I am so grateful for and excited about this chapter! This is exactly the kind of thing I want to know right now. I still have a lot to learn about the field of education, but I can put these pre-reading strategies into action immediately.
So, all of these techniques can be useful in different ways, but the K-W-L chart seems to most logical to me in really getting to the core of a student's prior knowledge and what they really want to know. I'd also assume that this, and many of the others, as well, will get students excited about what they'll be reading. Personally, I like to be taught in a pretty structural way. I like to know what I'll be looking for and what I can expect to find in texts before I begin reading them. Yes, I do employ a lot of the tactics she mentioned about cover flaps, genre, heading, etc. before I begin reading, but, if it's something I've never come into contact with, then I like to know where it might go. So, when I view it from the perspective of a struggling reader, I'd have to assume that they'd feel even more comfortable than I do when given a more organized list of themes and questions to be looking to answer. This information about precisely how to go about setting up these exercises in classrooms is so helpful. I've heard of K-W-L charts. I've done some basic, textbook learning about them. But, as with most of the educational practices I've learned, the way in which to actually apply them has truthfully always eluded me. That makes sense--I've never been in a classroom where I had the freedom to try them. So, especially the section emphasizing how important it is to recognize that these charts are not comprised of three distinct column of seperate information. Beers states, "That's what comprehension is:linking the unknown to the known" (85). How wonderful that the aspects of literature that I've always been so drawn to are finally laid out on the table for me so plainly.
I did wonder throughout this chapter, though, "Did Beers actually make up all of these strategies?" I've racked my brain trying to come up with creative ways for my two tutorees to create meaning from text to little or no avail. I know that the Tea Party strategy was adapted from the South Coast Writing Project, but did she just make most of the rest of these up off the top of her head? Or, does the knowledge of these strategies simply come with time and adapting the strategies of other people? Or, both?
I really enjoyed your post and I can in so many ways relate. When I am given a book to read, I go crazy trying to figure out what the book is about. I try to connect the meaning of the title with the summary of the book. I want to know why the author chose to decorate the cover the way she did, but never once did I view this as a trait of an independent reader. Consequently, I never thought of the fact that some readers don't think like I do about a book or about the book at all. I really liked, Beers' pre-reading strategy 2: the tea party. I believe this strategy would be the most effective because we ae constantly learning that through social interaction, many students thrive.
ReplyDeleteBeers didn't create all these strategies on her own. Many literacy educators over the years have designed reading strategies for students. She is just providing you her "top" strategies and how she uses them in the classroom.
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