Even though I haven't seen my MT use literature in her class very often, the few times that she has used a story have seemed to be effective. At the end of last semester, she read Clifford's First Christmas to the class. As discussed in the McGee article, "children talk about what they know before reading and answer questions after reading." I saw this happen in my classroom when this story was read. My MT asked the class if they remember their first Christmas, and as expected, all of them said "no." She then asked them about some of the things that they do at Christmas time to get them thinking about what the story might be about. McGee also talked about how it is important to talk to the students during the story about what is happening. This is very important for students future understanding of the story. And it shows that the "interpretations of the reader are not static, but continually shaped by transactions between the reader's experiences and new information acquired from the text." (Almasi 1996) After reading the story, it is important to again discuss with the class the events that took place within the story. This can be done either as a whole class or in groups. If done in a group setting, this can be beneficial because "readers can share their own understandings and significant insights and must convince others of the value of their insights." (McGee 1996)
This type of discussion/talk has been started recently in my classroom in the form of literacy stations. One of the centers is called "book in a basket" this is where students pick books from a basket and can "read" them together and talk about what they like about the books. My MT makes an effort to sit along side the students while they are reading to help facilitate some discussion within the group. I think this is very significant for kindergarteners to be able to have an opportunity to openly discuss literature together.
I agree that having book talks/discussions is VITAL for students of all ages to fully understand and engage in a text. For younger students especially, talking about books is a great way to get them interested and curious about reading. Because very young kids cannot read text yet, it is the teachers job to model strategies for how to approach and view narratives. In my own placement, there is not much time set aside for book discussions. Each afternoon the students are given 20 minutes for "silent reading time" however of the 25 students only two are even starting to decode texts. Most of the students are able to create their own stories by looking at the pictures, but each student has a different book and there is never time for discussion afterwards.
ReplyDeleteWhen I pull two to three kids aside to read to them in the corner I try to make it a point to stop and ask questions while we read, make predictions, create alternative endings, and talk about what we like and dislike. The kids are all very eager to answer questions and talk about each book and most of the time each student has something completely unique to share with the group. In having these discussions the text is transformed from a book, to a personal story or adventure for each student. While having whole group discussions might be difficult to do with 25 five-year olds, the students would benefit greatly from being able to partake in at least one book discussion a week. Or, with at least two aids in the classroom at all times, breaking the students into small groups could be easily done.
I have a similar experience in which I don't see many book discussions. Every day the students have an hour of reading cafe. My MT models reading strategies such as checking for understanding of the text and fluency skills and then the students are given 20 minutes to read to themselves and whatever time is left after read to self is dedicated to read to a friend. During read to a friend, I have heard some of the pairs discuss what is going on, but for the most part during read to self the students mostly choose books they cannot read so all they have to do is look at the pictures. During read to self my MT works will small groups to help their reading in understand of the text, but these discussions are never with the entire class. She also cannot monitor read to self or read with a friend so she doesn't see that a lot of the students are not doing what they are suppose to do.
ReplyDeleteI have only seen my MT read a few books to the class and she does have the students make predictions, and they discuss the moral of the story, but that is as far as the conversation usually goes. I am in a second grade classroom, so I am interested to see how involved the students could really get from an expanded conversation. I think the main reason my MT doesn't have a longer discussion about the books she reads is because of the time constraint. She is good about letting a lesson go on longer if the students need more time grasping the concept, but that usually means that time for other subjects is greatly shortened.