Reading Comprehension, huh?

Once you know the words, what do those darn sentences mean anyway? Both readings this week provided instructional strategies that support student's independent and active monitoring of their own comprehension. ONe chapter was more tactical, the other more conceputual.

Routman (Routman, 2003) makes the point that comprehension is a personal process. Making meaning is most easily taught with text that students are interested in. When a student is interested in the content, they will be motivated to comprehend. This chapter focuses on text selection and prioritizes what should be modeled. She makes the connection of modeling within the context of the text you are reading.

Cooper (Cooper, 2009) sees teaching comprehension strategies as a isolated concept and suggests using visual cues in the way of posters to remind students throughout the year of the strategies they can employ to make meaning from what they are reading. I thought that the posters would only be useful to teachers, reminding them of the process of the comprehension strategies. Out of context, the posters seem like a waste of wall space, unless comprehension was a unit onto itself.

Cooper's reference to multiple intelligences is important to consider, and is illustrated by the multitude of results in Routman's survey of teacher's comprehension strategies. But I think this plays out differently than posters on the wall. That different strategies work for different learners and when reading for different purposes should drive instruction. This is a complex puzzle.

In my placement we have one child who is on a reading comprehension IEP, and several who are reading below grade level. On these same students desks I see large chapter books that they can't possibly be understanding. I know my MT models comprehension, but I think the missing link is modeling with just right books for these readers instead of with some of the more difficult literature the class is reading. Student interest is the key.

Reading Conferences and Goals

When you talk to students about their reading you elevate the importance of their effort.Reading becomes a developing skill and not just something you do. When I look at the conference framework that Routman outlines (p. 104-105), the act of talking to a child about something he/she has chosen is very empowering. These questions you would also ask a friend who is reading a book you are interested in. Book selection is personal enough that you are connecting more deeply with the student than you might i other curriculum areas.

My fourth grade class is lead by a teacher who shares her love of literature, talks about books she loves, reads aloud to the class daily and maintains an extensive class library. She is aware of what each child is reading. Half of the class participates in the Global Reading Challenge every year, which introduces the students to a broad sampling of multicultural stories. We read the Weekly reader together with our juice on Fridays.

While this is a wonderful 'readers class', what we have not been able to do is conduct reader's conferences. My master teacher has pointed this out and lamented it, as if she is failing both me, by not demonstrating it, and the kids, by doing it. It is a big class in a small space, with a number of children with special needs (behavioral), who are struggling to work independently. The class is unable to stay on task is such tight quarters long enough for a conference. It is our hope that with a second adult in the room (me), reading conferences will take place.

From the beginning of the year, we have been moving kids into chapter books and setting limits on picture books and graphic novels. The students keep reading logs and keep track of how many minutes they read at home, setting their own or parents goals, if they want. By reading the next more difficult book aloud, my teacher raises expectations. Our daily silent reading at the beginning of the day and daily read alouds before lunch, bookend the morning instructional time.

Back at BF Day

I was happy to return to my main placement in the fourth grade this week and one of my first activities was to complete a bulletin board with the kids Thanksgiving writing assignment, "What I'm Thankful For". I read as I stapled, and was completely uninspired by the topic and the kids lack of imagination, with the exception of one essay in which the student was remarkably thankful for her very large immediate family and provided good detail in the reasoning. The class was given a new writing assignment this week, a story, both draft and final copy due in the morning. The writing prompt was "I looked out the window and saw the principal flying". I was not looking forward to reading these.

In the second assignment, unlike the first, the teacher did not model anything. She just stated her expectation for a quality final draft. I did a silent double-take. I was not hopeful.

Since the first assignment the class has been participating in Writers-in-the-Schools, and while I have not been in class during these sessions, it is clear that they are having an impact.The stories that came back were well written and imaginative. The usual over achievers wrote as well as one might expect, but the two best stories were from students that are not usually singled out for achievement. Actually, quite the opposite, the two students struggle academically and are often singled out for behavioral issues. One story had great voice and charm, with a surprise ending. It was fun to read silently and out loud. The second story had amazing detail giving it a strong voice as well, but was so hard to read because of the inventive spelling employed. Both stories were read to the class by their authors.

The one student's lack of spelling skill has been a topic of discussion because she is so far below grade level. Our ELL students are better spellers. There is no spelling instruction in the class, the teacher feels spelling tests are not good pedagogy in the fourth grade. So now the question is what to do for the one, whose spelling is clearly getting in the way of her storytelling skills.