Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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Reflections by preservice teachers learning to teach beginning reading.
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About Me
- Dave Koppenhaver
- Co-founder and former director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Currently professor in Language, Reading, and Exceptionalities Dept. at Appalachian State University.
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Reading comprehension is the capacity to perceive and understand the meanings communicated by texts. As this chapter states, "engagement increases comprehension". Therefore, teachers should make sure that they provide students with reading materials that they are interested in. Successful teachers know that you do not just teach comprehension during reading time. Comprehension can be integrated into any subject. The critical components of guided reading lessons are activate prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, engage students in the purpose for reading, use a reading format that supports your struggling readings and makes guided reading multilevel, and follow up the purpose for reading. Comprehension is simply thinking. If you have a student who is falling behind in reading comprehension, what are some special activities to help him/her?
ReplyDeleteReading comprehension is the capacity to perceive and understand the meanings communicated by texts. As this chapter states, "engagement increases comprehension". Therefore, teachers should make sure that they provide students with reading materials that they are interested in. Successful teachers know that you do not just teach comprehension during reading time. Comprehension can be integrated into any subject. The critical components of guided reading lessons are activate prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, engage students in the purpose for reading, use a reading format that supports your struggling readings and makes guided reading multilevel, and follow up the purpose for reading. Comprehension is simply thinking. If you have a student who is falling behind in reading comprehension, what are some special activities to help him/her?
ReplyDeleteHeather Johnson
Reading comprehension is having the ability to decode and understand what you are reading. I found it interesting that reading comprehension is a very complex process that requires word identification, prior knowledge, strategies and engagement in order to be able to comprehend what you are reading. A critical component of a guided reading lesson would be to have students follow a criterion while they are reading that will keep them engaged. Teachers plan comprehension lessons by providing an effect reading guide that engages the student before, during and after reading. Before reading teachers guide students by activating prior knowledge of the story and teach the vocabulary used throughout the reading. They then engage students into the purpose of reading and during reading they use a format that supports struggling readers and allows guided reading to be multilevel. Finally after reading teachers do a follow-up about what students read. Teachers ask questions for comprehension, engage students in discussion and have then perform a task from memory to ensure comprehension. One question that came to mind while I was reading was when you are having small guided reading groups where the children can barely read do you have children read silently or together as a group?
ReplyDeleteChristin Jones
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand and break down what one is reading. Sometimes when reading a list of words, one reads them but really does not understand them. However, once these words are in sentences and individual is capable of easily understanding what the words mean. Reading comprehension requires word indentification, prior knowledge, strategies, and engagement. It was quite interesting to see that comprehension is a complex process. A way teachers can teach students to comprehend is by doing a comprehensional strategy lesson. This lesson occurs before, during, and after reading. Before reading, the teacher activiates prior knowledge and teaches specific vocabulary that will occur during the story. During the reading, there should be guided reading to help those struggling readers. It is designed to help activate their word identification and comprehension strategies. After reading, we engage the students by asking questions about the reading. A class discussion is good, however their books are to be closed to make sure they comprehended well the story. Now, what do you when you have those students who do not understand the language? How do you get them engaged in the activities that occur before, during, and after the reading?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that reading comprehension was such a complex process that requires word identification, prior knowledge, strategies, and engagement. It is basically thinking while reading a selection and occurs as the result of an interaction. It is critical that reading comprehension strategy lessons engage students before, during, and after reading. Guided reading occurs when a teacher guides some students in whole group, small group, or by individuals, through an activity designed to help them apply their word identification and comprehension strategies. The format of a comprehension strategy lesson plan is planned to accomplish two goals which are: to support the struggling readers and to make the lesson multilevel. Teachers begin to plan their comprehension strategy lesson plan through these steps: activating prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, engage students in the purpose for reading, use a reading format that supports struggling readers and makes guided reading multilevel, and follow up the purpose for reading. A few questions that I had were how to figure out/know which reading selections to pick to go along with these strategies and steps, and how to figure out which activity should be introduced in the before/during/or after reading stages?
ReplyDeleteLaura Davis
When reading this chapter, I could not help beut remember when I was completing my senior project, at an elementary school in the reading specialist room. During one of the first sessions, she looked at me and asked me what I thought reading comprehension meant, and I said, "that students are able to understand what they are reading;" she replied "you are partly correct, but reading comprehension is that students can not only understand the words that they are reading, be able to relate the message to their own life, and to events that have happened around them." I never readlly thought about reading in this way, but now that I think about things that I have read, I do try to find common ground and in some cases those readings have changed my ideas. I think that as teachers it is important to not only ensure that students understand the words and ideas in the reading, but that they can relate that reading to life. My question is that if reading comphresion is a higher level of understanding from readings, why do so many teacher rely on work sheets about books and selections, and is there some type of lesson that can be given out that has the studnets doing more critical thinking?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura that I found it interesting how complex reading comprehension was. After doing it for years it has become routine when reading. Reading comprehension is the ability to read and decode the text that your are reading to give it meaning. The book states that reading comprehension results from an interaction among word identification, prior knowledge, comprehensive strategies, and engagement. Critical components of a guided reading lesson are engaging the student before, during, and after reading. Guided reading can be accomplished through small groups, individualized, with peers, and with the entire class. Preparing the students for what they are about to read will help with understanding. Activate prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, engage students in the purpose for reading, using a reading format to support struggling readers making guided reading multilevel, and follow up the purpose for reading to have a comprehensive lesson plan. Teachers have the difficult job of trying to accommodate all of their different readers. Though all of the students will not be accommodated every lesson with reading comprehension most needs can be met through the strategies listed in the book. One question I have about meeting reader's needs in reading comprehension is how do you approach this lesson with a child who does not speak English?
ReplyDeleteKatie West
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReading comprehension is the interaction among word identification, prior knowledge, comprehension strategies, and engagement. Reading comprehension lessons should occur throughout the day and be integrated across the curriculum. Some critical components of guided reading lessons are to activate background knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, establish one clearly stated purpose for reading, and select a way of grouping the students that supports your struggling readers and makes the lesson as multilevel as possible. A guided reading lesson has three parts before, during, and after reading. Before the lesson the teacher should teach new vocabulary and engage the students in the purpose of the reading. During the reading teachers should use a reading format that supports all readers. After the reading teachers should follow up the purpose for reading. Before reading this chapter I had no idea how complex reading comprehension was. If a student is struggling with reading comprehension, what are some activities you could do to improve their comprehension? If a student doesn't enjoy reading, how can you help make reading comprehension interesting?
ReplyDeleteReading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text. The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader comprehend text. Comprehension involves decoding the writer's words and then using background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer's message. Critical components of a guided reading lesson is engaging the students. In guided reading lessons, you want to expand students' knowledge as much as possible by exploring as many subtopics of a lesson. Teachers plan comprehension strategy lessons by engaging students before, during and after reading. Before reading a story, the teacher should guide the students through a story by explaining any words in the title of the book that are central to comprehension. During reading the teacher should use a reading format that supports all readers - those that art struggling and those that are proficient. After reading involves discussing the story, answering the central question. Teachers prepare students for a story before they read it, guide students during the reading, and follow up afterward. I feel that teachers do the before, during, and after when reading stories. What are some other activities to do in the during reading stage? Is this the only way of teaching reading comprehension or are there others?
ReplyDelete-Amanda Jackson
Reading comprehension is the interaction among word identification, prior knowledge, comprehension strategies and engagement. The critical componets of a guided lesson plan are: Word identification which can help readers self-monitor their identfication of words. Next is prior knowledge which is how knowledgeable readers are about the content of the passage and readers need to know something about what they are reading. Comprehension strategies which are tatics, that employ the achieve certain goals. Finally engagement is the last critical component.Engagement is important becuase it allows the reader to become interested in what he or she is reading and enjoy it. Teachers can plan comprehension lesson plans by: before reading, activate prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary, (2)engage students in the purpose for reading by establishing one clearly stated purpse for reading, (3)During reading use materials that support struggling readers and vary each lesson plan, (4)After reading follow up the purpose for reading by determining if the students have fulfilled the purpose for reading. All these can be used to help create a structured lesson plan for reading comprehension. One question I have is what is a good strategy that one can use to test students prior knowlege? (without having to give them a test)Something fun and yet informative.
ReplyDeleteJoy Cooper
Reading comprehension is an interactive process that consists of four major components: word identification, knowledge of the word, comprehension strategies, and interest. I feel like this is one of the more harder subjects to teach to students. Growing up, it was very difficult for me and still is today. It is very critical to teach reading comprehension at a young age. It is important to integrate reading and writing across the curiculum with topics being studied; social studies and science. There are many strategies to teach students before, during, and after reading. The before and after reading teaches comprehension because it teaches the way the students read and think. What are some ways to engage the student through activities during the stage of reading? Since I have never done well in reading comprehension, are there other ways to engage the student to enjoy reading?
ReplyDeleteMolly Suddes
Reading comprehension is the process in which readers think and understand what they are reading. Guided reading must include active involvement between the teacher and students, including questions and discussion before, during, and after the reading. In order for students to truly comprehend what they are reading, they must have some prior knowledge on the subject, know a purpose for the reading, and continue to think about that purpose throughout the reading. On page 200, the book suggests that research shows that students shouldn't take notes all of the time while reading a topic because they tend to remember more of what they read. I'm not exactly sure if I understand how this can be possible, because it seems that students could remember things easier if they wrote them down. Do you think this is correct and should we never have them take notes?
ReplyDeleteEmily Fox
Reading comprehension is being able to understand what you just read. It requires word identification, prior knowledge, strategies, and interest. Comprehension strategy lessons should engage students before, during, and after reading. It should be used when reading for any subject. Before the reading teachers should prepare the students by introducing vocabulary and getting them interested in it. During the reading the teacher should find away to help the readers who are struggling. After the reading, teachers should follow up the purpose of reading. I remember when I was younger I struggled a lot with reading comprehension and I remember getting my worst EOG scores on the reading tests. This was always very embarrassing for me. My question is what are some other ways and activities to help students with their reading comprehension? Also how can you get students interested in what they're reading so the can comprehend it?
ReplyDeleteSarah Purrell
Reading comprehension is the ability to put words together to gain an understanding of a passage's purpose. Reading comprehension is extremely important because without it, reading serves little purpose or non at all. To be effective teachers in reading comprehension, teachers need to understand the variety of learners in the classroom. The teacher needs to be well informed on the subject at hand. Teachers also need to provide other means of reading material so that children can get information from different sources, increasing the variety and comprehension. Teachers need to make sure that they get their students engaged in the subject so that they take interest in it and will hopefully gain knowledge or comprehension through their interest. Teachers also need to follow up before the readings and after. Children need to have some prior knowledge and background information so that the material is relevant. After the readings have taken place it is best to go back over the main ideas, story structure, and evaluate the passage's contents. Teachers need to thorough in their lessons for reading comprehension because it is an important aspects for successful readers. There is a passage in the book that touches on getting students engaged but I don't feel like it talks about it enough, can you give us some examples on how to get students engaged?
ReplyDelete.joni little.
Reading comprehension is the ability a reader has to break down and understand what they are reading. Reading comprehension is a very complex process. There are several requirements for reading comprehension take place. Reading comprehension requires word identification, prior knowledge from the student, strategies, and student engagement. These requirements are interactive and flexible. The readers continually move from one component to another in a flexible sequence. Teachers should use teach reading comprehension in every subject being taught to reinforce concepts (i.e. social studies, science, etc.). Teachers plan comprehension lessons by: 1) teaching vocabulary and background knowledge before reading, 2) engage students in the purpose, 3) varying the format from lesson to lesson, and 4) following up the purpose after reading. My question is how do you include ESL students and teach them the same material during these lessons?
ReplyDeleteMegan Cockrum
Reading comprehension is being able to read something and understand what you are reading. I personally have always had trouble with reading comprehension, I have to read things over and over before understanding what is being said. I liked reading this chapter because it was good to read about how to teach or help children with something that I am personally weak with. One of the most crucial things about teaching comprehension is to teach reading throughout the day, and not just during reading time. Teachers need to focus on reading all the time because it is incorporated in every subject. My main question is how to help a child comprehend better when they can not concentrate like myself. I can not concentrate or comprehend material when there is noise in the background and during the EOGs and test I would get annoyed when I had to read a passage more than once in the quiet. I could never find a happy medium. My question is how do I help my students with this same problem?? How do I get them to concentrate and understand what they are reading?
ReplyDeleteBeth Hicks
Reading comprehension is the ability to read the text and understand the text that you have read. Reading comprehension is a lot more complex that one usually thinks. As with Beth, I have always had trouble with reading comprehension also. I feel that teachers should teach reading comprehension through out the day, not just at reading time. Each child should be able to comprehend what they are reading. I think that social studies, science, math, english, art, music, etc. should be involved in reading comprehension. Teachers should give some background knowledge to the children before they begin reading so they have an idea of what to expect. After the children have read the stories the teacher should go back over the story and talk about the many aspects of it to make sure the children understand. My question is what to do with the child that isn't very good with reading comprehension and gets frustrated easily?
ReplyDeletekala white
Reading comprehension is the ability to read text and assign meaning to the text. It involves word identification, prior knowledge, comprehension strategies, and engagement. The important aspects of a guided reading lessons include activating prior knowledge and teaching specific vocabulary, engaging students in the purpose for reading, using a reading format that supports readers, and following up the purpose for reading. Teachers plan a reading comprehension lesson by finding material that appropriately meets the reading levels of the students in the class. Then, the teacher should follow the steps provided above when planning the lesson. Is it best to teach reading comprehension in small groups instead of the entire class?
ReplyDeleteShelby Johnson
Reading comprehension is understanding the text. Background knowledge and knowledge of the world appear to be extremely essential for reading comprehension. Critical components of guided reading are the before, during and after. Setting your students up with prior knowledge to the story, whether it is vocabulary words or some back ground information is extremely important to the reading comprehension. To consider all of these factors is important when planning a lesson to guide your readers. The before and after components need to be cohesive, in that they don't confuse students.
ReplyDeleteMy question is along with the activities provided in the book, what are other before and after concepts to engage our students in reading that help the comprehension level? I feel a little confused on how to make the before and after parts cohesive and work together.
Hannah Hobson
Reading comprehension is the process of decoding text and giving it meaning. I agree that after being able to read for so many years that it just comes natural after a while. The critical components of guiding reading are active involvement between teacher and students (before, during, and after the reading). Teachers plan comprehension lessons by giving vocabulary or background information before the reading. Then they allow the students to look for the information or vocabulary during the reading. After the reading they discuss what they found and that is how the teacher know if the student comprehended the lesson. My question is how do you make sure the student actually comprehended the story and they just didn't pick out the vocabulary the teacher gave they provided before the reading?
ReplyDeleteWhat is reading comprehension? What are critical components of guided reading lessons? How do teachers plan comprehension lessons? What questions do you have about teaching children to read with comprehension?
ReplyDeleteReading comprehension is the ability to understand text and what had been read. In order to have reading comprehension, you must have word identification, prior knowledge of what is being read, strategies, and interest in the topic. Comprehension is taught before, during and after reading. Before you read, you have to activate the prior knowledge the kids know, and teach them specific vocabulary. You have to get the kids excited about the book. While they are reading, give them an activity that will help them understand what they are reading, and think about what they are reading. After they read, follow up with the purpose of the story. My question would be, if you have a required book you have to read in your class, what is a way to get the kids excited about the book if you as the teacher aren't excited about it? Would you pretend to like the book and make the kids think you like it?
Reading comprehension is the ability to read and understand/apply what you are reading. I have never thought of this as such a complex process, but like others have said, it comes naturally after awhile. There are many things to consider when teaching this in a lesson but, I think that teaching reading comprehension has a lot of flexibility because it can be taught with any lesson where text is read. So after teaching this, it can be reinforced throughout the day in each subject. My question is, how often should reading comprehension be included in lessons? Should it be reinforced with each reading lesson or can too little/too much be a bad thing like with phonemic awareness?
ReplyDeleteKatie Stover
While reading this chapter I remembered about my little sister who struggled with reading comprehension. I remember watching her night after night having extra work to do because mom had got some type of testing material for Anna to practice her comprehension skills. I remember trying to help her sometimes. Reading Comprehension is when you understand the words that you read and are able to relate those meanings back to you life or apply them in different situations. Anna(my little sister) always struggled with remembering details. Sometimes she could tell you what happened in the story and sometimes she could just tell you the ending. She often forgot the order of events, characters names, and other details about the story. Anna over came this problem with in a year or two. My question would be how would a teacher deal with a student having comprehension problems when the child's parents are not willing to help? Is there a particular material that is best suited to teach reading comprehension?
ReplyDeleteDanielle Epley
Reading comprehension is the ability to decode the letters, symbols and words being read, as well as understanding the meaning of the letters, words and symbols when they are combined. Reading comprehension is very complex and involves word identification, prior knowledge, strategies and engagement. Lessons involving reading comprehension should be integrated into all aspects of the curriculum, not just reading time. For instance, students should be taught comprehension during science and social studies lessons, as well. When planning a reading comprehension lesson, teachers should ensure that all students are engaged before, during and after the reading. This is done by helping students connect with prior knowledge and vocabulary before the lesson, having them look for information within the reading that connects with prior knowledge, and by following up with them on the purpose of the reading afterwards. With the information so clear as to how students best develop comprehension, why do so many teachers seemingly disregard this information and have students answer the infamous "questions at the end of the passage?" Also, what are some activities we can use to engage students during the reading to help facilitate their comprehension?
ReplyDeleteKayla Rash
Reading comprehension is a complicated process that requires many things such as word identification, prior knowledge, good strategies and engagement in the reading. It is basically being able to understand what you read - not just seeing words and being able to pronounce them. Teachers plan comprehension lessons by having before reading, during reading, and after reading activities that tie together and are meaningful for the reading. A few questions came up during my reading. As I said before, reading comprehension requires prior knowledge. How can teachers help children who don't have as much prior knowledge as other students? What are some ways you can make a reading comprehension lesson multilevel so it can teach all of your children with different levels of reading and differnt background knowledge and keep everyone interested? Also like Katie mentioned, how much should you teach reading comprehension and how long should lessons be to keep attention/interst?
ReplyDeleteBrittany Norman
Reading comprehension is the ability to break down words and be able to understand what you are reading. along with danielle, my little sister has reading comprehension problems. They finally found it in high school and brought her to a classroom atleast once a week to work with a specialist. During this time she was able to read and talk out loud to the teacher about what she was reading. She was never punished with extra work, but was given extra time on the SAT's and other test when she needed it. Giving her this extra practice with teachers allowed her to progress in her studies. And when she figured things out she got excited. So when teaching this, try and get the students excited about what they are doing, it will make a difference.For those who are not able to have this special teacher, what are some more ways to teach children reading comprehension?
ReplyDeleteMeggie Colhoun
Reading comprehension is essentially thinking. Reading comprehension is something that I have always struggled with. Even to this day I have to read something several times before I can even understand the meaning. The critical componets of a guided lesson plan are, word identification which is necessary for readers to comprehend. Next is prior knowledge which helps students better understand a passage because writers assume that their readers share certain understandings. Comprehension strategies which are tatics, that are used to achieve certain goals. Engagement allows the reader to become interested in what he or she is reading and also become successful with reading comprehension. Teachers plan comprehension lessons by activating prior knowledge and teach specific vocabulary before reading, engage students in the purpose for reading, use a reading format that supports struggling readers during reading, and follow up the purpose for reading. I guess my main question is what do you do if a child just does not get it? I continue to struggle with reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReading comprehension is being able to read and understand what one is reading. I often find myself flying through a reading and then when I'm finished I can't summarize what I just read. I know one thing that has helped me was throughout the reading, occasionally stopping and summarizing what I just read that way at the end I am not sitting there blank. Another comprehension strategies a teacher could use to use prior knowledge. It is hard for students to read and comprehend something if they do not know the vocabulary in the text. Also it is hard to comprehend something if there is no interest in the topic. I feel like the teacher should have a variety of readable materials that way they can reach a broader interest level and students can work on reading all day and not just during reading time. One question that I had is how do you help the children that can comprehend the material they just need to have extra time to re-read things. Are there activities to improve the speed of reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteKayla Sizemore
Reading comprehension is more than just reading the words on a page but actually understanding what you have read. One good way of knowing that you understood a text rather than just read the words is to see if you can rephrase what you read in your own words after putting it aside. For reading comprehension, you must be able to identify the words, have prior knowledge of the words and their definitions, know strategies for reading and reading comprehension and engage in the text. Critical components of a guided reading lesson engage students before, during and after reading. The teacher must model reading comprehension in class. My question would be how can you be sure that all your students are comprehending a text without asking them all questions about the text individually?
ReplyDeleteLeslie Sheppard