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!

To Re-read or Not to Re-Read, THAT is the Question!

We recently completed our first set of Literature Circles.  Actually, I don't really like the term "Literature Circles" because it is so closely linked with those "roles" that teachers love to squeeze children into.  You know what I mean:  Word Solver, Vocablulary Enricher, Illustrator, Summarizer, Questioner, etc.  I first ran into these roles while I was still a Primary teacher.  My son was in the Sixth Grade, and he was in a Literature Circle.  He was sitting in front of the computer with his novel on his lap.  He was getting pretty upset, just staring at the screen.  I asked him what the problem was and he said, "I'm the Vocabulary Enricher for this chapter, so I have to find a word in here that I don't know, look it up, and explain it to my group.  But I know all of the words already, so I don't know what to do!"  I suggested that he find an interesting word to share, and not worry about whether or not he already knew what the word meant.  But he was of the belief that this particular chapter had nary an interesting word in the entire text!  Then he said "Next week will be even worse! I will be the Illustrator, and I HATE drawing!". 

At that point my daughter, who was in Grade Twelve at the time, came down the stairs and said, "You know Jordan, teachers kill everything good about reading".  I made a vow then and there that I would never make students do something with a text that I wouldn't want to do myself.

Now that said, I had dinner with my friend Terri the other night, and she told me how she explains to her students that when we read for pleasure we don't study the text, but when we are reading in school, we are learning, so we need to study the text.  So there are some things we do in school that we would not do when reading during our free time.  I think she has a point, but I also think that sometimes what we make students do with their novels just becomes busy work. 

That is why I like the Reciprocal Teaching so much.  It just has four simple objectives to focus on, and the goal is for all of the students in the group to do all of the tasks.  So I thought that I was being pretty reasonable with my own students when two different conversations enlightened me.  First, I have a group that is reading "Who is Frances Rain ?" by Margaret Buffie.  This is a group of strong readers, all girls, who are loving their novel and their reading group (I tend to call them "Book Club Groups" because I am in a Book Club and I love my Book Club).  I gave them their template for the Reciprocal Teaching, and they GROANED out loud.  I asked what the problem was, and they said they hate filling in the sheet, that they just want to talk about the book.  I explained that the sheet helps them to stay on topic and not go off on tangents.  They agreed that it did help them stay on topic and go deeper into the book.  BUT, they said, they don't need to write anything down, they just need the anchor chart that is up on the wall.  So, I agreed, they didn't have to have a written product. 

I spoke to our Literacy Coach, Teresa, about this afterward because this compromise made me feel like perhaps we weren't doing it "right".  But she assured me that this was in fact a good thing, ultimately, the goal of Reciprocal Teaching is to promote rich and meaningful conversation and reflection. But in the back of my mind I was still wondering- how do we keep them accountable?

The next day, I asked the students to describe one of the main characters in their novels, and I was floored by the depth of the responses I got from this particular group, so I guess she was right. 

But then I met with a second Book Club group.  This group was reading "Frindle" by Andrew Clements.  This group seemed to be doing a great job with their Reciprocal Teaching, and they were now finished the book.  I pulled the group over for some guided instruction.  I decided to ask them some discussion questions about the book.  It just so happened that the student who had been recording their responses onto their Reciprocal Teaching form each time they met was absent on this particular day.  I asked my first question:  "Why does Nick call the pen a 'frindle'?"  Not one student could give me a reasonable answer.  I quickly realized that the only person who had understood the story at all was the student who had diligently filled in the sheets! 

I decided that I was going to have the students re-read Frindle because it is such a great story and I felt they need to "get it".  I told them that we would re-read it together in a guided reading format.  They looked at me askance.  They were horrified.  Read the same book TWICE!?!

I asked some of my friends what their opinions were.  It seemed 50% felt we should re-read it, and 50% thought I should cut my losses and move on.  But I decided in the end to let the children decide.  They felt they had read the book and they did not want to go back.  (For them, it was an accomplishment to have finished it, and suggesting they re-read it was a slight). 

We decided to keep moving forward.  They were each given a copy of "Mieko and the Fifth Treasure".   This time, I am meeting daily with this group, (if I can swing it, we even meet twice on some days), they don't read this novel independently at all because I want to make sure that they are using all of the reading strategies and understanding the text thoroughly - nuances and all.  I am using guided instruction with the Reciprocal Teaching format. They are doing a great job with it and are really enjoying the story.  I guess you could say they just need more scaffolding than some of the other groups. 

At first I was really upset by this apparent failure.  I actually had trouble sleeping last week, waking up at three-thirty in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep, trying to figure out how I can help these kids.  I really have to get better at looking failure in the face, accepting it, and then getting back on the horse and trying again.  After all, it's what I want my students to do.