How can I help children with reading strategies?
Posted on January 12, 2011 by Melissa Edwards in Uncategorized.
The Shared Reading block in the Balanced Literacy Program is a great time for teachers model reading strategies for students, especially in the areas of comprehension, vocabulary, text structure and text features. I think that I have a difficulty at times distinctly showing or modeling these behaviors for students since after lots of practice, most readers don’t even realize they are using these different strategies. But we all have to learn about these strategies before we can practice them and eventually use them without thinking. Are there ways that we (teachers and parents) can help with these strategies?
What are some ways we can help children with strategies for comprehension?
Reading Rockets offers some suggestions to help readers make sense of what they are reading. Some of their suggested strategies include helping children realize when they do understand what they are reading and when they don’t. Reading Rockets also shares some idea about using graphic organizers to help children organize what they are reading and better understand it. Summarizing and having students ask questions are also good ways to reinforce comprehension strategies.
What are some ways we can help children with strategies for vocabulary?
One of my favorite ways to help students with vocabulary is to help them develop strategies for that to do when they are reading and come to a word that they do not know. I try to introduce the idea of context clues without telling them specifically what we are doing. Sometimes we use of small piece of paper to cover the unknown word, and then read the few sentences above and below to see what word we might put in that blank if we were writing. We can also look at the word and see if there are any parts of the word that look like other words we know (beginning, middle, and end). We also talk about ways to use outside sources like asking people, looking in dictionaries, and even searching on the computer. When you are reading and come across a word you do not understand, what do you do? Some of the strategies that you use personally might be the ones children need to know how to use.
What are some ways we can help children with strategies for text structure?
Now I will have to admit that when I see the words”text structure” I have to stop and think about what that really is. Text Structure is just the way that information is presented to help readers predict the flow of information (to be able to predict what is going to come next). Here are some examples of text structures: compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, chronological/sequence, descriptive, and story grammar (plot, setting, character, conflict, …). Knowing how something is set up and what is supposed to come next can help with organizing thoughts and understanding what is happening. I think it helps to share good examples of each of these types of text structure to help children figure them out. This could be a good time to look for similarities and differences between these different structures.
What are some ways we can help children with strategies for text features?
The term “text features” sometimes confuses me too. Here are some examples of text features: headings, captions, illustrations, bold or italic words, charts, tables, diagrams, graphs, and index. These are the things that are added to the text to try to encourage or increase understanding and interest. Think about a time you read something that you did not understand just from looking at the words. Did looking at an illustration with a caption help you understand better? Did looking at a chart, table, or diagram of the same information help you make better sense of the data being presented? I am a visual learner, and I know that text features help me even if I don’t always realize what they are. When a child is reading something that he or she may have trouble understanding, are there things you can point to on the page to help them better understand those words? My 4 year old get frustrated when she doesn’t understand a story, but looking at the pictures really help her.
More information on these strategies can be found in this article: Shared Reading: Modeling Comprehension, Vocabulary, Text Structures, and Text Features for Older Readers by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp.
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