The readings that I had to do for today (Tompkins Ch.'s 7 and 2) centered around the reading process and reading comprehension. The reading process is a five stage process that is used to help student to comprehend and find meaning in the text. Comprehension basically put is, “a thinking process” (p. 223). Comprehension is the way in which the student understand, interact, and find meaning in the reading.
I have never seen the five stages of the reading process before reading this chapter. I think that I do a lot of the steps while I am reading without actually knowing it. I usually preread a book before I read it. I like to look through the book to see how long it is, how small or large the font is, how the chapter are broken up, etc. Generally I read for pleasure and so I do not think too much about my background knowledge on the topic. When I am reading for school or for acquiring information, I do think about the knowledge that I already have on the topic in order to connect the new information with the information I already have. Next I read the book. For the responding stage of the reading process, I do not usually do that so formally. I tend to think and reflect on the book, to see how it made me feel, but unless asked to, I do not generally write about the book. I love to reread books, especially ones that I enjoyed, so I participate in the explore stage of the process. I also participate in the applying stage of the process when I tell a friend about the book, or when I recommend the book to someone else.
When I am reading a text that I have not read before, or that is an informational text, I do pay attention to the comprehension factors. As I said before I only sometimes think about my background knowledge before I read. When I am reading informational text, I do think about the big ideas that I should get out of the reading. I am a fluent reader and I know how to make inferences, although that concept can get a little confusing for me sometimes. I am always motivated to read, because I love to do it and I love to learn new information.
Both of the readings that I had to do for today helped me to see how the reading process works and how it helps to boost students reading comprehension. I liked being able to see if I actually follow the steps of the reading process and if it helps me to understand what I am reading. It is funny to think about how something so simple (to me), can be made so complex by labeling each step you take during the process!
2 comments:
In your blog, I really like the definition of comprehension you included … “Comprehension is the way in which the student understands, interacts, and finds meaning in the reading.” In class, and in our blog postings, I feel like we’ve touched on how students understand and find meaning in the text. However, we haven’t discussed as much on interacting with the text. In your blog you said that when you read informational texts, you pay a lot of attention to comprehension factors and strategies. I do so as well! More specifically, thinking about my comprehension strategies means thinking about how I interact with the text. Like I mentioned in my previous blog, I always have to highlight what I read. This allows me to slow down and physically point out big ideas and important concepts. From there, I usually write notes on everything I’ve highlighted. And finally, I will try to organize my notes in some fashion, such as an outline. The more I can interact with and organize text, especially informational text, the more I can comprehend. I hadn’t thought of that before I read your definition and its attention to interacting with the text :).
In your posting, you also mentioned how you re-read books often. When people say, “oh, I’ve read this book five times” or so on, I always wonder why. It makes me think about when I babysit too, when the kids want to hear the same book over and over again. I think to myself, don’t you want to spend time reading something new? However, I began to think of it in terms of movies. My favorite movie is Goodwill Hunting, and I’ve watched it probably like 10 times. Every time I watch it, I learn something new about it. The same holds true for re-reading. Each time a student re-reads a book, it becomes more and more meaningful to them. Comprehension grows with each read of the text as well.
I really liked the definition that you gave for comprehension. I don’t think however that comprehension is the “way” we do those things. I instead think that the results of those factors are what describe our comprehension. I do think however, that comprehension does have to do with the understanding, interaction, and meaning that we get out of reading.
I thought that it was interesting that you said you had never seen the five stages of the reading process but that you still do most of the steps without thinking about it. If you never saw the five stages of reading, then how were you able to do them already? Do you think that this is a result of good teaching that was engrained in you when you were younger, or are they just steps that readers take naturally when reading? I think that most of the steps could be natural, but that most of them are a result of good instruction by your teachers throughout your schooling.
I also thought that it was interesting that you pre-read books before you read them. I don’t think that I ever really look at how long the chapters are or how large the text is until I have already started reading. I think that this may however be a good strategy to prepare yourself before reading the book because you know what to expect before you start reading.
I thought that it was interesting that you also said that you don’t use your background knowledge much when you read for pleasure. I personally think that using your background knowledge may be most useful when you are reading for pleasure. This is because you can use examples of who or what you already know and feel to relate to the text in the book. There must be something in book that you are reading that you find interesting, and therefore there must be some sort of prior or current experience you have had that can relate to this.
The last comments I have are very general. I thought it was funny when you said that you like to read the same book twice. I cannot stand reading the same book or watching the same movie twice because I already know what is going to happen. I agree that you get more out of whatever you are viewing, but its just not as exciting as the first time. I also think that is awesome that you are very motivated reader. I am very jealous of this and I think it will pay off enormously in your future classroom. If you are motivated and enthused when you read with your class, then there is a pretty good chance that they will be just as enthused and motivated in return.
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