Ch. 9 Vocabulary

I remember all the school years I spent looking at a list of words, finding the definition, memorizing them for the test, and forgetting them immediately after.If I remembered all of those words today, I would have a huge vocabulary. The point is that I did not remember most of these words over the years, which was the whole point of me memorizing all of those words, obviously this method is not beneficial. I laughed when I read the section about the teachers who agreed to memorize their vocab lists early and use them in class, and complained that it was way too many words and some of which they couldn't use.

All of the suggestions for teaching vocab in this chapter are really important if we want student's to actually expand their vocabulary. I feel that it is important that students actually hear teachers use these words in their own vocab so that they can see how the words work. It is also important that we teach kids how to use context clues not just tell them to re-read and look at the context clues. Beers also mentions a point that was not so obvious to me which is to do some vertical planning with the other teachers in your school. All of the other lessons are important as well but when I heard lesson 7 I was surprised at how much silent reading helped students as well as reading out loud. I actually know a middle school English teacher who lets students silent read a book of their choice every week and she got an award for teaching, and kids in her school had higher English grades than in neighboring districts. I also find the chart for suggestion eight very beneficial for finding out what students need help with.

I am relieved that as a teacher I can make vocab beneficial to my students some day, and also make it fun for them to figure out the meaning of words rather than testing them on a list of words every week that they will most likely forget.

Ch. 8 Extended Meaning

In this chapter, Beers provides several after reading strategies. I really like the scales, especially the Likert scale because it makes students want to discuss their answers. Students learn so much just by filling out their answers and discussing them with one another.

I also really like the Somebody Wanted But So strategy because it makes summarizing very simple. SWBS works well because students can use different characters in the story to summarize, and they can also add words like "then" if they feel something else needs to be added to the summary. This will really help students with summarizing stories and talking about characters as well.

I really like the It Says- I Say strategy for inferencing. It makes inferencing very simple because of its structured format. This strategy also gives struggling readers a chance to see how inferencing works. I feel that this format will help students figure out what they want to say because they can see what the text literally says in the It Says column, which will guide their thinking for the inferencing columns.

There are several other great strategies that Beers provides in the text. As teachers, it is important for us to use strategies like these to help students comprehend what they have read. It is also important to keep in mind that we should use the strategy that will be most helpful to our students. These strategies all view comprehension as a process according to Beers, and not a product, I feel that all teachers must keep this point in mind.

Ch. 7 Constructing Meaning

When I was in high school, we sometimes had a discussion during the text but the majority of the discussions took place after we finished reading. The discussion that took place at the end of the text usually prepared me for questions that would be on a test or homework. From reading about some of the strategies Beers listed in this chapter I felt that I would have had a better understanding of the text that I read in school had my teachers discussed the book while we read, not just at the end. 

I really like how Beers showed students responses to the poem "Huswifery". This exercise really showed the struggling reader how much good readers have to do in order to comprehend a text. From this point, I see how important it is to show students what we are thinking because they cannot see it. From reading DeDe's story, I can see how important it is to show dependent readers what good readers do while they read in . DeDe was surprised to hear how Beers read during her think-aloud , and I can see how DeDe’s comprehension improved when she tried the strategy as well.

I like how Beers provides exercises that would help all sorts of learners whether they are auditory, visual, or kinesthetic.I really like the idea of using a signal words chart in the classroom, because students can look at it while they read and think about what is happening in the text. Overall, I felt that the major point Beers was trying to get across is that kids need to figure out what is going on in the text while they read it, and that teachers need to find an exercise that meets their students needs. Discussing a book at the end will not help students comprehend the text. 

Ch.5 Learning to Make an Inference

Before reading this chapter, I never thought that I would have to teach students how to make inferences. I thought that making inferences was something that students would just know how to do. After reading the conversations that took place in the eleventh grade honors class and the struggling eleventh grade class I can understand how making inferences might be hard to do when looking at the literal facts alone.  What struggling students are failing to do is transacting the text, they do not create meaning based on what they know and what the author implies. Beers provides several ways in which teachers can help students make inferences, which include syntax surgery. I thought that the syntax surgery exercise would be helpful to students because they can see how inferences are made, they can also perform syntax surgery so they can understand how to make inferences on their own. 

Ch.6 Front-loading Meaning

When Beers asked 300 teachers what they did before reading a text with their students; I was surprised to find that she found something wrong with teachers telling kids something about the text. However, after further reading I can see how this can be a problem for dependent readers.

All of the exercises Beers lists help students think about the text before reading it. I really liked the anticipation guides, and the tea party. I think that the anticipation guide will make students want to read because they will be curious as to why they were asked the questions on the guide, as well as develop their own opinions before reading the text. I think that students in the class would really enjoy the tea party because they get the chance to move around and talk to their classmates and try to connect the messages together to find meaning. While students are engaged in these activities they will learn how to become good readers and improve their reading strategies. I thought the other strategies were useful, but I can definitely see myself using anticipation guides and tea parties in my class.

After reading the chapter in its entirety, I can see why it is so important to prepare students for the text before they actually read especially dependent readers. These exercises give dependent readers the opportunity to see how comprehension works and how to develop their own ideas. As for independent readers, these exercises will only improve their reading strategies and will help prepare them for a difficult text.

Ch.4 Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

 Beers brings up a good point when she states that teachers spend more time testing comprehension, then actually teaching comprehension strategies. This brings me back to my school years when I read a story silently and answered the questions at the end of the chapter. The only way I could tell if I comprehended the story is if there were no big red X’s on my homework.

Like Kate, my high school experience with comprehension was the teacher eventually telling the class what he or she wanted us to know; which is why Al’s response to the worksheet made perfect sense to me, “how do I know unless I already know?” Beers than defines the difference of instruction and instructions, as I teacher I will need to know how to instruct students rather than just giving instructions.

Beers also mentions how teachers must take time out of teaching content to teach strategies. After reading her response I felt that this was a small sacrifice for teaching kids comprehension; something they need to know to be successful in life.My initial thought after reading this section was teaching comprehension seems easier said then done; however, after reading the scripts from Kate’s lessons this task did not seem so difficult. It was amazing to see the progress the kids made when Kate “thought out loud.” The students also seemed more excited about the story and even made their own comparisons.

Seeing the difference in Kate’s first and second showed how sharing your thoughts with students and telling them how you got your answers rather than just telling them the answers made such a difference. It was great to see the changes in the Kate's students' test scores; clearly her lessons in comprehension made all the difference.

Ch.3 Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs

When reading the list of what might define a kid who can’t read, I was a bit overwhelmed. Before reading this chapter, I could probably count on one hand what I thought defined a student who could not read. At the same time, the list is useful in that it would help teachers pinpoint what difficulties a student might have when reading. Beers also includes a chart on page 28 which helps teachers’ take the next step in helping students read. This section made me realize that I will have to find out how the student struggles in reading, and have a plan to help them read.

While reading about students in the classroom, I found Sharmee’s and Amy’s stories surprising because unlike Mike, their difficulties with reading were not as evident. Before reading the text I would have assumed Sharmee just liked to socialize and disliked being quiet. As for Amy, I would have assumed that she simply disliked reading. Now I am aware that when students show these signs, teachers need to know why the student dislikes silent reading or why the student dislikes reading for pleasure.

When Beers asks the students what good readers do  I, like Raymond, would have assumed students just “are” good readers; however, when viewing the list of what good readers do I noticed that I do all of these things while I read. I also see how reading can be difficult if a student lacked even one of the skills that a good reader has mastered.

At the end of the chapter, Beers listed seven of her underlying beliefs. Out of all seven of these beliefs, her seventh belief truly resonated with me. She views reading as a “social process” and an “interactive activity” which I believe is true because how much meaning could reading have if one cannot talk about what they read, or relate it to something in their lives?