Valorie Whiteside Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5 Routman Chapter #3: Share Your Reading Life

I agree completely with almost everything that Routman discussed in the chapter Share Your Reading Life. When the author talks about how he introduces himself to a new group and talk about himself as a reader I think it is probably the first and most important step is reaching your goal.  It is this moment when you have your students true and total attention.  This is a great moment for the student to get to know their teacher.  As the year goes on I think that the teacher becomes a role model for the students and younger students want to be like the teacher.  They listen to you and look up to the teacher.  Therefore when they see how much you love to read they may give reading more of a chance.

 I agree with Routman that if students don’t read for pleasure they are not likely to become lifelong readers.  It is vitally important for students to read text that they are interested in.  When Routman discusses that if a student just don’t like to read or won’t read you have to help that student find a book that he is interested in.  This is how I helped both of my sons learn to love to read.  With one son it was Sports Illustrated for Kids.  With the other it is the I Survived series.  Regardless of what the genre was neither son wanted to read until they were introduced to something that they were interested in.  From there the habit of reading was set.  Therefore it is important that you find out what the student if passionate about then help the find a book about what he is passionate about.

Routman advises that we let students know what we are reading and what we will read next.  I think that this is great advice because unfortunately teacher have to teach a lesson them move on the next thing.  Letting students know what you are going to read next shows them that it doesn’t stop after they read one book.  This keeps reading fresh and on the forefront. 

When Routman discusses the importance and pleasure of having a personal library a light turned on and many thoughts came to my head.  This is so true.  He talks about loving owning books and just holding them in his hand, referring to them, taking them out and flipping through the pages, admiring the covers, etc. I completely related to this because I feel the same way.  I have a paperback book shelf.  That’s where I keep only paperback books that I have read.  I love looking at it and seeing all the books I have read.  I take pride in seeing just how many books I have read just for pleasure!  I never thought sharing my library with my students before but I think it would be important to do this with my students. Routman shared his library with his students and even showed them a photo of the library.  He asked students who has a library or a shelf at home for their own books.  I think students would be proud to raise their hands to this question.  As educators we can also help students build their library.  Organizations are always donating new or slightly used books to schools and having book drives so that we can give books to the students for their personal home libraries. 

Routman advises to talk about favorite authors and books.  I agree that many of our students do not know many authors.  However, they do know book series.  I have seen proof of this on all levels.  Ranging from Pet the Cat, the I Survived series, and Goose Bumps to the Twilight series. 

I also agree that maintaining a reading records is important for the students.  My son has maintained a reading record for years.  Each time the page starts to fill up he has a certain excitement and pride at how many books he has read.  However, I do not agree with the chapter when they say that parents lead busy lives and we should not require parents to sign off on the students reading and it should be up to the student to sign off on his own reading.  I think that given the opportunity even the sweetest kid will fudge on his reading sheet.  Especially if there is a prize involved.  Signing off on the reading also keeps parents involved in their child’s academic progress.  

Dawn Mitchell's December Blog Post 5: Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

Dawn Mitchell's Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

During the month of December our application we are working on learning about theories that have shaped literacy and reflecting on how they have changed our practices as well as applying inquiry based learning in our planning for a unit of study we will teach in the coming spring semester.  

In December’s blendspace you will find a variety of resources including the four theories that we are sharing with you such as Cambourne’s Conditons of Learning, Halliday’s Functions of Language, L1 to L2 Transfer, and Marie Clay’s Reading/Writing Reciprocity  to read and reflect upon.  We have worked to embed two new tech tools, QR codes and Google Forms into your reading/writing workshop that can also be used in your classroom.  Lastly, you will find the new 2015-2016 SC ELA Inquiry standards that can help you enhance your existing units of study through the use of student-driven, inquiry-based learning.

This month for my blog post, I have chosen to read chapter 8 from Routman’s Reading Essentials for many reasons.  First of all, I believe that reading is meaning and without understanding what they are gleaning from texts, students aren’t really reading even if they are the best word callers/decoders on the planet. Without meaning, they are just words.  Second, with current reform initiatives in place in our state and across the country that focus on third grade comprehension it is vital that we realize that comprehension and comprehension instruction starts way before that.  We can’t wait until third grade to determine if our students are ready as readers. We have to keep comprehension in mind from the very start.

Routman says, “In my continuing work in schools, its’ rarely a lack of word work that prevents students from understanding.  It’s almost always not having the background, prior experiences, or knowledge of the way texts and authors work that stumps them – not knowing that good readers are aware of their understanding or lack of it and always do whatever is necessary to make sense of what they are reading.  You can’t start teaching comprehension in grade 3.  You start teaching it the day kids enter preschool or kindergarten.” (Routman, pg. 118)

One of the major points Routman made in this chapter that really convicted me and helped to improve my practice is her point that reading strategies are not synonymous with comprehension and are not meant to be taught in isolation.  I have been a reading/writing workshop girl since back in the day and consider myself to promote and implement the teaching of reading and writing in the authentic context of their own reading and writing.  When I read Routman’s explanation of a typical classroom’s reading instruction I realized that I have too often taught a proficient reading strategy that way.  I have introduced a reading strategy in a minilesson, employed metacognition and modeling, and then had students work to apply that strategy using sticky notes or reading responses to help strengthen their reading.  I realized that many times that took out the authenticity of their independent reading and either simplified a complex, cognitive process into one strategy and weakened their overall comprehension of the text by focusing all of their efforts on one strategy.  Routman says that actually makes reading harder. 

She writes, “Students become so focused on identifying words they don’t know, questions to ask, or connections to make that they forget to read for overall meaning.  While its fine to introduce and practice strategies one at a time, remember that when we read we use all these strategies at the same time and that our comprehension process is largely unconscious.”

I love her question at the end of page 119, “Continue to ask yourself, “How is this procedure helping my students become more proficient and independent as readers?” This is a question that I will use to guide my instruction and I want to be more conscious of my reading application time to ensure that it is not either oversimplified or made harder because of inauthentic instruction. 

Other take aways for me from this chapter include:

*the 20 percent to 80 percent rule where the majority of the time in reading instruction is spent on student application

*the questions given on page 120 to help us focus on strategic reading rather than individual strategies

*megacognitive strategies on page 121 such as rereading, highlighting, writing down, survey, connect, and monitor

*teaching self-monitoring (I love the checklist of strategies on page 125)

On page 129 Routman says, “There is a huge difference between strategy instruction and strategic instruction.  Just teaching strategies is not enough.  Strategies must be “invoked” by the learner if they are to be used to increase understanding.”  I agree and appreciate the clear call to create opportunities for our students to apply what they are learning about reading in authentic ways in their own independent reading with support, with modeling, and with an undeniable purpose to understand what they are reading.

Sincerely,

Dawn

Ashley Skipper's Blog Post # 5: Routman's Ch. 6 Plan for and Monitor Independent Reading

Chapter 6 was a great followup to the chapter I read last month about setting up a classroom library.  I especially enjoyed reading this chapter because this is something I started to really try to implement in my classroom last year with a small group of readers.  I thought the chart that shows the difference between sustained silent reading and independent reading time was so essential in helping me understand exactly what independent reading should look like.  I have done the sustained silent reading model for many years but just really started giving independent reading a try last year.  I found that planning and monitoring it was key in helping it be successful with my students.  One point in the chapter that was good was that you need to have your classroom library organized well so that students can chose books that they want to read, that are also on their level. I also found that the amount of time you should give beginner or struggling readers to practice independent reading was more than good readers.  This an area I definitely need to spend more planning and monitoring to make this happen in my classroom.  I have always found it hard to get beginner  readers to spend time on independent reading because I didn't know how to plan or model it correctly for them because I felt that they couldn't do it since they couldn't read.  The last point in the chapter about not underestimate the importance of choice was perfect because I feel that the way I organized my classroom library last year was efficient for making sure students had books that they could read but was also very limiting to what students could chose from because I only allowed them to chose books from leveled baskets.  I saw the frustration through most of my students that wanted to read books from the other baskets.  I think that organizing your library is important but maybe organize it in a way that students have more choice over what books they can read.  I have reorganized my books based on topic and my students have really enjoyed being able to look through the whole basket and chose books that they want to read.  This chapter was really helpful to me as I start to plan some independent reading groups for my students later this year!

Katy DeFouw December Post

I read Chapter 8: Teach Comprehension in Routman.  Reading comprehension was something that I always struggled with as a reader in school.  I strongly disliked reading in elementary school and middle school because I think that I never was taught the right strategies to comprehend.  This made it difficult for me to explain what I had just read.  So I really loved this chapter on teaching children to comprehend what they read. 

In the beginning of the chapter, Routman discussed that there is great emphasis on word calling, automaticity, and fluency in the early grades.  I would completely agree with this.  We are constantly assessing our students on their fluency.  However, how appropriate is it that a student can word call from the SRA manual or meet the fluency requirements in the SRA manual?  How well is this really assessing their comprehension? 

Students should be taught strategies to understand what they read.  We are always teaching strategies to decode words.  Making connections, determining the importance, visualizing, asking questions, and making inferences are all very important skills that must be taught in order to gain comprehension skills.  I use many of these skills when teaching my students how to comprehend what they are reading. 

Valorie Whiteside Blog post #4, Routman Chapter 8: Teach Comprehension

In this chapter Routman discusses how the emphasis on word calling is at the expense of understanding.  This really hit home for me as an ESOL teacher because this is the discussion that I most often have with classroom teachers.  So many times I have heard, “Jose can read perfectly so why does he need ESOL?”  The truth is Jose CAN read perfectly but he doesn’t understand a lot of what he has read.  He has simply decoded a text and not comprehended it.  I recently started teaching a student who arrived in the country as a complete non-speaker of the English language.  She knew about five words total in English.  But when she read, she could read complete text perfectly!  This ability can give a teacher the since or idea that the student knows what she is reading.  I have heard teachers say, “she knows much more than you think she does.”  As if a student is purposely feigning lack of knowledge as a huge joke or something.  However, the student had no idea what she had just read!  She can regurgitate what she just read even if you ask her a question.  But she knew almost nothing about what she just read.  She just had a great memory at recalling data.  This situation occurs often with ESOL students.  Not as extreme as the non-speaking student but it occurs nonetheless.  Routmans states, “Students can give us the rudimentary facts but rarely an analysis of what they’ve read. They look and sound competent.  They read smoothly and can retell what they’ve read with some detail, but they are unable to go further.”  This is exactly what is happening and it needs to be corrected! 

The comprehension strategy used in the guided reading lesson “Making a Hat” conducted with struggling first grade readers is very conducive to reading.  Letting the students converse about the books first after they have looked at the pages sets the stage for their reading.  The students get to make predictions and prepare their minds for what the book is going to be about.  Since they know what they are going to read about they are more likely to 'word call' words that they may not be able to read otherwise.  For example when the teacher ask the students what is the letter and the sound the letter makes for the word scissors the student can say the word.  Scissors is a very difficult work for a first grade student to read.  However, through discussion of the book prior to reading and use of the illustrations the student will have a high probability of reading the word ‘scissors.’ 

I completely agree with Routman when he teaches that the use of writing plays a big part in aiding comprehension.  When a student now have to write what they have read it reinforces the comprehension and learning of what they read.  I think writing is a useful tool when reading educational text.  However, I don’t see how writing helps when reading for fun, leisure, or practice. I think students would dread the writing part of a lesion when they are reading text for fun.  When students are able to choose what they read and enjoy the book it becomes more work or punishment to have to write about it. 

After reading this chapter, all of the problems are stated and discussed thoroughly.  However, I don’t really feel that I got any new answers of how to teach comprehension.  I feel that this text was a very interesting forum of discussion for the problem.  But I don’t feel that I got any clear answers that will help me teach comprehension to my students. 

Docherty November Blog

Docherty Blog 4- November

Chapter 8 Teach Comprehension, Routman

I was hoping once I read this chapter I would gather many new ideas to help my students master the art of comprehending what they read.  Routman explains that comprehension must come first.  How though do you teach a child with Learning Disabilities how to comprehend?  They must be able to understand what they read and make meanings of the words.  Often students word call and get better with fluency yet they never actually read for understanding.  Students with comprehension as a weakness are the hardest students to teach.  Routman describes modeling and thinking through how we read by asking questions… Does this make sense?  Does this sound like language: Do I know what is happening in the text?  If they could do this boy my job would be easier, yet they don’t know how to ask these questions much less answer them correctly.  They don’t take the time to decipher the words they read, make the connections, and gain a deeper understanding of what they read aloud.  Yes, in my class we read more than once, yes we discuss among the group what we’ve read, but still they struggle with comprehension.  We highlight crucial words, we reread, we discuss, we make connections and still they struggle due to short term memory issues, lack of prior knowledge, vocabulary weaknesses, and reasoning skills.  I never found the answer I wanted to hear when I began the chapter.