Hannah's Response to Allison's Post

The readings this week also made me think about my own comprehension and how I use the comprehension strategies when I read for school and pleasure. I bring my background knowledge to every text I read. When its a book for pleasure I might bring background knowledge about an event in my life, or another book I read by the same author, or another book in the same genre. When it is a text for class I might bring background knowledge from another article about a similar topic, or my experiences in the classroom at MSU or an elementary school. I make connections between the text and myself, other texts, and the world when I am reading for pleasure and school. The connections I make for school are more frequently to other texts to help me gain a greater understanding of what I am reading. When I am reading for pleasure I make connections in many different ways. I determine the purpose for reading before beginning any text. When I am reading for pleasure the purpose is almost always for entertainment, though it is occasionally to learn something new. The purpose for reading most texts for school is to learn something new, gain a greater understanding of a topic, or prepare for a class discussion. I make conscious and unconscious inference while I am reading all kinds of text by connecting my background knowledge to the author's writing. I use the evaluating strategy more when I am reading for school than when I am reading for pleasure. I use the monitoring strategy every time a read and when I detected a problem in my comprehension I often go back and reread where got confused, using a repairing strategy. I don't predict when I am reading school related text because they are often information based versus having a plot. When I am reading for pleasure I often make predictions but it is more unconscious than conscious; I don't sit down and take the time to think about what might happen in the story. It is more something that happens when I am just happens after I have read a section of the book. I question text more when I am reading for school, but I also think this is a strategy I don't take a lot of time to think about, rather I just think of questions while I am reading. I often use a highlighter to help me remember the important parts of an informational text so that I can go back and remember what was important quickly. If I summarize what has happened when I read for pleasure it is only to explain the book to another, but in this process I leave out important information that would give away the story. I might summarize an informational text for a teacher in class or in written form. Finally, I visualize more when I am reading for pleasure than for school. Unfortunately, this often means I do not like movies that are based on books because they do not look like what I had imagined in my head. When I read for pleasure I usually do not go beyond stage 2 of the reading process unless I am discussing the book with someone else who read it. But when reading for school I go through all 5 stages depending on the class and teacher I have read the text for.

I also thought about my student's comprehension process. My students spend a lot of time reading; with the teacher, in literacy centers, and on their own; but when they do discuss books it is often in an IRE format or recitation instead of a true discussion. Most of the time the teacher asks students content question, but occasionally she will ask open ended questions. Almost all, if not all, of these questions are to help students make text to self connections, such as after reading a book about making a sandwich she asked the students what kinds of things they like to put on their sandwich. While it is important to learn about text to self connections these open ended questions should push students to text to world connections, text to text connections, and more higher order thinking. Even though there are a few open ended questions most discussion after reading is short and only checks whether the students were listening and could answer content questions. Then the rest of literacy time the students spend practicing reading the books. The students are still learning to read and it is important for them to read a lot, but there are many other components of literacy, like the comprehension process, that students should also be working on.

One comprehension strategy that my students often use when reading a book with my mentor teacher is predicting. They start by looking at the front cover and sharing what they think the story might be about from the picture they see. Then my mentor teacher helps the kindergarteners read the title. The students then talk about what else they think might happen in the story after knowing the title. Finally, the teacher often flips through the story, displaying the picture for the students to see. They use this new knowledge to add more details to their prediction of the story's plot. After they have read the story at least once my mentor teacher will often ask them to compare what they predicted would happen in the story with what actually happened in the story. The students' predicting often activates their background knowledge. They frequently reference events that happened in their life to make predictions about what might happen to the characters in the story. Or if something happened to the characters that also happened to them they want to share it with the class.

My students also use the comprehension strategy of summarizing. They read a different big book every week; reading the same book everyday throughout the week with the teacher and on their own. For this reason the teacher will ask one of the students to remind the rest of the class what they read yesterday in the story. Summarizing requires the students to pic out the most important ideas in the story and relate them to make them easier for their peers to remember. Different students get a chance throughout the week to practice summarizing the books and the classes discussion from the previous day. Although my mentor teacher incorporates some of the comprehension strategies in her literacy teaching she could include more to help students move beyond stage 2 of the reading process.

(The comment link would not let me post this response because it said it was too long. For that reason I am posting my response as a separate post instead of as a comment.)

Holly's Week 8 Post (Sorry, it would not let me comment on Allison's)

The readings for this week also made me more aware of comprehension processes of my own and of students in my classroom.  I completely feel the same as Allison about the reading processes from Tompkins, chapter 2; when I read for enjoyment and I choose what I read, I only go to stage 2 of the reading process (Pre-reading and reading).  Once in a while I will talk with others about the book I read if they also read the same book, but commonly I just stop at stage 2.  When I read for school, I often have to use 4 or all 5 of the reading processes (pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying).  When I read for school, I take notes, write blogs or summaries of the readings, and apply what I have learned to written essays. 

I use a variety of the comprehension strategies from Tompkins, chapter 8 also.  When I read anything, I go back and reread small parts of the text if I feel confused or like I missed something.  This helps me fill in the gap so I know what the text is trying to get across.  For school readings it is more difficult for me to make connections than it is when I read for enjoyment.   In some of my classes, we only read from large, boring/dry textbooks that are hard to personally connect to, but I relate the material to past classes or information from previous lectures.  Readings in my teaching classes often interest me, so that helps me stay focused on the reading.  Discussing these readings in our teaching classes helps me to further my understanding of them or different interpretations of them.  I connect the readings to my past experiences and to what I experience in placement.  When I read for pleasure, I also visualize and create a movie-like image in my mind.  By doing this, I also connect the text to other texts with similar themes, characters, or plots.  I frequently relate the text to movies also since I enjoy watching movies in my free time.  When making predictions about what will come next in the text, I picture that happening in my head and may visualize multiple scenarios, but choose the one that seems to fit the best based on the part of the text that was just read.  For many school readings that are in textbooks I cannot visualize or predict what is next, but I take notes of what seems important and connect the readings to other classes or what is going on in my community, nation, or the world.

Unlike Allison, I see a small group of students that are read aloud to by the MT.  The MT reads a book aloud to about ten students that are in the “lower level” reading group.  During the reading, the MT asks simple comprehension questions that are explicitly from the text for the “literalists” that think all answers are in the text, but these students have difficulty answering other questions if they cannot find it in the book.  After reading the book, the students have a “discussion” that is really a recitation, but everyone gets to participate.  Usually the MT will ask a question that has no right or wrong answer so the students feel more comfortable answering in front of the class and the MT has them go around the circle to answer aloud with their thoughts.  The students seem to favor questions that they can relate the text to prior knowledge or experiences because it feels more personal and interesting to them. 

The last time I was at my placement we tried a trial run of a real discussion.  First, we talked about what a discussion is and set up some ground rules like: listen by looking at the speaker and not talking, share your ideas, you can agree or disagree with each other but regardless you should be kind and respectful.  I noticed that some of the students shared characteristics that matched many of the profiles of comprehension.  I think I need to observe the student responses more so I can get a better understanding of their particular profile.  After that one time, it is hard to tell, but I noticed a lot of the students used background knowledge to answer questions along with some information from the text.  This sounds like a “quiz contestant,” but I will have to watch their “discussions” more closely to try to figure out what each student’s comprehension profile is.

As stated in Tompkins chapter 8, teachers need to understand that the comprehension process involves both reader and text factors.  The readers should be motivated by the teacher in a safe feeling environment so they are more comfortable.  My class seems to be comfortable in their small reading group, but usually asks questions in a recitation form (I-R-E, Initiate, Respond, and Evaluate).  In Applegate’s article, it explains that this method creates “missed opportunities for teachers to model for their students the true nature of reading.”  I want to try to encourage the students to be engaged in a discussion that has questions that they need to justify their answers and can see multiple perspectives by listening to other students viewpoints.   I agree with Allison’s idea, from the Gregory article about the making of mind movies to help comprehend text.  After the MT reads aloud and asks questions, they use white boards to practice writing their ideas.  In addition to this, students could draw what they imagined in their head when listening to the text or draw their favorite part of the book and have a discussion about the book and their drawings of the best part.  I will keep all of these great ideas in mind when doing my language arts lesson and will carry them with me into my internship year and further teaching.

Allison's Week 8 Post

The readings this week have taught me about my own comprehension processes as well as the comprehension processes of the learners in my classroom.  When thinking about my own comprehension processes, the Tompkins book helped me.  Typically, when I am reading, I engage in prereading activities, such as determining my purpose for reading and determining what I already know about the topic.  While reading, I read independently because I am reading by myself.  If I am reading for pleasure, then I usually do not do anything after I finish reading (I stop after Stage 2 of the reading process).  However, if I am reading for school, then I respond to the reading by either writing a response (e.g., this blog), or I participate in classroom discussions about the reading (sometimes, I do both, depending on the class).  Then, I will sometimes explore by rereading certain parts of the text.  Finally, I will apply what I have learned from the reading by completing a paper or project about that topic, which is also dependent on the class.

In addition, Chapter 8 in the Tompkins book helped me determine which comprehension strategies I use, as well as when I use those strategies.  When I am reading for pleasure, I activate my background knowledge by thinking about what I might know about the author, or predicting what I think will happen in the book.  While reading, I make connections, usually text-to-self or text-to-world, with the book I am reading.  In addition, I draw inferences by combining my background knowledge with what I am reading in the book, to determine an idea that was not directly stated in the text.  I also use monitoring, mainly to determine if I am understanding what is going on in the text.  If I am not, then I use repairing to reread the part of the text I am confused about.  Also, I predict what will happen next, especially in books with cliff-hangers, and I ask questions about the text that guide my predictions.  Finally, I use visualizing to help me see what I am reading.  After reading, I evaluate whether I liked the book or not.  However, when I am reading for school, I use all of the same strategies as I do above, except I do not make predictions or visualize (unless I am reading a trade book).  In addition, I make text-to-text connections, which allows me to relate what I am reading to other texts I have read prior to or for the class.  I also determine the important ideas by highlighting or underlining what I feel is important to remember about the reading.  Finally, when I am finished reading, I will use summarizing if I have to do a homework assignment related to the reading.

However, I found it difficult to think about my students' comprehension because I typically do not see my students engaged in reading activities when I am at my placement.  I have only ever seen my students engaged in silent reading or read alouds with my MT.  Every day, my MT reads the students a picture book aloud while the students eat a snack.  When she does this, she will sometimes have the students plan for reading by making predictions about what they think the book will be about.  Once she has finished reading, there is no discussion whatsoever about what was just read.  Therefore, my MT stops at Stage 2 in the reading process.  On one occasion, I was at my placement when my MT read a "Reading Street" story aloud to the students using her Smart board.  However, once she finished reading, she engaged the students in a "discussion," which was basically a recitation.  She did ask one question that was open-ended, but the rest of her questions had one right answer.  With this type of response, my MT is treating the literature as content, instead of as a piece of literature, which the Applegate et al. article said sends the wrong message to students about what reading is.  Also, my students will all be thinking about comprehension as a Literalist, which is someone who thinks all of the correct answers to a reading can only be found directly in the reading.  Additionally, on one occasion, I saw my students had written responses to what they had learned about a book they read on honey bees.  I was not there to witness this occur, but I saw the repsonse pages and asked my MT what they did prior to writing the responses.  This was exciting to see that my students were able to respond to the literature they read in more than a recitation style of teaching.  Finally, when my students are silent reading, the focus is on accuracy, not comprehension, so they do not engage in any comprehension strategies because the goal is to read the book correctly, not to understand what it is about.

Therefore, my students could benefit from learning about and participating in using comprehension strategies.  The Tompkins book suggests introducing comprehension strategies in minilessons.  In the minilesson, the teacher describes the strategy, then models it for the students as he/she reads aloud, and then uses it with students.  Also, the students are provided with much scaffolding by being provided with collaborative and independent opportunities to practice these newly-learned strategies.  This book also emphasizes that students should be taught one comprehension strategy at-a-time, when first learning about the various strategies.  In addition, the Gregory & Cahill article had some interesting ideas about teaching comprehension to younger students, that my students would respond well to.  One strategy that my students would respond well to is the making of mind movies.  Many of my students are talented artists and are imaginative, so they would like drawing their visualizations of the books they read on paper.  Also, my students are very curious, so the would respond well to the questioning/"I wonder" strategy described in the article.  Using this strategy would allow them to ask all of the questions they may have about what they are reading.  Overall, from what I have seen in my classroom, there is not much of a focus on comprehension.  However, by utilizing some of these strategies, my MT could easily get my students to start thinking about comprehension, which is the reason that people read.

Hannah's Week 7 Post

Mrs. Potter seems to already know a lot about Jonathan and his strengths and weakness but she may be able to learn more about his reading habits at home by meeting with his parents or having them write a letter to her. Joellen Maples writes, “the power of parental involvement has been shown to contribute to improving a building’s psychological climate for learning as well as children’s academic performance.” (21) Mrs. Potter could ask his parents about how they are getting Jonathan to read at home, if there are any times he is more interested in reading, or any topics that Jonathan is more likely to read about. Mrs. Potter could then keep in mind his parents’ suggestions when she’s picking class books or suggesting books to Jonathan.

In the Marcus: Gifted and Challenging article his mother offers some advice that may be helpful for Mrs. Potter. “Don’t be afraid of differences in kids. It isn’t necessary for everything to be completely the same for everybody all the time, because kids know that life is not like that.” (72) If Jonathan is at a different reading level than his classmates Mrs. Potter may need to provide different books for Jonathan to read or different literacy tasks for him to complete. In addition, she might need to read directions to Jonathan on tests or assignments. Another Marcus quote that relates to providing accommodations for Jonathan is “Try to be aware of times when you can be flexible in how things can be accomplished or when they are accomplished.” (72) Mrs. Potter should try and think of different ways Jonathan can complete the same assignments as his peers while working at his reading level. If Jonathan has to work at a reading level he cannot perform at he may get frustrated and not try or not be able to perform at his highest level because of being held back by his reading abilities.

One support that may help Jonathan in Mrs. Potter’s class is visual support. “Visual support is a visually perceived stimulus that can assist an individual in comprehending information or demands.” (Breitfleder, 3) These could be placed around the classroom to help Jonathan comprehend different classroom details such as class rules, contracts, schedules, or assignments. If Jonathan’s reading level is hindering his ability to complete other assignments successfully providing visuals along with assignment instructions may help him to remember and understanding everything he must do to complete an assignment. Visual supports may also help some of his peers who may be more visual than auditory learners. Providing multiple means of representation may help multiple students in Mrs. Potter’s class, not just Jonathan.

Chandler-Olcott & Kluth offer many ways the inclusion of students with autism can improve literacy instruction for all students in the classroom. I think the changes suggested are beneficial to all classrooms whether or not any of the classmates has autism. “The inclusion of students like these would likely prompt a professional committed to addressing individual needs to rethink and revise her practice-adjusting expectations, providing different kinds of support, offering more challenge where needed.” (553) Mrs. Potter could spend some time rethinking and revising her current classroom practices to be more flexible and meet the individual needs of her many students with their own strengths and weaknesses. Jonathan, and I’m sure some of his peers, would benefit from adjusted expectations in which Mrs. Potter would provide different levels of support to different students and allow students many options for presenting information and completing assignments. In addition, such a classroom would have opportunities of further challenge for students who are performing at a higher level than their peers or completing assignments faster than the rest of the class. Readjusting her classroom and teaching expectations may help to meet not only Jonathan’s learning needs but his peers.

Holly's Week 7- What do you think? (Lupita)

Since Lupita is a new student in Mrs. Potter’s class, Mrs. Potter should try to find out what interests Lupita.  In the Breitfelder article, there is a wonderful idea of having the parent of the student write an essay about their child because they know their child better than anyone.  Mrs. Potter could ask Lupita’s parents to do this in order to learn about Lupita, her interests, strengths and/or struggles, and her family.  Mrs. Potter could then keep those interests in mind so that if she has an opportunity to use them in her lesson, then Lupita may have more to say on the topic and get involved or at least comfortable with what she is learning since she can relate to it.  In Maple’s article, it was noted that when a teacher plans a lesson they should keep in mind who could add depth to the class discussion based on their certain perspective or experiences that differ from the rest of the class.  Mrs. Potter should keep Lupita’s perspective in mind when teaching, but first she has to get Lupita comfortable talking in class (which I will touch on soon how to do so).

Lupita has not had much experience with the use of toys, paper, crayons, puzzles, and scissors or experience interacting with other children.  Yet, when she finished her work and had free time she was able to successfully complete a puzzle that was difficult for other students.  Lupita was able to help the other students work on their puzzles.  This shows that if Lupita had more opportunities like this, then she would be more open to sharing her ideas and work with new items she did not often use before.  A literacy center activity could involve the use of paper, scissors, and crayons to make a child’s favorite scene from a book in order for Lupita to share her opinion about the book and have the opportunity to have something common to talk about with others at the center.  At the center, the students would also have to use the tools to make their picture of the scene from a book so Lupita would have a chance to use classroom tools and see how others use them to make new creations.

It is not explicitly stated, but I think that Lupita may be an ELL student because she was raised in Mexico and was able to finish a Spanish worksheet early.  This may be an assumption, but if an issue should be addressed.  Since Lupita was raised by her grandmother in Mexico, her grandmother could be the one to write the essay about the student that was discussed earlier to learn more about Lupita’s past experiences with English or anything else.  Breifelder had some great ideas that can be used for ELL students, visual learners, and just to help out any students.  Mrs. Potter could use visual supports/cues throughout the school day so students can process the English language.  Breifelder’s article gave many examples of how to use pictures in the classroom to help such students.  I like the idea of using pictures for the daily and weekly schedules and have seen my MT use this method.  Pictures can show what the words say for activities that are to be done for the day.  For example, when it is reading time there could be a card that has the word “Reading” and a picture of a child holding a book up to read.  Schedules can give students a “sense of time and predictability,” so they are not as overwhelmed for the work load that day.

Allison-What Would You Do (Eddie)

            The description of Eddie reminds me of the description of Marcus in the Kostelnick et al. article.  Marcus was considered a gifted child, but his academic capabilities were greatly affected by his attention, and he was diagnosed with a mild form of ADHD.  On the one hand, Eddie seems to be having attention problems, similarly to Marcus.  It seems as if he needs to be moving to be able to pay attention to what the teacher is saying because he frequently needs to be moving around.  If he is constantly tapping a pencil, moving his legs, or getting out of his seat, then he must have a challenging time sitting still.  These are red flags that he may have some form of ADHD.

On the other hand, Eddie is displaying some signs of being gifted, similarly to Marcus.  The description of Eddie mentioned that he is well-liked by his peers.  One reason for this may be that he has a strong sense of humor, which is also a sign that a child is gifted.  While the description does not necessarily say this, it could be one explanation as to why his peers like him.  Also, Eddie has an imagination and was daydreaming during Mrs. Potter’s science lesson about frogs.  Another sign that a child is gifted is that he/she daydreams.  When Eddie saw the female frogs, Eddie displayed excitement about the topic.  Children who are gifted are persistent in tasks that they find interesting.  Therefore, one can assume Eddie was interested in learning about frogs.  This may also explain why he does not finish his other work; he is simply not interested in the work.  Similarly, Marcus did not like completing tasks that he was uninterested in.  A student may be gifted, but not excel academically because he/she is not interested in what is being discussed in his/her classroom.  Thus, Eddie might be gifted, but it is masked because he does not want to complete work he finds boring.

            Therefore, Mrs. Potter could take several steps to better deal with Eddie.  In the article, one of Marcus’s teachers struggled with not wanting to accommodate Marcus’s different attention needs.  However, Mrs. Potter should accommodate Eddie’s different attention needs so he can be a successful student.  First, she could provide him with materials to help him focus during her lessons.  For example, if he likes tapping his pencil, then Mrs. Potter could find a soft object that Eddie could tap to satisfy this need of his, without disturbing his peers.  Also, if Eddie likes to move his legs, she could provide Eddie with an exercise ball to sit on in the back of the classroom when she is teaching, instead of sitting in his chair and moving his legs.  Sitting on the exercise ball would give Eddie the opportunity to be moving, yet still staying in one place, which would keep his attention and not disturb the other students.  In addition, she could give the students stretch breaks during her lessons so they are not sitting still for so long.

           Second, Mrs. Potter could make her lessons more hands-on for all of her students.  Eddie may not be the only student who gets bored during Mrs. Potter’s lessons.  It can become tiring listening to a teacher talk for a long period of time.  Therefore, if the children are able to be engaged in the lesson, Mrs. Potter will help all of her students attend to the lessons.  She could do this by providing materials with each student or table group, so the students can physically explore the topic they are learning about.  For example, the Breitfelder article discussed giving students smaller versions of the materials the teacher is using at the front of the classroom, as a way to keep the students interested.  Or, she could provide each student with a miniature white board, and have them respond to questions on the white board, so they are all engaged in thinking about every question.  Finally, she could try having the students work in small groups, so they are talking with each other more than having to listen to a lecture by the teacher.  The Gibbons textbook chapters we read a couple of weeks ago mentioned having students work in small groups on activities so they remain interested, and so the students can scaffold each others’ learning.

          Third, Mrs. Potter could post a schedule of the day on the front board, so the students know where the day is going.  The Breitfelder article suggested doing this, especially for children who have difficulty with attention.  However, the schedule posted on the board should only be for the major transitions of the day, such as math, science, specials, and so on.  In addition to this, Breitfelder suggests including a miniature schedule for each major transition, that is separate from the large schedule posted at the front of the classroom.  For example, Mrs. Potter could create and post a schedule for what the students will be doing during each major transition of the day.  Then, she could share these schedules with the students at the beginning of each activity.  This way, the students know what they will be doing in each activity, and in what order they will be doing it.

             Finally, Mrs. Potter could incorporate lessons that involve topics that interest Eddie.  If she does not know about Eddie’s interests, then she could contact his family to help her discover what he is interested in.  The Maples article talked about a teacher who utilized her students’ families are valuable resources to learning about the students in her classroom.  This helped the teacher learn about her students, as well as develop a respectful relationship with the parents of her students.  Mrs. Potter could have Eddie’s family write her a letter, which would describe to her what Eddie likes.  While the teacher in the article did this at the beginning of the school year, it is never too late to learn about your students.  In fact, Mrs. Potter should do this with all of her students.  Then, once she knows what the students are interested in, she could incorporate the students’ interests into the classroom through books in her classroom library, centers, and so on.  If Mrs. Potter learns about what her students are like outside of the classroom, she will be able to tailor her lessons to best meet their needs, which is important to do for all students.