Sei's Chapter 7 Reflection
Read Aloud and Shared Reading:
Demonstrating Strategies in Whole-Class Settings
Chapter 7 Reflection
In chapter seven, Taberski discusses numerous techniques that can be beneficial in working with reading with children. More specifically, she informs the readers on how Read Alouds and Shared Readings can be utilized to help children with reading.
One thing that I found interesting in this chapter is the discussion on the use of read alouds and shared readings to get children interested in reading a variety of genres. I think that it’s a great idea to use read alouds or shared readings as opportunities to introduce and familiarize children with a wide array of genres. This is to say that if I read my future students poetry or factual books, it may serve as a catalyst for them reading in those genres. According to Taberski, introducing poetry to students will enable them to “appreciate its imagery and relate to it as they hear it read aloud and respond to it afterward” and reading factual texts to them “demonstrate[s] how features of factual texts such as glossaries, indices, captions, side bars, and pronunciation keys can help them understand what they’re reading.” I would consider read alouds and shared readings done in this manner as a type of “advertising” or free sample of a genre. Once students are enticed by the beauty of different genres, they can’t help but to read more and more to satisfy their hunger. I’m not fortunate enough to say that I had these type of “advertisements” when I was growing up. Who knows- had I been exposed to more genres, I may be a more avid reader.
I remember when I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my fourth grade students last semester. I’ll never forget the look of excitement and that little twinkle in their eyes when it’d be time to read that book every week. Although many of them had already seen the movie or read the book, they just seemed to really enjoy this story. I reminisced on these past moments as I read Taberski’s take on read alouds and shared readings promoting “children’s love of reading”. As Taberski goes through her elaborate details and descriptions of the expressions on her students faces, I fell even more mesmerized with the concept of read alouds and shared readings. It’s so great to be able to get children to experience and feel the effect of a good piece of literature. It’s good to make them laugh and giggle along with their peers in the funny parts and also empathize with a character’s hardship and trials. Having experienced this firsthand, I agree with Taberski 100% when she states that “if children aren’t motivated to read, it would be very difficult for them to sustain their attention and interest in reading.” It’s a great power that we possess as educators to expose our students to literature, but we must keep in mind to make selections that would be well received and enjoyed by our students, not just ourselves.
“Stopping to think”. Stop to think before you speak. Stop to think before you do something rash. Etc… “Stopping to think”- that’s an important concept in many things in life and among the many, we are not to exclude that of reading. Taberski introduces us to the concept of “Stopping to think” about what we’re reading. Not only is this a great comprehension strategy, it’s also a great way to encourage critical thinking and making links to the text. Children should be taught to think about what they read so far, what they think is going to happen next, and why they think it’s going to happen next. I firmly believe that getting children to use the information that they’ve read to foreshadow future events is a great way to develop critical thinking skills. When children are asked to make predictions and inferences, they need to base their understanding of the previous context and link it to the storyline. I remember doing this a lot in my earlier years in school and it has proven to be very beneficial to me. Whether it’s while I’m watching a movie or reading a book, I still use my critical thinking skills that were learned awhile ago. I like to try to predict what’s going to happen, or foreshadow, based on what I’ve learned about the characters and storyline up until that point.
Demonstrating Strategies in Whole-Class Settings
Chapter 7 Reflection
In chapter seven, Taberski discusses numerous techniques that can be beneficial in working with reading with children. More specifically, she informs the readers on how Read Alouds and Shared Readings can be utilized to help children with reading.
One thing that I found interesting in this chapter is the discussion on the use of read alouds and shared readings to get children interested in reading a variety of genres. I think that it’s a great idea to use read alouds or shared readings as opportunities to introduce and familiarize children with a wide array of genres. This is to say that if I read my future students poetry or factual books, it may serve as a catalyst for them reading in those genres. According to Taberski, introducing poetry to students will enable them to “appreciate its imagery and relate to it as they hear it read aloud and respond to it afterward” and reading factual texts to them “demonstrate[s] how features of factual texts such as glossaries, indices, captions, side bars, and pronunciation keys can help them understand what they’re reading.” I would consider read alouds and shared readings done in this manner as a type of “advertising” or free sample of a genre. Once students are enticed by the beauty of different genres, they can’t help but to read more and more to satisfy their hunger. I’m not fortunate enough to say that I had these type of “advertisements” when I was growing up. Who knows- had I been exposed to more genres, I may be a more avid reader.
I remember when I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my fourth grade students last semester. I’ll never forget the look of excitement and that little twinkle in their eyes when it’d be time to read that book every week. Although many of them had already seen the movie or read the book, they just seemed to really enjoy this story. I reminisced on these past moments as I read Taberski’s take on read alouds and shared readings promoting “children’s love of reading”. As Taberski goes through her elaborate details and descriptions of the expressions on her students faces, I fell even more mesmerized with the concept of read alouds and shared readings. It’s so great to be able to get children to experience and feel the effect of a good piece of literature. It’s good to make them laugh and giggle along with their peers in the funny parts and also empathize with a character’s hardship and trials. Having experienced this firsthand, I agree with Taberski 100% when she states that “if children aren’t motivated to read, it would be very difficult for them to sustain their attention and interest in reading.” It’s a great power that we possess as educators to expose our students to literature, but we must keep in mind to make selections that would be well received and enjoyed by our students, not just ourselves.
“Stopping to think”. Stop to think before you speak. Stop to think before you do something rash. Etc… “Stopping to think”- that’s an important concept in many things in life and among the many, we are not to exclude that of reading. Taberski introduces us to the concept of “Stopping to think” about what we’re reading. Not only is this a great comprehension strategy, it’s also a great way to encourage critical thinking and making links to the text. Children should be taught to think about what they read so far, what they think is going to happen next, and why they think it’s going to happen next. I firmly believe that getting children to use the information that they’ve read to foreshadow future events is a great way to develop critical thinking skills. When children are asked to make predictions and inferences, they need to base their understanding of the previous context and link it to the storyline. I remember doing this a lot in my earlier years in school and it has proven to be very beneficial to me. Whether it’s while I’m watching a movie or reading a book, I still use my critical thinking skills that were learned awhile ago. I like to try to predict what’s going to happen, or foreshadow, based on what I’ve learned about the characters and storyline up until that point.
posted by Sei | 11:51 PM
1 Comments:
I remember reading "The Field Guide" which is a book that's part of the Spiderwick Chronicles, to my fifth graders last year. The kids did have that look of engagement, and they did show excitement every time it was time for me to read to them again. It was a great feeling. When I read this chapter, it did bring those memories back. That's the first thing that came to mind when Taberski was talking about read alouds. It is a awesome feeling when you see your students enjoy something, especially when you're the one who's making it enjoyable.
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