Notes from Stephanie Harvey
Stephanie Harvey – comprehension – notes from 2-5-06
Comprehension is having an inner conversation with yourself in your head while reading.
· The number one way – talk about it
· Active literacy
o Readers need to be significantly more active
o teachers are doing too much of the work in school
o Students should be doing most of the work
Purposeful student to student talk.
Guided discussion
Kids need to process information – what they are supposed to learn.
Rooms need to be set up so kids can talk to each other all k-12classrooms should follow setting of early childhood. Proximity to teacher- up close. Clipboards for students (which act as a desk). Piece of paper – six postit notes. Kids take notes- scaffold it to have small pieces of paper. They take more notes more succinct notes.
Think sheet – 2 columns
There is no research link between worksheet to learning to read
More into product than process
Kids keep busy
Practice/drill – form of assessment
Worksheets don’t teach anything.
Need to replace non-researched practices with practices that have been proven to lead to achievement.
Comprehension is the foundation of all learning. – thinking
The number 1 thing to teach students is listen to inner voice, only then will they notice when they stray.
We have fake thinkers
Teachers need to model when they stray in their reading and what to do to get back on track.
May need to reread
things that interfere with inner conversation with reading
Complex language, vocabulary, disinterest, boredom, not enough background, different time, dislike content, tangents
Unfamiliar, too complex
Achievement gap is really background knowledge gap
Building Background Knowledge – not implying they can’t achieve
Rather in content
Read alouds about 2 weeks before a unit starts. May use picture books. Done in literacy block. This levels the playing field.
Picture Book Book clubs – Literature circles
Finish quickly, covers info and pictures it
Read non-fiction aloud equally with fiction.
Maximize and engage – how? Choice, interest, awareness
Eve Bunting: Gleam and Glow
Interactive read aloud. Teacher has text – comprehension lesson
While reading put notes on post it notes – purpose of clipboards
Help kids develop a line of thinking.
Direct students to “turn and talk about it” with another student before taking answers from kids.
We need to be insatiable curious about kids thinking.
Check out video by Stephanie Harvey – Read Think Share
