Veronica's Week 7 Post

I can better understand my own reading comprehension process by becoming aware that many different comprehension types exist. By doing so, I can see which profile or profiles I best fit in and also understand my students. Before reading this article, I did not know there are 8 profiles of student comprehension. These profiles can be used for increasing teacher's awareness of the different cognitive approaches students may show as they discuss what they read. To better understand your students' comprehension or observe their thinking habits and skills it is important to engage in questioning that encourages students to participate in discussions. Through a discussion, students will acknowledge multiple viewpoints and require them to think about ideas and not simply recall details from the text such as defending their thinking about the reading.

In the article, "How Can I Help Children with Learning Disabilities" I found ideas I would like to share such as the importance of maintaining communication among the the classroom teacher, the special education teacher and the parents. This way, the struggling student will gain a more positive attitude toward their learning abilities. I also found ideas that contribute to the literacy development of struggling learners such as storybook reading and discussion, journal writing and engagement in "free reading" times. I mention these three ideas because the students in my placement do all three. Everyday they write in their journals, if they are done with their work early; they know to find a book to read and I recently lead a storybook reading and discussion of the book titled The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting. I modeled the steps and processes of listing the main characters, setting, conflict/problem, solution/conclusion and also including important details from the story.

Jami's Comment:
I did not realize that there was so much that went along with comprehension and that it was categorized into so many different categories. However reading over the articles I have noticed that in my placement- I have at least one child who fits under all of the comprehension categories. Like you had mentioned I do think discussion is important no matter what grade you are in. This gets students thinking as a whole group and allows for everyone to be heard. I also think that through discussion-if a child misses an important point there will be someone else there to bring it up and talk about it. Discussions can point out all of the important parts of an article and if a student has trouble with comprehension- this could really help them. I know that in field when we discuss stories students tend to grasp the concepts a little better than when we just read it aloud and have them write about it. I believe that the two of these things go hand in hand and can be very beneficial for those struggling.

I also believe communication is key between all teachers the students work with. Like Jessica had mentioned in class her brother loved music and no one knew until the music teacher had said so. If his teacher was aware of this there is a greater chance that there could be some type of musical incorporation within the assignments. It's not hard to put different sayings or strategies into a sing song format. Journal writing is great as well because it allows students to get their thoughts out there. However, I have noticed that some of my children will use that as "free time" and sit and look at their paper. This is something they are clearly not engaged in and have a hard time staying on task. I think it works for some students, but not others. So maybe there could be a discussion about the story (which is key) and then two options: journal writing and something else that involves the students ideas being expressed-but not having to write them out in a journal.