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.
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