Thanks! This is great advice. I will do my best to take it back to my instruction! Andrea :)
--- On Wed, 10/22/08, Dana Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Dana Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Understand] My thoughts on Ch. 2 To: "listserve" <understand@literacyworkshop.org> Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6:23 PM Andrea - I think, too, it is important for them to realize that stopping while reading and using the different comprehension strategies are the TOOLS that will take them deeper. Stopping to ask a question about a character, stopping to infer something the author didn't state, stopping to determine what is important about a character's actions, etc. And not just using the strategy itself, but then taking the time to ask "What do you understand NOW that you didn't understand before you asked that question/made that inference?" Maybe slowing down to think about why they are using the strategies and how it is helping them.... This has helped in my classroom - even when they are reading independently. :) Good luck! Dana Murphy 5th grade teacher of students who are learning to SLOW not PLOW :) ----- Original Message ---- From: Andrea Lucas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Special Chat List for To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension <understand@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 5:54:34 PM Subject: Re: [Understand] My thoughts on Ch. 2 Hi everyone, Today I had to struggle for some understanding in my reading instruction. I met with several partner groups. We have been doing a character unit and they are studying various aspects of character as they read the same chapter book as their partner. They have talked about the book, journaled about their characters, etc. I met with some of the strongest readers in my class. We were having sort of a partner conference about their book. The books were on grade level which shouldn't be a problem. As I discussed with them I noticed that as I asked them "deeper" questions about the main character in the book they looked back at me with blank stares. They could talk all about what "happened" in the story and retell, but they weren't thinking deeply at ALL as they read. I feel like all of my students are just plowing through their chapter books without truly understanding what the book is really about. Grrrrr.... I think this is largely impart to instruction they have recieved in the past. We have been doing read alouds since the beginning of the year where I model deeper thinking and they do just fine during read aloud time discussing and thinking in a meaningful way, but when they get to their own book they PLOW. So, now I'm going to take a step back and we are going to do a class investigation into what it means to truly understand a book. Any ideas that anyone has to add to this investigation would be greatly appreciated. Andrea Lucas 4th grade teacher of students who PLOW _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
