So this week, one of our arictles was about why adoleleacents begin to struggle in comprehension middle school. During k-5 students are taught essential skills that they need in order to become a good reader, just the process of decoding. While on the other hand, 6th graders through 12th graders use reading as a tool to learn or access new information and should already be masters in decoding.
What's the problem you may ask? I understand that students need to focus on the basic reading skill in the younger grades but that does not mean they should not be able to practice comprehension from a young age. Also in middle school some students still need the extra support decoding the words so they could get to the text. This is even more prevellent in English language learners, which is a big portion of CPS. As teachers I think we have to remember many of our students need the extra support not only in decoding in middle school but making sense and analyzing text from a younger age.
I personally remember being in 7th grade and the teacher constantly complementing my reading skills so I was asked to read aloud. I remember I would feel so much pressure to read accurately and fluently that I would not know what I was reading. I would have to go back and reread the text for myself in order to be able to understand what I had just read. I was often nervous that my teacher would ask what I had just read before I had a chance to reread it, I had access to the content when I wasn't solely focused on my reading accuracy.
So I guess I wasn't to know what you think about this. Do you this current method is working? Should we be trying to give students support with both things through their academic career? Or is one skill more valuable than the other?
Thanks for read, I look forward to hearing your opinion!
-Jess
Great post Jess. I really think that the comprehension should be taught along with the actual skill of reading. I believe they have to go hand in hand so that students, especially young students, know that they need to be together. When you teach it separately, i think students begin to just think of reading as being able to words and not realizing that there's almost no reason to read the words if the comprehension of what you are reading isn't coming with. However I do believe that in order to have reading comprehension, you have to be able to read. But that does not mean you can't teach comprehension while teaching reading. A teacher could be teaching reading and slowly bring in comprehension skills as they become better readers. That way they are building on each other but at the same time keeping the skills together so that students see how they go hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteHi Jess,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I just want to say that you did an awesome job! I really enjoyed your blog post. I think that it is very important to teach reading in both aspects including comprehension and actually decoding words. I think that if teachers only focus on teaching students just actual reading in isolation without comprehension skills, then it is not effective. After students learn to how read words, they need to learn the skill of comprehension in order to understand and break down the content of what they are reading. If they don't learn this school early on, then they aren't really gaining knowledge because they will only be just reading a bunch of words without attaching any meaning to anything.
I remember when I was in ESL from kindergarten through second grade, I struggled with comprehension because I focused on learning new words. I wasn't really understanding what I was reading because I wanted to make sure that I was able to put the letters together and pronounce the word correctly. The only way that My ESL teacher never really went over what I was reading. The focus was just on the actual words, so I didn't really find any value in what I was reading. I wasn't as engaged.
I think it is possible to teach the skill of comprehension early on in elementary. Teaching it hand in hand, as Rhys said is a great idea.
Great Job!
Resilda
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog post. I think what you are pointing out is very important, and prevalent in schools. I honestly think that, there is no point in reading if we can't comprehend the text or at least parts of it. So, I believe it would be very important to teach children both reading and comprehension skills. It would help students early on get used to comprehending, while decoding. I can relate to your post as well, I remember when I was younger, I would also just read without comprehending the text. I used to look at pictures to try and figure out what was going on, because more emphasis was placed on reading rather than comprehension.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to teach the skill of decoding along with comprehension because those two things do go together, and students need to see that. If you focus only on one thing at a time, it might be easier for the students since they don't have to multitask, but that isn't how really works. I also feel that although younger kids might not know how to read, they are still able to comprehend a story that is being read to them. Therefore, it just show that young kids will be able to handle learning how to decode along with comprehending the text. On top, the earlier they learn about decoding and comprehension, the lower the chance of them struggling in reading later on in life.
Hi Jess!
ReplyDeleteI think that both are equally important and they should both be taught throughout the grades. In the 4th grade class I'm in currently, the teacher asks some high level thinking questions to his students and it's really seemed to benefit them so far. Although they are still learning to read, he doesn't let that get in the way of them thinking critically about a question. Even if students can't read/write fluently, they can still have conversations about important issues. I still think the current system is too focused on test scores as the final outcome. This makes it so teachers are focused on what will be on the test rather than giving the students the supports they need. I get the argument for test scores, but I think if we move away from thinking about that as the final product we will be better teachers.
I think it is extremely important to know what we are reading. Anyone can read and not be able to comprehend what is going on. If a student is just reading to read then that student is not taking away anything from it. I think supporting student comprehension is not more important instead of being on the student's case for reading correctly.
ReplyDeleteI think it is extremely important to know what we are reading. Anyone can read and not be able to comprehend what is going on. If a student is just reading to read then that student is not taking away anything from it. I think supporting student comprehension is not more important instead of being on the student's case for reading correctly.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post Jess!!!
ReplyDeleteI believe that even when we are teaching students how to read, we still scaffold their comprehension of the text they are reading aloud. Then, when students are able to decode on their own they are used to stoping to think about what they read and explaining their own comprehension. When students have trouble comprehending I think it's important to see what the student is able to do, like make predictions or shows understanding of other text features it is helpful to develop those skills to reach text comprehension.