The Threads of Reading Blog » reading strategies

Teaching Word Families and Rime Patterns

Motivating Readers with Interest Charts

Do Search Engines Make Kids Poor Readers?

Silver Bullets for Instructional Success

Creating Text Illustrations to Deepen Comprehension

Readicide

The Weaver — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:55:30 +0000

A good way to help struggling readers is to help them learn the most common rime patterns. The rime is the part of the word after the first vowel. For example, in the word “mice” the /m/ sound is called the onset and the “ice” is called the rime. In English, we often change the initial consonant to create a new word. For example, we can change the initial consonant and create the words: lice, dice, twice and so forth. Provide the rime patterns to students and have them brainstorm as many words as possible that contain the rime pattern. Children enjoy it and soon start noticing the rime patterns in many words as they read.

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.

KTankersley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:23:14 +0000

As more and more students have ready access to the internet, doing “old fashioned research” in the library with encyclopedias and reference books has become a thing of the past. In the July/August 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly, author, Nicholas Carr alleges in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that internet search engines have changed the way we think and how we process text. Carr states that high speed search engines have resulted in “high speed” thinking that causes users to skim and scan text without really devoting much attention to careful or critical reading. Carr says that the net has become the “conduit of information” for him. He extols the benefits of speedy access to info but laments the “text restlessness” that he has developed as a result of his “forages into the web’s info-thickets.” He says that he has lost patience with reading longer text and finds himself preferring to jump from link to link in his quest for quick, easily accessible knowledge.

Like Carr, students who use the internet for research seek information by skimming or bouncing from page to page, rarely stopping to read in depth or process info to any great depth. This high speed behavior is referred to as “power browsing” in technology circles. Individuals scan, flip and flick their way through digital content to quickly find the information they are seeking. Librarians report that more and more students are using online tools to do research and using print materials less and less.

While skimming and scanning are certainly good tools for readers to use, students must also know how to make deeper connections, ask relevant questions and make comparisons with the various sources of information they find on the internet. Often students perform a search, scan the related entries and then print off a mountain of irrelevant pages before determining where their research objectives. Teachers must help students not only learn how to navigate the internet successfully, but must also teach them how to critically analyze, organize, and compare what they find for relevance, authoritativeness and accuracy.

Students also need to be taught how to set an appropriate focus and purpose for their reading. Students need to understand that while the internet is fun and relevant, reading is done for many different reasons – only one of which is to locate relevant information. Teachers must model not only reading for information but also reading for enjoyment as well. Unless we model these skills, Carr is right that adults of the future, might lose the ability to appreciate the beauty of just settling down with a good book and the emotional highs that one gets from identifying with the characters in a good novel. Carr, Nicholas (2008). “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Atlantic Monthly, July-August, 2008. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google retrieved January 2, 2009.

KTankersley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:07:04 +0000

Research indicates that there are two instructional strategies that, when done well, can boost students’ reading abilities: Sustained silent reading and direct vocabulary instruction. Yet, says Robert Marzano, no schools or districts in the United States have created programs that combine the two. The strategies, observes Marzano, are silver bullets “just sitting out there.”

The Weaver — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:48:58 +0000

Helping students visualize what they are reading helps deepen comprehension and also helps students retain information longer. Ask students to read a specific section of text collaboratively. When they have completed the text, ask them to discuss the material and to then create a picture, diagram or mind map to show what they have learned from the text. Students then present and explain their visual images to the class to help them clarify their own thoughts and connections. When students create a visual image that connects to the text they have read, not only is there deeper understanding of the material, but they have also stored the information in two places in the brain, thus, deepening retention.

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 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:32:00 +0000

It’s April already and the year is just flying by for me! Where does the time go anyway? I just finished reading Kelly Gallager’s new book Readicide: How School are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It and I have to say that Gallager definitely has a winner here! Since the rise of No Child Left Behind, I have also seen a rise in what Gallager refers to as “inane, mind-numbing practices” in schools. I particularly enjoyed Gallagher’s chapter on the importance of finding the “sweet spot” between too little teaching of books and the senseless over-teaching that numbs minds and causes kids to turn off to great books. Gallagher’s book is a quick read and provides a sensible approach to strengthening the threads of reading. After you have read it, add your thoughts and ideas to this post!