Comprehension
We are going to be teachers our job is to teach children not just explain or define something. This chapter started out with teaching comprehension. I think that is one of the hardest skills to teach. When I was in about fourth grade I can remember coming home with a packet of papers to practice my comprehension skills but that was something I really struggled with. We have the choice to teach something or to explain something. Explaining is the easy way out where students won't remember how to do it the next time. Teaching is a way of making students understand how to do something and the ways to doing it. I can explain to you how to ride a bike by saying sit on the seat, put your feet on the pedals and push but that probably won't help if you are trying to get on one for the first time. With comprehension we need to be able to teach students ways to comprehend the information for example by comparing and contrasting, predicting, or summarizing. The students will have a better idea of how to do it after you show them and go through the process with them rather than just explaining.
The one example in the book talked about the teacher being good at giving instructions or telling the students what to do but not being good at instruction where she was supposed to be teaching the students how to do it.
Frontloading Meaning
In most of our lives we are anticipating events to come. It could be anticipating the quiz being given in the next class, a party this weekend, or the end of the summer. We all are looking ahead at something or another. This applies to reading as well. Good readers use anticipation to try to figure out what they are going to read or what's going to happen next. Pictures, quotes, and reviews can all be used to help you anticipate something that's going to happen in the book. Those things might be the hook that gets you intrigued. It's better to have some sort of idea about what's going to happen than to be thrown full force into something clueless. Teachers can use a variety of activities to introduce students to themes and ideas that they will be encountering throughout the lesson. This will help the students to grasp a foundation to build their learning on.
One of the simple tasks that I liked was the K-W-L charts. This is very simple and yet can help students link information together. They can do it on their own or the teacher can complete it as a class. The basis is to fill out what students know and using that information to determine what they want to know and after the lesson fill out what they learned. If used properly these charts can really help but the information all needs to be linked together and you have to get students involved in filling it out so they will be looking for answers to their questions throughout the lesson.
I also loved the KWL charts. I found Beer's explanations to be extremely helpful! I could see myself using this strategy in my future. I also love the Tea Party example because it allows students to collaborate. I love collaborating with classmates because it allows me to hear many different ideas. These strategies will help students become "good readers" as you said because learning to anticipate is a great strategy. Learning to anticipate helps readers to get engaged and really learn what type of genres they enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the KWL Charts are an awsome tool. I to can see using them, I actually took notes on them and put them in a binder I keep with teaching strategies. Beers does give really great ideas on how to help students become good readers. When students become good readers it helps them feel more at ease with the content that they are learning
ReplyDeleteI am also a big fan of the methods Beers suggests, and I can't wait to use them in my classroom. I believe it is important to have students be invested in what they are about to read, and these techniques give teachers the opportunity to do just that. My favorite was the tea party. I thought it was so original, and that students would welcome the chance to collaborate and get out of their seats!
ReplyDeleteGood points. I agree - there is a big difference between explaining and teaching. Frontloading and helping students anticipate/predict is essential for engaging them in a piece of text.
ReplyDeleteKWL charts can be so effective. If the student can understand the outcome this simple chart can have and the success of reading, I think students would take the chart more seriously.
ReplyDeleteMy problem as a student was I wasn't understanding the purpose of a lot of these tools because it was never explained. I filled it out as if it was busy work and never thought about it again.