Course 109- Strategies that Work

"Reading is Thinking" and "Reading is Strategic" QQC

Q:
One thing I noticed in the 'Reading is Thinking' reading, that struck me right off the bat, was how well the students were able to make connections to things they had read in the past. This seems to be a major challenge for my students, and I think it's something cognitively that I just don't quite understand in them yet. While my students *might* sometimes refer back to a book that they have read over and over again, they generally can't tell you what book they read for their Reading Packet the night prior. They' haven't made those connections and remembering details from specific stories seems to be a major challenge for them. How do you foster this in first graders? On the one hand, I want them to remember details so that they come to have 'favorite books' as part of the 'good readers ___' strategies from Debbie Miller's Reading With Meaning. On the other hand, they simply need to improve their skills in this area, since passing the DRA Level 4 and beyond requires correctly sequencing details from the short stories they have just read. It's a skill that is definitely stronger in some kids than in others, and it's one that I want to find strategies to improve. The 'Reading is Thinking' article got me thinking... but most of the strategies in terms of making connections seemed more applicable to older kids. How do I get those connections into my first graders? I already do the sticky-note method, and I have just initiated 'Reading Logs' for my students to rate their favorite books and from which I will display 'Class Favorites'... but on a more basic level, what activities can help students fine-tune these skills?

Q:
"Like writing, reading is an act of composition. When we write, we compose thoughts on paper. When we read, we compose meaning in our minds. Thoughtful, active readers use the text to stimulate their own thinking and to engage with the mind of the writers. Readers construct and maintain understand by merging their thinking with the text." (p.21)
This quote stood out to me since it is a connection that I often try to make with my students. We talk a lot about how writing and reading are so, so linked. I stress the importance of being good writers to try to get them to place themselves in both frames-- as a writer who is getting better and better each day, but also as a reader who improves their writing by reading it, if that makes any sense. We talk about the balance of reading and writing and how very connected they are. This quote puts it in a more theoretical framework, but it's an idea that I'd really like to share with my students and that I will incorporate into one of my mini-lessons during an 'Editors Workshop'.

C:
This article was so, so dense with so many strategies that I can work into my instruction. Some I remembered from having read Debbie Miller's book.. and I think I need to go sift through that again to see how she managed to apply the higher-level comprehension piece to first graders. I'm only imagining that if this is a lot for MY brain to process right now, it's also overwhelming for my students. One thing that I took away from both this article and from our professional development day with Judy Miller is that I need to make a tracking system for comprehension on my assessment wall. I've got spelling, sight words, reading levels, guided reading groups, a record of their oral reading behaviors... and essentially no way to track comprehension beyond an occasional writers workshop piece that ties in. If I'm going to sort this all out in a way that works for my mind, I always have to put it in a format that they can understand. I want them to work hard for goals in Reading Comprehension, and work hard to 'master' the strategies that are SO important in their development as a reader.