After-Reading
Strategies
My book
is: Benjamin, A. (2007). But I’m Not a Reading Teacher: Strategies for Literacy Instruction in the
Content Areas. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
Black font indicates what the author
says.
Red font indicates my comments.
In an earlier blog, I talked about
something Benjamin wrote, that it’s not enough to read, you have to do
something afterward to make it stick.
The “something” is what she refers to as after-reading strategies.
After-reading strategies can be used to cement
knowledge after reading, or even for assessments. There are five steps to an after-reading
strategy, and she urges teachers to let students decide which ones to use, to
take charge of part of their learning and to appeal to the type of learning
style they possess (verbal, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, or
social). Unfortunately,
she doesn’t give any examples of different strategies for the different
learning styles.
- The first step is to summarize the main idea using the key vocabulary and any pertinent relationships between the data.
- The second step is to note the supportive details, deciding which are most important in the process, and connect these to the main idea. One way to help students decide which details are most important is to ask them to imagine what will be on the test.
- The third step is to put new vocabulary in context with the new knowledge, which could be as simple as expanding definitions or simply reinforcing what students already know.
- The fourth step is to make inferences or draw conclusions. This requires some higher order thinking, to get students to apply their new knowledge.
- The last step is internal organization, having the student identify the types of patterns found in the text. Again, as in the discussion with during-reading strategies, I found this step to be the least helpful.
She gave a science example of a
wrap-up activity. Students read about
Mount St. Helens erupting, then had to describe another volcano somewhere in
the world, and what would happen to the surrounding area if it exploded and why,
based on what they’d just learned. This helps the students to internalize what they’ve learned
and utilize their new knowledge to analyze and draw conclusions about similar situations.
Great idea!
She ended this section
emphasizing yet again, the importance of connecting prior knowledge to new
knowledge, calling it this time, creating links between the known and the new. It’s significant to note that this is a common
thread through all of her strategies, for before-reading, during-reading, and
after-reading.
I particularly like the first and second step. Summarizing the main idea is a great way to make sure they comprehended what was read and understood what was behind it. The second step of noting supportive details and deciding which are most important seems to be an extremely important move in understanding the text.
ReplyDeleteIn my mentoring school, writing down prior knowledge is an important step. The way that knowledge is activated is by creating a project that has a question students must answer. Before trying to answer that big question, they start by writing down things they do not know and things they do know.. From there they can begin to make plot their next steps to answer those unknowns. And that will ultimately lead to answer the big question.
ReplyDeleteIntegrating that with demos, and hands-on activities helps to formulate the new ideas encountered in their reading, as you wrote in your blog
There are so many ideas ... I wonder how coherent it will be when I try to implement them in a classroom!
In my mentoring school, writing down prior knowledge is an important step. The way that knowledge is activated is by creating a project that has a question students must answer. Before trying to answer that big question, they start by writing down things they do not know and things they do know.. From there they can begin to make plot their next steps to answer those unknowns. And that will ultimately lead to answer the big question.
ReplyDeleteIntegrating that with demos, and hands-on activities helps to formulate the new ideas encountered in their reading, as you wrote in your blog
There are so many ideas ... I wonder how coherent it will be when I try to implement them in a classroom!
I really like your summary and I really like the idea at the end about a reading on volcanos. That just generates all kinds of ideas for me in my classroom in the future. How can I take what we've learned and have the students extend it for themselves. I'm thinking of parallel lines and perpendicular lines... Great stuff Ellen!
ReplyDeleteYou summarize this very nicely. I really like your color coding. It makes it clear of which ideas come from the author and which come from you. Prior knowledge is important to reflect on before reading a text or writing on a subject so that the students are reflecting and understanding what they already know. There are really good ideas in here for increasing student achievement.
ReplyDeleteYou summarize this very nicely. I really like your color coding. It makes it clear of which ideas come from the author and which come from you. Prior knowledge is important to reflect on before reading a text or writing on a subject so that the students are reflecting and understanding what they already know. There are really good ideas in here for increasing student achievement.
ReplyDelete