Blog 2- Reading Comprehension

Brief Summary

The main topic this week is reading comprehension, which is the interactive process between text, reader and instruction. When comprehensive reading is expected, many students are taught skills such as finding the main idea, looking for details, or drawing conclusions. These are supposed to help the students better understand what they are reading. According to the media and texts from our lesson this week, it takes more than just telling our students to do these things. Teachers engage students in comprehensive learning through motivation, choosing topics that interest students, giving a purpose, and considering students’ prior knowledge (Alvermann, 165). Teachers must model how to read comprehensively. As the article Literacy Instruction for Adolescents states,  “Students need to witness a skilled reader explaining the various ways that he or she makes meaning from the text” (Wood, 355). I remember many of my teachers in school doing just this. They would read a passage and then talk through it out loud to the class. It was very effective because I always had a better understanding by the end of it. Modeling how to use reading graphs and charts is another important strategy in enhancing reading comprehension. After a teacher has modeled for their students, they must allow their students to practice the behaviors with a little guidance, and then eventually independently. One other strategy for comprehensive reading that is discussed in the article is reciprocal teaching. This involves the students acting as leaders and working with their peers to read. Students read texts together and then summarize, question, clarify, and predict (Wood, 338).

Critical reflection

The information and strategies about comprehensive reading instruction discussed in the course readings and minilecture this week is all very valuable. It is very important that students have the proper instruction and guidance on how to comprehend texts. Students will be more likely to engage in reading if it is interesting to them and they know how to properly sort out their ideas. Using background knowledge to enhance comprehensive reading can be a difficult task, especially if there is classroom that is very diverse culturally as well as academically. If this is the case, teachers will have to make sure they give a bit of a background on the topic to the students so that they can all be on the same level.

Implications for teaching

In my future classroom, I will be sure to always make sure that my students know the purpose for why they are reading on a certain topic. For example, if my string orchestra is playing a piece by Strauss, I may have them read a paragraph or two about Strauss’ life and the history that happened during his time. I would tell my students that the reason why they are reading the text is because it will help them to better understand why Strauss wrote the piece the way he did. Or if we were playing an arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, I would have the students read the poems that go with the piece. This would help them to better understand and visualize what the music has to say.

I also will use modeling, specifically showing them how to make diagrams. I feel that this is especially helpful when sorting ideas from a text. Venn Diagrams are a great way to compare and contrast two concepts.

Relationship to Standards

This weeks readings and media relate to a lot of what is expected in the music education reading instruction standards. Strand 1 in the standards requires that the music teacher understands how motivation, background knowledge, motivation and interest impacts comprehension. These are the topics that were discussed in course readings. Students are expected to use a variety of strategies to expand their reading, writing and speaking skills. These strategies such as teacher modeling, reciprocal teaching, and creating graphs were discussed in detail in the course readings.