Words-on-the-move 08#2
Words-on-the-Move 08-#2
podcast found at http://mathnut.podbean.com
Notes from WSRA
Building Deeper Readers presented by Kelly Gallagher
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/authorbios_28.htm
itms://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=159885407&ign-mscache=1 (visit this site to access some podcasts by Kelly)
Four Questions:
1. Have I provided my students with a reading purpose?
a. Need to frame and give purpose for all passages
b. Need to read passages many times to find understanding
c. Humpty Dumpty – Not just about an egg
d. Yertle the Turtle – Really about Hitler
e. Strategy – provide students with outline of reading passage but leave out a point. The students need to fill in that point as they read it.
f. When assigning homework – give different groups of student a different focus to look for and report back. (reading through different lenses)
2. Are my students able to embrace confusion?
a. CONFUSION is the “spot” at which people learn.
b. Teachers job is to give students confusion.
c. Writing deepens reading comprehension
d. A first read of a passage is survival mode – just getting from point a to point b.
e. Why write –
i. Find out what students know
ii. The very act of writing generates new thoughts
iii. Writing is the vehicle for deeper thinking
iv. No right or wrong answer – a ballpark of right or a ballpark of wrong
v. With any answer need to infer and defend – this is the power point
f. challenge kids to bring in a difficult passage to stump you
i. model how to think through a think a loud.
ii. Show how good readers attack a difficult text
WE TEACH READING BUT DO NOT TEACH READERS
I find this statement to be most thought provoking. How does it impact my teaching? Can we say the same thing for all curriculum? If we turned it around how would it change the dynamics in our classrooms?
3. Do my students know how to monitor their comprehension?
a. 3 strategies
i. Have students take ownership of confusion and work it out (without the teacher interfering)
1. don’t hide confusion, confusion should be the norm in the classroom
ii. score self on comprehension
1. assigning reading for homework or in class – give 8-10 post-it-notes for students to score themselves. In text whenever there is a confusion point place the post-it-note with question on it. Make it positive to be confused and help students to see that they think deeper in process of clearing up the confusion.
2. there can be a concentration issue
3. color code with highlighters on copied passages. Two-colors – one color for words or sections that are not understood and other color for understood. Every word is colored. Should lead them to understand that we read locally (each word) to understand globally (the whole passage)
iii. On going negotiation with text
1. Bring in a line of text from passage assigned. Have students supply the next line.
2. book mark – follows along right side of page. Mark a line where there is confusion. Add notes at that line when further reading, discussion with peers clears the confusion.
4. Do my students know any fix-it strategies?
a. There are many tools for different problems. Analogy: a plumber does not come to fix your “problem” with one tool. He has a large toolchest of tools because he doesn’t know the problem before he gets to your house.
b. Generate a list of strategies that good readers use.
i. Re-read
ii. Slow down
iii. Visualize
iv. Prior knowledge
v. Authors point of view
vi. Stop and think
vii. Confused and monitor as one continues
viii. Read aloud
ix. Ask questions
x. Mark text – underline
xi. Look at topic sentences and conclusions
xii. Look at context
xiii. Attack words
1. prefix
2. root
3. suffix
4. try a different word
a. Tools for reading during a test are not same as reading for understanding
i. Five strategies for timed tests
i. Skim
ii. Read answers first
iii. Guess
iv. Skip
v. Eliminate leftfield answers
