Week 3: Read Ch. 7 - 9

Week 3 - Chapman

Week 3 - Chapman

by Wendy Chapman -
Number of replies: 5

-How important is accessing prior knowledge for students? How do you immerse students in background knowledge or text sets to facilitate activation?

I guess that I already knew how important accessing prior knowledge was, but I didn't realize that the more long-term memory a student has actually has more room for short term memory. It makes sense after reading it though. I especially see when a student has little prior knowledge on a subject, they quickly lose interest and say "I don't get it." 

When I am in a unit, I try to fill students in with some background knowledge by connecting it to something they are familiar with. If I can get them to relate or connect, they at least find interest in the unit.  I try to build that connection. KWL charts are fun to assess what they know as well as seeing students spark each other's knowledge.  I would like to try the Word Splash and Tea Party scaffolds this year too.

Multiple exposures are important for retention and independence. How will you offer these opportunities?

I really like when students discuss what they read with each other, think-aloud, and sketch to stretch. Many kids find that if they can draw a quick picture after a page or two (in chapter books) in a journal, then add on as they continue reading, they understand the reading more. I have them set it up like a comic book but drawing boxes all over the page and fill it in as they read. They create a cool comic and I can do a quick check to see what they have read. It's a win-win!

-What strategies stuck out to you in this chapter and what ones and how will you bring them into your instruction?

I really like some of the anchor charts, especially the BHH, figure 9.17. Book Head Heart  really connected with me and I would like to use this in my classroom this year. Hopefully it will remind students the goal to move information from text to heart. Reading with a goal to grow ourselves as life learners, not just a grade in school.

In reply to Wendy Chapman

Re: Week 3 - Chapman

by Erin Gray -
We have discussed incorporating a small comic unit in the past but have yet to get it up and running. I love that you incorporate this as a scaffold for what your students understand. This would be great for my students with weak decoding skills. It offers them an alternative to a written response where expressing the meaning may be difficult.
In reply to Wendy Chapman

Re: Week 3 - Chapman

by Errolynn Bero -
I like the idea of having kids set up their sketches like a comic book. That could be very helpful in getting kids engaged in sketching about their reading. I noticed last year that so many of our 5th graders loved creating their own comics.
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Re: Week 3 - Chapman

by Sarah Wichterman -
I do this with my high schoolers but we call it storyboarding and plan out the text as if we were shooting a movie. It's been very popular with my students.
In reply to Wendy Chapman

Re: Week 3 - Chapman

by Christine Merry -
"I guess that I already knew how important accessing prior knowledge was, but I didn't realize that the more long-term memory a student has actually has more room for short term memory. It makes sense after reading it though. I especially see when a student has little prior knowledge on a subject, they quickly lose interest and say "I don't get it." "-- I can totally relate to readers without a lot of background knowledge about a topic. Last year I was in the "Shifting the Balance" book study. The book had a lot of info about phonological awareness. phonemic awareness, etc.. I found myself reading and rereading, taking notes, going back in the text because my background knowledge was not great for these topics. I learned a ton from the book but I had to really work at it. I stayed with it because it was important for me to learn more but I can totally see why a struggling reader would just give up.
In reply to Wendy Chapman

Re: Week 3 - Chapman

by Aimee Harkness -
I enjoy anchor charts as well. I use them with each math topic that I teach. The visual aid really helps the content sink in from them seeing it everyday when they come in.