I also came to better understand some of the links between writing and comprehension. Writing summaries, predictions, and notes as part of the reading process I was familiar with from my own education but I picked up some specific ways to integrate those activities into my lessons. What I had not given thought to previously was the role writing plays in helping students understand the minds of authors and how this can be a tremendous aid in comprehension. Students become familiar with a particular genre of writing and face the choices authors have to make and apply the literary devices appropriate to the genre. They then are better able not only to identify those features of texts they read but are better able to infer meaning and read critically.
John, I too see the importance of writing to reinforce comprehension, but I don't think your original idea of having students engaged with text that is at the appropriate level is really all that naive. For my own reading, that is the front line of comprehension. I often find myself doing the mechanical part of reading, running my eyes over the text, back and forth across the page, when I suddenly realize I have no idea what I'm reading. I end up going back until I see something that I recognize before rereading again, trying to pay more attention. This happens when I don't find the reading personally engaging. But of course, as teachers, we often have to have students do things they might not be personally engaged in, and this is where some of these other strategies come in. As an Art teacher, I don't have my students do a lot of reading, but I'm starting to realize that this might be a weakness in my teaching. In order for students to see the bigger picture of art and how it connects to other parts of their lives, they will need to do some reading. I'm glad that I now know some techniques to make sure students are engaged with the reading and comprehending what they've read.
ReplyDeleteI think we are going to see some great teaching this year- can't wait!
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