Beers, "When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do"

All throughout high school I was a struggling reader. I absolutely hated reading, especially aloud. I had—and still have—trouble decoding (sounding out) text. The more I read, however, the better I became at reading—but not necessarily decoding. To this day, when I come across an unfamiliar word, I can’t sound it out. So I go to an online dictionary where I can hear a pronunciation of the word, listen to it about ten times, say it about twenty, and hope it sticks. I see words chunks that I’ve memorized, not individual letters that comprise a word. But it’s taken me years of practice until I became a proficient reader. I didn’t really start reading until I was 21, after all.
Beers offers what good readers do:

• They recognize that reading is done for a purpose, to get meaning, and that this involves the reader actively participating.
• They use a variety of comprehension strategies such as predicting, summarizing, questioning and visualizing the text.
• They make inferences about the text.
• They use prior knowledge about their lives and their world to inform their understanding of a text.
• They monitor their understanding of a text, identify what is challenging, and have strategies to improve their understanding.
• They evaluate their enjoyment of a text and why it did or did not appeal to them.
• They know many vocabulary words and how to use the context, word parts, and roots to help understand new words.
• They recognize most words automatically, read fluently, vary their reading rate, and “hear” the text as they read.

I was never able to engage in these reading strategies until I developed that latter skill: recognizing words automatically. I hope that as a teacher, I hope I can recognize why my students are having difficulty reading as opposed to just saying, “That kid can’t read.” I think if someone helped me realized that I had trouble decoding words before I graduated high school, I think I would have become a reader long ago.

Padro, "What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Comprehension"

What is scaffolded support?
Scoffolded support is the gradual release of responsibility from teachers to students. As far as reading comprehension is concerned, teachers need to give students as many strategies as time allows, model those strategies, have the students practice those strategies with their peers, and finally by themselves. Strategies include thinking aloud, demonstrating, and creating meaning. The gradual release of responsibility, or scoffolded support, coexists beautifully with Vygotskt’s model of Zone of Proximal Development, an idea I have blogged quite a bit about recently. Students take on more and more responsibility to comprehend difficult texts without the teacher’s help. By doing so, they become more knowledgeable, confidant, and capable to understand difficult texts when they leave high school and progress into adulthood—where teachers won’t be there to support their reading.

Think Aloud: “The Cast of Amontillado”

Okay, say what can I infer from looking at the title? What is a cask? It’s something used to hold liquids. And Amontillado? What’s that? Before I begin, I’m going to look that word up. Okay, Amontillado, is a pale, dry sherry. So this story is about a container for alcohol—I have no idea what that means, but I know that because it’s in the title, it must be important. Everything the cast of Amontillado is mentioned, I’m going to pay close attention. So this story is written by Edgar Allan Poe. I’ve never read it before but from my reading of his other works, I’m assuming this story is going to be dark and creepy, perhaps exploring the darker capacities of humankind. So the first sentence is weird: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had born as best I could,….” So what might that mean? Fortunato sounds like fortune, so I’m guessing he’s it for style. But I’m pretty sure it’s fortune. So he has endured the fortune of a thousand injuries, that must mean he has been patient with just the normal mistakes of life. “…but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Wow, who is “he” and what has he done to piss the narrator off. Just from reading Poe before, I’m assuming the narrator is going to tell the story of why he killed this guy. But what would this guy do to warrant such harsh revenge? I’ll guess I’ll find out.

Share #1

At the beginning of the term, I joined English Companion Ning because Dr Dean told me to. I had no intention of using it. However, I was forced to join a discussion. I’m a convert. I started a discussion by asking, “What kinds of questions will I be asked in my interviews?” Within two hours, four teachers responded with in-depth answers. A few were new teachers who had just undergone the interview process and one had participated in several interviews over her career. Their insights and advice were helpful and prompt. I’m using this as a resource for the future.

Here is a link:

http://englishcompanion.ning.com/group/newteachers/forum/topics/what-kinds-of-questions-will-i-be-asked-in-my-interviews

Beech Ch. 7

What makes a good essential question?

Essential questions are imperative because they give purpose and meaning to a text that students may otherwise not be interested in. Essential questions prepare readers for success by connecting to their prior interests. Essential questions must (1) grab the kids’ attention because it is interesting and relevant to their lives, and (2) get after the heart of the text you are reading. The question should be open-ended and debatatble—there should be several right answers and several ways to explore those possible answers. Next winter I will be doing my student teaching. I’ll be doing a unit on Romeo and Juliet and Lord of the Flies. My essential question for the former will be “What makes a good relationship?” And my question for the latter will be “What is out true human nature?”

The Planning Model

Where am I going?

• Defining leaning objectives for specific activities.
• Ex: Students will learn to identify violations of social norms constituting unusual character behaviors to infer the theme or point of a story.”

Who am I going there with?

• Determine your students’ reading interests and performances.
• Take ZPD into consideration.
  

How will I get there?

• Involve students in activities so that they become engaged in the activities through how you facilitate their participation in the activities.
• Explicitly state your purpose for the activities.
  

How will I show them where to go?

• Act as a “tourguide”: Demonstrate how you operate in the classroom through direct, deliberate modeling.
• Teach students how to have an effective, critical discussion in the classroom.
  

How will I know when I have arrived?

• Reflect on: what went well with students’ learning; what didn’t go well; and what things you need to work on to address what didn’t go well.

ZDP

What is the ZPD? How does it impact what we teach?

The zone of proximal development, or ZDP, is a concept developed by psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky explains the ZDP as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers.” It’s the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. The educator’s role, then, is to give his or her students experiences that are within their zones of proximal development, which would encourage and advance their individual learning. In plain English, it means I design experiences in my classroom that will stretch my students intellectually with attainable goals. My assignments should not be too easy, but they shouldn’t too hard, either. My students should be stretched but not broken.