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Teaching-Learning Strategies | ||
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Teacher-Guided |
Student Empowerment |
Specific Strategies |
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Before
During
After
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Before
During
After
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The Reading Process
Reading is a transaction between the text and the reader. As students read, they search for and construct meaning based on what they bring to the text and what the text brings to them.
It is important to develop fluent and proficient readers who are knowledgeable about the reading process. Effective readers are active readers who use a repertoire of comprehension strategies before, during, and after interacting with texts. Proficient readers bring their backgrounds to the reading, have a plan for comprehending a range of texts, interact with the texts (building interpretations as they read), and shape their responses based on their reading.
Before reading, strategic readers preview the text by looking at the title and the text to evoke relevant thoughts, memories, and associations. They build background by questioning themselves to see what they already know about the topic, the form in which the topic is presented, and the vocabulary that might communicate the ideas about the topic. They set purposes for reading by asking themselves what they want to learn or experience by reading the selection.
During reading, strategic readers create a dialogue with the author, striving to reformulate what the author is saying. They check their understanding of the text by paraphrasing the author’s words and they monitor it by imagining, inferring, predicting, and confirming. They integrate their new understanding with existing knowledge. They are continually revising their purposes for reading as they read.
After reading, strategic readers summarize what they have been reading and contemplate their first impressions. They reflect and take second looks to develop more thoughtful and critical interpretations of the text. Finally, they make applications of the ideas encountered in the text by extending these ideas to broader perspectives (Flood & Lapp, 1991, p. 732).
Successful language learners adapt these strategies as they construct meaning from a variety of oral, written, and visual texts and experiences.
Another characteristic that distinguishes proficient readers from ineffective readers is that they read often and regularly. As they read, their reading improves. Ineffective readers often choose to avoid reading and do not develop the same love of literature or the lifelong habit of reading as a rewarding leisure-time pursuit. Teachers can make a major difference in students’ success or failure to read texts effectively by modelling, coaching, facilitating, and promoting reading in their classrooms.
Reading Literary Texts
Literary texts provide students with valuable experiences that would otherwise not be introduced into their lives. Such literary texts occupy a special place in an English language arts program. Literature typically involves the use of language and the imagination to represent, recreate, and explore human experiences. Literary texts celebrate the richness and power of language, stimulate the imagination and aesthetic awareness, and shape thought and understanding. Through reading, viewing, listening, talking, and writing about a range of texts--fiction and nonfiction, drama and poetry, film and video--students extend their understanding of themselves and of the world.
Reading texts for literary experience is different from reading them for information. Rosenblatt (1985) offers a starting point for thinking about the reading of texts when she defines two general stances readers may choose when constructing meaning and responding to literature. In one stance (i.e., the efferent stance) the reader’s purpose is primarily to gain information and analyze the author’s technique. The emphasis is on recalling, paraphrasing, and analyzing detail. In the second stance (i.e., the aesthetic stance) the reader's purpose is primarily to "live through" the experience presented in the text and to associate the text with personal experience and feelings. The emphasis is on personally connecting with the text as one reads, developing deeper insights into the human experience, and responding thoughtfully to the ideas and insights presented. This stance is encouraged by having students explore their initial understanding and perspectives of a text.
Any text can be read from either an aesthetic or efferent point of view and both have a place in the English language arts classroom. Strategic readers understand that different texts require different approaches and strategies. Students need to develop effective strategies in order to read different texts in both the aesthetic and efferent stances.
The reader’s response is a part of the process of reading any literary text. In order to grow as readers and deepen their understanding of the texts they are reading, students need many opportunities to think about, talk about, and write about the texts they are reading. In turn, teachers need to use instructional strategies that promote reflection, discussion, and critical thinking. To this end, teachers should encourage students to respond to texts both personally and critically.
In their initial personal responses to literary texts, students might focus on their first impressions and associations. Consideration could be given to the following response prompts:
In order to extend their personal responses, students need to revisit texts and respond critically. Second readings can encourage them to explore further the author’s ideas and craft as well as the underlying assumptions found in a text. As they read closely and critically, students should use textual evidence to support their interpretations and their judgements about the text. During a second reading, consideration could be given to the following prompts:
Students who talk about what they read are more likely to grow as critical readers. Discussions of texts with peers allow students to see how others construct meaning and can result in higher level analytic thinking (Gambrell, 1996). Possible prompts include:
Ultimately, students need to take ownership for reading and responding to texts. With the appropriate skills, strategies, and support, they can become more competent and confident readers.
A Balanced Approach to Reading
Teachers have the knowledge to provide the titles that will bridge students’ interests. They can choose those literary selections that provide a balanced reading component in their English language arts program. This balance can be achieved in a number of ways: providing several types of texts, allowing for both teacher-guided and self-directed reading, and including intensive and extensive reading materials. A balanced reading program includes experiences with a range of written, spoken, and other media texts. This range should include a mix of traditional and contemporary texts. The classics still connect with students through their timeless themes and characters; contemporary literature acknowledges the importance of the here and now. There should be a balance of themes and issues presented in these texts. As well, consideration should be given to a balance of gender (authors, characters, issues); culture (multicultural versus Anglocentric); Canadian, Saskatchewan, and international works; and literary genre (prose, poetry, and plays).
The balance should include selections chosen by students for individual, small group, and independent reading and those chosen by the teacher for whole class and guided reading and study. Guided reading may also occur in small group settings where students choose from five or six selections identified by the teacher.
In addition, teachers should pay attention to balancing the intensive experiences (careful, close reading guided by the teacher), with a focus on the author's ideas and craft and extensive experiences (independent reading with a focus on personal enjoyment, author’s style, and application of previously learned strategies). The teacher should also ensure that there are varying degrees of difficulty in those selections chosen for reading.
Finally, teachers need to share their love of literary texts. To this end, it is important to find time:
While some selections will be studied intensively, not all literature should be. There needs to be a time when students are allowed to "just read". Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) has been used in many classrooms to allow students to read because they want to--no book reports, no questions at the end of a chapter, and no looking up every unknown word's meaning. SSR means "putting down a book you don't like and choosing another one instead. It is the kind of reading highly literate people do obsessively all the time" (Krashen, 1993, p. x).
Some practical considerations that teachers need to address for the successful implementation of SSR for their classrooms are:
Reading response groups, literature circles, and reading workshops can complement and extend SSR.
Extensive reading promotes literacy. Nearly every study that has examined the relationship between free reading and literacy development has found a correlation. The results show that free reading leads to better reading comprehension, a more mature writing style, increased vocabulary, improvement in spelling, and a greater sense of language forms and conventions (Krashen, 1993, p. 12).
Students need to develop thoughtful interpretations of what they read. They need to approach the task as active makers of meaning. Teachers can encourage students to become active participants in the classroom community by tailoring their instructional strategies and methods to the needs of their classes and the individuals in those classes. Instructional activities such as the following might be considered.
Help students prepare to read by:
Help students employ effective reading strategies during reading by:
Help students understand and respond after reading by:
Providing the necessary direction, support, and guidance for students before, during, and after reading helps them become strategic readers of literature.
Pre-reading
Reading begins before a book is opened. Pre-reading strategies:
... help students to activate what they know about a topic and anticipate what they will read or hear. Such strategies also direct students’ attention to the major points in the reading. Teachers can also use pre-reading strategies to point out how a text is organized, to teach unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts, and to provide students with a purpose for reading or listening (Irvin, 1990, p. 96).
A pre-reading activity with the focus on arousing interest in a text and getting students started reading will be different from one with the focus on establishing a common understanding about the main idea or technique employed in a text. Teachers need to consider how to initiate the reading of any text.
Activating Prior Knowledge
During the pre-reading phase, students may need assistance to activate what they already know regarding the ideas they are about to encounter. Teachers need to do more than inform students of the topic of the literary selection. For example, in a selection dealing with the theme of "courage", students might:
Students might use an anticipation guide--a brief reading passage to capture their interest--while building predictive reading skills, connecting with their previous experiences, and establishing a purpose for reading. For example, if teaching the short story Lather and Nothing Else by Hernando Téllez, teachers could present the following question as an anticipation guide:
Your enemy, a vile killer, is sitting on the barber’s chair and you are standing over him, your razor in your hand ready to shave him. What are you thinking?
Another type of anticipation guide asks students to place a checkmark next to those statements with which they agree. For example,
___a) Heroes are always courageous.
___b) There are many acts of courage in a war.
___c) A barber can be courageous.
___d) Courage always involves sacrifice.
Three to five statements are usually adequate.
Building Background Knowledge
If a selection deals with a military academy, for example, and students have no knowledge of such an institution, then they must be given background information. Speakers, films, slides, news articles, maps, and photos can be used to build students’ background information.
A strategy known as KWL can also be used to activate what students know and need to know before reading. Individually, in small groups, or as a class, have students design a chart with three columns. In the first column they indicate what they know about a topic; in the second, what they want to know; and in the third, what they learned after reading. A variation could be: What do we know? What do we think we know? What do we need/want to know?
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What do we know? |
What do we think we know? |
What do we need/want to know? |
Determining Purpose and Strategy
Encourage students to use predictions to set a purpose for reading. For example, titles help a reader predict what a particular work is about. Based on the title of the poem (short story, play, essay, film), have students jot down a brief prediction of what they think the selection will be about.
Good readers also make predictions about characters and plot before and during their reading. After students read the first page of a selection, teachers can pose the following questions:
Focus students’ thinking by setting purposes to guide their reading. An example follows.
"Beowulf" is a long poem about a legendary hero who battles evil. Like all heroes, Beowulf represents the values admired by his society. Think about the qualities of modern heroes and the kinds of enemies they battle. Use the chart that follows to record phrases that describe today’s heroes. As you read, decide if Beowulf displays any of the qualities you listed.
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Heroic Deeds |
Enemies |
Abilities |
Virtues |
(Applebee, Langer, Hynes-Berry, & Miller, 1992, p. 21)
Explaining Forms, Techniques, and Vocabulary
Writers employ certain literary forms, techniques, and vocabulary to create desired effects. If students are to understand the impact of a literary work, they have to understand how the impact is achieved. To help students better understand a literary text, it may be important to draw their attention to the elements and structures of literary texts, as well as the strategies for reading the different types of literature.
Literary forms, techniques, and vocabulary can be addressed in short mini-lessons before students read a selection. These mini-lessons should provide knowledge to help students experience, think about, and respond to what they are reading. They should not become disconnected terminology or treatises on literature.
Prose fiction is literature about imagined people, places, and events. The purpose of prose fiction is to stimulate the readers’ imagination and communicate the author’s perception or view of the world. Short stories, legends, myths, and novels are usually made up of the same basic elements--events (plot), people (characters), places (setting), point of view, conflict, theme, and sometimes symbol and irony. Because of their length, novels usually introduce a greater variety of characters, and may include sub-plots and even use more than one point of view to give different perspectives on the events of the narrative.
Where a novel might have many focuses and sub-plots, a short story usually has one focus. Where the novel usually creates a broad exterior world that develops as the story unfolds, the short story creates a smaller world, often an interior one. However, the basic elements are the same with the novel and the short story. When reading stories, students must note whether the person telling the story is a character within the story or someone watching the action from the outside. As the story unfolds, they must note the central conflict or focus and decide why the characters behave as they do. Finally they must decide how they feel about the story’s events, their reactions to the main characters, and the comments or questions about life that the story conveys.
The novel, on the other hand, requires that students keep sub-plots separated and recognize their relationships to the main plot. As the characters are likely to be dynamic rather than static, they must be aware of their motives and able to recognize the events that lead to changes in the characters. If students enjoy the novel, they may unconsciously identify with one character or idea inherent in the novel. They need to be aware of the nature and implications of such identification when they respond to what they have read.
Prose nonfiction is writing about real perceptions, lives, and times. Included in this category of prose are forms such as essays, articles, editorials, letters, journals, biographies, autobiographies, speeches, and full-length books. With suspense, richness of expression, and ingenuity of style, nonfiction is as exciting as fiction. In fact, much contemporary nonfiction uses the traditional elements of fiction writing. Terms such as new journalism, creative nonfiction, and literary nonfiction have been used to describe this type of prose writing. Contemporary nonfiction can be read for the same pleasure people experience when reading novels. Because it is vivid and personal in nature, it can serve as a model for much of secondary school students’ own writing.
Students should also be aware of the typical organizational methods used in traditional nonfiction prose including: simple listing, time order, comparison-contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution, and description. If students are reading for information, they need to keep their purpose clearly in mind. Students may need to take time to summarize or restate the main points in the reading and make some notes on the main and supporting ideas.
Poetry is literature that communicates feelings, impressions, images, and ideas through the careful choice and arrangement of words for their sound and meaning. The purpose of poetry can be to capture a mood, convey a feeling, tell a story, or explore ideas, language, rhythms, or images. Poets use various literary techniques to convey the meaning, mood, and feeling of a poem including choice of speaker, form (order and arrangement), imagery, sound, and figurative language.
Plays can be read as a script for performance or as literary text. In both cases students should pay particular attention to the language, the images, and the literary devices used by the playwright. If the intention is performance, students should, as they read, imagine the play brought to life by actors. They should try to understand the staging that will bring the script to life through acting, costumes, scenery, props, sound effects, and lighting. They should think about the motivation for characters’ actions and resulting conflict. Learning objectives related to the drama strand of the arts education curriculum can also be achieved in language arts lessons where students are reading plays as dramatic scripts.
Understanding Key Vocabulary
If students do not understand the author’s vocabulary, they will not understand the text. Memorizing vocabulary for a test or studying lists of words isolated from the reading experience have virtually no effect on comprehension or on improving one’s vocabulary (Nelson-Herber, 1986).
Words selected for the purpose of pre-reading vocabulary development should be selected judiciously and there should be a variety of instructional techniques employed. There are three criteria to keep in mind when selecting words for study:
The amount of pre-teaching of vocabulary depends upon a teacher’s approach to a selection. If the selection is read aloud by the teacher, an oral interpretation may convey the meanings of the unfamiliar words. If the momentum of a selection is best not broken and key words are not necessary for understanding, then vocabulary can be addressed after the reading.
There are numerous ways to help students prepare for the words they will encounter in their reading:
E.g., if the word "rejuvenate" is a key word in a selection, students can associate this word with "juvenile".
E.g., "He is a juvenile. He is a juvenile delinquent. Stop acting so juvenile."
E.g., How would a judge use the word "juvenile"?
Other useful pre-reading vocabulary strategies include using analogies (e.g., young is to old as juvenile is to ...), listing, sharing the etymology of a word, encouraging wide reading, encouraging vocabulary self-collection, using mnemonic devices, and playing games.
Generally, teachers should keep three guidelines for effective vocabulary instruction in mind:
During Reading
There are several approaches to the first reading of a selection. Sometimes teachers read the selection to the class; sometimes students read it silently; occasionally, students read it aloud (but only after they are given rehearsal time). The basic responsibility of students during reading is to make sense of text and to construct meaning in the process of reading.
During reading, students need to become engaged in the reading process. Proficient readers know how and when to use certain reading strategies. Students also need to monitor their own comprehension. They need to know when the reading selection is making sense and when it is not. This may mean rereading a part of the selection or consulting an expert source such as a dictionary.
It is important for teachers to help students become aware of their metacognitive strategies for reading. Students need to know the kind of reading and thinking required of them to understand:
Throughout the reading process, teachers should encourage students to have a clearly defined purpose, and to anticipate, predict, hypothesize, tolerate ambiguity, reflect, and reread.
When reading any particular text, students need to employ several strategies. Teachers need to engage students in the reading task and model appropriate strategies. These include:
An effective way to teach students how to make sense of text is for teachers to demonstrate how they make associations, how they infer, how they reread, how they create visual images, how they check predictions, and how they adjust their reading rate to match purpose and material.
Active reading requires students to bring their backgrounds into the reading, to interact with the selections, to become imaginatively and intellectually involved, and to share and shape their responses within the classroom setting. Teachers can help students read selections more effectively by getting them actively involved in the reading process. Active reading involves students in creating dialogue with the author, as they strive to reformulate what the author is saying and then extend it. This involvement encourages students to concentrate and think about what they are reading.
As students are making sense of a text, they are building "envisionments"--understandings about the text at any given time. Students must realize that reading is an active, cognitive process involving more than physically looking at the printed words. It involves looking at the meanings and ideas behind the words. Langer and Applebee (1994) note that an envisionment includes:
At different points in the reading of a text, a reader will have different envisionments. For example, after the ghost tells his story to Hamlet the reader sees a different aspect of Claudius’ personality and perhaps empathizes with Hamlet more than previously. This envisionment is not an end; rather, teachers should encourage it as the starting point for contemplation and discussion. It is an exploration of possibilities as to the writer’s intent.
There are as many interpretations of a text as there are people reading it. Nevertheless, not every interpretation is valid. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is not the story of a basketball player. Response has to be considered, thoughtful, and justifiable. Students should understand that there is an obligation to the writer to construct an approximation of meaning and, at the same time, to appreciate the author’s craft. Knowing how to read various texts, students can go on discovering the varieties and delights of reading for the rest of their lives.
During reading, teachers can use the following activities to model and develop the strategies needed for effective reading:
Think-alouds
The teacher explicitly models for the students the thinking/reading process one might go through as one reads.
Directed Reading-thinking Activity
Examine the first portion of a selection and make predictions about topic or plot. Silently read the first portion, stopping at a pre-selected place just prior to an important event. Confirm or modify first predictions. Continue using various pre-selected stops. For example:
(Vacca & Vacca, 1996, p. 219. Used with permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.)
Response Journals
Students need practice in thinking through literary texts as they read. Keeping a journal in which they respond to the literature in terms of what they think or how they feel about what they are reading gives students and teachers insights into how students are building meaning as they read. A double-entry journal allows students to jot notes, quotations, and comments as they read (i.e., their initial response) on the left side of the page. After having read and possibly reread a text, they can write more extensive responses on the right side of the page.
Guided Reading Procedure
After a purpose for reading has been set, students read an assigned selection to remember as much as possible. Next, they brainstorm everything they can remember, individually or with a partner. They check the text for additional information and correct any inaccuracies. Finally, they organize their recollections into an outline or semantic map.
REQUEST (REciprocal QUESTioning)
Students and teacher read a pre-determined section of text. Students pose questions to the teacher. The teacher responds by modelling thought-provoking questions in return. Students continue the question-asking process with the teacher and each other using additional pre-determined sections.
Reading and Thinking Guides
Determine the major ideas for which students should read. Develop questions that reflect these major ideas. Assign a reading guide to support independent reading. Have students respond to the guide as they read and follow up with discussion and explanation of their responses. For example, the following guide could be used with the short story The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. Students who can successfully complete this type of guide are one step closer to reading the text independently.
What does Poe say? Check as many as apply.
__ Montresor is a mason.
__ Fortunato is a fortunate man.
__ A sip of wine is worth the trip.
__ Montresor must not only punish, but punish with impunity.
What does Poe mean? Check as many as apply.
__ The two men were once close friends.
__ Nitre spoils the taste of Amontillado.
__ Montresor has an elaborate plan to kill Fortunato.
__ Montresor intends to imprison Fortunato.
What is Poe’s message? Check as many as apply.
__ Fortunato is a martyr.
__ Fortunato is a drunk.
__ Montresor is insane.
__ Montresor’s plan works.
How can we apply the meaning of Poe’s story?
__ Stay out of catacombs.
__ Do not drink wine.
__ Do not succumb to flattery.
__ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Other strategies for students while they are reading include encouraging them to make marginal noes on a selection, to underline key words and ideas, to outline and map key ideas, to summarize, or to retell the selection to a partner. Students may choose to do a second or third reading to clarify and confirm their understanding and interpretation.
Group Reading Strategy
All students read a common selection. Students are divided into groups. Designated responsibilities for each group are as follows:
Group 1: Rephrase the article in your own words.
Group 2: Identify questions that you would like to ask the author.
Group 3: Elaborate on the implications/consequences of the author’s position.
Group 4: What assumptions is the author making? Evaluate these assumptions.
Group 5: What information does the author present and what more would you like to know?
After Reading
Students need to reflect on what they have read in order to extend their thinking. Well-planned response activities after reading are just as important as those before and during. Although Secondary Level students traditionally have been encouraged to read various texts analytically and to disregard their aesthetic response, teachers need to remember that the aesthetic reaction of students is the one that should be considered first. Teachers should help students to trust and build on their initial and personal response. They should lead students from personal response to an analysis of why they responded as they did by critically examining that response in the light of what is contained in the text (Rosenblatt, 1983).
After reading, students should be invited to respond in ways that bridge reader and text. Giving students opportunities to respond is an important way to encourage them to clarify and extend their thinking about what they read. By talking and writing in response to reading, students become more engaged in reading and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of various texts.
Teachers should employ a variety of questions and activities that will provide students with an array of vantage points from which to reflect upon a text. Generally, after students have read a selection, it is important to:
What feelings are you left with after reading this poem? How do you feel about what happened to Annie? In your journal, note what surprised, troubled, or pleased you as you read this story.
Initial responses may take a variety of forms such as tracing and reconstructing understanding (e.g., "At first I thought ..."), thinking of associations (e.g., "I felt like ...", "My mother ...", "This is like ... in the book ..."), and making judgements based on attitudes and beliefs (e.g., "... was wrong when he did ...").
Giving students a chance to voice their initial impressions validates their attempts to understand and construct meaning. Although initial responses are important and necessary, they are not sufficient. Students must still be led to further reflection and analysis (Probst, 1988).
In "The Miracle Worker" by William Gibson, how does Annie’s attitude toward Helen and her abilities compare with the Kellers’ attitude? What reason is there to hope that Annie will be able to teach Helen anything?
In "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, what do you think motivates people who hunt? Do you share the author’s response to killing? Why or why not? In this text, why/how has the author …? Who is telling the story? Whose voices are not heard? Whose point of view is presented and whose is not? What is missing?
Students can reread a text for deeper meaning and, using textual evidence, support their interpretations and make judgements about the text.
What conflicts found in this story are similar to the conflicts in our society today? What is the author assuming is the "natural" way things are or should be? What kinds of people, contexts, and experience are ignored or devalued?
What does the author want the reader to think and feel about particular events or characters? How does he or she achieve this?
Students should be able to demonstrate their understanding and appreciation of a text by analyzing:
Responding to Texts
Teachers can employ a variety of strategies to help students respond to texts, including the following examples.
Response journals: Students jot down responses, reactions, thoughts, and ideas in their journals, which may be subsequently shared.
Writing: Students can explore the ideas and issues found in their reading through assigned writing. Teachers should ensure there is a close connection between the students’ reading and their writing.
Post-reading discussion: Discussion is an important part of the comprehension process. Students discuss in order to communicate, refine, and enrich their understanding. This can be done in pairs, in small groups, or as a whole class.
Think-Pair-Share: This strategy allows students to respond to a text or a key question about a text by first thinking and jotting down their individual responses. The students then share and talk about their responses with a partner. Finally, partners share their responses with a group or the class. Think-Pair-Share helps students clarify their ideas and insights.
Response groups: Dias (1996) and Carr (1991) suggest students form groups and choose a reporter/chairperson. Within each group, one member reads aloud the text or a section under discussion. Each student, in turn, reports initial reactions, feelings, or observations occasioned by the reading, including feelings of frustration or puzzlement. Students are asked not to remark on one another’s responses until each member of the group has shared an initial response. After the preliminary round, students may comment freely on what they have just heard and share observations in their endeavour to arrive at the sense of the text. They are encouraged to return to the text for confirmation of ideas. After about 20 minutes, students prepare their oral reports. Reporters are discouraged from making written notes and encouraged to build on previous reports. Comments of dissent within groups are welcome and the teacher raises questions and introduces terminology that might help the class make sense of their insights and conflicts.
Snowballing: A snowballing strategy is useful for comprehending and discussing a literary selection. Individually, students write down three questions that occur to them as a selection is read. The questions should be ones that, if they were answered, would lead to an increased understanding of the selection. Students then join a partner and reread the selection. The partners try to answer the six questions and then identify the three most significant questions to share with another partnership. Then, in groups of four, students try to answer the next six questions. Each group can also select the one question it considers to be most significant and present it to the whole class for further discussion.
Literature circles: Students form small, temporary groups to read and discuss a text (often a novel). To assist students, Daniels (1994) recommends that roles be assigned to define student responsibilities, and to help students focus their reading and prepare for their discussions. A group of four, for example, might include the following:
These roles can be rotated among group members and, as students become more comfortable with literature circles, adapted to suit the group’s needs.
Paired response: In groups of two, students read, react, and discuss a text by exchanging thoughts in writing.
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Column I:
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Column II:
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Column III:
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Column IV:
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Reading and thinking guides: Students review and reflect on ideas from text. Teachers provide students with a series of questions on three levels of understanding (i.e., recall, reading between the lines, and personal connection). The latter two levels extend students’ thinking beyond mere "parroting" of textually explicit concepts. Students can use the guides individually, in small groups, or as a class.
Readers theatre: Students form a group to prepare a dramatic reading of a scene. They sit or stand at the front of the classroom or in a staging area and read aloud their scripts to capture the tone, significance, and drama of the passage(s) which they have chosen.
Role play: Students play characters’ roles and dramatize incidents or illustrate issues from the selection.
Notemaking: Students can record and sort out their ideas and impressions about a selection using their own words.
Storyboards: Students create a script based on events taken from a selection. They transform these characters into "stick figures" and describe the use of camera shots, angles, special effects, and dialogue.
Webbing: Students visually portray relationships in text by drawing graphic organizers to represent connections between characters, events, or ideas.
Visual Art: Students create an artistic representation (e.g., pencil sketch, painting, collage) to communicate character, theme, or other significant aspect of the selection.
Graphics: Students develop a story sequence or design a visual representation of how ideas or characters developed.
Extending reading: Students can read more selections by the same author or selections involving the same or similar theme or issue.
Extending text: Students can create different endings, add episodes, revise events, alter style, place characters in different contexts, create dialogue, or create a character’s diary entry.
Reviews: Students can view a movie or live play, comparing or contrasting it to the print version in their reviews.
The Reader's Workshop
The Reader’s Workshop approach involves students in three types of activities:
Analysis and Criticism
Analysis and criticism are a natural part of reading literary texts. Langer and Applebee (1994) note that in addition to connecting with a text and relating it to life, students also need opportunities to analyze and to evaluate a text. They need to reflect on what it all means, and how it works and why. They need to objectify their understandings, think critically, and articulate their responses. In this stance, they focus on the author's ideas, presentation, and craft and "develop and defend their interpretations of literary selections, rather than . . . focus only on knowledge about texts, authors, and terminology" (Applebee, 1992, p. 12).
Analysis and criticism can take many forms. In addition to discussion and oral presentations, students can prepare a written analysis, write a literary essay, or write a review/evaluation of a text.
Whether the critical response is an analysis, a literary essay or a review, students should write an introductory paragraph that gives essential background information and includes a thesis statement, several body paragraphs which support the thesis statement and contain adequate support for each point made, and a concluding paragraph which sums up what has been said and relates to the thesis statement.
Sometimes, students may want to compare (and contrast) two or more authors, works, genres, or periods. A comparative presentation or essay explores both the similarities and differences between two (or more) related works, genres, or periods. When they compare, students should look for the qualities and characteristics that resemble each other. If it is appropriate, they can emphasize the differences. They should know what they are comparing (or contrasting), and focus on what qualities are the same and what are unique to each. They can formulate a thesis statement about the similarities and differences for an introduction, and then develop their supporting ideas. Finally, they can conclude by telling what insight they have gained by doing this comparison or contrast.
An Analysis: An analysis of a literary work, genre, or period allows students to analyze its key elements. An analysis focuses on the key elements or aspects of a literary work, genre, or period. For example, students could write an analysis of one of the poems (short stories, novels, plays, full-length nonfiction pieces) studied during the term.
In an analysis, the introductory paragraph usually identifies the work, explains what it is about, and gives the thesis of the analysis indicating the three to four key elements of the work that will be analyzed. The key aspects that support the thesis statement are discussed in some detail in the paragraphs which form the body of the essay. Key elements usually discussed in an analysis include the subject matter, the thought development, the tone, the theme, the artistry and style, and any special qualities. Each paragraph in the body of the essay makes a general statement explaining the contribution of an element (e.g., "The metaphors in the poem let the reader sense how frightened the soldiers felt"). The writer of the analysis then supports the statement with concrete examples and details from the work. The final paragraph usually gives an overall assessment of the work, what the student believes is effective and what is not, and the reasons for this conclusion.
In a short essay, students cannot cover all the elements that contribute to the work's overall effect. Instead they must limit their subject to key points that they can make in an essay. Also, they must remember that an analysis avoids simply retelling the "story" of a text.
If the focus of the analysis is on a particular literary work, students might discuss what the author is saying and how (s)he is saying it. They might consider some of the following:
If the focus of the analysis is on a particular literary genre, students might focus the essay on an analysis of the genre and its features. If it is a work of prose fiction, they might consider the setting, characters and dialogue, point of view and tone, plot and subplot, theme(s), imagery, and symbolism. An analysis of a work of prose nonfiction might include a discussion of the thesis and the supporting ideas as well as the stylistic choices made by the author. If it is a dramatic work, students might include not only setting, character, tone, theme, imagery, and symbols, but also aspects of staging and presenting the piece. An analysis of a poem, like that of fiction and drama, might include theme, imagery, and symbols, and, if it is a narrative poem, plot and dialogue. It should also focus on the special elements of expression in poetry such as persona (i.e., the "voice" the poet has assumed), form, meter, rhyme scheme, and figurative language. An analysis of film might include the elements of fiction, nonfiction, and drama, but also visual images, film techniques, and cinematic style.
If the focus of the analysis is on a particular literary period, students might consider:
A Literary Essay: A formal literary essay discusses an idea, theme, or issue relevant to a literary work or group of works. Students are often asked to write the essay in response to a general statement. They support (or refute) the statement using examples from the literary work(s). Some sample statements follow.
Conflict is an essential element of most works of literature. In a formal essay, describe the central conflict of three short stories you have studied. Explain, by making specific references to the texts, how the author developed the conflict, and how, if at all, it was resolved in each selection.
Like other formal essays, the literary essay has an introduction, a body of supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. In the introductory paragraph, students can give the key background information (e.g., title, author, genre) and clearly state their main claim (thesis). It often works to use the key words from the question or prompt to phrase the thesis statement. The thesis statement can be backed up with supporting paragraphs that include the main ideas and textual evidence. Students should use only evidence that will convince their readers. They should use direct quotations judiciously and, when they do, introduce them smoothly into the prose of their essays. A literary essay concludes with a comment that shows the reader the validity of the thesis statement (assertion or stance).
A Review/An Evaluation: A review or an evaluation analyzes and judges a literary text. The purpose of the review is to critique a poem, short story, play, novel, nonfiction work, movie, television program, or theatre presentation, and illuminate the work for the reader. A review demands critical examination so that students can determine what they liked, did not like, and why. Reviewers sometimes include comparisons to other works to help explain why they think something is especially effective or ineffective.
A review is generally a combination of information and opinion. Unlike the literary essay, students should assume that the reader does not know the material (e.g., poem, play, film) that they are reviewing. Therefore, it is important to give readers a general idea of what the work is about as well as the writer's opinion of it (thesis statement). In the introductory paragraph, students should identify the material they are reviewing, give enough background information about the content to interest the readers so that they can decide whether they wish to read, view, or hear the reviewed work, and make a thesis statement. In the body of the review, students should explain why they think the way they do. They should include appropriate examples and quotations to illustrate each particular point. If the work is prose fiction, for example, they may want to discuss plot and one or two memorable characters. If it is prose nonfiction, they may want to discuss the thesis and key information covered. In the conclusion to their essay, they should emphasize their own evaluation of the work. They should consider what is significant about it, the effect it had on them, and suggest whether their readers should read, view, or hear the work.
Questioning Strategies
Questions are important in developing students’ understandings of various texts. Effective teaching involves asking appropriate questions at appropriate times and helping students ask their own questions. Relevant questions invite reflection, analysis, and reconsideration. By employing a range of questions, teachers and students can enhance their reading experiences.
The sample guides for questions on the following pages are not meant to be prescriptive or to imply that only one type of question or one sequence of question types is effective or needs to be addressed in any particular lesson. They are simply suggestions for the types of questions that might be used with different types of texts and are intended to provide a starting point for further development and refinement. The discussion and reflection these questions promote can allow students to become better readers of various texts. These samples can be adapted and expanded to invite individual response as well as to promote small group and whole class discussion.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Prose Fiction
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Initial Response |
Initial Understanding |
Developing Interpretation |
Developing a Critical Stance |
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What is your first reaction to this selection? Do you associate the selection with any life experiences you have had? Did you enjoy the story? How did the story affect you? Did any characters affect you? If you could be any character who would you be? How did you picture the setting? Did setting have any effect upon you? |
Were any parts confusing? What happens? (Map the events.) Is there a protagonist? Antagonist? What conflicts do the characters have? Is the conflict internal or external? When does the conflict reach a critical point? How is the problem solved? Where and when did this story take place? Who is telling the story? What is the point of the story? What do you think might happen to the characters? |
What is the historical context of the story? When was it written? How is that time reflected? What is the significance of the title? How did the characters change? How are the characters developed? From what point of view is the story told? What atmosphere is created? What details contribute to the atmosphere? How did you determine the theme? What literary techniques are used (e.g., dialogue, conflict, sub-plots, foreshadowing, imagery)? What type of narrative is this (e.g., adventure, historical, science fiction)? What is the author’s style (e.g., diction, sentence structure, organization)? |
Is this story plausible? Why? In your opinion, is this a good story? Why or why not? Would you say this is a traditional story or one in which the author is trying something new or unique? What connections are there between this work and other selections you have read? Would you like to read something else by this author? Why or why not? |
Some useful terms for discussing prose fiction include: action, allusion, antagonist, atmosphere, character, characterization, climax, conflict, connotation, contrast, denotation, episode, fantasy, flashback, foreshadowing, image, incident, irony, locale, metaphor, metafiction, mood, moral, narration, plot, point of view, protagonist, resolution, setting, stereotype, symbol, theme. Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing prose fiction.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Prose Nonfiction
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Initial Response |
Initial Understanding |
Developing Interpretation |
Developing a Critical Stance |
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What is your opinion on this topic? Does this selection appeal to you? Did you enjoy reading it? Of what events does this remind you? How did this selection affect you? Does the author say anything with which you can identify? Does this description make sense in relation to your experiences? Did you get a sense of character for any of the people involved or was the information purely factual? |
What are the main points or events? What does this selection tell you about the topic? How are the ideas (or story) organized? What is the author’s purpose? What does the author think about the topic? What is the selection’s overall message? Does it appeal to the emotions? Intellect? Both? Is this selection based upon fact or opinion? Has the author done anything in particular to bring the subject matter to life? |
What qualities of the author’s style can be identified (e.g., word choice, rhetorical questions, anecdote, narrative, use of dialogue, commentary)? What is the author’s tone (e.g., personal, objective, a combination)? What picture of the author emerges? Is the treatment sympathetic? Balanced? Biased? Does the selection shed light on social and political realities? What literary devices did the writer use to communicate the ideas (e.g., flashback, parallelism, irony, images, repetition)? |
Why did the writer consider the subject worthy? Is this information useful? Why has the writer said this about the subject? Do you trust the information? Is it accurate? Up to date? Is the author qualified to write about this topic? In what way? Is this a good piece of prose? Why or why not? What does the selection not address? |
Some useful terms for discussing prose nonfiction include: allusion, anecdote, aphorism, assumption, autobiography, biography, caricature, cliché, coincidence, connotation, contrast, creative nonfiction, denotation, dialect, didactic, essay, euphemism, episode, figure of speech, hyperbole, idiom, image, incident, irony, metaphor, mood, moral, narration, point of view, personal reminiscence, rhetorical question, satire, simile, stereotype, style, symbol, theme, tone. Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing prose nonfiction.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Poetry
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Initial Response |
Initial Understanding |
Developing Interpretation |
Developing A Critical Stance |
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What is your first reaction to this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Have you felt this way before? Of what does the poem remind you? What pictures did the poem give you? What did you think about while hearing/reading this poem? What would you like to ask the poet? |
What content is the poem exploring? How is the poem shaped? What sounds are there? What is the most important word? Phrase? Line? |
What is the subject of the poem? What is the thought or image? What is the poet’s attitude? What is the theme of the poem? What type of poem is this (e.g., narrative, lyrical, dramatic)? What sound devices are used (e.g., rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition)? What figurative language is used? How would you describe the poet’s style? How does this poem relate to the historical or social context in which it was written? |
In your opinion, is this a good poem? Why or why not? Is this poem effective? What makes it work? Is this poem unique? Why? If you were writing this poem, what would you change? Keep? How would you predict others might respond to the poem? Does this poem call to mind any other literary work? If so, what work? Why? |
Some useful terms for discussing poetry include: accent, alliteration, allusion, assonance, ballad, blank verse, connotation, consonance, couplet, denotation, diction, dissonance, elegy, epic, figure of speech, foot, free verse, haiku, image, imagery, irony, limerick, line breaks, lyric, metaphor, meter, monologue, mood, narrative poem, ode, onomatopoeia, paraphrase, personification, quatrain, refrain, rhyme, rhythm, scene, sestet, sonnet, speaker, stanza, stress, simile, symbol, theme, tone, triplet, verse. Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing poetry.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Plays
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Initial Response |
Initial Understanding |
Developing Interpretation |
Developing a Critical Stance |
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Can you imagine a performance of the play? What did you most enjoy? Least enjoy? What did you think about as you read this play? Did the play remind you of anything in life? What pictures/words/incidents stand out in your mind? How did you feel about the characters? How did the characters affect you? What would you like to ask the playwright? |
What happened? Where and when did this play take place? Who are the central characters? What problems did the characters face? Did the problems reach one main climax or were there many smaller points of climax throughout the play? Were the problems solved? Were there stage directions in the text? What was the point or purpose of the play? |
What details contributed to the atmosphere? Tone? Was this play written by a playwright or was it created by a theatre collective? What type of drama is it (e.g., comedy, tragedy, docudrama)? What was the effect of the language used (e.g., poetic, naturalistic, dialect)? How did the playwright use literary devices (e.g., irony, symbols, images)? Dramatic devices (e.g., scene changes, sounds, props)? How does this play relate to the historical or social context in which it was written? What is the playwright’s style? |
Why did you or did you not enjoy the play? What is your general impression? Is the play plausible (plot, character, setting)? What would you say were the outstanding parts? Weak parts? Is the play tightly scripted or is there a lot of room for interpretation by a director and actor? Would you say this is a traditional play or is there anything about it you would call experimental? If you could change anything about the play, what would you change? |
Some useful terms for discussing plays include: action, antagonist, apron, arena, aside, atmosphere, blackout, blocking, business, caricature, character, characterization, climax, collective, complication, comedy, conflict, denouement, dialect, dialogue, downstage, dynamic character, director, episode, exit, exposition, falling action, farce, mime, mood, naturalism, offstage, plot, producer, prologue, props, proscenium, protagonist, rising action, resolution, scene, setting, soliloquy, stage directions, stage left, stage right, staging, static character, stereotype, theme, tragedy, unity, upstage, wings. Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing plays.
Sample Question Guide for Viewing, Listening, and Responding to
Television, Radio, Film, and Video Texts
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Initial Response |
Initial Understanding |
Developing Interpretation |
Developing a Critical Stance |
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What is your initial reaction to this presentation? How does this presentation affect you? What personal connections and associations can you make? What impressions stand out in your mind after listening/viewing? Did you enjoy the presentation? |
Who is communicating? What is being communicated? To whom is it communicated? Is there an editorial point of view? What medium carries this text? What technology is used to make the text? What is the purpose? To entertain? To inform? To persuade? What are the main points or events? What were the effects of the technical aspects on you? |
What were the outstanding parts of this presentation? What were the weak parts? What are the noteworthy technical aspects of this production (e.g., camera shots or angles, layout, setting, lighting, sound effects, special effects, etc.)? What use is made of language, image, and/or symbol? Is it effective? |
What are the assumptions behind the presentation? What are the biases? What values are implicit in the presentation? Why was this medium chosen for this topic? Is this presentation accurate? Realistic? Artistic? Do you think that this presentation is successful? Why or why not? What adaptations to other mediums could be made? What are the advantages and limitations of this particular medium? Does this presentation remind you of other literary work? |
Some useful terms for discussing television, radio, film, and video texts include: audio, background (BG), credits/titles, beat, board, bring effect under, bring up, canned, close up (CU), closed circuit, control room, cross-fade, cue, cue card, cushion, cut, dead, dissolve, extreme close up (ECU), fade, fade down (FD), fade in (FI), fade out (FO), fade up (FU), focus, foreground, frame, from the top, gain, level lap, live, logo, long shot (LS), medium close up (MCU), montage, off, off scene, off the set (OS), on scene, pan, pre-record, scene, set design, simulcast, sequence, synopsis, sound track, split scene, teaser, travelling shot, verité, video, voice over (VO), voice off (V.O.), wide shot (WS), zoom. Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing television, radio, film, and video texts.
Assessment and evaluation should reflect the program goal of promoting the interaction of students with oral, print, and other media texts. Assessment can take many forms. Although formal and standardized tests can be informative if chosen, used, and interpreted judiciously, the teacher’s informal assessment can be even more useful.
Informal Assessment
The continuous informal assessment of each phase of the reading process (before, during, and after reading) directs instruction and gives teachers insight into students’ interests, attitudes, needs, and existing reading strategies. Much of the evaluation in reading is diagnostic in nature. As classroom teachers observe and interact with students, they should be making diagnostic decisions which will translate into classroom practice. A variety of instruments can be used to guide the diagnosis.
Early in a course, teachers can determine the interests, attitudes, and abilities of their students. Simple inventories such as the following can be used to get to know the students and to gain insights in order to guide reading.
Sample Reading Inventory
Rate each item from 1 (least) to 5 (most).
I like to read:
__ Mysteries
__ Science fiction
__ Fantasy
__ Romance
__ History
__ Current events
__ Sports
__ War stories
__ Adventure
__ Biographies
__ Short stories
__ Plays
__ Novels
__ Poetry
__ Other: _____________________
Additional insights can be gained through interviews, open-ended informal assessments (e.g., "I like to read ...."; "Reading is ..."; "Library books are ..."; "I like to read when ..."; "Teachers want me to ..."), and students’ self-assessments.
Each stage of the reading process provides assessment opportunities. In the pre-reading phase, teachers can use information students provide from such activities as predictions, anticipation guides, and semantic maps to determine students’ depth of background and any assistance they may need for reading.
During reading, it is important to monitor students’ reading rates and ensure students understand that their reading rate should be determined by:
Skimming (the ability to read swiftly and lightly) is necessary when trying to locate information. Scanning (the ability to read more closely for specific detail) helps students understand main ideas. Studying is also a specific reading skill that requires students to read closely and then reread. A sample self-assessment for reading strategies is found here.
Cloze Activity
A cloze activity is a useful means of assessing students’ reading strategies and abilities to make sense of texts. A cloze procedure involves deleting words from a passage of text and replacing them with blank lines. The student must provide the author’s original word (or a suitable synonym) for each space. Such use of a modified cloze technique gives teachers an indication of students’ ability to construct meaning. Teachers and students should not be concerned with scores in the range of fifty percent. Students scoring in this range probably can comprehend the material if given teacher guidance before, during, and after reading. However, scores below that range may indicate that the material is too difficult for the students, while scores above that range may indicate more challenging material is needed.
Questioning
Questioning is an important strategy that teachers can use to monitor and assess students’ understanding before, during, and after reading. Questions must be carefully crafted. They should be designed to elicit a variety of responses--implicit (leading away from the text) and explicit (leading back into the text). They should allow students to respond in both the aesthetic (i.e., subjective) and efferent (i.e., objective) stances. They should also correspond to the key features of the text whether it is prose, poetry, or a play. Ultimately, modelling effective questions will lead students to create their own questions and to become independent readers.
Discussion
Discussion is an integral part of assessing students’ reading. Speech is the exposed edge of the thinking process (Fillion, 1983). By listening to students talk about text, teachers can understand where students are in their level of response. Teachers can judge on what level of abstraction students are operating. In addition, reading is placed in a social context. Discussion reduces the isolation sometimes felt by students when they are left alone to interact with text.
Conferences
Conferences afford teachers the opportunity to meet individually with students. The interaction can be diagnostic and can guide students’ future reading. Teachers can probe students’ thinking processes and clarify questions students might have about their reading. Conferences can be either planned or spontaneous.
Records of Response
Students can maintain a response log, reading log, or reading journal. A response log allows students to maintain a record of their thinking as they read a text and to reflect upon the text they are reading. They could respond to prompts such as the following: "I never thought about ... before, but ..." or "This book reminds me of ...".
A reading log allows students to keep a record of the books and authors they enjoy. This strategy is useful in establishing students’ interests in order to guide further reading.
A reading journal allows students to write about a book, perhaps in preparation for a book talk. Some questions to guide students' journal writing include:
Typically, three kinds of responses can be made:
If responses are to have a particular focus, that focus should be communicated to the students.
A response journal can be assessed according to particular criteria and can also be used to help students grow in their types of response. The criteria could be applied to student discussion and conferencing. See the sample assessment forms on the following pages.
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Sample Self-assessment for Reading
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Sample Assessment for a Personal Response to a Literary Work
Name:
Date:
Title of Literary Work:
Criteria:
| /10 | Content
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| /5 | Organization
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| /5 | Style
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| /5 | Mechanics
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Comments:
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Sample Response Journal Assessment
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Student Name: Evaluation Period is from: __________ to:__________ Number of Responses: __________________ 1 = weak, underdeveloped
Comments:
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Sample Rubric for Journal Entries
Name:
Evaluation Period is from: to:
Number of Responses:
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5/5 |
On balance, journal responses are full and complete. Some entries are insightful and perceptive, connecting personal experience to the text and making inferences and judgements. There is a thoughtful interpretation of what was read, heard, or viewed. Some entries go beyond personal experiences or the particular to generalize some aspect(s) of the author's craft, style, and use of language. All inferences and judgements are supported with reference to the text. Not every entry needs to be at this level for students to be rated at a 5 level.
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4/5 |
Journal responses are complete. They show personal involvement with and understanding of the text, and make reasonable inferences and judgements. They reflect an understanding of the author's stance and perspective on the world. Inferences and judgements are supported with reference to the text. Some entries comment on the author's craft, style, and use of language.
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3/5 |
Journal responses meet basic expectations but some responses are missing necessary detail or include unnecessary information. The writer relates to or identifies with characters in the text, but only makes inferences and judgements with general reference to the text. Entries show the reader connecting the text to life experiences or other texts, but not critically assessing the author's ideas, craft, style, or use of language.
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2/5 |
Journal responses are general and not expanded upon or may ramble repetitively without clear connections. The writer may empathize with or judge characters in the text, but not consider the context or significance of the character's experiences. Entries show an attempt to interpret or explain the text, but make inferences and judgements with only vague reference to the text itself. Consideration is not given to the author's ideas, craft, style, or use of language.
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1/5 |
Journal responses are incomplete, unclear, or show little effort or insight. The writer occasionally makes observations or predictions about characters or events but these are vague and unsupported. Entries are often simply summaries or retellings of the events in the text. The writer may rate the text, but give little or no support for assertions, and any judgements are on the basis of personal opinion or pre-conceptions.
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Sample Assessment for a Literary Analysis
Name:
Date:
Title of Literary Work:
Criteria:
| /10 | Content
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| /5 | Organization
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| /5 | Style
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| /5 | Mechanics
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Comments:
Formal Assessment
Formal assessment of reading often takes the form of a test. The key for designing an assessment activity is that it must be consistent with objectives and instructional practices. It must be appropriate for the concepts and skills being taught and for the methods and processes used in teaching throughout the unit. If personal response is important, it must be reflected in the formal assessment. If several levels of questions have been used in daily work, they must be used in the final assessment activity. If key directives have been used in instruction, the appropriate vocabulary should appear on the final assessment.
Teachers, as reflective practitioners, should know what, why, and how they are using tests. Teachers should ask themselves questions such as the following:
Formal tests can be appropriate and useful assessment tools but, as with all classroom practices, there should be a variety of assessment techniques employed. It is important to remember that student understanding of even the most traditional literature can be assessed in non-traditional ways. Formal cloze tests, standardized Informal Reading Inventories, and other normed tests can also serve a purpose. These instruments can be used by trained personnel to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses, and areas that need to be addressed. The overriding consideration is that assessment and evaluation should provide information regarding students’ abilities to read various texts.