think alouds" are so vital for some students.
DeleteI really liked the passage on page 49. "Proficient readers listen to their inner voices as they read, make ongoing corrections and adjustments, and are aware of how meaning evolves." This is the goal that we want our readers to obtain. This does not come natural to all of them!! We need to break this down and monitor this and this is very important to their comprehension.
ReplyDeleteI agree, without the skills of ongoing corrections and adjustments we are leaving studens stuck in their intial read. They are working on reading the words correctly and not digging deeper. I also agree with one of your later posts that this can be modeled in reading of books related to other subject areas as well. We can model as we read as well.
DeleteYour description of ongoing corrections and adjustments made me think of the times when I perceived a reading or even a visual cue one way, and when I was able to think, rethink, and grasp a different viewpoint, I would ponder, "How in the world did I see or understand this to be so different." It makes me think of when we do something incorrectly, and then do it the right way, and when we go back just for trial and error or to test our thinking, we are unable to do the act the wrong way again. I know within my own learning experiences, I may read and think about the reading one way, but with experiences and other references, I may read the same passage again, and think, "Wow, why couldn't I see/understand this before?"
DeleteThe classroom stories(like Anne's experience reading The Secret Garden) shared in this text not only keep me engaged, but offer real life examples that are so helpful as I develop a deeper understanding of how to teach comprehension strategies. An aha moment for me had to do with the importance of challenging our students and allowing them to face adversity in the classroom. Reading a difficult text at a young age allowed Anne to have a valuable life experience that not only increased her ability to use comprehension strategies, but also allowed her to experience success in the face of difficulty. Isn't that exactly what we want for our students? For them to learn to use the tools necessary to rise above struggles throughout their educations and lives? I love that the text encourages us to help our students see the adversity they face as "intellectual opportunities."
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with you. That is exactly what we want for all of our students. I also enjoyed this section. This example was able to really get through to me. I think I liked this one better than "Girl".
DeleteI agree with your statement as well. It is important to give our students the tools that are needed to rise above. But also, it is important to remember that sometimes we might not have to give them the tools, instead we give them the encouragment to know they had the tools the whole time. They just needed someone to believe that they could rise above.
DeleteI wrote about the same thing! I was in totaly awe when I read about Anne's challenge. I was so happy to read about how to challenge a student and how well the teacher worked with her to do so. I can see one of my students in Anne's shoes. Wanting to read a challenging book and getting the help they need.
DeleteI liked the part about seeing challenges as opportunities as well. It's nice to put a positive spin on the struggles we face when learning something new and challenging.
DeleteThank you Beth for this reminder that adversities are intellectual opportunities. We may remind students that we can learn from the mistakes we make, but I wonder if they truly believe us. I appreciate the term, 'intellectual opportunities,' even more so. Great post. Thank you.
DeletePaulette
Blogging for November 28th Mosaic book study
DeleteI agree Kerry. I too had "aha" moments throughout the text. The more I read about the influence of our prior knowledge and/or experiences and their effects on understanding text validated my approaches in regard to the use of strategies which enhance student comprehension. However when she stated that her schema was changed as she read, it made me reflect on my instructional practices and approaches while instructing students in reading comprehension. We may think the students comprehend the text, text features, plot, events etc., however, they may be lost in the "style" of the text. This causes some students to have to "work hard to understand it". In many cases we lose our readers because they do have to work hard to understand what they are reading.
This brings up a point made about “monitoring the text? She talks about “monitoring being quite simply vital to comprehension". It is a task we need to teach our students how to do as they read various texts for surface or deep meaning. As our readers become more proficient they need to be able to read for meaning in a natural and subconscious manner. The ability to do that promotes the ability to self-correct and become aware of how meaning evolves throughout the text. I think our students would become more successful if they could develop that skill. They would also become more confident and enjoy reading.
Awesome post Elizabeth! I loved your response to Annes experience reading the Secret Garden. I could not agree with you more. The ability to guide our students through tough situations either academically or socially is truly teaching them a life lesson. Your comment; "allowed her to experience success in the face of difficulty", provided me with aha moments in regard to situations in my class room that have promoted self confidence in my students. I appreciate your input!
DeleteI loved the example of how the teacher worked with Anne to read and comprehend a story outside of her reading range. I can think of many students who wanted to read the higher level books but wonder if I provided the guidance for them to be successful. I believe this strategy will be helpful in helping students increase their reading levels as we move to the common core standards.
ReplyDeleteI meant for the above comment to be a reply to Elizabeth's post. Meantime, this will be my "aha" from reading the chapters. On page 62 it said, "No program or prescription, no set of materials or student activities can ever substitute for the deep knowledge and caring that knowledgeable reading teachers can bring to their teaching and which enables them to respond in such individualized ways to the range of students in their classrooms." I truly believe that statement, and wonder how we can get a mobile staff to that level as a depth of staff development would be needed. I know SFA has included important components of best practices in reading but until a teacher knows the "why" we do it and "how to respond" to individual students will we ever be able to have our own reading program in the building or district. I loved how the idea of implementing the reading strategies into other content areas. Maybe a teacher could start during independent reading time or in a content area??? Thoughts??? The book gets me so excited about reading instruction. I loved the book selections they mentioned in the chapters.
ReplyDeleteI do agree. I think that you could implement into other content areas. In writing I always start out with reading a book. This is a perfect time to also hit home on some of those strategies. I think science, social studies and even in math. There are a lot of books that have the skill built in that we teach in first grade. It can be done!!! So far I feel like this book is opening up my eyes and implementing some of the strategies into S.F.A and into my writing time. More professional development will be needed for us to get to the "Why"!
DeleteMy "aha" moment relates to what Nicole was dicussing above. That our role as a teacher in the process of modeling to our students how to be aware of what they are thinking as they read is a key component to becoming a better reader. That we have to teach them to monitor and adjust when they are reading. We much also teach them to understand when they are not comprehending what they are reading to stop, adjust and also take a moment to look at the details in the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteYes! We can't just expect students to be thinking about their thinking and know when to stop and reevaluate. I have been modeling sticky situations with my Roots group, and feel this is a good beginning introduction to this process. SFA does a good job of incorporating opportunities to model our thinking as we read a text to prepare students to do the same.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading about Anne's reading and discovering different strategies to understand what was going on in the book. I was so into reading the entire passage. I could imagine myself doing the same with one of the children in my class who is an excellent reader and would enjoy reading a book above and beyond her level. I would totally encourage it and hope to do the same as the teacher did to help her. It was amazing to see the work the child put in because of her love of reading and love of the movie. I really enjoyed that the teacher pushed for her to do this because every child deserves to be challenged or helped out when needed.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that popped out to me, being a first year teacher myself, was in chapter 4 when they talked about activating prior knowledge. I often wonder if I am doing the right thing when I do it too. I try to add as much as I can in SFA to make images pop into their head about things they might have done that relate to the story we are about to take on.
I loved the passage about Anne, as well! I like how this text gives both examples from real-life classrooms and examples of how we as adults use the comprehension strategies in our own lives. The classroom examples are not only inspiring, but show me how to teach the strategies with my own students. It is easy to relate to the explanations of how the author used comprehension strategies to delve into the passages at the beginning of each chapter...it gets me thinking about how I processed the passage as I read through it. It also helps me be aware of the metacognition that is taking place as I read...which is something that I am always doing, but I do not always realize that it is taking place since as an adult it comes more naturally.
DeleteMy "aha" moment came when I read "She made two clear points each time: exactly how her own knowledge or experience helped her understand the book better, and how her schema was changed by what she read." I think we all do a good job of helping our students think about how their prior knowledge helps them understand what they are reading, but I think I could spend more time focusing on how our schema changes as we read. I have a few students who do not like to be wrong, and I think this would be a good way to show that we are all wrong or unsure sometimes, and we learn as we go. It's not a bad thing to be wrong or unsure about something as long as we are searching for answers. I liked the idea of applying these strategies across the curriculum, to remind students that we have to think about our reading outside of the reading block.
ReplyDeleteMy aha moment came when I realized how important it was for the kids to think about what they are thinking about when they are reading. I don’t think that I do a good enough job of showing the kids exactly how even an adult reader can change their schema as they are reading, and it doesnt mean they are wrong (like Kerry mentioned above), but in fact means they are practicing a skill that all good readers use. We have conversations in our classroom about what readers are thinking about at any particular moment, but after reading, realizing we could have had even more indepth conversations about how their thoughts had changed. This is something I intend on implementing in my class immediately.
ReplyDeleteMy aha moment came when I was reminded about how students should be flexible, adaptive, and independent in their reading. We can't always be scaffolding and rescuing readers when it comes to their comprehension. I believe we need to help and give readers the tools but eventually we have to stop rescuing and letting find their own way in reading. It is ok for readers to have several options when it comes to having strategies for comprehension, this is the flexibility piece. Adaptive means they are able to problem solve quickly and know what tool they need to have. In regards to independently we need students to do this on their own without us constantly telling them what skill to utilize when they aren't comprehending.
ReplyDeleteFrom Shannon: I am unable to access my account!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy aha moment came when I was reminded of the importance of schema. Schema sheds light on ways students connect to the knew information that is presented to them. Often misconceptions come in to play when students have prior knowledge and it isn't always accurate or doesn't connect with the reading in the way we want it to. Schema can't be built it isn't like background knowledge. Scheme comes from what we experience personally not from what the teacher tells us.