When I think about after-reading strategies, I think about strategies that help reinforce what I have read and help me to construct meaning. One after-reading strategy that I particularly liked is the use of scales. Scales help students perform a variety of tasks. A scale can help a student make comparisons between characters and events, it can help them to reach their own conclusions, and it can even help them differentiate between facts and opinions. Likert Scales, for instance, help students form their own opinion about characters, themes, conflicts, and symbolism. Semantic Differential Scales use opposite character traits to allow students to identify how a character has changed during the course of a story. In my opinion, scales are a great discussion starting point. It helps all students to understand that they can form their own opinions about different parts of a story and can play an active role during class discussion time. I believe it's important to create a safe environment for dependent readers in which they feel like they can play a role in pulling apart the components of a text.
A second strategy that I really liked from this chapter is called "It Says--I Say." I like the way that it helps students organize their thoughts and shows them how to take what's in a text and connect it back to things they already know. In other words, it helps students see how they think. Being able to see how we think is beneficial to dependent readers. If dependent readers can see independent readers model their thought process, I believe that it will help dependent readers to become more active participants in the reading process. Also, Beers has noted that "It Says--I Say" is a great structure to help students learn how to make inferences.
Overall, I think after-reading strategies help dependent readers begin to understand how to eventually make connections throughout the entire reading process.
I think that scales are a great thing to use in the classroom! Students need to understand that as long as they understand the text there is not just one right answer to many questions. They can and NEED to form their own opinions about they text they read. I like scales because they incorporate a bit of this opinion making.
ReplyDeleteI really like the It says--I say activity because it lets students use what they know and where they have been to help them learn and understand what is going on in a text.
ReplyDelete