How to Create a Successful Reader

Reader Response #6

My biggest take away from reading Chapter 10 and the article “A Focus on the Essentials of Reading Instruction” was that reading is supposed to be an active experience, not a passive experience. Once this idea takes root many new options and activities are available to keep readers engaged in the reading experience.

In Chapter 10 the focus was on how to use the existing text to the advantage of the reader. When students understand how the text is structured it is easier to find the meaning and understand what to read. The textbook focuses on how to use the text to “facilitate” reading. The purpose of the textbook is no longer to copy the information from it and fill in blanks on a worksheet. The different ways to organize the information in the text to find the meaning are explored in Chapter 10. The graphic organizer that was used when I was in school was the linear outline form. This is not as helpful as other ways to organize the information found in the text. It is much more beneficial for students to use a graphic organizer to understand the text patterns. These graphic organizers ask an exploratory question and then must read the text to find the supporting information. I liked the problem-and-solution outline in figure 10.3. I thought it was an easy way for students to put their thoughts down and organize the ideas in the text in a way that makes it easy for them to connect the dots.

Note taking has also evolved since I was in school. It is no longer about copying information from the text, but used to summarize text in the students’ own words and ideas. It is used to respond to the text. I thought the reading logs, T-notes and Cornell notes were helpful tools, but I did not think the annotations are all that helpful. Instead of having set symbols for every student to use, I think it would be more beneficial for the student to come up with their own symbols. Otherwise, I think the student would be too caught up in the symbols and not really absorbing the information. The graphic set up of study and reading guides have also evolved since my time in school. The use of questions to force the reader to actively look for an answer is much better than having them copy facts from the text. Now the questions ask for critical thinking instead of just reciting information. If used correctly study and reading guides can be used to help with a final assessment of the text. The main ideas of the text and the student response are all there for the student to refer to. The suggestions in chapter 10 can be used to help motivate students to read; which is the first part of becoming a successful reader.

The article, “A Focus on the Essentials of Reading Instruction” summarized what we have been discussing in class on the best practices of active reading. I liked how they graded each practice. As teachers, I think we are all a bit of overachievers and we don’t want to get anything less than an A. We are motivated by the success of our students and the practices discussed in the article gave a good overview on how to successfully create readers in our classrooms.

Reflection on WTL Demo

Post Demo Reflection

The write to learn demonstration was a very good experience for me. I chose biopoems because I liked how you could be as creative as you wanted to, but it could be very analytical and used in many different content areas. When preparing for the demo I wanted to focus on the technique, not on what we were reading. I decided to use the Harry Potter example because I thought it would be a universal topic that most of us could identify with and require little background knowledge. I chose the first chapter of The House on Mango Street because it is part of a novel, but it is almost like a short story where it can stand alone. This made it easy to get a lot out of it without having to talk about it first. I thought my examples worked well, but it would have been better to demo it with more time. If I had more time I would have had the students pair up and write a biopoem about a character they both knew about, like a character in the last novel or short story we read. After I would have had everyone share their biopoem with the class. It would be interesting to see the different biopoems about the same character. Next, I would have the students read the first chapter of The House on Mango Street and then the students would write a biopoem. I think it would be good to have them do it in pairs again. Once they feel comfortable with using biopoems I think it would be a great tool to use in preparing to write any kind of paper and to help them with any kind of character analysis. I think it would also be a good starter for an entry in a writing journal or a prompt to use in the beginning of class. Using it as a reading break without making in to a poem would help assess comprehension also. I think my classmates took away that it is something they can use in any content area and it can be tweaked to use for their content area. It is flexible and gives the student control over how creative they want to be, but still comprehend the information needed. 

Chapter 6

Reader Response Chapter 6

After reading about how to motivate my students all I can picture in my head is a room full of surly teenagers who don’t want to be in my classroom and are staring anywhere but at me or their fellow classmates. I have a hard time connecting to a student who is unmotivated because even if I didn’t like a subject or teacher I was motivated by my GPA. I wanted to do well in a class because I wanted to do well in school. There were times I did the least amount of work needed to get the grade I wanted, but I always tried. I am now terrified to walk in to a class and see a mass of blank faces looking back at me.  After reading this chapter, I have come to the conclusion that even if I don’t have students in love with my subject, I can at least have a room full of confident readers that are willing and motivated to tackle my subject.

The section on arousing curiosity reiterated activating background knowledge as one of keys to making connections to the text being read. It is the best way to get them engaged in the reading because they are already thinking about what they know and how to apply it to the reading. Using story impressions is a great way to get kids interested in what they are reading. The example using Gulliver’s Travels was interesting to me because I could visualize kids using it in class. Using the chain of clue words helps kids anticipate what is going to happen and what the story is about. It helps them focus on the story and know what to look for before they read it. The prereading exercises discussed in the text are relevant in all content area because they provide time needed for the students to raise questions and find solutions before they begin reading. They are no longer going in to a text blind, but instead are prepared to get meaning from what they are reading. I thought the anticipation guide for preconceived notions (figure 6.9) was not as helpful as the other strategies. I could see this being a setback for certain students, especially those who do not like to fail and feel the need to be perfect. It has the potential to make students feel stupid. It could be useful for more objective materials, but for objective content it has the potential to create pushback toward the subject.

The section on ReQuest was very helpful in understanding how to guide struggling readers to ask questions about what they are reading. I think most students, not just struggling readers, have a hard time determining what is most important when reading. Modeling how to ask questions after reading and then having them practice it with a partner or small group is beneficial for all the students participating in the strategy. I can see this being time consuming and difficult to do with every text, but once it is learned it would not be as time intensive. This strategy can be modified to fit the content and the classroom.

Writing to Learn and Lesson Planning

There was a lot of information to absorb and sort through in chapters 5 and 9 of Content Area Reading.  There were many useful ideas and information to use in the classroom, but I want to focus on the two I was most engrossed in; using a wide range of texts in a thematic unit and writing to learn activities.

During my time in junior high and high school I would often get bored with reading the same things over and over again. I enjoyed reading novels, short stories and poetry, but in other classes all we ever read were textbooks. I think my interest in science and math would have been more if I would have been able to read something other than the textbook. I got good grades in both subjects, but I was never really engaged except when we did hands-on lab work in science classes. As an English teacher I know I have an advantage because there are a wider range of texts that are more readily available than in other content areas. I am eager to use the sources available to me like digital texts, video and other technology based formats. Using all these available sources helps create a learning environment for all types of learners and allows students to show their understanding of content in a way that is as creative as they are.

I came away with so many ideas after reading about the writing to learn activities in chapter 9. I have often seen that writing assignments in classrooms are not designed for creative thinking or reflection, but restating information. It is often busy work that students do not get a lot out of. Microthemes, POVG's, unsent letters, biopoems, admit and exit slips, journals and learning logs all force the student to process the information and think about what they actually learned. These activities also help the teacher gauge where each student is in the learning process and where more time may need to be spent for further understanding. The section on biopoems was really interesting to me because it is something fairly quick and easy for a student to use as a starting point for an analysis paper or research paper to gather their ideas and start to organize those ideas into something cohesive and persuasive. All the activities in this section will help a student think critically and creatively instead of just reproducing information found in a text.