Taking a close look at a text takes much more than looking at words or fining word and phrases to answer questions. Close reading is define as the mindful, disciplined reading of an object with a view to deeper understanding of its meaning (Cummins, 2013). According to Fisher & Frey (2012), the practice of close reading is not a new one, and in fact has existed for many decades as the practice of reading a text for a level of detail not used in everyday reading. Therefore, teachers need to foster this skill on students in early stages of literacy skill to become proficient in comprehension. In order for students to examine complex text, teachers need to model and guide them through various strategies that would support their understanding …show more content…
It is important that when selecting complex text educators look for specific factors that would meet each reader’s needs. These factors include language proficiency, background knowledge and experiences, and level of motivation. Depending on the factors mentioned, the educators can differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the students where they could read a text and apply strategies learned. It is important to understand the text complexity because we do want readers to read text which are not challenging enough or that are extremely challenge that would make their self-efficacy low. Therefore, when Fisher & Frey (2012) stated the factors to take into consideration when selecting a text are established, readers would interact with the text. Moreover, the use of comprehension strategies like question and answer relationships (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016) would help the readers comprehend the text as they read …show more content…
Furthermore, informational texts found in Reading A-Z talk about different water sources like the Mississippi River where the learner could relate too since the river crosses Minnesota. Part of the assessments done the learner indicated the dislike of reading, but through selective texts of her interest or texts that she could relate and use her background knowledge to engage on the reading would create on her motivation to read. Just as Fisher & Frey (2012) states that few readers read the introduction to know if it the text meets their needs. In order to create engagement on readers, looking at the complexity of a text as a teacher is it vital to maintain the reader joy
In the essay titled “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” written by John Holt and published in Reading for writers in 2013, Mr. Holt discusses why most children aren’t interested in reading. Mr. Holt spent fourteen years as an elementary school teacher. He believed classroom activities destroy a student’s learning ability. Mr. Holt never let his students say what they thought about a book. He wanted his students to look up every word they didn’t know. People can learn difficult words without looking them up in the dictionary.
I asked Student A eight comprehension questions about the text once she was finished reading. She did not have a problem with any of the questions. For example, one of the questions was “How old is Jessie now?” she responded right away with the correct answer “thirteen.” She did not even have to look back to the story to find the sentence; “Now that she is thirteen, Jessie competes with adults.” Student A was able to answer the “right there” questions with ease. Being able to remember key details from a text is crucial to developing the ability to comprehend what she is reading. She is already at a great stage when it comes to text comprehension and this will only help with further development. She had a purpose when she read and was reading for the details as opposed to reading to finish the text. She understood what was happening and if she continues to do this in the future, she will be able to understand more difficult texts by putting all of the key details together. Since Student A is able to recall key information from text, it will allow her to summarize and retell a text with ease. This strength will help Student A as she continues to develop as a reader because as the readings increase in difficulty she will remember the basic key details that she read and recount the story based on the main
On October 10th, 2017 at Springhurst Elementary School, I conducted a “Reading Interest Survey” and the “Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.” These surveys were conducted on a 1st grade student, Jax, to determine what his feelings are towards reading in different settings, what genres he prefers to read, and interests. It was found that Jax doesn’t mind reading, but prefers a few different topics. This was evident through his raw score of 30 on recreational reading, and a raw score of 31 on academic reading.
“The Ethics of Close Reading: Close Encounters” is an article written by Jane Gallop for the 2000 Journal of Curriculum. It discusses the topic of close reading itself, the social impact of the concept, the ethical aspect of reading, and the various ways close reading can be applied to daily life. The term “close reading” is used in the article more than fifty-one times, and defined on twelve separate occasions, generally being defined as, “looking at what is actually on the page, reading the text itself, rather than some idea “behind the text.” It means noticing things in the writing, things in the writing that stand out” (Gallop p.7).
“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” These were the words from one of the greatest authors of all time, Dr. Seuss, that sprouted the enjoyment of reading. I was a young lad when I first started looking at words, and although I could not understand them, I knew they had some significant meaning to them. Reading played a huge role in my life, and it all started when my mom read books to me as a baby, when I first read a book for myself, and, of course, when I was required to read at school.
In Lesson One, it became apparent through questioning that Kowahi students were confident readers who could use strategies successfully to decode and summarise a text. However, their ability to connect personal opinion and knowledge was lacking, which led to them reading text as opposed to understanding the deeper meaning. Good readers simultaneously employ strategies; they decode and read for meaning at the same time (Dymock, 2007), unskilled readers “fail to monitor comprehension” (Garner, 1987, as cited in Harp, 1999).
2. Students will learn to integrate information from several texts on the same or different subject in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. To support students’ comprehension of texts on fifth-grade topics in all subject areas, students learn the meaning of g...
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
For some students, reading comprehension does not develop normally. Many factors play a part with having difficulties mastering each reading skill to understand text. Children who struggle with reading face the challenges of working at a slower rate, relying on interventions and adjusted instruction to meet individual needs, and experiencing great frustration (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2008; Strickland, Boon & Spencer, 2013; Watson, Gable, Gear & Hughes, 2012). Once the basic reading and language skills are acquired and learned and problems with reading comprehension are identified, students can begin to make meaning of text. Researchers believe that using specific reading comprehension strategies help students understand text and become strategic readers.
That is the goal of being a fluent reader. Mrs. Baughman uses the components of a story to teach comprehension. The components of the story are the setting, the plot, the conflict, and the resolution. If students can easily pick out the answers for the components of a story then their comprehension is growing. Another way to teach comprehension is by using graphic organizers like Venn-diagrams, story maps, and cause and effect charts. Teachers can also ask questions to make sure students understand the text. Not only does the teacher need to ask questions, but so do the students. If a student can ask questions, and with guidance answer it themselves they understand the material. The same goes with summarizing texts. A good way to check comprehension is to see how well the students summarized the texts. Doing so, can show if they really understand the material or they are just reading without thinking about it. Group work is a good way for students to share their thoughts on texts and help explain it to others in an easier way. If students do not comprehend text then their reading skills for the future will not be good. Teaching comprehension is not by just asking questions. There are many ways to check it that give a better view on how students are
My favorite piece of reading material this week is Drawing on Text Features for Reading Comprehension and Composing. It echoes chapter 3, from our Content Area Literacy Instruction textbook. It shines a brief, but rich light on the fact that there is a huge variety of text and media resources available to teachers. The article explains how multimedia publications have the potential to draw students into learning, in ways that textbooks may not. It also mentions that sometimes presenting these different types of reading materials to students can add an additional challenge because students may need to use a new or different reading strategy in order to understand them. Typically the information is not presented as linearly
Every aspect of a lesson boils down to understanding what you read and being able to apply that new knowledge real life situations, and Ray Reutter and Robert Cooter’s research stated that there are strategies that involved in learning comprehension: activating, questioning, analyzing text structure, and creating mental or visual images are very important in attaining comprehension (Page 223). For me to achieve my goal, I have to develop strategies that will benefit my focal students my lesson to focus mainly on and I reach our goal.
Our activity focuses on the critical attributes of Informational text. Introducing students to informational text at a young age is important because 90% of the text read by adults is informational (McCowan & Thomason. 2014). Before teaching anything, it is
comprehension instruction: A comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches ―[Electronic version]. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(3), 218–253.
The reading process as a whole is a very complex area, and is constantly changing, but as an elementary school teacher responsible for teaching young children to read, it is vital for me to understand the theories behind the reading act itself. The three theories which I feel are the most important, and which I feel are intertwined to account for the reading process are subskill theories, interactive theories and transactive theories. I believe that all three of these theories have components that fit together to account for reading and the understanding of reading. One theory alone cannot account for every aspect of the reading process.