Wow. We just came back from spring break and I had the chance to ask ou fourth graders (an intervention group I teach with two colleagues, that is working on fluency and comprehension) what they thought "understand" meant. I saw some patterns-- about 1/3 of the kids used strategy language- like "it means when you read that you think of questions that your are reading and then figuring them out and then you understand the story" OR "it means you reread the story or poem" OR "when you read you think about what the author is telling you and visualize it in your mind"
About another third wrote things like "understand is when you know what something means." OR "you know what the author is telling you or what is happening in the story" OR "You get the author's message." The final third wrote circular things like "Understanding means you understand what you read" . Upon a preliminary analysis... I think our first group might think that understanding is the strategy---not the end goal of strategies...so holding up the mirror to my own instruction, I think that for these kids think that the strategy is the end goal. Ouch. The second group seems to get closer---many are very literal---"you know what is happening" but many (except perhaps for my last example) don't seem to understand comprehension as a transaction between them and the text...they miss the inferential or implicit. Understanding to them comes when you can recall what you read. The last group doesn't seem to have the language to express their thinking. SO...now I know the uncomfortable truth---I need to be far more explicit about what the strategies are for and what understanding looks like... Jennifer Jennifer Palmer Reading Specialist, National Board Certified Teacher FLES- Lead the discovery, Live the learning, Love the adventure. Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge. It is thinking that makes what we read ours. -John Locke From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat 3/29/2008 12:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Understand] Cathy Elisa You are right, of course, our students are of course, thinking but may not know productive ways to think about text as they read. But to play devil's advocate here, would there be any thinking at all without language? Do newborn babies think or does thinking and reasoning come with language in general...so that by improving language you improve or even create, thinking? We're getting pretty deep philosophically here for a Saturday morning, aren't we? LOL! Jennifer In a message dated 3/29/2008 11:37:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: And, I would argue that we're teaching a way of thinking not thinking itself. That is already happening. The thinking has to come first before we can name it. But, I think we all already know that. Elisa **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
