Reading to Understand

In 4th grade I was assigned to read the The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in my group reading circle. The majority of the reading within the group was done on an independent basis during class time while some reading was done at home. On the day we were to discuss the book with the teacher I vividly remember being called on to answer a question and having no idea what the answer was, despite having read all the assigned text. I remember being confused, but most of all embarrassed in front of all my peers. What had I done wrong? Had I not completed the assignment just as they had?

In the book Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, the authors write, "The meaning of any text does not exist in the black marks on paper but is created by combining the words on the page with the thoughts of the reader." As a fourth grade student I wasn't working to make meaning of the text on each page of The Hobbit. Teachers can begin working with young readers to begin building reading comprehension systems that will grow with the students.

When teaching children how to develop a reading system it is important to remember that the system must be initiated by the child and not one comprehension strategy is one-size-fits-all. Effective strategies are integrated together and taught together so children can see how combining strategies will help them make the most meaning from text.

In the previous blog post A Solution to Sound it Out I wrote about world-solving strategies for early readers, as advised by Johnson and Keier. The same writers also recommend Meaning, Visual, and Structure strategies also be applied as comprehension strategies for young readers.

When teaching comprehension one of the most important things to keep in mind is the final goal:  helping the student achieve full independence in reading! Through a recipe of modeling, shared demonstrations, and guided practice lessons students can rise to reading independence. When determining the perfect recipe for success in terms of how many lessons are needed at each stage, it is important to take into account that no two students are the same. Reflection and observation of student work can gage how well the student is doing with each lesson.

Each student must learn to create meaning of text. Through the use of integrated strategies, teachers can guide students to reading independence!

Deepening Content in Leveled Reading

Each minute within the school day is precious. Not only are teachers under pressure to meet a required number of standards each year but they are also under pressure to achieve specific test scores in many places. As a graduate student studying elementary education, I am well aware of these pressures I will soon face as a teacher. 

I have had the opportunity to read with students in the classroom,  but I don't often read with students from leveled books. One time in particular I was reading with a student, and noticed the majority of the books in the student's book box were at a much lower grade level than the actual grade the student was in.  Because the books were at a lower grade level, the content was much too easy for the student to comprehend. The student was simply having a difficult time with actually reading the text. 

In the article, Let's Start Leveling about Leveling, by Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford, the authors state,"teachers need to demonstrate dual commitments by ensuring students' access to both age-appropriate material that challenges their thinking and texts that match their independent reading level." With not a moment to spare in the school day, we must think about the books we are providing to our young readers, especially struggling readers. When a struggling reader is provided with a leveled book with content that he or she may not be able to engage with, the reader will quickly lose interest in that text. 

By deepening the way we think about the content we present in our leveled reading, we can take advantage of every moment in the school day, not lose precious time because the reading level and grade level don't match up. 

Developing schema in young readers

This week the assignment in my social studies class was to develop a book discussion around a book selected off of the National Council of Social Studies Notable Trade Books for Young People list. I absolutely love social studies, so I would enjoy reading every book off of this incredible list, but for the sake of the assignment (and time!) I selected just one book. Each book on the list was listed with a small summary and I was able to make my selection by creating a connection through the brief summary. In Reading with Meaning by Miller, the author writes, "When you use your schema, it helps you use what you know to better understand and interact with the text." The book I eventually selected for my assignment was Life of Rice by Richard Sobol. Through my prior background knowledge or schema of Thailand, family connections, and travel, I felt a draw and immediate connection to the book because it is about the culture of rice in Thailand.

As a future teacher, helping children develop the ability to think and read at the same time is crucial so they can create connections to text and better understand what they are reading. Creating connections to text can be done in many ways. In the instance of the book I selected for my social studies assignment, I made a text-to-self connection when I initially read the summary of the Life of Rice.  By relating the text to a meaningful event in my life I was able to make a text-to-self connection. 

text-to-self connection

Developing several types of schema can help students deepen their understanding of literature. A teacher can help students build text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections, and text-to-world connections through various strategies. First, it is important for the students to realize the need to create connections to the story. Once the children understand that they can use what they already know during the story to interact and understand the text they can begin using their own schema in a multiple ways.

As a teacher, modeling different types of connections with text is a very important learning tool for students. In Reading with Meaning, the author states, "No matter how perfect someone else may tell you a book is, or how great a lesson they taught using it, it won't be perfect for you unless you can connect with it and put your personal stamp on it in some way." As a future teacher the books that I choose to model to my students must be meaningful to me and have true connections so that I am able to demonstrate real and authentic strategies.

As I reflect on the reading choices I have made in my past, I am overwhelmed by the amount of connections I see! So many of the reading choices I have made, if not all, are connected to my own background knowledge or schema. If I didn't use my schema when making literature choices, I would surely be dis-intersted in reading at this point in my life. As a future teacher, I hope I am able to instill the importance of connections and schema in my students through the use of literature that is authentic to me so the students may see how connections have truly enriched my reading experience throughout my life.

A Solution to Sound it Out

As a future teacher, I spend a lot of time in classrooms assisting other teachers or simply observing teachers. One task I frequently help with is listening to children read. As a child reads and stumbles upon difficult words I am often at a loss for how to help the child. I often find myself saying, "sound it out." Reading Catherine Compton-Lilly's article, "Sounding Out": A Pervasive Cultural Model of Reading, provided me with great insight into the actual meaning of sound it out and provided me with ideas for more effective strategies when helping children to solve words within text.

In her article,  Compton-Lilly states, "Sounding out is a cultural model for reading that is repeatedly voiced by students and their parents... it captures an image of reading that parents and children share, it does not describe what my students actually do when they read." Though students and parents may think that sounding out a word is helpful, students need more efficient ways to understand words within text. If students only learn to sound out every letter within a word, they will undoubtedly miss important context within the story.

Rather than provide students with a simple sound it out strategy, Compton-Lilly, and Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, authors of Catching Readers Before They Fall, advise teachers to provide students with multiple strategies for solving words within text. All three authors recommend using the following three sources to solve unknown words within text:

1. Meaning: background information, information from pictures, ideas from context of the story. Key Question- What makes sense?
2. Structure: how does it sound, Key Question- Does it sound right?
3. Visual: letter and sound knowledge, Key Question- Do the words look right?

As a teacher it is important to help students find a balance between all three sources (Meaning, Structure, Visual). Through a balance of all three sources, students will have multiple effective ways to solve unknown words within new texts.