They make connections to their own lives. They imagine what the characters are feeling; they infer what the author is implying. They make predictions and then confirm or disprove them. Effective readers think about the text. They step back from the text to notice how it is crafted, to appreciate its language, to admire the writing, or to critique. This kind of thinking not only contributes to rich understanding but also helps readers become better writers. Reading is indeed a complex thinking process from the beginning.
For two decades, we have studied classrooms in which teachers teach for comprehension. In an effective reading program, teachers coordinate a range of instructional approaches: independent reading, in which teachers confer with individual students; writing workshop, in which students' experience with the writing process promotes their understanding of text; word study, in which students look at letter-sound relationships and word structure; content-area study, in which students build background knowledge and concepts; shared and performance reading, in which students must think about the meaning of a text in order to decide on the appropriate expression; and more.
Here we describe two highly productive teaching contexts: interactive read-aloud and guided reading. You can think of reading aloud as providing students with a massive infusion of comprehensible written language. Create a community of readers. Teach students how to talk with one another about texts.
Provide meaningful, enjoyable group experiences. Give students opportunities to process language and think about texts that are too difficult for most of them to read independently. Engage readers in thoughtful discussion.
Model and provide group support for fluent, phrased reading. Judy, a kindergarten teacher, had taught her students some routines surrounding interactive read-aloud. For example, she often paused and invited students to talk about their responses to the text, either in the whole group or in pairs.
In the following example, which took place during a reading of The Very Quiet Cricket , by Eric Carle, notice how Judy helped students express theories about why a little cricket was silent. At this point in the story, the cricket had met several insects and each time had been unable to make a sound. Teacher: "The little cricket wanted to answer, so he rubbed his wings together. But nothing happened.
Not a sound! Teacher: I'm wondering, too. John: Maybe he's just a baby and can't do it 'til he's grown. Shada: Maybe he can do it later with his dad.
Teacher: Maybe he's too little? Mike: Maybe he lost his voice. Kyla: My mom lost her voice once. Cara: Maybe it has to be nighttime. Teacher: Let's see what's going to happen.
Later in the reading, when night fell and the cricket was still silent, Judy reminded students of Cara's theory that the cricket could talk only at night. Students hypothesized that one of the other reasons must be correct or that it needed to get even darker.
Later, when Judy read "and this time. The students in this kindergarten classroom were already learning how language works, how books work, and how to think while reading.
Interactive read-aloud sessions can become the foundation for small-group literature discussion. Guided by the teacher, a group of four to six students discuss a text together. Students in the group are at various levels of reading proficiency, but all enjoy talking about age-appropriate materials.
Here is part of the discussion of a group of 2nd graders who had heard Vera Williams's A Chair for My Mother read aloud. Charlie: I thought it was real scary when they were coming home and they saw their house burning. Teacher: You thought that was a scary part of the story? Janet: It's like in the book Sarah: That's why they were saving so much money, because their stuff all burned. Janet: But nobody got killed like happened on the TV last night.
Nobody got killed in our fire either. Andrew: They were putting money in the jar and then they had a fire. Sarah: No, they were just remembering how bad the fire was and how they didn't have any furniture and stuff. Andrew: Oh, they were saying why they wanted the chair?
Sarah: Yes, but they still didn't have a chair and her Mama didn't have any place to sit. Teacher: I'm just thinking how they felt after all that, when they finally brought their chair home. Fred: They rode on it in the truck! In literature discussions like this one, the teacher's participation is important, but students also respond to one another. Articulating thinking daily through this kind of discussion not only extends students' understanding but also sets a clear expectation that reading is about meaning.
During guided reading, teachers support students as they read a challenging text that they could probably not read well without support. Guided reading is small-group instruction for students who exhibit similar reading behaviors and who read at similar levels. The teacher selects a text and introduces it; then each student reads the text either softly or silently. The teacher observes, notes students' reading behaviors, and sometimes interacts briefly with individuals.
In the following discussion, Daniel, the teacher, introduces 2nd grade students to a new book. It's very exciting because this is a chapter book.
The author is Cynthia Rylant. What do you think it might mean to say The First Book? Janeen: Are there more books about them? Teacher: That's right. The gender gap is a central element in understanding the power of engaged reading. There is a literacy gap between boys and girls from Grade 3 right through to Grade Boys dominate behavioural and other special education classes and are twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with an attention deficit or learning disability.
They are more likely to be held back and to drop out. If they do graduate, they are less likely to attend college or university. If they do go to college, they get lower grades than female students and are less likely to graduate.
Concomitant social factors are equally troubling. For example, suicidal behaviours are increasing in boys; boys are twice as likely to abuse alcohol[8] and have higher unemployment, crime, and incarceration rates. I believe a major factor in this growing problem with boys is the exponential use of video games, especially violent ones.
He argues in Boys Adrift , for example, that the evidence is unequivocal. The more time a child spends playing video games, the less likely he is to do well in school, at every level from elementary to college.
But it is not just declining achievement, it is declining social behaviour as well. But engaged reading of fiction offers a powerful antidote to all these negative effects, particularly for boys. If all reading is helpful, reading fiction offers added benefits — in fact, astounding benefits! It has long been argued that reading great literature improves us as human beings. Neuroscience is proving this claim to be truer than we ever imagined. Functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI studies show us that the same regions of the brain that are activated during a real event are activated while reading about it in a story.
Reading a story produces a vivid replica of reality. Novels are not only a simulation of reality, but permit readers to enter viscerally into the thoughts, feelings, and problems of others. Literature allows not just learning about emotions, but experiencing them, It is a form of practice for real life.
It is, both psychologically and practically, immensely beneficial. It appears from this growing body of research that individuals who read fiction are better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from their point of view. These results indicate an improved capacity to empathize with a marginalized group. Exposure to narrative fiction was positively associated with empathic ability, whereas exposure to expository non-fiction was negatively associated with empathy.
Reading fiction not only leads readers to be more empathetic, but also leads to personal growth and improves us as individuals. Reading fiction, these researchers conclude, leads to self-understanding, a relevant key to improving ourselves. The act of reading, particularly engaged reading as opposed to the mechanics of reading, is a powerful predictor of life success by any measure. These tips the instructors compose as a handout, which they give to students to refer to in their first independent reading or analysis assignment.
You might give a workshop a bit later in the semester to consolidate the practices students have learned up to that point and link these practices to larger and more complex concerns and questioning patterns that interest well-informed people in your field. For more on reading tips and making tip sheets for students see: Developing a Reading Heuristic or Guide for Students. What kinds of activities teach students to interpret independently and to think of arguments about texts?
We have several vague ways of describing what students need to do with a piece of writing. Read actively, take a questioning stance, probe for underlying assumptions, engage its complexity. While these work as guiding lights for some students, others need more concrete direction.
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