-The inferences section in Ch. 6 stuck out to me. What made an impact on you in these chapters?
-“Meaning does not reside in the text, it is not something to grasp. Meaning is created in the interaction–the transaction between the words in the text and the thoughts in the mind of the reader. Meaning is created.”--This is so important. This is what we need to understand. We need students to understand this. We need to give kids the power to create meaning.
-Struggling through a text- this was an incredibly powerful part of these chapters. I need to do this more often and take note of how I work through a text. For this essay I read and reread, took notes, questioned, made inferences, returned to the text, reread the essay in its entirety. I plan to use difficult passages with the whole class. I am going to model the struggle and teach them how to struggle. I will ask them to do this whole group, small group, with partners and individually. We will work on showing the internal work. Although I already do most of this, I have not focused on the internal work. The internal work is going to be something I focus on more from now on.
-How do you respond to students “who don’t get it”?
When students say, “I don’t get it!” I always ask them to be specific, whether Reading, Math, etc. We break down the process to find the last step that worked and then move forward, or backward, from there. I will continue to do this. I always tell my kids that we can’t fix the problem until we know there is a problem. We then need to name it or describe it so that we can make a plan to fix it.
-Comprehension, understanding, and change is the goal of any reading. What will you do differently in your teaching after reading this section?
On page 56 it states, “When we infer, we visualize; we make connections; we predict; we monitor our understanding; we summarize.” These are strategies that Debbie Miller discusses at length in Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades. Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis write about these strategies in Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading by Tanny McGregor is a book that covers all of these. These are all books that I own. I have read and reread these books. These are all authors that I admire. I have used their ideas, lessons, strategies, anchor chart examples and mentor texts when teaching comprehension. I used to teach a whole unit based on all of these strategies. I felt like it really helped my kids. I am going to add this unit back into my teaching during the first 20 days. I’ll add it back in for whole group, strategy group, guided group and for individuals. I will revisit as needed.
I am going to make adjustments when helping students with inferencing. The tips and resources in the appendices will be very helpful!!