Module+9+Questions

Participants: Ashly Call, Lori Jones, Audra Bull, PJ Parsons - Group 2

Module 9 Questions:

1. What does research say about the topic?

LJ - Research says that skilled reading involves fluent word recognition and much more. Reading instruction must include word recognition, decoding, vocabulary, and strategies in comprehension. Metacognition is needed to use comprehension skills well. Most of the research on comprehension has been done since the mid 1970s. It has been clear that students can learn comprehension strategies and can learn to use them to increase understanding and memory of text.

AC - The research says that students who know which strategies they are using while reading are good readers. Research also says that many teachers do not explicitly teach comprehension, but rather test comprehension. In a study of classrooms that taught comprehension strategies and those that did not, there was a significant difference between the end of year test scores. The classrooms that taught comprehension strategies had the best scores.

AB - Skilled reading comprehension depends on letter, word, and above the word level processes. Emphasis on improving decoding equals improving comprehension. Students taught using transactional strategies instruction indicated more active comprehension and memory than students not taught transactional strategies instruction. Teachers, however, do not teach comprehension strategies.

PJ--I agree with all three of you. Research in Chapter 13 states comprehension is much more than just decoding efficiently and reading the words on the page. Proficient readers engage in many different strategies before, during, and after reading. For comprehension to be effective, metacognition must be employed with reading. Letter and word level processes have to be conquered before a reader can become skilled. Above-the-word processes means the reader interacts with the text, evaluates it, develops feelings about, thinks about it, takes notes, and summarizes it, plus many other ways to become involved with text. The last section states before a teacher can teach metacoginition in reading, she/he must become a metacognitive reader themselves. I feel there's hope for me yet! I am like the teacher at the end of the chapter. I can read, but I do not comprehend well. I have an extensive vocabulary and knowledge of words, but I do not comprehend well. Now I know strategies to teach to my students, we will learn together how to become proficient readers.

2. In what ways does strategically active reading effect metacognition?

LJ - Good readers are active readers they continue to use prior knowledge, create images in their mind and generate summaries as they read. Therefore these readers are metacognitively skilled and are able to self regulate their reading.

AC - Almost all of the comprehension strategies we have discussed require students to be attuned to their own thinking. Take the skill of summarizing. A student will find it difficult to summarize something they do not understand. They will realize that they do not understand a part of the text and come up with ways to get meaning from the text. In that way, they are using metacognition and self regulation.

AB - Builds a framework with which to connect new information to previous knowledge. Facilitates moving comprehension from short term memory to long-term memory.

PJ--By employing comprehension strategies to our reading, we are actively engaging with the text. By being flexible and using several strategies over a piece of text, we can gain even more from the text by making "compartments" in our own brains so the text makes sense to us. When we become aware of what we are thinking while we are reading and after reading, when we realize we didn't understand something or the text is challenging, we are using metacognition while reading. Use comprehension strategies in flexible ways that make the text make sense to our own brains and being aware that we are doing all that leads to metacognition in reading.

3. Plan ways to have students become active readers within your classroom.

LJ - Having lots of print and different types of text will help students be motivated. I want to allow my students to explore reading multiple times during the day whether they are engaged in reading about science with a group or are reading individually.

AC - One important way for students to learn is through think alouds and modeling of strategies. Then, while students read they will practice the strategies learned. I think that graphic organizers are another method of increasing comprehension. Students not only have to practice the strategy; they have to show what they know by completing a graphic organizer.

AB - For the past nine years I have taught a unit about human environment interaction. I have used the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I start off the unit with discussion questions. I have used a variety of activities to stimulate discussion – mingle to music; stand up, hand up; rotating circles. All activities are conducted with the purpose of activitating prior knowledge. I divide the book into five sections. The students keep a pictoral dictionary with words from each section. In addition the students have a variety of activities for each section all designed at questioning, imaging, clarifying, and summarizing. We end the unit with a family album. I got the idea from Doug Buehl’s “You Ought to be In Pictures” strategy. The kids take actual pictures taken during the Dust Bowl time period and create a family album (pretending the pictures are from their family). I do a good job of modeling comprehension but not of teaching comprehension. I need to actually teach them the strategies verses just have them absorb the strategy through the activity. Everything I ask the students to do has an explicit intent except teaching them how to comprehend.

PJ--In the few weeks that follow the ending of this class, I am going to choose two books to read, one fiction and one expository, and practice using comprehension strategies from this class notebook. I am going to choose four strategies to become proficient with by the time school starts. When instruction time begins with my students, I am going to teach them explicitly in small-group instruction how to approach text, get them in touch with their own thinking. These two items alone may take my students 6 months to get used to. We will learn to comprehend, together. I will continue to practice on my own to stay ahead of my students, but will press them to do more as long as it is challenging and not overwhelming. I am going to DEMAND, nicely, the regular ed teachers provide me with their lesson plans ahead of time so I can read and prepare lessons that encourage comprehension. If the teachers don't cooperate with me, then I'll use the regular curriculum books and teach anyway. I would like to coordinate because it is of great importance to my students they are learning what's in the other classroom to help them on the tests. I feel if I cannot get cooperation, then my students won't be as motivated because passing the test is what they care about. This is year 1.

Honestly, students today are not taught to think or be aware of their own thinking, which has been a concern of mine since my children started school in the early 1990s. They are rewarded for being able to memorize on the knowlege level and spit it back on a test. The fifth grade teachers in my building last year apologetically gave students higher-order thinking questions on their reading tests and graded them lightly just because they were included on the test provided with the reading series. I would love to get the teachers in my building fired up about reading and on board with teaching reading comprehension strategies and other components, but they are very resistant to any changes. The way I plan to bring about change throughout my building is by working diligently with my students. When others, especially the principals and the special ed director see major improvements in my students' OCCT test results, then others will become interested in my methods and will be willing to listen and possible attend professional development. That is my hope, anyway.

4. Your questions from your group.

LJ - 1. How can I motivate my unmotivated and low readers to learn the skills needed for good comprehension?

AB - You teach the little ones so I am not sure. But what always helps my older kids are read alouds. They LOVE when I read to them. I model the whole time. I really make an idiot of myself trying to bring the story to life. I also talk about the books I read for personal reading. I talk about the books as if the people are real to me. It is funny how the same kids who give me grief about reading get into my stories.

AC - I think reading quality and interesting literature motivates to students to be engaged in reading. Like Audra, I noticed when I show enthusiasm about a book, my students are more interested in the story.

2. What can I do to support my strong readers to reach higher?

AC - I like the idea of book clubs. Students each have a different role to play (like word wizard, discussion director). Each student could rotate the different roles to manipulate texts in a variety of ways.

MS: I PERSONALLY LOVE THE TEXT SET IDEA. I FEEL READING TO THE STUDENTS, EXPOSING THEM TO MULTIPLE FORMS OF CONTENT AND STRUCTURE IS IMPORTANT. LASTLY I FEEL STRONGLY THE TEACHER MUST SHOW AN INTEREST AND LOVE OF ALL KINDS OF TEXT AND SHARE THE LOVE WITH THE STUDENTS.
 * 3. How can I actively engage readers in different types of text?

AC - 1. What activities do you use to encourage student metacognition?* MS: FIRST OF ALL I STRESS "TELEVISION READING"; THAT IS, THE SEEING OF THE TEXT IN THE BRAIN WITH ALL OF THE SENSES ACTIVE IN THE PICTURE. tHEN THE NEXT STEP IS THE THINK ALOUDS WHERE THE TEACHER MODELS THE THINKING WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN. OTHER STRATEGIES HELP WITH THE OPENING OF THE BRAIN TO RECEIVE THE INFORMATION. THE CLOSING ACTIVITY I LIKE THE BEST IS STILL THE BLOOM'S QUESTIONING. WHEN THE STUDENTS KNOW THEY WILL BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT THE TEXT IN THE ADULT MANNER, THEN LEARNING AND QUESTIONING ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HIS CRAFT WILL HAPPEN. 2. Are you conscious of the comprehension strategies you use while reading?

AB - I am not. I am so grateful for this program because now I know I am on the right track with my students but more importantly I know what I need to change and or enhance and that is NAMING the stratgies I use while I use them. I have just been operating under the assumption that the kids will get what they need from the modeling. Wrong! I need to name what I am doing as I am doing it.

3. Were you surprised to find that fluency drilling was more effective in comprehension than teaching the meaning of words?

AB - Yes, I personally think they work together, codependent. I do not think meaningful comprehension can occur without fluency and then vocabulary development.

AB - 1. What is your reaction to Pressley’s statement “Good readers use comprehension strategies consciously when they read” (p. 298)? Do you believe this is a characteristic of good readers?

AC - Yes, but I don't think it's a requirement. I feel that many good readers use strategies but don't necessarily consciously know they are using them. I think it is likely that many good readers use these strategies automatically. However, I believe it is important to teach these strategies and help students become cognizant of the strategies they are using.

2. How well do you teach comprehension strategies?

AC - Honestly, I have a lot of room for improvement in the area of comprhension. I have been doing a lot of research on this topic and I'm looking forward to implementing this knowledge next year.


 * 3. How metagconitively mature of a reader were you when you graduated high school?

PJ-- 2. I have heard "fix-up strategies" for the past several years now, but I still do not know what they are. Where can I find a list of fix-up strategies so I can understand what they are?
 * 1. In the text on page 295, it says good readers integrate ideas in text to get the main idea out of the text. What does this mean?

AC - The following website, [], has information about different fix-up strategies.

3. Where could I find evaluative checklist of text to develop my own evaluation grids for my students for their reading events?

AC - I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I found a website that has comprehension strategy rubrics for grades K-5. This is the link, [].

Step 6 - Case Study #7 is due. See Wiki Swansomf.