The readings that I had for this week were Tompkins chapter 7 and Carlisle’s How Can I Help Children with Learning Disabilities. Carlisle’s article gave me a lot of advice on how assist literacy development for children with learning disabilities in my classroom, but it did not teach me much about my own reading comprehension process.
The Tompkins chapter on the other hand did teach me a lot about my reading comprehension process. The first thing I learned was what the definition of comprehension actually was. In the book, Judith Irwin defines comprehension as the reader’s process of using prior experiences and the author’s text to construct meaning that is useful to that reader for a specific purpose. I thought that this was a perfect definition for comprehension because I too believe that it’s the meaning you form for whatever purpose you are attempting to address or answer. I can relate this to my own experiences when I have failed on a test or did not come away with the same meaning or understanding as everyone else who read the same text. I realize now that just because I failed does not mean I didn’t comprehend what I read, but instead it may mean that I used the text to construct meaning for a different purpose than everyone else had. This makes a lot of sense because in the end we all don’t think alike.
Chapter 7 also talked about the factors that influence a reader’s comprehension. After reading over these factors, I can see which ones I struggle on and which ones I excel on during my reading comprehension process. I know that I definitely use my background knowledge when I am reading. I am always try to connect what I am learning with what I already know because my understanding then is way more in depth. I use my background knowledge either to relate what I already know or to relate an experience I had in the past.
I know that I am pretty fluent as well. When I am reading, I never find myself sounding out or struggling with many words that I do not know or cannot pronounce. I never thought how important this was in relation to comprehension before I read this chapter. Now however. it makes sense because if you are struggling to read every word, then how can you think or eternalize what you are reading.
The other factors that I realized which I never had any issues with are comprehension strategies and making inferences. I know that I make inferences when I read because of the fact that I like to use background knowledge with whatever I am learning or doing. I now realize how this background knowledge causes me to make inferences because I am constantly comparing what I am reading with what I already know so that I am always inferring something is going to happen based on my background knowledge. I have always known comprehension strategies such as predicting and summarizing are an important role in comprehension so it comes with little surprise to me that it impacts my reading comprehension process. This is something I think is engrained in your head as a child and so you do it naturally whenever you read.
Finally I realized that having a purpose and motivation are two factors which have not played an active role in the process of my reading comprehension. As a child I use to really enjoy reading books, but as I grew up I started to like reading less and less and I started to get less and less out of what I read. After reading this chapter I now realize that these two factors affect my reading comprehension. I think these 2 factors disappeared from my reading comprehension process when what I was reading became less personal. Once this happened the reading had no purpose to me because I didn’t know why I was reading it; it had no relevance or importance to me so why should I read it? I now realize that you if you do not see a purpose to reading then you are not actively involved with it. This makes a lot of sense compared to my enthusiasm for reading, and I think it has a lot to do with motivation as well. If I don’t see a purpose to what I am reading, then how can I be motivated?
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3 comments:
I agree with you and the Tompkins text about comprehension and how it is different for every person. It is true that every person has different background knowledge and experiences and they use those in order to comprehend the new information they are reading. I like how you said that when you use your background knowledge, because then your understanding is way more in depth. I think using background knowledge is like using a stepping stone to then build new knowledge on top of, which in turn will make the understanding more in depth.
I really liked how you talked about how failing a test does not mean that you did not comprehend what you read, but that you constructed the meaning in a different way then others or the way you were expected to. I think that this is a really good way to look at it. I think that a lot of the time students think of themselves as "failures" because they comprehend or think differently than their peers. I think that you will make a great teacher in the sense that you will understand what it is like to be a student who thinks differently and that it is ok.
I also can relate to what you said about comparing your enthusiasm to reading to the purpose of the reading. I definitely have more enthusiasm when I am reading for pleasure than when I am reading for school. But while reading for school, If I know that I am just reading it to gain knowledge and discuss it with my peers, I am more enthusiastic about it than if I were reading it to write a paper or take a test.
I really liked your post Andy! It seemed like you really got a lot out of the readings and was able to really look at yourself as a reader. I feel that knowing yourself better as a reader will allow you to know your students better as readers as well. I feel the articles and chapters we read were really important last week.
I also liked the definition you wrote about in your blog. I especially liked the last part of it; how comprehension is useful to the reader for a specific purpose. No matter what we read, there is always a purpose to it. Even if we read for pleasure … the purpose is reading for pleasure. Sometimes, whether it is to ourselves or our students, we just need to make that purpose clearer. I agree with you and feel purpose is one of the most important “factors” of comprehension. I feel purpose is a factor many students struggle with. Some may see reading as pointless, especially if they struggle with some aspect of reading. Making sure the purpose is stated and discussed is important for students.
Both you and Kelly talked about background knowledge, another comprehension factor discussed in class. I am very aware that as a reader I am continuously activating my background knowledge and relating it to the text. I also immediately think about the pre-school kids I work with. Last week we read a story about some character that was called Uncle (something?). Children would raise their hands saying, “I have an Uncle Jim” or “I have three uncles.” At the very basic level, they are using their background “knowledge” to relate more to the story. This is very beneficial to comprehension and learning in general. If reading is meaningful to students, than they are more engaged and therefore more motivated to learn.
Ah-ha! It sounds like you learned how important it is to set a purpose for kids when they are reading and to help them learn to do the same independently.
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