Teaching Tips By: Jill Caton Johnson
Hello All--
Your next assignment is to read the teaching tips article, What Makes A "Good" Reader? Asking Students To Define "Good" Readers found in your packet under the article tab.
Please do the following:
• Read the article and share any Ah Ha's
• Administer the questionnaire provided in your packet (modify to your grade level if needed)
• Reflect on what you learned and/or observed through this activity
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4 comments:
Because I do not have my own classroom I administered the questionnaire to the 4th graders I was about to have for a power point lesson. They had no idea ahead of time they would be doing something connected to reading. This meant that they had only their own opinions to draw off of rather than doing the questionnaire as part of a reading lesson.
My biggest Ah Ha was that the things they named that a good reader does seem to be the things the teacher tells them to do during reading time. Such things as be quiet, keep your eyes in the book, don't fool around, ETC. It really made me think about what my actions might be saying that I don't realize they are saying. Only a very few listed any of the strategies and one just simply said a good reader "uses the strategies." I also noticed that more than half thought of themsleves as either good or great readers. Only one thought of him/herself as a bad reader, while several said they were OK readers.
It seems that my use of the strategy terms as I teach my library and technology lessons may be a good way for me to help to reinforce them as good things to do while reading and help the students realize that the things they listed are connected to behavior NOT how to read.
I didn’t know what to expect as I administered the survey to my students. We talk a lot about reading strategies, but I know that they are no yet using the language.
For the first question, most of the students listed classmates. The students they listed were not always the best readers in the class. Over half of my class identified good readers by the type of books they see them reading.
The top responses for things that good readers do: understand what they read, summarize, and read fluently. Poor readers skip hard words, pretend read, and don’t understand what they read. Overall, about ½ of the responses related to oral reading (mumble, go slowly, don’t use expression, make mistakes) and ½ related to understanding (don’t stop and think, no strategies, etc).
Most of my class (3/4) identified themselves as good readers. A few said they were in the middle, and only 2 identified themselves as poor readers. It really surprised me that one of my high average readers listed herself as a poor reader. I pulled her aside the next day and asked her why. She said that she doesn’t understand what she reads. She beamed when I told her that I felt she was a good reader. I explained that she has no trouble understanding the books that most second graders read. She gets stuck when trying to read and understand harder books.
I see that my students are beginning to identify good reading with the use of reading strategies. I’m constantly reminding them that it’s not enough to be able to read the words. We talk a lot about self-monitoring, asking questions, summarizing… What I realized from the survey is that, although they understand that comprehension is important, most still associate good reading with the level of book they check out from the library. Now I understand while most rush to check out the chapter books, even when they aren't ready for them.
After reading the Teaching Tips article I was impressed with how the students in the January survey responses really seemed to comprehend the definition of what a "good" reader looks like and does. The teaching methods used regarding reading strategies must have been very effective to show such a change in the survey.
In my classroom I emphasize vocabulary activities during literature and spelling classes. The article did articulate that vocabulary emphasis is a vital component of reading comprehension.
After administering the survey to my students, I have observed that:
Good readers were identified by who volunteers a lot to read out loud. They were also identified as students who are seen reading often during their free time. Both of these examples have nothing to do with comprehension. So, I think the defintion of what a "good reader" is first needs to be clarified. I think that will happen when we work more on strategies for improving comprehension.
Many of the responses for what "poor" readers do is read slowly and ask many questions. I need to instill in the kids that question-asking is a central part to comprehension. I try to encourage question-asking, but apparently some of the students see this as a weakness.
Most of the kids thought they were an okay reader, but there were some that did not correctly identify themselves to the type of reader they really are.
I think that overall I want to educate my students on the terminology of strategic reading terms. I think if they're more aware of the comprehension strategies the students will truly appreciate what good reading is.
I have administered this survey before for a different children's literature class and found it useful. It was interesting to administer it the second time to see how they were different.
One of the things that I was happy with was that this time a great number of my students could state specific strategies. About half of them said that good readers make predictions. About a third said that they summarize what they read after each page before going on. This was a lot better than my previous class. Other than that the most common theme was that good readers read a lot. I was glad that they touched on that because I always tell them to get better at reading they are going to have to read, read, and read some more.
I was very happy that they could state certain strategies but realized that I need to focus on a little more than just predictions and summarizing. I would have liked for them to say something about visualizing because this is something I work with them quite a bit on. Also, no one said they question and think about what they read. I guess those are areas that I need to touch on more.
Finally, I thought it was interesting how they responded to the questions that ask them to identify the good readers in the class and are they a good reader. For the most part they were able to pick out the best readers with ease. They also had good appraisals of their own abilities. I guess I don't know if it is a good or bad thing that it is so obvious who the good readers are.
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