Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Brown Book Club Initial Post 3- Abbie Sliger
I read chapter 9 of Strategies that Work which focuses on visualizing and inferring in reading. I think both of these topics are very important aspects of reading and should be taught at a young age. The chapter offers a variety of great lesson ideas to implement in a classroom that seem effective and worthwhile. I think teaching these skills implicitly is important and it seems very simple to do in the book. What we plan on paper can sometimes transform in to something completely different in the classroom. My concern is that these lessons have proof they work, but did they transpire well in the classroom. Both of these topics are vague and require some imagination which I am not sure every student would understand. My question to the group is have you ever seen a lesson on visualization or inferring? If so, what did it look like and how could it be improved? If not, what do you think some ideas to teach these skills would be?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
First of all, sorry Abbie I was finishing up my post and just found out that you uploaded it. I was sick last weekend that I could not upload it on time I also told Chelsea that I will upload it by today and I should have contacted you in advance. I will make sure I will upload my initial post for next week! I am sorry
ReplyDeleteMe Young,
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis was my initial post and Mrs. Laura Hopkins asked me to upload this with my comment on your blog.
ReplyDeleteBased on chapter 9, I also think that it is important to connect their background knowledge with the text, however, if they have different background knowledge, they sometimes have hard time connecting all the different ideas into one theme/ topic. Some might not be able to understand or even misinterpret others’ ideas since they do not share the same background. Also the teacher might not be able to understand students' inferring.This issue may occur in ESL classrooms where students are from different countries and have various of background knowledge. So here is my authentic question: the book states “we take what we know and merge it with clues in the text to draw a conclusion, to predict an outcome, to surface a theme, and so on” (pg. 141). Then, how would you lead lessons if students have different background knowledge and are from different cultures?
This is my comment for this week's post:
I just observed today's social studies class today; we just started to work on a book about first grade social studies. Although some of the students were not able to read all th words in the book, stuednts could infer what the book is about. We covered US symbols such as flags and also important places to know in US such as The White House, Statue of Liberty. They could guess what they are just by looking at the pictures and where they are by looking at the map of US. Since the mini-lesson was to introduce what we are going to learn with the book, we did not go over the detail; we only used pictures to figure out what our lessons will be about. However, our lesson would be better if we went over some content of the book because some of the students did not even realize what they are looking at.
I read chapter 8 on questioning and it talked about asking questions that lead the students to inferential thinking. The example poetry lesson encouraged the kids to ask lots of questions about the poem. The students wound up asking more questions than they were able to answer. They had many unanswered questions and didn't have a sense of closure with the lesson, but they were able to think more critically about the poem and learn about asking new types of questions. I haven't seen a lesson that focuses specifically on inferring, but I have seen lessons that incorporate it. In my class, we stress how important it is to read and to use clues to help us when we don't know a word. We have talked about using the pictures to help us read the text when we don't know what it says. They are inferring, but we don't focus an entire lesson on inferring or visualizing.
ReplyDeleteLike Chelsea, I read chapter 8 in Strategies that Work this week. The chapter focussed primarily on the power of asking questions while actively reading, and it points out the fact that as adult readers, we are constantly asking questions while reading without even thinking about it. In my classroom (like in Chelsea's) we are yet to do a lesson specifically on inferring, however, we do a lot of "picture walks" through books before we read. During this time we encourage the students to look at the picture and predict what they think may occur and explain their thinking. Although we are doing this often, I am not sure exactly how you push them to do this while they are reading alone without being there to prompt their thinking. Does it happen gradually over time, or must you constantly remind students to question texts as they are reading?
DeleteEmma, I am struggling with a very similar question in my class. I am wondering where the drop off point is for them to start asking questions themselves. As of now they must be prompted for everything. Obviously, we have the ability to do this now without much prompting so when does that begin?!
DeleteI would try using some of the other ideas in Strategies that Work, including a Wonder Wall and the I learned... I wonder... chart. Students may need a lot of practice before this becomes a natural habit of the mind, but I would encourage you to continue talking with them about using strategies when they read independently. Remind them, then as they are reading walk around and talk with them so you can hear their questions or prompt them if need be. This is all part of the gradual release of responsibility. They should begin using the strategies on their own, but don't pull your support away until you know they are actually doing it. Teaching is learning, and your thoughtful reflections will help you continue growing professionally!
Delete