Advice for Readers

Before we embark on a genre study or delve into thinking about character development in a story, we are spending our time getting to know ourselves as readers. We are trying to bring more meta cognition to our reading.

 

Can I tell when a book is easy, just right or too hard for me? How do I know?

 

As a teacher, I am wondering what role images can play in helping children understand advice for good readers. We recently discussed Lucy Calkins advice for reading "Faster, Longer, Stronger." Will creating images for each point of advice bring more understanding? Will the time it takes to translate the advice into images allow for more processing? Will the images stick with the children longer than the words alone?

So far I am noticing that when I reference the advice I can point the children back to the images. It instantly reorients them to our previous thinking with minimal amounts of discussion.

We've been focusing our attention on the image of fire and ice. It reminds us that in order to be a really good reader there are times when you speed up to read more quickly and times when we slow down and read more slowly. A good reader does both. Working to notice when we slow down is a form of self-monitoring.

When did you slow down during your reading today?
How did that make you a better reader?

The image of a towel soaking up water is a powerful instruction for how our hearts and minds need to  soak happiness, sadness, joy or suspense out of words. The thinking of a child brings more understanding to me as a learner, too.

Thinking in metaphor

After a conversation with our awesome atelierista, Anna, I decided to start appreciating when we humans think in metaphors. I've decided to start recording them.

I heard this one today while the children were working on writing non-fiction books about energy.

"The sun is pretty much a big, giant ball of hyperactive gas! I think it happens when the atoms and molecules go like crazy like...."
"Like they have fire ants in their pants."
"Like they are being chased by a crocodile."
"And they ate six pieces of cake."
"They need to use the bathroom."
"And they ate hot chili peppers!"