Chapter 14: Finding the Right Book

Book by Book

Finding the right book can make all the difference in getting students to read. They aren't going to pick up something that doesn't interest them and so they surely won't want to read something we give them, if they don't like it. We need to make a conscious effort to give them books that interest them and NOT us. 

Text Features/ Know Your Students' Interests

This chapter made me aware of all of the material out there for students to read. It does not have to be a book. They can learn skills from things like magazines, newspapers, and advertisements. I liked the idea of getting to know students and what type of reading they like to do. I think this would be a good question to put on an information paper that you ask students to fill out during the first week of school. I know that this teacher said she didn't want students filling out a whole survey because she didn't end up reading them, but I think one question would be OK. Also, she told us about speaking with students for a few minutes to write down what they like on an index card and then have students match the cards to the pictures of the students in the class. This kind have seems juvenile but if it gets the students interacting then there's nothing wrong with having a little fun with it. 

Take Students to Your School Library
I give a lot of credit to the mother in this section that told her child she could not afford to send him to Washington D.C. with the rest of his class. What an awesome idea for her to suggest to her child that she would take him to the library so he could read about what everyone else was doing. This child was ecstatic that he could participate, while not being there physically. 
I can remember getting my first library card and how excited I was. That card allowed me to spend many hours looking for books, while growing up. A lot of students don't know what's available to them and don't go. I think as future teachers, no matter the grade, it is our responsibility to get these students to the library and to help them find books. 

Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond

The Power of Confidence

This was one of my favorite chapters. I find it compelling to learn all of the ways to make students feel more comfortable in the classroom, thus, giving more effort and interacting with other students. The first thing that I really agreed with was the idea that students value the respect of their peers more than they do their teachers when they reach higher grades, such as middle and high school. The book related, "fitting in, finding a group, and forming relationships with peers become more valuable than stickers on homework papers or nod of approval from the teacher" (Beers 259). From that we have to learn how to make kids feel like they fit in while they are learning.

Keep Your Expectations High

This part of the book told us a story about a group of students that asked their teacher why they didn't do the things that other, more advanced classes did. They brought about how they only write paragraphs instead of essays, don't have homework, and that she tells them things rather than having them find out themselves. From this the students got that the "teacher [thought they couldn't] do it" (Beers 261). The teacher finally gave in and said she would allow the students to read Huckleberry Fin like the other classes. Knowing that the students needed extra help, the teacher used more scaffolding for the students, and they did indeed complete the book. They even got AP credit for it. I found this to be a very true and relevant story to most classes today. In my placement this week, I saw this exact thing happen. The teacher told the students, "I won't talk about second person because you always get confused by it." She wasn't even willing to explain it to them again, and this is the type of circumstances that make students feel inferior. If the teacher doesn't think they can do it, then they surely won't believe in themselves. 

Make Sure Students Know One Another's Names

Students need to feel like they fit in. Knowing their peers will help put them at ease and make them participate more. The book stated, "the effort we put into learning their names and making sure they learn each other's names is critical" ( Beers 265). I agree with this 100%. I know it gets tough to learn one hundred plus students, but I think it is do able. The students will benefit so much from it, by feeling like they are a part of a group and feeling like you value them as a student. I saw this personally in my field experience. One of the teachers was going around to check homework and had to ask the student his/her name before giving them points. The students caught onto this and wanted to know why she didn't know their names. They said the other teacher (who is a special ed teacher that helps certain students) knew our names, why don't you? The main teacher replied that she didn't do the attendance and had so many students that it was too hard. I find this hard to believe, when the other teacher can remember all of the student's names and it's not even her classroom. The students specifically told me they wished the classrooms were more exciting and the teachers more respectable. I really think they lack the confidence they need to perform to their best abilities.

Chapter 9--Vocabulary: Figuring Out What Words Mean

Contrary to the usual vocabulary lists we all got back in elementary and middle school and were just memorized for the tests there are other ways of actually learning new words. Pure memorization is not going to get a student anywhere because they can't build on that memorization to make room for new material and new words. 

I loved Kylene's study of teachers and their study of twenty vocabulary words. It was interesting to see how the teachers finally agreed that if they did not give the students twenty words per week that they would never catch up. Ms. Beers was not only worried about there being too many words but also how difficult the words were. The teachers had to learn the list of twenty words a week before using them in front of the students and an additional week before introducing the list to the students. Altogether, the teacher had two weeks to learn these twenty words before making the students learn them. After the process started not only did the teachers have a list of twenty words to remember and use but also another list of twenty to introduce to the students. Overtime the words piled up. After four weeks the teachers were exhausted. One said, "... This is ridiculous. There is no way I can keep up with all these words" (Beers 181). Another stated that she never uses some of the words that were even on the lists. This experiment let the teachers see what they were expecting out of the students and after doing it themselves they learned what a huge task it was. 

Another thing we need to be careful of, is telling students to use context clues to figure out a word. Instead, it might be better if we say "using the context as a clue" (Beers 186). The chapter tells us that context clues require a lot of inferencing that dependent readers can't do. So even if they try to figure out the word, it is at times hard because they don't have the skills to inference, as well as a lot of times there is not enough information in a sentence to blatantly figure out the word's meaning to understand the sentence fully. 

A previous chapter mentioned collecting words on bookmarks that students didn't know. This is brought up again in this chapter. I think this is a really great idea to broaden students vocabulary. Not only could they put them on bookmarks but the teacher could make a running list in the classroom so each week students could learn five to ten more words. That might not seem like a lot but over a nine weeks that's forty-five to ninety words without even having to have a test over them. 

Logographic cues are a good way of finding the meaning of words without having to write a lot. Instead, students can be creative and draw pictures and symbols. On one side of an index card students can write the vocab word and on the opposite side they can define the word, as well as draw a logograph to suggest the meaning. Many students are visual learners and I think this technique would really help them by allowing them to think about the meaning of the word by seeing the drawing. 

The last thing that I was interested in was probably the most important thing in this chapter. Reading aloud was termed by Becoming a Nation of Readers "the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading" (Beers 197). I know a lot of people think it's stupid to be in high school and have a teacher reading to you. They think that their not in elementary school anymore and thus don't need to be treated like babies; although, the reading aloud is extremely important and will only make the students better readers. Personally, I enjoy having someone else read at times. It gives you a break and lets you follow along and imagine more. My high school English teachers did just that. A lot of times they wanted to point out certain parts and other times it could have been for this exact reason, of helping us become better readers. Along with this out loud reading comes silent reading. I know it can be hard to incorporate this into teachers lessons at times but just look at what a huge impact it can have. It affects vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and even students attitudes. Students need to realize how important this is, even though there is a debate on whether teachers should do the silent reading with the students. I think what the students need to see is that the teacher values silent reading and it should not be used as a time filler; yet know that sometimes they won't be able to read with them as they have other things to complete to affect the student.

Chapter 8: After-Reading Strategies

Chapter eight has a lot of activities to help students with comprehending what they have read. I think comprehension is a huge issue that students have most of their trouble with. They can get through reading a book but when it comes to talking about what they read they go blank. Having a support system or somewhere to start would help them immensely. 

One common problem with students in all classes is that they are afraid to answer a question because they might get it wrong. Even if students have a glimpse of the answer they are afraid that they will be made fun of by other peers. So, strategies like using Scales would help students think about their reading while not being afraid of getting it wrong. One student told the teacher that he didn't feel he could get the answer wrong after she started using Likert scales because they seemed more opinion-based (Beers 142). This shows that students will take part in an activity if they think they won't get made fun and only their opinions will tested. 

I had never heard of the Somebody Wanted But So strategy so it was interesting to find out that this simple activity can help students with summarizing information. It is just what it says, somebody wanted something but something happening so instead another thing took part. Asking students to give answers to these questions helps them to see what is going on as the teacher puts the answers on the chart. This helps the students by being able to both see it and hear it. One thing to remember about this is that it usually works better with narratives. Later on we will see strategies that work better with nonfiction. 

Retelling's are a simple strategy that can really help students focus on what happened in the story. I best liked how teachers charted the students progress. This showed the students how they were progressively getting better, boosting their self-awareness. Also retellings can help teachers see how well they are teaching. Retellings can help teachers re-structure their lesson plans if something they thought they were teaching was not obvious to the students in their retellings. 

The It says-I say strategy is used to transfer what the text says into what you get out of it. This activity helps the students take the question and get quotes directly from the book to then convert it into what that student actually thinks. This helps the student be able to rephrase or grasp main ideas from what is being said. It allows them to put what's being said back into their own ideas. 

There were so many strategies in this chapter. I think this will be a good guide for the future to gain ideas for our own classrooms. Once putting them into action they will make more sense and seem more affective. The last short strategy I liked was-Save the Last Word for Me. Students were asked to copy passages onto a card of their favorite parts. Then, on the flip side they wrote what they thought of the passage. The students went around in circles reading their cards and having the other students respond to them. The student whose card it was got the last turn reading what they thought. The ending was my favorite part because I think it would distill a sense of pride in the reader. Allowing them to feel like they got that one last word in to make the difference and leave a lasting affect on all the other listeners.

Chapter 7--Constructing Meaning-->During Reading

Reading is an active process. To kids this is a misconception. They think you have to be standing up or jumping around. Rather it is an active mind process. Students must be thinking, predicting, visualizing, and questioning. So many students think certain people can do certain things because "It's just the way things are" (Beers 103). In the opening of the chapter Gene gave that exact response. We as future teachers need to stop that accepting behavior and make students want to change those things they have previously thought couldn't change, whether it be their reading skills or studying skills.

Making sense is about rereading, figuring out definitions and figuring out what you don't know. Ama used this to show Lavern what all it takes to read and understand a passage. Two strategies Lavern could use to understand the poem he was reading is Say Something and Think-Aloud. This two strategies are closely related, although the first deals more with a group and the second more of on an individual basis. 

Say Something:

Students are in groups and take turns reading. Every now and then they stop and make some sort of statement (question, prediction, comment,etc.) and the partners are to reply to them. Everybody gets a turn to help the students remember what they are reading as they go along. 

Think-Aloud:

Students are partnered with someone so that as the student reads he/she will randomly stop and do their thinking out loud. The partner will note what kind of comments he/she made and talk to him/her about them when they are finished reading. 

Both of those two strategies need to be modeled by the teacher before being performed by the students. The teacher should first model the strategy showing how it is to be done and then explain how to go about doing it and the exact rules for it. One thing I like about the Say Something strategy was when the teacher would give the students stem starters so I student didn't have to think for a long time something to say. Instead they had a piece that they just had to finish. You can find a lot of stem starters on page 108. One think to help make clarity in the Think-Aloud activity is to make a verbal or visual cue when thinking that way students know that you're not reading from the book but rather activating your mind.

Rereading

"Probably the number one strategy independent readers use" (Beers 113)

"Probably the last strategy dependent readers use" (Beers 113).

Rereading is an important strategy for students to use. This is probably the strategy I use the most, if I don't understand something I find myself going back over it, whether it's to read the whole passage or just a chunk it doesn't matter. Some students don't know what to look for when they reread. They think that they will find the same information as they did the first time. So it's best to offer some sort of questions for them to answer or think about after they reread to see if they found out any new information, which they should have. Another issue that this chapter brought to my attention was the debate about rereading a book you already had for a book review. If teachers are recommending students reread passages for understanding then what's so wrong with rereading a book for a review? Most likely students will find new information that they didn't pick the first time.

Two of the end strategies that I thought would really help students was bookmarks and post-it notes--

I liked the bookmarks because they let the reader jot down special phrases or paragraphs they liked and keep it with them throughout the book. Also, there were many ways you could use this type of bookmark. Instead of writing down phrases they could write down words they didn't know or popular themes throughout the book.

I am a post-it note guru! It's a simple way of jotting something down that will stay with you as well. If you later decide you want it somewhere else you can transfer it. My elementary librarian always taught us to never write in our books. She was very apt about us never doing that because it ruins the book. To this day I feel somewhat guilty when I write in a novel. So for me post-it noting helps as well as if you want to take notes in a book that you borrowed.

This chapter was filled with great strategies to get students to construct meaning. It offered a variety that could allow students to work in groups or by themselves. This way the student will always have some type of strategy they can use no matter the circumstance.

Chapter 5---Inferences

Kylene Beers tells us "An inference is the ability to connect what is in the text with what is in the mind to create and educated guess" (61-62).We learned that inferences help students with comprehension. They have to be able to infer what's going on in order to be able to grasp the concept of what the text is telling them. So many students have problems with comprehension because they can't make those inferences. 

The inference in the book about the man buying a movie ticket for another lady seemed rather easy to me. It's like a puzzle, fitting the pieces together to make a perfect match. Students have to use pieces of the beginning of the text in order to figure out what's happening at the end. 

The Step Inside a Classroom section made me realize how hard making inferences is for some students. They just give up and quit trying. It seems like it's too complex for them to be able to wrap their mind around what's happening and put it together to see what all is being said. Beers used a study by Rosenblatt to "[explain] that readers interact with the text to create meaning" (69). The students use what is being to told to them to mix with what they already know to figure out what's being said. Some students don't have the prior knowledge others do so it might be harder for them. That doesn't mean it's impossible. In this section the students didn't think beyond what was actually stated. If movie was not given then they thought it was dumb. What they need to do is use the skills on page 65 of skilled readers. Those skills would help the students that struggle become better at making inferences so they can think beyond what's actually stated.

Chapters 4 and 6

 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.