Routman begins by discussing teaching comprehension instead of just assessing it. She also discusses that "just because students can read smoothly and can retell what they have read with some details, does not mean they are able to go further." (117) I find this to be truly evident with my ESOL students because they are able to just tell you what they read, but are not able to "read between the lines." During Balanced Literacy, I try to work on going deeper, but have found that the students go back to what they comfortable with when reading independently. Another issue where I find evidence in my classroom is that student's comprehension lacks " having the background, prior experiences, or knowledge of the way texts and authors work." (118) Some of my students have never even been to Westgate mall, which is less than a mile from our school. They only go home or the nearby store to shop. It makes it hard for some of them to truly understand some of the meanings behind the vocabulary first then the meaning because of this.
Routman talks about the students being able to word call, but not all of my students are able to. I feel that they also have not always had the opportunity to read freely from a classroom library until this year. I do however, know that they have been read to a great deal. I know this will change for future students because our English Language Arts has changed for the good. I feel that this issue has limited my students comprehension because it has always been so guided. They have not had many opportunities to work independently. Routman states, "If we want readers to be critical thinker, inquirers, and problem solvers, we need to introduce them to challenging, interesting texts." (118) I agree with this and I have asked my students to get more challenging books to practice with a friend or parent at home. I also encourage them to read easy books over and over in order to be able to ask questions and think about the story.
Routman also talks about focusing on questioning, connections, and summarizing only can cause students to forget how to identify the main focus of the story.(119) My goal is to teach these things while also hitting main idea hard. The reason is because I have noticed that most of my students struggle with telling me the main idea of the story. Without the main idea the students are not able to complete the other assignments.I also agree with Routman on page 120 when she discusses that , "we teach our students strategies, but they do not always apply them. I find this in my classroom as well. I like to teach comprehension in a mini lesson, and review it a great deal in Balanced Literacy. I find that the students isolate it for only that day or lesson and cannot seem to revisit it strongly. It worries me, but also makes me work harder with those students to get them to understand. Routman talks about strategies that we, as teachers, implement, but may or may not always do ourselves. (121) Out of the whole list, I can say that I do highlight (underline, circle, use highlighter pen, sticky notes) when reading articles or books that I need to gather information from. I may connect, but do not ever think about it when reading, it's just second nature as are most of the strategies on the list. I am trying to teach my students these strategies in order to be college and career ready. I need to be expressing them more! Last year, I would assume that my students were getting the meaning just because they could read it fluently. Routman talks about this on page 121 of her book. Routman, just as others, talks a lot about modeling what you want students to do!!! (122) Modeling in isolation and with all of the steps will teach students! If they can relate then they will learn! Routman also talks about writing..."writing in the margins, note to return later." (123) I was just teaching this to my students. I want them to highlight important information and write what they understand in the margins. I find that I model asking basic comprehension questions to get my students talking, but struggle with getting my students to ask significant questions throughout the text. I model, but do not know how to get them to independently ask them. Just as Mark Anders from Mesa, Arizona, I believe that I too would find that my students only asked literal questions. (128) I feel that this is one area that I want to work on. I want my students to be independent critical thinkers that are able to comprehend on a deeper level!
Yes, you are so right with that opening statement--we can't just assess it, we have to actively TEACH comprehension! Kind of like learning to ride a bike--we don't expect kids to be born knowing how to ride a bike. We have to teach them. Unfortunately, I don't think we always think about reading in the same way--we want them to know how to do it before they come to us! And if it makes you feel any better, I lived just outside of Spartanburg for years before I went to Westgate Mall. Our kids might not have the same experiences we do, but imagine the experiences they have that we don't! I love learning from our kids and their families! You have worked so hard this year to align your ELA instruction with what you know will help your readers grow as strong, independent thinkers. This post beautifully speaks to your efforts! :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Angie,
ReplyDeleteI liked Routman's point to that we can't isolate comprehension instruction with single strategy lessons out of the context of real reading. She makes a great point that we have to model how proficient make use of multiple strategies and consciously make decisions while they are reading.