R is for Reading Strategies
&
Reading Workshop
What are reading strategies?
Reading strategies are tools that can be taught to students to increase reading comprehension. They use the strategies before, during, and after reading to make sense of what they have read and to internalize it for future use. I have utilized the strategies in Comprehension Shouldn't Be Silent by Michelle J. Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace, but I have modified them over my three years of teaching. My school division provides this book for all grade 6 teachers. I use a 5+1 model, so the strategies are: predicting, visualizing, connecting, questioning, summarizing, and inferring.
Reading strategies are tools that can be taught to students to increase reading comprehension. They use the strategies before, during, and after reading to make sense of what they have read and to internalize it for future use. I have utilized the strategies in Comprehension Shouldn't Be Silent by Michelle J. Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace, but I have modified them over my three years of teaching. My school division provides this book for all grade 6 teachers. I use a 5+1 model, so the strategies are: predicting, visualizing, connecting, questioning, summarizing, and inferring.
How do you teach students the reading strategies?
At the beginning of the school year, before we do anything else, I teach the students reading strategies. I teach the beginning of middle years, so some students may not have been exposed to the strategies. Others seems to know the strategies intuitively or they have picked them up throughout their reading career from parents and/or teachers. I start by explaining one strategy in depth per class. The students take notes on the strategy (see handout below) and then we have a discussion about how the strategy could be used in reading and how it could help to understand the book. Then, we read a text together. It could be a poem, short story, informational text, or whatever else you are working on in your unit. While we are reading, I encourage students to stop at specific points to utilize the strategy we have learned about that day. They will highlight or sticky note in the text the portion they are thinking about, and then write in the margins their use of the strategy. As we get better at using the strategies, I release a bit of control and I won't tell students which specific strategy to use, or where to use it. For example I might say after a few weeks, "Today I want you to mark three reading strategies per page of the strategies we have learned. So, you can use connecting, visualizing, or questioning." As we read, I generally allow a student to read a paragraph first, and then I will reread it as students take time to mark their strategies. Then, we either share them as a group and discuss, or the students meet in groups at the end of the text to discuss their reading strategies. As we move along throughout the year, students become better at using the reading strategies, and it becomes less prescribed. Towards the end of middle years, the kids are using their strategies internally without actually needing to write them down on the paper.
At the beginning of the school year, before we do anything else, I teach the students reading strategies. I teach the beginning of middle years, so some students may not have been exposed to the strategies. Others seems to know the strategies intuitively or they have picked them up throughout their reading career from parents and/or teachers. I start by explaining one strategy in depth per class. The students take notes on the strategy (see handout below) and then we have a discussion about how the strategy could be used in reading and how it could help to understand the book. Then, we read a text together. It could be a poem, short story, informational text, or whatever else you are working on in your unit. While we are reading, I encourage students to stop at specific points to utilize the strategy we have learned about that day. They will highlight or sticky note in the text the portion they are thinking about, and then write in the margins their use of the strategy. As we get better at using the strategies, I release a bit of control and I won't tell students which specific strategy to use, or where to use it. For example I might say after a few weeks, "Today I want you to mark three reading strategies per page of the strategies we have learned. So, you can use connecting, visualizing, or questioning." As we read, I generally allow a student to read a paragraph first, and then I will reread it as students take time to mark their strategies. Then, we either share them as a group and discuss, or the students meet in groups at the end of the text to discuss their reading strategies. As we move along throughout the year, students become better at using the reading strategies, and it becomes less prescribed. Towards the end of middle years, the kids are using their strategies internally without actually needing to write them down on the paper.
Why do we need to teach the reading strategies?
As adults, I think that we forget what it was like when we were first learning how to read. The focus in the primary grades is generally more towards decoding and being able to recognize and say the words. Once they can do this with some efficiency, we need to help them to start making sense of what they are reading. Summarizing is generally the first skill they learn. We ask them what happened in the story, and what the main character did. That is a great start, but at some point they need to actually think about what they are reading, and doing so leads to higher order thinking, learning, and retention of information. Instead of, "What are you reading?" we need to ask, "What are you thinking about what you are reading?" If we were constantly reading a text only to read it, we would never learn anything from it. Middle years is the perfect time to work on reading strategies, because students are starting to develop their higher level thinking skills. The focus is no longer what they are reading, but rather what they are thinking about what they are reading. As teachers we want to know the inner dialogue that is happening inside of the student's head so that we can help them to develop their thinking.
As adults, I think that we forget what it was like when we were first learning how to read. The focus in the primary grades is generally more towards decoding and being able to recognize and say the words. Once they can do this with some efficiency, we need to help them to start making sense of what they are reading. Summarizing is generally the first skill they learn. We ask them what happened in the story, and what the main character did. That is a great start, but at some point they need to actually think about what they are reading, and doing so leads to higher order thinking, learning, and retention of information. Instead of, "What are you reading?" we need to ask, "What are you thinking about what you are reading?" If we were constantly reading a text only to read it, we would never learn anything from it. Middle years is the perfect time to work on reading strategies, because students are starting to develop their higher level thinking skills. The focus is no longer what they are reading, but rather what they are thinking about what they are reading. As teachers we want to know the inner dialogue that is happening inside of the student's head so that we can help them to develop their thinking.
How else can I use the strategies in my classroom?
This is my favourite part: reading workshop. I set aside a 50 minute period every week to focus on independent reading and journal writing. This is our library time, so we go down to the library and the kids exchange books for 5-10 minutes. Then, they have 20-30 minutes (working their way up from September to June) to read independently. During this time, I read with the students who struggle with oral reading for 10 minute intervals. I stop them to ask questions about their book or to comment on what connections or questions I am making. This helps them to start thinking about what they will write in their journals. For the last 15 minutes of class, the students have time to complete a journal entry. The focus is on their reading strategies, however, they are not allowed to use the strategy of summarizing. This takes students a long time to understand at the beginning of grade 5 or 6! They always want to tell me what has happened in their book, but that is not what I am looking for in this instance. I want them to tell me what they are thinking about their book - if what the characters did was justified, if they would change anything, if they can make any connections, what is confusing them, what they think will happen next and why. I mark these journals out of five marks using a rubric that I show them at the beginning of the year. Rarely do I give a 5, but a 3 or 4 is a good job. I give a 2 for a pure summary, and a 1 for a journal that is incomplete. At the start of reading workshop, the students will usually get a 1, 2, or 3 for several journals. Every time we go down to the library for this period, I explain what I read in the journals this week, how they improved, and what we can do to keep improving. I tell them it IS hard and that they will take awhile to get it. Once they do get it, the results can be magical, and they don't really "lose" it after they "have" it. I don't mark the journals for spelling or grammar. It is purely an exercise in reading comprehension, and the results of reading workshop spill over into reading in other classes. It amazes me the growth the students have in their journals over the course of a year. We often flip back to the first few pages of the journal to compare to our newest journal. The kids can tell the difference and explain to you why they got the mark they did that week.
See the photographs of journals below for student examples of a 2 vs. a 5. Notice the higher level thinking in the journals that were graded a 5. These journals are grade 6 students.
This is my favourite part: reading workshop. I set aside a 50 minute period every week to focus on independent reading and journal writing. This is our library time, so we go down to the library and the kids exchange books for 5-10 minutes. Then, they have 20-30 minutes (working their way up from September to June) to read independently. During this time, I read with the students who struggle with oral reading for 10 minute intervals. I stop them to ask questions about their book or to comment on what connections or questions I am making. This helps them to start thinking about what they will write in their journals. For the last 15 minutes of class, the students have time to complete a journal entry. The focus is on their reading strategies, however, they are not allowed to use the strategy of summarizing. This takes students a long time to understand at the beginning of grade 5 or 6! They always want to tell me what has happened in their book, but that is not what I am looking for in this instance. I want them to tell me what they are thinking about their book - if what the characters did was justified, if they would change anything, if they can make any connections, what is confusing them, what they think will happen next and why. I mark these journals out of five marks using a rubric that I show them at the beginning of the year. Rarely do I give a 5, but a 3 or 4 is a good job. I give a 2 for a pure summary, and a 1 for a journal that is incomplete. At the start of reading workshop, the students will usually get a 1, 2, or 3 for several journals. Every time we go down to the library for this period, I explain what I read in the journals this week, how they improved, and what we can do to keep improving. I tell them it IS hard and that they will take awhile to get it. Once they do get it, the results can be magical, and they don't really "lose" it after they "have" it. I don't mark the journals for spelling or grammar. It is purely an exercise in reading comprehension, and the results of reading workshop spill over into reading in other classes. It amazes me the growth the students have in their journals over the course of a year. We often flip back to the first few pages of the journal to compare to our newest journal. The kids can tell the difference and explain to you why they got the mark they did that week.
See the photographs of journals below for student examples of a 2 vs. a 5. Notice the higher level thinking in the journals that were graded a 5. These journals are grade 6 students.