Who's Doing All The Work? ~ Introduction

The authors of this book set the stage for changing my thinking on how to empower my instruction to create students who think, interact and respond to text independently. They say that the meaning of the term scaffolding has become too broad. It has become “a euphemism for the teacher doing much of the work” (p. 3). In my effort to scaffold learning for my students, I have unwittingly told them to wait until I prompt them to think and speak and interact with the text.

For example, my guided reading lessons follow the script from the kit. “Students, turn to page 3, Jesse likes to play with bugs. Do you see him playing with bugs on page 3?” The entire time I am introducing the book, I am prompting the students how to think, when to think and what to look for in the picture and the text. I definitely need to teach them how to preview the book independently so they can get the information they need to read the text. For example, making predictions, asking questions, and summarizing, to name a few.

The authors go on to say that they will be introducing me to Next Generation Reading Instruction. Next generation reading instruction will respond to the students need through their ability to be independent/dependent. It will give students “decision-making power” by teaching them that difficulty can be an opportunity and they can "begin to see the connection between their effort and their success” (p. 6).

Each of the chapters will talk about instructional contexts: read alouds; shared reading; guided reading and independent reading. By using the next generation reading instruction, teachers will empower students to become independent and proficient readers.

Follow the discussion for this book on Facebook: Literacy Teacher Book Club 

Goal 5: Supporting Comprehension in Fiction - Using Plot and Setting

Comprehension is a really important part of the reading process. It is the entire reason for reading. Understanding what you are reading can take you places, teach you new things and help you find your way. Many students I am working with have difficulty recalling what they just read. Jennifer Serravallo says, we have all had students who retell every little detail and other students who don’t retell very much. While, still, other students add all sorts of additional information that didn’t even come from the text. Jennifer says that “understanding (the) plot is the most basic of comprehension goals for students reading fiction”. This goal is where my students have difficulty retelling who, what and where. They either say too many details; add their own details or they don’t say very much at all. For example, “He went to the farm.” Ugh! The following strategies can help students understand the plot of a fiction text better.

Goal 5.1 - Lean on the Pictures:  This strategy is recommended for guided reading (Fountas & Pinnell) levels A-K, using a fiction text. The CAFÉ strategies are determining importance and retelling.

This is what I did this week. During reading groups, I asked students “What were the most important things that happened? Retell the story for me from the beginning.” When they struggled, I asked them to lean on the pictures. “Look at this page, what are the most important things that happened?” I guided them through the pictures in this manner until we had finished retelling all the pictures. During this time, I also included Check for Understanding - “Who is the character? What are they doing? using a visual aid – the check mark.

I can’t tell how it is going, yet. I still have more work to do. I’ll keep you posted on student progress.

Here are a few strategies I want to try.

Goal 5.2 – Title Power: This strategy is recommended for guided reading levels C-M, using a fiction text. The CAFÉ strategy is determining importance.

In this goal, students will read the title of the book. They will keep the title in their mind as they read. They will think about the events and how they connect back to the title.

• Check the title. What does the title connect to in the story?
• Think of the title. What is the problem?
• Keeping the title in mind. What are the most important things that happened?

Goal 5.3 – Summarizing What’s Most Essential: This strategy is recommended for guided reading levels E-K, using fiction text. The CAFÉ strategy is summarizing.

In this goal, students are retelling the important events in the order in which they occurred and in a way that makes sense.

• Say the beginning in a shorter way.
• Can you say that in a shorter way?
• Just tell me the one important thing that happened in the beginning.
• You told me 5 things that happened in the middle. Which two or three were most important?

We've been doing a book study through Facebook using The Reading Strategies Book, by Jennifer Serravallo. In an effort to try and "blog", I've re-posted my Facebook post here.

The Reading Strategies Book

I am getting ready to participate in the Lincoln County School District’s (LCSD) very first blog book study. There are 42 fabulous, hardworking educators that will be participating in this blog book study. It is very exciting to see such enthusiasm for this book.

I would like to thank Kristin at Reading and Owl of the Above and Colleen at Literacy Loving Gals. I followed their Reading in the Wild blog book study in November. Following their blog book study helped me grow as a Reading Specialist.  I have been searching for ways to connect to other reading specialists and I found it with these two wonderful educators. They are part of my Professional Learning Network.

We will be working with Jennifer Serravello’s new book The Reading Strategies Book. This resource book is designed for grades K-8 and is full of strategies to help all readers be successful. Watch Jennifer Serravallo talk about this book in this book trailer:  The Reading Strategies Book Trailer. I have recently found Jennifer on youtube. I am in love with everything she says about reading strategies, conferring with children and balanced literacy.

Join our Facebook Group: LCSD: The Reading Strategies Book. We will be using #LCSDLiteracyWarriors as our hashtag.