In order to provide my students with more reading and writing opportunities, I implemented a few new strategies in my classroom. The following are some of my observations during implementation of these strategies.
Following the Inner Conversation, Noticing When We Stray From our Inner Conversation
One important thing to support the comprehension of my students is to teach them that reading is like having a conversation in our heads. So many times I notice my students making connections with a text, yet also spending too much time straying from the meaning of the text. For example, when reading What Are Living Things? my students really connected with a girl on a bike. The author stated that all living things need air and showed a girl surrounded by trees riding her bike. They knew that trees provided air and they also love riding their bikes. Almost immediately, they all wanted to share their bike riding stories with me. Luckily, this was a perfect opportunity for me to talk with them about straying from our inner conversation. We were already aware that the author wanted to teach us about what makes something living, so we then had a chance to discuss if we thought the author would want us to be thinking a lot about riding our bike. After all, the story was not about riding bikes, it was about living things. Afterwards, this gave me another great opportunity to have my students write down the main idea of that section of the text by using sticky notes. In this picture, my student is writing down a personal note to remind himself this page is about "needing air to live."
Following the Inner Conversation, Noticing When We Stray From our Inner Conversation
One important thing to support the comprehension of my students is to teach them that reading is like having a conversation in our heads. So many times I notice my students making connections with a text, yet also spending too much time straying from the meaning of the text. For example, when reading What Are Living Things? my students really connected with a girl on a bike. The author stated that all living things need air and showed a girl surrounded by trees riding her bike. They knew that trees provided air and they also love riding their bikes. Almost immediately, they all wanted to share their bike riding stories with me. Luckily, this was a perfect opportunity for me to talk with them about straying from our inner conversation. We were already aware that the author wanted to teach us about what makes something living, so we then had a chance to discuss if we thought the author would want us to be thinking a lot about riding our bike. After all, the story was not about riding bikes, it was about living things. Afterwards, this gave me another great opportunity to have my students write down the main idea of that section of the text by using sticky notes. In this picture, my student is writing down a personal note to remind himself this page is about "needing air to live."
These two students are also creating their own post it notes to help them stay on track with their inner conversation. Each time I do this with my students, the rest of my class is restless to join in. They love writing down notes about what they are reading and it really makes a difference when asking them to summarize or retell a story.
Visualizing with Wordless Picture Books
Another way I planned to provide my students with more reading and writing opportunities was to help them visualize what they read. Using wordless picture books is an excellent way to do this. As we looked at all the pictures in the book, we discussed what was happening in the story. We made a personal connection to that and then discussed how we saw that in our heads. Although this book had no words, these two students were easily able to retell this story to me.
Another way I planned to provide my students with more reading and writing opportunities was to help them visualize what they read. Using wordless picture books is an excellent way to do this. As we looked at all the pictures in the book, we discussed what was happening in the story. We made a personal connection to that and then discussed how we saw that in our heads. Although this book had no words, these two students were easily able to retell this story to me.
Monitoring Comprehension
After reading, I began having my students write about what they understand and rate their understanding. In my classroom, my students are familiar with a star system for rating themselves. On a scale from 1 to 4 stars, 4 being the most, my students rated their understanding of the text they read. Doing this allows my students to think about whether or not they really understood the book. In the student sample shown, the student drew important details from the text in their own words. This student thought that knowing living things need food and shelter were important details. Then, the student awarded 4 stars to their comprehension. They love doing this!
After reading, I began having my students write about what they understand and rate their understanding. In my classroom, my students are familiar with a star system for rating themselves. On a scale from 1 to 4 stars, 4 being the most, my students rated their understanding of the text they read. Doing this allows my students to think about whether or not they really understood the book. In the student sample shown, the student drew important details from the text in their own words. This student thought that knowing living things need food and shelter were important details. Then, the student awarded 4 stars to their comprehension. They love doing this!
Inferring with Feelings
This activity was amazing for my students! They loved making inferences about a characters feeling. For this strategy, we played an inferring guessing game. One student had a feeling word taped to their back. The other students had to give the students clues, just like an author would, about things that make them feel this way. We used basic feelings like sad, mad, happy, and sick. Here are a few photos while I implemented this strategy.
This activity was amazing for my students! They loved making inferences about a characters feeling. For this strategy, we played an inferring guessing game. One student had a feeling word taped to their back. The other students had to give the students clues, just like an author would, about things that make them feel this way. We used basic feelings like sad, mad, happy, and sick. Here are a few photos while I implemented this strategy.