The further I get away from the
elementary days in age, the harder it is for me to remember what life was like
as a student. I can actually remember a
time when I said, “you know, I should record my thoughts and ideas about
teaching now so that if I become a teacher, I won’t forget what the kids are
thinking like.” Unfortunately, that never
happened and now I am left in my current situation of opening old dusty file cabinets
in my brain to pull out old fractured memories of what my own reading
comprehension processes was like.
In last week’s post, I talked about my
3rd grade teacher. I am about
to make a confession that hopefully the readers of this blog will keep. When I was in 3rd grade, we would
have silent reading time, like any normal class would. However, for me, I hated those fifteen
minutes of reading. It always took me fifteen
minutes to get situated with my book and focus enough to actually start reading
and comprehending what I was reading, and then by the time I actually was
comprehending and understanding, it was time to put books away. So I always found sitting there, starting at
a book very boring. And since no third
grader likes to be bored, I would ask to go to the library saying that I had
finished a book and wanted to take an AR Test
(a computer program our school had that had questions about books that you would answer and get points for). http://www.sbe.mps.k12.mi.us/resources_ar.php
(a computer program our school had that had questions about books that you would answer and get points for). http://www.sbe.mps.k12.mi.us/resources_ar.php
The problem was - I was lying. When I got down to the library I would simply
pick a book at random and take the test having never read it. Needless to say, my “comprehension score” in third
grade was extremely low. Low enough in fact
that my teacher pulled me aside one day, and had me read to her some very easy
books – “The dog barks. The dog plays in
the yard. My dog eats his food out of a
bowl.” I read it just fine, and what was
left was a very puzzled teacher. After
that, I think she caught on because I wasn’t allowed to take an AR test unless
I had shown her the book I and could answer some of her questions about it first.
The point of my personal narrative is
that sometimes there are many other reasons for a student’s low
comprehension. Issues like word decoding
or recognition, fluency, oral language ability, memory abilities, motivation
are all closely connected to each other and comprehension. So as teachers, it is important to be aware
of all the factors that might be contributing to a low scoring student.
Earlier, I mentioned how I was trying
to think back on my own comprehension process.
To be honest, when I actually sat down and read a text, comprehension
was never a big problem. I could always
recall details in the reading, overall plot lines, character descriptions, and make
inferences about what was to come next or what motivate a certain character,
etc. As in Mrs. Hope’s class, I think those skills
were a result of the fact that from an early age I was very good at “making
mind movies” or visualizing. And I also
think most of those skills were a result of my 3rd grade
teacher. It was the first time we had
ever done literature circles and I remember the one role that was always
hardest for me was summarizer. Taking a
20 page reading and condensing it to only a paragraph was a hard skill to
learn. In reading the Applegate 2006 Article and looking at the eight different
profiles for students having trouble comprehending, I think I most fit as an
author. Before third grade, when I would
have trouble reading and understanding, I remember just creating my own story
with the characters. My favorite books
to read at the time were “Frog and Toad” and I clearly remember that when frog
or toad wasn’t in a particular chapter, I would make up what he was doing.
Because of my visualization skills, I would create sub plots for the different characters when they weren’t around. The movie in my head would continue even without support from the text. It was short lived though, because when 3rd grade came and I had to summarize, I knew that those creations weren’t part of the actual summary and I could only use what was in the book. My movies became more streamlined and I was able to reel in the imagination in order to comprehend better. Even today, this is the marker I use for comprehension. If I am able to visualize the action in the story, and make connections to my prior knowledge, my comprehension of the reading is much greater.
Because of my visualization skills, I would create sub plots for the different characters when they weren’t around. The movie in my head would continue even without support from the text. It was short lived though, because when 3rd grade came and I had to summarize, I knew that those creations weren’t part of the actual summary and I could only use what was in the book. My movies became more streamlined and I was able to reel in the imagination in order to comprehend better. Even today, this is the marker I use for comprehension. If I am able to visualize the action in the story, and make connections to my prior knowledge, my comprehension of the reading is much greater.
The Applegate article didn’t help me
understand my own comprehension process very well, (mainly because it was so
far in the past and my memory is just not as clear about that time) but it
certainly helps me understand different ways my students may process and
comprehend. I can think of examples for
each of the profiles in my placement this year.
And what is so fantastic about this article is the interventions it provides
in order to help this type of student. A
big theme of this semester is that since each learner is different, as teachers
we should really differentiate our instruction to fit the needs of our individual
students. This is certainly not easy,
but it is what works. For example, one
of the students in my placement is most definitely a literalist. He can provide very clear answers when the
question is based straight from the text, but if he is asked to expand on an
idea in the text, he finds that very difficult.
He is extremely bright and that logical mind has proved to be very
effective in math, science, and social studies.
However, in reading he is missing the main purpose entirely. My mentor teacher focuses a lot on recalling
the details of a story, just as the MEAP or other standardized tests do. Yet when I have worked with him individually
and stopped his reading and asked him the why question, he often says “I don’t
know, it doesn’t say” and continues reading.
I have seen a bit of success, as the article supports, when I set up the
same question, but link it to his own life experiences. He is then able to connect to the character
and provide a clearer answer.
In TE 301 last year, I found a great
comprehension resource when building my literacy portfolio:
There are many creative ideas that coincide with many of the
interventions mentioned about in the article – definitely worth checking out.
Like Adam, I have fuzzy memories of my reading abilities and comprehension skills when I was in elementary school. What I remember the most about my upper elementary reading experiences were that I was pulled out of class on a regular basis to work on my reading skills, although I never remember having any trouble with reading. I always remember wondering why I had to be pulled out when I had (up to that point) considered myself a competent reader in terms of fluency and comprehension. It definitely shook my confidence quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the Applegate article, I didn’t really find a specific profile that matched my comprehension as a grade-school student but I felt like I fit into a few of the profiles, depending on the type of story I was reading or the level of difficulty of the work. When it came to reading that was slightly above my current reading level, I was more of a literalist. I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on so I tried desperately to find textual proof of the questions that were asked of me. When that didn’t work, I became a dodger, hoping that if I just gave a really nice answer, my teacher would be fooled into thinking I understood what I had read. And when that didn’t work for me, I became an author who would make up stories that fit into my schemas that I already had an understanding of.
I remember doing many of the activities presented in the Tompkins chapters in elementary and in middle school with some of my teachers, and I remember really getting a lot out of those literary experiences. Especially with the example about The Giver where the teacher made each student talk about what their idea of a perfect world was before they even started reading the book. I remember doing that and being much more engaged in the story because I was curious to see how that particular activity would relate to the story we were about to read. I loved being able to question everything about the book during class discussions because there were no “dumb” questions- I could ask anything I wanted. I especially loved that “A-ha!” moment in our discussions where everyone would be confused about something in the story and then one person would bring up a point and everyone would suddenly understand what was going on.
Ever since I began my placement in a kindergarten classroom, I have taken a great interest in teaching younger children, especially with their literacy skills. The Gregory article was so fascinating to me and I wish I had read it two weeks ago when I was planning my lesson to teach! I think the methods used in that article would be so beneficial in my placement and in any lower elementary school classroom. Teaching younger students about schemas and activating prior knowledge to understand a story is such a great tool that early readers could really use to be successful. Although I had a wide range of positive and negative experiences in literacy growing up, I hope that as a teacher I can provide as many positive experiences to my students as possible. I think the readings for this week were really helpful in giving me some great practical ideas that I could use in my classroom.
Differing from Adam & Mary, I remember my elementary school comprehension and reading skills like yesterday. Reading and comprehension have always been a struggle for me growing up. I was able to read “at grade level”, but I could never comprehend what I read. I would read lines from a story, but never be able to recall what I read. My early elementary school teachers never alluded to the fact that I had a comprehension problem because of two reasons. I never raised my hand during any type of reading time and I was able to answer comprehension questions by using my background knowledge to help disguise my lack of comprehension if need be. I was shy and had problems following along in stories, which hindered my skills in later grades.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started getting older and moving on to older elementary grades and middle school, my teachers began noticing and notified my parents. My mother was very concerned and as a result, I spent many hours going to different reading programs. Going to these programs was ALWAYS a struggle for me, because I felt stupid and like I was different from the rest of my classmates. However, I went (unwillingly) and would read to these adults, and then they would ask me questions about what I read. I was able to search through the given text to find the answer. I always took awhile to locate the answers, but was able to find the correct answer most times. I went to these programs for many years of my academic career, which helped my reading career later down the line.
As I started getting older (high school and college), I began reading for enjoyment. I found interest in books, and thus, my comprehension problems just seemed to fade away. I grew to love reading.
According to Applegate, I relate closely with a quiz contestant. I used to rely on background information and knowledge to help me create a plausible response to comprehension questions. Having background knowledge helped me formulate responses that were just enough to get me through the question. Reading through these different types of comprehension profiles, I wondered which my field students are. I’m not sure if you can categorize each learner into only seven categories. There is a great amount of diversity throughout education that teachers need to be aware of.
Going back to Adam’s experience with independent reading, I find my mentor teacher often having students silent read for fifteen minutes at a time and sometimes less. I notice each student has his or her eyes on the book, however, I wonder if they are actually reading. As I was reading through Tompkins, they mention how independent reading is “a way for students to develop a love of reading and come to themselves as readers,” (p. 44). I can’t say I agree with this statement entirely. I think Adam’s story is a perfect contradictory statement to this, and I wonder if students were allotted a longer amount of time, would they fall in love with reading? Does independent reading make readers who they are or can growing to love reading come with time? As I reflect and read on my peers’ past experiences, I wonder what the answers are to these questions. I think it is very important to keep in mind that all students are diverse and different in the way they learn. I look forward to exploring this in class.
It's interesting that Mary and Adam mentioned the issue of only giving 15 minutes to students to read independently. I actually just talked to some teachers the other day (via Twitter, believe it or not) who said that they will on occasion have days where the students read the entire day!! I thought this was amazing, but had many questions. What about those students who don't like to read? Are they engaged all day? Do they get pressure from their principals to "teach something" instead of "just reading"? These teachers said that yes, these were challenges-- they have to work up to spending a whole day reading for those students that need more practice with it, and they did say they can't do it as often as they would like to compromise with administrators. However, they all said it was such a positive experience, for all of the reasons you just mentioned. Kids actually get time to dig into a book (or several) and actually develop a love of reading.
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