Schoolhouse Treasures Blog: An Awesome Reading Discussion Series Continues!

It's Thursday - so that means that The Reading Strategies Book discussion series continues!

I have a couple of freebie items to go with this week's goal topic too...so keep reading!

Schoolhouse Treasures Reviews Strategies for Goal 10

I'm joining a few other terrific bloggers in reading this book by Jennifer Serravallo and sharing our thoughts about the goal and 3 strategies from the book each week!

If you're just joining us now, no worries! You can catch up quickly by following the links below:

Introduction & Goals 1-4

Goal 5: Understanding Plot & Setting

Goal 6- Thinking About Characters

Goal 7: Understanding Themes and Ideas

Goal 8: Determining Main Topic(s) and Idea(s)

Goal 9: Determining Key Details

This Week We're Looking at Goal 10: Getting the Most from Text Features

Why is this goal Important?

Research has indicated that despite all the teaching that is done on text features, most of it has to do with identifying the text features. Jennifer, the author, believes that we need to go much more beyond that! We need to spend considerable time "teaching students to use the features to get more information" from the nonfiction text. We need to show students how to "synthesize the visual and textual information."

How to Tell If A Student Needs to Work on This Goal:

Here's a continuum of level of understanding students might have in text features. The list begins with the lowest level and progresses to higher levels of understanding about nonfiction features.

student ignores text features
can only name the feature
names and knows its purpose
can explain what text features are teaching
deeper explanation of text features including combining information from the text and the feature
can connect feature not only to text but also to other features included

Ways to get to know what your student knows about text features are through conferencing with the student, asking questions, having students jot down thoughts as reading, written answers to questions etc. Kindergarten students might not get beyond the identifying of the features, but the author states that by 5th grade reading levels, students should be able to do all.

Time to move onto the Strategies that you can use with students to improve their skills.

"Reread and Sketch with More Detail"

Who is it for: Levels A-Z+

What Genre/Text: nonfiction

Skills Used: visualizing, monitoring for meaning

This strategy involves reading the text. Then stopping to sketch a picture based on what you remember of what you just read. Reread the text again and try to add more details to the first sketch. Keep repeating this process until you think you have all the important information sketched into your drawing.

In my 3rd grade classroom, I would model this process for students at first. Then do one together and then release them to try on their own. (I do, we do, you do method.)

I also think there would need to be a discussion between a sketch and a detailed drawing. The sketch is quick and as we continue adding to it, it will become a detailed drawing.

Prompts to use while students are working with you:

picture what you just read
jot down a sketch
Did you get more information after rereading? Add it to the sketch.
Can you get more details? Let's try!
Wow! Look at all the details you have now that you've read it several times!

I'm wondering if it might be worthy to have them use a different colored pencil each time...that way they could see how each successive reading helped to add details.

"Cover Up Then Zoom In"

Who is it for: Levels A-Z+

What Genre/Text: nonfiction

Skills Used: questioning, determining importance

Getting students to use the text and not the visuals at first is what this strategy is all about. Use a sticky note to cover the images on the page. Read the text and think about what it's all about. The the sticky note would come off and then zoom into the image to see what new information might be found!

Prompt the students with: "What new information am I learning with this image? What parts of what I just read are shown in this image?"

NOTE: The author states that this strategy might not work as well

with the youngest of readers because they most often need to use

the pictures to help them read the text.

I think this could be done with younger readers if the teacher reads the text to the class without showing pictures first. Then after reading students could be shown the picture to see what new information comes from it.

I found a site called SMEKENS that has an example of an opposite method: eliminating the text and leaving the images first! Students would look at images first to see what they've learned and then would be shown the text. They have a couple of sample pages (with and without text) that you can download. Click {HERE} to go to the site to get your own copy!

"Cracking Open Headings"

Who is it for: Levels P-Z+

What Genre/Text: expository nonfiction

Skills Used: inferring

As the authors says, most headings are clear in their meaning, but sometimes the author gets creative and crafts a heady that makes the meaning/relationship to the text unclear.

This strategy involves looking at the headings and if any have a creative title or are confusing, write down the heading title in the chart's first column.

Then go to the beginning of that section and read. As you read, try to figure out why the author chose that heading and what it might mean.

Can you figure out what the heading means now? Write the meaning in the second column.

Now rename the heading with one that makes sense to you and write it in the last column.
The chart would look something like this: