Text Talk: Capturing the Benefits of Read-Aloud Experiences for Young Children
-Beck & McKeown
In reading this article I quickly was able to grasp all of the benefits of read-alouds very quickly. There were some concepts in which I did not think about when performing read-alouds with children. Reading aloud to students is much more than just telling them a story, but rather it is helping them to develop their linguistic skills in an array of ways. Performing read-alouds in the classroom is not only fun for the students, but it also benefits them in multiple ways.
Read-alouds are usually done with students who are younger, and ones who cannot read very well by themselves yet. Therefore, by reading aloud to students, they can be improving their literacy skills by following along, along with also de-contextualizing language. One of the most important aspects that students receive from read-alouds is how they construct meaning from what they are being read. One element that has the tendency to sometimes hinder this area of constructing meaning is the presence of illustrations in children's books. Rather than constructing meaning and understanding what elements are happening in the story, often times students will focus on the pictures and will not listen to the words being read. When this happens and they are asked questions in which analyze their comprehension, they answer in ways in which reflect on the illustrations. A better approach, which was mentioned in the reading, was to read the content of the story and then to show the pictures, so that the students are first understanding the story for the written words and then are applying the illustration to the words they just heard. Focusing too much on illustrations can hinder students from constructing meaning from the linguistic content.
Another factor that can influence a student's overall understanding of the text is the ability to associate from one's own memory and draw upon those instances and experiences to explain what is happening in the story. This is hindering to a student's learning, because it is enabling them to interpret the story in a manner in which is relevant to them, and they are not able to draw upon new ideas and scenarios. In order to ensure students take the most that they can from a read-aloud, promoting questions is very important so that they begin to think about what happened in the story. It is important for the teacher to continue to keep asking questions about a student's response in order to elicit a correct response, one in which is being looked for. There may be vocabulary words present that students will not know, so it is important for the teacher to identify these and explain them to students and have them practice using the word to something applicable in their lives so that they understand to the best of their ability. Repeating these vocabulary words is always important for the students to remember and be able to identify with them.
There are many factors to consider when performing read-alouds with students. In order for students to receive the best experience for them developmentally, it is important to make sure that the material is set up in a way that they are able to understand and identify with. Not only is a read-aloud fun for the students, but it is a very important part of constructing literature.
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ReplyDeleteResponse-Centered Talk: Windows on Children’s Thinking by McGee offers alternative ways to think about classroom talk. According to McGee, a good talk can provide an opportunity to develop and use reasoning and problem solving. McGee states that there are four important points to consider when holding discussions that feature response- centered talk. Teachers must plan carefully, the discussion is carried out in interaction with children, the talk is extended by children’s personal relevant events and opinions, and the talk involves assessing children’s responses to literature. Response-centered talk allows students to exchange ideas, consider arguments of others, and gives children the opportunity to comment from personal responses to the book.
ReplyDeleteDifferent from the article that Natalie read, McGee’s article states how illustrations can be very beneficial for students and their deeper understanding of the text. The teacher first starts the discussion by asking the children their favorite parts of the story. Many students provide answers guided from the illustrations that they just saw, which later evolves into different interpretations of the story. The illustrations in the story were a big part of the students reasoning for what happened in the story. The story followed a hen walking through the forest being followed by a fox. When the teacher asked, “Do you think that Rosie (the hen) knew the fox was behind her?” students used the illustrations to prove that Rosie did not know the fox was behind her. Students suggested that Rosie never looked around her, and one student said that her eyes were always pointed forward. They are using information from the illustrations to support their interpretation that the hen does not know the fox is behind her.
McGee also discusses the importance of standing back, which means being quiet and letting the students discover and learn to take turns speaking on their own, without teacher interference. So, this article says that it is not so important for “the teacher to keep asking questions” and there may not be a “correct response”, rather different interpretations enabling students to use their critical thinking skills.
Another item to consider when holding classroom talk is to establish rules and routines for your students. For example, the teacher might have the rule of having each student talk at least once throughout the discussion, and making sure no child is dominating the talk. Teachers must also remember to begin with open-ended questions and provide students with their response and opinions on the story. The article also says to ensure that your students know that their opinions will not be mimicked or made fun of. The teacher in this article made sure to have a “gentle inquisition” tone to the discussion, where each student felt comfortable sharing. McGee says that the most productive talk is usually in a response to a book read aloud and occurs in small groups with these rules and routines being administered.
Response-Centered Talk: Windows on Children’s Thinking states how group interpretations and very powerful and allows students to think about interpretations that they normally would not have prior to hearing the story. Exchanging ideas, often from illustrations, lets student hear their classmate’s views and opinions of the story, which no one reader could do on their own.
Instructional conversations: Promoting comprehension through discussion by Claude Goldberg offers yet another way to think about classroom talk. In this article, Goldberg discusses a method called Instructional Conversations, a type of lesson that is geared towards creating opportunities for conceptual and linguistic development. This type of conversation helps reach a goal that teachers have had for centuries, a way to help students bring their thoughts to birth, stimulate them to think and criticize and to not JUST instruct them.
ReplyDeleteThe author of this article discusses that an instructional conversation is actually just a really good discussion by a teacher and his/her classroom of students. This conversation is interesting and engaging, it is about a topic that is relevant to the students and interesting for them to talk about. There must be a lot of participation without the dominance of one individual during the conversation, especially the teacher. Once the teacher begins to take control of the conversation, it switches from conversation to a lecture by the teacher. The students must remain focused throughout the discussion and the students must engage themselves in extended conversations, with both their peers and their teacher. In this model, the teacher is really the discussion leader, who asks the questions, challenges, prods, or just simply keeps quiet.
These kind of discussions are not as easily done in the classroom as they may seem. There are many different conflicting elements that teachers need to balance while they are formulating an instructional conversation and also require a lot of time and effort from the teachers. In the article, the author discusses a way to do one of these discussions with a book that the classroom has read. This reminded me of a read-aloud like Natalie was talking about in the post above. There is a good amount of responsibility on teachers before they begin this conversation with their students. First they must pick out a book and read it over and over until you understand it thoroughly. Next, teachers must select an initial theme for their discussion. Once with the students, teachers must give a bit of background knowledge to give them an idea of what they will be reading. Teachers then must provide a starting point for the discussion, an initial focus that could be a key word or a question. As future teachers, we know that lessons and discussions don't always go as planned but prior to this discussion think through some possible ways that the students could take this discussion and lastly come up with some follow up activities for your students, especially ones that will help you see what your students have learned from this instructional conversation. Overall, this method is used to guide reading comprehension lessons and activities.