Chapter+5

The chapter opens up with a student approaching her teacher complaining that her CP English class is causing her to become a "slower reader". She says she is getting slower or "worse" at reading because she is actually taking the time out to stop and THINK about what she reads. She is equating //fast reading// with //good reading//. This touches on a good point. I think many students think that good reading means breezing through passages. Good readers have to adjust their pace in order to comprehend what is being read. //*Encourage students that it is OK to read a sentence over and over multiple times before we are able to understand it.// //*Getting students to understand that reading is NOT a competition is key!//
 * Chapter 5:** //"Why Am I Reading This?"//
 * Note***

//Personal Insight...// I thought we can get the students to better understand this idea by relating reading to sports. For example: In soccer/football/basketball, you do not always score by flying by all of the defenders 100 miles per hour. You need to slow down at times and adjust your pace to figure out what the defense is doing and what your next move should be. If you do not slow down to take in what is happening at the moment both defensively and offensively, you will never learn anything from that play.

Getting students to understand that reading with a PURPOSE is the next step. Would you ever read through a phonebook without a specific name to look out for? The purpose of reading a phonebook is to find that specific name. This is not much different from reading from the texts. Asking students to set a purpose for their reading will aid comprehension greatly. "When readers have a purpose, they tend to remember more of the text".

Question to ask yourself...How many of you have had a student ask, "Why do we need to read this?" The reason they ask this question is because we have not expressed the purpose. We asssume they should already know why reading is important because we have long ago internalized the importance and benefits of reading. We need to constantly remind the students of the overall purpose of reading.

Have students use sticky notes to summarize their reading in their own words. Meet in groups to discuss their notes and make changes if needed.