Also, I read about how my background knowledge is a typical factor for my reading comprehension. Again, in school I can remember having our prior knowledge "activated" before reading a book, such as with the use of K-W-L's. I am currently taking another Spanish literature class and for the first time, am actually understanding the literature. After reading about activating prior knowledge, I now think I am doing so well in this class because the professor dedicates at least 15 minutes (sometimes up to 30 minutes) activating it. Through discussions about what we know about the author, about the time period and the genre, I am able to better understand what we are reading because I am making connections.
Monday, February 18, 2008
My Reading Comprehension Process
The readings for class did help me understand my own reading comprehension process-especially Chapter 7 from Tompkins. First of all, after reading about the 8 comprehension strategies, I realized that I no long "predict" like I used to. In elementary school, I can always remember how we would predict almost of all our literature (either individually or as a class). Now, I really don't spend much time looking at the cover, reading the title, and then brainstorming multiple ideas of what the story could be about. Instead I may just think of the first thing that pops into my mind when I see the title and cover, but immediately move on and begin reading the book.
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5 comments:
Erica-I too most related to the Tompkins chapter 7 reading. I was able to relate this chapter to TE 402 because it talked about text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections. Tompkins helped me to better understand the process that happens while I make these connections. Also, I agree with your part on predictions. Rarely ever do I make predictions prior to reading a book while at the college level. If I was to research each other before reading I would probably get much more out of the reading.
Erica - I agree on the "prediction" part. I am an avid reader but i can not remember the last time i picked up a new book, looked at the cover, read the back of the book and tried to come up with a few ideas about the story. This was something that i did enjoying doing because it would help draw me into the story, because i wanted to figure out whether or not my predictions were right. I think it is great that your professor spends time activating your prior knowledge because i feel the English courses i have take have said "here read this book, and then come ready to answer questions and talk about it" its self monitoring in reading yes but i feel that if we spent time looking at the cover and the back cover description more students would a) read the book and b) understand the book better
I agree with you about "predicting", I have vivid memories of doing this in grade school, but I can't remember the last time I have done it since then. I also tend to just read the title and then start reading the book, without putting much thought into what possible outcomes the book could have based on the title or cover. I think predicting can be so powerful for students because it gets them engaged in the book before they have even begun reading.
It's interesting that you say you don't predict any more. I think, as adults, we don't think we do a lot of these things, but really we just don't do them conciously or separate from reading. One of the reasons that we practice so blatantly with kids is so that, when they get older, a few ideas will pop into their head automatically when they see the cover. The idea is that eventually these strategies that we are drawing attention to will become automatic for them and they will do them without thinking (just like you).
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