In teaching social
studies and science I am constantly focusing on reading comprehension with my
students. Just because my subjects aren’t
“reading” class doesn’t mean they can through everything they have learned in
reading class out the window. In fifth
grade students really begin to see how subjects intermingle with one
another. For example, when giving a
social studies assignment, students may be asked to read a historical passage
an answer questions, compare two events in written form, and analyze a graph
over the population of an area. All of
these items deal with other subjects-specifically reading. Being able to successfully comprehend content
reading passages is essential for my classroom.
Reading in the content area is
different from reading for pleasure. Most
of my students when reading for pleasure I notice read fiction or science
books. In the content area, most of our
reading is nonfiction and from primary sources. Thus you have to read and comprehend
it differently. Routman discusses teaching
and modeling several reading strategies with your students. However, it is important to find the balance
and not overload students with strategies.
I have found when students are shown too many strategies they become
confused and overwhelmed as to what to use.
When teaching reading comprehension for the content I have found two
strategies that seem to work well for my students.
One strategy that seems to work well
for my students is looking at the questions to guide the reading. When reading for content, most of the time we
are reading for a purpose. Thus we need
to know that purpose before we read. By knowing
the questions they are looking for, students are usually more focused and
successful with their content reading.
Another strategy that works well in my room is highlighting important
information. This allows students to
pick out essential information while reading and use this information to help answer
questions at the end.
I truly believe that successful reading
comprehension is essential for all classes and grades-not just reading class.
Rachel, I enjoyed my time in fifth grade this semester! I love how the lesson in your room actually went hand-in-hand with the lessons I did in Sheryl's class! The students made those connections, as well which is what we want.
ReplyDeleteContent reading is definitely different than other types of reading. It take a different mind set and set of skills to comprehend what can be very challenging to students. It has been my experience in the past that usually when reading in content areas, the students only want to focus on the words and ignore all the text features given to them. One strategy I have used is to do a "text features" walk. Each student has access to Post-its to hold their thinking and questions they may have. Especially with kids who lack experiences and background knowledge, this strategy can set them up for comprehension success!
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you have worked to help your students build content area reading skills and comprehension while also working to make connections between disciplines in reading. While content specific vocabulary and reading for factual information is different then reading in a different genre, there are some processes that are similar and helping students build comprehension and to think while reading while also monitoring their understanding can apply to any text. Thank you for all you do for your readers! Sincerely, Dawn