"Did I Miss Anything? Did I Miss Everything? Last Thoughts"
"If teachers become distant from their own learning they will most certainly become distant from the learning of their students."-Alisa Wills-Keely
This chapter is about realizing what is most important in teaching. She describes incidents that occur in her classroom on a Monday. First, her reading workshop class didn't go to well, she found a note in her school mail, two boys at the back of the room were slap boxing, a transfer student was very uncomfortable, and a young girl came in crying. She thought about what she should do first and decided on reading the note. The note asked her if she saw a urination incident and if so to write a statement. Here, she realizes that there were so many distractions and was wondering if she had to address these current problems, would that leave her any time to teach students how to read? She then reminded herself to keep in mind what is important, and to forget the rest. She is stressed out about the state test coming up and hands out a poem for the students to read. One student says that he has no clue what it is about. She reminds him once again of the strategies they use to figure out what a text is talking about and to her surprise the student gets the assignment done, but also asks to redo an earlier assignment. She says that the classroom is the place where the students can take risks and show us what they are thinking.
Cris ends with saying that we will never have all the answers. She says that we become teachers because we love our content so much that we want to teach others what we know. This last section is basically telling us teachers to hang in there. A good teacher is never happy or satisfied with what happened during the school year. A good teacher is always finding ways to improve their instruction. She says that the only way this book will help us is if we believe in our selves that we can teach students how to read. We know more than we think we do about reading instruction.
This book was a good text in helping me to understand why I need to teach reading in my future math classroom. It has changed my view about reading and has given me the tools to get through boring texts. I have to remind myself to have a purpose when I am reading. So, sorry that my posts are late, but I thought that I might as well finish the assignment.
Renee
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Chapter 8
"What Do I Do with All These Sticky Notes? Assessment That Drives Instruction"
"The hardest part about reading is remembering what I've read"-Jessica, ninth grader.
This chapter starts off with her College Prep English 12 class. She talks about the students behavior now that they are the "top dogs" of the school now. I can't help but to think of my senior year of high school. I totally thought we were the top dogs. I never acted like I was, but I secretly thought I was. LOL. She addresses the class about what they will be learning about and that at the end of the semester she hopes that they are selfish. One student says that, that wasn't a problem, because his mom tells him is is so selfish. She then goes on to tell the students to always ask themselves, 'What's in it for me?' She tells them not to read for the teacher or their parents, but for themselves. A question about tests comes up. The student wants to know if they will be taking a lot of tests and she tells them no, but she will be measuring their thinking the entire time, so it is kind of like having a test everyday. She then makes the comment of "I will be explicit about what they need to know, because school should not be a game of 'let's see who the teacher can trick'". I agree with this comment entirely. We are educators to help the students learn as much as they can in our classrooms.
Cris says that she is selfish when it comes to assessments, because she wants to know of her student's thinking so that it can help her teaching. Assessments should be used to show us what our students are doing well and not so well on. Assessment should reflect everyday activities. She says that district and state tests are used to inform the way programs are being used. Chapter tests, according to Cris show us the finite knowledge the students have and not what they are thinking. She goes on to say that, "if teachers want students to comprehend and actually use content from their classrooms, they need to show them how to be better thinkers about that content."
She feels that there is not 1 assessment that will measure everything and when she realized this it was a sad day for her. Setting a goal at the beginning of a class is a good start. Start off with a goal that is attainable and at the end of a quarter if the goal is met, then set a higher goal. If it is not met then the student can keep that same goal and figure out why the goal was not met. Keeping a collective chart reminds the students of the strategies they had been practicing in the weeks before.
She also has each student keep a conversation calender. This is used to communicate with the teacher in a more individual setting. Each week the student writes down what they are thinking, whether it be a question or something they need to get off their mind. The teacher should respond by the next day and it should be worth while for the student. Giving points for this is a good incentive. Another tool is a reading response log. This shows the teacher what the student is reading and thinking about with a text that the student chose them self. The first part consists of a 4 to 5 sentence summary. The second part is a 10 to 15 sentence response to what the student read. In this second part the teacher is able to see what strategies the student is using to get through the text. Keeping a file of each student is a good way to show the student of their progress. Keeping examples of certain work done by the student will show that the student is proficient or recommended remediation. For Cris, quick conferences is her best assessment tool. It gives her insight in how to teach and guide her students.
I like the quick conference and conversation ideas. I feel that it is important to show an interest in who the student is personally. I feel that you get a better response from the student when you take an interest in who they are.
Renee
"The hardest part about reading is remembering what I've read"-Jessica, ninth grader.
This chapter starts off with her College Prep English 12 class. She talks about the students behavior now that they are the "top dogs" of the school now. I can't help but to think of my senior year of high school. I totally thought we were the top dogs. I never acted like I was, but I secretly thought I was. LOL. She addresses the class about what they will be learning about and that at the end of the semester she hopes that they are selfish. One student says that, that wasn't a problem, because his mom tells him is is so selfish. She then goes on to tell the students to always ask themselves, 'What's in it for me?' She tells them not to read for the teacher or their parents, but for themselves. A question about tests comes up. The student wants to know if they will be taking a lot of tests and she tells them no, but she will be measuring their thinking the entire time, so it is kind of like having a test everyday. She then makes the comment of "I will be explicit about what they need to know, because school should not be a game of 'let's see who the teacher can trick'". I agree with this comment entirely. We are educators to help the students learn as much as they can in our classrooms.
Cris says that she is selfish when it comes to assessments, because she wants to know of her student's thinking so that it can help her teaching. Assessments should be used to show us what our students are doing well and not so well on. Assessment should reflect everyday activities. She says that district and state tests are used to inform the way programs are being used. Chapter tests, according to Cris show us the finite knowledge the students have and not what they are thinking. She goes on to say that, "if teachers want students to comprehend and actually use content from their classrooms, they need to show them how to be better thinkers about that content."
She feels that there is not 1 assessment that will measure everything and when she realized this it was a sad day for her. Setting a goal at the beginning of a class is a good start. Start off with a goal that is attainable and at the end of a quarter if the goal is met, then set a higher goal. If it is not met then the student can keep that same goal and figure out why the goal was not met. Keeping a collective chart reminds the students of the strategies they had been practicing in the weeks before.
She also has each student keep a conversation calender. This is used to communicate with the teacher in a more individual setting. Each week the student writes down what they are thinking, whether it be a question or something they need to get off their mind. The teacher should respond by the next day and it should be worth while for the student. Giving points for this is a good incentive. Another tool is a reading response log. This shows the teacher what the student is reading and thinking about with a text that the student chose them self. The first part consists of a 4 to 5 sentence summary. The second part is a 10 to 15 sentence response to what the student read. In this second part the teacher is able to see what strategies the student is using to get through the text. Keeping a file of each student is a good way to show the student of their progress. Keeping examples of certain work done by the student will show that the student is proficient or recommended remediation. For Cris, quick conferences is her best assessment tool. It gives her insight in how to teach and guide her students.
I like the quick conference and conversation ideas. I feel that it is important to show an interest in who the student is personally. I feel that you get a better response from the student when you take an interest in who they are.
Renee
Chapter 7
Group Work That Grows Understanding
"Curriculum is often thought of as a set of specific knowledge, skills or books to be covered. I propose instead that we think of curriculum as a set of important conversations that we want students to engage in."- Arthur Applebee
I enjoyed reading this chapter. I like to do group work in person. Online group work is something that I don't particularly enjoy. I like to see the people I am talking to and eye contact is very important. You are probably wondering why I am taking an online class after comment? I am taking online courses because I live in Gallup and most of the courses I need in order to graduate are only offered at the main campus. Taking online courses allows me to finish my degree sooner.
Cris, starts off the chapter with no one needing her help as her students are working in groups. They are completing their assignment and the groups are made up of 5 to 6 people. She likes the discussions that are taking place in each group. She then tells us that her role during discussion groups has changed in the last few years. She does admit that at first having the class work in groups was frustrating and exhausting, but was reminded of the benefits of small-group work. So, she decided during that rough time, she was going to figure out how to make group work successful. She says that there is an art to discussion, and people will get better at it with practice and timely feedback. She says that the students need to know what they are doing right so that they will keep doing it.
Her first advice is to have the students write down three things that bug them about group work. After going through these papers, she wrote up what concerns of theirs was negotiable and shared it with the class. Under each concern there was a student action and a teacher action that described what each will do to better the concern. These turned out to be the classroom guidelines for group work. Next, she modeled a group discussion that was good and bad. Cris was acting like a bad group member, while her friend was the good group member. The students were asked to write down the good and bad behaviors they say. She says that she can group struggling readers together or mix it up so that the struggling readers can join groups that are having in-depth conversations.
At first, Cris starts by giving each group the same piece of text to go over. Each student gets one sticky note and is to write down one thought they have about the cover. Then, they are to combine all of the comments and find any connections among them. They can then move on to more in-depth thinking. They can use the Highlight and Revisit strategy that has the students use the comprehension constructor. In the first column students write down what is highlighted and in the second column write down the deeper thinking behind the words. One student in each group is assigned to be a recorder and before the class is over, Cris has each group share their notes with the class and now the students are able to make connections across different groups. While the groups are working, Cris is taking notes about what is working and what is not working, who is participating or not, so that she can tweak what is expected of the students to help the group work run smoother.
Group work is something, if done right, that can help facilitate in the learning the students are doing. At first it will be hard, but Cris says to stick with it especially if your classroom size is 30+.
Renee
"Curriculum is often thought of as a set of specific knowledge, skills or books to be covered. I propose instead that we think of curriculum as a set of important conversations that we want students to engage in."- Arthur Applebee
I enjoyed reading this chapter. I like to do group work in person. Online group work is something that I don't particularly enjoy. I like to see the people I am talking to and eye contact is very important. You are probably wondering why I am taking an online class after comment? I am taking online courses because I live in Gallup and most of the courses I need in order to graduate are only offered at the main campus. Taking online courses allows me to finish my degree sooner.
Cris, starts off the chapter with no one needing her help as her students are working in groups. They are completing their assignment and the groups are made up of 5 to 6 people. She likes the discussions that are taking place in each group. She then tells us that her role during discussion groups has changed in the last few years. She does admit that at first having the class work in groups was frustrating and exhausting, but was reminded of the benefits of small-group work. So, she decided during that rough time, she was going to figure out how to make group work successful. She says that there is an art to discussion, and people will get better at it with practice and timely feedback. She says that the students need to know what they are doing right so that they will keep doing it.
Her first advice is to have the students write down three things that bug them about group work. After going through these papers, she wrote up what concerns of theirs was negotiable and shared it with the class. Under each concern there was a student action and a teacher action that described what each will do to better the concern. These turned out to be the classroom guidelines for group work. Next, she modeled a group discussion that was good and bad. Cris was acting like a bad group member, while her friend was the good group member. The students were asked to write down the good and bad behaviors they say. She says that she can group struggling readers together or mix it up so that the struggling readers can join groups that are having in-depth conversations.
At first, Cris starts by giving each group the same piece of text to go over. Each student gets one sticky note and is to write down one thought they have about the cover. Then, they are to combine all of the comments and find any connections among them. They can then move on to more in-depth thinking. They can use the Highlight and Revisit strategy that has the students use the comprehension constructor. In the first column students write down what is highlighted and in the second column write down the deeper thinking behind the words. One student in each group is assigned to be a recorder and before the class is over, Cris has each group share their notes with the class and now the students are able to make connections across different groups. While the groups are working, Cris is taking notes about what is working and what is not working, who is participating or not, so that she can tweak what is expected of the students to help the group work run smoother.
Group work is something, if done right, that can help facilitate in the learning the students are doing. At first it will be hard, but Cris says to stick with it especially if your classroom size is 30+.
Renee
Chapter 6
Holding Thinking to Remember and Reuse
"I don't look at a book as a whole bunch of words. I look at it as some one's thinking, and the information the author wants me to know"- Brad, high school senior.
Cris starts with an example of getting the students to think while "reading" a picture. On the first day of school, she shows a picture of the Navy Seals climbing up a rope ladder to a helicopter. A shark is coming out of the ocean water about to bite the man on the ladder and in the background are hills, and there is a giant shot of a red metal bridge. She then asks the students what they think of the photo. She has to ask a few times, before a student speaks up and says they think the photo is fake. Another student replies they agree with that statement, but another student uses evidence from the picture to determine that the photo is real. And a conversation about the photo has begun. While the students were talking, Cris had been jotting down the types of thinking she saw the students doing. She then shows them her notes, letting them know of the thinking that they were doing while "reading the picture".
If students are taught how to think while reading then they are more likely to return to texts, participate in discussions, and will have an easier time starting on writing assignments. Having the students mark their texts gives them a way to review and study for a test. Students can mark their texts by highlighting, using sticky notes, or by writing in the margins. Cris acknowledges that marking texts with a purpose will not happen overnight. It will come with practice and we have to provide tangible models that will show them what we are expecting of them. We can do this by giving them guidelines. The guidelines Cris uses are as follows:
The next section talks about the tools used for thinking which are highlighter and sticky notes. There are drawbacks to using these tools, if the students don't know how to use them purposely. Next, she goes on to the topic of whole-group thinking. Cris uses a whole-group charts to show how the class is thinking. She would model how to mark a text and show her thinking process, so that the class will get a better understanding of what she is expecting. "Comprehension Constructors" is a term she uses to describe teacher-designed tools that help hold thinking. It is used "to pull kids through a comprehension process." In order to make one of these, she says that she is thinking about how she would read the piece and what she would need to get through it.
The next section is titled, "Who can help you?" To be honest, I'm not too sure what this was about. She talks about a chemistry class. She tells the students that good readers asks questions and one student asked what if they don't have questions? She tells the student that maybe he will and shows the class some of the questions she had. The same student tells her that of course she had questions because she wasn't a science teacher. She then asks them if they thought their chemistry teacher had questions. They said no. So she asks the teacher and to the students' surprise she did have questions. Both, Cris and the teacher tell the students that they had to find the answer to their own questions ad that the first step is to read the text and write down any questions that came up. They then had to go back and circle the 4 or 5 questions they liked the most. Lastly, the students would use the comprehension constructor
The next few sections talk about double-strategy, double entry-diary, quad-entry diary, and integrating notes and comprehension constructors. The double-strategy/entry diary is about quoting from the text and making a connection to the quote. The quad-entry diary is consisted of 4 rows and 3 columns. The rows can be what you want defined and the three columns are what they know, what they don't know, and an example of. At the end of the semester, each student will choose their own comprehension constructor they are comfortable with to help them show their thinking.
I liked how this author tells the reader that there are blank copies of the different comprehension constructors in the appendix of the book. There are also diagrams of the students' work that show the reader how each is suppose to be use.
Renee
"I don't look at a book as a whole bunch of words. I look at it as some one's thinking, and the information the author wants me to know"- Brad, high school senior.
Cris starts with an example of getting the students to think while "reading" a picture. On the first day of school, she shows a picture of the Navy Seals climbing up a rope ladder to a helicopter. A shark is coming out of the ocean water about to bite the man on the ladder and in the background are hills, and there is a giant shot of a red metal bridge. She then asks the students what they think of the photo. She has to ask a few times, before a student speaks up and says they think the photo is fake. Another student replies they agree with that statement, but another student uses evidence from the picture to determine that the photo is real. And a conversation about the photo has begun. While the students were talking, Cris had been jotting down the types of thinking she saw the students doing. She then shows them her notes, letting them know of the thinking that they were doing while "reading the picture".
If students are taught how to think while reading then they are more likely to return to texts, participate in discussions, and will have an easier time starting on writing assignments. Having the students mark their texts gives them a way to review and study for a test. Students can mark their texts by highlighting, using sticky notes, or by writing in the margins. Cris acknowledges that marking texts with a purpose will not happen overnight. It will come with practice and we have to provide tangible models that will show them what we are expecting of them. We can do this by giving them guidelines. The guidelines Cris uses are as follows:
- Write the thinking next to the words on the page that cause you to have the thought.
- If there isn't room on the text to write, draw a line showing the teacher where the thinking is written.
- Don't copy the text; respond to it
- Merely underlining the text is not enough. Thinking about the text must accompany the underlining.
- There is no one way to respond to text. Here are some possible options: Ask a question, make a connection to something familiar, give an opinion, draw a conclusion, make a statement.
The next section talks about the tools used for thinking which are highlighter and sticky notes. There are drawbacks to using these tools, if the students don't know how to use them purposely. Next, she goes on to the topic of whole-group thinking. Cris uses a whole-group charts to show how the class is thinking. She would model how to mark a text and show her thinking process, so that the class will get a better understanding of what she is expecting. "Comprehension Constructors" is a term she uses to describe teacher-designed tools that help hold thinking. It is used "to pull kids through a comprehension process." In order to make one of these, she says that she is thinking about how she would read the piece and what she would need to get through it.
The next section is titled, "Who can help you?" To be honest, I'm not too sure what this was about. She talks about a chemistry class. She tells the students that good readers asks questions and one student asked what if they don't have questions? She tells the student that maybe he will and shows the class some of the questions she had. The same student tells her that of course she had questions because she wasn't a science teacher. She then asks them if they thought their chemistry teacher had questions. They said no. So she asks the teacher and to the students' surprise she did have questions. Both, Cris and the teacher tell the students that they had to find the answer to their own questions ad that the first step is to read the text and write down any questions that came up. They then had to go back and circle the 4 or 5 questions they liked the most. Lastly, the students would use the comprehension constructor
The next few sections talk about double-strategy, double entry-diary, quad-entry diary, and integrating notes and comprehension constructors. The double-strategy/entry diary is about quoting from the text and making a connection to the quote. The quad-entry diary is consisted of 4 rows and 3 columns. The rows can be what you want defined and the three columns are what they know, what they don't know, and an example of. At the end of the semester, each student will choose their own comprehension constructor they are comfortable with to help them show their thinking.
I liked how this author tells the reader that there are blank copies of the different comprehension constructors in the appendix of the book. There are also diagrams of the students' work that show the reader how each is suppose to be use.
Renee
Friday, July 8, 2011
Chapter 5
"Why Am I Reading This?"
"I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander."- Isaac Asimov
This chapter starts off with a student she had in her college-prep English class. This student felt that her reading was getting worse and Cris was confused. She asked the student to clarify this statement for her and she said, "Everything that you are asking us to do in here is slowing me down. My reading is not getting faster-it's getting slower." "I have to slow down because everything you are asking us to do requires me to think." Cris then realized that this student was thinking that reading fast equals good reading. She did not understand that good readers adjust their pace as they are reading. Readers need to have more purpose to read, then just to finish reading the text. When they have a purpose they tend to remember it more. The purpose the reader has affects their reading speed.
Before the reader is given something to read we have to give them a purpose. Cris was talking to a tenth grade teacher who said she was having trouble with them. Cris asked what the students were reading and the teacher replied A Prayer for Owen Meany. Automatically, Cris said that the text was too difficult for the students, but the teacher replied that it was her that was having the problem. She felt that as the years went by it was getting harder to teach about the book. Cris then figured out that the teacher was becoming an expert at reading this book and was not able to distinguish what to teach and what not to teach. For teachers this is a common problem. It seems like in every chapter so far, Cris reminds us to remember what it feels like to read something for the first time in order to design our instruction with a purpose and attainable goals for the students. To help teachers through this problem she suggests using an Instructional Purpose sheet to narrow down the topic that the students are learning about.
The next section talks about who is in charge of setting up the curriculum. She feels that the U.S. history department has it bad, because of the amount of content they have to cover. She asked the history department at her school at what time periods do they begin and end. They told her that they had to start with the pre-columbian era and go through modern day. She then asked who told them where to start and they replied the Principal. She then went to ask the principal and her reply was, "I don't care where they start. They're the experts of their content. They should be the ones deciding where to begin." She went further and found out that there wasn't a district-mandated starting point and that at the state level it was up to the district or school to decide what is taught. Again, we need to give students a purpose in reading, so that they will attain essential information.
When we assign a text, we have to make sure that it will improve our students' lives in at least a small way or another, so that they will get through the text. Cris also defines what a reciting voice and conversation voice mean. A reciting voice, is the voice we hear when we are reading. It is the reader's voice that reads the words on the paper, but the mind is somewhere else. The conversation voice is the voice that talks back to the text. It can argue back or make a connection to it. If students are able to recognize what voice they are hearing, it will benefit them greatly. It is used as a monitoring device and will tell the student when the text is no longer making sense. To help students turn off the reciting voice and turn on the conversation voice, it is nice to give them some background knowledge and to give them a purpose of why they are reading that certain text.
In this chapter I liked the examples she used to get her point across. Her real-life examples are helping me to get through this text. I look forward to what example she will use next and how she will solve the problem a student or teacher has. Sometimes, after reading her suggestion, I say to myself, "well, duh that makes sense." It's just as she says give the reader a purpose or help the reader find a purpose of their own for reading texts.
Renee
"I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander."- Isaac Asimov
This chapter starts off with a student she had in her college-prep English class. This student felt that her reading was getting worse and Cris was confused. She asked the student to clarify this statement for her and she said, "Everything that you are asking us to do in here is slowing me down. My reading is not getting faster-it's getting slower." "I have to slow down because everything you are asking us to do requires me to think." Cris then realized that this student was thinking that reading fast equals good reading. She did not understand that good readers adjust their pace as they are reading. Readers need to have more purpose to read, then just to finish reading the text. When they have a purpose they tend to remember it more. The purpose the reader has affects their reading speed.
Before the reader is given something to read we have to give them a purpose. Cris was talking to a tenth grade teacher who said she was having trouble with them. Cris asked what the students were reading and the teacher replied A Prayer for Owen Meany. Automatically, Cris said that the text was too difficult for the students, but the teacher replied that it was her that was having the problem. She felt that as the years went by it was getting harder to teach about the book. Cris then figured out that the teacher was becoming an expert at reading this book and was not able to distinguish what to teach and what not to teach. For teachers this is a common problem. It seems like in every chapter so far, Cris reminds us to remember what it feels like to read something for the first time in order to design our instruction with a purpose and attainable goals for the students. To help teachers through this problem she suggests using an Instructional Purpose sheet to narrow down the topic that the students are learning about.
The next section talks about who is in charge of setting up the curriculum. She feels that the U.S. history department has it bad, because of the amount of content they have to cover. She asked the history department at her school at what time periods do they begin and end. They told her that they had to start with the pre-columbian era and go through modern day. She then asked who told them where to start and they replied the Principal. She then went to ask the principal and her reply was, "I don't care where they start. They're the experts of their content. They should be the ones deciding where to begin." She went further and found out that there wasn't a district-mandated starting point and that at the state level it was up to the district or school to decide what is taught. Again, we need to give students a purpose in reading, so that they will attain essential information.
When we assign a text, we have to make sure that it will improve our students' lives in at least a small way or another, so that they will get through the text. Cris also defines what a reciting voice and conversation voice mean. A reciting voice, is the voice we hear when we are reading. It is the reader's voice that reads the words on the paper, but the mind is somewhere else. The conversation voice is the voice that talks back to the text. It can argue back or make a connection to it. If students are able to recognize what voice they are hearing, it will benefit them greatly. It is used as a monitoring device and will tell the student when the text is no longer making sense. To help students turn off the reciting voice and turn on the conversation voice, it is nice to give them some background knowledge and to give them a purpose of why they are reading that certain text.
In this chapter I liked the examples she used to get her point across. Her real-life examples are helping me to get through this text. I look forward to what example she will use next and how she will solve the problem a student or teacher has. Sometimes, after reading her suggestion, I say to myself, "well, duh that makes sense." It's just as she says give the reader a purpose or help the reader find a purpose of their own for reading texts.
Renee
Chapter 4
Real Rigor: Connecting Students with Accessible Text
This chapter was probably the longest chapter of the entire book. It is dedicated to helping students who are struggling with the primary text in different classes by finding or creating supplementary texts.
"If the reading is too hard, I just get the Cliffs Notes or skim through chapters. If i can't get the Cliff's Notes, I just listen to what the teach er and kids in the class say."- Jay, high school sophomore
Cris starts off the chapter by saying that she had a task where she had to find out why most of the freshmen class at the school she worked at was flunking U.S. history. She concluded that the textbook used was too difficult for the students. She asked the social studies department head if he could help solve this problem. He snapped at her and told her that were not going to change the textbook, because how much money they spent on them. She tried to find ways in which to help out these teachers and found that they had to teach so much in such a short period of time. The only way for these teachers to get through everything was to lecture the whole time and that would not leave any time for the students to think about what they are being told to learn.
Here, Cris introduces what an accessible text is. She says that they are usually found outside of the classroom, are highly interesting, it is not "low level" or "dumb down", but it should "help students make a connection between school subjects and the real world because it helps them experience reading that is done in the real world" (pg 39). Cris also says that accessible text does not sacrifice rigor. She found out that some teachers confuse rigor with "unrealistic expectations". With accessible texts, Cris wants to have the students read something that is worth their time and will take something from it. In the classroom, we can give the students a textbook to read and they might get through it and if they don't they will most likely cheat their way through it. She tells us to remind ourselves of our experiences when we read something for the first time. What do we do when we get confused? Her next example is of a female student who whizzed through To Kill a Mockingbird and when she saw that the student was done with the book, she asked her what part she was at and what was the last thing she remembered from the reading. The student said that she didn't get it and here, Cris decided to talk to her English teacher to see if the student could get an alternate assignment. The teacher said that if he gave her an alternate assignment he would have to give one to the entire class. Cris could not understand the logic behind this and accepted the teacher's response. The next day, Cris told the student about a website that would help her to understand the book. "If we don't begin to find accessible text for all adolescent readers, they will continue to fail, only to become someone else's problem the following year" (pg. 42).
Teachers can make "text sets" for their classrooms. It consists of a variety of texts that vary in length, difficulty, have examples of text that are relevant, interesting, accessible, has different options for obtaining the information, and provides opportunities for students to practice reading strategies and learn content information. You can put all of these resources inside a container and label them. She also created a guide sheet that would help and track the students through the text set. It helped the students make connections between the readings and their work in a different class. Cris says that we need to provide texts that the students help their reading abilities grow, texts they can practice with, at a level that is not too difficult or too easy for them.
This chapter contained a lot of information! I feel that it was a good chapter, with a lot of interesting ideas and suggestions that will help all of our students.
This chapter was probably the longest chapter of the entire book. It is dedicated to helping students who are struggling with the primary text in different classes by finding or creating supplementary texts.
"If the reading is too hard, I just get the Cliffs Notes or skim through chapters. If i can't get the Cliff's Notes, I just listen to what the teach er and kids in the class say."- Jay, high school sophomore
Cris starts off the chapter by saying that she had a task where she had to find out why most of the freshmen class at the school she worked at was flunking U.S. history. She concluded that the textbook used was too difficult for the students. She asked the social studies department head if he could help solve this problem. He snapped at her and told her that were not going to change the textbook, because how much money they spent on them. She tried to find ways in which to help out these teachers and found that they had to teach so much in such a short period of time. The only way for these teachers to get through everything was to lecture the whole time and that would not leave any time for the students to think about what they are being told to learn.
Here, Cris introduces what an accessible text is. She says that they are usually found outside of the classroom, are highly interesting, it is not "low level" or "dumb down", but it should "help students make a connection between school subjects and the real world because it helps them experience reading that is done in the real world" (pg 39). Cris also says that accessible text does not sacrifice rigor. She found out that some teachers confuse rigor with "unrealistic expectations". With accessible texts, Cris wants to have the students read something that is worth their time and will take something from it. In the classroom, we can give the students a textbook to read and they might get through it and if they don't they will most likely cheat their way through it. She tells us to remind ourselves of our experiences when we read something for the first time. What do we do when we get confused? Her next example is of a female student who whizzed through To Kill a Mockingbird and when she saw that the student was done with the book, she asked her what part she was at and what was the last thing she remembered from the reading. The student said that she didn't get it and here, Cris decided to talk to her English teacher to see if the student could get an alternate assignment. The teacher said that if he gave her an alternate assignment he would have to give one to the entire class. Cris could not understand the logic behind this and accepted the teacher's response. The next day, Cris told the student about a website that would help her to understand the book. "If we don't begin to find accessible text for all adolescent readers, they will continue to fail, only to become someone else's problem the following year" (pg. 42).
Teachers can make "text sets" for their classrooms. It consists of a variety of texts that vary in length, difficulty, have examples of text that are relevant, interesting, accessible, has different options for obtaining the information, and provides opportunities for students to practice reading strategies and learn content information. You can put all of these resources inside a container and label them. She also created a guide sheet that would help and track the students through the text set. It helped the students make connections between the readings and their work in a different class. Cris says that we need to provide texts that the students help their reading abilities grow, texts they can practice with, at a level that is not too difficult or too easy for them.
This chapter contained a lot of information! I feel that it was a good chapter, with a lot of interesting ideas and suggestions that will help all of our students.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Chapter 3
Chapter 3- Parallel Experiences: Tapping the Mother Lode
I am not sure about my feelings on this chapter. I think it was something I was suppose to really enjoy, because this time it is her experience with teachers and not students.
"If someone could teach these kids how to read, I could teach them science."- Melanie, high school science teacher.
When I read this I thought to myself, "Hey, I hear teachers say this all the time!" I mean you could substitute a different class name in for science, but I do hear this all the time. Teachers at the secondary level are teaching class periods that vary in reading levels. It could vary from class period to class period or even within one class period.
In this chapter she is talking about the Monday following a Saturday workshop she had with a group of high school teachers. On this Monday, she was to meet with math and elective department teachers. She said that these teachers had to help their students become better readers and had to figure out a way to assess their students' reading and report it back to the Principal twice a month. An industrial tech teacher had come up to her asked her how he was suppose to teach reading when his students didn't have to read in his class. She didn't know what "industrial tech" meant, so she asked him what his students did in that class. The teacher goes onto explain to her the "stuff" they do in that class. He asked her if she knew what a schemata was; she didn't know and he told her it was a blueprint. In her view, the man was hostile and decided that she wasn't going to teacher him anything, so she said she would get something out of it for herself. She was at this time remodeling her kitchen, when she recollected a moment when she was trying to read a blueprint and pointed out what she thought was the window in her new kitchen, but it turned out to be the back door. So, she asked the teacher how do you read a blueprint and his reply was, "What do you mean, how do I read a blueprint? I just read it. "
Next, she asked him what does he do in order to read a blueprint. He was getting a little annoyed, but still managed to walk her through what he is thinking when reading blueprints. She thought about what he was saying and it made perfect sense to her. She then applied it to standardized tests and how students have to use the scales provided to find out the answers. Her next question was about birdhouses. She wondered if he would provide the supplies and tell the kids to "have at it." She asked him how do the kids know how to build birdhouses. Here, is when he realizes that his kids do read in his class because his answer was that they read directions. The author, Cris, I shall call her from now on, goes onto say that students are not very good at reading directions. Cris then says that if this teacher could get his students to read, understand, and follow directions in his class then he could be helping out other teachers in other disciplines. Reading directions is a skill that we often over look because it is not valued in our society. When this happens we are cheating our students out of a valuable skill that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Cris says that if English and Language Arts teachers are the only ones to teach reading then the students are not learning to read different types of texts. If teachers of every discipline want to help their cause then they need to teach their students to be better readers of what they are teaching. Teachers can do this by slowing down their thinking process, so that they can see what an expert of their content does in order to understand the text. With this in mind they will be able to create an instruction that will model their own thinking to show their students.
She shows how to do this in her workshops by giving the teachers a difficult text to read. This allows the teachers to slow down their own reading and think about the skills they use to figure out what the text is saying. (The text is The Three Bears written in Italian). "...teachers must wrestle with the words and be flexible in their thinking, drawing on a wide range of background knowledge and experiences as readers." In order to help students to become better readers, we have to identify first what they are struggling with. Then put yourself in a similar situation and you as a good reader has to figure out what you would do to get through that hump.
The next section talks about how to model how to stay with a text. Meaning, students have difficulty in reading texts that get boring and sometimes forfeit to reading the text completely. Her strategy is to first get an overall idea of the book and second, get to know a little about the author and the time period the text was written. When you go onto model it for your students, let them know that you are the expert, but let them in on your first experience when reading the text for the first time. When the student's start to ask questions, it is good to write them down, because they can "drive the reading and guide the learning well after the lesson is finished." It is good to show the students what you are thinking and the skills you are using to help them overcome their troubles with a difficult text.
Renee
I am not sure about my feelings on this chapter. I think it was something I was suppose to really enjoy, because this time it is her experience with teachers and not students.
"If someone could teach these kids how to read, I could teach them science."- Melanie, high school science teacher.
When I read this I thought to myself, "Hey, I hear teachers say this all the time!" I mean you could substitute a different class name in for science, but I do hear this all the time. Teachers at the secondary level are teaching class periods that vary in reading levels. It could vary from class period to class period or even within one class period.
In this chapter she is talking about the Monday following a Saturday workshop she had with a group of high school teachers. On this Monday, she was to meet with math and elective department teachers. She said that these teachers had to help their students become better readers and had to figure out a way to assess their students' reading and report it back to the Principal twice a month. An industrial tech teacher had come up to her asked her how he was suppose to teach reading when his students didn't have to read in his class. She didn't know what "industrial tech" meant, so she asked him what his students did in that class. The teacher goes onto explain to her the "stuff" they do in that class. He asked her if she knew what a schemata was; she didn't know and he told her it was a blueprint. In her view, the man was hostile and decided that she wasn't going to teacher him anything, so she said she would get something out of it for herself. She was at this time remodeling her kitchen, when she recollected a moment when she was trying to read a blueprint and pointed out what she thought was the window in her new kitchen, but it turned out to be the back door. So, she asked the teacher how do you read a blueprint and his reply was, "What do you mean, how do I read a blueprint? I just read it. "
Next, she asked him what does he do in order to read a blueprint. He was getting a little annoyed, but still managed to walk her through what he is thinking when reading blueprints. She thought about what he was saying and it made perfect sense to her. She then applied it to standardized tests and how students have to use the scales provided to find out the answers. Her next question was about birdhouses. She wondered if he would provide the supplies and tell the kids to "have at it." She asked him how do the kids know how to build birdhouses. Here, is when he realizes that his kids do read in his class because his answer was that they read directions. The author, Cris, I shall call her from now on, goes onto say that students are not very good at reading directions. Cris then says that if this teacher could get his students to read, understand, and follow directions in his class then he could be helping out other teachers in other disciplines. Reading directions is a skill that we often over look because it is not valued in our society. When this happens we are cheating our students out of a valuable skill that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Cris says that if English and Language Arts teachers are the only ones to teach reading then the students are not learning to read different types of texts. If teachers of every discipline want to help their cause then they need to teach their students to be better readers of what they are teaching. Teachers can do this by slowing down their thinking process, so that they can see what an expert of their content does in order to understand the text. With this in mind they will be able to create an instruction that will model their own thinking to show their students.
She shows how to do this in her workshops by giving the teachers a difficult text to read. This allows the teachers to slow down their own reading and think about the skills they use to figure out what the text is saying. (The text is The Three Bears written in Italian). "...teachers must wrestle with the words and be flexible in their thinking, drawing on a wide range of background knowledge and experiences as readers." In order to help students to become better readers, we have to identify first what they are struggling with. Then put yourself in a similar situation and you as a good reader has to figure out what you would do to get through that hump.
The next section talks about how to model how to stay with a text. Meaning, students have difficulty in reading texts that get boring and sometimes forfeit to reading the text completely. Her strategy is to first get an overall idea of the book and second, get to know a little about the author and the time period the text was written. When you go onto model it for your students, let them know that you are the expert, but let them in on your first experience when reading the text for the first time. When the student's start to ask questions, it is good to write them down, because they can "drive the reading and guide the learning well after the lesson is finished." It is good to show the students what you are thinking and the skills you are using to help them overcome their troubles with a difficult text.
Renee
Friday, July 1, 2011
Chapter 2
Hello!
Sorry, for a late second post. My time has been taken up by work and hopefully I can get my other posts up by the deadline.
Chapter 2 is titled The "So What?" of Reading Comprehension. Again, this chapter starts with a quote from a senior in high school, "It really isn't hard to avoid reading-you just ask someone what it means, or wait for the teacher to explain it". After I read this quote, I thought to myself, " this is so true!" I see it when I substitute, especially English classes. When the teacher leaves notes about the reading and I am suppose to go over the text with the class, all I hear is silence. No one knew what the text was about. I then tell them what the text meant or what was the underlying message of the text and I then see them write down every word I say. This is how they avoid reading.
In this chapter the author had a student ask, "So what" to every question or response that came from a student. At first she thought this was just the student being difficult, but after going through an assignment she gave her students, she found herself asking, "So what?" The assignment asked the students to make 2 or 3 different connections to a text, she said was hard for any reader to read at first. They were given sticky notes to write these connections down. When she sat down to go through what the students had written down, she felt like she was wasting her time, because the students connections were so "blah". The connections they were making were not the connections she had hoped they would make. It showed that they could not make any meaning of the text.
The author was also going to have teachers come into to her classroom to observe her once again, she could only think of the one student who would say "so what?" to everything. She didn't know if she should send this student on errands so that she was out of the classroom or explain to the observers beforehand about this student's behavior hoping that they would understand. She went back to reading the students' sticky notes and said to herself, maybe I should be asking myself "So what?" She said that it was her fault that their connections were so "blah", because she never showed them how to make meaningful connections to texts to deepen their understanding of the text.
So, the next day she told the class that they did do what she asked of them the day before, but she wanted it to go further. She gave her students a double-entry log with a line down the middle of the paper and told them to quote a connection from the text on the left column and on the right column answer the question, "So what?" It was funny because when she said "So what" she said it in the tone of the student who says that. Here, I started to think of what I do when I have a disruptive student in class. When a student acts like the student in the author's class I sometimes do what the author did. I mean it might sound childish, but it works; the student is no longer disruptive. The student the author imitated was no longer disruptive. Now, as the author walks around her room and overlooks what the students are writing, she sees that they are making a little more deeper connection, but she wanted them to go deeper. She guides them with questions that asks them to re-think about their initial connection to see if they can make more meaningful. One student used a personal connection to make their initial one stronger, and another student used a personal memory to connect to the text and drew up a second connection, but this student used proof from the text to strengthen her connection.
The author goes home after her work day and thinks about the two students connections, how they got to it, and how to help every student make meaningful connections. A realization came to her, that she was stopping her students' thinking too soon! So she came up with 4 principles that guide this type of instruction.
This comes from the book exactly:
2: Provide explicit modeling of your thinking processes. As an expert reader of your content, identify what you do to make sense of text. Share that information with your students.
3: Define a purpose and help students have a clear reason for their reading and writing. Make sure they know how the information they read and write will be used.
4: Teach students how to hold their thinking and give them opportunities to use the information they've held.
For high school teachers, time is a big factor or problem for them. They are asked to teach so much information in such a limited amount of time. I agree with this because when I was looking at the state standards for math, I was thinking of how many weeks are in the school year and how much information we have to teach students. I also considered snow days or cancellations due to water breaks, no electricity, etc and there is not enough time for these students to learn everything. When the lessons get more complicated, the students then start to shut down and give up on trying to understand the content. So, this also takes time away, because we have to go over the material again which is time that could be spent on new material. So, as teachers the advice the author gives is to create a trade-off. She says, "Only you can decide whether it is worth giving up some content for the time it takes to design comprehension instruction that means something to your student" (pg. 19). She says that what she does is not anything great, but she uses "simple practices of good teaching to design comprehension, lessons, activities, and materials. I give students models, time to practice, and time to think. It's common sense, and a lot of it comes from my own process as a reader."
To end the chapter, she lists 4 solutions, but I don't want to call them "solutions", so I guess ideas that work.
1: Ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" and "How will it help students think, read, or write more thoughtfully about my content."
2: Remember that one comprehension tool is not more important than another. There is no specific order, sequence, or template for introducing strategies to students.
3: As an expert in your field, as your self, "Is this activity authentic?"
4: Don't isolate strategy instruction into discrete, individual activities from day to day. Plan lessons based on student work from the previous day, using student responses as a way to analyze how thoughtfully kids are approaching text.
After reading idea 4, I thought to myself how is this going to work? I mean, teachers have to provide lesson plans and have to turn them in. I'm not sure if they have to turn them in early, weekly, monthly, or at the end of the school year, but if you have to go based on the previous day then would that make you look sort of unprepared for the next day, right?
I agree with her ideas. I felt that these were simple enough to follow and easy to understand. The idea I have an issue with is the one regarding planning activities from day to day. Other than that I enjoyed reading this chapter and felt that it was very helpful in learning why I have to teach reading in my future math classes.
Renee
Sorry, for a late second post. My time has been taken up by work and hopefully I can get my other posts up by the deadline.
Chapter 2 is titled The "So What?" of Reading Comprehension. Again, this chapter starts with a quote from a senior in high school, "It really isn't hard to avoid reading-you just ask someone what it means, or wait for the teacher to explain it". After I read this quote, I thought to myself, " this is so true!" I see it when I substitute, especially English classes. When the teacher leaves notes about the reading and I am suppose to go over the text with the class, all I hear is silence. No one knew what the text was about. I then tell them what the text meant or what was the underlying message of the text and I then see them write down every word I say. This is how they avoid reading.
In this chapter the author had a student ask, "So what" to every question or response that came from a student. At first she thought this was just the student being difficult, but after going through an assignment she gave her students, she found herself asking, "So what?" The assignment asked the students to make 2 or 3 different connections to a text, she said was hard for any reader to read at first. They were given sticky notes to write these connections down. When she sat down to go through what the students had written down, she felt like she was wasting her time, because the students connections were so "blah". The connections they were making were not the connections she had hoped they would make. It showed that they could not make any meaning of the text.
The author was also going to have teachers come into to her classroom to observe her once again, she could only think of the one student who would say "so what?" to everything. She didn't know if she should send this student on errands so that she was out of the classroom or explain to the observers beforehand about this student's behavior hoping that they would understand. She went back to reading the students' sticky notes and said to herself, maybe I should be asking myself "So what?" She said that it was her fault that their connections were so "blah", because she never showed them how to make meaningful connections to texts to deepen their understanding of the text.
So, the next day she told the class that they did do what she asked of them the day before, but she wanted it to go further. She gave her students a double-entry log with a line down the middle of the paper and told them to quote a connection from the text on the left column and on the right column answer the question, "So what?" It was funny because when she said "So what" she said it in the tone of the student who says that. Here, I started to think of what I do when I have a disruptive student in class. When a student acts like the student in the author's class I sometimes do what the author did. I mean it might sound childish, but it works; the student is no longer disruptive. The student the author imitated was no longer disruptive. Now, as the author walks around her room and overlooks what the students are writing, she sees that they are making a little more deeper connection, but she wanted them to go deeper. She guides them with questions that asks them to re-think about their initial connection to see if they can make more meaningful. One student used a personal connection to make their initial one stronger, and another student used a personal memory to connect to the text and drew up a second connection, but this student used proof from the text to strengthen her connection.
The author goes home after her work day and thinks about the two students connections, how they got to it, and how to help every student make meaningful connections. A realization came to her, that she was stopping her students' thinking too soon! So she came up with 4 principles that guide this type of instruction.
This comes from the book exactly:
Essential Elements of Comprehension Instruction
1: Assess the text students are expected to read. Is it interesting and pertinent to the instructional goal? Is it at the reading level of the students, or is it too difficult? If the text is too difficult, consider how you will make the text more accessible.2: Provide explicit modeling of your thinking processes. As an expert reader of your content, identify what you do to make sense of text. Share that information with your students.
3: Define a purpose and help students have a clear reason for their reading and writing. Make sure they know how the information they read and write will be used.
4: Teach students how to hold their thinking and give them opportunities to use the information they've held.
For high school teachers, time is a big factor or problem for them. They are asked to teach so much information in such a limited amount of time. I agree with this because when I was looking at the state standards for math, I was thinking of how many weeks are in the school year and how much information we have to teach students. I also considered snow days or cancellations due to water breaks, no electricity, etc and there is not enough time for these students to learn everything. When the lessons get more complicated, the students then start to shut down and give up on trying to understand the content. So, this also takes time away, because we have to go over the material again which is time that could be spent on new material. So, as teachers the advice the author gives is to create a trade-off. She says, "Only you can decide whether it is worth giving up some content for the time it takes to design comprehension instruction that means something to your student" (pg. 19). She says that what she does is not anything great, but she uses "simple practices of good teaching to design comprehension, lessons, activities, and materials. I give students models, time to practice, and time to think. It's common sense, and a lot of it comes from my own process as a reader."
To end the chapter, she lists 4 solutions, but I don't want to call them "solutions", so I guess ideas that work.
1: Ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" and "How will it help students think, read, or write more thoughtfully about my content."
2: Remember that one comprehension tool is not more important than another. There is no specific order, sequence, or template for introducing strategies to students.
3: As an expert in your field, as your self, "Is this activity authentic?"
4: Don't isolate strategy instruction into discrete, individual activities from day to day. Plan lessons based on student work from the previous day, using student responses as a way to analyze how thoughtfully kids are approaching text.
After reading idea 4, I thought to myself how is this going to work? I mean, teachers have to provide lesson plans and have to turn them in. I'm not sure if they have to turn them in early, weekly, monthly, or at the end of the school year, but if you have to go based on the previous day then would that make you look sort of unprepared for the next day, right?
I agree with her ideas. I felt that these were simple enough to follow and easy to understand. The idea I have an issue with is the one regarding planning activities from day to day. Other than that I enjoyed reading this chapter and felt that it was very helpful in learning why I have to teach reading in my future math classes.
Renee
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