Vinyard Post #3 Routman Chapter 8

                I agree with the author when she says that as teachers we spend a lot of focus on words instead of the meaning. During spelling, with spelling words and lists, I try to have students focus on what the words mean, but in their minds, the students are more focused on how to spell the word because they know that ultimately that is what they are going to be tested on. As I was completing my IRI’s with my students, I realized that I could make a connection with this chapter. I was focused on listening to the students read the words on the page and marking what words were incorrect. Later, as I was asking the comprehension questions I was able to see that some of my students were not able to comprehend the text even though most words were said correctly. I agree that it is difficult for teachers to decide on the best method to teach comprehension. Recently, my 5^th grade students were reading a novel. I decided to reach out for some resources online, only to find that a lot of the resources I could not/did not know how to use for my students and their reading levels. The novel that we were reading was a “deeper thinking” novel, and I did not want to confuse my students. Instead of using these resources, I decided that we needed to just hold a “class discussion” at least once a day for a few minutes to give students time to ask or sometimes even write down questions they had about the book. I even had them write down words they were unfamiliar with in the chapters of the novel so that I could help them with the words to aid with comprehension.

                I think that teaching self- monitoring is very important. I love the ideas the author gave on what types of questions to ask the students to get them thinking to make sure they are understanding what they are actually reading. In my classroom I  also like to do a pair and share in order to let students do as the chapter suggests and interact with peers to increase their comprehension. Another way this is used in my 5^th grade classroom is when we integrate technology and use the Padlet website. Students can respond using the laptops on Padlet and are able to read each other’s responses while they are posting their own.