(Beers, pages 73-74) “Dependent readers are dependent in part because of their passive reading. The challenge we face is to get them thinking about the selection and how they will read the selection before they begin the text.”
I tend to think of pre-reading strategies like the trailer to a movie. Do we ever plop down $7 to see a movie that we know absolutely nothing about? I know I’m too frugal for that! Even on the rare occasion that my husband wants to see one, I at least find out what it’s about before I go. I some sort of connection. The trailer is designed to get us interested in the movie and think about what might happen, so that we’ll want to see it. We aren’t shown the minute details or resolution of the film…just enough to pique our interest. That’s exactly what a pre-reading strategy is meant to do—get students interested and thinking about the text before they actually read it. If we don’t get our students involved in the text before they actually begin reading it, then how can we expect them to be remotely interested in the text itself? Yes, there are times that I’ll go see a movie just because who is in it (can anyone say Matthew McConaughey?) but that’s kin to liking a favorite author…how many of our struggling readers have a favorite author? Not many…which is why we have to get them interested in reading the text some other way! Using a pre-reading strategy is the first step into making students active readers! Once we get them started, we have to keep them going…we’ll talk about that on another thread!
Okay, the readings this time are chock full of pre-reading strategies. What would really be cool is if you try one of the strategies mentioned by Beers or Daniels/Zemelman with your students and write about the experience. That is, of course, if you’re a classroom teacher!
I tend to think of pre-reading strategies like the trailer to a movie. Do we ever plop down $7 to see a movie that we know absolutely nothing about? I know I’m too frugal for that! Even on the rare occasion that my husband wants to see one, I at least find out what it’s about before I go. I some sort of connection. The trailer is designed to get us interested in the movie and think about what might happen, so that we’ll want to see it. We aren’t shown the minute details or resolution of the film…just enough to pique our interest. That’s exactly what a pre-reading strategy is meant to do—get students interested and thinking about the text before they actually read it. If we don’t get our students involved in the text before they actually begin reading it, then how can we expect them to be remotely interested in the text itself? Yes, there are times that I’ll go see a movie just because who is in it (can anyone say Matthew McConaughey?) but that’s kin to liking a favorite author…how many of our struggling readers have a favorite author? Not many…which is why we have to get them interested in reading the text some other way! Using a pre-reading strategy is the first step into making students active readers! Once we get them started, we have to keep them going…we’ll talk about that on another thread!
Okay, the readings this time are chock full of pre-reading strategies. What would really be cool is if you try one of the strategies mentioned by Beers or Daniels/Zemelman with your students and write about the experience. That is, of course, if you’re a classroom teacher!
13 comments:
Pages 99-113: Subjects Matter
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (102): I have used this before in class and it works very well to help students understand what you are looking for when reading. I usually have a transparency on the overhead (if poetry) and a copy for each student. We mark-up the transparency and their copy as we read, then discuss. This activity also gets everyone involved. I need to make sure that I specifically tell the students what we are looking for so they are not overwhelmed with information (using context clues for vocabulary). Another activity I have used is the anticipation guide – this is great! The students really get involved because the issues addressed in the activity. Socratic seminar is a great whole group discussion strategy after the students fill out the anticipation guide.
Chapter 6: When Kids Can’t Read
I use pre-reading strategies all the time to help build background knowledge for any unit. It helps the students focus on what we will be learning and gets them questioning about the information. I have not yet used GIST, but I think it will be great to help organize the information we are learning know about Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Subjects Matter - p. 99 - "The strategies described in this chapter are simple, quick, easy-to-use tools and activities to help students engage in, grapple with, and remember concepts in chemistry, math, history, or any subject. The writing or jotting or sketching required for these activities need not be corrected and graded - though you may want to check briefly to see what the kids need help with or to confirm that they are actually using the strategies."
I think there are some wonderful ideas throughout these pages. Just recently, I completed a Probable Passage with my juniors based on a novel (Rules of the Road) that we are currently reading. After they completed it on their own and we discussed in class, I collected their papers just so I could look at individual comments and see who was more on track than the others. I gave them a 10 out of 10 basically as a participation grade. The value in most of these activities is in the discussion you have in class not the points or grade in the gradebook. If anyone wants to try a Probable Passage, Diane has a cool template setup that you could get her to email you and you could modify for another novel or a chapter in a textbook.
When Kids Can't Read - I have used the Anticipation Guide before, and I think it is a wonderful activity for generating lots of good discussion prior to reading a novel. It works better when you include statements that are somewhat controversial or that invite conversation. Don't use questions that can be simply answered with a "yes" or "no." I would think you could easily create one of these for a chapter in a textbook.
I put the Probable Passage template on the SCRI Study Group Shared Teacher File if anyone wants to use it!
Andrea Baker; Media Specialist
Reading and Blog due October 23, 2006
Subjects Matter pp. 99-113
When Kids Can’t Read ch. 6
I enjoyed reading about the variety of pre-reading strategies and the importance of “frontloading” (per Kylene Beers) students’ knowledge prior to reading. I really, really liked the Anticipation Guide strategy mentioned by both Beers and Daniels/Zemelman, and, thanks to Rita’s generosity, was able to try this strategy with a Geometry Honors class. I located a brief, high interest, article on cnn.com that I felt would have broad appeal and created an anticipation guide comprised of five statements. Note: Interestingly, Daniels/Zemelman and Beers differed pretty significantly re: how to instruct students to answer the Anticipation Guide. Beers suggested teachers avoid using true/false type directions, and Daniels/Zemelman encouraged teachers to go ahead and use yes/no, true/false directions. I opted to stick with “agree” and “disagree” directions for students.
The students in Rita’s Geometry Honors class enjoyed reading the web article on Ryan Newman. He is a NASCAR driver who donates considerable money and time to spaying and neutering dogs and encourages fans and others to adopt strays rather than spend huge sums of money on purebreds. Interestingly, the class was pretty evenly split post-reading strategy about whether the Anticpation Guide helped. This was an “aha” moment for me! This is where differentiation comes into play. Best practices would be to vary the comprehension strategies… match the student with the strategy rather than the strategy with the student!!
October 23, 2006 Establishing a Purpose for Reading
My pre-reading strategy I used was actually found in, I Read It, but I Don’t Get It.
I gave my students six paragraphs to read titled “The House” and asked them to underline what they considered important. Two of the students asked me to explain what I meant about being important, the other students were already reading. I just repeated the directions and after a few confused looks, they started reading. I think it’s important to note that these two students read all the time. They love to read.
After they had read the piece, I asked them to read it again and circle what they thought would be important for a robber to know. They immediately started reading and wanted to share what they had marked.
Next I asked the students to reread the piece and place parenthesis around what they thought a prospective buyer would be interested in knowing. Again this seemed simple for them.
We compared their markings and discussed the importance of having a purpose when they read. I asked the students that read a lot for pleasure how they decided on what they wanted to read. Answers were varied, but mainly they read books on topics they were already familiar with and books by authors they had read before or someone had told them about.
A couple of students shared that on standardized tests they would read the questions before they actually started reading the piece. This was their way of establishing a purpose.
Almost everyone agreed this is what they had been taught to do.
I love the way both chapters are organized. Everything is made so clear. I did notice that in When Kids Can’t Read, the number of items for an anticipation guide isn’t as important as making sure that the items spark controversy. In Subjects Matter, it is suggested that items on an anticipation guide be limited to three to five. It also said that you shouldn’t use questions that are just true or false. I don’t think putting these kinds of limits on a strategy is a good idea. Christy Wingard adapted the anticipation guide strategy to fit her needs and it worked.
As for trying one of the strategies, I recently used anticipation guides for Finn: A Novel and Romeo and Juliet. When we finished Finn and when we finish Romeo and Juliet, the students will revisit their thoughts/opinions regarding the statements prior to the reading to see if they have changed the way they think. While we’re doing Romeo and Juliet, the students will also be doing some dramatic (which I am sure will turn comedic) role playing. I look forward to trying some more of the strategies as well.
Wow, Lola! That's a way to get the kids involved. You hit the nail on the head when you wrote, "The years that I was able to do this...the kids did very well with the novel." The kids had a connection to the novel, a reason to read...hence the reason they did well with it. Your description of what you did with your classes makes me want to read Moby Dick...and I'm not a big fan of the classics! :-)
Claire--I just got Walter Dean Myers's new book Street Love yesterday...it's an urban version of Romeo and Juliet. You may want to look over it...it's written as a poem. (Well, you'll just say it's sentences chopped up to look like poetry.)
Pages 99-116, Subjects Matter
I have used the think aloud strategy with all three of my groups. I have heard students talking more about books and sharing what they have read with others. Yesterday, I heard a student talk to Ms. Starnes about jigsaw. I found a strategy called SQ3R to help students outline textbook chapters. I’m sure this strategy exists under many names, but it involves scanning, questioning, reading, and reviewing. After I demonstrated the process on the overhead, students completed the chapter. They took a multiple-choice test using only their notes from the SQ3R. They didn’t do well the first time, but with more guided practice, I think this will work. Lists work well as anticipation guides, too. Before we started reading Jake, Reinvented (a rewrite of The Great Gatsby), I asked students to write 10 lies. Then we tested the lies to see if any of their lies contradicted the other lies.
Jeanette
I also love the Beers book. I have often done the anticipation guide orally with my students and done the pre-testing at the beginning of the semester but I don’t think it builds the anticipation as well as the written anticipation guide. I like the idea of keeping the guides short and focusing on the What I know, What I want to learn and What I learned format. I think using these strategies would go a long way from leaving it teacher centered and bring it back to student mastery.
In Subjects Matter I loved the idea of reading centers and book clubs. I love the new silent-sustained reading in our homerooms but just worry about funding the necessary books. I’d love to build a classroom library and think it would go a long way in terms of improving the students reading and vocabulary.
When Kids Can’t Read
I used the Probable Passage strategy a couple of times last year and will continue to use it this year. The first time I used one that Diane had previously made but the second one I made myself. Like Pam said, Diane’s template is very easy to use. As I am writing this and thinking about the logistics of the Probable Passage I realize how similar it is to the Word Splash. The first thing the students must do with a Word Splash is decide if they know the words, just like the Probable Passage. Then they decide how each word relates to the topic (conflict, setting, etc.) then the students come up with a “gist statement”. Both of these strategies are excellent ways to get students interested in what they are going to read as well as give them a little bit of a vocabulary lesson before they read the text.
Subjects Matter
I recently had my students Code the Text as they read an article I chose for them. I discussed with them the different codes and how to go about “coding their text”. I had them start reading and watched as they began coding, or in this case, not coding. To my surprise many students coded nothing the entire article. “I didn’t think anything while I was reading” and “I didn’t have any questions or times when the article sparked an emotion” is what many of my students said. I immediately knew that I should have modeled this strategy for them first and I thought about what else I needed to discuss with them before revisiting this article the next day.
So that night I went to my book club book: I Read It, but I Don’t Get It and made an overhead with a description of the different voices readers hear. I was going to start with the basics and show my students how to listen to what their “voices” are telling them and how they use that to code the text. I would suggest to any content area teacher to discuss these “voices” with your students if you are trying to get them to make connections, ask questions, and/or agree or disagree with what they are reading as they are reading. It really opened my students’ eyes to what “good readers do”. My students now know that they have to listen to their Reciting Voice as well as their Interacting Voice and try not to listen to their Distracting Voice as they read.
After we discussed these voices I modeled my thinking aloud and how I Coded the Text. I read the first page of the article to the students and stopped whenever my interacting voice told me something. I would share my thought and tell them which code I chose and why. After modeling this and discussing the voices I could tell that some of my students still struggled a little bit but I will not give up. We will be discussing the voices quite often and I will model more of my own thinking for them.
Subject Matters pgs.99-113 Why Kids Can’t Read Chap. 6
Each time I introduce a new piece of music to my students, we use reading strategies.
My students may not realize it, but we are using them.
When we get a piece of music, we begin by looking at the technical points of the piece first. This includes the composer/lyricist, time and key signatures, voice parts, and how the music is presented on the score. After discussing these aspects, the students read the lyrics and use the brainstorming strategy to discuss what the lyricist was saying in the song. After the students give their opinions, I give the students any additional information that I have concerning the lyricist and the history behind the song.
Throughout the learning process, students have the opportunity to continue with the KWL process as they work in sectionals and learn from each other, as well as, develop new questions for me. I have learned in 25 years of teaching that if the students understand what the composer was trying to convey or why I chose the musical selection, the student will perform the piece better and with more emotion. The students need to convey the composer’s thoughts to the audience.
Although my students can’t write out an anticipation guide, just like little kids, they do it instinctively. They are constantly asking what is going on and what is going to happen in the future. They may not do it as adults do it but researching and trying to get more information through various sources, they do question a great deal of things before they read as do adults and students who are non-disabled or less disabled. I have really tried to focus on this with my students so that they can start to anticipate their readings and that they can therefore be more likely to understand what they read (or are read).
I have also tried to incorporate more SSR in my classroom. Although my students mentally are much lower then their peers, I have tried very hard to purchase and provide my students with books that are readable for them. I am sure most people would see them as too childish for students of their chronological age, however, I have worked hard to get books that they are interested in and that they are able to read. When I first began doing SSR, the students didn’t care for it much, however now, I am beginning to see them utilize their free time to get a book and look at it, or listen to it. Something that I honestly thought I would never see! It is exciting!
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