Please watch this clip and respond by midnight on the 20th of August. You should write at least 2 responses. Be sure that you're responding to your classmates.
Happy posting!
Be sure to use class texts to support your answers.
REMEMBER -- there are not really any right or wrong answers, just non-supported answers.
o What strengths do you see/hear in the clip?
o What weaknesses do you hear/see in this clip?
o What would you do to deepen the students’ literacy skills?
o What do you think about your classmates’ ideas for assisting the
student? Did their ideas help you? Do you disagree with their ideas?
The reader does a great job of finding a text that allows students the ability to peak their interest while simultaneously invoking different literary strategies. Furthermore, the visual aid allows a student who might struggle to identify literary elements within a word driven text to find a different route to connect with the necessary academic content. By reading the text aloud the reader is engaging the students at a higher level because, as our readings in class discussed, students have a higher interest in the material when it is read aloud to them. There are two very obvious weaknesses in the video. One, the reader, while engaging students by reading aloud, does not peak their interest by adding intonation in his voice, and therefore "acting out" the different characters. The reader also fails to demonstrate prediction strategy, or to allow the viewer to make their own predictions. When he directly states, " we can assume this means trouble" he is not allowing the reader to access the material and make use the strategies themselves but instead directly feeding them the information.
ReplyDeleteI concur with China, the reader does a great job of finding a text that provides students with the opportunity to become interested in the content, especially through of my favorite literary tools of graphic novels. Graphic novels are quite useful for both high-leveled and low-leveled readers, because the visuals provide an essential literary link for the reader between the actual words and the action of the words, enhancing the literary skills of visualization. Although the chosen text is a strength, the actual reading practice was very weak in its lack of engagement and limited time for student to react to the text and process the information being read. It appeared to me that the teacher could have used this reading session to also confer with other literary strategies and skills, such as inferencing, author's purpose, and even clarifying questions, that could have been a two-fold approach using the text and graphics.
ReplyDeleteComics and graphic novels can be used as a “point of reference” to bridge what students already know with what they have yet to learn. For example, comics and graphic novels can teach about making inferences, since readers must rely on pictures and just a small amount of text. By helping students transfer this skill, we teachers can lessen the challenge of a new book.
I was having the exact same thoughts as China and Paul as I was watching this video. The first thing I noticed within the first few seconds of the video was that the teacher had very little inflection or tone change in his voice. The most important thing is for the teacher to model strong, fluent reading, and a strand of fluency is reading engagement and tone. On Monday we talked all about balanced literacy and its components, and during all these different types of approaches to literacy (read aloud, guided reading, etc.), the teacher needs to emphasize enthusiastic tone.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the choice of novel was great. I had never thought of using graphic novels in the classroom, but this video ensured me that it is a great idea. You could tell the student was engaged in the story, and perhaps he even got to pick out this particular graphic novel, if he was interested in X-Men. This strategy of letting students pick their own material was shown to be effective in the article we read today about the survey of what makes students want to read. This article said: "Many of the students (42%) responded that they were motivated by finding good materials to read and having choice in the selection of these reading materials.
In continuing with this student's reading instruction, I would use the gradual release of responsibility as I had him continue reading this graphic novel. I would tell him to start reading the narrator's part instead of me. Then I would have him independently read to finish the novel. These strategies would all be using the components of balanced literacy.
Shout out to Paul Joseph Lopez Oro for his insight about how graphic novels can and should be used to incorporate other literary strategies. I think if graphic novel loses its benefits if the pictures and small chunks of texts are not analyzed. I think it would have been a much more useful reading experience if they had paused and analyzed the photos to get an idea of what the story was about and to give time for the student to process and think about what was just read. With the amount of difficulty the student was having with the text, they may not have been able to really process and think about what they were reading, because of how much attention to pronunciation there was.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the first thing I noticed was how fast the teacher was reading at some parts. This may have been intimidating to the student to hear how fast the teacher reads, and then to hear themselves struggle. I think the teacher could have paced his reading a little more.
The specific strategies I would have tried to incorporate in this reading would have been inferencing and summarizing. I think if these were used it would have enhanced the students understanding of the text and would have given valuable practice of how to analyze the pictures to further out own understanding of the text. The discussion would probably have also helped to keep the student engaged in the story and feel more confident in their understanding.
I struggle seeing strengths in this portrayal. The reason for that is there are absolutely no checks for understanding. I can't really be sure what the student learned in the reading because outside of some basic practice in pronouncing words I'm not sure that the student learned something new or even was practicing skills that he already knew. The lack of checks for understanding also make me question the level of the student's actual understanding of the text or applicability of the level the text was at.
ReplyDeleteIf this were my student I would most likely work on fluency with him. Based on how choppy his reading was I would be concerned that even though he may be getting through most of the words that he isn't actually able to make connections or understand the text.
I agree with Tyler. The teacher seemed more focused on getting through the text and didn't see whether the student understood the material or not. Using a graphic novel is a good way to get students to comprehend text particularly when they are struggling with fluency.
ReplyDeleteFluency didn't even seem to be a priority here. When the student was having difficulty with words, the teacher sounded it out without really letting the student break down the word. He didn't utilize the different techniques for word studies. Some of the words seemed vital to define to understand the text and the lack of pauses in the text may have taken away from comprehension.
However, the student does seem really engaged. He (for the most part) knows which part is his and sounds out the words even when there are long hesitations.
I agree with my classmates that the strength of this instructional strategy is the use of the graphic novel as a visual entry point for a student who I assume is an ELL. As Sharmin pointed out, despite the students' long pauses (reflecting his need to practice decoding skills) he is always aware of the place they are at in the novel, which means he is able to follow along. I am sure the use of a graphic novel also helps with reading engagement.
ReplyDeleteThe weakness of this lesson, as Tyler already mentioned, is the lack of check for understanding. There is no evidence of any comprehension strategies at work here. Prediction would be a particularly applicable strategy to teach with this genre. Having the student simply summarize what was read so far would also gauge how appropriate the level of the text is for him. Like Hannah, Paul, and China, my primary reaction to the video is that the teacher failed to display much intonation for the student to model. We know from the Ivey and Broade article that students enjoy being read aloud to: "...students clearly preferred two types of activities, free reading time and the teacher reading out loud (62%). It is probably not a coincidence that students enjoy being read aloud to, as research shows this gives students at all levels access to grade level material and lends itself to engagement because struggling readers do not feel as frustrated. The Balanced Literacy Model includes the Read Aloud as an essential component of teaching developing readers. The graphic novel provides an opportunity not just for Read Aloud but for the unique opportunity of the student to benefit from the teacher's modeling of fluency and an immediate opportunity for the student to practice. By failing to use intonation in his own voice, the teacher and student miss out on maximizing the potential of this activity.
I think all the comments my classmates have left are insightful. Much of what I could add would be speculation because we don't have the context of this lesson.
ReplyDeleteI noted that when introducing the text, the instructor just announces the title and which parts he is going to read. This introduction would have benefited from a explicit statement of the purpose in the activity. What skill or strategy will they be practicing?
Like many of my classmates, I believe that the choice of text is the most prominent strength in this video. However, because we aren't privy to any discussion concerning the text, it is difficult to say for certain that the student is in fact engaged.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when reading aloud, comprehension of the text can be demonstrated by reading with expression and tone that aligns with the meaning of the text. Judging by the student's apprehensive reading style, he is too busy decoding words to demonstrate comprehension by being expressive. A weakness on the part of the instructor is that he is not pausing at strategic moments to discuss the text and assess the student's level of comprehension.
There are a few moments when the instructor helps the student pronounce a word. However, there are other times when the student pronounces the word unrecognizably, yet the teacher does not correct him (especially the word "accompany" towards the beginning of the video). In order for the student to avoid making the same mistake twice, perhaps it would have been useful for the instructor to pause briefly to help the student sound out the word.
Also, this student is learning English and struggles to read aloud. I agree with Britt that the teacher's failure to use meaningful intonation does a disservice to the student, whose most obvious struggle is obtaining fluency and expression.
The teacher's caption on youtube is disappointing. He writes that he made the video to "highlight [his] student's inability to read aloud properly, despite having learned the English language since kindergarten, nine years ago." He goes on to say that "it's a shame that many local Chinese people cannot read properly." This confirms my suspicion that he did not have a targeted objective or meaningful methods behind this read-aloud.
-Petra
As petra commented, one of the first things i noticed when watching was that I really wasn't sure what the student was practicing beyond fluency. While I admire the use of the x-men story, especially when viewed under the lens of a play or acting session, a found it a bit fruitless in the end. The student was engaged, yes, but to what extent? The teacher corrected his words rather than having him sound them out and if this read was to practice fluency, at least have the child repeat the word a few times to show comprehension of the sounds. because as a few others have mentioned, the complete lack of a check for understanding made it seem as though the student wasn't fully gaining anything from this interaction.
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines, if this students' problem really is fluency, then why have him continue to read choppily rather than stopping him and getting him to scoop and practice saying many of his lines fluently? I just am having a hard time seeing the point of this other than as petra pointed out, for him to highlight his students' inability to read. talk about a waste of an opportunity.
But i think there is so much potential there. especially reading in a play style, the student has the ability to hear what fluently reading this text sounds like and then gets the opportunity to try his own lines in similar fashion. Comprehension is helped by the aid of the graphics, which i think is super helpful when dealing with ELLs. But there doesn't seem to be even the slightest nods of recognition as they read that they are reading from a graphic novel. it's as though they are reading from war and peace and the text could be just as over his head. i think part of that problem lies with the intonation, as discussed above, and maybe part of that is also a lack of knowledge on our part as to the set-up of the whole situation.
Strengths:
ReplyDelete-From the beginning, the teacher/older person reading aloud clearly explains the directions to the younger reader: they will divide the reading based on which character (or narrator) is talking.
Weaknesses:
-The text is interesting, and presumably hooks the young reader, but we never hear how the text corresponds to the students’ reading level. Is it slightly above? Slightly below? Directly on level? We can infer from the student’s oral reading skills that this text is above the student’s reading level, but we never hear an explanation about why this level or content of text was chosen.
-We never hear any teaching point, connection, rationale, or strategic instructional lesson that provides insight into why this student is reading this particular text. For pleasure? For a more specific purpose? We don’t know.
-There is no distinction between what the characters are saying (in the white bubbles) and what the characters are thinking (in the yellow bubbles) in the graphic novel.
What would I do to deepen the student’s literacy skills:
-While reading practice of any sort is beneficial for struggling readers, it would be helpful if the mentor reader stated at the start of the book which skill they would be working on for this sitting and beyond. There was no activation of prior knowledge, nor any clear aim or teaching point stated at the get-go. Particularly since they are reading a graphic novel, it could be something as simple as reminding the young reader that good readers reference pictures to help them figure out what is happening in the story.
-There is no pause during the reading to stop and discuss the students’ thoughts, noticings and wonderings along the way. For all we know, the student could be totally lost. There need to be periods along the way for the teacher to check in with the student to mold the student’s thought process.
Response to classmate’s ideas:
Nearly every post above accurately describes the lack of intonation in the readers’ voices. Surely graphic novels can be used as a “point of reference” for students of high and low levels alike as Paul Joseph mentioned, but reading without a pointed skill or goal in mind is not the most effective way to improve this student’s literacy skills.
Petra, I am incredibly disappointed by the teacher's caption on You Tube! Thank you so much for highlighting this for us. I think it's valuable to remind us that our teacher mindsets really do affect our actions and thus affect our students' academic achievement. While it would be unfair of me to assume that the teacher does not believe in his students' ability to learn to read fluently, it certainly would explain the seeming lack of objective and intonation throughout this piece.
ReplyDeleteI find the teachers comment about his student to be quite frustrating. Thanks for pointing it out Petra. I certainly agree with Britt in that our mindsets going into the classroom play a big role in how students will achieve. Most of us will be facing situations where we have students who struggle with oral fluency as well and while recognizing the situation our students are in is important, if we don't take responsibility to work as hard as we can to make a change in each students' life we are just going to be another cog in the machine that let these kids down. I sure sounded like TFA just then didn't I. But I do think that a lesson we can get from this is one of teacher attitude.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler's earlier comment about not finding many strengths with this video. I think that exposing students to new forms of literature can aid their engagement and foster new relationships with literature (as the reading engagement study article suggested). However, in this scenario, the teacher provides no instruction or purpose for reading, which is not helpful for improving the student's fluency. Right now, he sounds choppy and unsure, lacking in confidence. My suggestion for this student is targeted instruction during guided reading and, like Marya said, giving this student a purpose for listening.
ReplyDeleteThanks Petra for pointing the caption out to us! It explains a lot about the teacher's lack of any objective other than demonstrating fluency. I agree with most all of the comments that have been made and, like Tyler, I had trouble finding strengths in the video. I actually found myself bored listening to the teacher read and I think he would have had a much better chance of student engagement had he seemed interested in the text himself, or as Britt and others pointed out, had he used intonation to hold his student's attention. The choice of text was a good one, however, perhaps it would have been wise to choose one that the teacher himself was invested so that he seemed more excited during the reading.
ReplyDeleteAs all of my classmates have mentioned before me, I believe as well that this a non-example of how to teach literacy, especially with a resource as potentially engaging as a graphic novel. I have a hard time, as well, finding positive points, especially after reading the author's caption and the fact that he was using his student as an "example" in such a public forum. I'm curious who chose the text and if the tutor had made an attempt to figure out what his student wanted to practice, what his interests were, etc.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Ukraine for two years and had an American friend there who was learning Russian. She absolutely LOVED comic books, especially the Russian version of Spider Man, so her tutor, seeing this interest, assigned the comic books for homework. The next day she would read aloud the comic book to her teacher and they would talk about the various slang or cultural references that were difficult for my friend to understand. There was no specific objective (other than to increase comprehension and fluency) but it seemed like a great warm-up to a tutoring sessions and it kept my friend engaged in learning the language.
I agree with what most of my classmates said in that the strength of this clip is that the teacher has chosen a graphic novel, presumably with the intent of getting the student invested in the material and excited about reading. As we learned from our readings, this is probably the most important aspect teaching a student how to read.
ReplyDeleteOne of the weaknesses of the video is that the teacher doesn't seem very invested in the reading himself. He reads to his student in order to demonstrate fluency to the student, but he is just reading in his normal tone of voice. The teacher is not demonstrating the excitement with which one should read such as using different voices for different characters and using different intonations when events are happening in the text. This should be part of the modeling process because it can teach a student how they should be reading in their heads and get the student even more excited about the material.
I am also not quite sure what the point of the reading with student is, but there appears to be no stopping in order to teach or demonstrate a reading comprehension strategy to the student. Maybe the teacher and the student are just reading this comic book for pleasure. However, even if the teacher and student are reading for pleasure, the teacher still should have paused several times during the reading to see if the reader is comprehending what he is reading. Does the reader know what is going on in the book? Because if he does not, then what is the point of reading with him.
There is also no gradual release of responsibility so that the teacher can see whether or not the student's reading is getting better and what aspects of the reading that the student may be struggling with. While listening to the clip, I kept thinking that the teacher was reading a lot and the reader was barely reading. I would have liked to have seen at some point during this clip that the teacher give the reader more of the reading, so that the teacher could have more time to evaluate the student's reading and listen for any mistakes.
After reading more of my classmate's responses, I see so many new areas of improvement. I was also thinking that there could have been so many reading strategies that the teacher could have tried out to check whether the student was understanding the material (prediction, summarizing, questioning). These were all things he could have easily paused without disrupting the overall flow of the text.
ReplyDeleteAs many people have already said, I think it's great that he's using a text the student may be interested in. Assuming they are practicing fluency, I think the lesson has a different and interesting approach. I think it's beneficial the way he is continually modeling fluent reading for the student when he reads the narrator parts. This seems like it would be a great way to have the student practice without overwhelming them with the size of the text. I think it's great too because while the student may be paying attention to their fluency when they first start reading, as they continue they may get tired or bored of the reading. Hearing a fluent reader and then reading, then hearing a fluent reader, then reading... I think it's a great strategy because it gives the student practice in two ways.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, if they are strictly practicing fluency, a better text may have been chosen. It didn't seem like the student was completely engaged in the material. It's hard to say, though, since there was a camera and that often effects student performance.
I agree with many of the comments on this example. I think a graphic novel/comic book has definitely has the potential to be used for demonstrating fluency and inflection, since there is so much action and dialogue. Unfortunately, like most of you have pointed out, the reader here doesn't really use inflection to portray emotion and action at all. If I were using this text with a student, I would maybe tell them to preview the text by "reading" the pictures, so that they could get a feeling for the characters and actions taking place. They could then use this sense to add inflection to their reading and make their reading more fluent.
ReplyDeleteThinking about this post further, I think graphic novels also provide a different way of teaching reading strategies. As our country moves further and further towards technology, there are skills that students will need to learn about that as well as books. Reading facial expressions and body language could be taught using graphic novels. I think it would provide an interesting way to learn other skills.
ReplyDelete