Chapter 9 Post and Reply Due 10-23-2011 DeVries, B. A. (2011) Literacy assessment and intervention for the elementary classroom Chapter 9- Comprehension of Informational Text
The first part of chapter nine really caught my attention with the list of factors with the reader that may affect the comprehension process. I know a few of my students have trouble with decoding unknown, one-syllable words, with the ability to read at an adequate rate, and with the ability to analyze words with multiple syllables. A lot of these troubles stem from their struggles with phonics but it was informative for me to have a complete list of why my students might be struggling with comprehension. This chapter really broke down the structure of informational text. Honestly I think this is what teachers should do for all students when reading informational text. They should break down the format for them before they ever begin reading. This way the students know what to expect and they know where they will go throughout the reading. I think it’s okay for teachers to explicitly state what they want students to gather from the information and then have the students find it in the reading afterward. If a student knows they’ll be searching for the cause to a problem in the text they’ll know what to comprehend. I struggled with the leveled passages comprehension assessment we administered. I just didn’t feel like it explained to the students exactly what to look for in the text. I think often times the way we test and teach students is to vague and we need to be more specific with exactly what we want them to remember. I learned a lot in this chapter but I just really liked how it broke the format of informational text down and like I said above I think this is key for us as teachers to do when trying to help our students understand informal text.
Shannon, I agree with you that teachers should definitely break down the format. For instance, there is always new vocabulary words in informational texts and I can always remember my teachers just having us look up the definitions before hand. This chapter basically said that this strategy doesn't work. It's best to introduce the vocab ourselves and give a definition in our words that fits how the word is used in the text.
Shannon- I agree with you on helping students comprehend by breaking down the format and letting them know what to look for while reading. It doesn't seem any different to me than breaking down key vocab before reading the story. Great post!
Chapter 9 discusses the comprehension of informational text. Even the title of this chapter sounded boring but I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading it. One of the most important things to remember about introducing informational text is to make sure the students are interested in the text and it's at their reading level. This goes back to getting to know our students and their interests, which is what we did the first couple of sessions of tutoring. It's crazy to think that some ones prior knowledge and home life can impact their ability to comprehend information text. The example of the two fifth grade students, one who has never left her community and the other who has traveled all over, was a very helpful example. Basically, students who have limited background knowledge will have a harder time comprehending informational text then a student who has had experiences outside their immediate world. It bothers me that a parents bad attitude about reading or school in general can affect how their child views it. That's why it's important for us as teachers to be positive about everything I teach. Not everyone likes math but if we give off the vibe that we hate it then our students will see that and probably start feeling the same way. The book states that the home, community, and school are the biggest factors affecting a student. The home being the most influential environment factor. I liked how the book stated that some parents talk to their child but not with them. I bet this is very true which is sad to think about. Once again their was a good example of two different scenarios in the community section. It really opened my eyes up to how big of a factor the community can be. The third environment that influences children is the school, and more importantly the classroom teachers. This week in my tutoring session we will be reading an informational text on spring weather. I'm very curious to see how my sounds react to it. We'll be filling out a KWL and this will help me see how much of the text the students comprehended. One of my students in my group is really interested in tornado's and he's always bringing in non-fiction books about them for me to read. Usually the other three kids are bored to death when I read them but Adan loves it. Hopefully, this weeks guided reading book will go over well!
Andrea - I too was surprised at the amount of knowledge I gained from this chapter. I agree with you statement about the importance of making sure students are interested in what they are assigned to read. As well as making sure they are able to read the assigned text. This goes back to the rule about getting to know you students. Do not just assume that all your 3rd graders are reading at 3rd grade level.
Chapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. During the first few pages of this chapter it talks about different factors that may affect a reader’s comprehension process. This really grabbed my attention after working with my 1st graders for tutoring. My content focus is not comprehension, however I feel as if their comprehension is improving while their decoding and phonics is improves. My favorite portion of this chapter is how it breaks down the format for students before the student is required to read. I feel as if this is an excellent way to teach student just how to understand what they are reading. I feel this should be the way all educators teach all of their students to read. This should not just be to teach a child who is struggling at reading. I am a believer in giving students distant instructions while reading. If you want a student to look for the setting of the story, tell them that before they being their reading. It’s not that they will suddenly stop reading once they hit that point it’s that they will feel a sense of accomplishment once they know they have found the answer is a story. For me this relates back to the leveled passages I gave my students. I did not tell them what to look for as they were reading and I do not feel as if some of my students actually took the time to comprehend what they we reading. I would like to retest my students on this, but give them a sense of what I will be asking them once they have finished. I feel that they would do ten times better on the assessment if it was set up this way.
Matraca, I agree with you that every teacher should break down the structure of a text. The break down of the text give students new ways to understand the information they are reading. Students will then know what kind of information they are looking at when they read key words. Like you said, this should not just be done for struggling readers; rather, it should be done for all readers!
Matraca, I agree that it is important to give the student the objective of the reading at the beginning. The chapter talked about using graphic organizers during the instruction of informational text, this would be a great tool to use while reading through the text so that the students are able to follow along and add to their organizer.
I agree that students may show better results if an objective is known of a reading before rather than after. If you just ask to read a text the student may just read through quickly and skip over some words that don't know, just to get done fast. If it is know there is a reason they will take it more seriously and try to understand the text. Good post!
- Chapter 9 discussed comprehension of informational text. There are three sources that disrupt the comprehension process of informational text. Those sources are 1) factors within the reader, 2) factors within the reader’s environment, and 3) factors within a text. Factors with the reader include the ability to recognize a large bank of sight words and the ability to analyze and decode one-syllable and multiple syllable words. Students who have more personal experiences and a positive attitude tend to comprehend informational texts better. A reader’s home, community, and school are three places where students spend most of their time. Research shows that students who are better at comprehending have parents who read and discuss many different types of texts with their children and have a variety of reading material in their home. - I do not have any questions at this time. - The “Factors Within the Text” section made me stop and look at that issue differently. Often times, teachers just ask lower level questions to the struggling readers. I am not sure if this is done to build confidence when the student answers the questions right or because that is really all that teachers expect them to be able to answer. However, comprehension requires many higher order thinking skills. We need to give all students the chance to develop and apply those skills to think out of the box and answer more difficult questions. I am sure once I get into the classroom, I will fall in that trap, too. After reading that section, I will pay more attention to the level of questions I ask each student and try to avoid only asking lower level questions. - I feel very lucky to have grown up in a home where my parents read to me often. I loved sitting down with them when I was little. Since I am the oldest child, they had time to read to me a lot. By the time my sister was born, both my brother and I were active in sports and other activities leaving my sister to follow us around. I think that had a huge impact on her love for reading and comprehension skills. Today, my mom fights with my sister all of the time to get her to read. I honestly think that the fighting is a result of not sitting down and reading together when she was younger.
I agree with you in the area of thinking and asking higher order thinking questions. It is important that we help the students create the skills to use and process questions of that nature.
The three sources that affect comprehension of informational text stood out to me immediately. I think most importantly though that the factors that come from within the reader really made me think. I did not realize there needed to me so many different abilities, knowledge, and previous experiences for informational text comprehension. It seems like a lot to do when you think of an elementary student, and I now see why comprehending informational texts can be so challenging.
I found the section with organizational structures of expository texts to be incredibly helpful (starts on page 220). I have heard of and studied reading materials with all of these types of structures, but it’s nice to be able to read about and see what these structures look like.
On page 232 it talks about selecting informational text for an English learner, and I kind of believe that these guidelines would be beneficial for picking materials for all student, with all abilities and reading levels.
Since I am focusing on comprehension in my tutoring groups, I will definitely be taking advantage of these ideas in the “Intervention” section. I have been relying on several graphic organizers, but it’s always nice to switch things up a little bit from time to time.
Emily - I agree with you that the information on selecting informational texts for ELL students would prove beneficial for selecting material for all students.
I am also using comprehension as my content focus in my tutoring group and get caught up with graphic organizers, so I also agree that the ideas in the "Intervention" section of each chapter are extremely helpful. I wish I hadn't rented this textbook because I would love to hang on to all of the ideas.
Chapter nine is about informational text. I was very interesting in reading about the things that affect comprehension. I love seeing how all of the tools we are learning about play together to make a fluent and successful reader. My second graders are really struggling with phonics, they spend so much time decoding the words that they have no idea what they just read or even said. Its pretty upsetting. However, as the weeks go by I can see them becoming more and more comfortable with decoding and seem to do it quicker each session! I think that we need to give our students as much as help as we can during our instruction time. I think that one way to get as much as we can out of our time is by giving them clear direction when it comes to comprehension. I think that students should know what to look for while reading. It doesn't seem any different than breaking down key vocab before reading the material. We wouldn't expect them to start reading a book with difficult vocab without giving them some instruction on the words first.
Kristle, I also agree with seeing a little bit of progress in the short time I have been tutoring my students. I think you also right for giving the students direction when reading, or a purpose. Before my lessons I will usually tell them what story we're reading, let them see pictures, then tell them what we will do afterwards. It seems to help my students pay better attention than if i just say, "first we're doing this," then when we start something else state what we're doing then, and so on.
It is really awesome to see how you as a first grade teacher can affect how a child comprehends in the 4th and 5th grade. Its crazy how it all comes together as the child gets older. In the Primary grades some things may seem pointless but as you see in this chapter it all comes together nicely.
Chapter 9 is on comprehension of informational text. The case study at the beginning of the chapter was really adorable and made sense especially for an ESOL student. It’s easy to understand how a student could feel “dumb” by not passing state tests and having to attend summer school.
One of the most interesting items that I read in this textbook, and probably has the most impact toward proficient reading/speaking at an early age was this sentence – “these students [poor comprehension/poor oral skills] have parents who talk to them, but not with them.” It reiterates the importance of having basic conversation and discussion with young children, not just talking at them by demanding good behavior, doing chores, etc.
It is interesting to note that educators today use more computer programs and internet resources than they did a year ago; which is why the information on electronic text was so critical for me. As educators, we must become familiar and comfortable utilizing technology and adapting to new technology as it arises so that we can educate students how to use it properly as well. With the development of e-readers and the heavy use of computers in today’s society, it is crucial that students learn to evaluate the credibility of websites.
An important aspect of reading, especially with ELL students, is discussing each page so that the comprehension of information, not just the words, occurs. I often get rushed going through the tutoring group and get caught up in just the vocabulary aspect of comprehension, when in reality, if I incorporated more visuals of what is occurring in the story or discuss with students at the end of each page what is happening, comprehension would likely increase better than just practicing vocabulary.
The assessment piece of this chapter was not new information and was more of a review than anything else. The intervention pieces were helpful as well, which they usually are.
The item that you mentioned about how parents talk at their children instead of with them. I found that interesting as well. I never thought about that before, but now after reading this chapter I could name several parents who do this. I think many of them don't know how to talk with their children and it is a skill they need to work on. Also the technology- it is amazing how much it is used today compared to when I was in grade school.
In the beginning of chapter nine it discusses the different factors that might affect the students’ process of comprehension. Some of the students will not understand what they are reading if they do not have prior knowledge in the area of the text. Also the student has more of a chance not to understand the text if they have a bad attitude toward the topic or have no interest in the topic. The teacher should try their best to pick topic areas that interest the students and drive their motivation to read and comprehend the text. Another major area that has an effect on the students’ attitude toward reading comes from their home and or their community. If reading is not viewed as a high priority at home the students will more than likely view it the same. I like the way the chapter shows different ways to teach expository text and gives an example of how to sequence the order in which you should introduce the information and so on. Eye appeal also plays a major role in the interest the students might possess when reading the text or viewing the website. As a teacher we should view the information first and make sure it is appropriate for the age of the student and that it is easy for them to read and follow. Another great tool that books have is a table of contents, it would be beneficial for the students to understand the format of the table of contents and how to use the information.
Home and community have a huge impact on children these days. If they children are not encouraged to read at home, they will not feel that reading is important. As in all areas of school, having a parents support is super important in the learning process.
Thank you for all those that have posted already! Great work...
Class,
Just a reminder to follow the specific guidelines that are listed in your syllabus in order to continue receiving full credit for posts. For blogs after spring break, simply writing 6-10 sentences will not suffice. Be sure to answer all the questions are you asked to respond to, i.e. -->
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
**Hope you all have a safe and exciting break :) **
Chapter 9 discusses the topic of comprehension of informational text. "Teaching means helping a child realize his potential," Erich Fromm. Basic reading skills are necessary to comprehend all types of text. There are 3 factors discussed that affect the comprehension process; 1) factors within the reader, 2) the reader's environment, and 3) the text. These factors include prior knowledge and experience, interest and attitudes, home & community, synthesize information and applying critical-thinking skills. Comprehension involves organizational structure, analysis, and developing critical literacy. Each type of text varies in how the reader should approach to get the best out of the reading. I found the sections over comprehension of expository text and technology and English Learners instructional recommendations very informative. Comprehension is an important factor within our everyday lives. Comprehension is another factor in becoming a good reader, just as phonics and vocabulary. Therefore, we should break down and instruct and assist students with comprehension just as the other factors of reading. No question at this time.
I found the part about the home and community to be very interesting. I know some people do have bad experiences and don't want to encourage their children. I also know for a fact the some people have bad experiences and do encourage their children. I was never good at reading when I was a child and when I became pregnant I began to read to my child and have continued to this day. I want my children to succeed in every way possible and be better readers than I was.I know there are others out there who feel the same way, even though it wasn't mentioned in the text.
I agree that comprehension is an important factor within our everyday lives. Informational text is very important to students especially in school, because of their text books. Most of the time students do not enjoy reading these kinds of books, but hopefully through teaching them the was the book suggest will help them to understand and comprehend what is needed.
Chapter 9 begins by talking about the 4th grade slump. This is one of the reasons I think that the Primary Grades are so important. If a child tries and tries and tries for 3 years and still cannot get the concept of decoding words, when he/she gets to 4th grade it gets to hard. The child ends up giving up and not trying because he/she does not have the foundation to read books at that level. This is a part of school I find to be very sad, but happens to kids all the time. Students just progress through grades without really having the foundation they need. there are a list of factors within the reader listed on pg. 217. Just looking at that list is intimidating as an instructor. Instilling all of this knowledge into your students in a short amount of time is difficult. When the chapter goes into Expository texts I agree totally. Expository texts is laid out and sequenced differently than narrative texts. I find it extremely hard to read expository texts. All of the different parts a student must know to be able to read informational texts is crazy. I guess I never really put it all together. Problem/Solution, Persuasion, Listing, Compare/Contrast are just a few of the types of reading a child must know. In the 4th grade students really start using these types of books. Assessment wise, I know that in my school from 1st grade to 12th grade we took Accelerated Reader tests to test our comprehension.
The 4th grade slump... o dear! I work with a 4th grade student who is in this exact position. Decoding words is like mush to her, it makes no sense. We keep pounding away and she gradually makes small strides. I can see her getting down on herself at times when she can't do what her peers are doing because she simply can't read what is required to do the project or activity. I am grateful that as a Para I am able to help her. The factors within the reader are long but with practice, practice, practice most children can master these sight words or begin to decode unknown words on their own. Getting the student to believe in themselves is half the battle.
I do agree Jena, but as I was reading in the chapter another key (along with practice) is to make sure the students are interested in the text. If I put myself in the shoes of an elementary student, or anyone that struggles with reading for that matter, I would not want to read something that could not hold my attention for more than a couple minutes.
I believe by making the students interested in the text, they will be that much more likely to want to practice, and get better!
1. Analysis of the reading/issue. Chapter 9 discussed comprehending informational text. The chapter says that students in grades 1-3 should have developed three basic skills and if they are lacking in these skill when they reach 4th grade they may hit the 4th grade slump, due to exhaustion and underdeveloped skills. To help students teachers should provide that is interesting to the student. Teachers need to keep students engaged and challenged. The chapter also discusses seven steps to be a successful teacher. I really like the #2 Expect all students to succeed. I think this is very important. The chapter also discusses the types of text that are informational and some of the reasons it is hard for students to understand. One of the main reasons is that that each type of text can be organized differently. The chapter also had many uses for graphic organizers and activities at the ends like the other chapters. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. I don’t have any questions about this section. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? I never realized that different types of text were organized so differently. I guess on some level I did, but I never looked too much into something like that. The text has great ideas about how to help students recognize the different patterns in the text. 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. I remember doing a time line graphic organizer during my history classes. When I had to do projects we had to include time lines. For example, I remember doing a biography on George Washington in 7th grade. I had to include a time line of George Washington’s life and battles.
You're so right about teachers needing to keep students engaged and challenged. As teachers we'll want our students to do great and succeed but we don't want them to do this because the work is easy for them. It will be our job to make sure they are succeeding through challenging work that forces them to critically think. It will also be important that as future teachers we push them to do this challenging work but we let them know that they can succeed when working through it. Reinforcing positive expectations makes the students believe they can succeed when they are struggling. Like you said, it's extremely important that we always expect our students to succeed! Good post!
Chapter nine is about comprehension of informational text. This chapter starts out by stating that there are three factors that affect the comprehension process. These three factors are within the reader, within the reader’s environment and within the text. Factors that are within the reader include prior knowledge and experience, and interests and attitudes. Factors within the reader’s environment include home, community, and school. Factors within the text include the material requires students to synthesize information, analyze authors’ credentials, and apply critical-thinking skills when confronted with conflicting information. How expository text is organized, chronology or sequence, description or enumeration, listing, classification or hierarchy, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, and persuasion. Then it goes on to tell teachers what order to teach expository text in. It tells how best to teach English Learners expository text. Assessment ideas are given, and the then the best part is the strategies and activities at the end. I was not aware that there were so many ways to teach informational text, I am very glad that I read this chapter. I have no questions about this chapter.
Chapter 9 covers comprehension of informational text. The factors listed that affect comprehension are stated in the chapter as the following: factors within the reader, factors within the reader's environment, and factors within the text. The organizational structures of expository text may be different than other types of texts. The reader must find new ways to understand this type of text. I have recently been introduced to the new vocabulary terms: considerate and inconsiderate texbook styles. These terms were used by a 5th grade science teacher who was explaining that the new science textbook was inconsiderate text style because of the following reasons: main ideas are not explicitly stated and new concepts are not clearly and concisely explained. The text is not in a logical structure pattern. When selecting informational text for my own classroom I will take into consideration English learners. The books must contain accurate information and use illustrations that complement the text. The books must be age appropriate and deal with the same topics I am teaching in class. The part that I liked the best about chapter 9 was the section on assessments. Informal reading inventories are assessments that I will use to assess oral and silent reading comprehension. Rubrics are becoming more and more popular in schools across the area where I live. I hear about rubrics from the building level all the way up to the superintendent. I appreciate this chapter giving an example of an effective rubric in figure 9.10. Again, this chapter does a great job of giving a variety of activities for the teacher to use in the classroom. The graphic organizers section for expository text I found to be especially useful. The ideas for multiple graphic organizer on pages 242-246 will be used in my personal classroom.
Chapter 9 is titled Comprehension of Informational Text. If I was a student in elementary school, just the sheer title of the chapter would sound dry and boring to me. I mean, even to this day when I think of informational text I think of textbooks and the like, and envision myself reading much more enjoyable materials.
It was beneficial to me for to read the text under the heading "School" on page 220. This section broke down effective teaching points such as models the love of reading, expects all students to succeed in reading, accepts all students as who/what they are, etc. This was a nice positive thing to read, rather than just reading how dry informational text is, and how it's so tough to get students to enjoy reading it. This section went in to how a positive school environment and teacher would handle "dry and boring" text.
One example the author gives in this chapter to spruce up informational text is to use Electronic Text Features. This could be anything from E-books to websites designed to help understand a related text. This is relevant to me because of the growing infacination, and the inevitability that our eduational systems are growing towards more technology driven classrooms.
Overall, this is an issue I have thought a lot about as a prospective teacher, and a relief to read up on! Good chapter!
I agree that informational text can be "dry and boring," but as you said it also depends on the teacher and how it's taught. I did a non-fiction text in my guided reading group on sea turtles and the kids enjoyed it more than the books we did based on the movie "Marley and Me." I think children are naturally curious and with the right activities and delivery, informational text can be something they really enjoy. A nice benefit is that the ability to comprehend informational text is so important and a skill that will help them further themselves.
I think the same thing reading informational text can be "dry and boring". I hate reading text books but I like how you say it also depends on the teacher. I had a teacher that when we were supposed to read the chapter for a class she would turn the reading into a jeopardy game as we read it, this made it fun for all of us and we were gathering information as we were reading. I also like the "School" section on page 220.
Chapter 9 discusses comprehension of an informational text. With my tutoring group I have done both fiction and non-fiction texts and have found that non-fiction is much harder for them to comprehend and pull information from as discussed in this chapter. I found the factors that affect comprehension helpful, because I now know better what to look for and how to prepare lessons to overcome these factors. I also hadn’t considered how the organization of a text could affect comprehension. However, it makes sense that as students become more experienced readers and text becomes more complicated there are differences within the organization of text that they must be taught to recognize or comprehension can be affected. The section on assessment reinforced for me the effectiveness of the assessments we completed at the beginning of the semester. I also liked the section on “assessing readers’ growth” and will work to help my students develop their ability to self monitor and recognize their own miscues. Lastly this chapter had many great activities to help students increase their comprehension of informational text and I think I may try to use some of the graphic organizers and guided reading strategies that were suggested. Overall this chapter is a definitely a good source of information on how to help students increase their comprehension of an informational text.
I have also used both nonfiction and fiction books with my students. I have noticed that it's much harder for them to comprehend. This chapter definitely gave me some great insight and ideas that I need to keep in mind if I choose another nonfiction story in the future.
Chapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. The beginning of this chapter has a great comparison of student interest in informational text, based off of concrete experiences they have had. These types of experiences are important for students to identify what is factual versus fictional. It is important for educators to positively outweigh the negative influences that a child’s home may place on reading. With this being said, the importance of high expectations is evident to the success for all.
I find this chapter highly informative on outlining multiple structures of expository text. In order for a lesson to be effective, the educator must understand of the content and which structure it is presented. The numbered list on page 232 will be very beneficial to me as I select appropriate leveled informational text.
As I read through the multiple variations of activities, there are two that I would be interested in using within the same unit. The first is the check list; I think that this would help students identify the meaningful of the reading. The second activity is a learning log; the students can take the information from the check list to sequence what they have learned and recall events of the text.
Brooke - Like you, I always find several intervention activities that I would like to use with my tutoring group. The learning log was one of my favorites. It allows students to recall the information and put it in writing. This gives them the chance to work on their writing AND comprehension! The checklists are always a great tool, too.
Both of your comments resonated with me because I also am implementing comprehension in my lesson plans with my tutoring students. After reading the chapter, I really enjoyed reading the activity regarding scanning. This technique is a really valuable one with struggling readers that need to retrieve information from a text on a worksheet or on a test. This is a core skill that needs to be mastered in order for our students to become great test takers and able to retrieve if they cannot comprehend the information from the text!
Chapter 9 talks about comprehension of information text. I remember as a young child I found it harder to comprehend information text. State test all use this type of reading to test their students. One thing in this chapter that I found was interesting was that the way the text is organized could effect if the text get comprehended. On page 220 the text under "school" talked about effective teaching points. This was great because it talked about the love of reading, student success. This chapter was a great source of information on helping students to increase their comprehension of reading information text.
Megan, I have seen so many times in the state tests where there is vocabulary that children will not understand because they have not been exposed too. I don't think it's fair that a student doesn't do well because of lack of experience due basically because of income level.
I also found the state tests being a little harder with their vocabulary. I sometimes had problems with them, and I was in high school. I also liked the teaching points on page 220. I think they will be helpful in the up coming tutoring sessions and in the classroom!
Chapter 9 Comprehension of Informational Text. I know that it is very difficult for people to comprehend informational text compared to comprehending something that is fun to read. Chapter 9 looks at three factors; factors within the reader, factors within the reader’s environment, and factors within the text. There is a list of factors within the readers and the one that really stands out is the ability to connect background knowledge to the text because I know many children don’t get any background knowledge leaving them nothing to lean on. This goes back to letting your children experience everything; ask questions, touch, taste, listen, and just learn even if it seems trivial. Factors in the environment I think just hit me this weekend when I took my daughter to the library. She is 8 doing a paper on killer whales. Several of the books she got has informational material above her reading level, so here I am teaching her how to pull the important information out of the books. This chapter also incorporates lots of graphic organizers which is a great way to organize information. Many of these organizational structures I have seen and used; cause/effect, problem/solution, persuasion, compare/contrast, and list. Classification or hierarchy I have not thought about before and definitely useful in science. I think it is great how they mention eye appeal because I know as I am scanning books or the internet, seeing is one of the first thing that either pulls me in or sends me somewhere else. Vocabulary is so important, I know that technical vocabulary can be so much harder, but it is so important to understand the text. There is a definite need to bring ELL’s to small groups for informational text.
I love hierarchy charts, I am using one in my formal social studies lesson plan next week. Graphic organizers are great for teaching students how to organize their thoughts, which helps with comprehension. As students get older they will automatically be able to do this in their head, but only if we teach them how early on. It amazes me how much background knowledge and the family effects a students ability to comprehend subjects. This is why it is so important to get to know your students so that you can find their strengths and weakness and build off of those rather than just guessing.
This chapter is very helpful to me because my content focus is comprehension and this week we are focusing on informational text; such as a recipe. One of the first parts that caught my attention was the section that discussed how important it is to find informational text that interests students and is at their reading level. I did two informational text before now, one was over trains and the other over airplanes (which my students were both very interested in) you would have been surprised at how well their comprehension was over these topics. They were able to activate their prior knowledge and build on it while reading. They stopped me to add to the book over topics that they knew about. It really paid off to find out what my students were interested in. Another section talked about the vocabulary in the text. Informational text vocabulary is very specific and sometimes hard to understand. I am so glad that the book said that it is better to have the teacher tell the students what the vocabulary means in the context of the text rather than have them look it up and try to guess which definition fits in the text. With all of my vocabulary I give the students a chance to tell me what they think it means and then I tell them what it means in terms of the book. For example I am doing my lesson over a recipe; some of my vocabulary is the ingredients. I want my students to know what they are going to be using rather than just guessing. Finally it is very important that teachers help students to learn how to read informational text, explaining the format and breaking it down. It like anything else, we need to teach students how to learn rather than trying to cram their brains full.
I am also focusing my tutoring sessions around comprehension. I have used informational texts (Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the first things we read since sessions started during Black History Month). I have some students that love history, but I could tell most of them were bored. Interest when it comes to informational texts is clearly important, and will affect how my students learn. It's something I need to work at to keep all students interested when choosing nonfiction / informational texts.
Nicole Schell 1. Analysis of the reading/issue: It can be hard for students to transition from reading narrative texts to the informational texts. This is especially hard for students who are still struggling with the basics of reading or whose first language isn't English. The information is organized differently, so finding essential information can be more difficult. With the incorporation of the internet and various other texts in classroom lessons, students have even more things to consider and process. Chapter 9 does a great job of pinpointing what students need to be able to transition to informational texts and how instructors can assess those students. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue: I didn’t really have any questions about this chapter. It was very well written, as usual, and clarified everything in great detail. I did find the part about a student’s background knowledge to be quite accurate. You can really tell which parents have exposed their children to books, travel, vocabulary, etc. and those who have not. For some parents, they may not realize how beneficial these things are to their child’s education. For others, they may not know how to give their children those experiences or support due to their own lack of knowledge or exposure to those things. As teachers, we have to be able to step in and provide background knowledge any way we can. Books, websites, field trips, and many other things will allow us to provide those experiences or knowledge that our students might be lacking. I think some parents get a bad rap sometimes because they are looked at as being negligent in providing such opportunities and experiences. If they didn’t grow up with them or they don’t realize how important they are, they aren’t likely to pursue those things for their own children. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? This reading really reflects the experience I’m having with one of my tutoring students. He is not easily engaged unless the book is about one of his interests. I originally had trouble with his behavior until I decided to really focus in on his interests. The week before spring break we covered a topic that he was really interested in and….no behavior issues. He was engaged, worked hard, and was a complete joy! It really hits home to read that a student’s interests are key to their success. 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience: As a young child, I didn’t like informational texts. Like the chapter discussed, I had the narrative organization down pat! The expository organization, however, almost made me dizzy. I didn’t know where to find things, how to organize the things I did find, and always seemed to be lost. Luckily, I had a wonderful middle school teacher who really taught us how to read informational texts. I find myself using those same strategies to help my kids now.
1. Analysis of reading/issue. Chapter 9 discusses the comprehension of informational texts. This was an interesting chapter because students do need to understand how and be able to comprehend from informational texts because that’s what their textbooks are going to be. They will also need this skill for research projects. I liked the boxes that showed what skilled and unskilled readers can do because it helps less experienced teachers identify the problem and intervention can be done to help those students. I also liked how the book broke down the different organizational structures of the expository text. This will help teachers identify and put us on the right paths to help students who are struggling. On page 230, it gave ‘instructional recommendations’ for ELL students. I think this section will help everyone. Teachers also need to understand the selection of these texts. We shouldn’t be choosing something our students will not understand or frustrate them. Once again, the intervention ideas were wonderful and I want to use them again. At the end of this chapter, there were some websites we can visit to find excellent expository texts, and they are on page 256. I believe we should utilize our resources to make the best experiences for our students we can. 2. Questions/contradictions about the reading issues. I don’t have any questions at this time. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently. As always, these chapters allow me to look at teaching ELLs differently. I think the section in this chapter was very helpful because it breaks everything down and gives ideas and strategies we can use to help them along. I know that I will have diversity in my classroom and I want to address that in the best ways. I like how the text said that we should allow each student the opportunity to discuss their ideas or explain the concept in their reading. It could be interesting to see how students react when there is more than one topic being read about and then sharing it with the class. I see a great project coming up! 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. This chapter made me think on my tutoring group because they’re reading a lot of informational texts right now. They are researching Titanic for a presentation they are going to give on April 12th. I know that I’m going to need to teach them what to pick out and discuss during their time, but I’m reading and this chapter couldn’t have come at a better time because it will help me explain how to use those texts they are working with that this time.
I too found many of the same interests in chapter 9. Figure 9.1 on skilled and unskilled readers will definitely benefit us as teachers to help those students that need intervention. The ELL section was very informative. At this time, I do not have any students that are ELL in my tutoring session, but I do in my internship. I like your idea on researching the Titanic and making a presentation about it. My daughter did that in her sixth grade class and loved it because it was something she was very interested in. I look forward to reading about more ideas from you. Good blog!
Chapter 9 discuss comprehension of information text. I found this chapter useful like many of my peers, because I too and using comprehension as the content focus for my tutoring sessions. This chapter immediately details the importance of the factors affecting the comprehension process. These include factors within the reader, the reader’s environment and the text itself. The reader must be able to recognize sight words, decode words, read at an adequate rate, connect their prior knowledge, summarize what they have read, and then they must go one step further when reading informational text. They must have knowledge of organizational patterns, have background knowledge of the topic, and know certain vocabulary that is related to the topic. This is no small chore, for any reader. In my tutoring sessions, I am using insects as my theme, so it has been fun to find both fictional, humorous stories and informational texts. I have tried to use my read aloud to read a fun book about a certain insect, and then pull in the informational story in guided reading. The students seem to enjoy comparing the fictional insect to the insect in the informational text.
To read for information is very different from reading for entertainment. Students would rather read for simple entertainment or pleasure rather than having to read for specific information or textual content. It is our job to instruct students on how to read for information and how to make it enjoyable and straight to the point. I believe that by giving students the specific information or guidelines needed/desired from the instructor (expected outcomes) students will be able to establish and decipher the information in easier chunks.
I agree with you when you stated “I believe that by giving students the specific information or guidelines needed/desired from the instructor (expected outcomes) students will be able to establish and decipher the information in easier chunks.” I’m glad you brought this up. Student should know what is expected from them. This makes it easier not only for the teachers but for the students too.
Chapter 9 is over understanding the reading of informational text. Until I was in reading methods last semester, I never thought about how important it is to teach children about informational text. I found this chapter adding to the knowledge I had obtained from reading methods. The first thing I found in the chapter that will be such a benefit is figure 9.1. I can use those descriptions to help me better determine where a child is on their understanding. Being that my content focus is comprehension, I found many of the subheadings very informative, especially the assessment part. At the end of the chapter were many types of graphic organizers that I can see myself using during my tutoring sessions. I have no questions about this chapter at this time.
After reading chapter 9 covering the topic of comprehension of information of text, I received a wealth of information regarding this topic. The text states that three important sources that affect comprehension in students. These sources lie with factors within the reader, factors within the reader's environment, and factors within the text. Basic reading skills are required, life experiences are needed to give students prior knowledge, and positive attitudes towards reading are great ways to build comprehension skills in students or children. In my tutoring sessions we are focusing on comprehension skills, this chapter is a wonderful resource for all of my lesson plans in the future.
Alison, I too am focusing on comprehension skills in my tutoring group. A lot of us here in my area have close ties to cattle ranching so I used an informational reader on real cowboys for our first piece of literature. The students could easily relate to the text and were eager to discuss their own experiences in comparison to those we were reading about. I feel that their life experiences and background knowledge made this reader much more meaningful and enjoyable for the students.
There is so much to consider when selecting appropriate informational texts for our students. This chapter gives us a good set of guidelines to follow when doing so in the selecting informational text section on page 232. The first piece of literature I used in my tutoring group was an informational reader about real cowboys. I didn’t fully consider each of these guidelines at the time, but the reader met every one of them. So, I can say with certainty that the a-zreading website provides quality informational reading material. I like the example provided in the English language learners section featuring Mr. Chung’s class. He and his students act out the new vocabulary when possible. This is something that my fifth grade tutoring students love to do. It is a fun and effective way to help all students understand and remember new vocabulary and concepts. Like most ESOL strategies you can use it to help everyone.
I think acting out vocabulary words is a great way to make sure the students understand the content of a book and the vocabulary. I think anytime I am able to have a mental picture of a new word it really helps me to connect and understand what is being spoken.
Chapter 9 was over Comprehension of Informal texts. This section talked about why the primary grades are so important because they learn a lot of this information throughout these time periods. It gave different factors that affect comprehension which I found very interesting. These factors were: 1) factors within the reader, 2) the reader's environment, and 3) the text. As stated before, I found this section of the text interesting because it provided readers with so much useful information about each factor. As far as contradictions go for this chapter, I feel that it would be very hard to teach comprehension of informal text to ESOL students. This would not be their fault but as a teacher, you would definitely have to start low on comprehension and slowly build your way up. This reading reflect on me and made me low at things differently because of my own experiences. Comprehension is my main content focus area for my tutoring group so this reading gave me plenty of things to think about and look at differently when I write my lesson plans from now on.
Kristi, my focus is also comprehension and this chapter gave me lots to think about since I want the esol endorsement. we learned in Ed Psych that ELL students don't acquire academic language skills until late middle and high school. I agree that it will be very difficult to teach ELL's who have not yet acquired the academic language but this is where we will have to get creative.
Chapter nine deals with comprehension of informational text. This chapter was a very important read for me, since my focus for my students is comprehension. It was interesting to read the basic skills that are necessary to comprehend all types of text. Since I have struggled with comprehension it was interesting to read how to teach these important skills. This made me understand why my reading specialist assessed me the way she did. I also found figure 9.1 very useful. It is very important to know the characteristics of skilled and unskilled readers. This way the teacher can properly assess students. I am glad the text recognized that not all students come from language rich environments. This is so important for teachers to know. Teachers should not fully rely on the parents to provide a language enriched environment. One of my favorite sections to read in this chapter was organizational structure of expository text. This is because I am not very familiar with the topic. I also was not familiar with persuasion, sequence for teaching expository text organizational patterns, analysis of informational text. My favorite section in this chapter would be over electronic text feature. Including electronic text is so important because nowadays technology is so crucial. So far this is the only chapter that was not all familiar with. I have gained a lot of information from this chapter. This chapter gave great detail in explaining the sections; therefore I do not have any questions at this time.
Marei, My content focus is also comprehension and I must say that I was surprised to find some good readers who were not comprehending half of what they read. I had one 6th grader who was reading at 9th graded leveled reading but could only answer 2 comprehension questions at grade level. What went wrong? I agree with you that we as teachers can't assume that all students come from a language rich environment. It is a sad but true fact that most parents will rely on us teachers to give their children important and needed experiences that will enhance their learning.
Chapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. The chapter starts out talking about the fourth grade slump. I had never heard of this concept but I find it very interesting and important to know since fourth grade is where I want to teach. The chapter talks about substituting textbooks for trade books or the internet. I agree that these media would probably prove to be more interesting to students. In previous chapters and courses we have learned the importance of engaging the students to get positive learning outcomes. As the chapter talked about the factors that affect the comprehension process I found myself looking back on the experiences that I had provided for my own children. Again I say that if I had known how important and life- long these experiences would be and how much they would affect my child’s learning, I might have done things a little differently. This is why I think that it is so important to relay this information to parents, caregivers, and guardians. Instead of spending so much time at the park or playground, I may have put forth more effort to visit a zoo, museum, hang out at the library, or watch documentaries. I relied on the school to give my children these experiences as did my parent. The chapter also talks about the visual appeal of informational text. I don’t remember any of my textbooks looking interesting or appealing but I do remember how much I loved to read National Geographic because of the cool, colorful pictures. Today, with the variety of educational websites available and all their many interactive tools, it should not be too hard to appeal to children and engage them in informational text. The section on ELL’s was also very interesting because my first thoughts when I read the title of the chapter were, ELL’s in elementary levels do not have academic language skills so informational text might be a bit challenging. The chapter suggests giving special consideration to ELL’s and small group instruction with a focus on vocabulary and reading skills development.
Chapter 9 had information that made me think about myself as a child. The part about background knowledge made me think about the fact that as a child I had little background knowledge as a child and instead of not reading that is what I lived for. I enjoyed reading about places I had never been and thought I would never get the chance to go to. I would get lost in the books and just imagine that I was there, the information in the books was like my own experiences. I agree with how the home life of a child and the community, school, classroom, and teacher can be a factor in how the students develops a positive attitude about reading. The different techniques that are used by authors to organize texts is interesting as well. I never realized all the techniques that are involved with writing, it is more than just putting ideas down on a piece of paper which is what I seem to do:). The part on assessments will be very helpful in the lesson plans that we are working on for the next few weeks.
Ch. 9 – Comprehension of Informational Text
ReplyDeleteThe first part of chapter nine really caught my attention with the list of factors with the reader that may affect the comprehension process. I know a few of my students have trouble with decoding unknown, one-syllable words, with the ability to read at an adequate rate, and with the ability to analyze words with multiple syllables. A lot of these troubles stem from their struggles with phonics but it was informative for me to have a complete list of why my students might be struggling with comprehension. This chapter really broke down the structure of informational text. Honestly I think this is what teachers should do for all students when reading informational text. They should break down the format for them before they ever begin reading. This way the students know what to expect and they know where they will go throughout the reading. I think it’s okay for teachers to explicitly state what they want students to gather from the information and then have the students find it in the reading afterward. If a student knows they’ll be searching for the cause to a problem in the text they’ll know what to comprehend. I struggled with the leveled passages comprehension assessment we administered. I just didn’t feel like it explained to the students exactly what to look for in the text. I think often times the way we test and teach students is to vague and we need to be more specific with exactly what we want them to remember. I learned a lot in this chapter but I just really liked how it broke the format of informational text down and like I said above I think this is key for us as teachers to do when trying to help our students understand informal text.
Shannon, I agree with you that teachers should definitely break down the format. For instance, there is always new vocabulary words in informational texts and I can always remember my teachers just having us look up the definitions before hand. This chapter basically said that this strategy doesn't work. It's best to introduce the vocab ourselves and give a definition in our words that fits how the word is used in the text.
DeleteShannon- I agree with you on helping students comprehend by breaking down the format and letting them know what to look for while reading. It doesn't seem any different to me than breaking down key vocab before reading the story. Great post!
DeleteChapter 9 discusses the comprehension of informational text. Even the title of this chapter sounded boring but I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading it. One of the most important things to remember about introducing informational text is to make sure the students are interested in the text and it's at their reading level. This goes back to getting to know our students and their interests, which is what we did the first couple of sessions of tutoring. It's crazy to think that some ones prior knowledge and home life can impact their ability to comprehend information text. The example of the two fifth grade students, one who has never left her community and the other who has traveled all over, was a very helpful example. Basically, students who have limited background knowledge will have a harder time comprehending informational text then a student who has had experiences outside their immediate world. It bothers me that a parents bad attitude about reading or school in general can affect how their child views it. That's why it's important for us as teachers to be positive about everything I teach. Not everyone likes math but if we give off the vibe that we hate it then our students will see that and probably start feeling the same way. The book states that the home, community, and school are the biggest factors affecting a student. The home being the most influential environment factor. I liked how the book stated that some parents talk to their child but not with them. I bet this is very true which is sad to think about. Once again their was a good example of two different scenarios in the community section. It really opened my eyes up to how big of a factor the community can be. The third environment that influences children is the school, and more importantly the classroom teachers. This week in my tutoring session we will be reading an informational text on spring weather. I'm very curious to see how my sounds react to it. We'll be filling out a KWL and this will help me see how much of the text the students comprehended. One of my students in my group is really interested in tornado's and he's always bringing in non-fiction books about them for me to read. Usually the other three kids are bored to death when I read them but Adan loves it. Hopefully, this weeks guided reading book will go over well!
ReplyDeleteAndrea - I too was surprised at the amount of knowledge I gained from this chapter. I agree with you statement about the importance of making sure students are interested in what they are assigned to read. As well as making sure they are able to read the assigned text. This goes back to the rule about getting to know you students. Do not just assume that all your 3rd graders are reading at 3rd grade level.
DeleteChapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. During the first few pages of this chapter it talks about different factors that may affect a reader’s comprehension process. This really grabbed my attention after working with my 1st graders for tutoring. My content focus is not comprehension, however I feel as if their comprehension is improving while their decoding and phonics is improves. My favorite portion of this chapter is how it breaks down the format for students before the student is required to read. I feel as if this is an excellent way to teach student just how to understand what they are reading. I feel this should be the way all educators teach all of their students to read. This should not just be to teach a child who is struggling at reading. I am a believer in giving students distant instructions while reading. If you want a student to look for the setting of the story, tell them that before they being their reading. It’s not that they will suddenly stop reading once they hit that point it’s that they will feel a sense of accomplishment once they know they have found the answer is a story. For me this relates back to the leveled passages I gave my students. I did not tell them what to look for as they were reading and I do not feel as if some of my students actually took the time to comprehend what they we reading. I would like to retest my students on this, but give them a sense of what I will be asking them once they have finished. I feel that they would do ten times better on the assessment if it was set up this way.
ReplyDeleteMatraca, I agree with you that every teacher should break down the structure of a text. The break down of the text give students new ways to understand the information they are reading. Students will then know what kind of information they are looking at when they read key words. Like you said, this should not just be done for struggling readers; rather, it should be done for all readers!
DeleteMatraca, I agree that it is important to give the student the objective of the reading at the beginning. The chapter talked about using graphic organizers during the instruction of informational text, this would be a great tool to use while reading through the text so that the students are able to follow along and add to their organizer.
DeleteI agree that students may show better results if an objective is known of a reading before rather than after. If you just ask to read a text the student may just read through quickly and skip over some words that don't know, just to get done fast. If it is know there is a reason they will take it more seriously and try to understand the text.
DeleteGood post!
- Chapter 9 discussed comprehension of informational text. There are three sources that disrupt the comprehension process of informational text. Those sources are 1) factors within the reader, 2) factors within the reader’s environment, and 3) factors within a text. Factors with the reader include the ability to recognize a large bank of sight words and the ability to analyze and decode one-syllable and multiple syllable words. Students who have more personal experiences and a positive attitude tend to comprehend informational texts better. A reader’s home, community, and school are three places where students spend most of their time. Research shows that students who are better at comprehending have parents who read and discuss many different types of texts with their children and have a variety of reading material in their home.
ReplyDelete- I do not have any questions at this time.
- The “Factors Within the Text” section made me stop and look at that issue differently. Often times, teachers just ask lower level questions to the struggling readers. I am not sure if this is done to build confidence when the student answers the questions right or because that is really all that teachers expect them to be able to answer. However, comprehension requires many higher order thinking skills. We need to give all students the chance to develop and apply those skills to think out of the box and answer more difficult questions. I am sure once I get into the classroom, I will fall in that trap, too. After reading that section, I will pay more attention to the level of questions I ask each student and try to avoid only asking lower level questions.
- I feel very lucky to have grown up in a home where my parents read to me often. I loved sitting down with them when I was little. Since I am the oldest child, they had time to read to me a lot. By the time my sister was born, both my brother and I were active in sports and other activities leaving my sister to follow us around. I think that had a huge impact on her love for reading and comprehension skills. Today, my mom fights with my sister all of the time to get her to read. I honestly think that the fighting is a result of not sitting down and reading together when she was younger.
I agree with you in the area of thinking and asking higher order thinking questions. It is important that we help the students create the skills to use and process questions of that nature.
DeleteThe three sources that affect comprehension of informational text stood out to me immediately. I think most importantly though that the factors that come from within the reader really made me think. I did not realize there needed to me so many different abilities, knowledge, and previous experiences for informational text comprehension. It seems like a lot to do when you think of an elementary student, and I now see why comprehending informational texts can be so challenging.
ReplyDeleteI found the section with organizational structures of expository texts to be incredibly helpful (starts on page 220). I have heard of and studied reading materials with all of these types of structures, but it’s nice to be able to read about and see what these structures look like.
On page 232 it talks about selecting informational text for an English learner, and I kind of believe that these guidelines would be beneficial for picking materials for all student, with all abilities and reading levels.
Since I am focusing on comprehension in my tutoring groups, I will definitely be taking advantage of these ideas in the “Intervention” section. I have been relying on several graphic organizers, but it’s always nice to switch things up a little bit from time to time.
Emily - I agree with you that the information on selecting informational texts for ELL students would prove beneficial for selecting material for all students.
DeleteI am also using comprehension as my content focus in my tutoring group and get caught up with graphic organizers, so I also agree that the ideas in the "Intervention" section of each chapter are extremely helpful. I wish I hadn't rented this textbook because I would love to hang on to all of the ideas.
Chapter nine is about informational text. I was very interesting in reading about the things that affect comprehension. I love seeing how all of the tools we are learning about play together to make a fluent and successful reader. My second graders are really struggling with phonics, they spend so much time decoding the words that they have no idea what they just read or even said. Its pretty upsetting. However, as the weeks go by I can see them becoming more and more comfortable with decoding and seem to do it quicker each session! I think that we need to give our students as much as help as we can during our instruction time. I think that one way to get as much as we can out of our time is by giving them clear direction when it comes to comprehension. I think that students should know what to look for while reading. It doesn't seem any different than breaking down key vocab before reading the material. We wouldn't expect them to start reading a book with difficult vocab without giving them some instruction on the words first.
ReplyDeleteKristle, I also agree with seeing a little bit of progress in the short time I have been tutoring my students. I think you also right for giving the students direction when reading, or a purpose. Before my lessons I will usually tell them what story we're reading, let them see pictures, then tell them what we will do afterwards. It seems to help my students pay better attention than if i just say, "first we're doing this," then when we start something else state what we're doing then, and so on.
DeleteIt is really awesome to see how you as a first grade teacher can affect how a child comprehends in the 4th and 5th grade. Its crazy how it all comes together as the child gets older. In the Primary grades some things may seem pointless but as you see in this chapter it all comes together nicely.
DeleteChapter 9 is on comprehension of informational text. The case study at the beginning of the chapter was really adorable and made sense especially for an ESOL student. It’s easy to understand how a student could feel “dumb” by not passing state tests and having to attend summer school.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting items that I read in this textbook, and probably has the most impact toward proficient reading/speaking at an early age was this sentence – “these students [poor comprehension/poor oral skills] have parents who talk to them, but not with them.” It reiterates the importance of having basic conversation and discussion with young children, not just talking at them by demanding good behavior, doing chores, etc.
It is interesting to note that educators today use more computer programs and internet resources than they did a year ago; which is why the information on electronic text was so critical for me. As educators, we must become familiar and comfortable utilizing technology and adapting to new technology as it arises so that we can educate students how to use it properly as well. With the development of e-readers and the heavy use of computers in today’s society, it is crucial that students learn to evaluate the credibility of websites.
An important aspect of reading, especially with ELL students, is discussing each page so that the comprehension of information, not just the words, occurs. I often get rushed going through the tutoring group and get caught up in just the vocabulary aspect of comprehension, when in reality, if I incorporated more visuals of what is occurring in the story or discuss with students at the end of each page what is happening, comprehension would likely increase better than just practicing vocabulary.
The assessment piece of this chapter was not new information and was more of a review than anything else. The intervention pieces were helpful as well, which they usually are.
The item that you mentioned about how parents talk at their children instead of with them. I found that interesting as well. I never thought about that before, but now after reading this chapter I could name several parents who do this. I think many of them don't know how to talk with their children and it is a skill they need to work on. Also the technology- it is amazing how much it is used today compared to when I was in grade school.
DeleteIn the beginning of chapter nine it discusses the different factors that might affect the students’ process of comprehension. Some of the students will not understand what they are reading if they do not have prior knowledge in the area of the text. Also the student has more of a chance not to understand the text if they have a bad attitude toward the topic or have no interest in the topic. The teacher should try their best to pick topic areas that interest the students and drive their motivation to read and comprehend the text. Another major area that has an effect on the students’ attitude toward reading comes from their home and or their community. If reading is not viewed as a high priority at home the students will more than likely view it the same.
ReplyDeleteI like the way the chapter shows different ways to teach expository text and gives an example of how to sequence the order in which you should introduce the information and so on. Eye appeal also plays a major role in the interest the students might possess when reading the text or viewing the website. As a teacher we should view the information first and make sure it is appropriate for the age of the student and that it is easy for them to read and follow. Another great tool that books have is a table of contents, it would be beneficial for the students to understand the format of the table of contents and how to use the information.
Home and community have a huge impact on children these days. If they children are not encouraged to read at home, they will not feel that reading is important. As in all areas of school, having a parents support is super important in the learning process.
DeleteThank you for all those that have posted already! Great work...
ReplyDeleteClass,
Just a reminder to follow the specific guidelines that are listed in your syllabus in order to continue receiving full credit for posts. For blogs after spring break, simply writing 6-10 sentences will not suffice. Be sure to answer all the questions are you asked to respond to, i.e. -->
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
**Hope you all have a safe and exciting break :) **
Ms. Bergmann
Chapter 9 discusses the topic of comprehension of informational text. "Teaching means helping a child realize his potential," Erich Fromm. Basic reading skills are necessary to comprehend all types of text. There are 3 factors discussed that affect the comprehension process; 1) factors within the reader, 2) the reader's environment, and 3) the text. These factors include prior knowledge and experience, interest and attitudes, home & community, synthesize information and applying critical-thinking skills. Comprehension involves organizational structure, analysis, and developing critical literacy. Each type of text varies in how the reader should approach to get the best out of the reading. I found the sections over comprehension of expository text and technology and English Learners instructional recommendations very informative. Comprehension is an important factor within our everyday lives. Comprehension is another factor in becoming a good reader, just as phonics and vocabulary. Therefore, we should break down and instruct and assist students with comprehension just as the other factors of reading.
ReplyDeleteNo question at this time.
I found the part about the home and community to be very interesting. I know some people do have bad experiences and don't want to encourage their children. I also know for a fact the some people have bad experiences and do encourage their children. I was never good at reading when I was a child and when I became pregnant I began to read to my child and have continued to this day. I want my children to succeed in every way possible and be better readers than I was.I know there are others out there who feel the same way, even though it wasn't mentioned in the text.
DeleteI agree that comprehension is an important factor within our everyday lives. Informational text is very important to students especially in school, because of their text books. Most of the time students do not enjoy reading these kinds of books, but hopefully through teaching them the was the book suggest will help them to understand and comprehend what is needed.
DeleteChapter 9 begins by talking about the 4th grade slump. This is one of the reasons I think that the Primary Grades are so important. If a child tries and tries and tries for 3 years and still cannot get the concept of decoding words, when he/she gets to 4th grade it gets to hard. The child ends up giving up and not trying because he/she does not have the foundation to read books at that level. This is a part of school I find to be very sad, but happens to kids all the time. Students just progress through grades without really having the foundation they need. there are a list of factors within the reader listed on pg. 217. Just looking at that list is intimidating as an instructor. Instilling all of this knowledge into your students in a short amount of time is difficult. When the chapter goes into Expository texts I agree totally. Expository texts is laid out and sequenced differently than narrative texts. I find it extremely hard to read expository texts. All of the different parts a student must know to be able to read informational texts is crazy. I guess I never really put it all together. Problem/Solution, Persuasion, Listing, Compare/Contrast are just a few of the types of reading a child must know. In the 4th grade students really start using these types of books. Assessment wise, I know that in my school from 1st grade to 12th grade we took Accelerated Reader tests to test our comprehension.
ReplyDeleteThe 4th grade slump... o dear! I work with a 4th grade student who is in this exact position. Decoding words is like mush to her, it makes no sense. We keep pounding away and she gradually makes small strides. I can see her getting down on herself at times when she can't do what her peers are doing because she simply can't read what is required to do the project or activity. I am grateful that as a Para I am able to help her.
DeleteThe factors within the reader are long but with practice, practice, practice most children can master these sight words or begin to decode unknown words on their own. Getting the student to believe in themselves is half the battle.
I do agree Jena, but as I was reading in the chapter another key (along with practice) is to make sure the students are interested in the text. If I put myself in the shoes of an elementary student, or anyone that struggles with reading for that matter, I would not want to read something that could not hold my attention for more than a couple minutes.
DeleteI believe by making the students interested in the text, they will be that much more likely to want to practice, and get better!
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteChapter 9 discussed comprehending informational text. The chapter says that students in grades 1-3 should have developed three basic skills and if they are lacking in these skill when they reach 4th grade they may hit the 4th grade slump, due to exhaustion and underdeveloped skills. To help students teachers should provide that is interesting to the student. Teachers need to keep students engaged and challenged. The chapter also discusses seven steps to be a successful teacher. I really like the #2 Expect all students to succeed. I think this is very important. The chapter also discusses the types of text that are informational and some of the reasons it is hard for students to understand. One of the main reasons is that that each type of text can be organized differently. The chapter also had many uses for graphic organizers and activities at the ends like the other chapters.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I don’t have any questions about this section.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
I never realized that different types of text were organized so differently. I guess on some level I did, but I never looked too much into something like that. The text has great ideas about how to help students recognize the different patterns in the text.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I remember doing a time line graphic organizer during my history classes. When I had to do projects we had to include time lines. For example, I remember doing a biography on George Washington in 7th grade. I had to include a time line of George Washington’s life and battles.
Samantha,
DeleteYou're so right about teachers needing to keep students engaged and challenged. As teachers we'll want our students to do great and succeed but we don't want them to do this because the work is easy for them. It will be our job to make sure they are succeeding through challenging work that forces them to critically think. It will also be important that as future teachers we push them to do this challenging work but we let them know that they can succeed when working through it. Reinforcing positive expectations makes the students believe they can succeed when they are struggling. Like you said, it's extremely important that we always expect our students to succeed! Good post!
Chapter nine is about comprehension of informational text. This chapter starts out by stating that there are three factors that affect the comprehension process. These three factors are within the reader, within the reader’s environment and within the text. Factors that are within the reader include prior knowledge and experience, and interests and attitudes. Factors within the reader’s environment include home, community, and school. Factors within the text include the material requires students to synthesize information, analyze authors’ credentials, and apply critical-thinking skills when confronted with conflicting information. How expository text is organized, chronology or sequence, description or enumeration, listing, classification or hierarchy, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, and persuasion. Then it goes on to tell teachers what order to teach expository text in. It tells how best to teach English Learners expository text. Assessment ideas are given, and the then the best part is the strategies and activities at the end. I was not aware that there were so many ways to teach informational text, I am very glad that I read this chapter. I have no questions about this chapter.
ReplyDeleteI agree, this chapter was very self explanatory and useful. This chapter has multiple strategies that are great for a variety of learners.
DeleteChapter 9 covers comprehension of informational text. The factors listed that affect comprehension are stated in the chapter as the following: factors within the reader, factors within the reader's environment, and factors within the text. The organizational structures of expository text may be different than other types of texts. The reader must find new ways to understand this type of text.
ReplyDeleteI have recently been introduced to the new vocabulary terms: considerate and inconsiderate texbook styles. These terms were used by a 5th grade science teacher who was explaining that the new science textbook was inconsiderate text style because of the following reasons: main ideas are not explicitly stated and new concepts are not clearly and concisely explained. The text is not in a logical structure pattern.
When selecting informational text for my own classroom I will take into consideration English learners. The books must contain accurate information and use illustrations that complement the text. The books must be age appropriate and deal with the same topics I am teaching in class.
The part that I liked the best about chapter 9 was the section on assessments. Informal reading inventories are assessments that I will use to assess oral and silent reading comprehension. Rubrics are becoming more and more popular in schools across the area where I live. I hear about rubrics from the building level all the way up to the superintendent. I appreciate this chapter giving an example of an effective rubric in figure 9.10. Again, this chapter does a great job of giving a variety of activities for the teacher to use in the classroom. The graphic organizers section for expository text I found to be especially useful. The ideas for multiple graphic organizer on pages 242-246 will be used in my personal classroom.
Chapter 9 is titled Comprehension of Informational Text. If I was a student in elementary school, just the sheer title of the chapter would sound dry and boring to me. I mean, even to this day when I think of informational text I think of textbooks and the like, and envision myself reading much more enjoyable materials.
ReplyDeleteIt was beneficial to me for to read the text under the heading "School" on page 220. This section broke down effective teaching points such as models the love of reading, expects all students to succeed in reading, accepts all students as who/what they are, etc. This was a nice positive thing to read, rather than just reading how dry informational text is, and how it's so tough to get students to enjoy reading it. This section went in to how a positive school environment and teacher would handle "dry and boring" text.
One example the author gives in this chapter to spruce up informational text is to use Electronic Text Features. This could be anything from E-books to websites designed to help understand a related text. This is relevant to me because of the growing infacination, and the inevitability that our eduational systems are growing towards more technology driven classrooms.
Overall, this is an issue I have thought a lot about as a prospective teacher, and a relief to read up on! Good chapter!
I agree that informational text can be "dry and boring," but as you said it also depends on the teacher and how it's taught. I did a non-fiction text in my guided reading group on sea turtles and the kids enjoyed it more than the books we did based on the movie "Marley and Me." I think children are naturally curious and with the right activities and delivery, informational text can be something they really enjoy. A nice benefit is that the ability to comprehend informational text is so important and a skill that will help them further themselves.
DeleteI think the same thing reading informational text can be "dry and boring". I hate reading text books but I like how you say it also depends on the teacher. I had a teacher that when we were supposed to read the chapter for a class she would turn the reading into a jeopardy game as we read it, this made it fun for all of us and we were gathering information as we were reading. I also like the "School" section on page 220.
DeleteChapter 9 discusses comprehension of an informational text. With my tutoring group I have done both fiction and non-fiction texts and have found that non-fiction is much harder for them to comprehend and pull information from as discussed in this chapter. I found the factors that affect comprehension helpful, because I now know better what to look for and how to prepare lessons to overcome these factors. I also hadn’t considered how the organization of a text could affect comprehension. However, it makes sense that as students become more experienced readers and text becomes more complicated there are differences within the organization of text that they must be taught to recognize or comprehension can be affected. The section on assessment reinforced for me the effectiveness of the assessments we completed at the beginning of the semester. I also liked the section on “assessing readers’ growth” and will work to help my students develop their ability to self monitor and recognize their own miscues. Lastly this chapter had many great activities to help students increase their comprehension of informational text and I think I may try to use some of the graphic organizers and guided reading strategies that were suggested. Overall this chapter is a definitely a good source of information on how to help students increase their comprehension of an informational text.
ReplyDeleteI have also used both nonfiction and fiction books with my students. I have noticed that it's much harder for them to comprehend. This chapter definitely gave me some great insight and ideas that I need to keep in mind if I choose another nonfiction story in the future.
DeleteChapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. The beginning of this chapter has a great comparison of student interest in informational text, based off of concrete experiences they have had. These types of experiences are important for students to identify what is factual versus fictional. It is important for educators to positively outweigh the negative influences that a child’s home may place on reading. With this being said, the importance of high expectations is evident to the success for all.
ReplyDeleteI find this chapter highly informative on outlining multiple structures of expository text. In order for a lesson to be effective, the educator must understand of the content and which structure it is presented. The numbered list on page 232 will be very beneficial to me as I select appropriate leveled informational text.
As I read through the multiple variations of activities, there are two that I would be interested in using within the same unit. The first is the check list; I think that this would help students identify the meaningful of the reading. The second activity is a learning log; the students can take the information from the check list to sequence what they have learned and recall events of the text.
Brooke - Like you, I always find several intervention activities that I would like to use with my tutoring group. The learning log was one of my favorites. It allows students to recall the information and put it in writing. This gives them the chance to work on their writing AND comprehension! The checklists are always a great tool, too.
DeleteNicole and Brooke-
DeleteBoth of your comments resonated with me because I also am implementing comprehension in my lesson plans with my tutoring students. After reading the chapter, I really enjoyed reading the activity regarding scanning. This technique is a really valuable one with struggling readers that need to retrieve information from a text on a worksheet or on a test. This is a core skill that needs to be mastered in order for our students to become great test takers and able to retrieve if they cannot comprehend the information from the text!
Chapter 9 talks about comprehension of information text. I remember as a young child I found it harder to comprehend information text. State test all use this type of reading to test their students. One thing in this chapter that I found was interesting was that the way the text is organized could effect if the text get comprehended.
ReplyDeleteOn page 220 the text under "school" talked about effective teaching points. This was great because it talked about the love of reading, student success. This chapter was a great source of information on helping students to increase their comprehension of reading information text.
Megan, I have seen so many times in the state tests where there is vocabulary that children will not understand because they have not been exposed too. I don't think it's fair that a student doesn't do well because of lack of experience due basically because of income level.
DeleteI also found the state tests being a little harder with their vocabulary. I sometimes had problems with them, and I was in high school. I also liked the teaching points on page 220. I think they will be helpful in the up coming tutoring sessions and in the classroom!
DeleteChapter 9 Comprehension of Informational Text. I know that it is very difficult for people to comprehend informational text compared to comprehending something that is fun to read. Chapter 9 looks at three factors; factors within the reader, factors within the reader’s environment, and factors within the text. There is a list of factors within the readers and the one that really stands out is the ability to connect background knowledge to the text because I know many children don’t get any background knowledge leaving them nothing to lean on. This goes back to letting your children experience everything; ask questions, touch, taste, listen, and just learn even if it seems trivial. Factors in the environment I think just hit me this weekend when I took my daughter to the library. She is 8 doing a paper on killer whales. Several of the books she got has informational material above her reading level, so here I am teaching her how to pull the important information out of the books. This chapter also incorporates lots of graphic organizers which is a great way to organize information. Many of these organizational structures I have seen and used; cause/effect, problem/solution, persuasion, compare/contrast, and list. Classification or hierarchy I have not thought about before and definitely useful in science. I think it is great how they mention eye appeal because I know as I am scanning books or the internet, seeing is one of the first thing that either pulls me in or sends me somewhere else. Vocabulary is so important, I know that technical vocabulary can be so much harder, but it is so important to understand the text. There is a definite need to bring ELL’s to small groups for informational text.
ReplyDeleteI love hierarchy charts, I am using one in my formal social studies lesson plan next week. Graphic organizers are great for teaching students how to organize their thoughts, which helps with comprehension. As students get older they will automatically be able to do this in their head, but only if we teach them how early on. It amazes me how much background knowledge and the family effects a students ability to comprehend subjects. This is why it is so important to get to know your students so that you can find their strengths and weakness and build off of those rather than just guessing.
DeleteThis chapter is very helpful to me because my content focus is comprehension and this week we are focusing on informational text; such as a recipe. One of the first parts that caught my attention was the section that discussed how important it is to find informational text that interests students and is at their reading level. I did two informational text before now, one was over trains and the other over airplanes (which my students were both very interested in) you would have been surprised at how well their comprehension was over these topics. They were able to activate their prior knowledge and build on it while reading. They stopped me to add to the book over topics that they knew about. It really paid off to find out what my students were interested in. Another section talked about the vocabulary in the text. Informational text vocabulary is very specific and sometimes hard to understand. I am so glad that the book said that it is better to have the teacher tell the students what the vocabulary means in the context of the text rather than have them look it up and try to guess which definition fits in the text. With all of my vocabulary I give the students a chance to tell me what they think it means and then I tell them what it means in terms of the book. For example I am doing my lesson over a recipe; some of my vocabulary is the ingredients. I want my students to know what they are going to be using rather than just guessing. Finally it is very important that teachers help students to learn how to read informational text, explaining the format and breaking it down. It like anything else, we need to teach students how to learn rather than trying to cram their brains full.
ReplyDeleteI am also focusing my tutoring sessions around comprehension. I have used informational texts (Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the first things we read since sessions started during Black History Month). I have some students that love history, but I could tell most of them were bored. Interest when it comes to informational texts is clearly important, and will affect how my students learn. It's something I need to work at to keep all students interested when choosing nonfiction / informational texts.
DeleteNicole Schell
ReplyDelete1. Analysis of the reading/issue: It can be hard for students to transition from reading narrative texts to the informational texts. This is especially hard for students who are still struggling with the basics of reading or whose first language isn't English. The information is organized differently, so finding essential information can be more difficult. With the incorporation of the internet and various other texts in classroom lessons, students have even more things to consider and process. Chapter 9 does a great job of pinpointing what students need to be able to transition to informational texts and how instructors can assess those students.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue: I didn’t really have any questions about this chapter. It was very well written, as usual, and clarified everything in great detail. I did find the part about a student’s background knowledge to be quite accurate. You can really tell which parents have exposed their children to books, travel, vocabulary, etc. and those who have not. For some parents, they may not realize how beneficial these things are to their child’s education. For others, they may not know how to give their children those experiences or support due to their own lack of knowledge or exposure to those things. As teachers, we have to be able to step in and provide background knowledge any way we can. Books, websites, field trips, and many other things will allow us to provide those experiences or knowledge that our students might be lacking. I think some parents get a bad rap sometimes because they are looked at as being negligent in providing such opportunities and experiences. If they didn’t grow up with them or they don’t realize how important they are, they aren’t likely to pursue those things for their own children.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? This reading really reflects the experience I’m having with one of my tutoring students. He is not easily engaged unless the book is about one of his interests. I originally had trouble with his behavior until I decided to really focus in on his interests. The week before spring break we covered a topic that he was really interested in and….no behavior issues. He was engaged, worked hard, and was a complete joy! It really hits home to read that a student’s interests are key to their success.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience: As a young child, I didn’t like informational texts. Like the chapter discussed, I had the narrative organization down pat! The expository organization, however, almost made me dizzy. I didn’t know where to find things, how to organize the things I did find, and always seemed to be lost. Luckily, I had a wonderful middle school teacher who really taught us how to read informational texts. I find myself using those same strategies to help my kids now.
1. Analysis of reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteChapter 9 discusses the comprehension of informational texts. This was an interesting chapter because students do need to understand how and be able to comprehend from informational texts because that’s what their textbooks are going to be. They will also need this skill for research projects. I liked the boxes that showed what skilled and unskilled readers can do because it helps less experienced teachers identify the problem and intervention can be done to help those students. I also liked how the book broke down the different organizational structures of the expository text. This will help teachers identify and put us on the right paths to help students who are struggling. On page 230, it gave ‘instructional recommendations’ for ELL students. I think this section will help everyone. Teachers also need to understand the selection of these texts. We shouldn’t be choosing something our students will not understand or frustrate them. Once again, the intervention ideas were wonderful and I want to use them again. At the end of this chapter, there were some websites we can visit to find excellent expository texts, and they are on page 256. I believe we should utilize our resources to make the best experiences for our students we can.
2. Questions/contradictions about the reading issues.
I don’t have any questions at this time.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently.
As always, these chapters allow me to look at teaching ELLs differently. I think the section in this chapter was very helpful because it breaks everything down and gives ideas and strategies we can use to help them along. I know that I will have diversity in my classroom and I want to address that in the best ways. I like how the text said that we should allow each student the opportunity to discuss their ideas or explain the concept in their reading. It could be interesting to see how students react when there is more than one topic being read about and then sharing it with the class. I see a great project coming up!
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
This chapter made me think on my tutoring group because they’re reading a lot of informational texts right now. They are researching Titanic for a presentation they are going to give on April 12th. I know that I’m going to need to teach them what to pick out and discuss during their time, but I’m reading and this chapter couldn’t have come at a better time because it will help me explain how to use those texts they are working with that this time.
I too found many of the same interests in chapter 9. Figure 9.1 on skilled and unskilled readers will definitely benefit us as teachers to help those students that need intervention. The ELL section was very informative. At this time, I do not have any students that are ELL in my tutoring session, but I do in my internship. I like your idea on researching the Titanic and making a presentation about it. My daughter did that in her sixth grade class and loved it because it was something she was very interested in. I look forward to reading about more ideas from you. Good blog!
DeleteChapter 9 discuss comprehension of information text. I found this chapter useful like many of my peers, because I too and using comprehension as the content focus for my tutoring sessions. This chapter immediately details the importance of the factors affecting the comprehension process. These include factors within the reader, the reader’s environment and the text itself. The reader must be able to recognize sight words, decode words, read at an adequate rate, connect their prior knowledge, summarize what they have read, and then they must go one step further when reading informational text. They must have knowledge of organizational patterns, have background knowledge of the topic, and know certain vocabulary that is related to the topic. This is no small chore, for any reader.
ReplyDeleteIn my tutoring sessions, I am using insects as my theme, so it has been fun to find both fictional, humorous stories and informational texts. I have tried to use my read aloud to read a fun book about a certain insect, and then pull in the informational story in guided reading. The students seem to enjoy comparing the fictional insect to the insect in the informational text.
I like the way you are implementing informational texts within your lessons. It shows students that informational text can also be fun.
DeleteTo read for information is very different from reading for entertainment. Students would rather read for simple entertainment or pleasure rather than having to read for specific information or textual content. It is our job to instruct students on how to read for information and how to make it enjoyable and straight to the point. I believe that by giving students the specific information or guidelines needed/desired from the instructor (expected outcomes) students will be able to establish and decipher the information in easier chunks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you stated “I believe that by giving students the specific information or guidelines needed/desired from the instructor (expected outcomes) students will be able to establish and decipher the information in easier chunks.” I’m glad you brought this up. Student should know what is expected from them. This makes it easier not only for the teachers but for the students too.
DeleteChapter 9 is over understanding the reading of informational text. Until I was in reading methods last semester, I never thought about how important it is to teach children about informational text. I found this chapter adding to the knowledge I had obtained from reading methods. The first thing I found in the chapter that will be such a benefit is figure 9.1. I can use those descriptions to help me better determine where a child is on their understanding. Being that my content focus is comprehension, I found many of the subheadings very informative, especially the assessment part. At the end of the chapter were many types of graphic organizers that I can see myself using during my tutoring sessions. I have no questions about this chapter at this time.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading chapter 9 covering the topic of comprehension of information of text, I received a wealth of information regarding this topic. The text states that three important sources that affect comprehension in students. These sources lie with factors within the reader, factors within the reader's environment, and factors within the text. Basic reading skills are required, life experiences are needed to give students prior knowledge, and positive attitudes towards reading are great ways to build comprehension skills in students or children.
ReplyDeleteIn my tutoring sessions we are focusing on comprehension skills, this chapter is a wonderful resource for all of my lesson plans in the future.
Alison, I too am focusing on comprehension skills in my tutoring group. A lot of us here in my area have close ties to cattle ranching so I used an informational reader on real cowboys for our first piece of literature. The students could easily relate to the text and were eager to discuss their own experiences in comparison to those we were reading about. I feel that their life experiences and background knowledge made this reader much more meaningful and enjoyable for the students.
DeleteThere is so much to consider when selecting appropriate informational texts for our students. This chapter gives us a good set of guidelines to follow when doing so in the selecting informational text section on page 232. The first piece of literature I used in my tutoring group was an informational reader about real cowboys. I didn’t fully consider each of these guidelines at the time, but the reader met every one of them. So, I can say with certainty that the a-zreading website provides quality informational reading material. I like the example provided in the English language learners section featuring Mr. Chung’s class. He and his students act out the new vocabulary when possible. This is something that my fifth grade tutoring students love to do. It is a fun and effective way to help all students understand and remember new vocabulary and concepts. Like most ESOL strategies you can use it to help everyone.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
DeleteI think acting out vocabulary words is a great way to make sure the students understand the content of a book and the vocabulary. I think anytime I am able to have a mental picture of a new word it really helps me to connect and understand what is being spoken.
Chapter 9 was over Comprehension of Informal texts. This section talked about why the primary grades are so important because they learn a lot of this information throughout these time periods. It gave different factors that affect comprehension which I found very interesting. These factors were: 1) factors within the reader, 2) the reader's environment, and 3) the text. As stated before, I found this section of the text interesting because it provided readers with so much useful information about each factor. As far as contradictions go for this chapter, I feel that it would be very hard to teach comprehension of informal text to ESOL students. This would not be their fault but as a teacher, you would definitely have to start low on comprehension and slowly build your way up. This reading reflect on me and made me low at things differently because of my own experiences. Comprehension is my main content focus area for my tutoring group so this reading gave me plenty of things to think about and look at differently when I write my lesson plans from now on.
ReplyDeleteKristi, my focus is also comprehension and this chapter gave me lots to think about since I want the esol endorsement. we learned in Ed Psych that ELL students don't acquire academic language skills until late middle and high school. I agree that it will be very difficult to teach ELL's who have not yet acquired the academic language but this is where we will have to get creative.
DeleteChapter nine deals with comprehension of informational text. This chapter was a very important read for me, since my focus for my students is comprehension. It was interesting to read the basic skills that are necessary to comprehend all types of text. Since I have struggled with comprehension it was interesting to read how to teach these important skills. This made me understand why my reading specialist assessed me the way she did. I also found figure 9.1 very useful. It is very important to know the characteristics of skilled and unskilled readers. This way the teacher can properly assess students. I am glad the text recognized that not all students come from language rich environments. This is so important for teachers to know. Teachers should not fully rely on the parents to provide a language enriched environment. One of my favorite sections to read in this chapter was organizational structure of expository text. This is because I am not very familiar with the topic. I also was not familiar with persuasion, sequence for teaching expository text organizational patterns, analysis of informational text. My favorite section in this chapter would be over electronic text feature. Including electronic text is so important because nowadays technology is so crucial. So far this is the only chapter that was not all familiar with. I have gained a lot of information from this chapter. This chapter gave great detail in explaining the sections; therefore I do not have any questions at this time.
ReplyDeleteMarei,
DeleteMy content focus is also comprehension and I must say that I was surprised to find some good readers who were not comprehending half of what they read. I had one 6th grader who was reading at 9th graded leveled reading but could only answer 2 comprehension questions at grade level. What went wrong? I agree with you that we as teachers can't assume that all students come from a language rich environment. It is a sad but true fact that most parents will rely on us teachers to give their children important and needed experiences that will enhance their learning.
Chapter 9 is about comprehension of informational text. The chapter starts out talking about the fourth grade slump. I had never heard of this concept but I find it very interesting and important to know since fourth grade is where I want to teach. The chapter talks about substituting textbooks for trade books or the internet. I agree that these media would probably prove to be more interesting to students. In previous chapters and courses we have learned the importance of engaging the students to get positive learning outcomes. As the chapter talked about the factors that affect the comprehension process I found myself looking back on the experiences that I had provided for my own children. Again I say that if I had known how important and life- long these experiences would be and how much they would affect my child’s learning, I might have done things a little differently. This is why I think that it is so important to relay this information to parents, caregivers, and guardians. Instead of spending so much time at the park or playground, I may have put forth more effort to visit a zoo, museum, hang out at the library, or watch documentaries. I relied on the school to give my children these experiences as did my parent. The chapter also talks about the visual appeal of informational text. I don’t remember any of my textbooks looking interesting or appealing but I do remember how much I loved to read National Geographic because of the cool, colorful pictures. Today, with the variety of educational websites available and all their many interactive tools, it should not be too hard to appeal to children and engage them in informational text. The section on ELL’s was also very interesting because my first thoughts when I read the title of the chapter were, ELL’s in elementary levels do not have academic language skills so informational text might be a bit challenging. The chapter suggests giving special consideration to ELL’s and small group instruction with a focus on vocabulary and reading skills development.
ReplyDeleteChapter 9 had information that made me think about myself as a child. The part about background knowledge made me think about the fact that as a child I had little background knowledge as a child and instead of not reading that is what I lived for. I enjoyed reading about places I had never been and thought I would never get the chance to go to. I would get lost in the books and just imagine that I was there, the information in the books was like my own experiences. I agree with how the home life of a child and the community, school, classroom, and teacher can be a factor in how the students develops a positive attitude about reading. The different techniques that are used by authors to organize texts is interesting as well. I never realized all the techniques that are involved with writing, it is more than just putting ideas down on a piece of paper which is what I seem to do:). The part on assessments will be very helpful in the lesson plans that we are working on for the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your posts and replies!
ReplyDeleteMs. Bergmann