--- Vicki Vinton, Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading
This post is a week 2 of 4 in the #cyberPD community conversation hosted here: #cyberPD Google Community. Stop by and join the conversation.
Building Deeper Thinking
In our district, we use Fountas and Pinnell's Benchmark Assessment to take a closer look at our readers. Not only does it allow us to look at the way readers sustain their reading by providing a picture of accuracy, self-correction, and fluency for problem-solving a new text, but it also provides a window into a student's thinking by taking a closer look at comprehension within the text, beyond the text, and about the text. It is not uncommon to find students who are able to talk about their literal understanding of the text, but have difficulty moving to the more inferential thinking required in thinking beyond the text. It is often challenging for readers to consider the author's purpose in sharing particular information to deepen the understanding for readers.
Thoughts to Grow
In chapters 5-6 of Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading by Vicki Vinton, Vinton helps us to think about the ways readers move from figuring out the basics of a text to more complex thinking. In these chapters, we are able to listen in as she talks with large groups about determining the basics in a text and moving to more complex ideas. In these examples, the community works together to solve the challenges of the text and come away with a deeper understanding. The group uses a variety of thinking strategies to understand the complex messages the author conveys. Vinton shows us the way the basic information (literal understanding) is necessary if students are to walk away with the deeper understanding of the text. Vinton reminds us, "Readers have to know they're confused or don't know something, and students who continue reading without actively connecting details or being aware of what they don't know often wind up lost in books that are supposedly just right for them (p. 62)."
Considerations, Concerns, Cautions
1. Readers Can Get Lost in Books (p. 62): Readers often get lost in books because they don't realize they are confused or missing important information.
2. Be Thoughtful About Scaffolds (p. 72): Be careful to determine the appropriate scaffold, or if one is needed at all. Scaffolds can take the opportunity away from students to do the work of complex thinking according to Vinton.
3. Don't Wait Until the End to Discuss Theme (p. 87 & 90): Instead of waiting until the book is over or just considering what a character learned, open the conversation to theme up as students read so they can weigh new information, the questions they have about a text, and new possibilities as they deepen their understanding.
For the Toolbox
1. Thoughtfully Select Texts: "For a problem-based approach whose end goal is meaning, you'll want to choose a text based on two criteria: Look for a text that's relatively accessible at the word level but is complex because the writer conveys information and meaning indirectly and that presents the specific kind of problems your students could use practice grappling with (p. 65)."
2. Craft a Teaching Point: "At the beginning of a problem-solving session, you'll want to offer an initial teaching point that sets students up for the thinking work you'll be inviting them to do (p. 67)."
3. Notice and Name the Work Students Do: "Noticing and naming is, thus, a form of feedback --- and a powerful one, at that. It helps build students' sense of agency and identity as readers, makes the invisible work of reading more visible, and by employing generalized language, turns one student's thinking into a strategy (p. 73)."
4. Probe Student Thinking: "Asking students not only what they think but how they arrived there, [opens] the door wide enough for them to show you both what they're able to do and what they still may need to learn (p. 77)."
5. Value Open Ended Thinking: "Students need lots of time to talk about their reading, not to present ideas as claims as much as to collaboratively generate and grow them (p. 101)."
By allowing students to integrate strategies as the text requires and remain open to possibilities readers can work toward a deeper understanding of the text. It seems, in a problem-based approach, there is a seamless integration of the comprehension strategies that support a reader's understanding: connecting, predicting, questioning, visualizing, determining importance, and synthesizing. No one strategy stands alone, but instead readers are asked to adjust based upon the demands of the text. The teachers role is to determine what students are able to do, name it, and look for the next steps needed for readers to gain a deeper understanding across texts.
Love your graphic!
ReplyDeleteGreat takeaways, Cathy. I think this is key "Readers have to know they're confused or don't know something" So often, they don't know that they don't know.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your response and marveled at the way you organized your thinking. Thanks for some new insights.
ReplyDeleteI too was thinking about scaffolds and how easily we can take the work away from our kiddos. Each one is so different and knowing what scaffold each one needs can be challenging then thinking about which scaffolds to offer the whole group and small groups. It is so much to think about when we really think about it! -- I hope that makes sense!!! I am grateful to be apart of this conversation. It has taken me awhile but I hope to be coming back each summer:)
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