Reading with Meaning : Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades

by Miller, Debbie

• ISBN13: 9781571103079
• ISBN10: 1571103074
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: STENHOUSE PUBLISHERS

Summary

If you have ever wondered how to teach comprehension strategies to primary-age children, read on.First, imagine a primary-grade classroom where all the children are engagedandmotivated; where the buzz of excited, emerging readers fills the air; where simultaneously words are sounded out and connections are made between the books of their choice and the experiences of their lives. Then, open these pages.Welcome to Debbie Miller's real classroom where real students are learning to love to read, to write, and are together creating a collaborative and caring environment. In this book, Debbie focuses on how best to teach children strategies for comprehending text. She leads the reader through the course of a year showing how her students learn to become thoughtful, independent, and strategic readers. Through explicit instruction, modeling, classroom discussion, and, most important, by gradually releasing responsibility to her students, Debbie provides a model for creating a climate and culture of thinking and learning.Here you will learn: techniques for modeling thinking; specific examples of modeled strategy lessons for inferring, asking questions, making connections, determining importance in text, creating mental images, and synthesizing information; how to help children make their thinking visible through oral, written, artistic, and dramatic responses to literature; how to successfully develop book clubs as a way for children to share their thinking.Reading with Meaningshows you how to bring your imagined classroom to life. You will emerge with new tools for teaching comprehension strategies and a firm appreciation that a rigorous classroom can also be nurturing and joyful.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
In Appreciation	xi
Prologue: It Doesn't Get Better Than This	1	(4)
Guiding Principles	5	(10)
Establishing a Framework
Proficient Reader Research
Gradual Release of Responsibility
In September	15	(10)
Community: Creating a Culture and Climate for Thinking
Building Relationships
Establishing Mutual Trust
Readers' Workshop: Real Reading from the Start	25	(14)
Book Selection: In the Beginning
Reading Aloud
Mini-Lessons
Reading and Conferring
Sharing
Settling In	39	(14)
Book Selection: Theirs
Evaluation: Mine
What About Phonics and Word Identification?
Schema	53	(20)
Thinking Aloud: Showing Kids How
The First Schema Lesson
Text-to-Self Connections
Making Meaningful Connections
Thinking Through Text Together: An Anchor Chart in the Making
Releasing Responsibility: Small-Group Work
Text-to-Text Connections
Schema Throughout the Year
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Schema at a Glance
Creating Mental Images	73	(20)
In the Beginning: Thinking Aloud
Anchor Lessons
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Mental Images at a Glance
Digging Deeper	93	(12)
Taking the Conversation Deeper
Book Cloubs for Primary Kids?
Making Thinking Visible
Taking the Learning Deeper
Work Activity Time
Inferring	105	(18)
Anchor Lessons
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Inferring at a Glance
Asking Questions	123	(18)
Anchor Lessons
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Asking Questions at a Glance
Determining Importance in Nonfiction	141	(16)
Modeling Differences Between Fiction and Nonfiction
Noticing and Remembering When We Learn Something New
Convention Notebooks
Locating Specific Information
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Determining Importance at a Glance
Synthesizing Information	157	(16)
Anchor Lessons
Evidence of Understanding and Independence
Synthesis at a Glance
Epilogue: In June	173	(2)
References	175	(6)
Index	181