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The Holy Grail: In
Search of Reading
Comprehension in the Second
Grade
By Marika
Páez
Introduction
As I moved up with my students from first grade
to second grade, I became increasingly
concerned with my students' lack of reading comprehension. As they read
harder books, they weren't understanding them. I thought if they were able
to question themselves as they read, they might be able to identify on
their own when comprehension had broken down and be able to use fix-up
strategies, such as rereading, without needing a prompt from a teacher.
So,
my research initially focused on the question: "How
does teaching second graders to question the
text impact their reading comprehension?"
Review
of Research
I drew on the work of Stephanie Harvey and
Anne Goudvis (1997), Frank Smith (1997),
and P. David Pearson (1994) to help me understand
how researchers have
thought about questions during the reading process and how teachers can teach
it. With the knowledge of the challenge set out by the New York State Standards,
and armed with the support of so many researchers, I set out on my search for
the Holy Grail-helping my readers become excellent comprehenders.
Setting
for the Study
This study was conducted in my second grade
class of 18 students at the Future Leaders
Institute (FLI), a small public school in
Harlem. Ninety-six percent
of my students are African American, and 90% qualify for free or reduced-price
lunch. The school uses a balanced approach to teaching literacy, components
include: word study, shared reading, guided reading (small group reading instruction),
independent reading, read aloud, and writing workshop. Teaching reading in
this way is a challenge, because there is no scripted manual that tells teachers
what to teach each day. Instruction is driven by assessment and teachers' knowledge
of their students' strengths and weaknesses.
Getting
Started: Finding our Questions
I taught questioning techniques during whole group, small group and individual
instruction by modeling how I ask and answer questions during reading. Students
began doing the work on their own in January, by recording their questions
on post-its during independent reading and then trying to find the answers.
To
help me gauge how my students were using these
strategies, and how their reading comprehension
might be affected, I selected case studies,
one student from each of my high, middle, and
low-middle reading groups (the lowest of which
read on grade level).
Tools I used included: the Developmental Reading Assessment; the post-its students
used to write down questions or thinking during reading; conference notes from
my independent reading conferences; transcripts of some independent reading
conferences; teaching plans; and my journal.
Giving
Voice to Our Questions: The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly
Our work with questioning produced mixed results.
The
Good |
- Students
were prolific post-iters and questioners.
- More
high-quality conferences.
|
The
Bad |
- Time
spent writing post-its took away from
time spent reading.
- Students
asked so many questions that the questions
became unmanageable.
|
The
Ugly |
- Safe
Questions. Some students
focused on asking "safe" questions,
only writing down questions they
already knew the answers to.
- "Dumb" Questions. I
noticed that many students were asking
questions which seemed to me, a proficient
reader, to be "dumb" questions,
questions that didn't seem to propel
students' thinking about the story
any further.
- Determining
Importance. Students didn't
seem to have a sense as to which
questions might be more important
to answer than others.
|
My
Learning
As I watched students read and listened to them talk about their books, I began
slowly constructing and refining my own definition of comprehension. I realized
that I wanted my students to be thinking about such things as character traits,
character motivation, and what changes happen in a story over time. I was beginning
to suspect that my readers needed to know more about what to expect when they
came to chapter books. My students were proficient at asking questions, but
they needed to be taught what to ask questions about.
The
Plot Thickens: Second Graders Begin to Study
the "What" of Their Chapter Books
At this point in the study (February), I began a class study of Story Elements
based on a workshop I attended at the Teachers College Reading and Writing
Project. I taught students to use the common elements that make up a story
(Characters, Setting, Plot, Movement through time, Change) to structure their
thinking about stories.
My research question broadened to include this new work: In a second grade
classroom in which questioning strategies have already been introduced, how
does introducing a study of story elements impact reading comprehension?
New
Findings
Making
Sense of It All
-
Better
reading "programs" are not the answer. All
knowledge, including teacher knowledge,
must be constructed by the learner. I
had to go through the process of approximating
the teaching I thought my students needed,
receiving feedback from them, and readjusting
my teaching in order to begin to understand
what reading comprehension really means
and how students begin to construct it.
No reading textbook can teach me that.
-
It
is important it is to teach both the "how" and
the "what" of reading. My students
needed to know and practice the process
of asking questions as they read, but
they also needed to know what kinds of
things good readers ask questions about.
Students need both process and content.
-
There
is no Holy Grail when it comes to the
teaching of reading comprehension.
Policy
Recommendations
-
Give
teachers control over what to teach in
the classroom.
-
Provide
more professional development on teaching
reading comprehension for lower elementary
teachers.
-
Implement
balanced literacy structures to provide
teachers with multiple ways to teach and
assess reading strategy work.
The
Good
The
Bad
The
Ugly
-
Safe
Questions. Some students focused
on asking "safe" questions,
only writing down questions they already
knew the answers to.
-
"Dumb" Questions. I
noticed that many students were asking
questions which seemed to me, a proficient
reader, to be "dumb" questions, questions
that didn't seem to propel students' thinking
about the story any further.
-
Determining
Importance. Not
only were the students asking "dumb" questions,
but they didn't seem to have a sense
as to which questions might be more important
to answer than others.
The Good
|
The Bad
|
The Ugly
|
- Students were prolific post-iters and
questioners.
- More high-quality conferences.
|
- Time spent writing post-its took away
from time spent reading.
- Students asked so many questions that
the questions became unmanageable.
|
- Safe Questions. Some
students focused on asking "safe" questions,
only writing down questions they already
knew the answers to.
- "Dumb" Questions. I
noticed that many students were asking
questions which seemed to me, a proficient
reader, to be "dumb" questions,
questions that didn't seem to propel
students' thinking about the story any
further.
- Determining Importance. Not
only were the students asking "dumb" questions,
but they didn't seem to have a sense
as to which questions might be more important
to answer than others.
|
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