What have you learned about your buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?
As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your lesson?
My reading buddy, E, is quite a fluent reader. In the first week of our reading assessment she read the "Pele" selection with only three miscues, none of which affected the meaning. She also read quickly, and with appropriate expression. Her comprehension (measured through her re-telling of the passage as well as recall questions) was excellent. The following week, I evaluated her reading ability using a selection for upper middle school students, "Biddy Mason". Similar to the week prior, she read it quite fluently, quickly and with proper expressiveness. When I assessed her comprehension of the passage though, I saw that she had not grasped all of its meaning. This fills in for me a question that had lingered in my mind-- despite the fact that she is a capable reader, she has told me that she does not read for pleasure in her spare time. I have been puzzled by that. She reads the required amount to fulfill the homework expectations, and that is it. I am beginning to believe that although she is quite capable of decoding the text, she has to work much harder at comprehending the text, especially when it is more advanced.
Her book of choice this week was John Grisham's, "The Confession". She said that her dad had purchased it for her, telling her that he thought the books she had been reading "were at too low of a level for her". I asked how she was liking it, and she said she was enjoying it. When I asked if it was difficult to understand, she said that she didn't know what some of the words meant. She showed me a list of words that she had written down to ask her dad about: malignant, chemotherapy, glioblastoma. I asked her if one of the characters had cancer, and she said she did not know for sure. I think that she is probably able to read a lot of this text, but is missing quite a bit of the meaning.
So my thought is to work with her on some comprehension strategies. I plan to bring in a book next week by Newbery award-winning author, Sharon Creech, called "Absolutely Normal Chaos". I selected it due to the appropriate reading level for E, as well as an engaging topic. I plan to base my reading lesson on this book. I will likely use the strategy of modeling how I think about what I am reading by stopping to ask questions, predict, and make connections. Then I will have E practice these deeper thinking strategies. Maybe this is too many strategies for one short lesson? I look forward to your feedback!
~Shelley
I almost feel like E needs help determining what's an appropriate book for her. Of course, her dad is the one who chose a John Grisham novel for an 11-year-old, so maybe your effort is better spent on a comprehension lesson, as you note.
ReplyDeleteI like the asking questions/"I wonder" strategy, because it really translates across texts, and it's something she can draw on as she goes. I can see why predicting and making connections are useful, but I think for the purposes of your time together, you should confine it to one strategy, and asking questions is perfect. Use some sticky notes or colored sticky tape (and give her some to take with her) and mark spots where you have a question. I have a similar strategy when I read something--a sentence, a paragraph, whatever--that I want to remember: I fold over the corners of pages. But now that I write that "out loud," it sounds so unorganized, inefficient, and disrespectful of the book! My point is that having something tangible like sticky notes can encourage her to use it as part of a questioning strategy.
I appreciate the thoughtfulness you put into thinking about your buddy's needs. With someone who can read so competently it would be easy to make a lot of assumptions about comprehension (similar to what Tovani talks about). In the case of your buddy, it sounds like she can generally comprehend grade level texts. The difficulty comes when she is reading texts that are above grade level. In some ways, I think this is a really difficult problem in general. I know I have some first graders who can read at the third grade level but finding texts that are appropriate and that they can comprehend is difficult.
ReplyDeleteI am curious why such a competent reader does not read very much. Have you asked her? I wonder if she has explored different genres to find books she might be interested in. I am wondering whether texts that are at grade level, addressing issues important to sixth graders might be more interesting to her (rather than a Grisham novel) or whether the problem is that she does not enjoy those and has yet to find texts that fit her high reading level and her social/emotional/intellectual interests. I think this gets to Kim's thoughts about whether she needs help finding the right books. We use the "I-PICK" strategy/acronym in our first grade class. I=Independent (I can read the book independently), P=Purpose, I=Interest, C=Comprehension and K=Knows most of the words (we do the five finger test).
ANYWAY. Getting to your specific idea...
I think Kim is right about focusing on one comprehension strategy. Offering too many at once could be overwhelming and it will be difficult to have time to model and practice the strategy in the time we have. I am not sure what I think about the "I wonder" strategy. I think as part of a menu of comprehension strategies, it is an important piece but as a stand alone, I am just not sure. It is certainly good to wonder...I think perhaps it makes a person slow down and consider the text...but part of me also wonders (ha ha) what you "do" with all of these wonderings. For example, someone wondered in the Boar story last week why the girl was chewing a piece of grass. OK. Well that question will not be answered in the course of the text (probably) so while it is fine as a wondering, did it help with comprehension?
There are some other comprehension strategies such as backing up and re-reading that I think are really concrete. I think prediction is good as well...especially if you focus on how the reader uses what they know about the story, character motivation..etc..to make the prediction.
Oh..and Kim...
This is becoming a confessional...first, you tell us you like Faulkner over Hemingway (I can hardly write those words without cringing) and then you tell us you fold over the pages! What next? Secret book burnings??
Wow,John Grisham for a sixth grader? That is pretty heavy reading and goes against everything the district presented to parents at the Literacy Workshop for parents. Reading above level is not helpful but damaging according to the experts at the workshop...anyway...
ReplyDeleteCan you help her pick a book for reading at home that she will enjoy and is a "just right book"? Even though you say she doesn't read for pleasure, I do know that the district mandates homework for every student of 20 minutes or more of reading at home. Does she have a book to use to fullfill this requirment?
For your lesson, I think you are right on the money. Of course she doesn't read for pleasure if she isn't enjoying the stories. How could she enjoy the story if she isn't comprehending the text?
I like the idea of picking an award winning book. It gives it more "value". The librarian has introduced this sixth grade class to what it means to be a Newbery Award winning author/book and some of the titles that hold this distinquished honor. So, you are working on a lesson that picks up on some of your students background knowledge. Excellent!
I agree with all of your input about the Grisham novel not being a great choice for my buddy. It was chosen by her dad, and what do THEY know? (JK!). But I am now contemplating switching my focus to helping her select "just right" books. I believe that if she finds a book that is engaging and challenging of her reading ability that her comprehension would actually be just fine. Thanks for your input!
ReplyDelete~Shelley
P.S. I love the ongoing debate about "asking questions" versus "predicting"! :-)