Chapter 5 in Gibbons is loaded with practical ideas for reading in a class with English Language Learners (ELLs). The first thing that struck me, however, was the emphasis she gave to pre- and post-reading activities. When I think of reading a story to a class, I don't think of the time before and after reading as being too significant. But Gibbons makes it clear that it is important, especially for ELLs. Even her ideas for what can go on during the reading itself were innovative for me. To guide my writing, I will choose one example to discuss from each reading period (pre, during, and post).
PRE: Predicting the genre and the topic of a text (p. 85) seems like it would be very helpful to them. After all, not knowing what was going on before I read the laundry passage (p. 80) made it a real bear to get through, let alone to understand. For ELLs, this activity is even more crucial. From my own second-language learning, I know that it is more difficult to gather these pieces of information in a second language; however, it is even more important to do so in a second language, because it's much easier to get lost without genre and topic knowledge. Finally, predictions arouse curiousity; kids want to see whether they were right, and this gives them an incentive to listen closely and attend to the meaning of the text as a whole, not simply the meaning of each word or phrase.
DURING: Rereading a text is something I've rarely considered when it comes to elementary school literacy. Yet it makes sense: how many times in the recent past have I read through passages over and over in order to gather their precise meaning? (The answer: lots.) Further, giving children multiple, varying experiences of the text (being read by the teacher, read individually, read as a group, etc.) can peak their interest. Especially for ELL students, getting something more than once in more than one way can be helpful if they missed something the first time, or if they didn't understand it orally but got it by reading it (or vice versa). I like what the author says about dictionary use (p. 88). Often, misunderstandings can be solved by using the context in which the word is found. This helps students understand how word-meaning operates, and reduces their reliance on other's decontexualized definitions.
AFTER: Innovating on a story, once again, is something that's never come to my mind. If I think of post-reading at all, I think of asking a question or two about the story and then calling it a day. Innovating gives children the opportunity to make connections between related characters in the story and other similarly related things in real life. In the Elephant and the Mouse example (p. 91), making a switch-out for a whale and a fish help show the abstractness of the lesson being taught. It's not meant to just be about elephants and mice, but about how small, seemingly unimportant things (whether they be animals or people) can be very important. For ELLs, making such changes will expose them to more vocab words and the connections that come with them (e.g. whales are big, fish are small).
All in all, from now on I will look at reading as a three-step (rather than a one-step) process, and look for ways to use Gibbons' pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies to benefit my students, particularly ELLs.
- David Koch
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David, I really liked your three choices for the Pre,During, and After reading activities. My CT uses predicting a lot in the classroom and the students really seem to benefit from it. Like you, I had never considered rereading a text in Elementary school but it is a great idea. It definitely seems like a majority of books/stories are read once and then put to the side. I was actually fortunate enough to witness my CT doing a rereading with a group of students last Thursday. She was explaining and showing me what a successful guided reading group should look like (since we're going to be doing a couple this semester) and after the group read it aloud and they discussed a couple key elements, she had them read it aloud to themselves one more time. One thing I found really interesting about the guided reading group was that the students all read aloud at their own pace. Therefore, one student could be completely done with the story and another student could have a couple pages left. This seemed chaotic and a little overwhelming to me but my CT had good reasoning for choosing to do it this way. Her reasoning is that when the students read in unison, some of the kids tend to rely on the others as a crutch. When they read at their own pace, they are showing the teacher exactly what they already know and what they still need work on. After reading the Gibbon's chapter, talking in our TE class, and seeing these different activities in the classroom, I definitely have a new perspective in terms of the steps of reading.
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