Theoretical Discussion #3

Theoretical Discussion #3

Comprehension

Pardo, Stahl, and Neufeld Articles

   

       The 3 articles we read this week dealt with comprehension on how to teach comprehension, recommendations for k-2 teachers, and what every teacher needs to know about comprehension.  The main thing we noticed in every article was that limited background knowledge or weaknesses in word-level processes are major problems to comprehension.  If students are spending all their time trying to decode words, they will have less mental energy left to think about the meaning. Automatic decoding must be present. We discussed how many of our kids at our school come not having a lot of background knowledge needed for comprehension of some texts.  Pardo stated that some research indicates that the single most effective way to increase comprehension is through Read Alouds.  We were pleased to read this because we will be implementing Read Alouds this fall.  He also recommended that one way to add world knowledge is to use informational books. We discussed Neufeld’s article stating that teaching comprehension should not be viewed as falling in the domain of language arts alone, but should be in other subjects.  He brought out that there is strong evidence that students can be taught reading comprehension strategies but unfortunately this instruction doesn’t occur in many classrooms.  He said the best support teachers could give students to become competent comprehenders is: teach decoding skills, teach vocabulary words, motivate students, and engage them in personal responses to text.

     My group discussed how teaching vocabulary words is such an important component in comprehension. We read somewhere how first-grade children from higher-SES groups knew twice as many words from lower SES children. Seventy percent of our children are on free/reduced lunches.  This is one reason why we are implementing a vocabulary program as well at our school Research also says that even if a child comes to school and learns to decode words and progress in reading, if the vocabulary is not there, it will come back to haunt them in 4^th or 5^th grade.  The texts are harder and they might can read the passage, but if they can’t comprehend it. Students must actively engage with the words-use them in written and spoken language in order for the words to become a part of the students’ reading and writing vocabularies. We liked the idea of having students create graphic organizers that show relationships among new words and common words.

     We really liked the table of prompts in Neufeld’s article.  These are suggestive prompts for “Getting Ready to Read”  and “ While I’m Reading and When I’m Done.”  I plan on enlarging the tables and keeping them handy as I work with students. Neufeld stressed that question asking and answering can be viewed as the strategy that drives all the other strategies.  We talked about this in great detail in Dr. Anne McGill-Franzen’s class last term.  After reading Choice Words, the type of text talk, questioning, and what you say modeling and thinking out loud are so important in teaching kids to become strategic readers. 

     In Stahl’s article we thought it was interesting she said Beck and McKeown’s interactive read-alouds actually limits discussion of background knowledge and extensive discussions of the students’ prior knowledge often led students far from the text.  I will have to disagree with Stahl. I am a Beck and McKeown fan and have used their vocabulary series in my classroom.  If students get off on a tangent, I would simply redirect their attention.

   We did like the literature webbing idea in Stahl’s article.  It was interesting that Stahl suggested video was advantageous for at-risk students.  She claimed that they could re-tell twice as many statements as to the children who only heard the story and viewed the illustrations.  I guess I feel that students watch too much TV.  Maybe it is a powerful tool, but the challenge as she states is finding quality videos.

     I really liked these 3 articles we read this week. They all had good ideas and techniques to bring into the classroom.  It makes me reflect on my own questioning and how I need to do a better job teaching comprehension strategies.