I found myself in agreement with the fact that the large majority of teachers introduce a text by telling students something about the text. From my experience as a student, even as an undergraduate English major, this is how my teachers introduced a new text. Many of them would talk about the author and provide a brief background history on the times in which a story, poem, or play was written. Little was done to engage me and my classmates with a text prior to reading it. In thinking about struggling or dependent readers, I quickly realized that this method of introducing a story is doing nothing to entice them to read it. If they already consider themselves to be poor readers, they aren't going to want to read a story based on a brief overview of the story or the author by their teacher. Beers, however, offers many useful strategy to entice dependent readers to want to read a text.
One strategy that I found particularly interesting is the notion of Anticipation Guides. The purpose of an Anticipation Guide is to provide students with a set of statements about the text that they can either agree or disagree with. This gets students involved immediately while also encouraging them to connect with what they will be reading. In other words, students are actively engaged with a text even before they begin reading it just by interacting with the set of statements. I also like the idea of incorporating the Anticipation Guide throughout the reading process. They are a great tool to use to get students to interact with a text before reading it, but they also can be used during reading and after reading. Using an Anticipation Guide during reading and after reading gives students a chance to evaluate their responses and to determine whether or not they are still in agreement with their original responses.
Also, I like the idea of the KWL chart because it gets students involved prior to reading a text and encourages comprehension by challenging them to think about what they've learned once they've read a text. A KWL chart helps to get students thinking about their prior knowledge of a given topic. It encourages them to think about what they might learn when reading a text about a given topic. Finally, it helps them reflect on what they've learned after they've read a text.
I agree about the Anticipation Guide. I think it would be a good thing for all teachers to do when they introduce new material for their students to read. It is a god thing to have something a teacher can always give her kids. It keeps kids on track when using the Guide.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the idea of an Anticipation Guide. When Beers share a 'look inside the classroom,' I could really picture students getting really hyped up about this task at hand. This inevitably will get them excited for the text that corresponds with the Anticipation Guide, in this case, The Diary of Anne Frank. I loved how the students were torn about how to answer the questions on this particular guide, not because the questions were too difficult, but because it required them to make a decision. This caused the students to really want to engage in a discussion on the topics. Anything that can get students excited to talk about a text, is a great tool in my book. I would love to try using an Anticipation Guide in my near future.
ReplyDeleteI am also a fan of K-W-L charts. It is not often that I find myself thinking, "what do I want to learn?" I also believe that a K-W-L great is a easy way to do a quick assessment on our students.