My CT has a variety of activities that are related to comprehension processes and literacy instruction. I really appreciate her incorporation of visual literacy. Sometimes she has the students read a story in pairs, then they later retell the story to each other using the pictures only. She also has pictures (without text) that represent the story, and asks some students to place the images in the correct sequence. She has another visual literacy activity that I like, too. Before the students read a book, she'll have them look at its cover. The students write down what they see in the image and have a class discussion in which they predict the story's events. Lastly, they have done charts that contain a character list, setting, and problem. The students fill in these charts and write how these factors changed throughout the story. It's the CT's way of what Miller calls "thinking through the text together." I think my CT has a good variety of activities that perpetuates students' motivation and that meets the diverse needs of each student.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Comprehension: Melanieti
When I read, I make what Miller calls "text-to self connections." I relate my readings to my personal experiences and knowledge, and draw inferences with those thoughts in mind. I've always had reading comprehension struggles, and I credit this to the limited connections that I make as I read. Miller mentions "text-to-text" and "text-to-world connections." If I acquire a natural ability to consider those connections as I read, I can gain a lot more from reading. I'll consider these in hopes of improving my reading comprehension skills.
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2 comments:
It's interesting that you find you make more text-to-self connections than text-to-text connections; why do you think this is? Also, how can you help yourself (or your students) make more text-to-text connections? What kinds of questions could prompt this type of discussion? How could you build a "mental library" for them to draw on?
I found it interesting to see how you related your reading comprehension struggles to a lack of connections formed as you read. I have not had many issues with reading or comprehension, but I also don't find that I make a lot of connections in any of the three major categories. Do you think that your CT is doing a good job of catering to the different reading styles in her classroom, as apparently you and I have different methods of comprehension? It seems like she's doing a lot of visual literacy, which has some wonderful benefits, but does she do any other kinds? Do you think those are necessary if she's doing a strong enough program of visual literacy? Would you rely on one type of teaching literacy as your CT seems to be doing? I was also wondering how long the discussions about the pictures and retelling of the stories usually take? Is the class limited due to time constraints? What other ideas do you have for using these and other methods of teaching literacy in your future classrooms?
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