While in grade school reading was never a problem for me. I always scored much higher on tests than my grade level. When I got to highschool I expanded my reading skills and was accepted into the advanced English program. Reading was just never a problem for me. Nowadays, depending on the class I am in determines what I get out of the reading I am doing. If I am enthusiastic about the class and am really enjoying its content I'm going to be more inclined to read more deeply into the texts. If I'm discouraged or overwhelmed by a class I have a much harder time focusing and taking away things from what it is that I am reading. My comprehension processes have changed over the years. I now have to go slowly to make sure I'm understanding something. It takes me a little while to get through a chapter of a text or an article and sometimes I'm pressed for time and I don't really retain much of what I read. For good thorough comprehension I need time, space, and I need to be calm and unrushed. Otherwise there is no point to even reading. After discussing with my group and skimming the articles I haven't been assigned I have decided that my comprehension strategies rest heavily on motivation. Tompkins presents a table that explains what effects the motivations of students. I think that the main issue in my strategies has a lot to do with these 8 factors. I think its interesting how much a teacher's attitude can affect someone's comprehension skills. It makes sense though, if I didn't think my teacher thought very highly and cared about what I was reading I wouldn't really be inclined to care about it either.
In my field placement I have observed a very small amount of full class literacy instruction and it is probably because there are so many grades in my classroom. I do know that the children are working on the writing process which can contribute greatly to comprehension because it lets the students express their ideas. I was working with several students on a reading assessment during one of my days there and noticed very vast differences in comprehension levels. Some students read the passages perfectly but then it came to answering the corresponding questions and they received a very low score. Some students could do neither with success and constantly looked at me for help. At one point I asked a student one of the questions about a passage that she had had significant trouble with and she looked at me and just said "Ms. R, I just don't really know...is that ok?" I told her that was fine and we moved on with the assessment. This particular student didn't finish the assessment because she got too frustrated with a later passage. Lots of them were concerned about the stopwatch, one student sped through it so fast I almost had to have him do it again I fell so far behind checking all the words.
In the classroom as a whole I've noticed that the students are split up into specific groups and I am assuming they are based on literacy levels to some degree with behavior tendancies acting as a factor as well. I often find myself wondering how a class with this many literacy levels works together or gets things done. Most of the students are behind for their grade level when it comes to literacy anyways but it seems that there are no 2 students who are right on the same track and each one is vastly different.
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Erika-I have a lot of the same thoughts on reading and comprehension as you do. During grade school I never struggles either with reading. I was reading early and reading a lot. I also got higher level test scores and I just thought that reading was easy for everyone and I always found it strange when other kids would say that they hated reading or tht they didn't read during the summers. I think that your own learning experience with reading and comprehension significantly determines your motivation for reading. Just like you were saying, if you are enthusiastic about the class you will read more and concentrate more on what you are reading. You said that now your comprehension processes have changed and it takes you more time to get through whatever you are reading. Do you think this could be just because you are reading college level texts and articles that are wordier and deeper than anything you read before college? Maybe now you have changed your comprehension processes to enable you to better understand higher level writing that may not always be the most interesting writing. I agree with you about my comprehension strategies resting on motivation as well. If there is such a load of reading for a class that I don't even see myself having time to finish it, I don't even want to start it. However, if the reading load seems doable then I always try to get it done, or at least most of it done. It must be really difficult to work in a classroom with so a great diversity in reading levels and grades and comprehension levels. It must be hard for that teacher to organize whole class learning and literacy activities. Is it possible that some students, although their grade levels are very different, are at the same or similar reading levels? Maybe they are grouped together based on this. Good entry, I agreed with a lot that you said and you offered some great examples from your classroom.
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