I sit in my non-TE classes, daily, wondering how on earth my classmates are able to so vividly recall details from the day’s reading, ask probing questions, and even construct an articulate plot summary.  I’m creative, and I would classify myself as what Applegate calls a Left-Fielder, in that I take a creative idea that may have somewhat related to a part of the text that I remember, and run with it, in order to get a good participation grade.  As a college student, I am having trouble comprehending the texts which I am given, and figuring out a good way to contribute to class discussion.  Needless to say, these readings were very diagnostic for me, as I was able to see everything that I have been doing wrong!

Chapter 2 of Tompkins broke down the stages of reading to include prereading, reading, responding, exploring and applying.  These stages are all necessary in order for a student to comprehend a text, and skipping these steps, at least for me, has lead to confusion!

Prereading: “The reading process begins before readers open a book” (Tompkins, p. 42).  How often do I check the page numbers or chapter title that I need to be reading, and start reading, with absolutely no context?  Pretty much every time.  Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for me to wikipedia some key words in the title, or chat with my teacher to get a better idea of what the reading is about?  This can activate my schema, in order for me to make those text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections that all of the readings (ever) hinted at.

Reading: I do one kind of reading: independent.  Speed: fast.  I try to cover the material, as fast as I can, so that I can move onto more homework, without really processing the words on the text, or mixing up my strategies.  Chapter 2 also mentions that a drawback of independent reading is the limited involvement of the teacher.  I cannot blame myself entirely for this lack of comprehension, for countless college professors assign loads of reading with no prereading or reading scaffolding, and then wonder why their students are confused when they come to class.  Reading some of the text in class could benefit us!

Responding/Exploring:  The TE program has this down!  I am currently responding to the texts that I’ve read, and later, Matt and Stephanie will participate in a discussion with me (heyy!!) through this blog.  The program should be applauded here for their knowledge of these stages, because I know for a fact that I will retain this information, and be able to contribute to a discussion, because I have had an opportunity to meaningfully respond to the readings.

Applying: Plenty of college professors require me to do this, by assigning papers around texts.  If students and professors worked together with all of these stages, I can’t even imagine how much better our “end result”/post-assessment papers would turn out!  And in order to differentiate, why not assign a readers’ theatre or presentation?  I currently have a professor who assigned digital exhibits, which is a fun change, that will later scaffold a research paper.  Hats off to her.

I see a bit of reading instruction in my placement.  Every day after lunch, the kids read out of their boxes, sometimes independently, and sometimes with a partner.  Chapter 2 suggests that students should have a variety of texts at their level to choose.  Unfortunately, most of my students are reading either their own work or very basic books in Spanish, provided to them probably through a donation or a grant.  Every student has the same books, when every member of the class is at a different level.  Therefore, the students memorize the words on the page, and have little discussion about what they are reading.  When the students read with partners, though, as the articles suggest, they do build their confidence and have an opportunity to practice fluency when reading aloud.

Many times, my teacher has students sit and listen to an entire book before delving into questions and analysis of the book.  Chapter 2 suggests that students need to be active in the reading process, so I think that asking them questions about what they are reading, or having discussions while reading will scaffold them enough to get them to see that they need to be active readers when they go to read independently, or have someone read to them.  We as teachers need to find a way to express to our students good readers cannot wait until after they’ve read something to really start thinking about it.  We can connect with texts before we even open the book!

I’m excited to implement these strategies in the classroom, since I am obviously in the college struggle of too-much-work-not-enough-time-to-use-all-these-steps struggle, and see how that negatively affects me as a reader and comprehender.  Oh, well, my students will read better because of it (I hope!)