Learning Blog # 3

This post refers to a reading from:

Richardson, J., Morgan, R., & Fleener, C. (2011). Reading to learn in the content areas. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

Chapter 4- Assistance in Learning 

 

Things to look for in this chapter:  Great examples of activities and strategies for elementary and secondary education.  The book even defines which ones are good for what level of education! 

 

From this chapter, I really like the idea of mapping for comprehension when reading a book.  This works with elementary students and secondary students.  When I think about mapping for comprehension, I think about my practicum that I did fall 2013 semester with a second grade class.  During reading workshop, the students were put into three small groups (the groups rotated everyday).  Two of the groups worked with the teacher.  The third group worked by themselves quietly by reading a book of their choice for pleasure.  This group was responsible for making a concept map in their reading notebooks while they were reading.  The students could then refer to this before they took an accelerated reader (A.R.) test.  I thought that this was a great way to keep the students on task while they worked by themselves. 

 

When discussing reading for pleasure, this same teacher (in my practicum class fall 2013) would stress reading for pleasure among her students.  Instead of writing "No homework" on the board for homework on Friday's, she would write "Read for pleasure over the weekend."  This helps the student become conscious of their reading habits.  It also helps them construct their own meaning for reading (constructivism), like chapter 4 talks about.  It also helps the student's parents to become aware of the importance of reading for pleasure.  The teacher was a very effective teacher because she used every opportunity to promote reading and learning.

 

I really like the 'Improving Comprehension through Questions and Questioning' section of this chapter.  It brings up points of teachers asking all of the questions but not leaving any questions to be asked by the students.  This reminded me of a KWL chart.  The 'W' is defined as "what I would like to know" and is done before the students learn about a concept.  This is a section in which the teacher could prompt students to write things in the form of questions.  For example:  The students are about to read a book about bats.  The students probably have some background knowledge about bats such as they fly and they come out at night.  In the 'W' section of the KWL, the teacher could ask the students to generate their own questions about what they would like to know about bats.  Instead of the teacher coming up with these questions and asking the students aloud, the teacher will prompt critical thinking and have the students come up with their own questions.  This promotes the students to look for these answers while they are learning about a concept, and the students may even be more attentive during a lesson or book reading because of this.      

 

Another thing that my practicum teacher did with her second grade class was she pointed out words that the students may not know.  She pointed the words out before the students read the book and she discussed the meanings of the words.  This also promotes attentiveness because the students become engaged and want to see the word used in the book.  This is talked about in the section 'Guide-O-Ramas and Marginal Glosses' in chapter 4.