Shared Readings: Modeling Comprehension, Vocabulary, Text Structures, and Text Features for Older Readers September 30, 2009

As I was reading this article all I could think about was our class discussion on the proper method of modeling reading to students.  Everything that Dr. Frye shared with us last Thursday in class seemed to jump out in this article.  I even remember Dr. Frye reading a passage to us as she was modeling the correct way to read to students and everything thing that she told us to do was talked about in this article.  Since we had discussed this in class, the article really seemed easy to understand because I was able to make connections to what we had talked about in class.  I also remember Dr. Frye saying that these methods directly relate to the NCSCOS so as I was reading this article I picked up on a lot of good techniques to practice with my future students.

“Modeling is the primary way through which teachers can demonstrate for their students how readers can interact with texts (e.g., Taylor & Pearson, 2002).”  This is true because how else will students know the correct way to approach a text if we as teachers do not model this for them?  Teachers should not expect students to know how to do this but we should begin to scaffold them into doing this on their own.  This article is based on a study that was done by observing 25 teachers as he or she conducted a shared reading.  The data that was gathered could be categorized into four different categories based on what these teachers included during their shared reading time.  The first category is “reading comprehension.”  This was shown to be the most common modeling during a shared reading.  The teachers focused on inferencing, summarizing, predicting, questioning, evaluating, connecting, etc.  These particular teachers agreed that it is not wise to just focus on one comprehension strategy at a time because students need to know how to incorporate these things automatically.  One thing that stood out to me during this section was the word “metacognition-knowing that you’re doing this but not paying a lot of attention to it.”  I remember talking about this word in class with Dr. Frye.  The next strategy is vocabulary and the teachers modeled this by using context clues, word parts, and resources.  Teachers modeled how to use context clues to figure out words that a student may not know.  Students can also use word parts, such as prefixes, suffixes, roots, and bases.  If a student can still not figure out a word then they are encouraged to use a resource.  Another focus that the teachers had was on text structures.  Authors set up texts in a certain way so that it may be helpful in organizing information.  Last but not least, the teachers focused on text features.  These can include captions, headings, illustrations, etc.  These can help students identify the meaning and importance of a text. 

The article ended by sharing some cautions that need to be considered when modeling through shared reading.  First, teachers should have some reason for selecting a piece of text.  Next, the shared reading should not lengthen the time that students spend in whole-class instruction.  Last but not least, shared readings should not be used to “curricularize comprehension.”    I found this article to be very useful because teachers need to be aware of the correct methods to show students how to read and some things that they need to focus on when doing so.  As teachers, we should strive to model the correct way when reading so that students will be able to be successful in all of their reading endeavors.

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