Banielle vetesnik

1241S
Compiehension Reflection
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The authois state, "the following thiee factois aie always involveu when
compiehenuing text: the ieauei, the selection, anu the puipose" (uiaves, }uel,
uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11, p.28u). When I think of compiehension I think of ieauing a
stoiy anu answeiing questions about the ieauing, but uiaves, }uel, uiaves, anu
Bewitz (2u11) state ieauing compiehension goes ueepei than that.
When a teachei begins planning ieauing instiuction foi hishei stuuents
heshe neeus to take the following factois into account: the stuuents' stiengths anu
weaknesses, inteiests, anu backgiounu knowleuge. Auuing on to planning authentic
ieauing instiuction to each stuuent, teacheis shoulu also give stuuents
oppoitunities to ieau a vaiiety of uiffeient genies. Following authentic ieauing
instiuction, anu selection, then stuuents shoulu be given a puipose foi ieauing that
motivates them (uiaves, }uel, uiaves & Bewitz, 2u11). According to Gambrell (2011)
students who are highly motivated to read will choose to read and continue to read over
time (as cited in McLaughlin, 2012, p.434).
Teachers may give their students authentic instruction, selection, and a purpose
but that will not make comprehension of all stories happen for a selection of children.
Teachers need to teach comprehension strategies along with those three factors. Duke &
Pearson (2002) state, explicit instruction of comprehension strategies increases students
comprehension (as cited in McLaughlin, 2012, p. 435). This type of instruction
gradually releases responsibility to students, and involves the following five steps:
explain, demonstrate, guide, practice, and reflect. When teachers introduce the text they
should encourage students to activate their prior knowledge to make connections, and set
a purpose (McLaughlin, 2012). Explicit instruction when done correctly should directly
teach students through multiple step processes that promote scaffolding; this explains the
gradual release of responsibility to students. Students should be taught strategies to aid
them in comprehension like the following: Making connections, visualizing, monitoring,
summarizing, and evaluating. Knowing how to effectively use each strategy will help
when the teacher encourages students to independently read, and complete
comprehension activities (McLaughlin, 2012).
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Buiing my teaching placement befoie eveiy new stoiy Nis. LeConte woulu
ask questions to hei stuuents tiying to activate piioi knowleuge, accoiuing to the
authois "When ieaueis puiposely biing to consciousness what they alieauy know
ielating that knowleuge to the text, they put a set of schemata into place,
establishing a fiamewoik foi the new infoimation they will encountei" (uiaves, }uel,
uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11, p.S29). When I woulu teach guiueu ieauing gioups I woulu
have the chiluien take a pictuie walk anu make pieuictions about the stoiy.
uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11, explain that when ieaueis look thiough the
illustiations in books anu think uiscuss about what is happening in them it can
often impiove theii compiehension. The examples of compiehension stiategies I
have useu anu seen aie ways to leau the ieauing to highei-level thinking. I
unueistanu that the stiategies piomote compiehension anu highei-level thinking
because they aie listeu by uiaves, }uel, uiaves, anu Bewitz (2u11) as stiategies that
leau to highei-level thinking.
When I was teaching my guiueu ieauing gioup anu LLI gioup I iegulaily
hanueu out Beginning- Niuule- Enu sheets (BNE) so they coulu summaiize what
happeneu in the book. I thought the BNE sheets weie beneficial because It helpeu
them bieak up the impoitant paits of the stoiy to summaiize, I was assuieu by
uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11, that BNE sheets weie beneficial because they
synthesize impoitant iueas (p.SSu). BNE sheets seive as a visual foi stuuents to
measuie how well they compiehenu what they ieau. Now fiom ieauing this
infoimation about compiehension if I evei notice a stuuent that uoesn't have
anything wiitten unuei the BNE columns aftei heshe ieau a stoiy I woulu woik
with that stuuent anu come up with stiategies that coulu help monitoi hishei
compiehension. uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11 uesciibe these stiategies as fix
up stiategies anu one example is ieieauing if the stuuent uoesn't unueistanu
something (p. SSS).
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As a futuie teachei, ieauing compiehension is impoitant to me because it is
something I wasn't veiy stiong at, anu I uo not want my stuuents to stiuggle with it
like I uiu. uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11 uesciibe an effective teachei as
someone who assesses what hishei stuuents know anu link new iueas, skill, anu
competencies to piioi unueistanuing" (p. 28u). When I am teaching I will not
assume that my stuuents use piioi knowleuge to link to new topics anu cieate
connections with the new mateiial. It will be a skill that I will uemonstiate in a
gioup uiscussion by filling out a K-W-B-L chait. K-W-B-L chaits aie a way to
oiganize what they know, what they want to leain, how to finu out moie about the
topic, anu what they leaineu. 0n my own time I will make suie I pioviue my
stuuents with a vaiiety of genies with mateiial ieflecting uiffeient cultuies, levels of
uifficulty, uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11 state selection is impoitant foi
compiehension (p.281). I will also teach my stuuent how to summaiize, by
explaining "summaiizing is finuing what is impoitant anu then putting it in youi
own woius" (uiaves, }uel, uiaves, & Bewitz, 2u11, p.SS2). I will then uemonstiate it
by ieauing a passage, anu ietelling the impoitant infoimation in my own woius. To
have my stuuents piactice I woulu pioviue full suppoit, anu then giauually ielease
iesponsibility to the stuuents.
If an auult weie to walk in my ioom when I am intiouucing a new stoiy, they
woulu notice a K-W-B-L chait anu visuals aiounu the ioom that seive as "cheat
sheets" to help stuuents iemembei the fix-it stiategies to use if they aie not able to
compiehenu what they aie ieauing.








Refeiences:


uiaves, N.F., }uel, C., uiaves, B.B., Bewitz, P. (2u11). !"#$%&'( *"#+&'( &' ,%"
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NcLaughlin, N. (2u12, Apiil). Reauing Compiehension: What Eveiy Teachei Neeus
To Know. !%" <"#+&'( !"#$%"*, =>, 4S2-44u.