I use to think that comprehension was just recognizing what the words on the page were and knowing their definition. This chapter takes comprehension into greater depth. The reader not only has to now how to read and know what he or she is reading, but relate it to the world around him or her. It's finding the missing piece of the puzzle. In essence, comprehension gives life to what is read.
In reading about the Role of the Teacher I can see what an important part the teacher plays in the lives of the students. I see the teacher as a gardener. The teacher plants the seed (idea, challenge, motivation) in the students (soil) and waters (encourages, instructs, guides) the students for a while until the seed becomes a plant that breaks through from within the soil and flourishes with the strength of the sun, rain, and air (knowledge, understanding, experience=comprehension) day by day. I believe that having the right books, the wanting to read, and the wanting to learn more will bring students to the point of comprehending what they read a lot easier, and these are areas the teacher has to cultivate in the students while they are at school.
The sections Guiding Students, Reinforcing Concepts, Retelling and the Prereading Discussions have showed me diverse methods to use in reiterating reading time. Special needs students need things repeated more that once and in diverse ways because not all learn in the same way. I believe I can put to use the Comic Strip, Symbolic Represenation, and the Vocabulary Strategies in figure3.37 as well.
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I agree this book goes into comprehension in much greater detail. And It's true that comprehension is more than just knowing what the words mean. The student will also comprehend what he or she is reading if they can relate to what they are reading. I like the example that they used in the book about the tamales. Here in San Antonio we all know what tamales are because they are part of our Mexican heritage but if some student were to come from New York or some other norther state they probably wouldn't know what tamales are and they wouldn't be able to relate to the book because they wouldn't know what they are talking about. So I can see how having books that students can relate to would be helpful in reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your response on chapter 3. Reading comprehnsion is very important and the book really empahsizes the importance of it. I also work with special needs kids and I too believe that I can use many of the methods and strategies discussed in the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI agree that retelling is a wonderful way to help the students comprehend what they have read. The tamale example was very important. students from other states would not know what one is. If a student can't relate they probably won't have much success on work.
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