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2. One of the biggest “ideas” which I have realized throughout this semester is that strategies can be very helpful in learning and remembering information not only in Reading but in any subject. I have worked with strategies specifically within my Social Studies and my Reading courses this semester and they have been very helpful in allowing me to see what the text “looks like” as well as connect it to my prior knowledge. Within one of my EEX courses I learned about how strategies look and how to use them in lessons within the classroom but I was never asked to complete them myself, this semester I have been able to adjust my knowledge and actually take part in these strategies which has been very helpful to me. Not only am I now able to integrate them into my own lessons but I can demonstrate them with 100% accuracy because I have had to do them myself as well. Some of the most useful strategies which I have learned include the 3-2-1, the “Roll the Dice” strategy and the RAFT strategy (which I learned in Social Studies); I also like the vocabulary cards which we made and played “Quiz Quiz Trade” with.
1. It is vital that teachers have a variety formats and genres of books within their classroom library if they wish to instill a love of reading in their students. Within my Children’s Literature course my first semester in the ProTeach program I learned about all the various genres of books; it was not until we were assigned our Reading Environment survey in this course that I realized that one teacher could actually have all those genres included within her classroom library. After reading the “Look Fors” pamphlet and browsing through our mentor teachers classroom library I realize now the importance of a strong library and how many varieties of books should be included to truly be able to strike all of the children’s interest.
3. Throughout this course the importance of thinking within, beyond and about text has been stressed. To allow students to really understand the content of a text it is important that they attempt to do all of the above; to think within they need to consider the literal meaning, thinking beyond requires one to look at additional information which could be drawn from the text and when thinking about the text one observes the text itself such as the structure of the text and how that content relates to a readers own experiences. Throughout my courses within the ProTeach program we have learned the importance of thinking about the various aspects of the content which we read, the QAR strategies comes to mind from our first RED course. However now that I have learned about these more specific areas, within, beyond and about text, I feel that I am able to better my comprehension and understanding of text when focusing in on the content.
Book Intro
3 Key Ideas
RED Midterm: Cassie Bell
The book I have chosen is Mirroring Miranda by Jeffery B. Fuerst, Illustrations by Stephen Marchesi; it is around a fourth grade reading level. Visible Information: The table of content included within the book allows students to see that there are a number of chapters within the text. All of the vocabulary words located within the index at the end of the story are bold throughout the story itself (…Miranda decided to read the authors in a random order). The story is written in first person so there is lots of dialogue included. The title of magazines and books are italicized within this story, students should realize why (ex: Future Tense). There are also a number of bolded italic phrases throughout the book, (ex: different number of books by each author by the end of the summer) which is unusual in most text (the reason being there is a question at the end which these phrases will answer). The use of exclamation points after a word in the middle of a sentence to warn the reader to read it with excitement (ex: good!!). Spaces within dialogue between Miranda and her brother allow the reader to easily see who saying “what.” The story goes back and forth between James Miranda’s story and Miranda James’ story, the student have to understand that two stories are occurring simultaneously which could be difficult. The book ends with an epilogue, which explains that Miranda James is a read science fiction author. Invisible Information: In the beginning of the story the Hugo and Nebula awards are mentioned, students must know what these mean to be able to understand what is occurring. Students who are into science fiction and or have a passion for writing can relate to this story; those are two main concepts which it revolves around. Uncommon words such as ray gun, zombifies, “play on words,” agribusiness overlords, “biographical notes.” Students must also know what “spirit twins,” and “brain waves intersecting in a black hole” mean, or at least have some idea of what that could mean. The pictures do provide some aid in understanding what is taking place within the story, and allow the students to relate to the content, even put themselves in the action which is taking place.
Book Intro: Before doing my book introduction I would go through the book and explain that there are several “strange” text features such as italicized words randomly placed within the sentences. There is also bold vocabulary words throughout the text which are “linked” to the glossary at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to students specifically with a passion for science fiction stories, not only for boys but girls as well. I would also recommend that the students have a dictionary or be able to access the internet to further investigate some of the words found within the story, if they have trouble understanding what they mean, this will not only allow them to better understand the content but to expand their vocabulary as well. Have you ever tried to do something and others thought you couldn’t succeed? This is a story about Miranda who longed to be a science fiction writer and get her work published in a famous science fiction magazine, The Future. Her brother continues to tell her over and over again that she should be writing stories about ponies and puppies, but she refuses. Miranda would rather spend her time writing about aliens and zombies which her brother says are things for boys. One night Miranda is laying in bed and thinks she is having a dream about one of the science fiction books she read that day, but she soon realizes its not a dream when something mysterious shows up in her mirror!!!! I recommend you read the rest of this book to find out what happened that night, which lead Miranda to become a famous science fiction author. Fuerst, Jeffery B. & Stephen Marchesi. Mirroring Miranda: A Reading A-Z Level V Leveled Reader.
Strategic Actions
Strategic actions allow students the chance to better comprehend the meaning of text by analyzing, connecting with and furthering the meaning of the content. Strategic actions allow readers to expand the meaning of text as they complete a number of strategies; predicting, making connections, inferring, synthesizing, analyzing and critiquing. Waiting for Normal, by Leslie Connor, is my literature circles book. When trying to predict what’s going to happen next as well as synthesize what I just read, I first have to be sure that I understand what I just read and have a clear picture in my head about the information. For example, at the beginning of the story when Addie and her mother move into their new home, a trailer on the side of a railroad track, I attempted to picture what that scene must look like, not only the trailer itself but its surroundings as well; including the minimart and its workers. Being able to gain a clear picture of this atmosphere as well as what the characters, Soula and Eric might look and act like, allowed me to see that they might be important within the events to come by inferring why they act so kind to Addie and she takes so quickly to them. Through inference, I also came to the conclusion within the text that Addie’s mother would get “caught” at some point because Soula asking Addie continuously about her mother and “how she was.” I attempted to critique the characters by thinking of people that I knew that I could relate the characters with, which allowed me to picture them easier. I was able to understand after doing so, that the characters within this story seemed like they could be real, so real that they could be livin next door (for example). After synthesizing the text I had read at the start of the story I tried to then hold that image within my head and think about what might happen to Addie next. Parts in the story which discuss Mommers actions, such as when she left Addie at their trailer by herself for lengthy time periods, the divorce of the family and the split up of the children as well as how she has to cook and do most all of the cleaning on her own led me to infer that something was not completely “right” with Mommers and that there were underlying problems in Addies situation which she was not being truthful about. I was also able to think about and infer from those situations mentioned above, that Addie kept secrets from others about her Mommers because no matter what she did Addie still loved her deep down because she is her mother.
