The class that I teach, Guided Reading, walks students who are struggling with literacy through many strategies that help them to become more fluent readers who understand what they read. One of the very first, almost primary strategies we teach is chunking. Chunking is breaking words in to smaller parts often were syllable breaks naturally occur. Although this concept is very elementary for a struggling secondary reader it can be tricky. One of the ways that I help students to ‘experience’ chunking is to keep a small white board on my reading table; when a student comes to a word that they cannot read, I give them the white board and have them guide us a through a mini lesson on chunking that word.
It is through the use of technology, of using concept mapping and advanced organizers that help students make connections and to remember. We have to remember that kids need to hear several times, see it too, use effective graphics, give them experiences. If we roll more of these concepts into our everday teaching, our students will have a richer educational experience.
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I love your idea of using a white board for students to write down a word that they are not sure of. You are right about students needing to hear it, and see it, over and over again to get the full understanding.
ReplyDeleteShayne, how are you planning to use concept mapping and virtual field trips with your reading groups? I've thought of using them to help students learn about unfamiliar settings in stories. FOr instance, we read a story that takes lace in ancient Pompeii Italy. I thought that these new strategies would really help with that book.
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