"equipped to move forward on literacy instruction that > focuses on deep comprehension" would imply that we are going to give the > child the tools for comprehension. We've all seen kids who can "read" fast > but cannot comprehend. Those children are prime for the explicit teaching of > comprehension skills. The one thing our district did this year that I feel > has made the biggest difference for all of the kids has been to teach > comprehension skills explicitly. I don't see teaching comprehension skills > explicitly (in isolation) as any different from teaching phonics skills > explicitly. Any skill we teach needs to be reinforced and retaught in the > guided reading lesson. Word sorts have become an important part of my > instruction, and, while the patterns/sounds/concepts are initially taught in > isolation, the skill is followed up in small group reading and in center time > acivities. Students are so excited when they find words that fit the pattern > we are studying and then they begin looking for more words to fit, and then > begin finding words that are exceptions but may have the same sound or > concept, but not the sme pattern. This may not necessarily be phonics but it > helps students see the patterns that are everywhere in our language. When > breaking words into parts (again, not necessarily phonics, but geared for the > older students), they gain alot of comprehension when they are able to > understand root words, prefixes and suffixes. Context and perspective can be > greatly affected by the understaning of these things. Many of my students can > read the word "walk" but get stuck with "walked", and understanding the past > tense can make a big difference in comprehending the story. These kids don't > even associate the two words as being related. They aren't able to take the > word "walked" apart - they don't look at it and say "walk....ed", they may > try to put the short /a/ sound in the middle and don't know where to go from > there because it doesn't make sense to them, therefore, they are unable to > comprehend.
The important thing to remember, in my opinion, is that most kids learn to read (and that includes comprehending) without difficulties. I have been looking for solutions for those few kids who don't and I think we have to be open to many different approaches. Some will do well with phonics and others may just have to learn to recognize many, many words because they are not able to decode phonetically. I will say that I have been surprised by the number of new to the profession teachers who (through no fault of their own) do not understand the phonetic structure of our language. They don't know how to decide if a c will be hard or soft, they don't know how to determine the number of syllables by the number of vowel sounds, etc. This deep understanding of our language makes it possible to read difficult words and put meaning to them. I will be watching our K-1 students who have been introduced to the Animated Literacy program and report back here. Debbie Message ----- From: "ljackson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 6:07:49 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] phonemic awareness/segmentation help wanted No, I cannot say that doing well on DIBELS tasks means a child has the tools to comprehend and without comprehension, I cannot see any moving towards being literate. I know I have said this before, but my blind father has a machine that can decode (yes, nonsense words), read with speed and reasonable phrases. It is not literate, it is a machine. My father, who can think about what he reads, is the literate part of this partnership. Lori On 6/24/08 10:11 AM, "Beverlee Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The question was: But would you all agree that a student who does perform > well on DIBELS is equipped to move forward on literacy instruction that > focuses on deep comprehension? > > I wish I could - but I can't. I do agree that a student who is fluently > reading a selection will be better able to focus on meaning. However, I would > also agree that a student LISTENING TO a selection can focus on deep > comprehension. > > Unfortunately, I have seen students (and not just a few) who can decode and > speak words very quickly and accurately (which is what DIBELS measures after > all) with little to no comprehension. If you haven't had a chance to read > Rereading Fluency by Bess Altwerger and others, you would enjoy thinking about > what she says. She documents research showing that some students' > comprehension is handicapped by their "fluency" (speed); all their efforts go > to reading quickly instead of comprehending. Interesting stuff. What we need > now is research replicating that which she presented. > _________________________________________________________________ > Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play chicktionary! > http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_feb > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute July 17-20. 2008 Tucson, Arizona _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
