Chapter 9 Vocabulary: Finding Out What Words Mean

The title really says it all. If you don't know what a word means good luck figuring out the sentence or in a bigger picture the book.  Part of reading is to develop our vocabulary, the more words we know the easier it is to convey exactly what we are thinking.  So what do we do, each week assign a new list of words for the students to learn and then give them a test on the words and they either learn them or they don't.  Well it turns out there is actually a lot more to it then that.  The chapter gives you eight different suggestions to help with the learning of vocabulary.  Students must understand the importance of vocabulary and the part it plays in everyday life.  Even as I sit here and write this blog I am trying to think of varied word choices to sound less repetitive and in turn more intelligent.  The words don't need to be bigger or more complicated just specific.  The more closely a word identifies your main ideas the better.
Along with each suggestion the chapter also gives you a lesson on how to implement the suggestion into your classroom.  It cannot be stressed enough how helpful this book will be when I am actually in a teaching environment.

Chapter 8 Extending Meaning: After-Reading Strategies

During-reading is not the only important part of understanding the text.  After-reading strategies are just as crucial.  The text gives us a pretty thorough list of what to do after the text is finished being read.  The list doesn't leave much out from what I can tell and is quite helpful.  I especially like the Somebody Wanted But So strategy.  Any activity that allows the students to figure something out for themselves is a good thing in my opinion, especially when each answer is going to be different from everyone else's.  But the other strategies cannot be ignored, much like I said in my last post everyone learns things in a different way and the strategies in this chapter offer a wide variety of strategies, I'm actually really impressed with some of them and how someone was able to come up with the idea.  Like with text reformulation, I'm sure a lot of people do this when explaining something, but I would never have thought of it as a reading strategy. Some of these ideas just come naturally, but when you read about them it helps put them into more of an educational perspective.  It helps make them easier to explain and you actually know what it is you are trying to teach.

Chapter 7 Constructive Meaning: During-Reading Strategies

While a student is reading they have to do more than just be reading.  Thinking about reading is just as important.  Often times when I am done reading something I can't remember what I just read, As an experienced reader I can only imagine what this would be like for someone without much experience.  I already know what I did wrong and how to fix the problem but for new readers like I'm sure a lot of my students will be this is a more difficult task.  That's where during-reading strategies come in.  All of these strategies are important to know and teach, but instead of just assigning one type I think students should be made aware of all of them and then be allowed to choose which one works best for them.  This helps them learned about what they are reading and about themselves as learning which is also very important.  That might be an information overload, but everyone has a different way of doing things and they need to know all the available options.  For me rereading is usually enough but for some its doesn't change no matter how many times they read it, so the think-aloud strategy might be better for them so they can actually hear what was going on.  No two students are alike and I think this chapter does a good job of offering alternative ways of thinking about what we are reading.

Chapter 5 Learning to Make an Inference

I think a good way to start off this chapter was with the quote "If I was so good at making inferences, I wonder why it took me so long to figure that one out?"  Teachers need to know about making inferences just as much as students do.  Teaching is all about solving problems with no where near as much information that is needed to solve the problem.  If as teachers we are not able to do this how are we supposed to expect students to be able to do it.
Inferences are really important especially in higher grades will it is more necessary to read between the lines with the literature.  To me it is also one of the most interesting and imaginative parts of Language Arts, there is no right or wrong answer as long as you can support it.  I'm sure some of the things the students come up with will seem ridiculous until they explain themselves.  It's almost like making the story personal and more important to yourself, you've been given clues and it's up to your deductive reasoning skills to solve a mystery that is the story.
For teachers this means looking below the surface of our students to try and understand what they are thinking.  Inferencing skills are invaluable, being able to use them in almost any situation.

Chapter 6 Frontloading Meaning: Pre-Reading Strategies

I always find it interesting to read about other teachers strategies when it comes to classroom activities, this chapter is no exception.  Beers offers very interesting insight into four different ways to prepare students for starting a new piece of literature.  Some seem a little more productive than others, but I guess that all depends on your style of teaching and what type of medium you are working with.  I can see these pre-reading strategies taking a couple years to perfect, but what doesn't.  A teacher needs to learn to what helps their students the best and if that means using a tea party method instead of an anticipation guide, then so be it.  The point being that a teacher needs to be prepared for any kind of situation and that no student learns in the exact same way as anyone else, that could mean changing things up a bit.
I also liked how we were given specific examples of these strategies being used.  Fiction, non-fiction, a poem, a play, each one is different and can be looked at using anyone of these strategies, even though some cater to a more specific type.  For example an anticipation guide seems like it might be for older students who can handle auditory with very minor visual help types of learning.  Where as a K-W-L might be for a little bit younger group who are more dependent on seeing what is being discussed.
Each one serves it owns purpose at the same time as getting the job done, they seem like difficult tasks to manage, but I look forward to trying them out.

Chapter 4 Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

In chapter four Beers manages to put a completely new definition to the word explicit.  She could not have been any more explicit in her explanation of teaching in an explicit way.  She puts everything out there for you to see leaving no stone unturned.  As I right this I feel like it has a negative vibe to it, well that could not be further from the truth.  I am extremely glad that she went into such detail because with out it I can not help but feel like I would be lost.  It is confusing at times like when she started talking about "thinking aloud' she lost me.  I had a hard time imagining what she meant by that, but after rereading it a couple of times and paying attention to context clues, at her suggestion, I quickly caught on to what she meant and how this might help when dealing with explicit instruction, which is basically how she is teaching us.
Having this information come directly from a teacher is invaluable.  She is able to give us exact recreations from her own personal experience, what could be better.  The difference between transcript one and transcript three was a huge one.  It really showed how discussing this with someone more experience can change your whole perspective on teaching and learning not only for the students you teach, but for you as a teacher as well.
I found this chapter to be very helpful I hope the book continues to be this valuable, even though the topics can seem a little monotonous and repetitive at times, she still manages to keep it fresh and interesting.  Especially with this chapter and its interesting transcripts and insights into the teaching world.

Chapter 3 Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs

This chapter was all about the lists.  With a total of four lists and two charts, they definitely stole the show.  it goes to show how important organization is especially for a teacher.  Teaching objectives become so complicated how are you supposed to keep track of everything and Beers shows you one of the best ways to do so, lists.  I know I will personally refer back to the If-Then chart on page 32 if the need should ever arise.
This chapter always informed me of how much there is to consider when dealing with a dependent reader.  Half the things on these lists I probably never would have thought of until I had been teaching for a while.  The other half I was aware of but maybe not to how important they were or how much enfaces should be put on them.
A perfect example of this is the section "what good readers do."  The section is full of things that I just cannot see registering in my mind.  Sure I am aware that students should be able to do these things, but when it comes to the students who can't how do I solve this problem.
As a teacher assessing a dependent reader's needs is definitely a crucial component.  We all want our students to become the best that they are capable of, and being a independent reader will help them achieve in many different areas.  Thats why chapter three is so important without the knowledge of how to assess these kids we would not know how to help them.

Chapter 2 Creating Independent Readers

There was a specific passage from this chapter that I particularly liked, Beers says she wants to "teach them how to struggle with a text" successfully.  i found this to be a very interesting way to look at the situation.  No matter what, as a reader, there will almost always be a type of text that you find difficult to read, but if you know how to successfully struggle through the text hopefully it won't seem so difficult.
You never really think of the hidden meanings behind questions and if I did I never noticed it until I read this chapter.  At first the question may seem so simple and straight forward, until you get to the answer, which just seems to complicate matters.  It seems like it is very important for the student to understand exactly what they are asking and in order to do that we need to understand how to help them understand what they need to know or ask to get the answer they are looking for.  Some students are still trying to learn how to think and that's a big part of becoming a independent reader.  They need to become involved and ask the right questions as hard as that may be.
The strategies in this chapter also act as an eye-opener to the importance of confidence as a reader and as a person.