“But, this is math. We don’t write in math class!”
Have you ever heard this from a student? Have you ever encountered resistance when attempting to integrate language arts into your regular math instruction?
It is perfectly normal for students to compartmentalize their learning, organize their work by content, and into categories that make the most sense. Writing in math? That just doesn’t compute,” they think to themselves. Yet, given this opportunity, students would find an outlet for exploring their thoughts, cementing their understanding, and extending the activity provided.
Are there crickets chirping in your classroom? Don’t know what I mean? Just ask a struggling reader to summarize that piece of nonfiction text, name the key point, or list the supporting details… most of the time, they are at such a loss for words that all your hear is crickets. So, what can you do to help that reader navigate through an extensive piece of nonfiction and sift through the facts to uncover what’s most important?
Are there crickets chirping in your classroom? Don’t know what I mean? Just ask a struggling reader to summarize that piece of nonfiction text, name the key point, or list the supporting details… most of the time, they are at such a loss for words that all your hear is crickets. So, what can you do to help that reader navigate through an extensive piece of nonfiction and sift through the facts to uncover what’s most important?
An important prerequisite to being able to summarize is the ability to retell orally. Most kindergarteners have developed a sense of story by mid-year and can use knowledge of story elements to retell stories read aloud to them. By mid-first grade, students can retell in logical order including important characters, setting, and main events. Expository texts should be included and retelling should include main ideas and important supporting details.
Giving students time to process and store important information during a lesson increases retention and achievement. For every 5-10 minutes of instruction given by the instructor, students should be given 30 seconds to 5 minutes of time to process the information. This time allows the instructor time to assess whether the students understand the materials or need instruction adjusted. Using multi-sensory processing strategies to differentiate instruction ensures that all students have an opportunity to access the curriculum. Remember to consider the learning styles of students in the class when choosing the processing strategy.
What strategies do proficient readers use when an unknown word is encountered? The most effective strategy is to use context and letter patterns to determine the word. This usually takes less than 3 seconds. By listening to a student read aloud from a text where he/she knows 90-99% of the text and analyzing what the reader does to word solve, teachers can quickly assess which strategies are in place and which strategies to teach.
Alphaboxes is a great strategy for collecting and using key vocabulary that your students can use with content vocabulary or with collections of character traits or rich words. Before reading have students brainstorm words related to the topic or concept. You can also give students a list of key words to look for in the text. During reading, have students add words that are unfamiliar or important to the topic. After reading a selection, give the students 3-5 minutes to work with a partner to compare words listed on the chart and fill in the alphaboxes with as many words from the reading as they deem important for understanding. The words can be stated or implied in the text. Remind students that only “important” or key words are added to the alphaboxes chart.
The most important skill students need to learn is how to think! If students can think about their own thinking and determine the strategy that he/she needs to use in any given situation, success in that situation can happen. As educators and parents, we must be explicit in teaching thinking by modeling our own processes out loud and then providing opportunities to use thinking strategies with various levels of scaffolding. We must take students from concrete situations to sensory-type situations that use different learning modalities to reading texts that require higher level thinking. In Tanny McGregor’s book Comprehension Connections (2007), she provides tangible examples that demonstrate effective practices for the classroom and home. I’ve created a quick chart that lists research-based meta-cognitive strategies, definitions, and activities that start at the concrete level and take students to the abstract use of the strategy.
Asking students to summarize reading requires them to think at the level of analysis and synthesis. In order to become fluent summarizers, many students benefit from graphic organizers that scaffold or guide thinking about what is important in the text. Simply having a structure for organizing thinking can greatly increase student success.
For narrative texts in which characters have problems or conflicts, the most effective strategy for summarizing is the “Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then” framework. Start with the graphic organizer on a poster board or white board and the discussion of a familiar movie or TV show episode. For example, using Shrek (the movie), I complete the chart by thinking aloud.
Want to play a quick game that builds fluency? I Have, Who Has is the perfect game for warm-ups and repetitive practice. To play, create enough cards for all the students in your class or group. Some students may have 2 cards.
