Blog Post #2- Reading Blog

The Reading Strand

“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” - Dr. Seuss!

 

For Language, the reading strand is deemed the most important topic of learning in school because of the ability to apply it across the curriculum and make meaningful connections. Additionally, teaching students to read can be the most difficult topic of Language and Literacy. Nevertheless, the Ontario curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge and skills that will enable students to become effective readers (MOE, 2006, pg. 10) for aspects of life that extend beyond the classroom.

Guided Reading Strategies

To begin, when implementing strategies to help students with reading, teachers should consider guided reading groups. As defined by the eWorkshop by EduGains, guided reading is the division between shared reading and independent reading. With guided reading, small groups of students apply knowledge and understanding from previously taught teacher-led and shared readings. Teachers incorporate selected unfamiliar texts that are tailored to certain individuals. These texts provide challenges for students learning through instructional support (2019).

Creative Teacher, 2019.

Following the reading, the teacher will observe the student-centered guided readings to assess their thoughts, opinions, and ideas. These are effective strategies that are used in various classes with several students to allow them the opportunity to take part in reading at a level suitable to their ability. Eventually, with the use of these guided reading strategies, the students will work their way into independent readings as they improve. The end goal for teachers is to get their students from early readers to emergent readers, and then finishing with fluent readers.  

The Effectiveness of Comic Books and Graphic Novels 

Comic books and graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular among differentiated texts for the reading strand among educations. As teachers, we need to provide students with the opportunity to explore comics and graphic novels as a way of exploring different text styles. When referring to the Ministry of Education and overall expectations, students should "read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning". Also, students can do this through recognizing a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate an understanding of how they help communicate meaning" (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, pg. 111).

Gonzalez, 2016. 

Why should children read comic books? 

Comic books and graphic novels give students stories they can make connections to and reflect, without struggling to understand the information presented. Novels can be discouraging to read, especially when the text's or chapters are long. In giving students opportunities to expand their book choices, specifically comics, they are helpful because they include a "reasonable amount of text per page, lots of visual cues, and since most of the text comes in the form of dialogues, there are shorter and simpler sentences" (Myers, n.d.).  

Teachers Pay Teachers, n.d.

Additionally, other benefits of incorporating graphic novels are developing visual literacy skills, engaging and motivating reluctant readers, inference, memory, sequencing, understanding succinct language, and reading comprehension. Each of these are essential in meeting specific curriculum expectations. For instance, the Ontario Ministry of Education explains that students need to develop reading skills to become effective readers and critical thinkers, which in turn will assist in the ability to comprehend all sorts of material in other subjects. However, to do so, students need to have established excellent comprehension strategies beforehand. Therefore, the benefits from incorporating graphic novels transfer over to comprehension strategies because of predicting, visualizing, questioning, drawing inferences, identifying main ideas, summarizing, and monitoring (OME, 2006, pg. 10). For more information about the advantages of graphic novels, visit Raising Super Readers: Benefits of Comic Books & Graphic Novels. 

Some examples of graphic novels that teachers use in educations are Ghosts and Smiles, by Raina Telgemeir, The Dumbest Idea Ever by Jimmy Gownley, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, A Wrinkle in Time by Hope Larson, and many others (Secondary Sara, 2018). Overall, teachers need to expand their horizons when adapting reading programs for students, especially in emphasizing the benefits of extending opportunities for book selection.

Finally, the following article written by EduTopia presents insightful ideas about graphic novels being implemented in middle school:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/discovering-depth-graphic-novels

Helpful Reading Techniques 

Going off the guided reading strategies, ways that teachers can assist students identifying with troubles in reading are through internal approaches first. Internal approaches that can be performed when reading are pacing, anxiety and processing strategies. A few examples of anxiety are positive reinforcement or reassurance from the teacher, and peer mentorship (i.e., reading buddies). As mentioned by the Ministry of Education, reading is a complex process that involves the application of many strategies before, during, and after reading (2006, pg. 10).

Wyatt, 2019. 

Strategies, such as pacing, are usually when students slow down their visual inferences while reading the material to grasp all components. Whereas processing strategies include using critical thinking questions, decoding strategies, comprehension strategies, and communication strategies.

Additional techniques within comprehension strategies that teachers use include inferences, questioning, breaking down the plot to find the main points/idea, and synthesizing (Secondary English, 2017).

For comprehension methods, there are 8 concepts commonly taught: 

1. Active prior knowledge
2. Determining the purpose of reading
3. Making connections to self, text, world
4. Predicting
5. Visualizing
6. Critical questioning
7. Drawing inferences
8. Evaluating

Secondary English, 2015. 

These concepts discussed above are important for students regarding comprehension because they can make connections to real-world situations, to their readings, and what they are learning. While doing so, they enhance their knowledge and understanding of the material they are learning about, especially when focusing on the eight concepts listed above. Moreover, when practicing these strategies, students tend to improve their vocabulary, oral communication, punctuation, being descriptive, and thinking about the meaning of the reading.  

References:
Creative Teacher. (2019). Reading Strategy Checklist Based on Fountas and Pinnell. Retrieved from https://www.dgoodz.com/products/reading-strategy-checklist-based-228866 

DeHart, J. (September 20, 2018). EduTopia: Discovering the Depth in Graphic Novels. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/discovering-depth-graphic-novels

EduGains. (2019). eWorkshop: Literacy Modules- Guided Reading. Retrieved from http://eworkshop.on.ca/edu/core.cfm?p=modView.cfm&navID=modView&L=1&modID=15&c=2&CFID=168971&CFTOKEN=7b072684d523f053-450CDA06-AD9F-84C4-7D8A6AF240B471DC

English, M. (2019). Scholastic: Raising Super Readers: Benefits of Comic Books & Graphic Novels. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/raising-super-readers-benefits-comic-books-and-graphic-novels.html

Gonzalez, J. (October 9, 2016). Cult of Pedagogy: Graphic Novels in the Classroom: A Teacher Roundtable. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teaching-graphic-novels/

Myers, L. (n.d.). Graphic Novels for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.adventure-in-a-box.com/graphic-novels-for-kids/

Ontario Ministry of Education. 2006. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Secondary Sara. (September 18, 2018). 20+ Graphic Novels that English Teachers Love. Retrieved from https://www.secondarysara.com/2018/09/20-graphic-novels-that-english-teachers.html?m=1

Teachers Pay Teachers. (n.d.). Graphic Novel Reading Unit of Study: How to read a graphic novel. Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Graphic-Novel-Reading-Unit-of-Study-How-to-read-a-graphic-novel-3800904

The Secondary English Coffee Shop. (2017). Reading Strategies for Middle and High School Students. Retrieved from https://secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2017/03/reading-strategies-for-middle-and-high.html

Wyatt, L. (2019). EDBE 8P24: Language and Literacy- Week 6.