Teacher-generated Questions

Teacher generated questions are a comprehension technique that allow students to think about what they are reading and therefore remember more. In the article they are called QAR or question answer relationships. This technique encourages the students to take what they have read in the text they are going through and use it to answer questions that were generated by the teacher. They are then encouraged to answer the questions using the given information. Four main question types are

"Right There answer are found in a single sentence in the text.

Putting It Together or Think and Search answers must be found across the sections.

Author and You answers require the reader to infer the meaning from the text because the answer to the question is not stated explicitly.

On My Own answers rely on the reader's experience and knowledge. "

These types of questions help with student comprehension of what they read. I find this interesting because I feel that it is essential for teachers to ask their students questions that would help them make connections between what they read and what they know in real life. The questions can also help solidify in their minds what they read so that they remember the big ideas well.

Comprehension

This weeks reading on comprehension from Stahl's article was very relevant and interesting in that the comprehension model is not focused enough by primary teachers and is often done in ineffective ways. The strategies he discussed seem to be effective if used and model correctly by the teacher. The one I liked best is when the teacher built upon Question Answer Relationships which in-turn enhances the student achievement with comprehension. I think at every level of education students need to be guided in their comprehension of text and literature alike. It is not that more than one conclusion can be had but rather that we often need help in understanding bigger ideas. This way students get the full effect of an authors intention and have a better understanding of what the text is saying. We want everyone to form their own opinions and ideas behind writing but it is also important that we understand that many need assistance in sometimes getting there. Guided reading is a great place for this concept to take place and questions like what do you think they meant by that or what do you think will happen are great ways to help build our thought process around literature and the meanings expressed in its text. The other concept I found very intriguing was the Reciprocal theory and would love to see more of this in the classroom. We need students to feel responsible for their learning and find success with that responsibility. A great way of achieving this can be done through this model. If you give young learners the concept of discussing their stories they may develop a process that is essential to their future success in both education and in life. Comprehension doesn't just stop at literacy it only begins there. We use this technique to understand one another and learn how to get by in our daily experiences. Primary school can be the base on which we teach this but it requires devotion to the methods and concepts that Stahl has described. Only then we will learn to comprehend. 

Comprehension Instruction in Content Area Classes

I thought that specializing in language arts meant that I had a pretty good understanding of what comprehension was but I was wrong. Comprehension involves so many processes:

" . . .is an active, intentional thinking process through which the reader constructs meaning . . .word level processes like the ability to identify words quickly , accurately, and effortlessly and knowledge of the meanings of words"

A lot is happening as a student is reading and comprehending a text. I found the section about what "expert comprehenders" to be especially interesting. A reader has to bring their prior knowledge into the picture, figure out how to read the text, and after they do things like summarize their reading and clarify their understanding of the information they have just read. After giving it some thought when I read a challenging article, or any text, I do do most of these things without knowing it, my mind does go through various steps unconsciously in order for me to be able to comprehend and critically think about what I have just read.

As a future teacher one of the most important ideas in the text is as follows: "It is important to note that the ability to activate and use strategies . . .does not develop for students simply by providing them with opportunities to read. Instead many students benefit from instruction that explicitly teaches them a few research-supported strategies and then, over time, helps them learn to use such strategies in a flexible, coordinated, and self-regulated fashion" (368).

I never thought about giving a student a text and teaching them strategies for comprehension. The getting ready to read, while I'm reading and when I'm done, and the visual organizer graphics and lists that the author supplied seem like very useful tool in the classroom. I really enjoyed this article because it caused me consider the fact that we as teachers shape "expert comprehenders" and by doing so we give our students one of the most valuable tools for success in their futures.

No Parent left behind

No parent left behind is a interesting article in the sense that we should start there with no child left behind. If there is no relationship between school and home it has often proven very difficult for children and students alike to succeed. In the reading it mentions that most of these parents view education as important and have a fairly good impression of the public school. It becomes negative when they are written off or given adequate resources. A great line in the article was this, " .. educators must identify a way to create "effective partnerships " with parents that match the REALITY of many households." I bold the reality for the simple reason that in many low income homes reality there is more illiterate and less resource for teachers to rely on. We have to know that many children come to school with less than most of there wealthier piers. Even in many suburban schools kids still get the amount of literacy experiences we would like them to have. I believe it was do not just last week that we talked about the number of hours that children need before they come to school. For intense in the questions that parents answered they thought that the school shared the responsibility of reading and sharing stories with children. This may be true to a certain extent but unfortunately we need parents to read everyday to young people and in some format demonstrate that reading is fun and exciting. A great way to do this is having children read to there parents and family.

Opening Quality Lines of Communication

In the article Opening Quality Lines of Communication, a teacher tries to establish communication with his student's parents in the beginning of the school year. Assigning homework to the parents is a very creative way to become closer to students as well as the parents. It can be difficult to be in touch with parents especially in an Urban setting. This article argues that the more parents you, as a teacher, can be in contact with the better off your students will be.

When reading Marcus- Gifted and Challenging I realized I had never really thought about a gifted child being both gifted and challenging. It shows a case study where a boy named Marcus learns quickly and is considered gifted. Before reading this I never thought about the challenges gifted children face. They all have different areas they are good or bad at. Each child is different. I found it interesting that he was so frustrated with school as a whole just because he didn't like writing and had a hard time staying still. Because of these two difficulties he began to dislike things he had enjoyed before such as reading.

It also seemed that his brain developed quicker than his body. This was another thing I had never considered. According to the article, "The bones of the young child's wrist do not finish calcifying and children do not gain very much dexterity in their hands until about 7 years of age." Marcus had ideas that he was unable to put down on paper perfectly as he wanted. His motor skills were not perfected yet to the extent he needed them to be in order to keep up with his brain.

As teachers, we need to be aware of gifted students allowing them to grow at their own pace while trying to help with their frustrations. Having a child, gifted or not, shut down from frustration is never ideal. It is up to the teacher and parents to help as much as possible.

No Parent Left Behind

This article made me rethink my thinking about parents and school. I initially held some of the ignorant and negative thoughts about parents not being involved because I know, as the article supported, that students who have parents that are not involved and reading with them at home, etc. suffer. As embarrassed as I am I thought these parents were lazy or didn't care to help their children at home. In reality the problem can be explained more logically that parents are, "so busy with the day-to-day responsibilities if feeding, housing, loving and caring for their children that they have little time to support school-related literacy activities at home. They believe they are supporting their children's educational development and fulfilling that parental responsibility by sending them to school. where effective teaching can instruct them in literacy." I feel that because I have never had experience in a very urban low income school I was never able to get enough real life experience and interaction with parents who are struggling to, as the article describes, simply feed and house their children. It is not that they choose not to help them with school work etc. at home it is more that they are too busy to or they feel that they are not intelligent enough to. I found the article very eye opening. When the article discusses banishing resentment towards uninvolved parents I found this to be very true. One of the struggles that teachers in impoverished schools face is creating "effective partnerships with parents that match the REALITY of their households" The word reality encompasses a lot of meaning and changed my viewpoint and made me feel ignorant and judgemental for my past feelings.



I found the way in which the authors and researchers had, in essence hunt down and contact some "invisible" parents through community members very interesting. They had to make themselves accessible to the families and parents and be careful not to disrupt their busy and stressful lives too much by coming right to their homes or the schools to interview the parents.



When the one parents was quoted saying," She talk more better than me. More talk. Why you wanna do that? She need to read" Although I am tempted to feel angered at this response when thinking about how the child of this parent may suffer because of her involvement or lack of understanding I am able to be more understanding that she doesn't know she is harming her child's growth by thinking she only needs to read not talk, she simply doesn't know. She can't be blamed for not knowing.



The following quote makes me empathetic and face the facts of the "reality" that these families face. "with nine kids and two adults livin together in a house with two bedrooms, we don't have space or time for all the kids to homework." This makes me sad but I know that this real and families all over the county and most likely in the schools that we are at have similar home situations occurring. As teachers we need to be understanding and strive to solve this problem although I don't know exactly how because the chapter ended without posing any real suggestions for teachers. . .I guess the point of the chapter was more so to present data and change the thinking of the readers.