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Learn More About Coaching the Threads of Reading

Time and Reading

Reading Response Journals

Segmenting and Blending

Understanding the Characters

Motivating Readers with Interest Charts

The Weaver — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:21:25 +0000

The Weaver — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:33:16 +0000

Reading is a participation sport! It can’t be emphasized enough that if we want children to become strong and capable readers, they have to actually READ – plain and simple. Think about it. If you wanted to get better at your favorite sport, how would you do it? First you would ensure that you had any equipment needed (books) and then you would make sure that you had time to practice (reading). If you wanted to get really good, you would probably also find someone who was good at this sport to keep you company (friends to talk about books with) and finally, you might also hire a coach (a good reading teacher) to help you improve your abilities. Researcher Anderson and colleagues reported that students in basal-dominated classrooms spent up to 70% of their reading instructional time completing worksheets. According to the research of Allington and many other reading experts, time actually spent reading is what correlates with higher reading competency. It seems logical that the more someone practices, the better they become at doing what it is that they have been practicing. Unfortunately, what seems logical is not always what happens in classrooms across the country. The research indicates that students perceived as “low” or struggling readers in many classrooms actually spent LESS time reading than did their better performing peers. What’s that all about? The greater the need, the more it stands to reason that those with the greatest need should be doing MORE reading – not less. Take the time to assess how much actual reading goes on in your class and find ways to increase it. Remember, reading is a participation sport which gets better with practice.

KTankersley — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:00:01 +0000

Reading response journals can be a great way of helping students of all reading abilities think about the things that happen in a story they are reading. I like to use a spiral binder for this purpose. When students start a new text, they write the details such as title, author, publication date and so forth at the top of a new page. They then divide the page into 3 columns with 1 small and 2 larger columns. The first column will contain the page or pages where they read this information, the second column will be “the event” or a short description of what happened in this section of the text, with the third column labeled, “My Reaction to This.” To introduce journaling to your students, model your thinking aloud for a short passage and demonstrate how to record thoughts and reactions to the text. In addition to being a great tool to get students thinking more deeply about what is happening in the story, journaling helps students improve comprehension and participate in discussions about the text after reading.

KTankersley — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:44:36 +0000

Here is a great way to help children practice segmenting and blending in a fun way. Give students a stretchable item such as silly putty or a slinky. Give them a word to “stretch out” into it’s segmented parts. As they stretch out the word slowly, tell them to stretch the item they are holding. Then, as they blend the word back into it’s more condensed “short form,” tell students to snap the item back together as they say the word fast. Students can also practice by stretching their hands wide apart and then bringing them together in a clap for blending the word back together. These are fun as well as visual reminders of how to stretch words into their appropriate word parts and then “snap” them back together.

KTankersley — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:53:58 +0000

In our diverse culture, students bring their own culture to the reading experience. We can help students better understand the characters in the fiction they are reading by asking them to consider the perspectives a character might have rather than looking at the issues or problems from their own background or cultural perspective. Some questions we can ask that can help guide students in their thinking are the following:

1) Would you have felt like that if (event) happened to you?

2) How might you have felt (reacted) in that situation?

3) How is (character) different from you?

4) Since (character) is different in this way, how do you think s/he might have felt in this situation?

5) What clues in the story tell you how s/he might have been feeling?

This type of discussion helps students focus more on why something happened and also helps them learn to identify a different perspective from their own. This may also help students better accept different perspectives and reactions in their own world.

My Interest

Level

Wow – I hate to put it down! This was an exciting and interesting chapter.

Good – An Interesting chapter. I enjoyed it!

Ok – but not the best chapter I’ve ever read

So-So – Gave good info but didn’t interest me much.

Boring – I think this chapter should be left out of the book.

KTankersley — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:45:27 +0000

Get students interested in monitoring their own reactions to text by asking them to rate each chapter of a book they are reading on an “interest level” chart. After reading each chapter, students color in the bar to indicate how interested they were in the text of that chapter. Students can then discuss their reactions and what they liked or didn’t like about the various chapters of the book.