What is reading? What are the different pieces of reading that we need to teach to our students? If you had to break it down, how would you do that and how much importance would you put on each individual piece? How do those pieces add up to make a "full" reading/learning experience for our students?
Take some time on this one and really think it through. Where do we want to emphasize our instruction and how do we do that?
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Reading....
Reading is the ability to understand the text. It is important for second graders to be able to read a variety of materials; fiction, non-fiction, directions, their own writing, and what others write to them. How do we go about this? Practice. They need to practice this as much as they can. They need to be motivated to want to practice reading. They need to develop a love for reading and know that it is important. They need to know how to use phonics, how to break up words, have a vocabulary, and understand punctuation. Giving kids choices and directing and guiding them is our job.
Reading is like following a recipe. First, there is the choice about what you want to make....is it a sweet fantasy or a rib-eye of facts? Next, gather your ingredients: Use picture clues, phonemic awareness, sight vocabulary. For flavoring, add schema, questioning, predicting, inferring, and summarizing. Mix together, and slow cook. This will help the text and the thinking blend together. Voila! The perfect meal.....don't forget to share your recipe with a friend.
Reading for first graders encompassess so much. It means knowing letters make sounds, letters together make words and tell a story. The mechanics of reading tend to influence how I introduce reading, especially when my children don't have good control over letter identification, or phonemic awareness. I teach all of those concepts that seem to be automatic to self-taught readers...left-to-right directionality with return sweep, one-to-one matching, monitoring on known words and self-correcting when necessary. At the same time I try to have the children do some 'in the head' thinking...does my reading look right and sound right? I spend lots of time on these concepts, along with using good intonation and reading punctuation. All of these things are so important for the beginning reader. At the same time, if a child doesn't perceive him/herself as a reader, I need to find the simplest, readable text that they can feel successful at. I struggle with getting all of this orchestrated and trying Readers' Workshop when my children are barely reading, and not independent enough for me to be conferencing with the other children. I'm always open to suggestions to make this process easier for the children. OK, for me too!!!!!
HI again,
Reading through Jackie's comments, I felt that she makes some important points....there is a huge difference from what a first grader is bringing to the "reading table" compared to a higher grade level reader....if a child is getting hung up on the mechanics...how can comprehension even begin to happen? Personally, I have been blown away by some of the second grade discussions during whole class read alouds....and I think all the comprehension teaching is immensely worthwhile....but I agree with Jackie in that these younger children need to break the code.....and some have had very little experiences before Grade one doing so....and likewise, the amount of practice differs as the grades go up....on the first day of school, one of my students announced she read 148 books this summer....is she the best reader? Yes....and not just because she has the Gates scores to prove it....she has the interest, the practice, and yes, the highl-involved parents....and these things along with her own ability have made the difference. We can't do it all, so we must encourage them to do more on their own.
fj
Thanks Faith for noting some of the first grade difficulties. What I need to do is see the strengths, not the difficulties and sometimes it gets a bit tricky. Tried the real reading salad today and it wasn't as hard to do or to get responses as I had thought. It's a work in progress, as is Readers' Workshop. Is there a song that says....keep plugging along?
I agree with much of what has been discussed here so far. Reading is a multi-faceted task that has many componants that must be addressed. When I think of a reading salad, I see it more than thinking and text. The means of decoding the text is also important to the salad. All of the various areas we have discussed with respect to comprehension are all part of the salad. Reading is thinking which is a product of comprehension.
The link to encoding (spelling) and written expression must be considered when students are writing in relation to their reading. They connect that their writing is text and looks like text they read. Some special educators believe that reading is decoding. Decoding of text is important to unlock meaning that in itself from my perspective is not reading. Many of my resource students are able to comprehend but they struggle with the decoding. I have others who can decode words but have difficulty deriving meaning. Working with five grades, I see various needs at various levels. Historically, special education reading materials are not what you would call "love of reading" enticers. Therefore, I use "real reading" material as soon as I can and build the skill areas as we go. I have various steps to get them reading. My goal is always to try to get them back to read in the classrooms as soon as possible. A balanced reading program is like a balanced diet. You give the children everything they need to grow as a reader. Given the structure of my schedule, I am adapting the Reader's Workshop to meet the needs of my students and instill the enjoyment of reading at the same time. It is a work in progress. I am very optomistic!
Reading is a process of communicating using text. We read for a variety of reasons- to be entertained, to be informed, to be persuaded, to name a few. We need to teach our kids to think about their reading- what are their lingering thoughts? What is the purpose? If it is to inform- what do we learn from it? What do we take from it and what do we still want to know?What does it teach us- is it how to do something, is it teaching us about the past? Are we reading for the pleasure of pure entertainment? Do we share our favorites with others and ask others for recommendations?Is it toescape for a time to another time and place? Is it to reflect on the actions and feelings of characters ina story?Are we reading to persuade someone to try something new, or view things the way we do?(presidential elections?) It's all of the above and more. We must expose our kids to a variety of genres. Mysteries, biographies, fairy tales, fiction and non-fiction, realistic and fantasy- all should be included in our students reading world. Readingwith partners, independently, whole group, teacher reads, choral reading, reading parts in a play keep it fresh and interesting.Learning to open our minds and think about things, learning tocherish the words lovingly strung together by an author or poet, expose them to all of it. Reading is indeed a form of communication and as with most things, the more we practice it, the better we hope to be at it. It is the foundation of all learning.
Testing
Reading is a culmination of so many skills, the most important being comprehension. Before understanding can take place, the student must be able to identify the words using phonics skills, relate to the vocabulary and then put it all together in a fluent manner. If students consistantly stumble and decode as they go, they need to become more proficient in these areas before stressing meaning. Practicing reading on an instructional level is extremely important. The more you read the better reader you will be. Once the child is reading at a fluent rate, it is time to dig deep into meaning. comprehension strategies
I tried it twice....hopefully it shows up this time...
I have to agree with the girls above. Reading has many components including the “fab five” and other deeper level thinking and comprehension components. To me, a student is a reader when they develop a love for text. Even that first grader who is skimming pictures is a reader, perhaps not a reader quite like a fifth grader using sticky notes in search of a burning question, but they are becoming active with the text…developing that love!
In first grade, I have many students who are still learning the mechanics of decoding but are still readers in my eyes. Each day, these students eagerly examine books in their book bags or borrow something from our classroom library and become involved in a book. I allow them choice times to explore various books. At the beginning, the main goal for these students is to have each one of them love to hold that book in their hands, get a feel for it, and then realize the amazing tales or information they hold.
I also feel that writing is directly connected to reading. Writing helps my students understand that authors write to help paint an understanding or picture in our minds for various reasons. I have my students write daily in order to become authors themselves. We just moved into sharing our writing with peers to help develop their writing. We have a whole group share or pair sharing in which they converse about their writing and help each other’s pieces of writing become better. I started to do this based on the share time portion of the reader’s workshop model. I found this a helpful component and decided to transfer into my writing times.
As the year moves along, we examine the reading mechanics, writing traits, comprehension strategies, and other important components of reading. I try to weave reading across the curriculum in order to help my students make connections to various kinds of meanings. During this time, my students become more comfortable sharing information and asking questions. They are provided the vocabulary and understanding of what good readers and writers do.
Blogging is fun?
Aside 1: I don't feel so inept knowing that other individuals had trouble blogging also.
Aside 2: When reading the phrase "break it down" for, this prompt, all I could think of was M.C. Hammer doing "Hammer Time". Needless to say I had a good laugh.(What would you expect from a person with 38 years of dancing school?)
OK I'm back in the saddle.
Reading is a form of communication where ideas are written symbols which need to be decoded & comprehended by an other individual. Reading is very much like dancing. It is a conglomeration of skills that need to be learned to create a full composition. Reading starts with the letter pieces & their sounds, then continues to combinations, and hopefully moves onto a sentence. In concert with these steps, comprehension and fluency are needed. Each person does not read, learn or experience in the same way. There's a great deal of finagling and practice involved in this entire, life-long, process.
Girls,
During a random google search, I came across a website that seems helpful with Reader's Workshop. It had lots of mini-lesson ideas along some links for more ideas and books. Take a look... www.mandygregory.com
Sheila :D
Reading is lots of pieces that come together like in a recipe or in a dance and somehow it's magical. I've always felt lucky to bear witness to blossoming readers whether as 1st graders or 5th. The art of teaching reading (and it is an art)is creating a classroom environment which promotes authentic exchange of ideas in a student centered atmosphere. At this level, I see comrephension strategies as vital in getting students to think more deeply about their reading. Reading is different now since experiencing RW. Reading is more real, more student driven, and ultimately more enjoyable for me and my students. Passion for reading is present. It starts with modeling but it grows from their desire to be emotionally invested in their reading. With thinking deeply as an expectation, kids are talking, writing and sharing thoughts that used to be locked inside their heads.Our once "magical" reading thoughts are now transparent and valued. Reading in the classroom is transformed and they are transformed by it. They are real readers not just school readers.
Reading begins long before knowing the names and sounds of letters. When a child can interpret and derive meaning from a picture or a series of pictures, isn't that reading? Children learn to read visual symbols and signs because these things have meaning in their lives. At some point they come to understand that print has meaning connected to those objects or pictures. Unfortunately for us, that understanding doesn't come at a "magic age".
Phonemic awareness (along with all the visual skills that Jackie mentioned)is, to me, a very important skill for understanding how sounds of our language work. If there were no names for the letters of the alphabet,just sounds for each symbol, I think the process of learning to read would be much easier.(I still think Bob Baratta-Lorton had the right idea, "sounds before letter names". If you don't know who he is ask Karen Verry)
Teaching the mechanics of how print works is only one facet of this all-encompassing process. Taking meaning from what we read goes hand-in-hand with decoding. For me, reading aloud has always been and will always be a jumping off point for both teaching comprehension strategies and the mechanics of reading. It provides opportunities for those students who aren't reading independently to show what they know. It puts students on an even playing field regardless of their reading ability. Often those "non or beginning" readers are more perceptive and are able to help their "reading" peers to think and
look a little deeper. Yes, learning to read independently is the goal, but those read-alouds, think-alouds and discussions are just as important. They become the support system for constructing meaning when we read on our own.
So finding a balance between the "how-to" and "What does it mean?" is probably the biggest challenge we face, especially for those of us at the primary level.
Does that change as children become adept at the mechanical process? I'm curious to hear what teachers of the upper grades think about the shift in emphasis.
This is a test
I strongly believe the most important reading lesson we can give is the love and enjoyment that books can offer. This starts from babyhood right on up. Just like anything a child learns, it happens when all the pieces are working together. The child has to want it and is ready and able to accept information and help. We of course can help this happen by what we do as teachers and as parents. I truly believe that a "typical" child will enjoy reading and be able to understand what he reads if he is surrounded by readers and lots of books . Once he sees and feels the love of books then he will want to start putting the pieces together. As Faith mentioned reading is like a recipe. There are lots of ingredients that are in play. But the one I think is the most important is the wanting of it. Now I need to say that there are those that really want to read and want to love books but it is still a struggle for them. This is went it is even more important that they feel success with books. GIVE THEM BOOKS THAT THEY CAN READ!
Yes we do need to do letter id, phonics, and all the other pieces to the puzzle. But it is a balancing act. Don't destroy the love of books for the drill and skill that need to be learned.
I have a little boy right now in my class that can't read. Everyday he gets a note on a napkin from his Aunt. That note is so much more valuable than any letter game that I could play!!!!
He asks me to read it and I do. But I know very soon he will be figuring out those words because they have a special connection to him. He will read that note before he reads a book picked out by me.
Kellie, I loved the last little bit on your blog about reading the napkin before reading other, possibly teacher chosen, text. The connection piece, especially in the early grades, is what generates the love of reading. Those children in my room that bring in favorite texts have the best advantage of all. They already have connections and want to share them. As I'm writing this I know that tomorrow I'll invite the children to bring in their favorite book or written object, card, poem, list...etc. Can't wait to see what they'll bring in. I just went on a tangent...wanted to blog about an observation of someone. My thoughts with people feeling comfortable with this is that since some of us are in the baby steps of this process, we would rather observe than be observed. I'm still working on this and don't want others to feel uncomfortable doing a lesson, any takers in lower primary??? Thanks!Of course, I'd love to see you all but there isn't enough time in the day. I need just one......
I believe that children can “read” long before they can actually “read” the words on the page. Sitting with my friend’s 2 1/2 year old last week, I read him a story about a little bunny--- Even though he is far from decoding actual text, he WAS reading the book. He was able to hold the book correctly, turn the pages, predict what the story would be about by looking at the cover, question, even infer about the character! It was amazing to see. I was practicing some of my teaching strategies on a two year old… and they worked! Reading instruction must begin early (pre-school)—with access to books, and opportunities to watch the adults in their lives read books….hold books correctly, turn pages, track from left to right… If a student comes to kindergarten or first grade with prior knowledge about books and HOW they are read, than part of the “teaching to read” is already done. Needless to say, decoding words is an integral part of independent reading, but young students should be provided with opportunities to learn to decode, and ALSO develop their comprehension strategies though listening to adults read books aloud. These two pieces should not be taught in isolation. When a student masters the decoding piece, then naturally, independent reading becomes an easier task… However, oral comprehension (listening to read alouds) is usually much higher than independent silent reading comprehension. It is our job as educators to provide struggling students with opportunities to “read” and THINK about reading even if they are having a hard time decoding actual words on the page.
emmaHello,
Okay where do I begin? I have so many connections and thoughts running through my head after reading all of your comments. So I will try my best not to ramble. First reading means something different for every age level and depending where they are developmentally. For example my 4yr. old is now taking the book from me and reading it back to me by using the pictures. My 2 yr. old is finally sitting with us and enjoying the books (I am excited because he is a boy and wouldn't sit for 2 seconds for me before) He will sit in his bed and get out the board books and point to the pictures. My third grade class has all different levels in it. I have students who are reading at a first grade level and those who are reading at a 3rd grade level. I consider all of them readers in these examples just at different levels. Our hope is for them to become adults that enjoy reading for pleasure and can read independently
Okay I don't know what happened but only part of my blog is posted so I am going to finish where it left off. Also I do not know why it says Emma hello?? Anyways--So as I mentioned earlier that many students are readers but just at different levels. For these students to become readers though they do need all the beginning "stuff",vocab,how to decode, how to read left to right,recognize punctuation,questioning,predicting,inferring,schema, and so on. If none of these things were taught I don't think people would be able to become true readers.
I guess,in my mind, reading means communicating. It is a two-way process. I think if I'd been asked this question YEARS ago when I first began teaching, I would not have thought of it this way. Okay, if you had asked me this one year ago I probably wouldn't have answered it this way. Nonetheless, reading for me is an interaction between a person and an object, such as a book or another form of written communication, or it could also be a piece of art, nature, or another human being. We all "read" others' expressions and at least try to infer meaning from them. I believe it begins as soon as we are born. Babies read their parents' faces and parents "read" their babies cries and derive meaning from the subtle differences. This two-way process of communication is with us from birth. When you boil it all down, I think reading is simply making sense of the whole world around us and within us. The forms of reading increase and change as we grow and learn. Reading books is just another way of making sense of the world. Books are so convenient and important because they are a permanent record of someone's thoughts and ideas and when we derive meaning from them they become a part of us. I don't think I could make a list of all the different types of books or forms of communication and say what should be taught first or that a certain amount of time should be spent "teaching" each. I don't think what's most important to one human being is going to be the same for another. I think providing as many opportunities for children in many different forms (Gardner's theory of Multiple-Intelligences comes to mind here)to derive meaning from their world is what's most important. Children should be exposed to "reading" (deriving meaning from) music, plays, sculptures, drawings, dance, poetry, narrative stories, non-fiction books, persuasive writing, even a math formula and so on. If we as teachers provide the proper environment and guidance and model how to interact with one another and the world around us, then we have laid the foundation from which children learn to construct their own knowledge and make sense of their world....Now I only hope that some of this made sense to somebody else besides me! :)
I know I'm late adding to this...sorry. As I read all of your comments, all I can say is, "I agree!" It amazes me how my thoughts on reading have evolved as my education on the subject has. In the primary grades you are teaching the basics, the foundation of reading the words. As children get older we move on to the deeper thinking. At least that's what I always thought. Now that I have been using the reading strategies and listening to all of my collegues implemetation of them as well, I now understand that the primary age children can be taught to "read deeper" as well. This may not be through the actual written words, but by using pictures, schema, connections, asking questions... you can take any reader to a higher level of understanding of any kind of text. I always taught across the curriculum, but using the strategies to teach all curriculum brings it all to a new level. So I guess what I'm saying is that I am now, finally teaching "reading" all day and it is important in the entire curriculum.
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