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!
Don't worry Cheryl, it isn't your age! I was tested at the end of each chapter too! We never did any of the strategies that we have gone over unless it was in the most basic way possible. I was at a private school, which may make a difference, but I can't remember doing much of anything except writing papers and taking multiple choice tests over what I read in my classes.
ReplyDelete...my schools thought it was better for girls to learn how to sew, cook and clean (and look "well-groomed" when the man of the house came home) versus comprehending literature...and I'm not kidding!
ReplyDeleteI've come a long, long way:)
Cheryl, isn’t it funny how as older students we think back to when we were learning to read things seemed so different. Yet we learned. How did we do that? I love all these great reading strategies that we are learning in this class and I recognize that had I been taught using even half of them how much better of a reader I might be today. Even if I was not a better reader I would be a more confident reader I think which in and of itself would make me a better reader.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote about in my blog, teaching students the importance of rereading can be one of the most important tools they ever have and use, yet never once in all the years was I ever told it was okay to reread or taught that I should reread, were you? I basically was given a book about Dick and Jane and told to sound it out and read. “Dick ran to the store. Jane walked to the store. Dick ran fast and got there first.” I wonder if some of our contemporaries who never learned to read would get there fast too if they had been taught using some of these reading strategies? Whatever happened to Dick and Jane anyway?
It was all about "See Jane run. See Dick run. See Spot chase Dick and Jane..." it's a miracle we actually learned to enjoy reading! I also have a faint memory of these color coded readers that were kept in a file-like box. We would progress to the next shade based on what we had completed. I don't even remember what the stories were about! Fortunately, somewhere along the way I learned to enjoy reading and consider reading a favorite past-time. It breaks my heart to know that there are kids out there who have never had an opportunity to connect to the joy of reading. Maybe we can make a difference!
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