In the book "Do I Really Have To Teach Reading?" by Cris Tovani, she stresses the importance of knowing the purpose for reading a selected text. In her book she lists Determining Possible Purposes which are as follows;
"Decide how you will hold your thinking as you read. What does the teacher want you to do with the information? Maybe your purpose is to answer questions or write and essay later. What thinking do you need to hold?"
1. Look for interesting details that could have multiple meanings. Ask yourself, "why did the author or cartoonist add that detail?"
2. Ask questions about the title and subtitle. Try to figure our how the title and subtitle are connected to the piece.
3. Ask questions about the piece. As you read, record the questions and keep them in the back of your mind. Look for the answers as you read. If you don't find the answers, ask the questions the next day in class.
4. Look for the author's opinion. Compare his or her opinion with your own. Does the author agree or disagree with you?
5. Read a piece to learn new information. Is there anything in the reading that helps you understand the topic better?
6. Make a connection to the piece. Does the piece remind you of an experience, a movie, or information you already know? Does the connection help you relate to a person or situation? Use information you have about the topic to connect more personally to the piece.
7. Who is the author? Do you know anything about the author and his or her style of writing? Is he or she sarcastic or serious? Is he or she politically conservative or liberal? what you know about the author might help you anticipate what is coming in the reading.
These seven point and related questions are designed to help readers find the purpose of the text. Having clues to find the purpose leads to greater understanding and willingness to complete the text. As teachers we should prepare our students for a selected piece and have them try to answer the above questions, and or create their own questions in relation to the teachers purpose for reading. When a student is armed with ways to find the purpose they will be more willing to read pieces that that may seem boring or not important to the real world. Teaching students these strategies will help them when they are reading to find a purpose from a future college course or a potential job. They will be able to see a boring or unnecessary piece of text and at least read it to get our the main purpose(s).
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Focus
As teachers become experts in their field it is easy to want to include all topics and as much information as possible into the content curriculum. It becomes difficult to expect students to remember and read everything that we know is important. We need to remember what it is like to be the student and what its like to read a new piece of material. Teachers can become so involved in the content that they "don't know what to leave in and what to take out." (Tovani) To prevent information overload we need to focus our instruction and narrow down the purpose for a text. "start with the essential then add the details." (Tovani) Focusing our instruction allows us to get focused information from the student.
Tovani gives the following for "What is your instructional purpose?"
1. Decide what students should know after reading the piece. Focus on essential information only.
2. Anticipate what might cause student difficulty. Are students lacking background knowledge? Will difficult vocabulary interfere with meaning? Will difficult concepts need to be explained further? Is the text about challenging subject matter?
3. Model how you would negotiate difficulty. Try thinking out loud at one of the places where you anticipate students will experience difficulty. Give them a tip on how to negotiate the next part.
4. What do you want them to be able to do with the information once they have finished reading? How will they hold their thinking so they can return to it later to use in a discussion, a paper, or a project?
5. Model how they should hold their thinking and provide tools. Should they mark text, use sticky notes, complete a double entry diary?
These five points of instructional purpose points, are created for each class by each teacher to give students a clear understanding of what is expected of them to learn from the text. "A clear instructional purpose can greatly improve a readers comprehension because the reader has an indication to what to read for." (Tovani) Having a clear focus on what we want our students to learn gives them a better understanding of the text. It also makes it easier for the teacher so that you don't have to plan to cover every detail and have lots of confused students. Focused instruction provides focused feedback. Then the teacher can decide what the class needs to know or if repetition is necessary and discuss other topics without losing the main purpose(s).
Tovani gives the following for "What is your instructional purpose?"
1. Decide what students should know after reading the piece. Focus on essential information only.
2. Anticipate what might cause student difficulty. Are students lacking background knowledge? Will difficult vocabulary interfere with meaning? Will difficult concepts need to be explained further? Is the text about challenging subject matter?
3. Model how you would negotiate difficulty. Try thinking out loud at one of the places where you anticipate students will experience difficulty. Give them a tip on how to negotiate the next part.
4. What do you want them to be able to do with the information once they have finished reading? How will they hold their thinking so they can return to it later to use in a discussion, a paper, or a project?
5. Model how they should hold their thinking and provide tools. Should they mark text, use sticky notes, complete a double entry diary?
These five points of instructional purpose points, are created for each class by each teacher to give students a clear understanding of what is expected of them to learn from the text. "A clear instructional purpose can greatly improve a readers comprehension because the reader has an indication to what to read for." (Tovani) Having a clear focus on what we want our students to learn gives them a better understanding of the text. It also makes it easier for the teacher so that you don't have to plan to cover every detail and have lots of confused students. Focused instruction provides focused feedback. Then the teacher can decide what the class needs to know or if repetition is necessary and discuss other topics without losing the main purpose(s).
Be a good reading model
Being a good reading model allows yourself to show students that even though you are an expert in your field it is still okay to struggle with some text. When modeling how to read, it is good to show patience, strategies, and model that you are thinking while reading. Demonstrate patience by allowing yourself time to think about words that are difficult. Demonstrate use of strategies by using highlighters and model thinking about the text by asking and writing questions and relating the text to other areas. Of course there are different ways to model patience, strategies and thinking, it depends on the teacher and individual to choose what works for them. One of Tovani's teaching points is "Good readers use information from a variety of sources to connect to daily events and affect their lives." Being a good reader allows us to make connections to what we read to other events, we can demonstrate those connections with students. Having classroom discussions about the text and having students come up with questions and make connections is a great way to help everyone in the classroom understand the text.
Tovani explains that it is important to use different text sets in the classroom. While it is important to use a textbook in class, its not the only text that should be used. Students should have the opportunity to explore different text sets to grasp the same meaning. "Text sets are designed to give reluctant readers a choice of interesting and accessible text." An example of a text set in a physical education class would include text that is designed around health, fitness, wellness and drug, alcohol use and information from organizations such as the American Council on Exercise. Accessible text would include clips from internet writing, photos, newspaper or magazine articles, picture books, recipes, brochures or charts and graphs. Providing information from different sources makes reading less daunting to students. Text sets allow for students to read text that is less difficult, more difficult and sometimes just right. As teachers we should allow our students different opportunities to practice reading. Practicing reading is what makes us all better readers.
As teachers we are often coming up with ways to get our students interested in reading. We can often come up with great strategies, but most of the time we can keep it simple. Being a good model, displaying patience, strategies and thinking while we are reading can provide a great example to students. As teachers we can come up with text sets and accessible text, but we need to remember to allow the students to do the work in order for them to understand.
Tovani explains that it is important to use different text sets in the classroom. While it is important to use a textbook in class, its not the only text that should be used. Students should have the opportunity to explore different text sets to grasp the same meaning. "Text sets are designed to give reluctant readers a choice of interesting and accessible text." An example of a text set in a physical education class would include text that is designed around health, fitness, wellness and drug, alcohol use and information from organizations such as the American Council on Exercise. Accessible text would include clips from internet writing, photos, newspaper or magazine articles, picture books, recipes, brochures or charts and graphs. Providing information from different sources makes reading less daunting to students. Text sets allow for students to read text that is less difficult, more difficult and sometimes just right. As teachers we should allow our students different opportunities to practice reading. Practicing reading is what makes us all better readers.
As teachers we are often coming up with ways to get our students interested in reading. We can often come up with great strategies, but most of the time we can keep it simple. Being a good model, displaying patience, strategies and thinking while we are reading can provide a great example to students. As teachers we can come up with text sets and accessible text, but we need to remember to allow the students to do the work in order for them to understand.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
A Challenging Piece of Text
The following quote is taken from Cris Tovani from her book Do I Really Have to Teach Reading. "Whenever I do a workshop for teachers, the first thing I do is give them a chance to read a challenging piece of text. My reasoning is that most teachers know their content so well and are so familiar with their reading material that they aren't aware of the thinking process they use to make sense of text. By giving them something challenging to read, I can force teachers to see all that is involved in the meaning-making process." I thought this was relevant to how our LLSS 538, Teaching Reading through the Content Field course, because this is similar to how our course began. At the beginning of the semester, as a class, we were assigned three articles that our instructor warned us may be difficult text. We were asked to complete the text then as a class we had an asynchronous discussion. In the process of the asynchronous discussion, we were able to make sense of the test by using different strategies.
As a teacher it is important to remember that there are many types of learners with varying strategies for understanding text. Tovani expresses the point that reading strategies don't have to be difficult and ten different colored highlighters aren't always the answer for remembering and understanding text. Tovani likes to ask her students; "So What?" one of the simplest things a teacher can do to help readers make connections to the text is ask them "So What?" If a reader can ask themselves this question and come up with an answer then it helps them to ask more of the text and make connections to the text. The following is Tovani's "So What?" Thinking strategy.
(this should be in a clockwise cyclical form)
Text (1st)
Bring the thinking back (6th) connection (2nd)
to the text
More thinking strategies (3rd)
How does this thinking (5th)
help you better understand ask a question
the text? draw a conclusion
visualize
sift & sort
recognize confusion
So What? (4th)
Tovani developed this thinking strategy because a high school student kept asking her "so what?" when Tovani told students that the text was important.
This has been interesting to read. This book has made me reflect on how I used reading material in my classroom as a physical education teacher. Tovani explains that all teachers no matter their subject, are responsible for teaching their students how to read.
As a teacher it is important to remember that there are many types of learners with varying strategies for understanding text. Tovani expresses the point that reading strategies don't have to be difficult and ten different colored highlighters aren't always the answer for remembering and understanding text. Tovani likes to ask her students; "So What?" one of the simplest things a teacher can do to help readers make connections to the text is ask them "So What?" If a reader can ask themselves this question and come up with an answer then it helps them to ask more of the text and make connections to the text. The following is Tovani's "So What?" Thinking strategy.
(this should be in a clockwise cyclical form)
Text (1st)
Bring the thinking back (6th) connection (2nd)
to the text
More thinking strategies (3rd)
How does this thinking (5th)
help you better understand ask a question
the text? draw a conclusion
visualize
sift & sort
recognize confusion
So What? (4th)
Tovani developed this thinking strategy because a high school student kept asking her "so what?" when Tovani told students that the text was important.
This has been interesting to read. This book has made me reflect on how I used reading material in my classroom as a physical education teacher. Tovani explains that all teachers no matter their subject, are responsible for teaching their students how to read.
Some background information
I have read some of the other posts in our class. They all are great and I look forward to reading and learning more from the students in class. I started blogging last semester for Penny's Digital Technology class. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was great. The previous posts are from a book I read last semester.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
New book: Do I Really Have to Teach Reading by Cris Tovani
Hello,
The book I am going to be blogging about is Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension Grades 6-12 by Cris Tovani.
This has been a great book to read. I will blog about some of the ideas I have read about so far. These ideas seem adaptable to perform in the classroom.
More to come......
The book I am going to be blogging about is Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension Grades 6-12 by Cris Tovani.
This has been a great book to read. I will blog about some of the ideas I have read about so far. These ideas seem adaptable to perform in the classroom.
More to come......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)