Chapter Seven

During-reading strategies I have found to be mostly driven by discussion of the book. Last week in my internship I had to teach a class of ninth graders, in which I was introducing them to Romeo and Juliet. While we began reading I noticed that the students had a lot of questions about the book. I was very nervous, especially since my supervisor was visiting the class, but I decided to explain the book as we read. I made sure to stop along the way and asked the students questions, giving them time to ask me questions as well. So while reading this chapter, I noticed the Say Something strategy, which I think would have been perfect for this situation. I like this strategy because it promotes discussion, while still having teacher influence. I do disagree with Beers though, when she says that sometimes students can pick their own partners. When I was in my Educational Psychology course, my professor made me consider those students who may not have anyone in the class and also how a class may have students who are always in a group and never get things done.

I made sure to pay special attention to Beers’ explanation of the Think Aloud strategy because it seemed that this strategy would be a great way to have dependent readers learn how to become a good readers. I think that when doing the think aloud strategy it is important to connect the reading and thinking to things that your students can relate to. This makes me think of when we did the exercise in class and Christine was able to bring in a lot of relatable topics in her think aloud and how doing something similar in my think alouds would create a real connection for the students.