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THE LITERACY TRIANGLE
Not only should educators explicitly teach students to stop and determine confusing parts of a text and possibly what action to take, but they also must teach them that sometimes readers must live with ambiguity until post-reading discussions and writing, both of which help piece together meaning. Students should also understand that all readers experience uncertainty while reading; in fact, sometimes, the author purposefully invites ambiguity. This chapter is not intended to give you solutions for each reading problem but rather give you tools to help your students self-monitor and self-clarify while reading. In addition to the tools we feature, find more ideas for potential reading challenges with possible solutions in Laura Robb’s (2009) book Assessments for Differentiating Reading Instruction: 100 Forms and Checklists for Identifying Students’ Strengths and Needs So You Can Help Every Reader Improve.
Discuss to Strengthen Comprehension
However, rich, active discussions don’t just happen. Teachers must plant the seeds for discourse with intention, so students apply what they have learned through direct, explicit instruction, minilessons, and guided practices. They can plant these seeds by providing the following prompts prior to the discussion. • Based on today’s thinking job, share your tabs, marks, or annotations that reflect your purpose for reading. • Find the page that supports
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• Select an example of dialogue and share how the character’s words give the reader insight into his or her personality. • Choose a new word, or a word used in a different way, to discuss with your group. Teachers should not assume all students will know how to participate successfully in discussion groups. We have included many pointers throughout this and the following chapter. In addition, students may benefit from an explicit discussion minilesson, found in chapter 6. Some suggestions for facilitating positive group discussions follow.
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A perk of traveling is meeting new people and learning of new things to see. Many of our best excursions have happened because locals shared a place to go that was not listed in the travel guide, and we’ve gained new insights into their cities based on their stories and experiences. Students gain new insight into text when they can talk with their peers about their understanding (or lack of understanding) about the text. In addition, active discussion—which requires students to pay attention, not interrupt, and understand what the speaker is discussing, as well as be able to coherently communicate their thinking—develops and strengthens interpersonal communication skills, supports analytical and critical-thinking skills, deepens student knowledge and retention, and builds problem-solving skills (Murphy, Wilkinson, Soter, Hennessey, & Alexander, 2009). Research from Carnegie Mellon University (2021) suggests that engaging students through interactive activities, discussions, and feedback results in improved academic performance compared to traditional sit-and-get methods. Discussions help students thread together what they brought to the reading, the rich connections they made during the reading, and how others perceived and connected with the text. Discussions help students summarize their learning and enhance their procedural and conceptual knowledge, which is why teachers usually follow up all reading with opportunities for students to discuss. But discussions can also be of benefit during the reading. When comprehension breaks down, having discussions makes it clearer to both the student and teacher what the issues are and what potential next steps could fix the problems (de Garcia, n.d.), thus strengthening comprehension.
