1. I felt that a majority of my students
after this lesson continued to add to their understanding of how to preview,
predict, and use prior knowledge to deepen their understanding of informational
text and work in a group to discuss these comprehensions strategies. The
students were very engaged in conversation about predicting and previewing the
National Geographic books. I held conferences with all of the different groups,
and heard phrases such as “I think…” or “I bet we are going to learn about how
ocean animals survive underwater.” My group that struggles with reading comprehension
was the group that struggled the most with this lesson. Three of the five group
members are English Language Learners. The remaining students that are not ELL students
appear to lack confidence to guide conversation and state their predictions.
This group was the less talkative, and one of the first groups to actually
start reading. When I had conferences with them, I was giving them lots of
prompts to help generate predictions and what they previewed. Because I observed
that they were one of the first groups to start reading, I assume that perhaps
they were struggling to have the deep conversations revolving around
predicting, previewing, and using their prior knowledge. Their K-W-L chart was
also the least filled in; however, for some of the students this might be a
language barrier. In my group with more text, I heard students reflecting on
their predictions and noting how their predictions were off.
2. I collected the K-W-L chart, as well as
listened to groups’ conversations to gather alternate reads of how students
were doing. I listened to their discussions pre-reading, that involved
previewing, predicting, and using prior knowledge, as well as listened as they
read and paused to have conversations. I listened to their words, as well as
looked at the written work of the K-W-L.
3. The K-W-L chart was not explicitly
connected to the objectives of predicting, previewing, and using prior
knowledge. Although when they state what they “know”, they are hopefully
engaging in using their prior connections. I learned that some of my students
are familiar with K-W-L chart, and filled it up confidently wanting to have a
very detailed K-W-L chart. They were connecting to previous comprehension
strategies and knowledge they had on the topic of habitats. I continue to learn
which students are verbally confident in sharing ideas, as well as connecting
other comprehension skills. I heard a couple students mention strategies that
we will cover later in the unit, such as how to figure out vocabulary meaning.
I saw students utilizing the glossary in the back of the book, or using
pictures to decode a word’s meaning. As
I mentioned above, I saw students reflecting on their predictions. Showing their
ability to reflect, and alter their previous schema.
4. Comprehension strategies should be incorporated constantly, and
continuously; therefore, I can continue to work with students that struggled
with previewing, predicting, and using prior knowledge as we do other lessons
introducing comprehension strategies. As I conference with groups, I can check
to see if they are continuing to preview, and predict, and make connections as
they read. If they are not, I can continue to give them prompts. I also can print
the anchor chart we discussed in class, and students can keep it in their
reading journals. This could be a quick reference for students that were
struggling. I can also use independent reading time to work with my English
Language Learners that may be struggling because of a language barrier.
·5. When I dismissed students into their groups, I gave them a lot of
verbal directions. I think they would have benefited had I left a Smart Board
slide up to help them remember the different procedures and the order they
should be doing it in. Some of the students might have felt rushed, or
forgotten steps. For my group that was struggling with having the conversation
about predictions, and what they already knew, this might have helped guide
them. As we discussed and shared ideas as a whole-class of what it looks like
to preview, predict, and use prior knowledge, I was writing students?’ ideas on
the Smart Board. I could have had students taking notes in their reading
journals, or have given them an anchor chart to glue in their reading journals.
This could have been a reference and helped prompt conversations, especially
for my ELL students.
6. I learned that you can constantly be monitoring
students’ comprehension through conferences and listening to conversation; however,
it is important to not rely solely on conversation. Some students struggle to
articulate thoughts, so it is important to offer multiple ways that students
can share how they monitored comprehension. I am continuing to figure out how
to give all students a chance to demonstrate their monitoring of comprehension.
I am also learning the importance of explicitly modeling comprehension, and
talking about strategies that at this point come naturally to me. It is
important to think about myself as a reader monitoring comprehension, so I can
share and teach students about these strategies.
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