#tovani

[vincetrolls]

I saw this photo and my immediate thought was these three........

@dattertrolls  @vb-fantrolls-et-all

[edunite]

Teaching Students How To Read & Remember Text 3/23/14

Students Becoming Active & Independent Readers

This topic can become a tough one for teachers who are not designated to teach reading. However, all teachers should be equipped to help students understand their material, and that includes the concepts and information within the text. Katie McKnight talks about strategies that can help students become better readers in other content areas. She suggests where students can listen to the text, rather than try to read it themselves, so they do not get stuck on difficult words. The worst thing teachers can do is leave students alone with their textbooks. Teachers should be providing countless number of assisted texts, giving assignments that will further their thinking on the material, and allowing time for students to ask questions and make sense of the text with the teachers' assistance. Students do not become independent readers independently, they need the help of the teacher and other sources to achieve this goal.

http://vimeo.com/channels/477294/54482724

Reading But Not Remembering

A lot of times, even in my college courses now, I will read information in my texts and feel like I have a good understanding of it. I come back several weeks later and all is lost in my mind. If a college student is struggling, it is highly likely that a fourth grader is struggling as well. Teachers need to not only teach the material, but teach the students in a way they will remember it. In grade school, almost all of the material being taught is built upon for years to come. And even more often, that material is having to be revisited and retaught because students have forgotten what they have learned. If teachers spent more time on ways that students will remember the information, less time will be spent on having to reteach it in later years. In Tovani's text, she talks about leading students to this kind of thinking and processing information so they will remember it. Just reading through the text and having the students study the information for the test at the end of the week is not enough. (Trust me, I have done that all throughout school and I still am so forgetful of information.) We need to dive into how the students are thinking about the text with double-entry journals, which I blogged about earlier this year, with classroom and small-group discussions, and applying it to the students' lives in the best way possible. It is going to be difficult and even awkward in the classroom at the beginning, but from Tovani's examples, it is worth the time.

Tovani, Cris. "Chapter 6: Holding Thinking to Remember and Reuse." Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2004. 67-87. Print.

[pinittoteachit]

"Just Right" Texts

This week we read chapter 4 from Tovani this week.  It was about the transition of textbooks to different types of text that are more appropriate for those struggling readers that are not at grade level.

The materials are usually above their grade level, concepts are introduced too quickly, too many vocab words that they won't get a chance to use, and not much background knowledge on the topic.  I want them to be engaged in the text and make sure they have the actual potential to understand.  I love the word perseverance (weird I know), but I want to encourage them to persevere!

I want them to actually understand the concepts many events share.  I want to give them accessible texts of many different reading levels.  The texts will be based on their interests and what they already know.  They need to practice with texts there are at a good difficulty level for them!  Or they will get nothing out of it!

I also believe in alternative assignments.  It really bothered me in the book when the teacher didn't want to give the student an alternate assignment.  I love that they are called companion pieces.  The plot points and themes are similar, but the texts are easier to understand which is so important for struggling readers!  

I can't wait to have text sets for each unit of study in my classroom!  They will gain a broad perspective and an in depth sense of subject matter.  The texts will be different genres, lengths, and formats.  Connecting each of the readings together whether they are poems or letters or articles will be a skill that they will use forever!

As a struggling reader even today I know how much I would have appreciated having accessible texts that could have helped me to practice my reading comprehension skills so I definitely support this teaching practice in schools today.