Chapter 5 Fix It
After establishing the need to train students to recognize when a text has become confusing we need to establish strategies that will allow the students to FIX IT on their own. Chris provides many strategies and explanations which can help students.
- Make connections; we can use either connections to us personally using background knowledge or experiences or we can connect the text to other texts, clips, movies, audiences or other lessons. This allows the reader an insight into the motives of the text and characters.
- Make a prediction; when we anticipate what is going to soon take place in a text we are using information from related texts and what we have already read, thus if our prediction is wrong we can then retrace to where we may have been confused and if continue by changing our predictions.
- Take time to ponder; patience is a big part of reading, especially with deeper texts, therefore if we teach students to take time and make connections to previously aquired knowledge periodically through the text they can visualize it better.
- Ask a Question; asking questions can lead the reader to further understanding a text because you can look into the text or into secondary sources for added clarification. This is important because many type of comprehension questions include this type of thinking and they are difficult for readers who do not know how to respond to questions that cannot be directly answered in a text but rather need inferences about the text or secondary sources.
- Write what you think; this is an opportunity to express and reflect on what they have read.
- Visualize; use connections and background knowledge to paint a picture of what is in the text. Movies and clips are allowed!
- Print Conventions; instruct students to recognize that important parts of texts are often highlighted by being bold, italicized, capitalized or any other way of enhancing the material.
- Retell the text: this is a method of reflection but also allows the reader to recognize if they have understood the text, if they are unable to retell a section they may remember that their mind may have wondered over that part and they can return to that section for a short re-read.
- Re-read; this does not always mean the entire text, but in moments where confusionis noticed, a quick re-read from the last understood moment could help the students understand or diagnose a different problem that needs addressed.
- Noticing patterns; when students understand the organizational pattern of text, then they will be able to use that organizational knowledge to target their reading in the right place.
- Reading rate; being a fast reader is not an important part of reading, but rather being a great understander of text is. By instructing students to slow down when things are more difficult allows for the reader to discover struggle points sooner rather than at the end of the text.
One final strategy Chris shares is the Comprehension constructor which is simple fill in the blank statements helping the students express their confusion and possible diagnosis for those problems, which will ultimately be teaching them to solve their problems as best as they can in the given situation. We need to remember that all circumstances are different and this is why not just one strategy is beneficial but rather knowing how to use multiple ideas.