Reading Post- Assessing Critical Reading Skills

       The ability to be an effective reader may possibly be the most important and useful skill that we obtain through school. We are almost constantly required to read, whether it is street signs, ingredients on foods, instructions, articles or leisurely reading. However, being an effective reader is more than just being able to recognize words. A key part of being an effective reader is the ability to interpret what the meaning of the text is, inferring a deeper meaning in the text. This is the area in which most students seem to struggle the most. It is not that the children are not able to read, but rather, some students are not able to critically assess and construct and communicate meaning from the reading. Similarly, as a young student I was a fluent reader but being able to locate the deeper meaning within the text was sometimes a daunting task. This is the same issue that many students face today. 

This week we were responsible for picking a resource regarding either a specific issue concerning reading, or a reading activity that you can have your class participate in. I chose to describe an activity that can be used to assess reading. The article that I chose to write my blog post about is an activity on reading that can be found on www.edugains.ca. The article is from the Literacy Gains publication for fall 2012 and I have included the URL here (http://bit.ly/1M6Runt). The article is titled, “How to Help Students Who Struggle with Reading.” In the article there is a teacher, Ms. Waters, that realizes that some of her grade 9 Applied students are struggling with constructing deeper meaning within their readings. The article then provides a chart that can be used to assess student’s reading and an explanation on how to carry out this assessment. This chart is a great resource and can be used as a full and engaging lesson on critical reading in the classroom. It is important that students are able to ‘construct and communicate meaning’, (Ontario Language Curr. Or OLC, http://bit.ly/1Lep545, pg. 11) and this chart encourages this ability. The need to critically understand messages in print is paramount, as students need to be able to critically understand the world around them and form educated opinions. This lesson plan can be used at any grade level, however I feel as though it would be best for grades 5 and up, as critical reading begins to become more important as the students approach secondary school.

LESSON PLAN

For this lesson I would start by picking a piece of literature for the class to critically read. You could execute this lesson activity in one class based off of a small article or excerpt, or it can be done after the class has read a whole novel. The main component of this lesson is the “I Read, I think, Therefore” chart. If there is a cover or picture on the front of the book or article I would start the lesson by asking the class to interpret the cover art and ask them to tell me what they think the reading will be about. This relates to two expectations from the Reading Curriculum, [1. read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning. 2. recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning.] (OLC, pg. 11) After a quick discussion on the cover art I would have the class complete the reading and then complete the “I Read, I think, Therefore” chart. 

How to Help Students who Struggle with reading,  2012, Chart. [online image] http://bit.ly/1M6Runt

The ‘I Read’ portion should contain the key information from the text. ‘I Think’ should demonstrate connections between what students already know and the text. Lastly, ‘Therefore’ should contain inferences or conclusions based on what the students have read. After the students have completed the charts you could lead a discussion based on the chart. You could ask the students what they have in each section of the chart and create a class chart with all of the ideas on the board. Through this discussion you will be able to tell which of the students is able to construct and communicate meaning from the reading, and therefore will be able to instruct the students on where they need to improve. In addition, you could also collect the students charts and look them over. After looking them over you will further be able to identify which students are struggling with critical reading. You could then sit down with these students and discuss strategies that they can use to help them improve their critical assessment abilities. [Reflect on and identify their strengths as readers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading, OLC, pg. 11] This can be an effective lesson to help teach and improve on student’s critical reading skills and also successfully covers all four of the strand expectations in the OLC.

 

Yoanna Jezequel, 2012, Reading, [Online Image]. http://bit.ly/1M8P8Lc