SUMMARY: This chapter builds on the previous (Making Movies in the Mind) to stress the importance of connecting what readers already know to what the are reading. Reading is a synthesis of what has already been experienced wit the new input (from their reading). The authors suggest that good readers tend to make three types of connections: Text-to-Self (What I'm reading is like something I've done or experienced before), Text-to-Text (What I'm reading is like something I've read before), and Text-to-World (What I'm reading is like something that is happening around me now or something historical I know about).
One of the most effective ways to teach this skills to is, once again, the 'Read-Aloud-Think-Aloud' strategy. READ OUT LOUD TO YOUR STUDENTS FREQUENTLY, then stop at appropriate places and say to your students, "When I read this, it reminds me of.." or "When I read this, I think about..." This lets the kids know that it's not about reading the text as quickly as possible. Reading is about creating knowledge with meaning that is personal. In the last chapter we read that each reader mkes a diferent movie in his/her mind. That's largely a result of the different background knowledge that kids connect with the words that they read.
What if kids have no entering knowledge regarding the subject they read? That's where the SCIENCE of teaching mets the ART of teaching. We'll discuss this more when we meet.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Welcome to the Club!
This will give you an opportunity to participate in the District 205 NTLT Spring Book Club, even if you cannot attend the meetings! This space will allow you to post comments based on our readings in 7 Keys... .
I'll post some comments or questions to think about based on the Suggested Reading Schedule (at right). Please feel free to post your ideas or questions here, or coat-tail off others' comments.
After each meeting, I'll post a summary of our discussions here as well.
For Meeting #1: Chapters 1 & 2
As an overview of the book, 7 Keys outlines the things that "good readers" do when they encounter text, and how teachers, parents, and other caregivers can help nurture & develop these skills in children/students.
The first key is "Sensory Images." The authors suggest that good readers immerse themselves in the text as they read, making "movies in their minds." They give some examples, suggest questions to ask readers, and offer tips for teachers & parents to help develop this skill.
Personal Thoughts:
Before I read this book, I honestly thought that I had some sort of reading disorder or attention deficit. When I read as a child, I would enjoy a few paragraphs and then my mind would wander off as I thought of myself interacting with the characters in the story. I used to blame comic books for that. Non-fiction was tougher, and college was almost unbearable for me as a reader.
Teaching helped me love reading again. Following my first year of teaching, stressed out beyond belief, I sat on the the ought-to-be-condemned balcony of my first apartment and read Thoreau's Walden. Nine months with 7th graders will give you new appreciation for an entire chapter entitled "Silence..."
I'll post some comments or questions to think about based on the Suggested Reading Schedule (at right). Please feel free to post your ideas or questions here, or coat-tail off others' comments.
After each meeting, I'll post a summary of our discussions here as well.
For Meeting #1: Chapters 1 & 2
As an overview of the book, 7 Keys outlines the things that "good readers" do when they encounter text, and how teachers, parents, and other caregivers can help nurture & develop these skills in children/students.
The first key is "Sensory Images." The authors suggest that good readers immerse themselves in the text as they read, making "movies in their minds." They give some examples, suggest questions to ask readers, and offer tips for teachers & parents to help develop this skill.
Personal Thoughts:
Before I read this book, I honestly thought that I had some sort of reading disorder or attention deficit. When I read as a child, I would enjoy a few paragraphs and then my mind would wander off as I thought of myself interacting with the characters in the story. I used to blame comic books for that. Non-fiction was tougher, and college was almost unbearable for me as a reader.
Teaching helped me love reading again. Following my first year of teaching, stressed out beyond belief, I sat on the the ought-to-be-condemned balcony of my first apartment and read Thoreau's Walden. Nine months with 7th graders will give you new appreciation for an entire chapter entitled "Silence..."
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