Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Reading Comprehension
For my reading, I was assigned chapter 2 from the Tompkins text. In this chapter Tompkins discusses reading as a process, much like we were taught the writing process growing up. The first stage of this five stage reading process is Prereading. Prereading is where students set purposes (ex. are they reading for information or for pleasure?); students also connect to prior personal and literary experiences, connect the book to thematic units, make predictions, and preview the text. Once this has been completed, Tompkins suggest students move on to the next stage, which is the reading itself. In this stage students practice reading skills (ex. individual, group, shared, guided or listening), continue to make predictions, read the illustrations, charts and diagrams, read the entire text from beginning to end, read one or more of the sections of the text to gain a better understanding. The third stage, is the Responding stage. Here students are writing in a log, and participating in grand conversation or instructional conversation. Next, Tompkins writes about the Exploring stage. In this stage, students are rereading and thinking more deeply about the text. The Exploring stage also includes students making text to self connections, text to text connections, students will be examining the author's craft, identifying memorable quotes, learning new vocabulary words, and participating in minilessons on reading procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills. Finally, the students enter the Applying phase, where they construct projects, use information in thematic units, reflect on their interpretation, and value the reading experience. The use of the five stages in the reading process is key for students to comprehend what they are reading. I hope that I will be able to effectively use this process, as my CT does, so that my students will be able to get the most out of their reading.
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4 comments:
Good descriptions of each stage in reading. It seems that Tompkins really offers alot of good advice, but it seems like a big task to implement these stages all at once. I know Kate mentioned that is isn't necessary to do all of these steps in one lesson or for one reading, so I'm assuming that the stages you could leave out are maybe the exploring or applying stage? I dont see how you could leave out the pre-reading and reading stage, because those are the main components. I look forward to reading this chapter myself, because it seems to provide a lot of great information and helpful tips for us future educators.
I think a lot of teachers neglect to include the Exploring Stage of reading into their curriculum, when in fact, it may be one of the most important stages. It seemed to me that the students were engaging in the most critical thought during this stage. While I also think the Applying stage is important, I image that teachers will often turn this stage into unauthentic learning by asking the students to make dioramas or posters that may just be busy work. Great description of the chapter...you really filled me in!
I like how you gave descriptions of each stage in reading because not all of us read that chapter. I believe that all of the stages are important. With the prereading stage it is important for the students to think about personal connections along with predictions because it will get them imterested in what they are reading. Also deciding if htey are reading for pleasure or information will help them understand the text. The second stage with reading the text itself helps the students get invloved in the text. Students will be able to work together to accomplish this. The responding stage is good because it gets students thinking about what they read and they can summarize things into their own word and this shows the teacher if the students comprehended what they read. The exploring stage is important because this is the stage that students can make connections between the text and their lives, other things they have read, and the world around them. The applying stage to me seems similar to the applying stage because they ae using what they learned and creating something. I really think that these stages are helpful and good to consider when doing a Reader's Workshop.
This is a good summary. What do you think of it? Positives? Potential issues? How does it relate to our other experiences or what you are seeing in field?
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