Recently for one of my graduate courses, I worked one on one with a third grade student. I had the student read aloud to me. After she finished the reading, I had her give a retelling of what she said. She was to tell me about the characters, setting, and plot. During her retelling, she missed many important aspects of the story. I had to prompt her with questions to aid in her retelling of the plot. She could, however, remember certain details about the setting or characters that would not have thought to include. When she was finished with her retelling, I was knew what she needed help with, but I was unsure of what to do. How can you teach a student to comprehend better? How can you show them what is important in the story and how to look for it?
In chapter eight of Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, my concern is addressed. Chapter eight focuses on strategies to help students improve their comprehension. The heart of the strategies lies within questions and visualizing. Students are taught to question before they read and while they are reading. Asking questions before they read helps the students preview the text. They can get a sense of what the story may be about and what to look for as they read. As they read, questions will appear as a response to what they are reading. Asking questions while they read can help students predict what might happen next in the story. When students visualize, they use prior knowledge and previous experiences to create a mental picture of the story and to help them infer things about the story. Visualizing helps students make meaning about what they are reading.
Some students may ask questions and visualize without being prompted to. However, some students may need instruction with these two strategies. Johnson and Keier offer strategies to help teachers teach these strategies. The teacher plays an important role in the teaching of these strategies. A productive method to teach questioning and visualizing is for the teacher to demonstrate both strategies as he or she reads. After the teacher demonstrates, the teacher and students can work together and use the strategies as they read. After the teacher models and the shared demonstration, the students can work in small groups as guided practice in these strategies. Once the students are comfortable using these two strategies, they can work independently.
As I was surfing the web in search of more strategies to help improve students' understanding, I came across this image.
This picture includes the two strategies of questioning and visualizing from Catching Readers, as well as the addition of some other helpful strategies. The strategies are explained in kid-friendly language. I think this would make an excellent poster to hang in a classroom for students to use as a reference. The poster is called The Inner Conversation. What a great way to explain to kids that these strategies are inner ways of connecting an engaging with the text.
In chapter eight of Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, my concern is addressed. Chapter eight focuses on strategies to help students improve their comprehension. The heart of the strategies lies within questions and visualizing. Students are taught to question before they read and while they are reading. Asking questions before they read helps the students preview the text. They can get a sense of what the story may be about and what to look for as they read. As they read, questions will appear as a response to what they are reading. Asking questions while they read can help students predict what might happen next in the story. When students visualize, they use prior knowledge and previous experiences to create a mental picture of the story and to help them infer things about the story. Visualizing helps students make meaning about what they are reading.
Some students may ask questions and visualize without being prompted to. However, some students may need instruction with these two strategies. Johnson and Keier offer strategies to help teachers teach these strategies. The teacher plays an important role in the teaching of these strategies. A productive method to teach questioning and visualizing is for the teacher to demonstrate both strategies as he or she reads. After the teacher demonstrates, the teacher and students can work together and use the strategies as they read. After the teacher models and the shared demonstration, the students can work in small groups as guided practice in these strategies. Once the students are comfortable using these two strategies, they can work independently.
As I was surfing the web in search of more strategies to help improve students' understanding, I came across this image.
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