Our textbook addresses Summarizing and Synthesizing information in reading, especially when reading non-fiction books. According to Harvey and Goudvis, Summarizing is when “we pull out of the most important information and put it in our own words to remember it. Each bit of information we encounter adds a piece to the construction of meaning” (2007, p 179).  When I teach Summarizing, I tell my students they need to tell me, in one sentence, the most important idea in the book. In order to this, I read small sections or paragraphs within the text and stop at strategic points to sum up what we read. I usually model this skill and later allow my students to practice on their own.

One of the lessons I enjoyed reading about was Retelling to Summarize Information. This lesson entails taking notes while reading to recall the most important information at the end. I have actually implemented this lesson with my students in the reading intervention group. Summarizing information is confusing for them as they are required to retell the most important ideas without telling too much. My students usually provide more information than what they need to. One way I scaffold the lesson is by reading each heading or chapter and stopping to summarize what we read in just one sentence. I model the first two headings, then we do one heading together, and lastly students practice on their own. For instance, Monday we read an informational book How Cats Communicate. I summarized, in just one sentence, the first two headings and wrote it on the white board. Later in the instruction, I encouraged my students to summarize the rest of the headings and write on sticky notes. At the end of the lesson, we shared our sentences and together we wrote a summary of the book.

As I read this chapter I thought of ways I could modify my practice when teaching Summarizing to my students. A good idea is to create an anchor chart with an explanation of what summarizing is with examples and non examples. I can also create another anchor chart that could provide students with a framework to effectively summarize:

·         Tell what is important

·         Tell it in a way that makes sense

·         Don’t tell too much

These are great ways to assist my students in summarizing as they need visual reminders (such as anchor charts) to master any reading skill.

Another lesson I have implemented in my reading instruction is Comparing and Contrasting in Social Studies. When learning about Native Americans, students explored the variety of tribes and their unique characteristics such as main jobs, houses they lived in, women and men roles in the tribes, among others. As students explored each tribe, they generated and three column chart in order to compare and contrast Native Americans. Afterwards, they utilized the information in these columns to compose and compare and contrast paragraph about Native Americans. When students Summarize, not only do they determine the most important ideas in a text, but they also “add and think, and integrate new information” (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p 184.

Determining Importance in Non-Fictional Texts is one difficult task for my students. They have been taught how to determine main idea and supporting details; yet, they continue to struggle with determining the most important ideas within a text.  I often ask myself: Why do we drill the same skills such as main idea, over and over in our students? Why do students have to master this skill? According to Harvey and Goudvis, students must learn how to determine important information because “nonfiction fuel kids’ curiosity, enticing them to read more, dig deeper, and search for answers to compelling questions. When kids read and understand nonfiction, they build background for the topic and acquire new knowledge. The ability to identify essential ideas and salient information is a prerequisite to developing insight” (2007, p 156).  This is skills we teach our students on a daily basis, especially those who with less privilege households.

As I explored chapter ten in our course text, I realized I had already been using the strategies for teaching non-fiction texts to our students. The book recommends focusing on text features such as captions, visuals, vocabulary, headings, and titles (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Some of the tips suggested are: “Looking carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph, noticing signal words and phrases, illustrations and photographs, among others “(Harvey & Goudvis, 2007).  I utilize a strategy called THIEVES which I learned in my first year of teaching that focuses on “stealing” information in order to make predictions as to what the chapter or book is going to regard. Each letter stands for one text feature and reminds students what to look for as they begin a new chapter on their content area textbooks or personal book.  T: TITLE, H: HEADING, I: INFORMATION, E: EVERY FIRST SENTENCE IN EACH PARAGRAPH, V: VISUALS AND VOCABULARY, E: END OF CHAPTER QUESTIONS, and S: SUMMARY.  I have made bookmarks for students to utilize when reading to assist them referring to it as needed. Prior to utilizing this strategy, I introduce it to the students by explaining and modeling each initial. Next, students and I practice how to use THIEVES and make predictions about the text. The more we do it, the more students get comfortable with the strategy and also any text. At the beginning I devote my guided reading and whole group instruction on any content area to scaffold by doing with the students.  As they become proficient, I listen and observe how they use it in their daily practice, especially during centers or guided reading.  

 While this method could be used with elementary students, it can be certainly implemented with middle and high school students. I have only used it with fifth graders during reading intervention time as well as in Social Studies and Science. I find THIEVES to be effective as it helps students organized their thinking process. Additionally, it guides them in learning information step by step. Even those struggling students have been successful with THIEVES as it allows them to at least make predictions about the text.

Two of the lessons I really enjoyed learning about in this chapter were: Building Background Knowledge of Non-fiction Features and Becoming Familiar with the Characteristics of Nonfiction Trade Books. Both of these lessons promotes the mastery of identifying and utilizing text features such as captions, graphics, photographs, in order to determine important information within the text. While these lessons are too basic for my fifth grade students, I can use them to scaffold the process of becoming familiar with text features, especially in the primary levels. When students create their own learning artifacts such as their own non-fiction text, they easily store and thus, recall that knowledge. Students acquire real information by creating captions, illustrations, as well as comparing and contrasting through images and real pictures.

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers.

Inferring is one difficult task for my students to perform as they do not know how to listen to their inner voice. I use both strategies in my daily instruction, especially in my small group reading intervention to improve my students’ comprehension skills. The strategy I utilize the most is inferring; this is also the hardest “it involves merging background knowledge with text clues to come up with an idea that is not explicitly stated in the text “(Harvey & Goudvis, 2007 p. 131). In my reading intervention groups, I encourage my students to make inferences about the character’s feelings and traits. For example, last week we read a book about a 14-year-old Indian girl who invented a washing machine that didn’t need electricity to do the laundry without taking too much time. After reading the book with the students, I then encouraged them to express what they thought this character was like as a person. I distributed sticky notes to the students and asked them to look for sentences in the text that helped them understand Remya, the main character, as a person. Some of the words my students came up with were inquisitive because “Remya was always trying new things and doing experiments,” Another adjective my students brainstormed was persistent because “even though her parents and friends discouraged her, Remyan didn’t give up.” Finally, my students suggested Remya was creative and original as “she invented a new washing machine that did not need electricity to do the laundry efficiently. “ While my students were able to brainstorm these adjectives about a character of a story, they struggled throughout the activity as they do not possess the adequate vocabulary to talk about characters or people in general. Thus, I had to scaffold this activity by creating a chart headed: Quote/Illustration and Inference. Also, I provided my students with an anchor chart with several traits so students can refer to it as they are describing or making inferences about characters.

Another way I utilize Inferring in my daily instruction is by finding or inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words. While reading together, I encourage students to look for words they do not know and infer the meaning. In order to do this activity I utilize a chart headed: Word/Clue/Sentence/Inferred Meaning, which is located in Strategies that Work. This is a methodical way to teach context clues and inferring to students as it organizes the thinking process of students while defining words through context clues. Some words my students have learned through this strategy are: bolt, display, invent, competition, donate, structure, invention, and others. Although these are “easy” words for most fifth graders, my students read at a 3^rd grade level; which is why they have reading intervention in small groups. 

Chapter eight of Strategies that Work provides rationales and lessons for utilizing “Questioning” techniques for students when reading a text. Students tend to have numerous questions while reading, but sometimes these questions are not relevant to the text so it does not enable them to comprehend the text. Last week, I was reading a short text to the entire class during core. The text was about two boys who had taken a science test. While the teacher thought one of the students had cheated on the test, the other student, who accused his classmate of cheating, admitted that he had lied because he was upset. As my co teacher and I took turns in reading to the students, I modeled questions that crossed my mind. For instance, I asked myself: “Why did Fernando accuse John of cheating?” “Did John really cheat on the science test?” “I wonder how Fernando feels after telling the truth.” Some of these questions were answered right in the text, and others were not because I had to make inferences. I modeled this process to the students and talked about the importance of knowing we can answer the question directly from the text or use the information in the text to make an inference.  Students then had their chance to read another text and jot down questions as they read their text independently. As my co teacher and I walked through the classroom we realized this is strategy we should implement more because our students have difficulty distinguishing questions that relevant to the text and questions that are not relevant.

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers.

Activating my students’ background knowledge prior to reading in any subject area is difficult. The lack of schooling in previous years, degree of literacy in native language, and usage of another language at home are just some factors that hinder my students’ background knowledge. Chapter seven in our textbook Strategies that Work explicitly teaches some strategy to activate background knowledge. One strategy I began utilizing in my practice with whole class as well as small groups is that of making connections throughout the text. For instance: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Although our textbook suggests using sticky notes while making these connections, I have begun to model this activity through thinking alouds. I also made an Anchor Chart with all of the codes; I have displayed it in my inclusive classroom, which is not really my classroom, but my co-teacher loved it. This allows us to  allude to it while reading aloud to the students. For example, just last week we were reading about a Chinese girl who moved to California with her parents  at the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout the story the author provided sentences and clues to infer about how Mai lee, the Chinese girl, was feeling about relocating. While reading I could connect to this character as I too moved from another  country to the United States. I explicitly “coded” my thinking as T-S (text-to-self). I then described the emptiness I felt when leaving Cuba, my family, friends, home, and school. Next, I showed my students how my connection allowed me to infer about Mei Lee’s feelings due to my personal experience. 

The next day while continuing the same story a student made an interesting connection I had not even thought about. My student suggested that the title of the article “A tree of Heaven” was probably referring to the tree as a sign of “hope” for Mei Lee just like the statue of Liberty was a symbol of “Freedom” for immigrants. I got really excited! My student had just made a T-W (text-to-world) connection. However I didn’t stop there; I asked him how that connection helped him understand the text and he answered: “Well I can predict Mei Lee will feel a lot better when she notices that tree of heaven is outside her new house in California, she will probably feel at home.”  In effect, the student –who is a student with learning disabilities in reading and math-, was able to confirm his prediction when finished reading the story.

Had I not read this chapter? I would have continued reading after this student made a t-w connection; however, Harvey and Goudvis suggested that students’ connections are not always accurate or related to the text. Often times, students make connections just to say something but they are not really meaningful to the text (2007 pg. 102). I wanted to ensure the student’s connection was relevant to the text so that he could make sense of what we were reading. Needless to say, he was very successful in comprehending the story.

Another lesson I am implementing is “Rethinking Misconceptions: New Information Changes Thinking.”  I utilize this strategy everyday in my small group of reading intervention as we read a variety of non-fictional books. Last week we read an informational book about an animal that lives in Madagascar, the Aye-Aye. I had never heard or read about that animal and neither had my students. After introducing the text, I read the first two pages with the students and I explicitly modeled how to code the text with new knowledge. I stopped and said: “Wow, I never knew that Aye-Ayes lived in Madagascar and that they are nocturnal animals like owls.” I coded my text with an L and then wrote that sentence to represent the new information I had just learned. After that, I encouraged the students to do the same activity for 5 minutes as the book was quite short and then we shared our answers. Some of the students found new information but were not specific in rephrasing their new knowledge; I helped them identified the new information they had really learned. This is one strategy teachers can use not only in reading but in all subject areas as it teaches students to synthesize and summarize new information while reading.

While chapter 13 from the text book promotes the Researcher’s workshop in the classrooms, it lacks all the factors that prevent teachers from teaching social studies and science. “We [teachers] need to give students time to engage in research, we [teachers] give them long blocks of time to read about a topic, find information, write about it, and actively use their knowledge as they teach others” (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007 p. 230). The Researcher’s Workshop is a great method to engage students in in-depth investigations as long as they are provided with extensive opportunities in the classrooms as well as computers or smart devices such as iphones, ipads, and others at home. Unfortunately, we teachers are “engaged” in learning how to teach Common Core Standards which consists of more complex texts and features. Also, we are engrossed in implementing our brand new Reading Core series “My Reading Street” along with all of its components such as:  on grade and below grade reading intervention, English Language Learner reading intervention, and last but not least reading intervention for students with special needs. Due to all of these new resources and standards we have now doubled our faculty meetings, PLC’s, and staff developments; not to mention our committee meetings and duties. This leaves us little time to fully plan our reading, math, social studies, and science periods which is why now we are required to plan with the content area coaches in our schools who most of the times are late or take up our time venting about other issues not related to planning.

I recognized the significance of providing our students with the best tools for their learning. However, school districts make it harder each passing day for teachers to accomplish this task. We end up “teaching to the test” because that is what the school or district mandates; in fact, most of our curriculum maps and textbooks are already designed to teach to the test. Randi Weingarten exclaimed “Reclaiming the promise [of Public Education] is about enabling [teachers] to teach an engaging curriculum that includes art, music, and the sciences” (2013 p. 1). Not only do public education teachers struggle to plan long periods of research, but also regular subject area classes. All we want is TEACH!

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers. 

Weingarten, R. (Fall 2013) Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education, 37(3) p. 1. 

Monitoring comprehension is one hard task for my students. They have difficulty determining whether they truly understand the text or not. Chapter six in Strategies that Work et al. explicitly explains how to teach comprehension strategies that deals with monitoring comprehension. One of the strategies I really liked and I started using with my students in the past week is “Knowing When You Know and Knowing When You Don’t Know. While reading aloud, I model when I am genuinely confused and then I show how I find the answer in the text. For instance, my students and I were reading an article from a magazine about young kids in Dominican Republic whose dreams are to play in Baseball Major Leagues and the challenges they face to even get chosen. There was one part in the article that explained the process of getting picked in the baseball camps and how these baseball camps are the key in changing kids’ lives and the life of their families. At first I didn’t understand how the families would also be benefited from these camps so I articulated my confusion to my students. I said I was going to keep reading to find the answer in the text. Luckily in the next paragraph it clearly explained that these families were given medical services, food, and housing. I then showed my students how this information enabled me to understand the text.

         Although it is a new approach I am taking while thinking aloud, I already can tell my students are relating to it as they become confuse themselves while reading. Instead of avoiding that uncertainty about the text, I am modeling to my students what to do when I am unsure about the text. Harvey and Goudvis suggested that “this coding technique supports students’ effort to monitor their comprehension and stay on track with their thinking” (2007 p. 81).

Another comprehension strategy that allows students to monitor their thinking while reading is “Read, Write, and Talk,” Students jot down comments, questions, and connections about what they read. Some of my students successfully use this technique in their independent practice as well as my co-teacher, especially when reading social studies magazines. Though I had never used this strategy I can see how it can help my students track their thinking as they are responding directly to that text while reading. This note jotting allows students to connect to text and self, to predict, to question the text or the definition of unfamiliar words, to summarize and synthesize important information.  Harvey and Goudvis explained that “when kids notice their thinking while they read and engaged in purposeful talk [and note jotting], they comprehend more completely and think beyond the text” (2007, p. 83).

                           Classroom teachers and Exceptional Education Inclusion teachers are too busy teaching or in some cases, drilling, math and reading lesson in order to meet the academic standards assessed in FCAT. Consequently, we are only able to devote 30 minutes to Social Studies or Science per day. This is not enough! One approach we have taken in my inclusive classroom is that one of utilizing reading materials from social studies to practice comprehension strategies. One strategy that we have been using most of the times in social studies is defining unfamiliar words through context clues. My co teacher and I model how to use context clues to figure out the meaning of these words. For instance, when reading about Ancient Civilizations we came across the word “migrate.” In the text, this word was followed by a coma, the conjunction “or” and the word “travel:” migrate, or travel. We explained to the students that one way to find out what this word meant was to keep on reading paying attention to that coma and the conjunction because the text was giving us the definition. Even though travel is not the most adequate definition for migrate, it still helped students understand that ancient civilizations used to travel and move to different places in search of fertile lands and homes.

Harvey and Goudvis suggested that despite our lack of time to teach social studies or science, we should create learning environments that focus on comprehension as opposed to memorization. We should foster an environment that connects students with real world and real life issues. Finally, this environment should provide students with time to think (2007 p. 207). When teaching social studies my co-teacher and I try to connect the content with issues that are meaningful to students. Recently, we were learning about economics and we decided to extend the unit to talk about banks, interest rate, credit cards, and loans. Surprisingly, students were really engaged and they asked valuable questions such as: how do I know a bank won’t steal my money” “If I am out of Naples can I still access my money in my bank account?” This turned out into a huge opportunity for debating and thinking, I had never seen my students so eager to learn about a subject. All I had to do was to relate the content to their experiences as most of their parents had bank accounts.

          As an Inclusion teacher I wish I could have a classroom of my own to be able to implement all the techniques mentioned in our textbook such as: Book Club Discussions, Creation of Concept Maps, Creation of Maps of Stories, Construction of Time Lines, among others.  The one reading technique I utilize the most in the class is Interactive Read-Alouds with picture books and regular books. While not having a classroom of my own is frustrating, co teaching is an excellent method to share my thinking with my students and my co teacher.  Mr. Schultz, my co teacher, and are able to engage in effective dialogues that make our thinking visible to our students. It has only been six weeks of school and I have noticed how my students use great vocabulary words when expressing their thinking or confusion about a text. This is all part of content literacy as students are learning information, ideas, and new ways of thinking. When they ask important questions and share their thinking with classmates, they also explore their world (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p 218).

 

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers.