Question:
How do today’s readings
help you understand your own reading comprehension processes? How do the
readings help you understand the reading behaviors of the learners in your
classroom?
I was able to make connections to the "Overview of the Comprehension Strategies" table on page 262 in Tompkins. While reading I notice myself using the "connecting" strategy in order to better comprehend a text. I think I am more likely to comprehend a text when I am able to make personal connections and relate with it. I also use the "monitoring" strategy while reading. This strategy involves checking if you understand the text while you read it. A lot of times when I am reading I will reread a certain part of the text if I find myself confused or not understanding it.
In my classroom I see my mentor teacher pushing the students to practice some of these strategies in order to have comprehension of the texts they are reading. The strategy I see being practiced the most in my classroom is the "summarizing" strategy. After the students read, the teacher has the students come up with big ideas of the text they read. They make a list as a class. I think this is a good way to ensure students are comprehending the text. I have also seen the "predicting" strategy used in the classroom. While the teacher reads the text she often asks the students, "what do you think will happen next?" This requires the students to understand what is going on in the reading in order to infer about what will happen next.
I see these same strategies from my mentor teacher as well in my classroom. We are currently reading 'Winn Dixie'. After a few pages she asks the students what has just happened to see if they are on task with the reading. She will also ask them what they think will happen next. They are reading chapter books now so the students have to visually see in their heads what they are reading now. Guided questions from the teacher are particularly helpful in this situation.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of these strategies present as well in the literacy instruction in my class. The most prevalent one I see is the personal connection to the story. The teacher will often read a story and at the end will ask the students to draw a picture of themselves and write their own experience that relates to what they read in the story. There is also a lot of sequencing of events, or summarizing, that goes on as well. This usually takes place over the course of a week, in which the book is read every day and each day the teacher goes over what happens when in the story with the class, so by the end of the week each student can tell the story themselves. While I have seen some predicting encouraged, it is not very prevalent in the reading comprehension strategies used with the kindergartners. Mostly, the teacher is focused on the basics- personal connections and summarizing.
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