EDUC 650 Content Reading and Study Strategies

EDUC 650  Content Reading and Study Strategies

Reflection and Artifact

My artifact for EDUC 650 Content Reading and Study Strategies is a lesson plan that I prepared for my first grade students.  I choose to create a lesson on nonfiction text features because understanding text features will make nonfiction books easier for my students to navigate and will allow them better access to the information inside the book. This lesson focuses on a skill that will help my students for the rest of their lives, not just for this lesson.  This topic also seemed important because with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards the children are reading more nonfiction books than ever.

Nonfiction Text Feature Lesson Plan

To help my students better understand text organization of nonfiction books, I would use a mini-lesson on labels, photographs, and captions.  Throughout the school year, my students have a lot of exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts and have had several conversations about the differences.  By the time I teach this mini lesson, my students would be aware that with fiction text they predict what they think will happen; and with nonfiction, they predict what they expect to learn. To teach this mini lesson, I would use a big book called Clouds.  Before opening up the book, I would have my students look at the cover and predict what they think they will learn.  Then I would tell them that in nonfiction texts there are many helpful features that allow the reader to gain knowledge without reading all of the words.  To learn more about clouds and to check out our predictions, we are going to look through the book.  We are going to look for information that the author has included without reading the whole story.  At this point, I would do a walk-through of the book.  On each page, I would ask what they notice.  When they point out the pictures, I would share the captions and labels with them.  After going through the story, I would have the children check their predictions and share what they learned from the text.  Then, I would ask them how they learned so much without reading all of the words.  At this point, I am expecting that they will point out how the photographs, captions, and labels gave them information.  I would add these three terms along with the students’ definitions to our nonfiction text features chart.  I would also have the students share why knowing about photographs, captions, and labels is important to reading nonfiction text.  Their answers would also be added to our chart.

Once the children have an understanding of photographs, captions, and labels, I would ask them to find a partner who they will work with on a text feature scavenger hunt.  For the scavenger hunt, I would give each pair of students a sticky note with one of the text features written on it.   They are to look through books from out nonfiction bins and find an example of that text feature.  When they find that feature, they are to bring the sticky note and the example to me so I can check it.  If it is correct, they will put the sticky note on the example.  After they find one feature, they will be given a sticky note with a different text feature to find.  They will again find an example, have it checked, and mark it with a sticky note.  They will continue to search until they have found an example of all three text features that we are focusing on.  We will leave the sticky notes in the books for the duration of this unit.  That way, the students will not only get to see examples of the text features when they are searching for them, but they will also be reminded of the features when they choose nonfiction books for independent reading time. 

Professional Growth

            The knowledge that I gained during my content reading and study strategy course helped me gain insights into tools that promote reading comprehension.  The lesson plan that I included as my artifact is one such example.  The lesson incorporated inquiry along with a gradual release model.  The students began by noticing text features in a book.  After noticing a text feature, we talked about it, named it, and discussed why it is important.  Once the children had gained some knowledge about text features, they worked with a partner to complete a scavenger hunt that required them to apply their new knowledge.  Having children participate in an inquiry and in an application of newly-gained information promoted student engagement and student learning.  The lesson also was based on teaching the reader and not just a task because knowledge of text features is a skill that the students continually use.  Using inquiry, application, and real-world connections to promote comprehension were some of the insights that I gained during this course.

            In addition to the nonfiction text feature lesson, I learned other strategies that promote comprehension.  I learned the importance of teaching children how to make connections in their reading. The connection might be between the child and the text, between the text and the world, or between the text and another text.  I also learned the importance of teaching children how to use mental imagery in order to visualize their learning.  From this course I understood the importance of using questioning webs to teach children how to generate questions about their reading, and I saw how the ripple effect strategy can be used to help children synthesize their learning.

Student Growth

            I incorporated the comprehension strategies that I gained during the content reading and study strategy course into my teaching repertoire.  Therefore, those strategies were passed onto my students.  My students became proficient at connecting texts to themselves and the larger world.  My students grew in their vocabulary as readers.  They used terms such as inferring, visualizing, questioning, and connecting.  They also could accurately discuss features found in their books.  They knew about captions, bold print, table of contents, and photographs.  The growth my students made in their reading comprehension will benefit them for years to come because I focused my lessons on teaching the reader and not on a specific assignment.

Connection to Standards

Standard #3:  The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.  By teaching my students a variety of comprehension strategies, I was able to provide approaches that allowed for different learning styles. For the children who are more visual and prefer art, they could use a mental imagery strategy and a visual representation of their learning.  The curious students may choose a questioning web to share their new learning with the class.  The more concrete learners may use a graphic organizer that connects key concepts with details.  By teaching students how to make text-to-self and text-to-world connections, it allows them to create meaning by thinking about their own culture and community.  With so many options, I hope I reached all of my students.

Standard #4:  The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.  When teaching my students comprehension skills, I used a variety of approaches.   I used inquiry so my students would be able to make observations and create their own knowledge.  I frequently used think-alouds to model using a strategy.  The think-alouds were often part of the gradual release approach. After I would model a strategy, I would have the students practice before using it independently. In addition, I encouraged students to work with others and share their thinking.

Standard #7:   The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.  When planning to teach comprehension strategies to my students, I focused on several areas.  First, I thought about my students’ needs and the comprehension strategies that have been proven to work.  I also considered the Common Core and my district’s reading goals.  In addition, I made sure that my lesson’s focus was on teaching the strategy so that it could be used in more than one context.  By being thoughtful and explicit about what I taught, I was able to provide my students with a toolkit of strategies that will benefit them long after they leave my classroom.