This was one of the Power Point Presentations used at the August 2010 English A CESEC workshop I facilitated in Belize City to an audience of over fifty-five teachers.
12. 12 4. For usefulness in a world replete with non-fiction literature
13. 13 5. For creation of a deeper understanding of self and others
14. 14 6. For enjoyment and appreciation of literature (fiction) Am reading. Go away.
15. Key Beliefs to Teaching Reading Successfully Teachers, not programs or strategies, are the critical element in a student’s success. Teachers must understand a student’s particular issues and choose teaching strategies that will push students forward. The goal of reading is comprehension. 15
16. Key beliefs to Teaching Reading (continued) 3. Comprehension is a complex, abstract activity. It can be taught. There are no “magically good” readers. 4. No matter what level of students we teach, no matter how weak or how strong, it is our responsibility to teach them. 16
17. Diagnosing Students Reading Comprehension weaknesses. You are the doctor here. Open This Box/Student: Student brings socio-economic complexes plus own reading experiences- good or bad 1. Your Teaching Experience 2. Education 3. Your training 4. Your compassion 17
25. Independent Reader versus Dependent Reader Independent Reader: Monitors her understanding of a text Chooses appropriate strategies necessary to comprehend difficult text Able to make the invisible process of reading mostly visible Dependent Reader: May be able to sound out/decode a passage, but not able to make sense of it Appeals to teacher for help Lacks interest to complete long or difficult texts 19
26. Schema Connections Schema: the combined knowledge that students already have; connecting reading to what you know. Three types of schema connections: text to self, text to text, and text to world. 20
27. Why do good readers make schema connections as they read? Increases their interest level in the text Helps them to relate to characters Increases “reading stamina” Helps them remember what they read Shows them that they DO have a base knowledge/core group of experiences that they can draw from Forces them to ask questions Learn to listen to others 21
28. Teach the students schema by: Explaining concept of schema to them, and the three types of schema Make sure students understand the benefits of schema connections. 3. Model how I make schema connections. Use “think aloud” method. 22
29. Teach students schema (continued) 4. Give students time to practice. Students are expected to make at least ONE schema connection in pairs, groups or as a class. 5. Continue to demonstrate , ask students about, and expect students to make schema connections as they read primary texts 23
30. Teaching students schema (continued) 6. Apply schema connections elsewhere, e.g. to movies, book to movie, et cetra 7. Introduce students to short non-fiction articles related to themes in book 8. Remind students to highlight or underline with a purpose as they read 24
31. Teaching students schema (concluded) 9. Ask students to compare books to popular songs or to think about what songs are related to what is happening in the book and WHY 25
32. Alternative Methods for introducing Schema Adopt mantra- “what does this remind me of?” Ask students to list everything they know about a given subject. 26
33. Alternative methods for introducing schema (continued) 3. Work on K-W-L charts with students 4. Activity: give generalized statements related to themes in text- ask students to take a stand and explain WHY in two sentences 27
38. Form groups of four to teach the following reading comprehension strategies given four minutes: 1. clarifying 2. Comparing & Contrasting 3. Inferencing 5. Predicting 7. Questioning the text 9. Evaluating 11. Determining what’s important as students read 12. SQ4R method 4. Make connections to prior experience 6. Summarizing 8. Visualizing 10. Understanding Textual Features 13. Synthesizing information to create new thinking 32
40. Home Work for Tuesday & Wednesday: Bring one innovative teaching method or technique you have created or used. Prepare for a debate on the following three propositions for Wednesday: 34
41. Propositions for debate: Be it resolved that teachers should specialize as lower form orupper form teachers. Be it resolved that teachers teach to CSEC exam instead of teaching to course. Be it resolved that CSEC is still important to Belizeans. 35
Notas do Editor
Take five minutes to write down why you read and the strategies you use to read.
Some times we can know when a student has failed a test even before he has taken the test.
Student also needs help with 8. finding the main idea, 9. monitoring their own understanding
Dependent Reader: 4. is not aware of the processes that should be going on in her head as she reads.
