I love vocabulary! That being said, I'm not sure how I learned it. Beers gives us some great strategies to use when working with instructionally naive (thanks Christy) students. Why some teachers continue to use worksheets is beyond me. The only logical explanation is laziness. I thought it was terrific when Beers was successful in getting her group of teachers to admit that learning 20 random vocabulary words/meaning per week was too much for them, let alone their students. The exercise of making the teachers use the words throughout their instruction prior to introducing them to the students was brilliant!
I can relate to the disconnect between new words and making meaning or even remembering them in the first place. Some of my first SPED courses used language that was completely foreign to me. But now that I've heard the words, read the words, and used the words myself...I have made huge progress in making the connection to the words and their meaning and how to use them in many applications.
I liked all of the suggestions that Beers offers to us in this chapter, but there were a few that I really liked:
Lesson #2 - Context as a clue: Teaching students how to use the context as a clue requires that students see relationships among words and an make inferences about the passage (187). There are specific strategies we can teach our dependent students to help them learn how to derive clues from the text they have read: Explanation clues, synonym clues, antonym clues, gist clues.
Lesson #3 - Teach word parts: We must also help dependent readers increase their word knowledge by teaching them how words work (188). Not surprisingly, when we successfully teach students the meanings of prefixes, roots, and suffixes, they can unlock the definitions of many words.
Lesson #5 - Graphic Organizers: Graphic organizers help dependent readers organize information and see relationships that they otherwise might not see (194). The point of this lesson was to take dictionary definitions and make them real life for the students. Again, teaching students to make a connection to what they are learning increases the student's ability to generalize the information.
There are more, but now I'm rambling. In closing "Words matter, but how teachers help students learn words and learn about words matters more" (203).
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 8 - Extending Meaning
Incase you have not noticed that I am a bit older than the rest of you...I truly do not remember my teachers teaching us any strategies for the purpose of enhancing my comprehension about a text back in my previous life! I was raised in the "test at the end of the chapter" era and I can assure you it was not an effective method of learning.
There are so many strategies that we can use as teachers to teach our students that will help them become an active part in the learning process. The purpose of reading is comprehending, but it does not happen without some effort on the part of the reader. If we are asking our students to put forth the effort to comprehend what we've given them to read...we should put forth the effort of teaching them how to comprehend. Beers reminds us that readers need to bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level.
The strategy SWBS (Somebody-Wanted-But-So) is a great exercise to engage an entire class, small group or individual instruction. Readers can be proficient or struggling; elementary level or secondary level learners. Summarizing a story can be overwhelming to many students. The process of breaking the story down into parts is not only easier...it's much more enjoyable. Students are able to engage in active discussions giving consideration to other perspectives or details they had not considered important.
Finding the right strategy for your students is as important as the strategy itself. Beers gives us some great tools we can take into our classrooms!
There are so many strategies that we can use as teachers to teach our students that will help them become an active part in the learning process. The purpose of reading is comprehending, but it does not happen without some effort on the part of the reader. If we are asking our students to put forth the effort to comprehend what we've given them to read...we should put forth the effort of teaching them how to comprehend. Beers reminds us that readers need to bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level.
The strategy SWBS (Somebody-Wanted-But-So) is a great exercise to engage an entire class, small group or individual instruction. Readers can be proficient or struggling; elementary level or secondary level learners. Summarizing a story can be overwhelming to many students. The process of breaking the story down into parts is not only easier...it's much more enjoyable. Students are able to engage in active discussions giving consideration to other perspectives or details they had not considered important.
Finding the right strategy for your students is as important as the strategy itself. Beers gives us some great tools we can take into our classrooms!
Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 7 - Constructing Meaning
I liked the fact that Beers points out that sometimes our students think that they should "automatically" be able to read and understand what has happened. Struggling readers don't think that successful readers use strategies that help them understand text...maybe because they can't actually see it. Explicit and specific instruction dictates that we need to model (teach) our students successful strategies. Beers tells us "What we must do is show them how skilled readers build meaning" (104).
There are many strategies we can teach our students to use independently, as a group, in the classroom, at home. From a special education standpoint, I really liked the "Say Something" strategy. This strategy encourages students to think about what they have read. Helping them with questions to consider will provide the framework they need to begin to analyze the text in a way they may not have previously considered.
I was surprised when Beers tells us "Rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It's probably the last strategy dependent readers use" (113). I am a HUGE fan of rereading...sometimes I even reread a passage out loud. I'm working with a 7th grade student who is struggling with fluency, but does well with comprehension (I know that's odd). One of her strategies for fluency is rereading...I think this may be why her comprehension is good! The process of making a list of why it's important to reread makes a ton of sense; all of the reasons that Alexis (page 116) notes are important comprehension tasks.
I think the biggest point this chapter presents is that the point of reading is thinking. As teachers we must teach our students how to think efficiently and effectively, these skills will benefit them in all aspects of their educational career and out into the world. Knowing what you have read is an important life-skill.
There are many strategies we can teach our students to use independently, as a group, in the classroom, at home. From a special education standpoint, I really liked the "Say Something" strategy. This strategy encourages students to think about what they have read. Helping them with questions to consider will provide the framework they need to begin to analyze the text in a way they may not have previously considered.
I was surprised when Beers tells us "Rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It's probably the last strategy dependent readers use" (113). I am a HUGE fan of rereading...sometimes I even reread a passage out loud. I'm working with a 7th grade student who is struggling with fluency, but does well with comprehension (I know that's odd). One of her strategies for fluency is rereading...I think this may be why her comprehension is good! The process of making a list of why it's important to reread makes a ton of sense; all of the reasons that Alexis (page 116) notes are important comprehension tasks.
I think the biggest point this chapter presents is that the point of reading is thinking. As teachers we must teach our students how to think efficiently and effectively, these skills will benefit them in all aspects of their educational career and out into the world. Knowing what you have read is an important life-skill.
Adolescent Literature - Chapter 5 Learning to make an inference
I know from my experience, making an inference can be tricky...what if we're wrong? That's the beauty of making an inference about what's happening or going to happen in a text. The whole idea of making inferences is based on a "best guess" strategy. Beers explains that this process is based on our "internal tex," or what we are thinking as we read the external text (printed information).
We're given some great suggestions we can use to help us as we consider what inferences we are going to make. Many of these are very obvious, many may require us to really think about what we have read and what it means to us. After reading the text passage on page 64 and comparing it to the classroom discussion on pages 66 - 68, I was amazed at how many different inferences there were!
It is important for us to teach our students how to make inferences and to understand that if your inference does not prove correct...it's not bad; it's just an opportunity to reconsider the facts.
We're given some great suggestions we can use to help us as we consider what inferences we are going to make. Many of these are very obvious, many may require us to really think about what we have read and what it means to us. After reading the text passage on page 64 and comparing it to the classroom discussion on pages 66 - 68, I was amazed at how many different inferences there were!
It is important for us to teach our students how to make inferences and to understand that if your inference does not prove correct...it's not bad; it's just an opportunity to reconsider the facts.
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