There were a few key points to this article that stuck in my mind, and were things that I have observed in the classrooms I have visited. For my main placement I am in a 2nd grade classroom, currently the Teacher is reading a chapter a day of Shiloh out loud to the students. After each chapter they summarize what has happened in the chapter and try to answer the question "why did this author need to write the next chapter of the book?". Once they are done summarizing the chapter as a whole they find one sentence to that summarizes the chapter. The students then go back to their seats and on a large piece of paper that is broken down into boxes of eight on each side they write the sentence for that chapter under that specific box that pertains to that chapter and draw a picture to summarize the sentence. By doing this the teacher is incorporating writing, and art into reading, making it more creative for the students and helping them with their literacy skills. Sulzably and Teale state in their article that using art, drama, and writing is a wonderful way to incorporate literacy into the classroom.
Another 2nd grade classroom I visited during my practicum made lists of what they thought was going to happen in the stories they were reading, and what actually happened. This teacher as constantly using lists to compare and contrast ideas for other subjects as well. Having students see the teacher writing the list in the front of the class was another great way to incorporate literacy into the classroom.
In addition both teachers had 20 minutes set aside each day for students to read quietly to themselves as a way to enhance their reading skills. My Master Teacher has plastic old school telephones that have the cords cut off but the students can use these to read out loud quietly to themselves and be able to hear how they read out loud. This can help enhance their reading skills because they become more aware of how they sound when they are reading out loud.
There were a few ideas from this article that I would love to incorporate into my classroom as a way to enhance my student's literacy skills. Among these ideas was having pen pals in the classroom that students can write to. It would be even more fun to have pen pals from the different classes in the grades, or maybe even to their little or big buddy in another grade. This was a fun way for students to write and enhance their literacy and socials skills. Another great idea I found in this article was having Guest readers come in and read the students. I liked the idea of the children choosing a guest and one way that could incorporate literacy even more to this idea is having the teacher write a list in front of the class of the people the students nominate to come visit. This way they are seeing the teacher writing and this simple action can help enhance their literacy skills. Then after the students have voted having someone come in, writing the Guest of Honor an invitation to come into their classroom. The students are now getting a chance to use their writing skills, and art skills as well as they can decorate the invitation. Then the fun act of having someone come in a read to them is a great way to make literacy and reading more exciting throughout the year.
Another point from the article was having the library being a focal point of the classroom, and making sure students are taking advantage of all the books offered to them. I like the idea of having the classroom library being an inviting place for students and I would love to be able to have a place for bean bags or cushioned chairs that students can sit in and read during quiet reading time.
Mason Article:
This article stressed having teachers ask questions, lead discussions before and after books, enhance their character's voices to enhance the stories being read out loud to students, and having the children interpret the text information. When reading to students' teachers should 4 types of questions, these questions helped students
1. understand the meaning of unfamiliar words
2. make predictions about the text events
3. interpret the thoughts and feelings of the characters
4. understand concepts through explanation.
After reading a story teachers should ask a series of questions to review the important elements of the story and make sure children understood these elements.
When reading informal texts the strategies for the most part stayed the same, but Mason stressed the idea of having follow up activities designed for understanding of the texts, and having children conceptually think about the information they are given through these follow up activities.
For Picture Books Mason suggested given students goals for listening to the book. In addition, teachers should extend the book topic into several post reading activities. Teachers can do this by having students draw a picture from a scene of the book or acting out a scene from the book. Having this post reading activities can enhance the understanding of the concepts of the books.
I thought that this article had some great tips for how to read different texts to students and have them interpret and understand the texts better through pre and post reading activities and comprehension questions before, during, and after the book.
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