Schoolwide Blog Entry
Feb. 25, 2010
Elisa Waingort

    After reading aloud a chapter book in the classroom I sometimes struggle with getting my students to respond in authentic and meaningful ways.  I’ve tried stopping whenever anyone has a comment, (these may be meaningful or not – it’s usually hit or miss - and may interrupt the flow of the story and interfere with attention); allowing children to comment at the end of a story only (some children can’t hold onto their ideas for that long and may lose interest in the discussion when it does happen); asking specific questions about the reading or prompting the children to make a particular connection to the reading; and modeling how a proficient reader (me) thinks about what she is reading. 

 Why and how I’ve had the kids respond depends on my current thinking, which is always grounded in my beliefs about children’s literacy development.  Right now my thinking points to simplicity as the best way to go.  So, I have started asking the children to share what they’re thinking at critical points in the story.  This is usually at the end of a picture book or a chapter when reading longer books.  The children have the right to pass and often will want to say something after they’ve heard their classmates’ responses.  The thinking – comments, predictions, questions, feelings – that the children are sharing are the kinds of things that I’ve always wanted to hear kids say when I’ve relied on a particular kind of prompt, i.e. text-to-self connections.  The simplicity of this kind of prompt is resulting in authentic and meaningful responses.  I share what I’m thinking after everyone else has had a turn.

 
Occasionally asking children to stop and reflect in writing about their reading mirrors what many avid readers do naturally and what children will be expected to do as they progress through school.  So, the next step in this process is to determine how the children can use writing to broaden their thinking about a story at the same time that we honor the KISS principle.  At the end of the sharing around the circle the children can write their thinking and extend it at a later time.  If we read a picture book they can write down their thinking at the beginning and at the end of the story.  A management tip that has helped keep the children focused on this more demanding kind of writing is to write about reading in the circle so that we are all working together in one space.  This arrangement minimizes distractions and if anyone needs help or has a question we are all there to guide each other.