In this chapter I had not thought about how students with reading difficulties can now access books that were otherwise something they would have skipped over when a teacher reads a text aloud at a higher level. By reading aloud in any content, the teacher is assisting in the comprehension of the material that students with reading difficulties are trying to grasp.
Kelsie, I totally agree. I had never thought of it like that either but what a pressure lifted from the students who struggle to read. I think this is a great approach to not only assist struggling readers but also better engage the others and enhance critical thinking.
In this chapter they talked about read aloud and shared reading. I remember doing a guided reading, shared reading and read aloud with a practicum class...of first graders. For whatever reason I assumed that you could only use these strategies with young students. It was so nice to read and learn about how these strategies could help older students. In fact, there is an English class in my building where the students are learning of the holocaust and reading a novel. They are read aloud to by the teacher and I visited the classroom... you could hear a pin drop. One student said I love when the teacher reads cause I can really see what's happening. It makes perfect sense that struggling readers would benefit from this. I also feel these strategies are beneficial in other subjects. I am definitely going to try to implement this into my math class as a starter activity. I think it will better familiarize students with the vocabulary, strategies and knowledge they will need to successfully begin the chapter or topic. I love how these chapters do not just tell you of topics but they offer you opportunities to actually use them!
Courtney, I'm loving the easy to implement,applicable approaches also...more tools for my toolbox. I'm a geek like that! I love having a variety of techniques for my diverse learners and myself.
I have used shared reading and shared writing in my 6th grade social studies course. Because we use and Inquiry model the techniques, especially shared writing are great ways to work in the big picture regarding content. Each specialist tells her or his part of the story and all of a sudden there is the whole enchilada.
I tend to call on students to read material aloud at various points in order to give them a break from my voice, to get them to read, and to keep them on their toes. I may need to consider reading material to the class myself more often rather than only when I'm trying to move things along quickly.
Courtney, I agree that it takes the pressure off the student when the teacher reads aloud. I can see their comprehension increasing as well, as you said the student can picture what is happening. If they were struggling to read the same story then that picture may not be quite as clear.
Almost all of our reading(s) are done as shared reading (some read alouds). As a special educator I am a fan because it assists my struggling readers however, I feel it loses its impact when used ALL the time. It is important to model good reading skills- prosody and impact of punctuation for example. I do find that many of my struggling readers have better listening comprehension and they are able to meet the demands of the lessons as a result. I use both in my direct instruction reading class! I do find that some students rely on being "read to" whether it's an adult or audio. I use Newsela.com for current events non-fiction pieces, which allows you to select lexile levels for each reader. When we first started using this website, I had a student inquire how to get it to read the article to him...I was dumbfounded! I explained to him that I self-selected the text at his "just-right" reading level and he was bothered by the fact that he was expected to read it himself. That was a profound moment for me...we scaffold, we modify, we adjust, we make accommodations, we front-load---all the while adding to their learned helplessness. This is why gradual release of responsibility and zones of proximal development are key components to this careful balance. I liked the social studies model using shared reading / reciprocal teaching; I could see using this in my classroom. I also have "Sir Cumference & the First Round Table", "Grapes of Math", "Math Curse" as well as others in that series within my math library but I never thought of using them for reader's theater...great idea!
I am going to check out that website. It sounds like a great resource. We also run into the learned helplessness. It is a balancing act to scaffold yet and help them to be independent learners. It is always a temptation for me to help them too much and I have to hold myself back from giving them the answer or just responding with a "that's correct". One way I that I remedy this is to use project based and cooperative activities in math and have them orally explain their reasoning. I enjoy reading to my students and I think that they would like it if I read to them all day long. I do use shared reading for writing lessons, teaching roles for cooperative learning, and am going to try them with math as the text suggested.
Thanks Kathleen for the affirmation...sometimes you can't help but feel like an island! I will definitely try to get them into more project-based and cooperative learning activities. We do some in the gen ed classroom but most of the time they do not have peer models due to the class make-up. I have been advocating for the science teacher to consider this when forming partners / groups for labs...they are typically grouped together. I think he believes he is helping me / doing me a favor but it only hinders their learning experience and my level of support increases as a result.
I run into that in my science classroom too. Today, they were peer editing a writing piece using descriptive and actionable feedback. He wanted them to chose their won partners. I took it upon myself to encourage students who normally don't work together to pair up. I follow my caseload all day and have small group instruction for language and math intervention so overcoming the your students/my students thing is difficult.
Shared and read aloud are very common in an English classroom but reading the chapter and relevance of both, I have been taking the process for granted. When applying these methods I focused mostly on central questions and vocab and not expand the process by asking the students answer more questions that require critical thinking. Also, I assume that students understand the basics when they read aloud. That they know to ask "why am I reading this", "what does this mean and why is this character important". Alll questions essential for middle school but I never really applied to the secondary level - just because students reach a higher grade does not mean that the basics should not be practiced
Fred, you make a good point about needing to continue to practice the basics even when a student is in a higher grade. I think the teacher should continue to model strategies, especially when reading aloud. I have a habit of asking questions out loud when I am reading. I figure if I am curious about something in the text, then the students certainly must be too. Or maybe it just comes from being an English major. Either way, model, model, model.
1st thing: I just about slapped myself when I read, "...we have not made it clear what they should do with the new information." (regarding the question asked by students, "Is this going to be on the test?" Sure, a few may still ask out of habit, but I feel foolish for not seeing this connection before.
2nd thing: I was extremely happy to learn more about shared reading as I've seen classrooms use the term for when students preform the reading aloud. It always seemed like an ineffective way to teach or model comprehension. The best part is it useful for any content area. The Think Aloud would be awesome in math as a way to model how to engage with the text, as it takes a different set of skills to comprehend than literature.
Question to those that use Read Alouds / Shared Readings... Do you ever mix the strategies? After they have been introduced and have been modeled to where the students are familiar with them, or do you stay focused on one at a time and allow the students to naturally experiment with them on their own? Example: Think Aloud with Rereading. And, I was unclear about the Rereading- it spoke of reading a complete text then rereading it. I know that I often will reread as I'm reading when I don't feel comfortable with what I've just read. And I will stop to think about it and try to make connections with other parts of the text or my prior knowledge.
Carson, I too was glad to revisit the names of strategies and have them explained again... I sometimes get lost in all the terminology! I think the method you're referring to in 2nd point is "round robin" reading? Although we have been trained multiple times over the years to do away with it - who learns from hearing others' mistakes? - I, too, still know several teachers who continue to use it. Shared reading, followed by partner or small group reading is a better tool.
As an Elementary teacher, I do read aloud almost daily and shared reading a couple of times a day... I think mixing strategies happens all the time, esp. in shared reading. I find it really depends on the text you're using, and planning in advance how you're going to use it. Putting sticky notes in your text at key points, or rereading a short passage that had a lot of really difficult vocabulary can definitely be used in the same reading! I have found that using the same text more than once or twice has really helped me to know which strategies are going to help most.
I just want to say that I can't agree more with the authors about the power of a good read aloud with kids of all ages... Having used some of the same books for many years, I am able to slip into accents and personalities of different characters so effortlessly, that kids fall in love with the characters and BEG me to read more every day! I derive the greatest pleasure in torturing my kids by ending a reading at a really suspenseful part - or crititcal turning point - and letting them stew about what they think happens until I read the next day. They make predictions, talk about what happened over lunch... it's amazing to see how into the story they get when they hear it read well, and know how much I love it! There's an unwritten rule in my room that students don't let substitutes or special educators read when I'm out; it's our special time! Courtney, it's that "pin drop" time in our room, when we really bond! And I think a lot of it has to do with finding the right texts, and reading and rereading them until I know by heart where to stop, and what for... but I think they get the most out of just hearing good fluency (or prosody, new word!) modeled. My all-time favorite, right now, and I've done it both read aloud and shared, where they follow, is Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. If you haven't read it, do. : )
In this chapter I had not thought about how students with reading difficulties can now access books that were otherwise something they would have skipped over when a teacher reads a text aloud at a higher level. By reading aloud in any content, the teacher is assisting in the comprehension of the material that students with reading difficulties are trying to grasp.
ReplyDeleteKelsie, I totally agree. I had never thought of it like that either but what a pressure lifted from the students who struggle to read. I think this is a great approach to not only assist struggling readers but also better engage the others and enhance critical thinking.
DeleteIn this chapter they talked about read aloud and shared reading. I remember doing a guided reading, shared reading and read aloud with a practicum class...of first graders. For whatever reason I assumed that you could only use these strategies with young students. It was so nice to read and learn about how these strategies could help older students.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, there is an English class in my building where the students are learning of the holocaust and reading a novel. They are read aloud to by the teacher and I visited the classroom... you could hear a pin drop. One student said I love when the teacher reads cause I can really see what's happening. It makes perfect sense that struggling readers would benefit from this.
I also feel these strategies are beneficial in other subjects. I am definitely going to try to implement this into my math class as a starter activity. I think it will better familiarize students with the vocabulary, strategies and knowledge they will need to successfully begin the chapter or topic.
I love how these chapters do not just tell you of topics but they offer you opportunities to actually use them!
Courtney, I'm loving the easy to implement,applicable approaches also...more tools for my toolbox. I'm a geek like that! I love having a variety of techniques for my diverse learners and myself.
DeleteI have used shared reading and shared writing in my 6th grade social studies course. Because we use and Inquiry model the techniques, especially shared writing are great ways to work in the big picture regarding content. Each specialist tells her or his part of the story and all of a sudden there is the whole enchilada.
DeleteI tend to call on students to read material aloud at various points in order to give them a break from my voice, to get them to read, and to keep them on their toes. I may need to consider reading material to the class myself more often rather than only when I'm trying to move things along quickly.
DeleteCourtney, I agree that it takes the pressure off the student when the teacher reads aloud. I can see their comprehension increasing as well, as you said the student can picture what is happening. If they were struggling to read the same story then that picture may not be quite as clear.
DeleteAlmost all of our reading(s) are done as shared reading (some read alouds). As a special educator I am a fan because it assists my struggling readers however, I feel it loses its impact when used ALL the time. It is important to model good reading skills- prosody and impact of punctuation for example. I do find that many of my struggling readers have better listening comprehension and they are able to meet the demands of the lessons as a result. I use both in my direct instruction reading class! I do find that some students rely on being "read to" whether it's an adult or audio. I use Newsela.com for current events non-fiction pieces, which allows you to select lexile levels for each reader. When we first started using this website, I had a student inquire how to get it to read the article to him...I was dumbfounded! I explained to him that I self-selected the text at his "just-right" reading level and he was bothered by the fact that he was expected to read it himself. That was a profound moment for me...we scaffold, we modify, we adjust, we make accommodations, we front-load---all the while adding to their learned helplessness. This is why gradual release of responsibility and zones of proximal development are key components to this careful balance.
ReplyDeleteI liked the social studies model using shared reading / reciprocal teaching; I could see using this in my classroom. I also have "Sir Cumference & the First Round Table", "Grapes of Math", "Math Curse" as well as others in that series within my math library but I never thought of using them for reader's theater...great idea!
I am going to check out that website. It sounds like a great resource. We also run into the learned helplessness. It is a balancing act to scaffold yet and help them to be independent learners. It is always a temptation for me to help them too much and I have to hold myself back from giving them the answer or just responding with a "that's correct". One way I that I remedy this is to use project based and cooperative activities in math and have them orally explain their reasoning.
DeleteI enjoy reading to my students and I think that they would like it if I read to them all day long. I do use shared reading for writing lessons, teaching roles for cooperative learning, and am going to try them with math as the text suggested.
Thanks Kathleen for the affirmation...sometimes you can't help but feel like an island! I will definitely try to get them into more project-based and cooperative learning activities. We do some in the gen ed classroom but most of the time they do not have peer models due to the class make-up. I have been advocating for the science teacher to consider this when forming partners / groups for labs...they are typically grouped together. I think he believes he is helping me / doing me a favor but it only hinders their learning experience and my level of support increases as a result.
DeleteI run into that in my science classroom too. Today, they were peer editing a writing piece using descriptive and actionable feedback. He wanted them to chose their won partners. I took it upon myself to encourage students who normally don't work together to pair up. I follow my caseload all day and have small group instruction for language and math intervention so overcoming the your students/my students thing is difficult.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteShared and read aloud are very common in an English classroom but reading the chapter and relevance of both, I have been taking the process for granted. When applying these methods I focused mostly on central questions and vocab and not expand the process by asking the students answer more questions that require critical thinking. Also, I assume that students understand the basics when they read aloud. That they know to ask "why am I reading this", "what does this mean and why is this character important". Alll questions essential for middle school but I never really applied to the secondary level - just because students reach a higher grade does not mean that the basics should not be practiced
ReplyDeleteFred, you make a good point about needing to continue to practice the basics even when a student is in a higher grade. I think the teacher should continue to model strategies, especially when reading aloud. I have a habit of asking questions out loud when I am reading. I figure if I am curious about something in the text, then the students certainly must be too. Or maybe it just comes from being an English major. Either way, model, model, model.
Delete1st thing: I just about slapped myself when I read, "...we have not made it clear what they should do with the new information." (regarding the question asked by students, "Is this going to be on the test?" Sure, a few may still ask out of habit, but I feel foolish for not seeing this connection before.
ReplyDelete2nd thing: I was extremely happy to learn more about shared reading as I've seen classrooms use the term for when students preform the reading aloud. It always seemed like an ineffective way to teach or model comprehension. The best part is it useful for any content area. The Think Aloud would be awesome in math as a way to model how to engage with the text, as it takes a different set of skills to comprehend than literature.
Question to those that use Read Alouds / Shared Readings... Do you ever mix the strategies? After they have been introduced and have been modeled to where the students are familiar with them, or do you stay focused on one at a time and allow the students to naturally experiment with them on their own? Example: Think Aloud with Rereading.
And, I was unclear about the Rereading- it spoke of reading a complete text then rereading it. I know that I often will reread as I'm reading when I don't feel comfortable with what I've just read. And I will stop to think about it and try to make connections with other parts of the text or my prior knowledge.
Carson, I too was glad to revisit the names of strategies and have them explained again... I sometimes get lost in all the terminology! I think the method you're referring to in 2nd point is "round robin" reading? Although we have been trained multiple times over the years to do away with it - who learns from hearing others' mistakes? - I, too, still know several teachers who continue to use it. Shared reading, followed by partner or small group reading is a better tool.
DeleteAs an Elementary teacher, I do read aloud almost daily and shared reading a couple of times a day... I think mixing strategies happens all the time, esp. in shared reading. I find it really depends on the text you're using, and planning in advance how you're going to use it. Putting sticky notes in your text at key points, or rereading a short passage that had a lot of really difficult vocabulary can definitely be used in the same reading! I have found that using the same text more than once or twice has really helped me to know which strategies are going to help most.
I just want to say that I can't agree more with the authors about the power of a good read aloud with kids of all ages... Having used some of the same books for many years, I am able to slip into accents and personalities of different characters so effortlessly, that kids fall in love with the characters and BEG me to read more every day! I derive the greatest pleasure in torturing my kids by ending a reading at a really suspenseful part - or crititcal turning point - and letting them stew about what they think happens until I read the next day. They make predictions, talk about what happened over lunch... it's amazing to see how into the story they get when they hear it read well, and know how much I love it! There's an unwritten rule in my room that students don't let substitutes or special educators read when I'm out; it's our special time! Courtney, it's that "pin drop" time in our room, when we really bond! And I think a lot of it has to do with finding the right texts, and reading and rereading them until I know by heart where to stop, and what for... but I think they get the most out of just hearing good fluency (or prosody, new word!) modeled. My all-time favorite, right now, and I've done it both read aloud and shared, where they follow, is Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli. If you haven't read it, do. : )
ReplyDelete