The end of the year is a great time to reflect back on how the year went and to think about what comes next! In very few professions do we have the opportunity to start fresh each year...what a blessing that is, when you think about it. As a reading specialist, I had taught the strategies before in grades 1-5... This was the year where my new challenge was teaching comprehension strategies with Kindergarten students. This year was a great opportunity to play around with this since we went from a half day program to a full day program with no new curriculum added...so the teachers had some time to try out some new things without being rushed. I had read Starting With Comprehension last summer and shared it with the K team who were very excited and tried lots of it out. I was thrilled to walk into a classroom last week to hear a 5 year old tell the teacher that she couldn't do the math problem because she didn't have enough 'schema' for it! ;-) As for my own personal lessons, I had done a series of lessons on questioning with one K class. I used the book Grandfather Twilight to introduce "I wonders". I had them use large sheets of butcher paper to web their "I wonders" and was thrilled to hear the conversation and sharing that went on as they wrote and drew their questions. It reinforced for me the importance of student-to-student conversation as they learn the strategies. The questions led to such great inferences as well...I was unsure of what was developmentally appropriate and was pleasantly surprised to see many deep thinkers at this age level. The kids often don't have the vocabulary to explain what they are thinking, yet the thinking seems to be there. The methodology of having the kids act out their thinking really seems to help them demonstrate thinking in a developmentally appropriate way. I will be interested in following these K kids through the grades since this is the first time K has really done anything beyond learning letters and sounds...really the only comprehension work done in the curriculum is predicting... I will also be sitting with the K team over the summer and we are going to do strategy units to go along with the established curriculum. I am thinking, now, that with the littlest learners, the idea of teaching one strategy thoroughly before introducing another is the way to go. Older learners, I am thinking, need to start to see how the strategies work together in an integrated whole... this is an issue I have been struggling with over the years but I think I may be coming to grips with it personally. I think the less experience students have with strategies, the more they need the strategy introduced in an isolated way. My other goal for next year is to implement a study group of the Seven Keys to Comprehension with parents. My PTA bought me 20 copies of the book and I think we'll do a book group of it! I need to do some more thinking about how to implement it...any ideas out there? Looking forward to seeing other's reflections... Jennifer Maryland
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