Developing Strategic Readers
Pau9love
instructions.docInstructions:
Posting must be on the topic, response must be timely and reflective in nature, making connections with the readings, highlighting new insight and showing evidence of critical thought based on classroom practice and implication for teaching.
1. Forum main question: Developing Strategic Readers
by Rosaline Bradley, Ed.D. - Saturday, 31 August 2013, 5:53 PM
Reading is critical to academic performance. Yet, it is an area in which many students struggle. In essence, this course highlighted the importance of your role in developing strategic readers as a way of improving students' academic performance.
Highlight one technique/teaching strategy that you have learned in this course that will make you more effective in the classroom. Be brief, but specific and clear.
2. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Denise Flores - Wednesday, 4 September 2013, 10:53 AM
Before this course I had no idea what the “Think Ratio” strategy was, but after learning this technique I believe it is one of the best techniques that I can use to make me a more effective teacher in the classroom. This technique basically reduces teacher talk and pushes student thinking by requiring students to support answers with evidence from the text, students are asked to put answers, definition, concept, etc in their own words, teacher re-word questions to force student to think and uses “Wait Time” to give more students the chance to think through the answer and reinforces that students use specific strategies and not just correct answers. In addition, using this technique actively engages students and motivates deeper thinking about course content. It also brings additional energy to the classroom, and helps the teacher pin point problem areas. With this technique the students do most of the talking and it pushes the students to inquiry deeper into the content area. I believe that this is the key to enhance students' reading comprehension and learning. Reading is critical to academic performance and using this technique in the classroom will definitely improve students' academic success.
3. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Melissa Espat - Thursday, 5 September 2013, 5:52 PM
Denise's strategy is very important, and another that I find interesting and very much usable is another suggested by her is the gallery walk. In this activity, students(in groups) will make major points about their topic on a poster. Each group will take turns in reading other group's work, and make comments, or add comments to another group's work. In doing this, they read information they may not have thought about, and develop new concepts on their own.
4. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Melissa Espat - Thursday, 5 September 2013, 4:55 PM
For me, the three span framework in itself was important to learn. The fact that there should be activities during three different times was actually interesting to note. All the activities are important: one-- to prepare the students and to identify what they know; two-- to get them actively involved in what is being learnt; and three-- to identify what they have learnt from the material.
5. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Melissa Espat - Thursday, 5 September 2013, 5:44 PM
One pre-reading activity that I learnt that I do use in my class is the Admit slip. This is an interesting concept because not only does it prepare the student for the class, but it also assists the teacher to identify what knowledge students have on a specific topic. At the beginning of the pre-reading activity, the teacher can ask students to identify 2-3 main points of what they know of the topic to be covered.The teacher will collect the information written and use it as a reference and guide in how to go about teaching the content.
6. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Rosaline Bradley, Ed.D. - Thursday, 5 September 2013, 10:45 PM
Yes, indeed they are all excellent strategies. One of the things I would like to point out after going through the test and the lesson plans iS the critical role you the teacher plays in using these strategies effectively. They are all good. But to be effective in the classroom you must select the strategy that is appropriate for what it is you want to achieve. If we can go back to Wilhelm, the must first STEP IS to decide what is the purpose of the lesson and what are the big ideas you want the students to grasp and then begin to think about how you can best achieve your goal. Much of the teaching is still on the surface students learning definition and meaning. Think about how to help students to connect the ideas to world issues etc. go beyond the surface of teaching facts....That is where the inquiry and the higher level questions come in. I noted in the examples given on the test in the little scenarios where you were asked to demonstrate how you would teach a concept using a particular strategy there were no sample of questions or reference to how you get the students to make the connections. It was mostly students would do this and student would do that. How to make the transitions from what they know to the unknown. That is important as well. Remember- remember schema theory? My point is that just using the strategies is not enough you have to build understanding and teach students how to use the strategies and think critically. That is where the teaching comes in as tools to guide the students thinking. Please note this for the exam. Telling is not synonymous with teaching. YOU HAVE GOT TO TEACH THEM HOW TO......
7. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by Rosaline Bradley, Ed.D. - Thursday, 5 September 2013, 10:54 PM
Perhaps it also important to understand the term strategic reader. The strategic reader -reads with a purpose, understand what to look for based on text structure - ask the right questions as he/she reads - makes predictions, draw conclusion, can visualize and monitor his or her comprehension and knows what to do when that fails. Your role is to develop this type of student. The question is how do you do that? Develop life long learns independent learners.
8. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by judith lopez - Friday, 6 September 2013, 5:53 PM
Reading is no doubt critical to the academic performance of a student. It is for this reason, that teachers need to introduce students to meaningful ideas that will help them to make the necessary connections and encourage them to want to take up reading simply because they can see the benefits they can get out of it. If we encourage students and provide them with the tools to become strategic readers they will no doubt master the art of reading and learn how to read and gain maximum benefits. They will see what it can do for them and be enthusiastic about the success it will yield them. Critical thinkers normally write and express themselves well and can be independent, make their own decisions and can function in any setting.
9. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by judith lopez - Friday, 6 September 2013, 6:34 PM
I must say that this course has really changed my outlook as a teacher. I am more eager to teach my students and my colleagues the new ideas I have gained. One strategy I learned more about in this course is that of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are important because they visually represent a student's thinking and learning. They help them to understand abstract concepts, categorize and organize information and determine relationships between ideas. There are some graphic organizers like the Frayer model, KWL, KWLH, and the Venn Diagrams to name a few.
The one I like is the Venn Diagram. I find it very appropriate for Literature. It focuses on encouraging students to think and discuss similarities and differences between two ideas. I can use it to have students compare and contrast short stories, poems, characters and themes. I can even use it to have my students write essays comparing their life to another idea, a car or a shoe maybe. Graphic organizers encourages metaphorical thinking and students have hands on organizers to fill out. They can see the progress that they make and the teacher can see them move from a lower level of understanding to a higher one. Students will also be eager to showcase what they learn.
10. Please comment of the following reply of your peer.
Re: Developing Strategic Readers
by judith lopez - Friday, 6 September 2013, 6:57 PM
It is very important that we maintain the modelling, mentoring and monitoring when teaching students the strategies. By teaching them how to use them they will become more independent and find learning fun. They will look forward to read and write and it will eventually come in naturally. Readers that struggle have to start from somewhere and with mentoring and monitoring they will make progress. It will not be easy, but it is not impossible and it can happen if the reader has the will. A student who can speak well is bound to read and write well and will display interest in challenges. Like Melissa, I like the idea of the admit slips. It can help greatly in reviewing the previous day's lesson. I also like Denise's Think Ratio and the "wait" time that students get to think through their answers. This way no one can use the excuse that they are not finished. It gives them enough time to arrive at an answer. Effective teachers are dynamic and display a lot of enthusiasm, especially when their students are successful achievers. If they are well prepared and are sure of what they are doing to help their student’s success is bound to come and students will have a more positive attitude towards learning.
