Are they Really Understanding What They are Reading? Helping Your Students Respond to What They Read

During the last two weeks, we've been focusing on Reading Comprehension.  Specifically, in our Ontario Language Curriculum, we've been working on specific expectation 1.8:

Responding to and Evaluating Texts

1.8 make judgements and draw conclusions

about ideas in texts and cite stated or

implied evidence from the text to 

support their views 

Teacher prompts: “What conclusions

can you draw from the events or information presented in the text?” “Has

the author chosen the most convincing

facts to support his or her opinion?” 

We've been looking at short informational texts.  I've been using articles about Space because I believe that as much as possible, it makes sense to tie in my content areas to my Language program (it's like killing two -or three or four - birds with one stone).   

Here is my "Instructional Pathway" for Reading from the last two weeks.

Day 1

I actually put our specific expectation from the Language Curriculum document up on LCD projector, read it to the students, and said, "It is difficult to make sense of this expectation, how can we put it into our own words so that it makes sense to us?". This is what my students came up with for our Learning Goal in Reading:

Then, I read aloud a passage called "Space Junk" and modeled for them how I paused to check for understanding, how I asked questions as I read, and how I made connections and inferences to better understand the text.  

Day 2

The next day, I took a text from our EQAO samples called "The Constellations", (found on line; even if you are not from Ontario, there is a great selection of texts and student exemplars found here).  Again, I modeled how I used the comprehension strategies to understand the text, but this time I used a document camera so that I could mark up the text and they could "see" my thinking.  

Day 3

We looked at the open response questions from EQAO that went with this particular text.  I made several copies of the student exemplars from each level, and in groups, my students had to order the responses, and then provide "feedback" to the students who wrote the responses, i.e. what they did well, what next steps they should take to "bump up" their work.  My kids LOVED doing this!  They wanted to know if they could really send their feedback to these sample students!  They even decided to name their "mystery students"!

   

We posted the student exemplars on our "Bump it Up Wall" along with post-it notes with our feedback, as we did a couple of months ago with our Math journal samples.

Day 4

I asked the students to consider the feedback we gave our "mystery students" the previous day, and in groups, they then began to consider what they felt are the criteria for success for a good reading response.   We took those up, and as a class wrote up the Success Criteria for a successful reading response. 

Day 5

Between Day 3 and Day 4, we had a PLC on Learning Goals and Success Criteria.  We watched a video from Anne Davies and Sandra Herbst's blog on how to have students co-create Success Criteria.  In the video, the teacher said that it is important to have the students sort or categorize the criteria.  I was doubtful about this step, but my Literacy Coach wanted my to try it with my students.  This is what they came up with - and honestly, these criteria suddenly made more sense to me - I love it when I get to learn from my students!

Day 6

With that established, I once again had an article to share with them, this time on our favourite Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, (from Teaching Kids News), using the document camera.  This time, they each had a copy of the article in front of them and we did a shared reading of the article. We coded the text together, they shared their thinking, I shared mine, and we documented ALL of it on our articles.   

Day 7

I posted a question from the article on Chris Hadfield.  With a partner, the students wrote a response to the question using the Success Criteria as a guide.  We then used the document camera to review each response and provide feedback.  I find the students are quite comfortable with this for a few reasons; 1- we have created a risk-free environment where it is safe to make mistakes, 2- they were explicitly taught how to give feedback in appropriate ways, our feedback is now solely based on the criteria, 3- because they worked in partners, it is less personal. 

Using all of the feedback, we share-wrote a final response together using the document camera. 

I think it is very important to use the gradual release model in our teaching practice.  It is slow, and explicit, but I think it pays off in the end.  

So what comes next?  The students will meet with me in small groups and I will give them guided support in responding to informational texts at their reading levels.  They will also have opportunities to practice responding to these texts with a partner, and then on their own.  I will provide them with feedback throughout, and they will also provide one another with feedback.  Once we've had lots of practice and feedback, I will then do an Assessment OF Learning to see if they have in fact "bumped up" their work!

The Birth of the Classroom Library

I have over 1500 books for my classroom library.  It is one of my most prized possessions!  I've been spending the last few weeks on Pinterest looking at pictures of so many beautifully organized classroom libraries, I am just itching to put all of my books into their baskets and onto their shelves.  But I am not going to.

A few years ago, I read Frank Serafini's Lessons in Comprehension, and he suggests "birthing" the classroom library with the students.  So during the first week of school, I will gradually introduce the students to the collection of books that I have as I "invite" them into the "World of Reading and Literature".  Each day, I will place a collection of about 30 books onto each group of desks.  Students will have five minutes to peruse the book collection at their group.  Then I will ring a bell, and they will rotate to the next collection of books.  That way, the children will see about 150 books a day.  Together as a class, we will then determine labels for the various genres that they noticed, and we will begin to sort the books into those categories.

Meanwhile, we will also create anchor charts for Reading by exploring why we read, how we take care of books, strategies for choosing an appropriate book, when to abandon a book, and what good readers do.  I like to read a page from my husband's electrical engineering textbook.  I read it fluently and expressively, demonstrating how well I can decode all of the words.  Afterwards, I explicitly state that I can decode all of the words, and that for the most part, I even know what each of the individual words mean, but as a whole, while I can read it beautifully, I have no understanding of what I just read.  I explain that in order to understand a text, I have to have some background knowledge on the subject matter.  If not, I have to read a much simpler text on the topic.  We talk about the fact that reading is about making meaning, it is about understanding, and that the goal for this year, is to understand deeply what we read.

For the first week of school, we continue to view the books in the library, but the library is not yet "open".  Once we've viewed most of the books, and we've categorized the books, the children are responsible for organizing the library.  I then announce that the library is "open"- by now they are usually thrilled because they've been salivating over the books all week and not allowed to read them (a little reverse psychology).  They each select a book, and then I tell them that they have a seven page book report due the next day.  (I love to see their chin drops!)  I then explain that they have to read the first seven pages of the book they have chosen, and write me a paragraph explaining why they chose the book and if they think they will like it. 

You might wonder where all of my books came from.  Many are free picks from Scholastic, many are books my own three children have outgrown, many are from garage sales, but most are from donations.  Parents are more than willing to donate books that their children are finished with, you just have to let them know that you welcome their donations.