Elizabeth Graham Post 6: Routman's Chapter 6 & 7

As I read Chapters 6 and 7 in Routman's Reading Essentials, I was struck by the concept of "just right" books. As a teacher librarian I am all in favor of student choice for independent reading, but I recognize the reality that many students need help identifying what a "just-right" book is. This is something we talk about during our library classes. For example, our third grade students are reading chapter books and many of them take pride in walking around with the largest chapter book they can find on the shelves. Harry Potter #7 anyone? If the student is ready for this reading challenge, I am all for it. However, if they are not ready and are just imitating the look of a reader, they are wasting their time and giving us never opened books to reshelve. I have worked with our third graders to identify some accessible, high-interest book series, compared text sizes, discussed how some series and books have pictures and cartoons while others are text-heavy, all with the goal of making the students self-sufficient book selectors.

As far as making assessments part of reading, I like the idea of "teaching intentionally". Many times when I am reading a book to a class, I will let them know that at the end of the story I will be asking them a question and that they should pay attention and prepare their answer. For example, with the book, Churchill's Tale of Tails, Churchill the pig has lost his tail and tries on other animal tails to see how he likes them. The question for my students was, "If you could have an animal tail, what kind would you pick and why?" At the end of the story, students shared their choice. This kind of question or prompt helps students pay more attention to the details of the story. It also serves as a mini-assessment and lets me know if students followed the plot line and can make connections and meaning from what they heard.

Elizabeth Graham Post 4: Routman's Chapter 8: Teach Comprehension

As I read Routman's chapter entitled, "Teach Comprehension", I connected with ways to employ effective comprehension strategies during library lessons and read alouds. As I am reading to classes I can model and demonstrate by "thinking aloud in front of the class". Some key strategies that I can focus on:

• Predicting
• Questioning
• Creating images - visual pictures 
• Seeking clarification
• Constructing summaries

An important point that may be obvious to most, but was an "aha moment" for me, is that "proficient readers use many strategies". There is not one single step to good comprehension, but many strategies that need to be used together and to be practiced in an authentic way. Media specialists are taught to embed information seeking skills and search strategies within the curriculum, not to teach skills in isolation. Reading comprehension works the same way: students should use comprehension strategies and skills at the point of need, while they are actually reading. 

Link to article by C.S. Adler on Reading Rockets webpage: Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension. Useful resource for teachers and parents.